Shop Tips

Electrolysis Rust Removal

May 2, 2017 By George Vondriska & filed under Shop Tips, Skill Building.

Ever get to an auction or flea market and stare lovingly, but in despair, at a hand plane that you’d love to own, but are going to pass on because it’s too rusty? There’s a solution for this problem. Electrolysis. It’s crazy cool, and easy to do. Here’s the overview; submerge the tool in a…

Worn Table Saw Arbor Fix

August 4, 2015 By Bruce Kieffer & filed under Shop Maintenance, Shop Tips, Skill Building.

It's a fact of life… Everything eventually wears out. Bruce Kieffer found a great $2 "fix" for worn out table saw arbor threads. It's a super simple solution that saves a lot of cash and repair work.

Money-Saving DIY Festool Domino Tenons

June 3, 2015 By Paul Mayer & filed under Joinery, Shop Tips, Skill Building.

Reduce the cost of using a Festool Domino by making your own tenons. It’s easy, and you’ll be surprised by how the savings can add up over the years. Here’s the how-to recipe, along with a list of benefits of DIY Dominoes.

Rare Earth Magnet Chisel Rack

August 28, 2013 By Bruce Kieffer & filed under Shop Improvement, Shop Tips, Skill Building.

Problem. I have a real mess in my chisel storage drawer. Good chisels bounce around far too much, and I have to protect every chisel edge otherwise they get banged and dinged. Idea. Will a pair of rare earth magnets hold a chisel rack? Will the setup work for all the different size of chisels…

Table Top Fracture Repair

August 1, 2013 By Seth Keller & filed under Shop Tips, Skill Building.

Much of the work I do utilizes beautiful, live-edge hardwood slabs like this 34” wide piece of red oak. Because my sources are often different, I rarely know how long the wood has been drying, what the conditions were, and if the wood will move much when I get it back to my shop. I…

Sign Your Work

July 10, 2013 By Staff & filed under Shop Tips, Skill Building.

Sign Your Work A few years ago I reworked a set of candle sticks for the local Masonic Lodge, stripping off the many layers of old paint and exposing the fine details. As I handled the hollow candle sticks I could hear something rattling around inside one of them. I finally pried off the bottom…

Fix a Misplaced Mortise

July 10, 2013 By George Vondriska & filed under Shop Tips, Skill Building.

Oops. When using loose tenons on a recent project I cut the mortise on the wrong face of a board. Has this happened to you? Don’t panic. We can make that mortise nearly invisible with a Dutchman, a woodworking wood for a plug. Why is it called a Dutchman? I don’t know…just because. Using the…

A Bright Idea for Photographing Your Work

February 27, 2013 By Dan Chiappetta & filed under Shop Tips, Skill Building.

In an effort to better document my work (and possibly move into sales), I’ve begun to focus on my photography skills. One major need is light, preferably diffuse and bright-white. After checking my options online, I decided that cheap clamp lights sold in big-box stores were a better idea. Only thing is, they cast harsh…

Get a Grip – On Your Clamp Handles

November 7, 2012 By Paul Mayer & filed under Shop Tips, Skill Building.

Bar clamps provide many advantages over other types of clamps, so I use them a lot in my shop. One downside to their design, however, is they can be difficult to grip as you tighten or loosen them. I noticed that some of the newer designs have addressed this by applying some rubber material to…

Drill a Hole Without a Center Point

May 1, 2012 By Seth Keller & filed under Shop Tips, Skill Building.

I made a quick fix the other day I thought I’d share with you. I needed to make a 5/8″ wide stopped dado with a round end. I didn’t have a 5/8″ router bit, so I planned to make the round ends with a Forstner bit, and the length of the dado by taking multiple…