On the morning of Sunday, April 15th, Morton and I exchanged ideas about trestle tables, spurred on by a recent sketch of a table on which he was working. That got me yearning to build a trestle table. I documented my progress live on Twitter which was useful because each update had a time stamp so followers could … Continue reading Maple Trestle Table, Session 2 – Playing with Slabs
My cousin, Michael, asked me to make a wooden box to store his torque wrench. When he gave me the wrench so I could make the box to fit, he told me, "It doesn't need to be anything fancy - just something to protect it." My job was just to make the box and he … Continue reading Dovetails and Plywood
Last month, at the end of an article, I included a poll to see what you thought about woodworking videos. Two-thirds of you voted that I should make more videos, while a quarter acknowledged that they are useful for showing certain things difficult to describe with text and photographs. Your encouragement was enough to convince me to … Continue reading Commentary on Videos
Last week, I built a tall workbench and made a wooden Moxon vise for it. This piece of wormy maple seemed perfect for the front jaw so I squared off the ends. I elongated the holes in the front jaw to allow it to skew to hold uneven workpieces. This was the most that the jaw could … Continue reading My Moxon Vise with Flair
This bench was inspired after the Joinery Bench that Shannon Rogers brought to Woodworking in America. It was intended to simply be a taller workbench and I honestly did not know how useful I would find it (ask me in half a year). This small bench was built taller than normal (39.5") to allow joinery … Continue reading My Tall Workbench with Flair
Background I have had the 6" Mirka CEROS (Compact Electric Random Orbit Sander) for about a year. Although I have not used it in a production shop environment, I used it extensively for sanding sculptural work and, to a lesser degree, for flat surfaces. I have had absolutely no issues with it. When I purchased the Mirka … Continue reading Review of the Mirka CEROS
This post is part of Get Woodworking Week, an initiative started by Tom Iovino of Tom's Workbench, to build interest and participation in woodworking. I know that every one of my readers except for Paul-Marcel, for whom I made the first one, is scratching their head wondering what the heck a Br'all is, what it does, … Continue reading Every Workshop Needs a Br’all
When I first set up my dust collection network, I purchased some of these blast gates. The blast gates were used to control air flow by sliding the gate in a track, either allowing or blocking air flow. I closed gates to block airflow to tools not being used, thus increasing the suction to the … Continue reading Blasted Blast Gates
I really don’t know what to say about this project, other than it’s the most complex scroll saw puzzle I have made to date. It’s made up of 65 pieces of Douglas fir, which I’ll admit was ambitious. There are some really cool pieces that still blow my mind. One of the most challenging parts … Continue reading Diamond Challenge
Friday I set out to make a set of saw horses for my workshop. I have two large, heavy, A-frame saw horses that my dad built. I wanted some horses more suited for shop use - nimble and lightweight, yet still sturdy. I felt that this design popularized by the late James Krenov fit the … Continue reading A New Set of Sawhorses
