How to Archives

Cleaning Your Wooden Outdoor Furniture: A Guide to Safe and Effective Pressure Washing Techniques

Pressure washing your outdoor furniture is the most effective cleaning method, as it requires very little time and energy while providing exceptional results. Outdoor furniture is always exposed to weather conditions, animals, and high traffic, especially in spring and summer months. Due to those factors, you will frequently find stains, footprint marks, dirt, or mud on your outdoor furniture, which will not appeal to the … Read More

How To Get The Look You Want From A Polyurethane Finish

by Adam Henley

A polyurethane finish is a great way to add long-lasting durability to your projects, but there’s not exactly a one-size-fits-all process for applying it. And getting the final look you really want is not always that simple. I’ve covered my main ways of applying a regular, oil-based polyurethane finish, and a wipe-on polyurethane finish, which I’ll link to below. But what happens when your finish, … Read More

Shellac Wood Finish – What It Is and How To Apply It

by Adam Henley

Shellac wood finish is one of my new favorite, easy to apply finishes. Yeah there’s complicated methods out there, some are even kind of intimidating. But I want to take my favorite woodworking approach and apply it to a shellac finish. I want to prioritize “easy”. That’s what I always try to do with my projects, as I do with most of the stuff I … Read More

Build Your Own DIY Feather Board For Woodworking

by Adam Henley

A DIY feather board is simply an angled piece of wood which has fingers cut in one end. It’s a great addition to table saws and router tables, and even some band saws. For example, on a table saw I like using a feather board to make sure the work piece doesn’t drift away from the fence, which can be a concern in some instances, … Read More

How To Square Up A Board When You Only Have A Table Saw

by Adam Henley

When you don’t have a fully equipped wood shop, but you’ve got grandpas old table saw buried under some boxes, you just might have everything you need to take on a few woodworking projects. But you may need to learn how to square up a board first. Sometimes the boards we get don’t quite have usable edges. And that’s where this squaring process comes into … Read More

How To Calibrate Your Miter Gauge To Your Table Saw

by Adam Henley

So you’re ready to calibrate your miter gauge, but would like a few pointers to make sure you’re doing it right… Perfect, that’s what this page is all about. The miter gauge on your table saw is there to help you make safe and consistent cross cuts or miter cuts on the table saw. A good miter gauge will slide along the miter slot in … Read More

Zero Clearance Table Saw Insert – How To Make One The Right Way

by Adam Henley

A good zero clearance table saw insert can really make a difference in your table saw’s performance. It offers optimal support of the work piece, all the way right up to the blade, meaning less (in some cases zero) tearout on the bottom side of the cut. That means you end up with a cleaner edge. There are a few different ways to go about … Read More

How To Build A Lumber Rack With Storage Bins

by Adam Henley

Today I want to show you how I built my lumber rack, which has actually made a huge difference in my shop. Just being able to better organize my stock, plus the extra bins for cut offs, I now operate a much cleaner and organized shop. And keeping lumber off the garage floor really improves bug and pest control. I’m going to show you how … Read More

Edge Banding Your Plywood Projects In 7 Easy Steps

by Adam Henley

Wood veneer edge banding is used to make plywood appear to be solid wood. It can get kind of tricky, but with the right strategy it becomes very simple, and almost impossible to mess up. It’s not very attractive to leave the sides of plywood exposed. But even the sides of other manufactured woods like MDF could be greatly improved by adding some kind of … Read More

What Is MDF and How To Use It In Your Woodworking

by Adam Henley

You’ve probably come across this large, brown, ugly sheet material at home stores before. But what is MDF? Does it have any real practical uses in a wood shop or for building furniture? How do you finish it? How strong is it? What kind of joinery should be used with it? I’ve been using MDF for various projects in my wood shop for some time … Read More

Danish Oil – What You Should Know About This Amazing Wood Finish

by Adam Henley

I love a good wood finish that is easy to apply, enriches the appearance of the natural wood, makes the grain stand out, and provides a decent amount of protection. So, let’s talk about Danish Oil. Oil finishes like tung oil and boiled linseed oil penetrate into the wood. They provide some protection as well as a rich, beautiful appearance. Film finishes like varnish, lacquer, … Read More

Hide Glue – Why You Should Start Using It Too

by Adam Henley

Hide glue gets its name from the fact that it comes from animal hides, bones, hooves… (I’ll stop there). It’s a very archaic glue that’s been around as long as woodworking has. But even still, today’s hide glue creates just as good of a bond as PVA wood glues. Read more about PVA wood glue here. Traditional hide glue is pliable when it’s heated up, and … Read More

How To Inlay Wood With A Router

by Adam Henley

So you want to learn how to inlay wood with a router, and like me, you don’t necessarily want to cut out intricate solid wood inserts to fill the inlay. Perfect, because that’s what this tutorial is for! I’m going to share all my steps, pictures, and even some video. I’ve come up with a very simple process for how to inlay wood with a … Read More

PVA Glue – What’s It Used For And Why It Works

by Adam Henley

A good PVA glue is a woodworkers best friend. It’s cheap, easy to apply, easy to clean up, and creates a bond stronger than the wood itself, which is really all you could ask for, right? Well apparently there are a few more things to consider when choosing the right wood glue for your next project. Keep reading to learn all about what PVA wood … Read More

The Right Way To Do Breadboard Ends For Your Table Projects

by Adam Henley

So you’re thinking about building a table? You’ve heard about these “Breadboard Ends”. You’ve probably seen them. Maybe you’ve even tried them out. I know a woodworker who didn’t know the correct way to create breadboard ends, and he ended up causing the table top to split. It wasn’t really his fault, he was simply never taught the proper technique. Well that’s what inspired me … Read More

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