Popular Woodworking Magazine
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Our Best-Selling Woodworking Books
January 6, 2009
All the editors here at Popular Woodworking have a disease that causes woodworking fever. We each have more tools, when, if put in one place, would rival any home-improvement store’s inventory. We love putting tools to wood and making shavings and sawdust, out of which rises some amazing projects. Between us, we’ve build just about everything there is to make out of wood — including fruit. That got us to thinking ...
In the Newest Issue: 7 Strategies for Better Drawers
January 6, 2009
The February 2009 issue has been mailed to subscribers and will be available for sale on the newsstands starting next week. As always, we try to provide you with the best traditional and modern woodworking techniques, and the newest issue is no exception. Here are some of the stories you'll find in the latest...
Shaker Tall Clocks: A Family Project
December 30, 2008
Whenever I get the opportunity to speak to a woodworking club or group for the first time, I introduce myself and tell a great story about when my Dad and I first traveled to a lumberyard to purchase material. We were both very green and miss-spoke a few key woodworking terms – I’m sure we made an impression on the salesman. When the terminology ...
Porter-Cable Faces Issue Head-on
December 23, 2008
A short while ago, Porter-Cable brought out a new line of tools targeted at professionals. These tools were shown to editors in an event in New York and are in stores now (click here to read about the tools). I received a phone call yesterday afternoon from one of my Delta/Porter-Cable contacts and the focus of the phone call was...
Time to Catch Up With SketchUp
December 22, 2008
A few weeks ago, I posted a request for readers to help us build our collection of SketchUp models of magazine projects on Google's 3D Warehouse. Thanks to some enthusiastic readers, our collection has doubled in size, and several readers earned one or more back issue CDs. If you missed that post, or didn't get around to sending a model, the offer is still open, and will be until we have every project we've published since 2000 in the collection. ...
Tool Review: Kreg Quick Change System
December 16, 2008
If case you haven’t been watching the calendar, we’re little more than a week away from Christmas. And if you're working on projects that are the center of your holiday gift giving, you'll need to step it up a bit. This might just be the time to switch from watching glue...
Woodworking Nerd Test Part 1
December 12, 2008
Woodworkers have a slightly different definition of normal than the rest of the world. Keeping special pieces of wood for a long, long time falls into that category. A little more than seventeen years ago, I picked up a bunch of cherry at an unbelievable price. But that's another story, and another symptom. Within that pile were some boards that looked like they were infested with bugs or covered with mold, odd little dark spots on the surface of the rough lumber. I first thought it...
Tool Review: WorkSharp to Sharpen Wide Tools
December 5, 2008
With all the talk at our “Woodworking in America” conference about how to properly sharpen plane blades, I didn’t see or hear one presenter mention a power sharpening system. I know there are many woodworkers that sharpen with electric-powered sharpeners. As you may know – I was asked numerous times at the conference – I use a WorkSharp 3000 to sharpen my chisels and plane blades. I find that tool the best way for me to...
Bridge City Sale on Profiles for the HP-6
December 3, 2008
If you've ever wondered what happens when you combine high-quality beautifully designed tools with a blue-light special, head on over to Bridge City Tools. The Portland, Ore., toolmaking company is having a sale on the different profiles for its HP-6. The HP-6 is a cool moulding plane that uses interchangeable soles and cutters so you can produce a wide variety of profiles. The sale...
Make a SketchUp Model and Earn an Annual CD
December 1, 2008
Back in October we launched a Google SketchUp Collection of projects that have been featured in Popular Woodworking and Woodworking magazines. Your response has been great, and we'd like to ask our SketchUp using readers to help us build the collection. Over the years we've published lots of plans, and most of them are available on the Projects page of popularwoodworking.com. Two-dimensional drawings are good, but 3-D models are even better.Not...
Purchase by Torque
December 1, 2008
In the 26 months that I’ve been working at Popular Woodworking, we’ve studied and discussed drills in most ways imaginable. We’ve examined batteries moving from 12 volts through 18 volts and even up to 36 volts in power. (Now we’re moving back down the scale to see manufacturers develop 10.8-volt drill/drivers and even a handful of tools...
A Stinky Solution for Soiled Saws
December 1, 2008
While pegging the joints in a Shaker stepback I built for the February 2009 issue of Popular Woodworking (which mails to subscribers at the end of December), I used a $100 flush-cut saw. It’s a darn nice saw. Unless one clogs the teeth with glue. Now, I...
A Few of My Favorite Books
November 25, 2008
As Turkey Day hits and the retail market gears up for crowds, it's time for us to add one more cliche to the pile by making our suggestions of shopping options for the woodworking book lover. What the heck, try and go one day without a cliche! We asked the PW editors for their favorite books from who else, but Popular Woodworking Books! Oh, and I made them promise not to pick their own books,...
F+W Warehouse Book Sale is Back!
November 25, 2008
If a decade ago you lived in the Cincinnati area, you likely attended the F+W Warehouse sale. At the time, we had a book warehouse on our Evanston property (the old Coca Cola bottling plant), and every year we sold returns, remainders and overstock books at rock-bottom prices. It's been almost 10 years since we had the sale (Xavier University ...
Roy Underhill Contemplates The Ax
November 24, 2008
One of the highlights of the Woodworking in America conference in November 2008 was Roy Underhill's keynote address. Underhill, the hero to many hand-tool woodworkers, touched on a lot of subjects. But one of the best parts of the speech was about his own personal history with the ax. Two personal notes. Roy had been drinking (Red Bull)...
