Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2025 i Popular Woodworking

It pains me to admit this, but I am a lousy woodworking dad. My oldest son (age 10) occasionally asks me to help him build something. 95% of the time, I’ve been in the shop all day, so the answer is, “Ask me tomorrow.” Over the last year or so, I have realized that maybe the best thing I can do for him is to teach him to use his hands—help him create something. I’ve tried to get him into the shop with that in mind. We started with drawknives and spokeshaves. He’s crafted an armory full of wood swords, daggers, and shields (to my wife’s dismay). Several months back, he asked me if we could get a 3D printer to help with his building projects. My initial reaction was…

Over the last year or so, I’ve transitioned almost all of my bandsaw blades to be carbide-tipped. This started on my bandsaw mill and has slowly migrated into the shop. When Starrett (yes, the same Starrett that’s been making precision machinist tools for 140 years) released their new carbide-tipped bandsaw blades, I knew that I wanted to try a few out. As you’d expect, the Starrett blades are stellar. (Starrett has made bandsaw blades for years, so they’re not new to this market). The carbide-tipped teeth are ground with alternating profiles. They cut very quickly. Honestly, though, the real thing that stood out to me was that the Woodpecker CT blades were available in widths of down to ½". Most carbide-tipped blades are wider for resawing purposes. As a woodturner,…

Over the years, I’ve watched the company Carbon Method with interest. Their flagship product is a Ceramic Nanofinish to add additional protection to a finished piece of furniture. Think of it as a ceramic coating on a car. (For what it’s worth—I’ve used it on a few dining tables and liked it.) When I met the gentlemen from Carbon Method at WIA last October, I picked up their Carbon Coating Quick Kit. This kit is designed to apply a protective layer to your cast iron tools. As a long-time user of paste wax (RIP Johnson’s), I figured I would test it by applying it to some of the highuse tools in the shop. Application is straightforward, especially if you’ve used the Carbon Method products in the past. The Carbon Coating…

I think it’s a safe bet that the table saw is at the heart of most shops. Today, Sawstop saws are the most popular due to their safety features. And they are indeed a great saw. The one item I always thought could use a little attention was the fence supplied on the saw. The stock fence has a little bit of wave and puckering where the bolts attach it to the steel core. Woodpecker’s new Versa-Fence upgrade for Saw-stops offers a low-friction, dead-flat add-on to your table saw fence. The Versa-Fence is offered in several different lengths, ranging from 36" to 48", and is made of a ⅞"-thick piece of extruded aluminum. The aluminum is anodized, and that coating includes PTFE (the brand name Teflon), so your workpieces glide…

PROJECT #2507 Skill Level: Advanced Time: 6 Days Cost: $1000 It’s often times that woodworking projects come out of necessity. Take this desk for example. As I built my new shop (that doubles as Popular Woodworking’s shop), I built room for an office. After all, my job’s not all fun and games in the shop. After trimming out the office in bur oak, I decided I was going to keep with that theme. And as much as I love shaker design, I couldn’t bring myself to make an oak shaker desk. With the character and look of this grungy oak, I knew that I really wanted to dive into the Craftsman style. I found a few photos of a Stickley desk in this style and decided to make it my…

If you’ve followed our website for any time, you’re bound to know the name Yoav Liberman. Yoav has contributed to our website for over a decade and has published numerous books on various topics. With furniture having been displayed in high-end galleries across the US, it’s safe to say that Yoav’s designs are unique and lean heavily upon his formal training as an architect (Israel Institute of Technology). So, what does a nationally recognized, architect-turned woodworker do? Teach young children woodworking, of course. Last summer, I had the chance to visit Yoav at one of the many schools he teaches at — the Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan. Located just a block off of Central Park and around the corner from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Steiner School sits…

Oops! I was cutting a sliding dovetail when my concentration wandered for a split second, and wouldn’t you know it, I turned it into a wandering dovetail! Using the flat edge of the router seemed foolproof, but I realized that a little twitch can create a huge error. Now I always use the round edge of the router base as a guide instead. But I found out that my plunge router’s collet isn’t exactly in the middle of the base. Slightly turning the base for comfort as I routed also made a wandering groove, so I’ve marked one single spot on the base and keep that spot tight against the fence. 3-4-5 Square If you want to check something for square, try using the carpenter’s 3-4-5 Method. If one leg…

Having the ability to move stuff around in a shop is key. This is especially true when it comes to a small shop. It is invaluable to move a tool into a workspace, set it up, and then store it when you’re done. The problem that I’ve had is that most “integrated” mobile bases are junk. Generic aftermarket mobile bases never fit correctly and get snagged on the first plane shaving that they roll over. When I first saw the Harvey Spider bases at IWF in Atlanta (2024), it looked promising. And they did not disappoint. The biggest difference between the M-1500 Pro and other bases is that four support feet simultaneously lower when you push the foot pedal. I currently have it on the Harvey Alpha Shaper, and this…

Paste wax is a wonderful thing. You can use it on tools in your shop and apply it to furniture as an extra layer of protection. In fact, wax is one of the oldest finishes known to man. Commercially available waxes are available, but I often find they’re packed full of solvents and stink up the house when doing maintenance. The paste wax from Matt Cottrill at Cottrill Woodworks has a low odor (it has a lovely citrus scent) and leaves a nice surface. The Cottrill paste wax comes in a tub. Think of a large tub of shoe polish. It’s the perfect size to keep in the house to spiff up furniture throughout the year. I’ve found that the Cottrill wax applies easily—wipe on a coat and let it…

