Tools
Print This Article
Delta AP400 Dust Collector & Delta 50-740 Dust Canister
David writes, “I ran across your web site when researching the Delta AP400 dust collector. I currently use a shop vac, with a two stage setup using a 5-gal bucket with vortex top from Rocklers. I’d like to do more, though I’ve been putting it off due to cost. My machines are [...]
Hand Tools As Art?
Hand tools are not art they are tools designed for a specific function to meet a required need. A 20 ounce framing hammer is designed to drive 16d nails into big 2 x stock. A spring clamp is designed to apply clamping pressure to hold pieces of wood in a certain way so [...]
Box Clamp: Get a perfect square joint every time
Butt joints, box joints and 45 degree miter joints are all very common joints when building cabinets, book cases, and shelving systems. The challenge is to assemble the panels in exact 90 degree angle. Even when all of the panels are cut at the right angle there is still a good chance that [...]
Clamping Squares: How will they help me assemble a perfect 90 joint?
Your in your woodshop and have completed cutting out the pieces for the cabinet your building. All of the panels have been sanded down and you are ready to assemble them. You have dry fitted the pieces together and now have glued and clamped them with bar and pipe clamps. After fastening [...]
Router joinery: Glue Joint Bit
When needing to glue up several boards into a single piece there are a host of available methods to join the boards. Such as butt joint, biscuits, pocket holes screws, and glue joint.
Router joinery: Lock Miter Bit
I have never really considered the selection of router bits that are designed to produce locking joints. I recently came across a router bit that will cut a 45 degree angle and a locking tongue.
How to choose the right pocket hole screw
Just bought your first pocket hole jig and ready to start joining boards with pocket hole joinery? The pocket hole jig kit may have come with a set of screws, mine came with twenty five. Will these screws work for all different types of wood?
Pocket Hole Joinery: How to get a tight clean fit.
Pocket hole joinery offers a tremendously strong joint with a lot of clamping pressure. According to Kreg tools website, the joint does not require any glue. However, you feel so inclined adding a very thin bead of glue will only help to strengthen the bond. Since the joint uses a mechanical fastener, [...]
Kreg R2 Pocket Hole System review
About a year ago I purchased the Kreg Pocket Hole R2 product. It comes with the pocket hole jig, drill bit, jig clamp, driver bit and 25 screws basically everything you need to drill and join using the pocket hole system.
How to work with phenolic when building a router table insert?
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 [...]
What types of material should I use for an insert to my router table?
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 [...]
Could Ed Sanders’s injury have been prevented?
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.
What squares do I need in my woodshop?
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 [...]
What is NiCad battery memory effect?
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?
How to Extend Lithium Battery Packs
Cordless tool manufactures have embraced Lithium ion battery technology for their cordless tool battery packs. Most of the 14.4 volt and up battery packs use Lithium ion batteries.
There are several advantages to Lithium battery chemistry.
Lithium batteries do not suffer from ‘memory effect’ like NiCad and to a lesser [...]