Woodworking machines are great, but there’s more of a place for hand tools than many people think. Click below to watch how I refine the bevel on the edge of raised door panels using a sharp hand plane. The results […]
Continue ReadingDETAIL SANDERS: Tips for Using This Key Tool for Outdoor Wood Refinishing
Summer is the season you’re most likely to refinish outdoor trim, door frames, window sashes and finickity woodwork of all kinds, and detail sanders are tools I’ve come to rely on for this kind of work. Also called multitools these days because they can also cut and grind, detail sanders are not for stripping back large expanses of bare wood.
Continue ReadingQ&A: How Can I Dispose of Shavings From My Planer?
Q: I recently bought a benchtop wood planer and have been happily generating bags and bags of sawdust in my workshop. Trouble is, I just found out that my municipality doesn’t accept sawdust as garbage. How can I dispose of […]
Continue ReadingAMISH CARPENTERS & CORDLESS TOOLS
Cordless tools have been at the leading edge of the building scene for decades, but not everyone who embraces cordless tools are leading edge people. Take the Amish for instance. Although they call themselves “the plain people”, they dress in […]
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WOOD PLANERS: Tips for Choosing & Maintaining One
UPDATED 13Jun2019 (Video below): There are big reasons to like a wood planer for your workshop. Not to be confuses with a jointer, wood planers (also called “thickness planers”) are a class of stationary power tool designed to smooth the […]
Continue ReadingCORDLESS TOOLS: Three New Kinds You’ve Probably Never Used – Yet
Power tool technology is the same as every other kind of advancement in the world. New stuff is expensive and exclusive at first, then it gets cheaper and more widely available over time. So what kind of new and interesting […]
Continue ReadingSANDING CABINET FACE FRAMES: Video Shows the Right Way To Do It
Face frames surround cabinet door and drawer openings and they’re also used as part of frame and panel construction of all kinds. Click below to watch the video of my classic lesson on sanding face frames from back in 2008. […]
Continue ReadingWOODWORKING VIDEO: Use a Router to Make Fancy Handrails
In this video Steve Maxwell shows DIY (do-it-yourself) homeowners how to build wood handrails, beginning with making blanks from rough lumber.
Continue ReadingTOOLS: Two Portable Workstation Strategies
More than one old-timer I know tells how new carpenters used to be judged on the job by their ability to build a sawhorse. If they could deal successfully with the required angles and joints of a sawhorse, creating something solid and […]
Continue ReadingMill Your Own Micro Lumber
It’s easy to look past the obvious fact that lumber comes from logs, but once you start thinking this way, interesting things can happen. It’s surprisingly easy to mill short, small logs into furniture-grade boards, right in your own workshop, […]
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