Rough lumber dimensions Understanding basic lumber dimensions and how to calculate board footage. April 20, 2001
Rx For Bending Wood Dr. Gene Wengert offers advice on bending solid lumber in production applications. 1998.
Oversize End-Grain Butcher Block Woodworkers kick around the issues raised by a client's proposed DIY project: a 4-foot by 7-foot butcher-block top. October 2, 2007
Comparing sliding and vertical saws Woodworkers voice their views on the virtues and liabilities of both sliding and vertical saws. November 15, 2000
Drawer construction High-quality, cost-effective methods of drawer construction, and tips on joinery. March 28, 2001
Glazes and crackles How to use glazes and crackles to produce dramatic effects. November 21, 2000
Wood getting stuck in planer Some possible causes and solutions to the problem of wet wood getting stuck in a planer. June 14, 2000
Treated pine vs. cedar The Wood Doctor offers his prognosis for outdoor projects using cedar and treated pine. 1998.
Rx For Planer Splits The five main causes for splits in lumber during roughmill planing. 1998.
Choosing Wood for a Shop-Made Hand Plane In the olden days woodworkers made their own planes. You can still do it. Here are some thoughts on the appropriate wood.June 28, 2013
Dry Kiln Information Resources A list of clubs, organizations, books and publications providing information about drying lumber for use in woodworking. 1998.
Spots revealed in dry, planed lumber Dr. Gene attempts to find the causes of discolored spots on dried lumber, revealed only when the stock has been planed. 1998.
Calculating longitudinal shrinkage There's no firm factor for calculating longitudinal shrinkage in maple, but here's a place to begin. 1998.
Working with casehardened lumber Casehardened lumber should be returned to the processor, or planed to the desired thickness; resawing is not an option. 1998.
Workbench end caps: Bad idea? Though European workbenches commonly feature caps over the ends of the worktop material, these may hinder natural movement of the wood on this side of the Atlantic.
Wood dust a carcinogen? The Wood Doctor points to two sources of information on the carcinogenic properties of wood dust. 1998.
Relative densities of various birches The Wood Doctor offers resources for information on the relative densities of birch lumbers, and offers an opinion on plastic laminate. 1998.
Wood technology Web sites A short list of Web sites with information about characteristics of given species. 1998.
Why is machined teak blotchy? If you're not familiar with it, one property of freshly machined teak can take you by surprise. 1998.
Stained oak from supplier There are solutions for stained, milled, not-yet-dried oak lumber, but first , one must determine the cause of the staining. 1998.
Production sanding for humidors There's no 'silver bullet' when it comes to the detail sanding that fine work demands, be it in a one-off or production environment. 1998.
Re-Fortifying Ancient Wood Wood can survive for millenia if it's buried under certain conditions. Here's a description of a method for saturating ancient wood with penetrating epoxy under vacuum pressure, to make it strong enough to be workable. October 13, 2005
Amish mills Some perspectives on Amish sawmill operations. June 27, 2000
Salt pastes and PEG Polyethylene glycol is high-priced, but the alternatives for stabilizing green wood are few. 1998.
Are Cabinet Makers Carpenters? Mulling over the dividing line between skilled tradesmen who all build things out of wood — but in different ways. July 20, 2011
Wood, the environment, and Man A wide-ranging overview of the state of the primary processing industry, and where it may be going from here. August 10, 2000
Getting Mahogany Flat Very hard woods with alternating grain patterns sometimes develop waviness when sanded with wide-belt equipment. Here's an extensive discussion of the characteristics of Mahogany, and of ways to approach it using both hand tools and power equipment. November 12, 2005
Estimating Start-Up Costs A brand new business owner seeks input on projecting first-year expenses. January 6, 2005
Chordal's Letters Considered by Today's Shop Men A discussion of a century-old book about shop craft, "Chordal's Letters" by James Waring See, available today as an on-line archive. February 6, 2010
Finish room heating Safe systems for keeping you, your finishes and your spray equipment cozy. November 22, 2003
Drawers and the Utilization of Space Why slide-integrated drawer systems are less costly to produce and provide greater space efficiency than traditional drawer construction. 1998.
The Most Important Skills to Learn An apprentice woodworker asks what he should concentrate on for a career in the trade, and gets a full helping of good advice. October 2, 2005
Climb cutting and why not Climb cutting on a shaper with feeder--safety and procedure issues. September 19, 2001
WOODPRO - Species Selection Made Easy A free complete working computer program (that can be downloaded at WOODWEB), allowing woodworkers to select the most suitable wood species for any particular application - 1997
Laying Out, Routing, or Templating an Ellipse Here are several approaches to cutting a large ellipse: elegant jigs, slick pencil layout tricks, and sources for paper or MDF templates. May 16, 2008
Installing cabinets over tile Tying kicks to a tile floor, and the complications presented by floor-integrated radiant heating. February 19, 2002
Sanding Hard Maple A cabinetmaker complains of little swirl marks, and gets advice on sanding (and card scraping) technique. July 21, 2005
Small parts on P2P Using a spoilboard to solve problems of no suction with small parts. March 20, 2001
Glue Joint Failure Dr. Gene Wengert delves into one of the primary problem areas affecting furniture manufacturers: glue joints. 1998.
