Find good dust protection. I don’t have a dust collection system. I know I need one, but it is not quite in the budget just yet. I use my shop vacuum and that helps, but my shop is always very dusty. Until I can make arrangements to be able to collect the dust at the […]

Great storage for a small space. One of the smartest space saving projects I ever created for my small workshop was a mobile lumber and sheet good storage rack. I built mine based on a modified design from a pattern in Woodcraft Magazine. The pattern can be downloaded at Woodcraft. Even if you are a […]

Fast & Easy & Profitable. For the past three months all I’ve done is build outdoor furniture – redwood from the home store, screw joinery, straight cuts, and Spar varnish. About 8 years ago I wanted to get back into woodworking. I was in my last Air Force assignment, and I thought I would be […]

“A Good Reference for the Basics” Start with Peter Korn and go from there. If you’re like me you have taught yourself most of the essential woodworking techniques; I’m still learning, and more often than not I learn the hard way. Most of us learned from our dad or uncle–in some cases our mom or […]

Even though there are hundreds of resources available on woodworking, it seems I learn most of my lesson the hard way. Ironically, over the past few years of reading and watching everything I can get my hands on about woodworking, I’ve read about most of my mistakes. I thought I knew much more than I […]

Arts & Crafts Straight lines and simple designs. When I first got brave enough to start building furniture without a pattern I began to realize how many different styles there were. I actually struggled when creating designs; I was sometimes inconsistent with different styles in the same project – not necessarily wrong but unusual. There […]

I still humbled myself and admitted when I hadn’t done something like what they were requesting, but I was confident enough with wood that I could tackle new things. Fortunately it worked out. I did a couple projects where I promised the customer that if they didn’t like it I wouldn’t obligate them to the […]

Only you know what’s acceptable for your projects. Maybe I have old eyes or just bad eyes, but I can’t distinguish between the marks of a 64th of an inch. I have a ruler marked to 1/64th, and I’ve tried countless times to use it, but frankly I can never tell exactly where one tiny […]

The right tools & a good jig makes the project easier. Woodworking provides a wide spectrum of challenges depending on you experience and training. If you are new to woodworking a basic mortise and tenon joint can provide an adequate challenge. If you are an experienced woodworker a free-hand cut inlay might be a good […]