What have you made lately?

Bill Kovalick

A mini-mallet makes a great tree ornament! — Having made several full-size mallets for general purpose shop use, I decided to make some mini-mallets. My initial thinking was that they could be used as tree ornaments, and that’s exactly what I did with a couple mallets in our home. I also discovered they work well as crab mallets, office desk knick-knacks, gavels for calling […]

Mini Mallets

This entry was posted in Projects on August 11, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Burl on cherry tree with 1-gallon can for perspective — While out looking for wild blueberries, I came across a wooded grove containing a number of trees with unusual growths on them. I’ve seen such growths before but never this many in such a tight cluster. I felt like I was walking into an alien forest… As best I can tell, these growths are burls rather than […]

The Gall of Those Burls

This entry was posted in Wood on August 4, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

My carved owl with a bald eagle friend — After completing my first carved owl masterpiece, I decided to give it another shot. This time I opted for another owl but larger and more intricate than the first. Here’s what I ended up with: The basic design for the owl came from an image I found online. I converted the image to a black and white […]

Carved Owl Version 2

This entry was posted in Projects on July 23, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

When confronted with dilapidated shed doors, one can opt to either repair or replace. In the case of the doors shown below, I opted for replacement. These doors were probably 20 to 30 years old and in dire need of TLC. They were made from T1-11 plywood and painted a garish, ugly primer red that contrasted […]

New Shed Doors

This entry was posted in Projects Restoration on July 17, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Could American chestnut be the wood of choice for future generations of woodworkers? Well, I’m not quite ready to make that prediction but there is reason for optimism. As some of you may know, chestnut was one of the dominant tree species in the eastern forests of North America a hundred years ago. It’s estimated that in the early […]

American Chestnut – Down But Not Out

This entry was posted in Restoration Wood on July 9, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Damaged groove caused by impatient routering — In this installment of Woodworking Damage Control, the challenge was to repair a groove that got away from me. While making some wine totes, I was using a router bit to cut grooves along the inner face of each side to accommodate a plywood base. The problem was that I got a bit impatient and tried removing too […]

Groove Damage Control

This entry was posted in Restoration Techniques on June 26, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Two-bottle wine tote made from wormy cherry — To help pass those slow winter months after the holiday season, I decided to make some wine totes (aka caddies) using some cherry lumber stored for many years in the family barn in PA. The wood was well seasoned and appeared to be in good condition. However, after surface planing, instead of finding nice clear material, I […]

Wormy Cherry Wine Tote

This entry was posted in Projects on June 18, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Side view of install vise — Can you imagine not having a vise on your workbench? Me neither. Yet, somehow I scraped by for many years before finally installing one and now I can’t imagine not having it. I bought a Jorgensen model 41012 vise from a fellow woodworker who bought it some years ago but never got around to installing it. It […]

Installing a Front-Mounted Workbench Vise

This entry was posted in Accesories on April 8, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

From basswood blank to carved owl — After receiving a wood carving kit for Christmas, I decided to usher in the new year with a carving project. As a relative neophyte with only one other carving project under my belt, I spent a bit of time online looking for a suitable beginner’s project and I eventually found plans for a “3-to-5 minute owl” at […]

New Years Carved Owl

This entry was posted in Projects on January 5, 2015 by Bill Kovalick

Woodshop storage cabinet — For a number of years, I stored screws, bolts, and nails in a corner of my shop using a bunch of plastic bins mounted on horizontal plastic rails. This worked well enough in that the hardware was always close at hand but I got tired of all the dust that eventually coated everything. Not only […]

Woodshop Storage Cabinet

This entry was posted in Accesories Projects on December 23, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Shelf deflectometer in woodshop — I call this apparatus a shelf deflectometer. It’s used to measure shelf deflection or sag in order to test various shelf construction and loading parameters. (I would call it a “sagometer” but there’s already a device by that name used to measure sag in electrical power lines). The impetus for building it was to facilitate […]

Shelf Deflectometer

This entry was posted in Jigs Projects Tools on December 23, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Step 2: cut half piece of sandpaper in half — The 1-2 method Here’s a simple jig for cutting 9″ x 11″ sheets of sandpaper into fourths for use with a 1/4 sheet palm sander. It makes quick work out of a potentially tedious task thanks to two spacer blocks: one for cutting the sandpaper in half and another for cutting the halves in half […]

Sandpaper Cutting Jig

This entry was posted in Accesories Projects on December 23, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Homemade leg leveler — What to do when you need to level a woodshop table but don’t have any levelers handy? You make them from scratch. That was the situation I found myself in when I built a new outfeed table for my table saw. Because my shop floor was not quite level (are they ever?), I needed a […]

DIY Woodshop Leg Levelers

This entry was posted in Accesories Projects on December 23, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Fold down outfeed table — Introducing table saw outfeed table v2, a slimmed down, simplified version of its predecessor. It features a relatively small footprint (24″ x 32″), miter slots, and the ability to fold down when the removable legs are removed. It also provides clearance for the back support mechanism of the rip fence. The version one outfeed table […]

Fold Down Table Saw Outfeed Table

This entry was posted in Projects on December 23, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Flip top tool stand — This is a project that got away from me. I started out to build a roll-around stand for a portable Delta planer. Nothing fancy, just a wooden box on wheels with the planer bolted to the top. Then I decided to add a swivel capability to the top so the planer could be flipped up […]

Flip Top Tool Stand / Outfeed Table

This entry was posted in Accesories Projects on December 23, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Restored student desk with blue spray paint finish — While rummaging around the attic, I came across three old school desks that my siblings and I used back in the day. My dad picked the desks up from somewhere, probably very cheaply (if not free) and we used them hard for a number of years. After we left the roost, the desks were stored […]

Restored Vintage School Desk

This entry was posted in Projects Restoration on December 23, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Quick and inexpensive table top fastener — If you’re looking for an alternative to metal table hold-down fasteners, or don’t have any fasteners readily available, consider making your own using some scrap wood and a biscuit joiner. I made a number of such fasteners for a cherry coffee+end table project and was fairly pleased with the results. They keep the table top […]

DIY Table Top Fasteners

This entry was posted in Joinery Projects on December 23, 2014 by Bill Kovalick

Restored turtle top table — I came across this turtle top table while cleaning out the attic in the home where I grew up. I remember my mom working on the table many years ago – she had partially stripped off the finish as the first step in reviving the table but didn’t get around to finishing the job. Eventually, […]

Restoring a Turtle Top Table

This entry was posted in Projects Restoration on December 23, 2014 by Bill Kovalick