One of the challenges of working in a small shop is the need to apply finish to a project in an area that is covered with dust. Every time you walk, you stir it up, and it ends up on your finish. Large shops typically have a s completely separate room for finishing, and often …
In making mortise and tenon joints, one of the challenges is to make sure the tenon fit into the mortise so that its tight, but not too tight. There are all sorts of jigs and methods to do this on the tablesaw, with a router table, with hand tools, etc. In this case, I’ve got …
Several months ago, I redid the storage setup for my wife. We pulled out the old setup, and installed a corner cabinet for shelf storage, which helped solve that pesky “what do you do with a corner of the closet” problem. It was a fun little project, and it helped to save money vs. having …
I put the finish and hardware on the jewelry cabinets. I’ve made two of them for my two nieces getting married this year, plus a couple of extras to sell. The cabinets are made out of cherry, with hard maple drawers. It is based on a design from the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop, and consists of …
Once a month, usually the first weekend of the month, I try to do a “shop project” or shop improvement. It might be a jig, it might be a new type of storage, or just general preventive maintenance on tools. The idea is to continually improve the function and flow of the shop. In this …
Often when you are working in the shop, you need to create some sort of apparatus or “jig” to control the item while you are cutting, routing, drilling or generally working on the item. It helps to make the work more accurate and/or safer. Oftentimes a woodworker will have a host of jigs in their …
One of the more stressful parts of making wood projects is the glue up part of the project. You have all the joinery cut (in this case box joints) and you’ve done some test fits to make sure everything works. You have gathered together your glue, clamps and cauls (wood pieces to help apply pressure …
So I’ve got the boards milled down to the proper thickness, cut to length and width for the cabinet top, bottom and sides. Then I cut box joints in 2 of the cabinet sets, and then 45-degree miters for the other 3 (trying two different methods). Added dado (4 of them) in each side for …
One of the things when starting a project is to try and mark out your rough lumber to ensure it looks good and to optimize the use of your wood (its expensive). In the case of this cabinet, I want to have the grain lines continue from the sides to the top and back over …
With the Craft Show season over, and heading into the winter, its time to clean up and reorganize the shop to get it ready for winter projects. Provided your shop has heat, the winter is an excellent time to build items and prepare for the new year. Typically, after I get done with a major …
