Tabla de contenidos para Issue 146 en ShopNotes Magazine

Allow me to pull back the curtain. About this time every year, Chris Fitch begins peering into the future, coming up with the project matrix for the next year. He meets with John and Dillon to discuss ideas and review suggestions they’ve received from other folk on staff as well as from readers like you. This process turns philosophical, as well. Our latest deep dive: What is ShopNotes? What kinds of projects belong in these pages? Workbenches and carts (page 26)? Power tool jigs? Storage solutions (page 20)? Custom hand tools (page 14)? We’re a pretty curious group of woodworkers here. So there is no end to the ideas that excite us. I started reading ShopNotes in college. It was my woodworking escape. The projects pointed to a still-future workshop…

My office is in the studio/shop where we film the Woodsmith Shop and other videos. The best part is I can get up from my desk and do a little woodworking whenever I want to. Designer John Doyle’s desk is behind mine. As a result, we chat about shop projects a lot. One of those projects is the assembly center on page 26. That came from some shortcomings of a clamp cart we have on the set. The cart holds a lot of clamps, but doesn’t really have a place for the other gear necessary when it’s time to glue up a project. As we were talking about what a full-service assembly cart should contain, it seemed like a good idea to take a closer look at some of the…

Tool storage takes a myriad of forms, but there’s an excellent case for keeping some tools front and center where they’re needed the most: right over your workbench. This handy tool rack is big enough to hold your go-to necessities, and is a blank canvas you can modify for your tools and specific needs. A lot of landscape in these pages has been dedicated to large tool chests and cabinets, and with good reason. But smaller solutions like this around your shop absolutely deserve the same level of attention and customization these larger storage options get. We’re not going to go into too much detail on the tool holders you see at the bottom of the rack in these photos. They’re meant to inspire you to make your own to…

Plywood and other sheet materials play a key role in many woodworking projects. The biggest downside is cutting the large pieces into project parts. Full sheets of ¾" plywood weigh around 80lbs. Then you have to consider the size and how to manage that across a table saw — the definition of awkward. There are better ways to make this work. We’ll explore some of those options in this article. The one you choose depends on your current tooling, the kinds of tools you want to get, and your goals in creating project parts from sheets of plywood. We’ll work from a rough to refined level. TWO-STAGE CUTTING. When I started woodworking, my dad’s approach to cutting plywood worked in two stages: Step one was to use a straightedge guide and…

One overlooked area of shop setup is accessory storage. It’s easy to focus on locating your workbench and where the major power tools go. Most woodworkers dedicate a special place for a tool cabinet. But what about the jigs, fixtures, and clamps? These end up getting tucked into whatever space remains. If your shop is looking a little ragged, chances are that tidying up your clamp collection would make a big difference. Where do you start? First off, consider the cart on page 26. The next step is to look over the ideas I’ve gathered here. This isn’t meant to be a start-to-finish path. Instead, I hope to give a few “Aha!” moments that will spark a custom solution you can put to work. Most of these ideas make use…

The adage “there’s no such thing as having too many clamps,” is quite true. But keeping track of such wealth is another matter. The cart you see here lets you organize all things assembly-related. 360° STORAGE. As detailed in the drawings on the next page, every side of the cart is put to use. The front has a trio of drawers for the tools you want to keep close at hand. To the right of the drawers, there’s a storage area for bulkier items that’s hidden behind a door. As for the back — just spin the cart 180° as you see in the lower drawing, it’s designed to hold nail guns and hand drills. The designer, John Doyle has arranged this space to fit standard tools, but you can…

There are plenty of times in woodworking where a project might call for a material other than wood. Acylic panels are common, as are details made from brass or aluminum. These are fairly comparable to hardwood, and it doesn’t take much alteration for usual woodworking tools to do the job. However, when working with something like steel, the game begins to change. FERROUS VS NONFERROUS. The first thing we all know about steel is that it’s hard. For anyone who’s worked with nonferrous metals, you’ll know that standard woodworking tools can often do the job (though you might need a nonferrous blade). These metals contain no iron, which leaves them fairly workable. Iron itself isn’t too bad either. Steel, however, is a different beast. Simply put, the usual suspects in the…