What have you made lately?

Yearly Archives: 2014

Walk into most any hardware or Home Depot type store and invariably you’ll find boxes upon boxes of drywall screws but only a meager selection of woodworking screws. Not only that, the drywall screws cost much less than the woodworking screws. As a consequence, I suspect many a woodworker has pondered the question: “Can drywall […]

Using Drywall Screws for Woodworking

This entry was posted in Fasteners on July 7, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

After reading about the virtues of aniline dyes for years, I finally decided to take the plunge and try them out on a rustic grandmother clock that I inherited from my dad. The unfinished maple clock had been sitting in a barn for at least 25 years and over that time, the wood had darkened […]

Aniline Dyes – First Impressions

This entry was posted in Finishing on July 6, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Choosing the right saw blade for a cutting task can mean the difference between misery and glory. If you’ve ever tried to rip a piece of 4/4 oak with a saw blade that’s not designed for ripping, or tried making a cross-cut on a piece of plywood with a rip blade you know what I’m […]

Choosing a Saw Blade

This entry was posted in Accesories Safety Tools on July 6, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Multiple cedar bird houses — When embarking on a new woodworking project, I ask myself if the item of interest would be a good candidate for making more than one. This usually comes down to answering these specific questions: Can I use multiple copies? If I’m building a Murphy bed for the man cave, there’s no need to build more […]

Making Sense of Making Multiples

This entry was posted in Techniques and tagged bird house multiple copies on July 6, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

My dad added a porch to our house back in the 1970’s and I must say he did a pretty good job overall. Especially for someone who wasn’t a professional builder or carpenter. However, there was one critical flaw in the construction: the main sill plate running across the front of the porch was made […]

When Wood Goes Bad

This entry was posted in Projects on July 4, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Sleepy cat lounging on cat tree — After adopting a kitten from the local animal shelter, we decided to build a “cat tree” for the young mischief maker. I did a bit of Googling and came across what seemed to be a decent set of plans at CatTreePlans.com. For only $10, they offer plans for six different cat trees, all available as downloadable […]

Cat Tree

This entry was posted in Projects on June 26, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

End result of coffee table with new finish. — I bought this parquet coffee table from some neighbors that were moving and didn’t want to haul their old furniture with them. I got a good deal on the table, especially considering that it had one of those spring-assisted pop-up mechanisms for adjusting the height of the table top. The table was in good condition […]

Adventures in Refinishing a Coffee Table

This entry was posted in Finishing on June 16, 2014 by Bill Kovalick