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The story goes, "A carpenter marks a line with chalk, and cuts near the line. A jointer (British term for a finish carpenter) marks a line with a pencil, and cuts on the waste side of the line. A furniture maker marks a line with a knife, and splits the line with the edge of the cut." The tools and techniques here are associated with furniture making. I am not a good carpenter - most of my work has been making and installing cabinets, and more recently building furniture, so my ideas and suggestions are based on that kind of work, not on carpentry.
I didn't think I was an expert on finishing, but I do it to the furniture I build, and have been asked to give talks, and have given demos. So I finally wrote out my notes in a paper on "Furniture Finishing." And closely related to that paper is another explaining why I switched from solvent based finishes to water based acrylic lacquer, specifically switched to Target USL.
The web page for each type of furniture on this site starts with examples of our work, but at the end of each page, includes information that we have collected about that type of furniture - for example, the page on coffee tables includes typical coffee table dimensions, not just the size of those we have made.
See my editorial comments on the selection of wood for furniture, including pictures I have collected of many types of wood.
I get a surprising number of e-mails asking me where I buy my wood, or sometimes asking to quote a price for wood. I don't buy a lot, and don't sell any, but this is where I get the wood I use.
I am also asked how to sell a tree, particularly a special tree in a yard. This opens a whole range of issues of cutting and milling residential trees, drying wood, and saving a tree from the dump or fireplace. I am not an expert, but share what I have read. And no, I don't want your tree.
One of the premium brands of power tools is Festool. Everyone who gets one seems to love them unconditionally. Except me. I do like my Festool tools, but have some suggestions about the Festool Sander that will undoubtedly get some people irritated at me!
In response to numerous questions, I prepared a page on use of the Mortiser on a MiniMax combination machine
The most used jig for my previous table saw saw is a homemade Tenon Jig, with pictures and description on how to make it.
Using a mortise kit on a drill press, and other ways to cut a mortise.
Sometimes I want to mark or measure an angle, and the protractor has disappeared (as it always does when needed). Using this table, I can quickly cut a sheet of paper to produce the desired angle - a disposable protractor.
Some people want to see my shop. It is a very full two car garage that occasionally holds one car. See the story of how I get a car into my shop... er .. garage.
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