Tabla de contenidos para Woodworking Tips and Tricks 2025 en Woodsmith

Drilling dog holes in a bench can be tricky. They need to be evenly spaced and to align in both directions. When I made my new benchtop, I also made the drilling guide shown above to help make these holes. It’s simply an arm with a short cleat on one end and a series of holes spaced out to achieve a consistent pattern. To use the jig, I clamp it in line with the hole in my vise jaw. I started by drilling in with a Forstner bit (photo above), then finished drilling through with a spade bit (right photo). To drill the second row of holes, I just move the guide and repeat the process. NOTE: Drilling guide is made from 1"-thick hardwood (27¾" long)…

In a woodshop with limited space, having one tool perform multiple functions is invaluable. Instead of investing money and shop space in a drum sander, I glued two two-by-fours together and turned them down to make a 3"-dia. dowel. I then wrapped adhesive-backed sandpaper around the dowel, which was long enough to let me put different grits along it. Remember which direction your lathe will be spinning when you attach the sandpaper so it doesn’t peel itself off while you’re sanding. Once the lathe is turned on, you've got a drum sander.…

Router guides don’t have to be complex. When routing along an edge — for a detail on top of a nightstand for instance — you just need something to register the bit in a straight line along the edge while you're making the cut, and sometimse the easiest solution is the best. My shop-made guide is the one shown above, and it couldn’t be simpler. All you need to make one of your own are scraps of hardboard and hardwood. Begin by sizing the hardboard for your router base. It should be big enough to support the whole thing. Next, make a hole matching your bit’s position and a little wider in diameter to make sure the bit has clearance. Finally, attach the hardwood fence. This determines the bit’s spacing…

At a garage sale, I came across a stack of hook and loop sanding discs. The price couldn’t be beat. There was just one catch: the discs didn’t have holes, as you can see in the photo above. (Turns out you can also purchase disc blanks new online.) In order to make the most of my haul, I needed a way to make holes that matched my sander. The jig shown at left does the job. Two hinged plywood jaws sandwich a short stack of discs (about five), as shown in the inset photo. A pattern of holes in the upper jaw serves as drill guides to create the holes in the discs. I used a disc I had on hand, but you could also use the backer pad from…

In my shop, I don’t have a jointer. So, when I need to get a straight edge on a piece of stock, I have to get a little creative. One of the easiest ways I found was to use my table saw with a modified straight-edge guide, like you see above. A MODIFICATION. To use my straightedge guide, I modified the clamping foot. I trimmed the plastic off one side so there was a continuous straightedge that I could run up against the fence. Then, to use it, I clamp it on the board and guide the now straight, flush edge against the fence on the table saw. This leaves me with a straight edge on the opposite edge of the board.…

Whether it’s at the table saw or router table, a featherboard is a useful accessory to keep a workpiece firmly in place. However, the rails that come with commercial options won’t always be a perfect fit for your saw. The shop-made rail you see above expands to fill in the miter slot exactly, ensuring the board stays right where you need it. The rabbeted edges form a "T" that keeps the rail from pulling up. The kerfs (along with the wedge-shaped heads of the machine screws) allow the rail to spread out slightly when tightened, preventing it from sliding in the slot. NOTE: Shape rail to match miter slot…

There are a number of shop-made jigs, tables, and fences that I love having threaded inserts on. They make pieces easily removable or adjustable, but they’re not always easy to install perfectly square. However, this handy jig makes installing them a breeze. The jig itself is simple. The notched body keeps the insert perpendicular to the workpiece while the fence keeps it centered, and a spring-loaded hex bolt helps drive the insert in place. The hex bolt passes through a centered hole in the body (detail ‘b’ below). The bottom is counterbored to make room for a spacer (detail ‘a’). A spring presses between the spacer and a nut, providing even downward pressure. To use the jig, first drill a hole in the workpiece for the insert. Slip a washer…

