- Read Time: 3 mins
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I really hate it when I make woodworking mistakes because I waste time fixing something that is my own fault. Sometimes it's from rushing though a task other times I can just plain mixed up with what I am doing so even making a mistake once or twice prompts me to try and come up with a solution so maybe I can prevent it in the future ...
Making tables, regardless of the joiner is one of those times where you have similar looking items but that all fit in different areas and sometimes need to fit in a special way to sometimes take a away from defects in the wood, and always try to show it's best side.
- Read Time: 1 min
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This quick video is primarily for the thousands of new subscribers to my YouTube channel who have not had a chance to see or understand what something called the "Magswitch" can do in their workshop. Basically it is a little adapter that can be used to turn a magnet on and off and thereby use it to attache jigs and safety equipment to anything with a steel base, like table saws, bandsaws and drill presses.
This is NOT a long article, instead, learning by seeing will be easiest so what I am trying out with this video is to provide "clips" of magswith uses in jigs and adapters so others can see visually what can be done ... And don't forget that these switches are currently ON SALE November 21 to 26 or 2023 only ... you can check out the discounts of 15% and up to 30% at this link - https://mag-tools.com/discount/COLIN_KNECHT
- Read Time: 7 mins
- Hits: 4825
I remember joking with other woodworkers at guild meeting about "wouldn't it be nice to have some sort of a machine or jig that can give you perfect joints without a lot of fuss, that are super strong and precisely located" then I discovered the Dowelmax and it became my only joint-making tool for all the reasons I just listed.
I made this article and video to use as a reference for those new woodworkers who to know more about this tool can do, and for those experienced woodworkers as a reminder for new things they may not have thought about.
I often talk about this jig as the tool that changed my life in woodworking, and it's the truth. Before discovering this jig, like everyone else I made mostly mortise and tenon joints ... and hated it, I could never seem to get them to fit perfectly, the reveals were frequently not different thicknesses and they are tedious to make ... especially for something nobody ever sees except the woodworker because the mortise and tenon joints are buried and glued deep into the wood.
- Read Time: 5 mins
- Hits: 2283
This inexpensive and jig (that can often be made with off-cuts of wood) is the handiest jig you might have in your shop for aligning all sorts of woodworking projects and keeping them square, which of course makes them that much easier to work with.
Wood projects that are out of square and hard to work with, and for the woodworker, often disappointing to continue to work with or sell and there are only 2 things that contribute to out-of-square projects ....
- Read Time: 7 mins
- Hits: 19623
It's always easier to carry on doing things the way we always do, and only when things go wrong or when we get fed-up with things that aren't working right, are awkward or dysfunctional ... do we make changes, such is so with my Table Saw Sled.
I loved to hate my table saw sled, it was well built, and accommodated a variety of attachments (which I seldom used) and the main thing I needed it for was cross cutting wide boards that my sliding mitre saw could not cut. The problem with this, is just the weight of the sled would make me cringe at even the thought of dragging it out... 26 pounds of raw wood and plastic ...
- Read Time: 7 mins
- Hits: 3923
Not every suggestion I receive ends up in a video, often because I just don't have the capacity, but sometimes because what was sent, for some reason it may look like I would need to make a prototype of it before I video that tip, jig, or project. Such was the case with the wood router clamp.
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/lJjsj4ZVoPo
I can't take credit for this idea, it was sent to me compliments of the nice folks at the Sunflower Woodworking Guild in the Wichita, Kansas region, who have so kindly kept me on their member's list and send me newsletters and other club notices. What I received were some pictures and some plans from which to get started ...