Shop Tips

Learn tips and tricks that make your shop time more productive. Find out how to get the most out of hand tools and power tools, including your router and table saw. See tips on finishing, gluing, clamping, sharpening, layout, and more!

Drawing of putting a round paper template on top of a dowel.

Circular logic points to the center

I was recently working on a project that required a centered hole in one end of a 1¹⁄₄ " dowel. Lacking a tool to help me find the center, I resorted to pencil and paper.

Drawing of dado blade with finger putting four pieces of tape on dado.

A sticky solution for perfectly sized dadoes

Sometimes you need a fine adjustment to the overall width of a stacked dado blade.

Illustration of top of workbench with a small board, two T-tracks and some bench dogs.

Put a stop to movement with T-track

While using a hand plane to smooth a wide panel, I needed a long bench stop to keep the workpiece from moving.

Illustration of several boards used to hold tablet in position for easy of viewing.

Stop stacking scraps to tilt the tablet

I got tired of propping up my tablet with scrapwood to hold the screen at a good viewing angle.

Illustration showing a board being pushed along router bit with a feather board to hold it in place. Two extra boards on table.

Score one for no tear-out on cope-and-stick joinery

When machining cope-and-stick joints on a router table, the “stick” bit that cuts the profile along the edges of the rails and stiles often causes tear-out.

Shelf with pipes under it to hold tools such as clamps.

A pipe dream for small-tool storage

After installing a shelf over my workbench, I quickly realized there was additional storage potential on the underside of the shelf.

Illustration of jig with 4 set of clamps.

Four ways to clamp on the curves

I build a lot of pieces using live-edge slabs. When joining two pieces to make a wide panel, I orient the live edges to the outside. But this presents a clamping problem during glue-up.