Popular Woodworking March/April 2022

The cycles of magazine production are odd, especially if you’ve never been on this side of it. As I type this intro letter to our “Spring” issue, it’s colder than a polar bear’s butt outside, with threats of blizzards over the next week. However, here we are working on the March/April issue. And, in the spirit of the approaching spring and summer, we decided to make this our unofficial “outdoor” issue, featuring projects that you can build with the anticipation of warmer months. Outdoor projects aren’t my favorite projects to build, but I know that people love making them, and we found some good ones here! As the weather warms, I hope that you have some time to get outside. Enjoy the weather. Go on a walk. Go fishing. Collect some…

DILLON BAKER: Patio Lounger – pg. 20 Dillon Baker attended Iowa State University and majored in Studio Arts. For the past five years, Dillon has been a Project Designer and Design Editor for Woodsmith Magazine. Recently, he’s been contributing to Popular Woodworking Magazine as the Project Editor. Dillon’s favorite furniture style to design and build is a toss up between Art Nouveau and Postmodern. Outside of the shop, Dillon’s often found with a book in his hand or cycling around town. CHRISFITCH: Shop-Made Grilling Tools – pg. 30 Joining the Woodsmith team over 20 years ago, Chris has spent the last several years as the Creative Director. Recently being brought on as the Popular Woodworking Technology Editor, Chris finds joy in all things computer-controlled — CNC and 3D printing alike. From a traditional…

A Bead in any Board I wanted an antique beadboard look for my cabinet doors, but stock beadboard didn’t work out with my door size. Here’s what I came up with: I glued up a solid door and cut 3/16″ x 3/16″ dadoes at each glue joint. Then I chamfered the edges with a sanding block (or you could use a plane). Finally, I ran a thin bead of glue in the bottom of the dadoes and laid in 3/16″ dowels. Could it be any simpler? Now I can have beadboard in any width I need and I’m not limited to the wood species available at the lumberyard. —Robert Holzer Jr. Knock-Apart Utility Table I couldn’t do without this knockdown stand for my bench tools and accessories. It’s made from ¾″ plywood (two…

TSC-200 Crosscut Sled If you caught the last issue of Popular Woodworking, you might have noticed a photo or two in the cigar humidor article featuring a new crosscut sled. The TSC-200 Crosscut Sled from Infinity Tools is a pretty nifty little sled, and if my initial project or two with it are any indication, it will be a great asset to the shop. The TSC-200 is made from a high-quality, void-free plycore plywood. The plywood is covered in a low-friction, dimpled melamine, much like the Infinity router table. Like most Infinity products, the sled comes flat-packed so you’ll need to assemble it when it gets to your shop. However, all the parts are CNC cut with holes pre-drilled for attaching the fences with screws. This ensures accurate assembly and a dead…

While the woodshop may be where I’m most comfortable, I’ve been fascinated by metalwork for some time. I’m always watching for tips and tricks I can steal for my own use, and as such I’ve become attached to a few methods of working with metal in my own shop. Of course, metalwork is far too expansive to cover in just two pages, but here are several things that have helped a woodworker like me bridge the gap to metalwork. Cutting When I need to work with metal, that almost always means some cutting. I find there are two ways to go about it, depending on whether you’re working with ferrous or non-ferrous metal. The term non-ferrous metal refers to any pure metal that isn’t iron (“ferrum” being Latin for iron), as well as…

PROJECT #2205 Skill Level: Intermediate Time: 2-3 Days Cost: $250 One of the more important questions I have asked myself as a designer is: what justifies art? Does it need to be an objects ability to transcend or define space, time, and or class? Must it be utilitarian — something accessible and prudent by nature? For me, it’s something that possesses all of these qualities, and it takes the physical form of a chair. I remember Garry Knox Bennett (a twentieth century American woodworker) once said: “chairs and shoes are the hardest things to make. They have to be light… They have to be strong…They have to be aesthetically pleasing. And they have to be comfortable.” It’s these criteria that well define the unique challenge and enduring appeal of creating a “good” chair. Dating back as far…