American Woodworker
 

Tips
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  • Furniture Repair Tips

    by American Woodworker Editors     Tuesday, February 2, 2010
    Tricks for taking it apart and getting it back together. by Mac Wentz Major furniture repair often involves disassembling the piece and putting it back together. Sounds simple enough: knock things apart and glue them back together. But anyone who’s...

  • Easy-Tighten Bar Clamps

    by American Woodworker Editors     Friday, January 22, 2010
    Bar clamps are great tools, but sometimes it’s tough to get a good grip on the small wood handle. To get extra torque, I drilled a hole in the handle and inserted a dowel. It gives me a lot more twisting oomph with a lot less hand strain. I drilled...

  • Playing Cards in the Shop

    by American Woodworker Editors     Friday, January 22, 2010
    A deck of playing cards can be very useful around the woodshop. One of my favorite uses is for shimming my dado set. I drill a 5/8-in. hole in the center of several cards and keep them with my dado set so they’re ready when I need them. Playing...

  • Reinforce Plywood for Hinge Screws

    by American Woodworker Editors     Friday, January 22, 2010
    Plywood edges don’t provide a very good anchor for hinge screws. So while building a wooden toy box that had a piano-hinged lid, I reinforced the plywood edge by routing a groove and gluing in a strip of solid wood. This provides a strong place...

  • Router Bit Spacers for Peace of Mind

    by American Woodworker Editors     Friday, January 22, 2010
    Recently I was routing a decorative edge on a large round tabletop. About halfway around, my router started to vibrate and I noticed (with great dismay) that the depth of the routed pattern had become much deeper than when I started. I turned off the...

  • Fingertip Protection

    by American Woodworker Editors     Friday, January 22, 2010
    I discovered the hard way that sanding on a lathe can be hard on the fingers. Now, to protect my fingers, I cut the fingertips off a latex-dipped work glove and wear one or two of the fingertips while sanding. Not only does this protect my fingertips...

  • Photocopy Template

    by American Woodworker Editors     Thursday, January 14, 2010
    I used to hate hanging objects, like power strips, that have hidden T-slots on the back. No matter how carefully I measured, I could never get the mounting screws in the right place on the wall. Then I realized that I could make a perfect full-size copy...

  • Template Routing Tips

    by American Woodworker Editors     Tuesday, January 12, 2010
    by Randy Johnson If you want to get the most from your router, you need to master template routing. Once you learn the basics you can spend a lifetime exploring its many possibilities. You’ll be able to build more kinds of projects, more accurately...

  • Picture Frames from Scrap

    by American Woodworker Editors     Friday, January 8, 2010
    I finally found a great use for all those pieces of scrap wood that pile up around my shop: I make simple picture frames out of them. As you can see there’s not much to them. The size shown here is for a 6- x 6-in.-square picture that I printed...

  • Strike Plate Mounting Magic

    by American Woodworker Editors     Monday, December 14, 2009
    When I had to install a bunch of magnetic catches recently, I came up with this simple method to mark the doors for the strike plate. It requires no measuring and the results are neat and clean. Just insert the mounting screw in the plate and attach it...

  • 8-ft. Straightedge for $4

    by American Woodworker Editors     Monday, December 14, 2009
    Whenever I have to cut down a sheet of plywood I reach for one of my trusty metal stud straightedges. Metal studs are available in different thicknesses for different applications. A 20-gauge non-load-bearing drywall stud (about 35¢/ft.) won’t...

  • Inside/Outside Frame Clamping

    by American Woodworker Editors     Tuesday, December 8, 2009
    I love making small picture frames but I had a problem keeping them square during clamping. I fixed my problem by making a pair of squaring blocks that I spring clamp to the inside of the frame parts before adding the band clamp. I also use outside corner...

  • Ipe - Wood or Metal?

    by American Woodworker Editors     Tuesday, December 8, 2009
    by Tom Caspar Ipe (pronounced E-pay) is a South American wood as exotic as its name. When you hold a piece, you know it’s something special. Ipe sinks in water like cast iron, is hard as nails and polishes like brass. Of course, you don’t...

  • 12 Tips for Faster, Smoother, Better Sanding

    by American Woodworker Editors     Wednesday, December 2, 2009
    by Eric Smith People give me strange looks when I tell them I don’t mind sanding. Yeah, it’s dusty and a bit tedious, but I enjoy watching the fine detail in the wood grain pop out as I go through the grit sequence. That silky smooth surface...

  • Buying Euro Hinges

    by American Woodworker Editors     Wednesday, December 2, 2009
    Confused by all the variations? Here's how to find the hinges you need. by Tim Johnson Euro hinges have revolutionized the way American cabinet shops mount cabinet doors. Originally developed as part of the European frameless cabinetmaking system...
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