Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Ridiculous Woodworking Books (Give me More!)

As I work on the upcoming article “Young Maker’s Bookshelves” (for the October 2017 issue), I’m reminded of one of my favorite-ever posts (from 2009): “Ridiculous Woodworking Books, ” by Christopher Schwarz – mostly for the hilarious responses. But that was 8 years ago – it’s time for some new ones. Here’s a few from me (which are at best merely amusing): “The Ultimate Guide to Craft Fair Crap” (an […]

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Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Lee’s Horizontal Bookcase

This was my first big project that I designed start to finish, and I’m extremely happy with the results. I started woodworking only about two years ago, and watching The Wood Whisperer videos has really helped me with my progress as an amateur woodworker. I’ve been inspired to try projects I never thought I could do.

The bookcase shelves and backing are all maple 3/4″ plywood. I was lucky enough to get some sheets that had a lot of birds-eye grain which really popped once finished. I started by using my plunge-router to dado the backing to give the shelves some extra support and make leveling them easier. Once I had that together, I built the outside with 1 by 6 pine that I Kreg-jigged together to avoid showing any screws. I alternated the lengths of the boards on each side by 3/4″ to make the end-grain interlock for some extra character on the corners, and I’m really pleased with how that ended up looking! When that was all connected, I finished off the front with some 1 by 3 and 1 by 2 pine trim pieces, attached with brad nails and some counter-sunk screws for extra strength, and then capped with some wood plugs.

With a bit of wood filler for the brads, a lot of sanding, and some finishing with Minwax Jacobean stain, the bookcase was complete! The bookcase  is about 7 feet long and 3 feet tall and fits along our living room wall perfectly. Luckily, my wife is a great decorator, so she added the finishing touches to make the bookcase a part of our home.

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Sharp edges – Seeing, Feeling and Elevating

A chisel’s cutting edge doesn’t so much wear away only  but fracture out of sharpness. It’s funny that we think of it as wearing to dullness in the way river rock is rounded by  river run and beach pebbles and stones by tidal washes when in my experience, looking at the edge and magnifying it, the …

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To See Like a Woodworker – A Forgotten Chamfer

In the August 2017 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, George Walker shares what it means to “See Like a Designer.” The article tells the classic story of how his workshop students transition from casual consumers of objects and art to sentient observers of form and design. It is a transition that I am familiar with – my upbringing in a machine shop that created custom automation equipment meant that very […]

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Congrats to Mark Bushinski, PWM 2017 Workshop Makeover Winner!

Mark with daughter

Congratulations to Mark Bushinski of Minneapolis, Minnesota! Mark was chosen as the winner of the Popular Woodworking Magazine 2017 Workshop Makeover Giveaway. Mark won a new workshop stocked with more than $9,200 of tools from Jet, Bessey and Woodpeckers. Mark, where do you live and what is your occupation? I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with my wife and two children. I am 35 years old and work for the state […]

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Monday, June 12, 2017

How to Resize a Cabinet Door

Cut the door to size on the table saw

We all know the old saw about measuring twice and cutting once. I’ve even gone one better in my world: Measure three times. Nonetheless, I still occasionally find that I’ve made a door or a drawer the wrong size. (I once made an entire cabinet, complete with four drawers, that was an inch too wide for the opening where it was intended to go…oh, the pain.) Over the years, I’ve […]

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How to Make Snap-to-line Templates

I have used snap-to-line templates for my work for a number of years now and no other method of making templates comes close. They are accurate and long lasting too. We made a quick video to help you understand the techniques and I am sure you will enjoy this. Here is the video for my …

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