MejorChoy Indoor Mini Basketball Hoop Set for Kids for Door Wall

Our staff offers simple, strong and fast ways to make this important furniture component. In woodworking magazines, books and plans there’s almost always an omission that’s big enough to drive a truck through: How to build the drawers for the project. Usually the woodworking author (always well-intended, I can assure you) writes instructions such as:…

Some high-end combination squares have a built-in lip or tab for the purpose of resting the tool hands-free on a piece of wood. But because most common combination squares lack this handy feature, I developed this inexpensive solution. Simply attach a 3⁄8“-diameter rare-earth magnet to the head. It allows the square to rest in place,…

Nicholas Disbrowe, Samuel Sewall and chairs as corpse transportation. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the August 2017 issue of Popular Woodworking. As I study 17th-century oak furniture, I come up with many dead ends. The surviving objects tell one part of the story, another view into this world is found in the written…

Drilling in melamine, plastic laminate, particleboard, or other abrasive materials dulls a steel countersink very quickly. So why not make it out of carbide? Thankfully, Amana did just that—they say their Carbide Tipped Countersinks will last 100 times longer than steel. Carbide countersinks are available in multiple sizes, and come with either a round shank…

How to build a strong bookcase without a back. When I’m designing furniture, I often turn to the Arts and Crafts era for inspiration. I love this style. It’s simple, but elegant. When a client commissioned me to build a small bookcase, I knew exactly what to start  with: a photograph of a piece built…

After ruining four $90 sheets of plywood by storing them on a damp floor, I came up with a simple fix: PVC feet. Cut several 12″ sections of 2″ dia. PVC pipe in half, lengthwise. Apply traction tape to the convex side, so the plywood doesn’t slide. Place the feet on your shop floor, and…

Welcome to What Really Grinds My Chisels, an occasional feature where the Popular Woodworking editors tackle subjects they feel passionate about. I recently received a press release from a large power tool manufacture titled “Gift Ideas For Her This Holiday Season.” This piqued my attention- not because I’m working on a gift guide myself –…

For years, I sanded and hand planed panel edges by laying them flat on my workbench.  I could never quite squeeze a bench vise into my woodworking budget, so I came up with this fast, inexpensive clamp rail. I recessed a 36” long 2 x 6, into my workbench’s face, and secured it with wood…

Simple to advanced methods for precisely duplicating parts. No other method for shaping is as fast or efficient as template routing. It works like this: the part to be shaped is fastened to the template; the router follows the template as it is guided around the template perimeter (Photo 1). Template routing ensures that each…

Effective control for a notorious sawdust creator In addition to being versatile, accurate and virtually indispensable, my sliding miter saw also excels at spewing sawdust and resisting effective dust collection. I tried connecting a shop vacuum, but even when I remembered to turn it on, the vacuum only collected about half of the dust. I…

A few weeks ago I talked about the shop-built cross-cutting square that helps me achieve quality right angle cuts on solid lumber. This week I am going to show how I am using a few inexpensive jigs that assist me when I am dealing with sheet goods.  The Platform My technique is predicated on a…

Here’s a dirt-simple but effective accessory for your miter saw. It eliminates tear-out, allows you to make precision cuts by aligning a pencil mark with the kerf, and provides room to screw or clamp a stop block anywhere along the fence. Originally, I built this table for extra support when cutting long pieces. But it’s…

I was about to make a desk for my son John’s bedroom and in my mind it was a beautiful thing: simple, sleek and with elegant proportions. Drawings and a cut list were completed. Walnut boards were purchased and transported to Cerritos College in Norwalk, California where I am a community-ed student on Sundays. There…

Tool: Small Double Square Shop Now  Manufacturer: Lee Valley MSRP: $49.50 A diemakers’ square with a narrow blade is an excellent tool for determining minute problems with your joinery, allowing you to get in between narrow dovetail pins, for example, to check for sloping walls. But a true diemakers’ square (on which the blade angle…

Master this most basic turning tool. When I introduce someone to woodturning, I choose the spindle roughing gouge. When I work with kids, it’s the first tool I place in their hands. Why? Because, used correctly, the spindle roughing gouge is the safest, most user-friendly turning tool of them all. And don’t be fooled by…