Drill guides are becoming more popular these days, and with good reason. However, they all share one slight but common and annoying flaw. With their small bases, they tend to tip over easily, which invariably moves the bit and possibly ruins the cut. To solve this, I added the base and step you can see below. This brand of drill guide (refer to page 98 for the source) already has four holes tapped and threaded to accommodate ¼"-20 screws, making it an easy addition. The base adds a great deal of stability, preventing any tipping. In addition to the base, I also added a step to the rear of this add-on. This serves two functions. The first is a deeper V-groove, which allows me to drill through dowels that would…

I can always use more clamps. So, when I needed a few extra clamps for a recent project, I decided to get creative and build my own as shown here. SIMPLE PARTS. The clamps I came up with are built using a length of threaded rod. A pair of large dowels on each end of the threaded rod serve as knobs. In the center of each dowel, I drilled a hole and added a T-nut. The last bit of the puzzle is to add a set of plywood clamping jaws. These help apply even clamping pressure. With the clamp assembled as shown in the illustration, I can slide the jaws to the workpiece and tighten the knobs. The jaws keep the pressure even, and allow me to apply just the…

I sand a lot of projects at my workbench. The problem is that the power cord and the dust collection hose of the sander are always in my way. Either they’re tugging as they hook on the edge of the bench, or they trip me up as they snake around my feet. I decided to solve this frustrating problem once and for all. The answer came in the form of a swinging arm. With the help of an eye bolt and hook-and-loop strap, it holds the cord and hose up out of the way. The arm swings freely because it’s attached to a disc that rides on a lazy Susan. And, as the photo shows, the lazy Susan is attached to another disc that’s mounted on a post. The stiffness…

Recently, after building a bunch of gifts from a Woodsmith plan, I was looking for a way to quickly and efficiently finish them all. That’s when I came up with the idea for the simple finishing turntable shown in the photo at right. ROUND AND ROUND. The turntable is made up of a base and a platform, both made from two layers of plywood. A carriage bolt passes through a counterbored hole in the base and is held in place with a hex nut and a washer. The smaller platform rotates on a T-nut installed in the bottom face. I drove long screws through the platform to act as painter’s points to raise the workpiece. The platform can then be threaded onto the bolt. COUNTERCLOCKWISE AND BACK. To use the…

One of the best upgrades you can make for a drill press is to add a larger table and a fence. While wandering the home center, I found an easy way to make them — slat wall panels. Both the table and fence are made from pieces of the slat wall panels. I laminated a backer of particleboard to the slat wall for added stiffness, as in the drawing below. The T-shaped slots are perfect for adding accessories: hold-downs in the table and a stop block (or two) for the fence. Speaking of the fence, I cut a pair of dadoes in the fence backer prior to gluing it up. This forms slots used to secure and adjust the fence to the slots in the table, as shown in detail…

I loved the shop-made threaded knobs from Woodsmith tips so much that I made some for myself. I decided to make them as part of a set of hold-down clamps, but I did make a small change. As you can see in the photos at right and above, I created a riser under the knob to give my fingers more room when using it. After creating the hold-down, I made a riser from a 1" maple dowel. I started out by drilling a hole to accept the carriage bolt and made a recess in the threaded knob for a T-nut. The carriage bolt feeds up through the riser and into the T-nut. To ensure the riser wouldn’t slip around, I glued it securely to the knob. NOTE: Set printer…

I recently built the plywood shop projects from Woodsmith No. 234. They work great, but I found that I needed one more thing. And that was a smaller surface to mount my bench grinder. I took inspiration from the projects’ design and came up with the shelf shown here. THICK TOP. As you can see in the photo above, the top of the accessory shelf is two layers of plywood. This makes it sturdy enough to support a heavy bench grinder. The rest of the shelf is also plywood, and a drawer with a plywood false front is installed on a set of metal slides (refer to page 98 for source). The thing I like the best about the shelf is that it was simple to build and can be…

Sleds are great at the table saw, whether it’s for small parts or precise crosscuts. However, they do require a pair of miter bars to be installed on the bottom at exactly 90°. These bars aren’t terribly expensive, and installing them isn’t too hard (but it can be tedious). To save myself the money and the headache, I opt for using miter gauges instead. For this purpose, any old pair of miter gauges will do. Set both to 90°, then place them in the miter slots on your table saw. Position your sled and screw it in place. This provides a free set of miter bars and makes attaching them accurately a snap. If you need to switch to a different sled, all you need to do is unscrew them…

