Popular Woodworking Magazine » Editors’ Blog

Elliptical Shapes Using Simple Geometry – video

Steve Shanesy — Thu, 31 May 2012 19:59:46 +0000

In our soon-to-be-mailed August issue, furniture maker Freddy Roman discusses the use of elliptical shapes. Freddy uses them frequently in the Federal-style furniture he makes. In the article, he shows three easy ways to generate the shapes using simple geometry. Not only do these techniques allow you draw the shapes, but they can be applied Continue reading»

Authentic Stickley Finish With Modern Materials

Robert W. Lang — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:49:59 +0000

For the August 2012 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, I built a reproduction of a Gustav Stickley No. 74 Book Rack. It’s a great piece in a couple of ways: It is useful and nice looking, and it is also a great introduction to making through-tenon keyed joints, one of the hallmarks of Arts & Continue reading»

Slideshow: A Better Way to Glue Up Boxes

Matthew Teague — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:57:11 +0000

I’ve written before about my love of stringed packing tape – it deepens and matures every day. Here’s a short slideshow I put together on one of its best uses: gluing up small boxes. Using clamps to glue up any small box is tricky and almost always frustrating. The clamps are too large for the Continue reading»

Would You Cut Up This Table?

Steve Shanesy — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:36:49 +0000

Just over 30 years ago I bought a dining table from Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers and it changed my life. How? When the 8′-long Shaker-style harvest table was delivered, I studied it for awhile and naively concluded I could build it. At that time I knew almost nothing about woodworking. But I was curious to know Continue reading»

Woodworking in America – Centuries of Experience

Robert W. Lang — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:51:29 +0000

When it comes time to choose instructors for our Woodworking in America conferences, I feel like a kid set loose in the candy store. We don’t use demographic studies or market research, instead we sit down as a group and each of us presents a list of the woodworkers we really want to meet, shake Continue reading»

Tool Abuse…But I’m Not (Terribly) Sorry

Megan Fitzpatrick — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:41:58 +0000

This morning as I walked out my front door, my hair got caught in some low-hanging branches from the cherry tree that shades the front porch. That was enough to finally spur me into action and get out the pruning shears. Problem was, the branches that needed cutting back were too thick for my pruning Continue reading»

And the Moto-Saw Winner is…

Megan Fitzpatrick — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:00:20 +0000

First, thanks to all of you who entered – I had a hard time deciding on a winner. In the end, I guess I’ll have to chalk up the winning entry to my sometimes-sophomoric sense of humor. And without further ado: Congratulations to Ronald_T, for his winning limerick: I once tried to chisel a mortise, Continue reading»

Don’t Believe Everything You Read

Robert W. Lang — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:16:33 +0000

For centuries, woodworking skills and techniques were passed down directly from master to student. If you wanted to learn, you spent time with someone who had done it for a long time, followed an example that you saw first hand, and tried it yourself with your teacher there to correct your mistakes. When we learn Continue reading»

New Episode of ‘The Highland Woodworker’

Matthew Teague — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:09:04 +0000

The second episode of “The Highland Woodworker” web TV show is out and if you haven’t seen this new show yet, it’s definitely worth a look. Produced in conjunction with Highland Hardware in Atlanta, the show provides great woodworking advice and visits with some of the best woodworkers out there. (The first episode included a Continue reading»

‘Mastering Hand Tools’ – a 2-DVD Set from Christopher Schwarz

Megan Fitzpatrick — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:38:09 +0000

“Mastering Hand Tools: Basic Skills for Balanced Woodworking,” a new 2-disc video from Christopher Schwarz, contributing editor, introduces you to the basic hand-tool skills you need to integrate hand tools intelligently and confidently into your shop. Why use hand tools? That’s one of the first questions Chris answers as he explains how even a hard-core Continue reading»