Woodworker's Journal eZine - From America's Leading Woodworking Authority

Rob's Editorial

Woodworking Projects Galore

As I stated recently, there is no time like right now for getting into the shop and getting busy. Which brings you to the woodworker’s eternal question: “Which project should I start next?” Personally, I solve that question by starting a whole bunch of projects at once. Which leads me to the next question of: “Will I ever finish a project?” But of course, that’s just me...

Once you have determined which project is up next, you’re often faced with the prospect of where to get woodworking plans to work from. Even if you are like me and tend to design most of your projects to suit your specific needs — I often start from an existing plan to figure out reasonable dimensions, evaluate different styles, hardware options and other details. So where would a woodworker find such plans? (I think you might feel a plug coming on ...)

Well, of course, there is your favorite electronic delight ... the Woodworker’s Journal eZine! We have two free plans every issue, with a third as a monthly kicker thrown in. But if that is not enough ... just take a look at our newest CD of Readers’ Favorites: Home Projects. It features 30 woodworking projects from the pages of Woodworker’s Journal (ready for your computer in PDF format). It is a great way to get projects to build and to develop project ideas.

Trust me, I should know ... I’ve started a few of them!

Rob Johnstone, Woodworker’s Journal

Sample the Digital Version of Woodworker's Journal Magazine

Queen Anne Highboy (Part 2)

Last issue, we tackled the base of this classic project. In Part 2, our author builds the upper case and all of the dovetailed drawers.

Dovetailing Outside the Box

Are clamp-in, template style jigs the only way to make beautiful dovetails? With plenty of practice, you can learn to do it by hand - or perhaps one of these nontraditional jigs could be your ticket.

Modular Bookcases

This geometric design combines modern styling, flexibility of function and durability into one tidy package. At home in a living room, bedroom or dorm room, it even expands to become a home for your flat-screen TV.

Horizontal Tilt-Top Router Table

This horizontal router table’s tilting top puts it in a category of its own. Its versatility will take your routing to the next level.

Picture Frame on the Table Saw

A table saw is the only tool you need to create a handsome cove-and-dentil picture frame. Suitable for art or portraits, it makes an attractive holiday gift.

Queen Anne Highboy (Part 1)

Every piece of furniture has a story, and the story of this highboy begins three summers ago, with an ad in the local paper offering air-dried walnut and cherry for $1 a foot.

Adjustable Tenoning Jig

Cut crisp, clean tenons quickly and safely with this helpful shop jig. Suitable for any table saw, this jig can be built out of plywood, scraps and easy-to-find hardware.

In This Issue of the eZine . . .

Today's Woodworker

Robert Brou: Antique Furniture to Organic Forms

Robert Brou's first foray into woodworking came when he was hired to restore and reproduce antiques for a New Orleans gallery in the late 1990s. All of the aspects of woodworking he learned while building chairs, dining tables and Chinese Chippendale curio cabinets for Manheim Gallery, Robert said, come in handy today - especially the fact that "there were very little square corners; it was all delicate, curved."

Tool Preview

Shop Fox W1741S 8” Jointer

Shop Fox’s W1741S 8" Jointer features a spiral cutterhead with 40 German-made carbide inserts that are automatically indexed.

Q & A

When to Change Power Tool Brushes?

Restoring Redwood's Color

Rails and Stiles: Which One Goes "Outside"?

Feedback

ABC's of CA Glue

Several readers wrote in response to last issue's Q&A on the search for CA [cyanoacrylate] glue. - Editor

Industry Interview

Oneida Air Systems: A Better Spin on Dust Collection

If you have a cyclonic dust and chip collector in your shop, Robert Witter helped to make that innovation a reality. He was among the first to scale this technology down from industrial proportions to systems that fit the small woodworking shop. But, according to Robert, it was necessity - not a stroke of genius - that was truly was the mother of invention for that development.

Web Surfer's Review

Hand Tool Storage and Tabletop Wood Movement

This discussion came from a group that focuses on hand tools - which have their own unique storage needs, particularly when there are many in a certain category, like braces and drills, as the first poster indicated.-Editor