Successful Screwing
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Everything you always wanted to know about screws, but were afraid to ask. By Robert W. Lang Pages: 82-85 Many of the tools and fasteners we use in woodworking have been around for thousands of years. The concept of the screw goes back to the ancient Greeks. Archimedes took a wedge, a simple but powerful
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posted at: 12:01am on 31-Jul-2013
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Drawboring Demystified
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This ancient mortise-and-tenon joinery technique needs no glue, no clamps. by Jennie Alexander & Peter Follansbee Pages 53-57 Simply put, drawboring is an intentional misalignment of the holes bored in the mortises and tenons. These holes are bored through each component separately, and they are offset so that a tapered pin driven into them will
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posted at: 12:01am on 31-Jul-2013
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Added Incentive for WIA 2013 Early Bird Registration
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Woodworking in America 2013 is October 18-20 at the Northern Kentucky Convention center. Its three days of woodworking fun and education sessions (47 of them!), plus two days of the Marketplace where you can see and try out the best collection of tools under one roof anywhere, and talk with the makers (thats not
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posted at: 12:01am on 31-Jul-2013
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Notes on the Two-day Workbench
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If I told you that shooting a woodworking DVD is hard work you'd probably laugh. It sounds like a supermodel complaining about a photo shoot for the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine. So I won't tell you how we worked under hot lights with no air conditioning (the microphones pick up the fan noise), or that
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posted at: 12:01am on 31-Jul-2013
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The Silly Things We Do
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Im in the midst of pulling together all the many blog posts and articles weve written on saws and sawing in the last 12 years (look for the book Handsaw Essentials sometime in October) so Im spending a lot of time in our archives, wherein I keep running across old and forgotten photoswhich I think
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posted at: 12:10am on 30-Jul-2013
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Meet the Two-bo Workbench
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Getting a good workbench usually takes loads of money, time or both of those things. But what if you tried to be really clever and you used inexpensive construction and home renovation materials to build a massive traditional bench for a fraction of the cost of a commercial bench and with only two days of
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posted at: 12:10am on 30-Jul-2013
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Two New Takes on Old Technology
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To wrap up my new product coverage of AWFS, Id like to talk about two new takes on technology thats been around for years. The first is an instant glue that could be a godsend for production woodworkers and a nice innovation for us home shop craftsmen as well. An Instant Glue For Heavy Duty
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posted at: 12:00am on 29-Jul-2013
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All Plywood Is Not The Same
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Ive had a bit of time in the shop this week, so I went back to work on the storage boxes that sit inside my yet-to-be-built workbench. I know. Its been almost six months and Im still just building the boxes, managing editor duties are many. After knocking out my dovetails, I laid out
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posted at: 12:09am on 27-Jul-2013
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More New Products from AWFS
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This years AWFS show is clearly a showcase for innovative design. Today I saw two amazing computerized machines that could be game changers, as well as some clever incremental improvements over on products already on the market. Ill detail the game-changers tomorrow but I wanted to catch you up on a few other interesting products
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posted at: 12:09am on 27-Jul-2013
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Are these machines the future of woodworking?
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Its always fun to attend shows like the recent Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers event in Las Vegas. Not only do you get a look at new or improved products that are ready to launch, you have a chance to see whats on the horizon. Yesterday I got a glimpse at two machines that
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posted at: 12:09am on 27-Jul-2013
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New Products from AWFS 2013
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When I attended the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta last year, it was a relatively slow time for new product releases, but manufacturers have made up for that this year at the Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers (AWFS) show in Las Vegas. I saw several dozen new products that are worth a look on
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posted at: 12:01am on 26-Jul-2013
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A Trickier Ruler Trick for Router Planes
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Sharpening router plane blades can be no fun. For years now, I've made things easier for myself by honing the flat back of the iron through the grits and then removing the "burr" from the bevel with a polishing stone. This is way faster than trying to hone and polish the bevel while it is
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posted at: 12:01am on 25-Jul-2013
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Clamp a Square so it's Square
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During the last several years I've built about 50 wooden try squares for customers, friends and during classes. The most challenging part of the project is clamping the blade and the stock together so they are square. I have tried three or four clamping strategies some of them too involved to discuss here. By
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posted at: 12:01am on 25-Jul-2013
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How Quartersawn White Oak is Sawn
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Most woodworkers have an idea of what quartersawn wood is. The accepted definition is that the growth rings are between 60 and 90 to the wide face of the board. In some species, notably white oak, this exposes the medullary rays and changes the figure from thats nice to WOW! Where things fall apart is
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posted at: 12:01am on 25-Jul-2013
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A Trickier Ruler Trick for Router Planes
Furnished content.
