Inhoudsopgave van March/April 2026 - Fine Woodworking Magazine

Our Unlimited membership provides exclusive access to a dynamic menu of woodworking talent, techniques, and projects—combining our print subscription with our online membership—all for $99 a year. For details on all the benefits, go to FineWoodworking.com/members. Online extras Visit FineWoodworking.com/322 VIDEO Beads, dowels, and bevels Jeff Miller shows off three shopmade jigs he uses while building his Shaker round table. VIDEO Shaping a seat Blending hand and machine methods, Tim Coleman shapes the scooped top and coved underside of his stool seat. And he shows how to cut the scoop with a bandsaw of any size. VIDEO Barking up the right tree Cook Inlet Tribal Council’s Design Alaska Club shows how to responsibly harvest birch bark for making projects like Peter Follansbee’s birch-bark containers. VIDEO Back to shellac Mike Mascelli…

Add a strip for a smoother template If you’ve ever tried to make a curved routing template by cutting close to the line and then sanding, you know how difficult it is to create a smooth, fair surface without any bumps or dips. I’ve discovered a method that makes this task much easier but doesn’t take much more time. Start by laying out the curve on your template material, using your preferred drawing tools. Now cut the curve right on the line, using your bandsaw, jigsaw, or whatever. Cutting on the line is easier than trying to cut beside it while attempting to maintain a consistent distance from it. Save the cutoff piece—you will need it for clamping. Now rip a ⅛-in.-thick piece of solid wood or hardboard so its…

I make a lot of cabinets and tables, and usually just one at a time. But when a commission for seating furniture comes my way, it gives me a chance to think and work in a different way. Seating almost always comes in multiples, and setting up machines for producing stacks of identical parts can be time-consuming, but I enjoy setup-focused work. There is logic and certainty to it. Yet I also like the freedom and connection to the material that I feel when I am sculpting and carving. Building a set of counter stools recently allowed me to work in both worlds, combining the efficiency of shared machine setups with shaping work that is best done by hand. Machine setups produced the stools’ mortise-and-tenon joinery and the preliminary sizing…

Several times a year, Peter Pierobon and his wife go camping on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, a place he describes as “truly wild and absolutely stunning.” Surf-smoothed logs are strewn on the beaches, and when a storm comes through, he says, “it stacks them up—you can have a pile of logs 20 ft. high, all interconnected and interlocked, waiting for the next storm to rearrange them.” The dramatic sight of those stacks found its way into his sketchbook and, along with other elements of coastal ecology, inspired his series of Tidal furniture. Although he sometimes incorporates driftwoodd in his work (and concedes that he is “that guy you see pulling logs out of the surf”), these pieces are made from 12/4 lumber—mahogany or sapele e for the…

In 2014 Craig Thibodeau (“Secret Latches for Drawers” and Designer’s Notebook) switched his focus from standard furniture and cabinets to complex, mechanized puzzle furniture, supported by a worldwide network of collectors. Today he is the foremost practitioner of this unique multimedia craft, which requires complex mechanics and impeccable woodworking. The career turn was made possible by Thibodeau’s early experience as a mechanical engineer and product designer, and by the beautiful veneered pieces he built during his subsequent woodworking career. Several years ago he relocated his family from San Diego to rural Virginia to cut costs and improve his lifestyle. He is very happy he made the move. Growing up in Phoenix, Matt Monaco became passionate about playing drums and studying modal-jazz drummers. When he discovered the lathe in his late teens,…

■ MACHINERY Big-saw features in a small-shop size THE NEW LAGUNA 10-IN. BANDSAW HAS A HOST OF FEATURES that make it an excellent choice for a primary small-shop bandsaw or a great auxiliary saw in any woodworking shop. The V10 features cast-iron wheels whose inertial weight helps keep blade speeds steady and helps provide smooth cuts in hardwood. Combined with a 1hp motor, this saw can take full advantage of its 5 ¾-in. resaw capacity. The saw also has two speeds, allowing it to cut nonferrous metals at the lower speed. The saw offers a switched work light that illuminates the upper guide area and has a 120V outlet on the saw housing for additional lighting if desired. There is also a master switch on the saw that controls the motor,…

