Woodsmith

In past letters, I’ve shared how I use my “shop notebook” to sketch project ideas, create drawings, and record the items I make each year. Lately, I came across a metric that reveals another dimension of my woodworking journey. Let’s call it the “router table principle.” I’ve had a router table in my shop for more than 20 years. The first was a standalone table in a basement shop. That morphed into a router table built into the wing of my table saw. After I sold my table saw, I used a shop-made benchtop router table. Last year, I made another free-standing table ... which I recently got rid of. Leave aside the idea that I can’t make up my mind. The router table represents how I have changed over…

NOTE: Drill holes based on your sander NOTE: Jaws are made from ¾" plywood Custom Sanding Discs At a garage sale, I came across a stack of hook and loop sanding discs. The price couldn’t be beat. There was just one catch: the discs didn’t have holes, as you can see in the photo above. (Turns out you can also purchase disc blanks new online.) In order to make the most of my haul, I needed a way to make holes that matched my sander. The jig shown at left does the job. Two hinged plywood jaws sandwich a short stack of discs (about five), as shown in the inset photo. A pattern of holes in the upper jaw serve as drill guides to create the holes in…

When I consider the fasteners I’ll use on a project, it’s easy to default to woodscrews. They’re simple to install and they’re reliable, but they’re far from the only fasteners available. In these next few pages, we’ll take a look at another set of options: wood fasteners. WHY WOOD? As useful as screws are, there’s a number of places in a project where they’re less than ideal. A screw is an inelegant way to reinforce a miter, and they lack shear strength compared to wood. Wood fasteners can also be used as quick alternatives to traditional joinery (for instance, dowels taking the place of a mortise and tenon in a frame, as in the photo at left). Here you’ll find the four, simple wood fasteners that I use most in…

If I had to pick a favorite tool in the shop, it might be the band saw. Freehand cutting workpieces is a joy, and it seems there’s always a new use to discover. It may not be as clean as the table saw, but it rivals even the router in its versatility. When it comes to shaping workpieces — from curved legs to decorative corbels — the band saw is my go-to. WHY THE BAND SAW? The unique design of a band saw is what makes it so useful for this. Using a narrow blade with a high tooth count is great for cutting tight curves on smaller workpieces, while swapping out for a wider one limits the blade marks when cutting tapers or long arcs. Plus, the band saw’s…

If I were to restart my journey in woodworking, building, and remodeling, it would be a tough choice as to which tandem of circular saws shown here I would choose. The photo below shows the pair of saws that I still have, and they work just fine. But they don’t have the ergonomics and flexibility of the two cordless options from Milwaukee that we’re talking about on this spread. M18 FUEL 6½" SAW The circular saw you see on this page is a new release from Milwaukee that I would be tempted to replace my old Skil 7¼" worm-drive. The saw has plenty of power to make the kind of cuts you see in the main photo on the previous page. Milwaukee suggests using the mid-range High Output XC6.0 battery…

Post-war American culture had lots going on. As the thoughts of conflict receded in the rear view mirror of that flashy-finned car rolling down the new interstate highway, everything was moving fast. Building booms in housing for the young families of returning soldiers meant a need for furniture as well. The coffee table you see here haunts of that time. It’s a reflection of the confident, fast-moving moments that many of us remember as the children that were along for the ride. MEMORIES. The following is Chris Fitch’s memory of his introduction to this genre: “My parents had a Danish-modern coffee table with a walnut finish (or walnut wood), it didn’t look quite like this one but I can’t help but associate a walnut coffee table with drawing pictures, playing…