There are a wide variety of techniques in joining boards together from simple butt joints to through mortis and tenon joinery.  Each joinery technique has a set of applications where it works very well at.  Learning how to make these joints will greatly increase your woodworking skills and expand the types of projects that you can take on. (more…)

Woodshop safety is not a very popular topic. Most woodworkers want to know the latest tool, free plans, or learn more advanced techniques. All of which are important; however, without paying attention to shop safety, the likelihood of having a major accident increases greatly. (more…)

What is phenolic?

“Phenolic sheet is a hard, dense material made by applying heat and pressure to layers of paper or glass cloth impregnated with synthetic resin. These layers of laminations are usually of cellulose paper, cotton fabrics, synthetic yarn fabrics, glass fabrics or unwoven fabrics. When heat and pressure are applied to the layers, a chemical reaction (polymerization) transforms the layers into a high-pressure thermosetting industrial laminated plastic.”  - San Diego Plastics, Inc. Phenolic page.

Due to its strength and hardness it is an ideal material for building a router table insert.  It will easily with stand the torque a router will exert on it and not break.  It is very easily machined with carbide tips tools. (more…)

For commercially made router tables, the manufacture offers a wide array of inserts for their table(s). Many commercially made router table inserts are made from steel. It is easy to machine, durable, strong, and thin. The generic insert for a router table has a hole for the router bit and holes to anchor the insert to the table. You will need to drill the mounting holes for your router through the insert. For the manufacture of the router table, this is the ultimate in router support. (more…)

My first response to this question was how much weight will the caster need to carry? But then I decided to look into to it a bit more discovered that there are several factors that need to be considered and evaluated before being able to narrow down the list of casters the right one for your project. (more…)

Mahogany trees grow in several regions around the world.  Primarily the trees grow in Central Africa, Caribbean islands, Central and South America, and in the Philippine islands.  With so many different species of mahogany, the question becomes ‘what is real mahogany’?  To answer this question lets examine some of the more popular mahogany species. (more…)

If you watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition last night, Sunday February 11, 2007, you saw them build a home for a hero from September 11, 2001.  It was a very moving story about what he did to help find victims buried in the debris pile.

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Casters are typically divided into three general categories light duty casters, medium duty casters, and heavy duty casters. These three categories have a fairly broad range within them. (more…)

The 90 degree angle is the main stay of wood working.  When corners meet at a right angle things work, walls stand up straight, cabinet doors fit snuggly, drawers slide smoothly and close tightly.

Take a walk down the tool aisle at your local home improvement store and you will find a plethora of squares from big framing squares to T squares to combination squares.  Do you need all of them?  No, not really.  Here is a list of the basic squares that you will need in your woodshop.  As projects require a specialty square add it to your collection. (more…)

For as long as rechargeable NiCad batteries have been available to the consumer, we have been warned about the dreaded ‘memory effect’.  How important it is to periodically completely drain the battery of all power to eliminate the memory effect? (more…)

Selecting the lighting fixtures and layout of the lights in the woodworking shop is a task that requires a significant amount of time and planning. It is necessary to determine where all of the stationary tools, work bench(s), mobile tools will be positioned to determine how much and where the lights need to be placed. It is never desirable to place a light such that you are casting a shadow when using a power tool.
The most common home woodworking shop light fixture is the tube fluorescent lighting. They are energy efficient, low cost and easy to install. (more…)