One of the good things about being a woodworker is that you can whip out great gifts with very little work. The trick is to pick the gifts–you want stuff that requires very few operations on the machines, but looks cool and either is very expensive or can’t be bought. This afternoon my neighbor gave…

When Bob the Motorized Couch needed a spine, the choice of materials was pretty straightforward. The design parameters called for five people and substantial cargo, and lumber just wasn’t going to cut it. So off we went to a metal dealer. We pulled some pieces about the right size and shape, and then laid them…

Ebay is a strange place. I went looking for planers on ebay, and discovered this Dewalt DW735 planer for $455. What’s strange about that? Well, here’s the same planer on Amazon for $479.99. More expensive? Slightly. But since shipping is free ($39 from the ebay guy) and Amazon is an actual company that’s somewhat less…

Read this. You’ll thank me. (That’s it. No extended entry. Go home.)

I found a guy who has a ton of cheap, clear maple boards for sale. They’re air dried/rough, but he’s happy to kiln dry & mill them for you. If you’re near Seattle and need a hookup, shoot me a mail. (danieljshapiro at hotmail.com)

This is your dusk mask. It sucks. Do you know why? It sucks because it looks absolutely nothing like Darth Vader’s mask. Do you think Darth Vader would put up with an itchy, sweaty, ineffective piece of fiberglass rubbing against his nose all day? Neither should you. So do like Darth does. It is crazy…

It’s a day before the wedding. My soon-to-be sister-in-law is desparate: she’s baking our wedding cake, and she doesn’t have a pastry bag! What to do? The secret? Ziploc bags. Fill with frosting, cut off the tip, et voila! Ze cake est fabulous. So what does this mean for you? Simple. You can turn the…

Look, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this for a while. You know that tablesaw blade you’ve got? Yeah, I know it’s carbide. I know it’s supposed to last forever. I realize it’s reshapenable dozens of times. It’s made of compressed meterorites hand-culled from the Oort nebula. That’s wonderful. Take it off, hang…

You need to sand something. Anything. The choices? Belt sander, finish sander, disc sander, corner sander… if, like me, you have faint memories of high school shop, you’ll likely go for the belt or something else familiar. Don’t be fooled. The Random Orbital Sander is the single best-bang-for-the-buck powertool out there. Maximum Chaiminess factor. It’s…

I started serious woodworking about a year ago. I’m learning lots of lessons, some the easy way, some with liberal applications of neosporin. I’m here to share. No, I haven’t decided if I’ll change the title if I get too frisky with the jointer.