Joinery

Here is a nifty calculator for making items via splayed joinery that was graciously provided by Gerald R. What exactly is “splayed joinery” you say? Well imagine a tube made from multiple pieces of wood (staves) in which one end of the tube is larger in diameter than the other. An example is a tapered round […]

Stave Calculator for Splayed Joinery

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Oak-walnut floor lamp 1
Here is a floor lamp that I built in the early 1990’s. I was in a lamp building frenzy back in those days and this one was perhaps my crowning achievement. It features a tapered pole made from laminated solid red oak and walnut and tapered red oak legs that attach to the base of the […]

Oak Walnut Floor Lamp

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Quick and inexpensive table top fastener
If you’re looking for an alternative to metal table hold-down fasteners, or don’t have any fasteners readily available, consider making your own using some scrap wood and a biscuit joiner. I made a number of such fasteners for a cherry coffee+end table project and was fairly pleased with the results. They keep the table top […]

DIY Table Top Fasteners

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Cedar bird house 2
This past winter I was poking around for a challenging woodworking project. Something different from anything I had done before. Something involving unusual joinery and/or cutting techniques. Something that would expand my repertoire of woodworking skills. Something I could make multiple copies of to give out as gifts, thereby incurring the good will of friends […]

Cedar Bird Houses

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Glued-up boards allowed to set for 24 hours 2
While building some birdhouses that relied heavily on glue joints to keep the structure intact, I decided to try out Titebond III wood glue. This glue is advertised as being more waterproof than Titebond II, a popular glue for exterior projects that is designated as “water resistant” by the manufacturer, Franklin International.  Comparing the labels […]

How Waterproof is TiteBond III?

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Routing a slot for the replacement tenon
While restoring an antique parlor table, I ran into a situation in which a couple of the tenons holding the leg assembly together split during disassembly. I tried being careful – I brushed a liberal amount of denatured alcohol on the joint to soften up the old hide glue followed by gentle tapping with a […]

Repairing a Broken Tenon

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Assortment of squares
Before one can cut, one must layout. That should be every woodworker’s mantra. And to that end, here is a list of recommended layout tools that should be sufficient to tackle most any woodworking layout task. Tape measure In my humble opinion, the tape measure ranks right up there with the wheel and fire as […]

Woodworking Layout Tools

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Completed cherry table and mock-up
It sure is a downer to build a piece of furniture and realize when it’s finished that is doesn’t quite look right. Maybe the piece is too bulky for the space, or doesn’t quite match the rest of the furniture. Perhaps the proportions are off. Or maybe it’s just plain ugly. To minimize the chances […]

Building a Furniture Mock-up

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