I continue to be impressed with the leaps and bounds that Harbor Freight has made in the power tool marketplace. The new 12-gallon OSHA-Compliant dust extractor from their Hercules brand is a great example. If it had been part of our dust extractor competition in the October 2023 issue, it would have been best in class for hose length, capacity, and included accessories. It also would have been the cheapest OSHA-compliant extractor there by $200. It’s not just a numbers game, either. The form factor of the extractor itself is great, with a telescoping handle and large wheels in the back that make it easy to move. The tool-activated outlet works exactly as it should, and it even has an automatic cleaning feature. Plus, the onboard storage is thoughtfully done.…

I would consider a rabbet joint an essential woodworking joint to know how to cut. It’s as equally valuable building the case of a chest as it is building down and dirty drawers. In the modern shop, many craftsmen will load up a dado blade in the table saw or a rabbeting bit at the router table. However, cutting a rabbet is easily done with some simple hand tools. Of course, there are many ways to skin a cat—a back saw and chisels, a router plane, amongst others—here, we’re going to concentrate on rabbet planes and using them to create accurate rabbets. Rabbet Planes of Old Take a stroll through any antique store worth its weight in gold, and you’re bound to come across someone selling a variety of molding…

Workbench clutter is real. In the flurry of a project build, I need a place to set something down and there just isn’t an open space. That’s the issue that inspired this project. Of course there’s more going on. It’s plain to see that this isn’t just another flat surface. The top is a thick solid-wood lamination. The trestle-style legs are beefy, too. When combined, you have a sturdy, multi-purpose workcenter. You can glue up a sub-assembly here. Or perhaps set up a jig for dovetailing drawers. Maybe you just need your workbench to be a little longer. Storage and staging are other jobs this sidekick handles with ease. The cabinet below keeps tools and supplies close. Throwing in a couple bins and a shelf add even more options. No…

A few issues ago, Popular Woodworking shared a set of scribers from a company in the UK called Tooley Park. Tooley Park recently released a new tool called their “Big Compass” tool. You can see this in the photo to the right. The big compass uses a pair of scriber-like ends and a hinge. The ends and hinge feature a large locking lever to position them in place and lock them securely. In this compass you see here, I installed a pencil on one end and a scribe on the other (included in the kit—more on that in a minute). The size of this compass makes it extremely valuable when I’m working on cutting big blanks out for lathe work. However, this large compass is useful for curved work, not…

Of all the tools in my shop, I probably use a knife the most. Oftentimes, it’s something as simple as cutting open a box or opening a bag of hardware. But, sometimes I need a knife with a little more oompf. The Hacking Knife, from Veritas, is just that. Picking up this knife, you know it’s built differently. The A2 blade is thick. The blade and tang are milled out of a solid block of 3/16" thick materia. The wide single bevel is akin to a cleaver. This stout shape allows you to use a mallet to hack the knife through dense material, such as splitting wedges for chairs or breaking up material for the shop wood stove. And, I have to assume, with a name like “Hacking Knife,” that…

Of all of the power tools to leap cordless, sanders are one of the last remaining segments that have not been perfected. Battery-powered sanders tend to be overly heavy and have issues with weight balance. The new Milwaukee M18 Fuel sander hasn’t quite solved these problems, but it’s a very solid entry that punches above its price point. Milwaukee has aimed for the heart of the market, packing in features like wireless dust control and an edge guard for protecting adjacent surfaces into a sander that costs almost half of what other professional cordless sanders cost. Special attention has been paid to reducing vibration as well. For longer sanding stints, it’s still noticeable, but it’s definitely the best of all the sanders I’ve tested so far. One standout feature is…

If you have read much in the woodworking press, you’ve surely encountered many articles, including mine, in which the writer uses and recommends shellac as a finish. This may persuade you to try shellac. I certainly don’t want to discourage you because shellac is a great finish with a great history. But you need to be aware that shellac is a relatively difficult finish to use. The writers recommending shellac are usually advanced woodworkers who have learned to overcome the difficulties. By pointing out some of the problems, I hope to increase your likelihood of success. Before you even get started, you have to overcome the confusion of shellac names and the large variety of shellacs available in flake form. In liquid form, there are clear (actually pale yellow) and…

PROJECT #2506 Skill Level: Beginner Time: 2 Days Cost: $60 + Hardware On most workbenches, you have various options to hold your material. Where most benches fail is holding stock, particularly wide stock, for work on the end of the board, such as when you’re cutting dovetails. This Moxon vise (named for the English author Joseph Moxon, who first illustrated it in a book) is designed to do just that. The pair of hand wheels move the front chop to pinch boards in place during work. It’s a great aid to have in any shop. When you look at the vise above, you’ll notice that there are few parts. Starting at the rear of the vise, you’ll find two parts here—a narrow batten and a rear jaw. Ultimately, the batten and…

The woodworking community is a wonderful thing. I was first introduced to Tony Rouleau through Jamie Harpster (from the non-profit Plane Wellness). Looking at Tony’s tools, I instantly recognized them and put two and two together: Tony was the machine behind Hillview Tool. Give me a little background on Hillview Tool. How did you end up as a toolmaker? My company and I are located in a small town about an hour north of Albany, NY, called Greenwich, on the edge of the Adirondack Mountains. My shop, located in the walk-out basement of my home, is built on a family farm that was started by my great-grandfather and was run mainly by my grandparents. He named it Hillview Farm. I’ve always been a woodworker. Around the age of 11 or…