Dadoes and grooves are some of the most common joints in woodworking. Making them is pretty easy too; all you need is a router and something to register the base off of. However, given how often I make these joints, I thought there must be a way to expedite the process. That’s when I came up with the jig you see below. In a nutshell, here’s how it works: you line up the fence with the center of the joint and clamp the jig in place. Then, fold the fence back and rout, using the base as a guide for your router. The width of the fence is equal to the distance between the edge of the router base and the center of the bit you’re using, removing the need…

All you need to cut a circle on the band saw is a piece of plywood with a nail driven in to act as a pivot. While simple, with just a little work you can make something more versatile. This jig is adjustable and easy to attach to your band saw. The jig is made of two base pieces bevel ripped apart to form a tongue. The base pieces attach to a backboard, holding the tongue between them while still allowing it to slide. The sliding tongue has a nail driven in one end and trimmed to act as a pivot point. To adjust the pivot, move the tongue and lock it in place by tightening the thumb screw in the backboard. The jig is held with a pair of…

I was looking for some extra storage in the shop when I came up with this use for the open space between the legs of my router table. After making a frame to span the gap, I screwed a piece of pegboard across the bottom, keeping items securely inside. The “door” on this little cabinet is a keyholed panel of pegboard. The keyholes allow the panel to easily slide on and off when I need something from inside, and the pegboard itself allows me some vertical storage too using pegboard hooks. You can see the dimensions I used to the left, but to make your own just match it to the dimensions of your router table. NOTE: Frame top, bottom, and sides are made from ¾" plywood. Storage panel…

Over the years, I’ve gotten into a specific routine in my shop. It starts by putting on my equipment — safety glasses, my apron, hearing protection, and then throwing my tape measure and pencil into my apron pocket. That everyday-carry was the inspiration for building the shop valet shown on this page. SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION. As you can see in the photo, the valet is simply a shelf with a couple of pegs. The pegs are designed to hold my apron and hearing protection. The shelf is easy to build. The parts are made from some scrap softwood and glued together. The pegs are simply glued into holes drilled in the back. ROUTED RECESSES. The one thing that might not be apparent is the recesses routed into the top of the…

Evenly spaced shelf pin holes are one of the more notable features of a well-made cabinet. Luckily, keeping the spacing even is an easy task with the right method. You can see my spacing guide here. The block has a series of holes drilled at the drill press. Centerlines marked on the block help you to align it during use. To put the block to work, I first mark out the centerline of the row of pin holes, as well as their end points. From there, I simply need to align the block with the lines to drill the holes. For longer runs of holes, a clevis pin (or even two) registers the block.…

In my garage shop, I’m often looking for ways to make tools multi-function. In some recent extended shop-time, I discovered a good way to upgrade my drill press sanding drum. SANDING DRUM. While drill press drum sanders aren’t new, there are a few places they fall short. The biggest is that they always seem to have some runout and flex a little. Plus, I always seem to have to cobble together an insert or a table so I can lower it all the way. To fix that, I modified an insert for my drill press table (my table is from WoodsmithPlans.com). I made a table that attaches to the insert and allows the drum to be recessed. A bronze bushing stabilizes the drum to prevent wobbling. Then, I can make…

Mitered joints are one of the cleanest ways to assemble a frame, but with glue’s slippery consistency, they’re not the easiest to clamp up. However, this simple process shown here will ensure your mitered frames stay aligned. Begin by placing a pair of frame pieces in a clamp, as shown in Step 1. The idea here is that the heads of the clamps register the parts to keep them flush. Once the first pieces are held, apply glue to the miters and slip the remaining frame pieces in place, adding additional clamps along the top and bottom (Step 2). Finally, adjust the clamps to align the miter joints (as in Step 3). Tighten the clamps down slowly to finish the glueup, making sure the miters keep aligned as everything gets…

