Dan Shapiro's Blog

After our recent review of the Jack Rabbit Deluxe Kit I got the fascinating opportunity to talk with Brian Giffin. Besides being a real nice guy, Brian is passionate about the details in his tool designs.

From now on, if you click a Rockler link, NSY gets a cut of anything you wind up buying.

I decided to do a head-to-head, Biscuits vs. the Dowelmax comparison. This was pretty easy. I made two cuts in a walnut board, then doweled one and biscuited the other. I grabbed the board firmly by both edges and slammed it down on a pipe in the center to distribute the force equally to both…

A $600 workbench on sale for under $300!

Want to get an idea of how much that table top or panel will move? Check out the handy dandy Shrinkulator.

http://www.pinktoolbelts.com/ The web site name pretty much says it all.

We had a few hiccoughs getting this posted, but it’s all set now! Another free tool review, this one from my good friend Mike. Mike’s an outstanding professional cabinetmaker who does terrific…

The good folks at Rockler have made plans for a walnut poker chip box available online, free. They’ll show you how to make the thing, and even have links to where you can order all the parts online. It’s pretty slick because it uses a piece of walnut molding, so you get a cool, difficult-looking…

The Jack Rabbit Deluxe Set provides an excelent solution to endlessly swtiching from drill bit, to counter sink, to driver bit.

In my earlier post on Behlen’s Rockhard Table Top Varnish, I talked about a finishing schedule of mineral oil, shellac, then varnish. HOLD THAT THOUGHT! Here’s the problem: the first coat of varnish doesn’t adhere properly to the shellac if you do it the way I described.