Going Back to My Old School
November 24, 2008
When you hear about high school wood shop programs these days, the news is generally sad. Many schools have given up entirely, selling off the equipment and sending the message that there isn't any value in learning to make things out of wood. So it was refreshing to be invited to speak to the wood shop classes at my alma mater, Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio. My topic was Arts & Crafts furniture, and I was pleased to see that the program...
A Return to Power (And it’s not Politics)
November 24, 2008
Having recently returned from our “Woodworking in America” conference, I immediately went to my shop and turned on a couple power tools. Whew! I needed to do that. The weekend was great. I met so many woodworkers and I picked up so much hand-tool information that it will take me a week or two to record and arrange the vast amount ...
“Cool Tools” Contest Winners
November 21, 2008
Last week we ran a contest asking for your submission of your favorite "Cool Tools." The responses were overwhelming, and after a random selection I am proud to announce the winners. Each winner will receive a DIY Network Komelon SS Gripper tape measure. So without further ado, here are the winners along with their votes ...
Woodworking in America Slideshow
November 19, 2008
We're editing our photos and video today from our Woodworking in America conference. In the meantime, please visit the excellent slideshow from Narayan Nayar. Narayan is a tremendous photographer – I think he took the best photo of Roy Underhill that I've seen so far. Warning: There are a few photos here that will either make you drool or your wallet to twitch. After you visit...
Puzzle House
November 18, 2008
OK, you have a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. Your challenge is to design a house or structure using 4x8 sheets of plywood without driving a nail or screw. Oh, yeah, did I mention no glue either? A recently closed exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York showed just how to do it, thanks to the efforts of the architecture and engineering colleges at the Massachusetts Institute...
A Stampede For Colt’s MaxiCut Bits
November 18, 2008
We’ve received a number of inquiries asking about the MaxiCut bits that were first seen at the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta and were included in our coverage of the show. (Click here to read the entry by editor Chris Schwarz) Originally, we reported that Colt would have MaxiCut bits available in the States sometime in October. These bits are selected as one of our “Best New Tools...
Prizes and Cash for Your Best Tricks
November 12, 2008
Tricks of the trade is one of our most popular regular columns. In each issue, we print the best ideas submitted by our readers for making life in the shop easier. Every trick we publish is rewarded with a cash payment of $50-$100, and the reader who submits the best one for each issue receives a $250 gift certificate from Lee Valley. The easiest way to get in on this is to submit your trick...
Contest: Show Us Your “Cool Tools”
November 11, 2008
With Thanksgiving just around the bend, the pressure is looming for one of the hardest jobs of the year – holiday shopping. I’m not sure which is more difficult –choosing what to purchase for your loved ones, or convincing them how much you need that new Lie-Nielsen plane. Although I can’t offer much help with the first problem (I can only recommend...
Tool Test: Sand Finish with a Zip
November 10, 2008
A couple weeks back we were up to our armpits in finishing work. Two projects were in the finishing area awaiting completion for photo shoots this past Wednesday. (I'm happy to report that both projects made the deadline and everything went as planned.) It just so happened that I had a couple...
December 2008 Arts & Mysteries
November 10, 2008
In the subscriber issues of December 2008 Popular Woodworking, there was an insert glued to page 25, and it seems our printer used a super-strong adhesive that didn't allow easy removal. First, our apologies. We'll do our best to make sure that doesn't happen again. Second, click below for a pdf of the article in it's entirety. — Megan Fitzpatrick, managing editor ...
Popular Woodoworking Videos – Now on iTunes!
November 3, 2008
A few weeks ago I was contacted by our video host, Blip.tv, and a few clicks later many of our favorite Popular Woodworking videos were made available on iTunes. In fact, in just the few short days we’ve been live, our feed has made the front-page of iTunes Podcasts.If you take a look at our video channel, you’ll probably notice that not all of our videos...
Quick Survey: How do You Finish Your Projects?
November 3, 2008
My favorite top-coat finish is spray lacquer. Sure, I've used just about every finishing product under the sun, but I keep coming back to spray lacquer because it's so fast and so difficult to mess up. In the dead of winter when I can't spray outside, I use a wiping varnish. As we plan our finishing coverage for 2009, we'd really like your input on a key piece ...
Woodworking in America – Hands On Clinics
October 29, 2008
Before any great event you begin to hear a buzz, and here in our offices we have a literal one (out in the shop as we prepare material) and a figurative one (online) and both are about the upcoming Woodworking in America conference. The conference sold out soon after we announced it, and the waiting list is approaching 275 names. We're working on plans for next year, and if you sign up for the newsletter, ...
How Big is Your Compressor?
October 29, 2008
Senior Editor Glen D. Huey and I were chatting yesterday morning about air tools. He really likes air-powered sanders. And we know that some of our contributors like air-powered tools so much that they tote compressors to the jobsite to run their drills, sanders and routers. But before we began exploring air-powered tools, we were curious about what equipment our readers have. Do you have a compressor?...
‘Out of the Woodwork’ Contest Winner
October 28, 2008
Our thanks to the many of you who sent in entries for our "Out of the Woodwork" Contest. Out of the almost 100 submissions, we selected nine that we plan to print in future issues of Popular Woodworking. The grand-prize winner is Micaela Evans, from Erie, Pa. We've posted her story and picture below. — Megan Fitzpatrick, managing editorIndustrial TechnologyIndustrial ...