Card scrapers are a great tool for shaping and finishing workpieces. But, when the burr starts to wear, they can be tricky to get sharp again. What you see here is my method for refreshing the burr. FLATTEN. First, you need to take off the old burr. This is where the block you see above comes in. The kerf (cut at the band saw) accepts the scraper, holding it in place while a diamond plate flattens the cutting edge (as in Step 1 above). Then, a few passes across both faces ensure the scraper’s edge is square (inset photo). BURNISHING. The last steps are burnishing. Begin by using the burnisher to create the burr, as in Step 2 below. However, it won’t be at a comfortable angle to use. Try…

I like to build small step stools for children, held together by pocket screws and glue. They come together quick, and all joints are made from the bottom. This makes for strong stools, but most commercial plugs are overly long, and it’s hard to maneuver a saw in to trim them. The jig shown here allows me to trim the dowels to size before assembly. The back attaches to a miter gauge, with an adjustable front piece held on by a threaded knob and carriage bolt (detail ‘b’). Before attaching the front piece though, drill a pocket hole through it to accept the dowels (detail ‘a’). A hardboard stop is then attached to bottom out the dowel. Once you’ve got a test pocket hole, adjust the jig for the length…

When making a crosscut with a circular saw, I always use a jig to ensure clean, square cuts. The one shown here is a combination of hardboard and plywood. The dimensions are listed at right, but I recommend leaving the hardboard extra wide to begin with. Use your circular saw to cut the jig to final width. This creates a reference edge you can use to align your cuts. After marking your layout line on the workpiece, it’s a simple matter to make a clean, square cut (photos above). NOTE: The base is ¼" hardboard. The fence is ½" plywood. The cleat is ¾" plywood…

Bench dogs are some of the most used accessories in my shop. That said, I often need more stability than one alone can provide. What I came up with is the bench dog stop you see here. This stop is held in place by two dowel posts that fit into the bench dog holes. I based their hole and slot positions off the holes in my bench. One post is adjustable, allowing me to work any direction on my bench. That rod is threaded on a bolt while the other is fixed with a wedge. An aluminum bar reinforces the hardwood of the stop, guaranteeing I won’t break it when I really get working. NOTE: Top is ¼"-thick hardwood. Posts are ¾"-dia. hardwood dowels. Aluminum is ⅛" thick. Wedge is…

When gluing up a panel from multiple boards, keeping them all aligned can be stressful. Wet glue has a tendency to make boards shift when pressure is applied. However, a couple sets of cauls clamped along the joints ensure the panel surfaces stay flush. The ones pictured here are arched to keep the glue off. Make the cauls from two glued-up blocks of plywood, chamfering the edges and cutting off the corners. From there, bore a hole through the center for the arch and chamfer the hole. Cut the block in half, and you’re left with two cauls. NOTE: Make from one blank, then cut in half to complete NOTE: Cauls are made from two 4" x ⁴⁄₈" pieces of ¾" plywood…

My woodshop is rather small, so I’m always looking for ways to save storage space. One such way is this compact holder, made for two diamond sharpening plates. Now I have four sharpening surfaces in a single block. This makes it easy to switch sharpening surfaces for whatever I need, and the holder itself has the same footprint as just one plate. The plates are held by aluminum channels on one end and secured by a rare-earth magnet counterbored into the base, as you can see in the lower photo above right. I used my band saw with the fence to cut the kerfs that fit one lip of each channel (you can see these in detail ‘c’ below). I also slightly recessed each side of the kerf on the…

While the table saw can be one of the most reliable crosscutters in the shop, it isn’t easy to get consistent cuts when using it. Multiple cuts will often leave pieces longer or shorter, unless you’re using a stop block. The flip-up stop block you see here makes crosscutting multiple, identical pieces a breeze. As shown in the illustration below, the flip stop is fastened to a block with a bolt and wing nut. The block is bolted to a piece of hardboard, which forms a clamp that fits over the miter gauge fence, then locked in position by a plastic knob. Using the stop is easy. Turn the flip stop up, then square up one end of the workpiece. From here you can quickly flip the stop back down…

