Beginning woodworkers all ask this basic question; what is the difference between a jointer and a planer? The answer is simple, a lot! And is there such a thing as a jointer planer. No! Each machine does a completely different surfacing operation. A jointer flattens a face or straightens and squares an edge, and a
Bandsaw boxes are easy to make, but you need to follow a few rules of the road. It’s very important that you use the right blade, and that you make the cuts in the correct sequence. This story lays out the bandsaw project for you, start to finish. Click on the images to enlarge them
Table saw safety is critical for every woodworker. Bruce Kieffer’s table saw safety article explores options for aftermarket and shop-made table saw guards and splitters. Be safe and saw often!
Every year, hospitals see injuries caused by woodworking tools in the emergency room. This includes professionals and hobbyists, students and homeowners. The types of injuries vary, as there are more ways to make mistakes in a woodshop than there are ways to plan ahead for them – precisely why they’re called accidents! In 2011, the
There are plenty of times when you need your boards to have a smooth, straight edge. No jointer? No sweat. With the help of a simple shop-made jig you can be jointing on the table saw. Even if you own a jointer, jointing on the tables saw is a handy technique to know about. If
Pattern cutting on a table saw is an easy and fast way to produce lots of identical parts. I’ve used this technique to make parts for everything from bird houses to Adirondack chairs. Get started by making the fence. Make the pattern fence using a vertical piece that is 1-3/4” wide and a horizontal piece
Many woodworking projects require the ability to render a perfectly square edge on a board. There are many ways to perform this task, but nothing matches the performance, precision and repeatability delivered by the motorized jointer. Getting the jointer to deliver on its potential is not particularly difficult but, like most things, it requires proper
I have been building furniture and cabinets for almost 30 years. For most of those years I’ve owned a 13-in. planer. Of course, there have been plenty of times when I found myself wishing for something bigger, but as the old saying goes, “Necessity (and I would add, a lack of funds) is the mother
I rarely resaw, and when I do, it’s usually to maximize the yield of the wood I have rather than to make veneer or book-matched boards. Changing my bandsaw blade just to make a few resaw cuts takes way too much time. The solution is simple — I use my table saw. The table saw
I have a tendency to misplace my squares, which often results in me reaching for a scrap of wood for an approximate angle. I’ve found what works far better though, is to take my miter gauge, and flip it upside down with the face of the gauge along the edge of the board. The bar
