Tricks of the Trade
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Ball Field Blast Gate
The position of my radial arm saw and dust chute doesn’t leave room for a blast gate.
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Securing Vac Hoses with Shelf Pins
I was just about to order one of those fancy (and expensive!) quick-connect fittings to solve the problem of my vacuum hoses always pulling apart at the most inopportune moments.
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Clearing the Air
The exhaust air from my ceiling air filtration unit used to just blow dust around the shop, defeating its purpose.
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Cheap Alternative to Thumbscrews
The next time you are in need of a thumbscrew for a jig or a clamp, try an eye bolt with a machine thread instead of buying more specialized hardware.
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Easy-to-adjust Drawer Faces
When I build drawers with applied faces, here’s how I make the faces easy to adjust.
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Connecting the Dots
I keep sheets of colored adhesive dots in the shop to use for part assembly.
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Keyed into Easier, Accurate Box Joint Setups
Box joints make for strong construction, but I always found the pin-style miter gauge jig for my router table fussy to set up.
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Keep Water in the Loop
Usually the water filter in my air compressor line has sufficient capacity to keep the air dry, but when I’m spraying a really large project, it fills up rapidly.
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Drill Press “Safety Dog” Jig Eliminates the Spins
When a drill press catches on a workpiece and spins it, it’s an injury waiting to happen.
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Drier Belts, Better Seams
Over the years I’ve discovered that, during humid months, the moisture in the air sometimes loosens the glue seams on my belt-sander belts, causing them to break and come off during sanding.
