ShopNotes Magazine Issue 143

It’s been a year since we relaunched ShopNotes. Thank you for joining us in celebrating the spaces where we build. ShopNotes has been my favorite woodworking magazine since I was in college. While I didn’t build much in my dorm room, any time I went home my dad’s issues were waiting for me. You may have seen a survey about the relaunch recently. One of the primary reasons is to find out what makes ShopNotes readers unique. What drew me to the magazine were the ideas and inspirations about creating a space of my own. A place to build things, learn techniques, and develop a skillful use of tools. I also discovered the delight of restoring vintage tools, modifying the tools I had, and even making some. Building furniture projects…

Building an adjustable mortising jig for your plunge router essentially creates a benchtop joinery tool. Over the years, I gravitated to power tool joinery methods: biscuits, dowels, loose tenons. They click for the way I work. ShopNotes has featured several different jigs — I even wrote about some of them. They range from simple to complex. When it came time to make a version for myself, the jumping off point took the form of the two jigs shown at left. To be clear, there isn’t anything wrong with how they work. They are easy to set up, accurate, and straightforward to create. As I worked with my first iteration, a few modifications came to mind. As an aside, I don’t feel like I truly own a tool unless I’ve customized…

Aluminum T-track isn’t in everyone’s budget. There’s another way to get the same benefits by making your own tracks. This jig face is made in two layers. The back layer is plywood. Cut a series of dadoes and grooves to suit whatever layout you prefer. The width and depth of the dadoes should allow the head of a 5/16" hex bolt to slide easily. Next, glue a hardboard layer over the top. Trim it flush, then cut narrower dadoes and grooves centered on the now-buried ones. What you have are custom T-tracks that can accept all manner of stops, supports, and hold-downs (photo at right).…

The mordant adage that “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” holds true in many areas of life, woodworking no less than any other. While we detail the process and tools we used in creating our projects, there are often numerous alternatives available using a variety of different tools. Among these tools is one niche group in particular that we explore only on occasion: hand tools. Entire books could be (and certainly have been) written on setting up a hand tool shop. However, that’s not what I’ll be focusing on in these next pages. Instead, I’ll cover some basic tools for those who may be interested in dipping their toes into the hand tool side of the pool. WHY USE HAND TOOLS? There are a number of reasons…

BENCH CHISELS. For chopping out and paring away waste, it’s hard to find a better option than a bench chisel. They’re useful for making out dadoes and dovetails, and are a necessity for handmade mortises. For most woodworkers, a selection of bench chisels is a good place to start. You could purchase a whole set running from ⅛" wide all the way up to 2", however I don’t think this is necessary for most woodworkers. I find that having the “four quarters” (¼", ½", ¾", and 1") covers most of the work I do. There are a few different types of chisels. I prefer bevel-edged chisels like the ones you see here. They’re easy to maneuver and a good size for most of the work I do. However, if I…

There seem to be two types of people when it comes to grabbing tools for a project: surgeons and runners. The surgeon lays everything out neatly in a row with each tool ready to go as soon as the corresponding step is reached. The runner, on the other hand, goes back and forth between project and tool cabinet each step, rummaging around until they obtain the single item they need, repeating throughout the project. I tend to fall into the latter camp, though I’ve been chipping away at that problem here and there as I make my shop a more pleasant place to work in overall. I’ve found that grouping tools by task means I can bring an entire tool receptacle to my workstation and make fewer trips. Now I’m…