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Any project which requires the use of tools carries the potential for injury. Use caution and your safety gear, this site won't be liable!Featured Articles
Here's our most recent tool and woodworking articles. Enjoy!
Finishing Techniques
- Exterior Wood Finishes for Decks, Siding, and Raised Bed Gardens Your choices include paint, penetrating sealers, and stains.
- How to Strip Paint Refinish furniture with a chemical or eco-friendly citrus paint stripper and a bit of elbow grease.
- Picture Frame and Cabinet Refinishing with Washi The Japanese use this sustainable paper for wall partitions and origami; adapt it to your own woodworking projects.
- Choose the Correct Wood Finish for the Job For your selection of which wood finish product to apply on cutting boards, kitchen cabinets, fascia boards, and wood siding the options are many. Would you like an oil finish, paint, or a wood stain?
Woodworking Projects and Plans
- Compact Router Table Plans for a Small Wood Shop Build this small table that you can store away when not in use.
- Before Building a Coffee Table, Plan Your Project There is a huge variety of living room furniture, but consider making your own woodworking design plan.
- Building a Headboard for the Master Bedroom With a few tools and patience, you can create custom furniture that will last for generations.
- A Wardrobe Bedroom Storage Solution Increase your storage space and reduce clutter with this DIY project.
- How to Make a Homemade PVC Flag Pole Build an inexpensive, permanent in-ground flagpole to fly Old Glory on the 4th of July, Memorial Day.
- Install Closet or Alcove Shelves Increase your storage space with this easy woodworking project.
- Making One Piece of Furniture from Two Woodworking projects for making a beverage serving cart, a hutch from a bookshelf, or an armoire.
- Cheap Homemade Canoe or Kayak Storage Plans I used to store my Heritage Redfish fishing kayak in a sling along with my canoe but with fishing season here, I built this kayak storage rack for convenience.
- Restoring Antique Furniture Have you got a cherished or recently acquired piece of antique furniture? Read on to learn how to restore it while preserving its vintage value.
- How to Build a Recessed Medicine Cabinet Building a custom recessed (or inset) bathroom medicine cabinet will maximize your available storage space. Bathroom framing is often doubled to allow for plumbing. You won’t find a matching offset fixture at a home improvement store.
Woodworking Joinery
- Choosing the Right Type of Screw for the Job Most DIY and woodworking projects need some kind of fastener, from drywall screws to Tapcon® concrete anchors.
- Choose the Right Type of Woodworking Glue Every woodworking project has a bonding requirement: contact cement for plastic laminates, hide glue for restoring antiques, Titebond for waterproofing, or Gorilla Grip for strength.
- Making Half Lap Joints The half lap joint is one of the simplest wood joinery techniques and lends itself to furniture making.
- Joinery with a Dovetail Joint Dovetail joints are one of the strongest corner joints used in woodworking. Why? The strength of any wood joint depends on the amount of open surface area of the two pieces being joined.
- Wood Joinery with a Finger or Box Joint Box or finger joints are a strong, simple alternative to cutting dovetail joints using a table saw jig.
Wood Shop Helpers: Jigs
- Review of the Kreg K4 Pocket Hole Jig Tool A tool for a hidden woodworking joinery technique without dovetails, glue, or clamps.
- Metal and Hardware for Woodworking Jigs Woodworking jigs are ideal for making your woodworking projects easier and safer. Whether it's a polycarbonate see-through guard for your jigsaw or an MDF dovetail jig, you can build it yourself!
- Plastic Materials for Woodworking Jigs Woodworking jigs come after laying out the big bucks for that new lathe, band saw, or table saw. They're helping tools, they're handmade, and some say they hold a cult status in the wood shop.
- Sheet Goods Materials for Woodworking Jigs A woodworking jig is just a homemade tool to make your project easier or safer. Face it, that new power tool, say, a table saw or band saw is well equipped, but we're creative folk, and there's room for improvement!
Tools and Accessories
- Circular Saw Options and Features to Consider Circular saws, also called Skil® saws, are the most versatile power tools on the construction site, whether renovation or building a new home.
- Cordless Impact Drivers, Corded, and Battery-Powered Drills The tool industry continues to offer lighter, stronger, more efficient gear.
- Make a Water Level to Transfer Benchmarks Home remodeling projects need to be level in most cases; no problem with a 4 or 2 foot level. But transferring benchmarks around corners calls for a water level.
- Construction Adhesive Giant Titebond Goes Green with GREENchoice Branching out from the popular woodworking glues, Titebond I, II, and III, the company now offers many no-solvent VOC-compliant building glues.
- DeWalt DWS520 Track Saw Power Tool Review The DeWalt track saw is available in both a corded and cordless saw model. It is handy for making table saw accurate cuts with a hand-held tool.
- Craftsman #21807 Table Saw Power Tool Review This benchtop saw is well equipped right out of the box. Included are a number of accessories, a 10” blade and an unassembled 4-leg stand. It’s got sufficient power for handymen, building contractors, DIY woodworking projects, and a broad range of remodeling tasks.
- 20 Top iPhone Apps for Home Improvement Projects Home Maintenance is Less Complicated than Ever Thanks to Apple’s Best Selling Phone. Floors? Painting? Woodworking? There’s an app for that!
- Choose the Right Saw for Your DIY Projects Choose the correct saw for the job, whether You are framing a basement, miter cutting baseboard, or hand cutting tight dovetail joints. There's a tool for any carpentry task, from simple hand saws to track saws.
- Best Power Tool Christmas Gift Ideas Got a DIY'er on your gift list? This article will give you some great ideas.
- Hand Tool Gift Ideas A companion piece to the power tool gift guide, these selections will reap you a lot of points with the giftee (and who couldn't use a few of those?).
- Tool Holders and Eight Essential Tools How to keep your tool inventory organized and the eight essential tools for minor home maintenance.
- Affordable Benchtop Table Saws These workhorses are affordable, portable, and powerful.
- Use Table Saw Extensions to Increase Your Reach These handy little devils will allow you to handle larger stock with ease, and make the most of a small work shop.
Woodworking Techniques
- The 3-4-5 Rule for Squaring This is a carpenter's method for getting a perfect square based on the Pythagorean theorem in mathematics.
- Cutting and Installing Baseboard A coping saw and a keen eye will work wonders with your finish trim.
- Bending Wood Molding in Your Wood Shop Your woodcrafting projects can use a helping hand sometimes. Wooden trim can be made to conform in steam heat inside a PVC steam chamber or by back-cutting with a coping saw.
Landscaping Tools
- Are Reel Lawn Mowers for Sale? Green Landscaping Heats Up High gas prices and the green movement are both factors in the booming reel lawn mower market.
- Lawn Mower Selection Guide Some homeowners hire a lawn care service to groom their suburban castle grounds. Others prefer a DIY approach. At the core of the landscaping arsenal is the lawn mower.
