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I’ve started to work on laying out and cutting dovetail joints by hand, and I’m confused about the proper angle to use for dovetail joinery. What are the most common angles, and what are the factors that determine what angle to choose?

I do a lot of spindle-turning at the lathe, and find myself turning sections and details to the same common diameters time and again. Rather than constantly resetting my calipers, I devised a gauge for these diameters, making it from plastic laminate, which is thin enough to slip into parted areas and in between beads.

I find that when I need to neatly apply a thin glue or solvent, a plastic pipette is just the tool for the job. These squeezable lab dispensers, with their tiny tips, work great for targeted applications of thin or medium viscosity cyanoacrylate (CA) glue (“super glue”) when filling cracks or making repairs.

It often helps to raise a workpiece up off the bench, especially when you need clamp access underneath. Although you can sometimes just use thick boards as risers, I’ve found that I-beams work much better because you can clamp them to the benchtop, then secure the workpiece to the top beam flange. 

I have a couple of these “slaves” mounted under my workbench top to allow for easy clamp-free support of long stock for edge planing. Each unit is basically a bracket that houses a stick that can be extended for board support when necessary, and retracted when not in use. 

I just bought a used table saw that seems to be in pretty good condition except for some rust on the table. What’s the best way to clean it up, and how do I prevent it from happening again in the future? —Sherry Anatole, Birmingham, Alabama

Taking your projects to the next level is just a few shavings away. Learn from a pro how easy it is to put this must-have hand tool to work.

When making a table saw sled, there’s often a bit of final fussing with the wooden runners to ensure that the sled slides easily but without side-to-side play.

An outward drawer stop prevents content spills while still allowing intentional drawer removal. Here’s a clever version of an outward stop that’s unobtrusive and simple to make.

I designed this fixture as a place to park a router in use.