This advertising-free publication is filled with good craftsmanship.
Articles in this issue include:
American Trestle Table
by Christopher Schwarz
Despite its delicate appearance, this timeless design is a marvel of engineering and a frugal use of material. Build one that fits in your home. This project features traditional and stout joinery of the first-degree and classic lines based on proven designs.
Choosing & Using Moisture Meters
by David Thiel
A moisture meter is key to predicting and dealing with wood movement -- and it must be accurate. We test seven and pick the best. For price reasons, most of the meters are the pin-style variety, though we threw one pinless meter into the test to see how it performed.
End Grain: Pining for Pine
by Christopher Schwarz
Reconsider the conifer as a serious wood for making furniture. One man's love of hardwoods is softened by his experience with the softwoods.
Letters
by the magazine staff
Questions, comments and wisdom from readers, experts and our staff. Learn about clinching nails, some discussion of the planing stop on the Roubo-style workbench and understand the truth about battery life in your cordless tools.
Must-Have Woodworking 'Bibles'
by the magazine staff
Our editors look back at the books that transformed their woodworking lives. These are the books that are never far from our fingers, and they have the broken spines to prove their long-term worth.
Paint Furniture Like a Professional
by Megan Fitzpatrick
There are good reasons to paint your furniture, and with the right techniques (and materials) there won't be any reason to apologize for it. We show you the right equipment, the right paint and the right moves to make your paint job 100 percent perfect.
Router Collets
by the magazine staff
Our back-page poster explores the misunderstood router collet. Find out how it works and why it sometimes doesn't work, and what you can do about it. We also show you how to evaluate a collet in the store to determine if it's a gripper or a slipper.
Shortcuts
by the magazine staff
Tricks and tips that will make your woodworking simpler and more accurate. In this issue: A simple jig that will make attaching sandpaper to your sander an easy task. A scraper jig that allows to to scrape edges square. More uses for blue painter's tape. And our fix for the pesky jointer fence that always goes out of square (it's not a welder!).
Traditional Sawbench
by Christopher Schwarz
An essential shop fixture, this cross between a sawhorse and workbench will quickly become a loyal and dependable assistant. Built using yellow pine and stout joinery, this is one of our most-used shop accessories. And it's a chance to try wedging your tenon joints.
Understanding Splines
by Robert W. Lang
Solid-wood tabletops are simple to make, but they can be frustrating to make well. Our technique adds a couple of steps to the process, but makes the results far more predictable.
Why We Hate Paint
by Christopher Schwarz
Is it acceptable to paint furniture, or does that imply we're trying to hide something? Plus our "Highly Recommended" column discusses the role of hemp in the workshop.
Why Wedge Tenons?
by Christopher Schwarz
Before glue was dependable, this was a common joint -- and it still has merit today. The problem is, there are many ways to make this joint. We tried them all, sliced up the results and made a startling discovery.