Sharpening router plane blades can be no fun. For years now, I've made things easier for myself by honing the flat back of the iron through the grits and then removing the "burr" from the bevel with a polishing stone. This is way faster than trying to hone and polish the bevel while it is
Read more here
posted at: 12:01am on 25-Jul-2013
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Lumber Sale in Cincinnati Aug. 16-17. Be There
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Note: I cross-posted this entry from my blog at Lost Art Press at the request of madame editor. Midwest Woodworking my favorite source for lumber is selling off its stock of more than 300,000 board feet of premium hardwoods and softwoods. Wide mahogany. Clear sugar pine. Teak. Chestnut. Red gum. A near-endless cache
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posted at: 1:07am on 24-Jul-2013
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Woodworking in America by the Numbers
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Woodworking in America (WIA) is being held at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, Oct. 18-20, 2013. There are plenty of reason to register and attend the conference. Many are listed below. You should be there to have a great weekend of woodworking and camaraderie. Explore the WIA web site and see if there are any
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posted at: 1:07am on 24-Jul-2013
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Clamp a Square so it's Square
Furnished content.
During the last several years I've built about 50 wooden try squares for customers, friends and during classes. The most challenging part of the project is clamping the blade and the stock together so they are square. I have tried three or four clamping strategies, some of them too involved to discuss here. By
Read more here
posted at: 12:00am on 23-Jul-2013
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Build the Stickley No. 802 Sideboard (Because I Don't Have Room for it)
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Of the many classic projects we printed in our 16 issues of Woodworking Magazine, this Stickley sideboard (No. 802), built by Christopher Schwarz (from the Summer 2009 issue), is my favorite*. I like the clean lines and the subtly tapered legs, as well as the shelf below for extra storage or display. And the ring
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posted at: 12:00am on 23-Jul-2013
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Straightedge Theory: Full of Holes?
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When it comes to making wooden shop tools, I think that most of the modifications we make to them are to stop us from throwing the tools away by accident. Many winding sticks are a right triangle in profile. Why? Mostly (I think) to prevent you from pitching them out with the garbage. Yes, the
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posted at: 12:17am on 21-Jul-2013
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Dovetail Layout: What Ratio or Degree?
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Ive looked at, photographed and cut many dovetails throughout my days as a woodworker, book author and magazine editor. Ive written on this blog at least once in the past that the angle used for dovetail layout is in no way consistent in antique furniture construction, you can find almost any slope or angle
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posted at: 12:17am on 21-Jul-2013
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First Look: Bad Axe American Kid Backsaw
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Among the things I like about Mark Harrells Bad Axe saws is that there is a wide range of customization options on what are essentially production tools. That is, not only can you choose your filing and from among several plate thicknesses, you can also select from among back materials and colors, saw nuts and
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posted at: 12:02am on 20-Jul-2013
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Hooray For the Router
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Ive spent the last couple days working on a project for our December issue. Its a wall-hung tool cabinet and when I designed it, I included several drawers and arranged them for both function and for looks. To keep things interesting, there is some asymmetry to the drawer layout. I couldnt leave well enough alone
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posted at: 12:02am on 20-Jul-2013
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Things that Get Mispronounced in Woodworking
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When you learn woodworking through reading, books, magazines and websites, you often have no idea how certain words are pronounced. And so when you finally encounter fellow woodworkers in the flesh and have a conversation, there can be a language barrier. Here are some of the common mispronounced words I have encountered at woodworking
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posted at: 12:02am on 20-Jul-2013
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Woodworkers, Plan Your Wood-buying Pilgrimage
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2013 has been a tough year to compete when it comes to woodworking event "stuntery." With gatherings like Handworks in Amana, Iowa, The French Oak Roubo Build, Woodworking in American 2013, and even the telephone design game in Woodchat, its hard to break through the clutter. I do, however, think Ive got one that might
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posted at: 12:01am on 19-Jul-2013
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A Tacky Hide Glue Post
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As I was building the Shaker blanket chest thats in our upcoming October 2013 issue (which just went off to the printer), I chose my usual glue: liquid hide. Five years ago, I took a veneered demilune table class with Phil Lowe at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking (where, by the by, Im teaching
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posted at: 12:01am on 19-Jul-2013
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Why Popular Woodworking Magazine?
