Latest Articles

Tips & Tricks: Heat shrink wrap for clamp handles
The older I get, the more trouble I have tightening clamps adequately. The solution came from my other passion: fishing.

Tips & Tricks: Driving threaded inserts

Tips & Tricks: Improved hose control
Instead of using a dust bag, I prefer attaching my orbital sander to a shop vac for the superior dust collection it offers. But wrangling the hose presents challenges of its own. I tried an overhead support but found it limiting for large panels or when I had to move my sanding table. A better solution is to attach the hose to my shop apron.

Tips & Tricks: Vertical edge gluing
Edge gluing boards is always a challenge. Even if you’ve added biscuits to keep the pieces aligned, getting everything in place atop your bar clamps before the glue drips is stressful at best. I’ve found working vertically makes the process go a lot better.

Tips & Tricks: Thickness tapering
For a recent project, I needed 2×6s tapered in thickness. My first thought was to tilt the blade on my table saw, but a fully-raised blade isn’t high enough for the job. So I turned to my thickness planer.

Getting Sharp: Share what you know

Tips & Tricks: X-ray vision for turners
One of the challenges of turning hollow pieces is that you can’t see where the tip of the tool is as it is concealed inside the workpiece.

Tips & Tricks: Shop-made spray stand
When I first got my sprayer, I used to improvise, propping up pieces to be finished on all sorts of boxes, horses, and such. Recently I decided to bite the bullet and build a proper turntable.

Tips & Tricks: “Integral” clamp pads
After struggling with trying to keep loose pads in place when using pipe clamps, I hit upon the idea of attaching the pads to the clamps.

WoodRiver Moxon Vise Hardware Kit Video
The double screw vise has been around for centuries. Commonly referred to as a “Moxon Vise,” it is named after Joseph Moxon, who described the double screw vise in his book titled Mechanick Exercises. The WoodRiver® Moxon Vise Hardware Kit is a great way to make one of these extremely useful vises.