November 20th, 2009 by Rob Johnstone
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A new version of an old friend. This jig is modeled after one that Rob used as a young man in his dad's shop.
Regardless of the situation, when the going gets tough there is nothing like a tried-and-true friend to get you where you want to go. Recently, I was building a pretty basic piece of woodworking for the print magazine. Building a project for a magazine is a little different than building for yourself in a couple of ways. First, rather than simply coming up with the simplest and fastest way to get the job done, I try to include techniques and tools that our readers will find interesting and useful. Secondly, when you are done with the project, about a quarter million people will have a chance to check out your work (and often share their opinion of said work). So, when it came to deciding just how to plow the dadoes for the Modular Bookcases in the December 2009 issue, I went back to basics and built a copy of a jig that hung on the wall of my dad’s cabinet shop “back in the day.”
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Tags: Dadoes, Projects, Router, Shop Projects
Posted in Jigs and Fixtures | 1 Comment »
November 16th, 2009 by Chris Marshall
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Ryan's advice about loaning tools? Borrowers should pony up when they pick it up.
A big sawdusty thanks to all of you who left comments about the recent blog post “Got Rules for Your Tools?”. I think we woodworkers are a pretty organized, attention-to-details sort of bunch. So it came as no surprise that you folks would have some rules to live by in your shop. Still waiting to hear from some of you that don’t choose to keep the place spotless. Maybe us neatniks are missing something…
Aside from being a kick to read, your “rules” also had me nodding yes. No goofing off. Keep wet beverages off the table saw. Wear your shoes in the shop. Keep things sorted. Goggles on or you’re gone.
Yep. Check. Agreed. (Guess there’s some shop teacher genes in many of us.)
But, I’ve just got to call attention to a topic raised by Ryan, in his response:
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Tags: Borrowing, Power Tools
Posted in Tools | 8 Comments »
November 13th, 2009 by Chris Marshall
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Holiday projects are prime time for brushing up on some skills while churning out the seasonal cheer.
It’s official. Halloween is behind us and crops are coming out of the fields. Home Depot has the artificial Christmas tree display up right now, so the harbingers are all around us: December holiday season is right around the corner.
You know where I’m gonna take this, don’t you?
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Tags: Bowls, Dovetails, Gift Project Ideas, Woodturning
Posted in Projects | Leave A Comment »
November 9th, 2009 by Chris Marshall
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Who knew there were so many uses for pallets? You do, and the comments prove it.
What a nice response we’ve had from you folks to our recent blog post about turning skids into usable lumber (“Skid Row”). Looks like we tapped into a good topic here. Keep your comments and suggestions coming in, please!
I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus lately from the blog to get a big tool review ready for the January print issue of the magazine. And, aside from a lot of heavy lifting to hit that deadline, it’s added a third floor to my growing tower of skids outside the shop. Looks like it’s time to start cutting some of them up and figuring out what to build…
In that regard, I thought it might be fun to tally up all the many ways you have commented that you use skid lumber. Hopefully you’ll give the rest of us some good ideas for turning pallets into projects:
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Tags: Bird Houses, Cherry, Compost Bins, Exotics, Fasteners, lacewood, mahogany, Maple, Outdoor Projects, Pine, Planter Boxes, Projects, Skids, White Oak, Workbench
Posted in Projects | 2 Comments »
November 6th, 2009 by Joanna Takes
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Like all industries, magazines have their award ceremonies – and one of them was held in our neck of the woods last night. Woodworker’s Journal went for the gold – and came home with it, from the 13th annual MMPA awards
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Tags: award, magazine
Posted in Issue Preview | Leave A Comment »
November 4th, 2009 by Matt Becker
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This reader-submitted project showcases an inventive use of the space normally reserved for drawers:
Walnut end table with one drawer and four dinner trays. The trays are walnut and 1/4″ white Corian. – Kevin Sargent; Overland Park, KS
Do you have a project that you’d like to share? Click here to send it in!
Tags: end table, reader projects, Walnut
Posted in Readers' Projects | 3 Comments »
November 2nd, 2009 by Chris Marshall
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Mounting the blank of dentil on-edge to a base allows gravity to take care of the excess finish and hold it while the piece dries. Brush the finish on liberally and don't worry about it.
By now you may have read my Dentil Picture Frame article that’s running in the fold-out portion of the December 2009 issue (page 23). But, I wasn’t able to tell you everything I wanted to about the project…our pages will only fit so much.
So, for those of you who may have one of these frames earmarked for the holiday project gift list, here’s a little trick I used for finishing the maple dentil. Before I ripped the larger blank into narrower strips, it seemed like a smart time to apply finish. That way, I knew I could avoid having to pull excess finish out of the recess where the dentil sets into the frame. It was definitely the right call here. (I try to dodge every finishing headache I can!)
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Tags: Brushing, Dentil, moldings, shellac, Spraying
Posted in Finishing | Leave A Comment »
October 30th, 2009 by Chris Marshall
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Do you ever run across one of those super-simple woodworking products that makes you wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself? A lot of folks are feeling that way about Rockler’s new Bench Cookies. Here’s a link if you haven’t seen them already:
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=21496&filter=bench%20cookie
But, I ran across another smart idea the other day while testing a bunch of cool dovetail jigs. (You’ll read more about that in our December print issue, so stay tuned!) One of these jigs requires several guide bushings, and they came with a little gift from router heaven: a spring-steel washer.
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Tags: Rockler, Router, Router Bits, Templates
Posted in Accessories | Leave A Comment »
October 28th, 2009 by Matt Becker
3 Comments »
I’ve been experimenting with mesquite lumber, here are photos of my first efforts. Attached are photos of two small and one medium size project.
All are made from mesquite lumber (the bowl is mesquite burl) and accented with turquoise inlay.
Dave Croxton – Tucson, Arizona
I’ve said this before but it’s still true: one of the best parts of my job is seeing all of the photos of projects that readers send in. This is certainly no exception:
I’ve been experimenting with mesquite lumber, here are photos of my first efforts. Attached are photos of two small and one medium size project. All are made from mesquite lumber (the bowl is mesquite burl) and accented with turquoise inlay. - Dave Croxton; Tucson, Arizona
Click through to see these great projects!
Tags: burl, mesquite, reader projects
Posted in Readers' Projects | 3 Comments »
October 26th, 2009 by Joanna Takes
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Bill Hylton surveys two full-featured router tables in Today's Shop.
There’s a December issue of Woodworker’s Journal headed to your mailbox soon, and this issue is dedicated to one of our all-time favorite tools: the router. Here’s the inside scoop on what you’ll find.
Whiz-bang Router Tables: Bill Hylton takes a close look at two of the industry’s “top-shelf” router tables in “Today’s Shop,” and he discusses how installing a router in a table can help you take new “routes” in your woodworking projects. If you’d rather build your own router table, Sandor Nagyszalanczy has designed a versatile horizontal router table, and we’ll provide the measured drawings and step-by-steps so you can build one for your shop.
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Tags: Bookcase, Box Joints, Dovetail Jig, Finger Joints, Highboy, Picture Frame, Projects, Router, Router Bits, Router Table, Table Saw
Posted in Issue Preview | Leave A Comment »