I use my router table often. For a long time, setting my fence with just a ruler and a few taps back or forth was sufficient in my shop. However, over time I decided that my router table sees enough use to deserve something better. That's where the assembly you see above comes in. Rather than tapping my fence into place, this offers fine adjustments. This modification is a plywood cleat clamped to the table behind the fence. A pair of threaded rods and wing nuts are installed through the bracket and attach to blocks glued onto the fence. Now, when I need to make an adjustment, I can use the pair of wing nuts to micro-adjust the fence, then tighten them both down to lock it in place. NOTE:…

The drill press is probably the toughest tool for dust collection. The rotation of the bit throws chips in every direction. To make the job easier I made a tray that attached to the front of my shop-made table. I wouldn’t call this a perfect solution so much as a management plan. As I work, I sweep dust and chips off the table and into the tray. Not only does this keep the working surface clear, but the debris stays off the floor and gets collected by a vacuum. SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION. The tray is made from plywood with a hardboard rim to help contain chips. I drilled a hole in the bottom to accept the hose from my shop vacuum. Once constructed, the tray is simply screwed beneath your table.…

The miter saw is my main crosscutter, but making small adjustments on the piece being cut isn’t easy. Often I over-correct, followed by another overcorrection to fix it, then another. The stop you see here was my answer. Since clamping a stop block to the fence is difficult on short pieces, the stop is long and attached to a plywood fence. The stop is simple: it consists of just two pieces connected by a couple bolts for adjustability. The mounting block is L-shaped, with one hole for a hex bolt to pass through and fine-tune the stop block, and another for a carriage bolt to lock the mounting block in place. The carriage bolt is counterbored, while the hex bolt threads into a T-nut. The stop block is a long…

In Woodsmith 243, I saw a reader’s tip for building a bench grinder stand that hangs on the wall. I don’t use a bench grinder often, but I thought I could use the stand in a different way. TILTING TOP. The original design had a two-layer top and hung on the wall with a couple of lag bolts. The modification that I made to the stand can be seen above. I turned the stand into a drafting table to use in my shop. This was done by installing a continuous hinge between the two-layer top. This allows it to tilt to an inclined drafting position. To hold the top in the drafting position, I installed a couple of steel stays that I made. I also installed a stop to keep…

When crosscutting multiple short pieces to length on the table saw, it’s common to clamp a scrap block to the rip fence before the blade as a standoff for setting the length (refer to page 47). This prevents the piece from getting trapped between the blade and fence and kicking back. I made a self-clamping stand-off block that takes the concept one better. Instead of fiddling with a clamp to attach the block, it slips over the rip fence. Tightening a knob engages a built-in clamp that secures the setup block to the fence (inset photo). The body is a plywood, U-shaped assembly that’s sized to fit over the rip fence. The drawing below shows the construction. To make the clamp mechanism, cut a dado in one side to house…

I often find myself in the middle of a project that requires ripping a lot of small parts to a narrow width. The recent model train from Woodsmith No. 245 was one of those projects. So, I decided to build a simple ripping sled to help me safely rip the small parts at my table saw. RIPPING SLED. The fixture I came up with is shown here. It’s a small sled with a pair of T-tracks in the base to attach an adjustable fence. By moving the fence, you can accurately set the width of the cut (inset photo). Once you have the width set, the fence tightens down with a couple knobs. Slip the workpiece in place and use the toggle clamp to hold it down while making a…

Cutting mortises for hinges is something I usually do with my handheld router and a chisel. But when I needed to quickly cut mortises on the edge of some doors, I built the adjustable jig for the table saw that you see above. MITER GAUGE EXTENSION. The jig is a plywood miter gauge fence with a T-track recessed in it. A pair of stop blocks that ride in the T-track set the start and stop positions of the mortises. By using a rip blade in the table saw, I can make a cut with the workpiece against each stop, then nibble away the waste in between. Then, I flip the workpiece around to cut the second hinge location. NOTE: Fence has ⅛" deep rabbet along bottom edge for dust…

During some router operations, such as when routing the rabbeted edge on the frame in the photo above, tipping becomes a big concern. One tilt and you’ve ruined the frame. To solve this problem, I built the accessory you see to the left and above. This supporting base consists of just two pieces. First is the platform. It’s plywood with a clearance hole for the router bit and screw holes to allow it to attach to the router base. Second is the support block. This piece has a notched end, but, more importantly, it’s sized to the same thickness as the piece you’re working on. This provides solid support even when the platform only rests on a small part of the workpiece. NOTE: Locate holes to match your router…

