In our cover article for the February 2014 issue, you learn to build a Connecticut lowboy with distinctive details — Glen D. Huey builds a faithful reproduction of this piece he found in a museum storeroom (plus, if you ever wanted to make cock bead moulding for your project, Glen demonstrates a historical technique along with a technique using a router set-up).
In Jeff Miller's "Perfect Shoulders," you'll discover how to build a handy saw and frame for dead-on-accurate tenons; it's a tool Jeff devised...then saw a similar item in an 18th-century French book. Christopher Schwarz got a close-up look at Roy Underhill's iconic nail cabinet, tape measure in hand. He shares his measured drawings and step-by-step build (plus the "secret" he discovered about it). You'll discover four ways to make mortises from Robert W. Lang — by hand, by power and by both — but what's most important is that you understand the mechanisms of the mortise.
Take a trip to the Mercer Museum with Chuck Bender for a look at this brainchild and life's work of one man, Henry Mercer, who was intent on capturing pre-Industrial America. In "Mighty Router Planes," Megan Fitzpatrick shows you how this precision tool works, and explains why you need one (or two) in your shop.
In this month's Tool Test, we review the Laguna 14-Twelve band saw, the new carbide birdcage awl from Czeck Edge Hand Tool and Starborn's Smart-Bit depth setter. In Design Matters, George R. Walker shows you how to make the most of figured maple. Woodworking Essentials takes a look at taming your table saw for precision and safety (by Robert W. Lang). Bob Rozaieski discusses "Small-shop Efficiencies" in Arts & Mysteries. Bob Flexner talks about acetone — a powerful and versatile solvent that's fairly easy to find and safe to use in Flexner on Finishing. And in End Grain, David Mathias shares every woodworker's fear — bad moving companies — in "The Downside if Up is Sideways."
Plus Tricks of the Trade, reader letters and more.