Popular Woodworking Editors Blog

Early tomorrow morning, I’m traveling to Amana, Iowa, with Christopher Schwarz, John Hoffman, Ty Black and Andrew Lunn for the May 24-25 HandWorks: Woodworking Tools and Traditions event. But first, I’m upending all the couch cushions, checking my old purses and scrabbling under the car seat to see how much loose change I can dig … Read more »

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Note the wheel in the lower right corner – ouch. No, I didn’t drop a chisel on my foot or get bit by the table saw. But I did run into challenges of several sorts in the shop this weekend while working on a Shaker blanket chest with half-blind dovetails for an upcoming issue, and … Read more »

The post Work(wo)man’s Compensation appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

This week, I swear I’m getting started on my workbench. To heck with my computer, I need to make dust or something. It’s time to get into the shop. Trouble is, I don’t have, as of yet, any tools at the Popular Woodworking Magazine shop. I need a place to store my tools when I … Read more »

The post Yellow Pine, Poplar or Plywood for Workbench Storage appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A hearty congratulations goes out to James McGlothlin of Willow City, Texas, for winning our JET Lathe Sweepstakes – he’s taking home the JET 1221VS variable-speed lathe. McGlothlin is a retired Baptist pastor who now spends a good deal of his time woodworking. He starting making wooden toys when his children were small, but has … Read more »

The post We Have a Winner! appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I am beyond delighted to announce that Charles “Chuck” Bender is Popular Woodworking Magazine’s new senior editor. He’ll be writing project and technique articles (lots of articles) for the magazine and web site, serving as one of our a technical editors, handling tool reviews and Tricks of the Trade, answering e-mails from you on all … Read more »

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Here is a sneak peak at the cover project for the August 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. This project is also the subject of a video from Robert W. Lang that will be available soon. Subscribe now, and you won't miss out. Read more »

The post Sneak Peek at August Popular Woodworking Magazine Cover Project appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

My trip to Winterthur greatly impacted my knowledge of Hannah’s Inlaid Chest (what others may know as the Darlington Chest) I built for the June 2013 issue (#204). I posted a few things that would tilt the chest toward being a closer reproduction. I also promised I would point out which drawer was the imposter … Read more »

The post Final Notes on Hannah’s Inlaid Chest appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

My trip to Winterthur greatly impacted my knowledge of the Hannah’s Inlaid Chest (what others may know as the Darlington Chest) I built in the June 2013 magazine (issue #204). I posted a few things that would tilt the chest toward being a closer reproduction. I also promised I would point out which drawer was … Read more »

The post Final Notes on Hannah’s Inlaid Chest appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A happy 35th anniversary to Highland Woodworking (nee Highland Hardware) in Atlanta, Ga., and congratulations to its founders, Chris and Sharon Bagby, for offering the best tool selection in the South for three+ decades. To celebrate, they’re offering special 1-day deals (May 15 only) both in the store and on the web; click here to … Read more »

The post Highland Woodworking – 35 Years Young appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When it comes time to make moldings with SketchUp, many woodworkers struggle. They get the hang of making each piece a component, and figure out that a molding is simply an extruded face. Where things go south is when it comes time to turn a corner; how can that be accomplished with as little blood, … Read more »

The post Make Molding with SketchUp appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

As regular blog readers know, I have too many tools with no home – so I’ve been building an “Anarchist’s Tool Chest” – a traditional English chest – a la Christopher Schwarz’s book on the subject. And as regular readers know, I’ve been building it since…oh…since many months ago (I’m almost done – really! Just … Read more »

The post A Two-day Traditional-looking Tool Chest appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Sila Kopf, renowned marquetarian will be one of the featured speakers at this year's Woodworking in America conference, held October 18-20, 2013 in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Read more »

The post New This Year at Woodworking in America–Silas Kopf appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

On Hannah’s Inlaid Chest from our June 2013 magazine (issue #204), I scratched most of the string inlay by hand using tools from both Lie-Nielsen Toolworks and Lee Valley/Veritas. Of the string inlay tools used on the chest, the most import is the radius cutter. For that job, I selected the tool from Lie-Nielsen (item … Read more »

The post String Inlay Tools – Radius Cutters appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I met Evan Court last month at CraftBoston, where he was representing the North Bennet Street School as one of the students in their furniture-making program. Here’s a brief and informal introduction for you – Evan’s latest work, a great sideboard that was on display at the show: But what I really want to tell … Read more »

The post Why Build a Traditional Tool Chest? Wait’ll You See the Sideboard appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’m in Fort Collins, Colo., for an in-house conference where editors and community leaders in all areas of our parent company, F+W Media, are getting together to share ideas, talk about the business etc. And last night, we had a trade show so that each of us could demonstrate to our fellow employees what we … Read more »

The post Road-tested: The ‘Milkman’s Workbench’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I probably shouldn’t share these here, because I copied the images from another site: Flavorwire (my daily stop for cool stuff on the Interwebs). But I couldn’t resist, because these two workplace safety posters about woodworking tools are awesome. I wonder what they say? Not that it matters – the point is clear. (See 10 … Read more »

The post A Safety Message from the Netherlands (You Needn’t Know Dutch) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

OK, I know I wrote that I would tell more about the Darlington chest (June 2013 cover project) next week. But I have three big reveals, so I had to share another bit yet this week. And this post should give you a little insight into the world of museums and high-priced antiques. Here goes. … Read more »

The post A Day at Winterthur: Part 2 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Woodworking, like fishing covers a lot of territory, so the audience for our magazine and website is a diverse lot. When I learned how to make stuff out of wood, the internet didn’t exist and there was only one magazine and few books available on the subject. Lacking these modern resources, I was forced to … Read more »

The post Hand Tool Maintenance-Don’t Ruin Your Tools! appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

This week I’m at Acanthus Workshop LLC teaching a class in which we are building the cover project from the June issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, the Hannah Darlington Chest. Tuesday morning started out great: Breakfast at Annamarie’s; pancakes to die for; then it was off to Winterthur to get a close-up look at the … Read more »

The post A Day at Winterthur: an Eye-opening Experience appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

It’s Sunday, and I’m at work to process lumber so that I can get started on a project that involves 44 half-blind dovetails for the October issue of the magazine. And it’s possible that on Saturday night I had one-too many adult libations (or I perhaps just didn’t sleep long enough…or both); I’m feeling a … Read more »

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