When putting together something like a case, grooves and dadoes are often the meat and potatoes of the joinery. And, on large panels like the one you see above, I find the best way to cut them is with my router. A straightedge is an easy way to guide the cuts, but a more reliable method is to use the track from a track saw. The plywood guide you see below screws onto the router base, and the series of grooves shown in detail ‘a’ allow it to slide along the track just like the track saw would. The big advantage to this setup is that the track can be positioned for square cuts much quicker than a straightedge, making case joinery a breeze to rout. NOTE: Confirm these…

Recently, I was working on a project that required cope and stick doors. To help me rout the end grain cleanly and quickly, I built the jig shown here. CLEAN CUT. The router jig consists of a plywood base that acts like a sled. A pair of large slots cut into the base of the sled let you easily clamp the workpiece in place. I also screwed on a cleat that accepts a backerboard (see photo above). Finally, I added a handle to easily guide the sled. The jig functions as both a sled and a miter gauge. I clamp the workpiece to the jig and adjust the fence to the proper position for the router bit I’m using. The backerboard helps control chipout and can be replaced as needed.…

There’s no doubt that a dado blade is a great accessory for a table saw. It's my go-to for case and drawer joinery. The only issue is keeping track of the scoring blades, all the chippers, and the shims. Here’s one easy shop-made solution — a plywood tote. Detail ‘a’ provides all the details for sizing the tote. A carriage bolt recessed and epoxied in the back face is the anchor point for all the dado blade bits and pieces. A couple washers and a wing nut secure the components for transport. A handhold cut into the top of the tote works for both carrying and hanging the tote on the wall. NOTE: Tote is made from ¾" plywood…

After purchasing a new table saw, I needed to make extra zero clearance table inserts. The problem was adjusting the table insert to be flush with the top of the table. I decided to drill oversized holes in each corner, which ended up being about one-and-a-half times the size of my set screws. I countersunk each side, then I filled each hole with epoxy. The countersunk holes are important to lock the epoxy in place from both sides. Then I just drilled and tapped the epoxied holes as normal. Be sure to keep track of the hole’s center for when it comes time to tap. Since these tapped holes aren’t through steel, you should use as long a set screw as possible to utilize as many threads as you can,…

Routing can make quite the mess. Of course, a little dust in the shop is no big deal, but at the router table all that sawdust can certainly get in the way. That’s why I created this dust chute, which is easy to make and attach to any table. The chute is made from just a couple pieces of plywood and hardboard glued together. You can see how these parts all come together in the illustrations below. The holes in the top and the dust port dictate the air flow. To attach it to your router table, all you need to do is drill a hole in the table top to match the one in the top of the dust chute, then glue the chute on underneath. With the hose…

When working with long boards in my shop, I like to use outfeed support for extra control. One day, I decided to build a universal outfeed support for different machine setups. JACK IT UP. This is the outfeed stand that I came up with. It uses an ordinary automotive scissor jack. After cutting off the metal top bracket, I was able to bolt on a plywood plate. On the plate there are four-way rollers to offer friction-free support. To mount the jack, I attached it to a plywood base so I could secure it to a cart. Because the jack has a lot of adjustment, I mounted it on a cart and fine-tuned the height by raising or lowering it to match whatever machine I’m working at. The four-way rollers…

If you’re anything like me, holding parts at the drill press tends to be hard on your hands. After having a piece grab and spin around, I decided I had enough and made the simple clamping jig shown here. CLAMP BAR. As you can see in the photo above, the hold-down is nothing more than a long piece of plywood with a hardboard cap glued on it. A slot in each end lines up with the T-tracks in my drill press table to hold the bar in place while drilling. Using the hold-down is just as simple as the construction. After positioning my workpiece, I can move the bar over top and clamp it down by tightening the knobs. That way, the workpiece is held secure and my hands are…

