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You may remember that, about a month ago, Chris Marshall brought you news of Rockler's goal to support the planting of 20,000 hardwood trees leading up to Earth Day. |
During a recent visit to the library at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the librarian was kind enough to show me their collection of Hough's American Woods. |
One of the most popular finishes these days is the so-called “shabby chic,” a modern term for what we used to call antique finish. |
In the last two days, your intrepid editor has traveled to Venice, Italy and then up to Udine, Italy, to learn about Irwin's newest entry into the circular saw blade market. |
Sandor Nagyszalanczy looks at the valuable lessons of master wood finisher George Frank. |
It’s been a long winter of construction at my home, but we’re finally nearly done adding a new garage/workshop to the property. As you can probably guess, I can’t wait to get the lights on and the machines moved in! |
Every once in a while, everyone has a project that comes along that we difficulty saying no to. Sandor Nagyszalanczy recounts one such project he took on recently. |
A while back, we brought you news of proposed federal rulemaking that would influence table saws. This week, a committee in the California legislature approved a similar bill at the state level. |
Here's a cool thing Rockler Woodworking and Hardware is doing for Earth Day this year, but if you haven't made a Rockler purchase lately, you might not be aware of it. |
Field Editor Chris Marshall takes you on a quick tour of summertime projects and tool news in our May/June 2012 print issue of Woodworker's Journal Magazine.
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Whatever the reason, I'm appreciating tools with built-in worklights now more than ever. |
This reader's project skillfully combines three different species without sacrificing the pieces' cohesive looks |
Skill Builder: Dovetail Joints

Although it's an involved process, few woodworking tasks will bring you
the sense of pride you'll get from hand cutting a dovetail joint. Like
most operations, there are lots of different ways to cut these joints. |
Rubbing Out: The Final Step to a Great Finish
You can rub out all types of film forming finishes, including shellac,
lacquer, oil based varnish and polyurethane, waterbased coatings and
catalyzed or conversion coatings. There are three strong reasons for
doing so. |
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Skill Builder: Hand Cut Mortise and Tenons
If you're doing woodworking on a shoestring budget, you'll be happy to
know that the only tools you need to cut tight-fitting mortise and
tenon joints are a square, knife and marking gauge, a fine-toothed saw,
and couple of sharp chisels and mallet. |
Skill Builder: Basic Butt Joints
Butt joints can be used in a lot of different ways to join two boards
or panels: edge to edge, end to side, end to edge, etc. To make a
simple square or rectangular frame, cabinet, box or drawer using butt
joints is very easy. |
Skill Builder: Box and Finger Joints
One of the easiest ways to cut clean and tight-fitting box joints is
with a table saw, using a dado blade and a sliding jig. You can build
your own box joint jig by adapting your saw's miter gauge, or
you can buy one ready-made jig, like the Rockler box joint jig. |
Skill Builder: Rabbets, Dadoes and Grooves
Not the showiest or most complex of woodworking joints, rabbets,
dadoes and grooves are, nonetheless, three of the most practical and
versatile joints you’ll ever cut. Best suited to cabinet and furniture
carcass construction using plywood, MDF and similar sheet goods, all
three joints are also good for some solid-wood applications, such as
building simple boxes and drawers. |
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Coloring Redux: Glaze and Toner
Another common method of adding color to wood after it has been
sealed is with glaze. You can use glaze to highlight carvings or flutes, create
sunbursts and cameos, turn a painted surface into antique white, add
age to wood, or even create patterns like fake wood grain and marble. |
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Making the Most of Your Router Bits: Dish Carving Bit

There are many projects that require the milling of pockets. Antique
game tables nearly always had dished-out areas for candles and game
chips. Signmakers often raise letters by removing the background
around them, and all sorts of serving trays, bowls and stands are
dished out to provide a rim for keeping things in. |
Making the Most of Your Router Bits: The Butterfly Spline Bit
At first glance, the Butterfly Spline Bit seems like a very simple and
limited use tool. But look closer and you can find a lot of useful
applications for these splines.
The bit cuts a butterfly profile, essentially two dovetail keys joined
at the smaller width. |
Making the Most of Your Router Bits: Sash Bit
Many manufacturers make sash bits, but most are designed as 'stub'
tenon bits, working more like a stile and rail door set. The Freud set
is designed to make long tenons in the joint connections, making a
vastly stronger window. Because of this, the bits require a bit more
work, but the extra effort is well worth it. |
Making the Most of Your Router Bits: Glue Joint Bit

Gluing boards together to form larger panels is something of a mystery
to novice woodworkers. Boards don't line up properly, and clamps can
tend to force the edges out of alignment. Boards may have a slight bow
along their length and just try to get a clamp into the middle of your
panel to fix it. There is a wide array of joining systems out there to
help, but my personal favorite is still the Glue Joint router bit. |
Making the Most of Your Router Bits: Not Just a Door Bit
I used to teach router table classes and the most popular part was,
hands down, making cabinet doors. Virtually every bit manufacturer
offers door making bits in several profiles. These come in a set, where
the mating profiles are two separate bits, and a single bit form, where
both cuts are contained in one bit. The bit I'm using is the single
cutter type. |
Etching Made Easy with Epilog LaserDebra Salley explains the versatility and capabilities of Epilog Laser's product line at the 2011 AWFS Fair to Woodworker's Journal Magazine. |
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Installing Under-Mount Drawer SlidesHeavy dresser drawers can be a real drag when they slide on wooden runners. Our Field Editor solves the problem with ball-bearing undermount drawer slides on his Shaker-inspired Dresser in the June 2011 print issue. See his technique for installing them accurately and easily in this video. |
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