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Over the last few years Ive been frequently asked why I write for Popular Woodworking Magazine. The conversation usually begins something like, Someone with your experience could write for any magazine they want, why Popular Woodworking Magazine? Now that Ive joined the editorial team, that question has been cropping up a lot more. Because I
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posted at: 12:09am on 18-Jul-2013
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Woodworking in America Makes History
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You may not really think about it, but much of woodworking is history. Today we use tools from centuries back, we assemble projects using joinery that has stood the test of time and we reproduce furniture styles from as early as 1650.Thats history. The photos to the left were not taken from my local post
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posted at: 12:09am on 18-Jul-2013
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Weekend Stool Class August 17 & 18, 2013
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Build the infamous and seemingly impossible Chinese stool with Bob Lang, in a special weekend class at the Popular Woodworking Magazine Shop. Once in a great while, we invite readers into the Popular Woodworking Magazine shop to build a project along with one of the editors while we film a video. Back in 2010, readers
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posted at: 12:03am on 17-Jul-2013
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General International's New Dust Collector
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If you have a shop, you need some type of vacuum or a dust collector. No, a dust collector is not simply attached to a table saw, band saw or router table. It is as perfect to clean-up wood dust as it is for shavings from your plane. (If youre working green wood as you
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posted at: 12:53am on 12-Jul-2013
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Woodworking in America: Classes I Plan to Attend
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Woodworking in America is just around the corner. It will be upon us in no time, that's great news for you because now is the time to register (click here) and make travel arrangements, if necessary. For me, however, this means that I have got to get started on the outline for my classes,
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posted at: 12:04am on 11-Jul-2013
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The Practical Woodworker Now Back in Print
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Ive put my neck on the line with our newest offering, a soup-to-nuts reprint of The Practical Woodworker four-volume set edited by Bernard Jones (circa 1915). There was no question that the material was worth reprinting, because while no one book (or set of books) is truly comprehensive, this one comes pretty close
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posted at: 12:04am on 10-Jul-2013
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Tomorrow, I Want to Hear that Snake Hiss
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During the first three hours of my my class on building a trestle table, here are the statements I heard the students say the most. I cannot design. I can't draw. I can't come up with original ideas. I will just copy an existing design. Today is Tuesday. It's only the second day of the
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posted at: 12:04am on 10-Jul-2013
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All for Want of a Proper Shop
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My second-floor shop is freakishly neat. The bench is mostly bare and the majority of my hand tools are stashed in my chest. The overflow hand tools (yes, I have maybe one or two) are in various boxes or hanging neatly on the wall. On the other side of the room, my computer desk has
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posted at: 12:04am on 10-Jul-2013
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Design: From Shaker to Snaker
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Trying to teach design is like trying to push water uphill. or so I'm told. Despite the warnings and eyerolls from some fellow woodworking instructors, I've tried to build in a design component to the classes I am teaching this year. My design process is different. No heart chakras will be opened. No power
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posted at: 12:08am on 09-Jul-2013
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The Theory of Chisel Monogamy
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When I teach woodworking, I talk a lot about monogamy. Not to your spouse (that's your problem) but to your tools. I think it's easier to learn to saw, sharpen and plane boards if you don't jump around and use different handsaws, sharpening systems and bench planes. And when it comes to chisels, I'm super-monogamous
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posted at: 12:05am on 08-Jul-2013
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On the Precision of Chisels
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When it comes to doing precision work that has to be performed over and over again, it's easy to fall into the siren whine of the router. The router is probably my least-favorite woodworking tool. I don't like how it is noisy. It never produces a ready-to-finish surface for mouldings. And it can destroy a
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posted at: 12:11am on 07-Jul-2013
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Dinner, Drinks and Edifying Entertainment at Woodworking in America
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Among the changes weve made for Woodworking in America 2013 is the return of the all-conference banquet; we want everyone to gather in the same room to share dinner, drinks and a good time! (Because I want as many people as possible to see me lose it when I have to get up in front
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posted at: 12:01am on 06-Jul-2013
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Triangle Woodworkers Learn the Secret
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Last week I spent a few days in the Raleigh-Durham area with the Triangle Woodworkers Association. Friday night the club gathered for their monthly meeting where I did a presentation on secret compartments (for more secrets, read my article from 2009) as well as talked about period furniture details. Ive done a number of these
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posted at: 12:03am on 05-Jul-2013
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Keep Inlay Color-free
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I get a fair amount of finishing questions. Recently, most questions that come my way ask how to finish a project that has inlay without heavily effecting the contrast between the project wood and the inlay. And readers want to know how to do that while achieving a nice-looking finish on the project. To me
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posted at: 12:03am on 04-Jul-2013
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A Misunderstood Heart
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Here's a lie I heard once at a lumberyard: When picking out boards, you should always choose ones that have the heart "or pith" in them because that is the strongest part of the tree. Those boards will be the strongest. Here's a second lie I heard at another lumberyard: Never pick boards
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posted at: 12:01am on 03-Jul-2013
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Roman Benches II
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Roman workbenches have not left this world. In fact, some people might argue that they are still used today and are called shaving horses. While I dont have a dog in that particular fight, I do have some evidence to present on how they were used up through the 20th century in their original form:
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posted at: 12:32am on 02-Jul-2013
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The Art of Woodturning
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Shown above is Sunset, an intricate segmented bowl by Hal Metlitzky. When I learned woodturning in the mid-1990s, my goal was simply to make bowls and platters with fair curves, pleasing shapes and thin, uniform walls. If the wood figure popped, all the better. This was woodturning as a craft. And I figured that was
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posted at: 12:32am on 02-Jul-2013
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Innovative Lathe Chuck at an Even Better Price
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We reviewed Easy Wood Tools Easy Chuck in our June 2013 issue, and it was clearly an impressive piece with at least a half dozen features Id never seen before. One knock, though, was the price. At $499, it was the most expensive chuck on the market. Well, Easy Wood's owner, Craig Jackson, has responded
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posted at: 12:32am on 02-Jul-2013
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