I often enjoy building my own shop-made items. When I needed a couple of toggle clamps for a project, I knew that I wanted to design and build my own. WOOD CONSTRUCTION. As you can see in the photo, the toggle clamp I came up with uses almost all hardwood parts. They’re small, but easy to cut out at the band saw. I used aluminum rods for all of the pivot points, and a bolt with a couple of nuts for the finger. Using the toggle clamp is easy. It works exactly like a commercial toggle clamp. The top lever releases the arm and lifts it up. When you slide a workpiece in, you can pull the lever to latch it in place. To accommodate different thicknesses of workpieces, you…

I almost always do my sanding with an orbital sander, but navigating the vacuum hose while controlling the sander can feel like wrestling with an anaconda, especially on long panels. Commercial hose hangers are available, but in my opinion they’re better suited to static tasks — for sanding I wanted something that would let my hose move back and forth as I needed. The roller you see here was my answer. This hose roller is made of a few pieces of plywood, a length of PVC pipe (along with two caps), and a few pieces of hardware. A plywood base supports two uprights. Hex bolts pass through the caps and uprights on either end, allowing the pipe to roll freely. To use the roller, I simply clamp it in place…

In order to simplify setting the bevel angle on tools for sharpening with my honing guide, I made this setup gauge. As you can see in the photos, my honing guide has a lower position for chisels, and an upper location for plane irons. Hardboard stops on the honing gauge position chisels and plane irons for two different angles each. I chose 25° and 30° for a high and low angle bevel grind. The guide will square the blade, while the gauge’s hardboard sets the distance. You can use a protractor to determine the location of the stops. Just be sure to label them for easy reference. This gauge allows me to quickly set up the proper angle for sharpening and honing chisels and plane irons.…

NOTE: The base, fence block, and fence back are made from ¾" MDF. The bottom and the fence face are ¼" hardboard. The fence body is ¾" plywood. The adjustment block is made from ½"-thick hardwood NOTE: Hardboard allows workpieces to slide easily In my shop, the router table sees a lot of use, especially for joinery. And, when it comes to joinery, a precise cut makes all the difference — which is why I whipped up this micro-adjustable fence. The gist is this: the base assembly (which locks down to your router table) is connected to the fence assembly by a threaded knob. Adjusting that knob minutely shifts the fence position. The fence assembly pivots off a cut-off bolt that runs through the fence back and into…

I think we’re all familiar with the struggle; you’re working on a project, need a knob for a jig, and, lo and behold, you don’t have one the correct size. To avoid this frustrating problem altogether, I have just started to make my own knobs, like you see here. A SERIES OF HOLES. The knobs are easy to make. I make mine out of plywood and start by laying out a series of holes. Then, after spending a few minutes at the drill press drilling the holes, I can cut it out and am left with the perfect knob. The best part of all is that they can be made for any size thread, simply by installing a different T-nut. One of the great uses I found for these was…

There are times when the dust collection feature on the router table fence doesn’t do the job at hand. In my most recent case, I was using a flush trim bit and had to remove the fence altogether. The dust collection solution I came up with is what you see here. VACUUM CLAMP. As you can see, my idea uses a shop vacuum hose and head held in a clamp. The clamp is made out of a few layers of plywood and has a wide base. The base gets clamped to the router table, and the hose is held in a hinged clamp. A shop-made latch holds the clamp closed. When I need to deploy the holder, it’s simple to clamp it to the table and lock the hose in…

Normal workbench heights are fine for most work, but for many people, fine detail work at that height will have them hunching for hours. This “back-saving” benchtop is amazingly rigid and solid when clamped to the top front of your workbench. Your workpiece is then clamped up at a comfortable height, whether you’re cutting dovetails or carving. The project can be made to fit you, and it only takes an hour or so of shop time and a few pieces of spare scrap lying around. The sides need a little shaping (detail 'b'), and woodscrews join the five parts.…

Whenever I build a project that requires precise angles, the setup and fine-tuning of the blade angle can be a pain, so I built this table saw sled. It allows me to leave my blade set at 90° and still cut 18-24° miters on the end of workpieces. The range of miter angles can be extended with different angled support blocks. ADJUSTABLE PLATEN. The heart of the miter jig is an adjustable platen that’s attached to a base with a continuous hinge. The base has a pair of support blocks and a hardwood runner. To lock the platen in place, the support blocks each have two bolts. One bolt is used to adjust the angle of the platen and another going the opposite direction locks the platen in place. To…