In the world of finishing, shellac is magic stuff. It is a natural product made by a tiny insect—the lac bug. It is harvested from trees and for centuries has been processed by hand into flakes and used for everything from pill coating to violin finishing. When mixed with alcohol it forms a coating that will stick to almost anything, and in turn allow almost anything to stick to it. A thin “washcoat” of shellac is still the preferred first application for many finish schedules, as it can seal in contamination or oil and provide a secure base for layers of colors and topcoats. And it can seal or lock in layers of color when used for decorative effects or color matching. It is commonly available in three forms: dry…

I’ve never seen the original of this Shaker table in person, but when I saw it in a photograph I knew at once I wanted to reproduce it. I found it strikingly elegant—from its round top thinned at the edge with an underbevel, to the dynamic splay of its legs and the single, subtle bead down the legs’ outer corner. Made in the Harvard Shaker Village outside Boston, it is now at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine. Working from the photo, I made a drawing of the table using three-point perspective, determining the dimensions, angles, and details of the piece as best I could. Once it was built, I saw slight variations from the original, but after making some revisions I was pleased with the likeness.…

Sometimes buying top quality isn’t enough When a woodworker spends thousands on a quality table saw with a quality miter gauge or buys a quality aftermarket miter gauge—recommended by Fine Woodworking (“Miter Gauges,” FWW #306)—then why would they go to the trouble of making a wooden sled? Surely technology and manufacturing improvements and standards count for something! —KONRAD PLACHTA, Bathurst, Australia Editor’s reply: The need for a crosscut sled in addition to a miter gauge is a subject I’m happy to address. However, it raises the broader topic of just what tools we need in order to accomplish our work, and why they may differ from person to person. Last fall I had the good fortune to participate in a woodworking tour of England hosted by Fine Woodworking (we’re heading…

A few years ago I completed a mechanical puzzle desk inspired by the 18th-century furniture of David and Abraham Roentgen, whose work was renowned for its ornate marquetry and hidden mechanical features. The Roentgen Puzzle Desk took me a total of 12 months to build, spread out over three years, and it currently waits in a climate-controlled storage unit until my client’s new home is ready to receive it. Like many of my customers, he is an avid puzzle collector. This piece represents a milestone for me. Like all of the pieces I’ve made over the past decade or so, it has a wide variety of puzzles built into its structure, which must be solved in a specific order to unlock a final prize hidden within. Some clues and puzzles…

MIKE WEBER Pickerington, Ohio This piece incorporates dovetails, through-tenons, and drawers. Weber also opted for something akin to Gothic architecture with a tracery-inspired pierced carving on the door and curved rails that together form the look of a continuous arch. WHITE OAK, AFRICAN WALNUT, AND PINE, 6D X 18W X 25H TIM HEIL St. Paul, Minn. A lifelong woodworker and turner, Tim made this countertop mirror for his wife to celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary. It has three lathe-turned sections. The frame pivots so the user can toggle between a magnifying mirror and a regular reflection. MAPLE AND BALTIC BIRCH 7 IN. DIA. X 15H ADAM GODET Washington, D.C. Adam’s client for this desk, an artist, wanted small boxes for storage up top, drawers for supplies, and a live edge…

For decades I had a desire to learn a craft so I could create something beautiful. I began by trying to envision the type of piece that would satisfy my creative urges were I able to produce it. But I had great difficulty imagining such an object. I looked at work by silversmiths, potters, photographers, woodworkers, and more. Some of the craftsmanship was exquisite, but none of the work seemed as if it could deliver the sublime experience I was in search of. During my search I discovered there was a furniture maker in my town named John Reed Fox. I called him to ask about lessons, and he invited me to his studio to discuss my interest. He showed me around the studio and told me a bit about…