The table saw is my preferred method for cutting parts to size, big or small. For the small toys I make specifically, it’s perfect to cut identical parts, and quickly too. However, cutting odd angles or tapers safely at the table saw, especially on the little parts I'm often working with, can be a tall task. At least, until I built the jig that’s shown here. ADJUSTABLE CLAMPING. The taper jig you see here starts off like a small crosscut sled. A runner is connected to a plywood base to guide the sled down the miter gauge slot. A cleat is attached along the back edge to hold workpieces, as well as give you a grip on the sled. The real heart of the jig is an adjustable block that…

Cutting dowel pins can be tedious, but a simple sled speeds things up. This sled doesn’t take long to make, and even has a tray to keep the cutoffs corralled. Begin by cutting the fence, sizing block, and base to size. Drill a hole through the sizing block of the same diameter as the dowels you’ll be cutting. Next, cut the tray sides to width, but leave them as one extra-long blank. Bevel the top, then cut and miter the pieces. Once they fit neatly on the base’s end, glue up the sled. To use the sled, first cut a kerf to determine length of the dowels. Push a dowel through the hole in the sliding block until it's flush with the end and make the cut. Repeat for as…

Setting an accurate depth of cut on a router bit is a fussy task. Precise routing usually takes some test cuts, unless you have a depth gauge. Rather than buy a commercial option though, I figured I could make a better one myself — which is exactly what I did. As you can see, it’s just one block with a series of cutouts. I drilled the holes, then trimmed each edge to form the openings. Now it was just a matter of setting the screw heights. The screws act as the depth stops. I searched through my collection of miscellaneous screws for ones that would sit about where I wanted them and have a little extra thread to hold in the wood. After collecting screws and drilling pilot holes, I…

One of my favorite uses for my router table is to cut circles. It may surprise people, but it’s actually quite easy to do with the jig you see here. The jig is made of plywood and sized to fit your router table. A piece of aluminum has a series of holes sized to fit a pin. The pin becomes a pivot point for your workpiece. A pair of cleats on the ends of the base keep it from sliding side-to-side. USING THE JIG. To use the jig, position it so the edge of the bit to the center of the pivot pin is the desired radius of your circle, then lock your router fence in place. This acts like a stop. Then, slide the base away from the bit…

Cutting odd-shaped parts always poses an interesting challenge. The band saw is certainly the safest place to get the job done, but it’s far from perfect. That said, this V-jig will certainly help when it comes to long workpieces. The jig cradles the piece, and it works well for a few different operations. Two cleats are mounted on a hardboard base to create the V. A notch into the jig separates the narrow cleat and allows room for the band saw’s blade. As you can see above, the jig gets taped to the fence, and the V supports pieces of any shape. NOTE: The base is made from ¼" hardboard. The cleats are made from 1¾"-thick hardwood…

While Millicent Doyle’s dado tote (previous page) is a traditional and simple design, I wanted something more expansive. With the tote you see here, each part of the dado set can be accessed individually without needing to unstack them. The tote is made of three parts, along with the spacers for the blades. Tongues in the base slot into dadoes in the sides. The sides have two holes: one for a dowel to hold spacers and one for finger holes. NOTE: Size gaps to match your dado set NOTE: The sides and base are ¾" plywood. The spacers are ½" plywood ½"-dia. dowel NOTE: Spacers are glued to base…

While building some drawers for added storage under my workbench, I ran out of the ¼" hardboard I normally use for the drawer bottoms. Looking around the shop for a suitable substitute, I found some ¼" pegboard. It seemed sturdy enough for my purposes, so I gave it a shot. The white melamine surface of the pegboard helps “lighten up” the inside of the drawers, plus it’s easier to keep clean, but there’s another big advantage to using pegboard. You can make use of the holes by adding dividers for the drawers. This helps keep things organized, as you can see in the photo at left. On shallow drawers, you can use ¼"-dia. dowels on the bottom of the partitions to locate them in the holes. On deeper drawers, I’ve…