Correcting dowel hole runout Finding and correcting the cause of dowel hole runout in CNC-machined parts. November 7, 2000
Think before you take the CNC plunge WOODWEB technical advisor Brian Personett offers some food for thought to those thinking about purchasing CNC equipment. November 15, 2000
Outfeed Table Plan Construction ideas for an outfeed table with mounted router. March 14, 2004
Joining cabinets - at a 45 degree angle Cabinetmakers offer illustrated tips on joining a line of cabinetry which incorporates a 45-degree-angled unit. April 3, 2002
Making Curly Maple "Pop" Finishers share ideas for bringing out the best in this stressed wood. February 26, 2005
Considering Bifocals As we age, some of us need bifocals for good close-up and distance vision. In this thread, cabinetmakers who've switched to bifocals discuss the fine points of different types. September 21, 2005
Vomit-Like Odor of Bacterially Infected Wood When cabinets or wood smell like vomit, a likely culprit is bacterial infections in the trees the wood was made from. Unfortunately, there is no known fix. April 20, 2008
Eliminating Burn Marks when Routing Flutes Tips on router techniques to prevent burning at the end of flutes, and on tools and methods for removing burn marks when they do happen. December 28, 2005
Cyanoacrylate adhesive How does this glue work for gap filling? (From WOODWEB's Finishing Forum) March 23, 2003
Tumble Sanding for Toy Parts Advice on how to cobble together a tumbling drum arrangement to sand small wooden items. March 12, 2015
Truing-up rough wood Planers will not remove the bow from rough stock; jointing is required before boards can be properly thicknessed. February 13, 2001
What's the Best Pencil for Woodworkers A few jocular comments notwithstanding, this is a serious question for the professional woodworker. December 28, 2014
Getting Your Waterstone Back in Shape If your waterstone isn’t flat, it can’t deliver a proper edge to your tools. Here's how to fix that. December 18, 2013
Comparing Low Angle and High Angle Planes Woodworkers discuss the differences between low angle and high angle planes, and the appropriate uses for each. February 14, 2010
Veneer pressing time Necessary waiting period between hot-pressing and further processing of panels. November 18, 2002
Facing frameless melamine cabinets Facing and finishing melamine carcasses to attain a high-end, traditional look without face frames. April 2, 2002
Keeping lumber flat during drying Advice from Professor Gene Wengert on drying lumber in order to produce flat, true boards. December 12, 2000
Warping and cracking in glued-up pine To find clues for cracked and warped pine panels, a measure of moisture content is needed before the splitting occurs. 1998.
3d Cnc Programming 3D work on a CNC. August 26, 2004
Door/drawer gaps in Euro-style cabinets Americans need to apply the looser European standards to door and drawer gaps to avoid frustration when ordering these parts from other manufacturers. October 18, 2000
A Lap Joint for Curved Members Ideas for tools and jigs to dado out for half-lap joinery where two curved pieces meet. December 7, 2007
Gluing white oak panels Because of its density, white oak lumber must be machined carefully for panel glue-up, and assembled within an hour of preparation. 1998.
Production Tips, part three Part three of three from Woodworking International Magazine, offering proven ideas for increasing efficiency in production shops. 1998.
Production Tips, part two Part two of three from Woodworking International Magazine, offering proven ideas for increasing efficiency in production shops. 1998.
Production Tips, part one Part one of three from Woodworking International Magazine, offering proven ideas for increasing efficiency in production shops. 1998.
Hogging Out Large Bowls Ways to speed up the pesky process of removing large quantities of wood from the inside of a bowl before final turning. April 30, 2006
Borer holes in oak timbers Which creepy-crawlies caused those holes in structural members of an oak timber-frame building? January 16, 2001
Pricing Cabinet Installation Work Pros discuss their differing approaches to charging for kitchen and bath cabinet installation work. January 24, 2005
Blind woodworker's story A blind cabinetmaker tells the story of his education and career in woodworking. (From WOODWEB's Cabinetmaking Forum) January 21, 2003
Drilling a Hole the Length of a Log People have actually succeeded at drilling holes in logs the long way. Here, they explain how to do it. December 27, 2006
New shop specs and layout Electric power and other considerations for a new cabinet shop. April 24, 2002
Cross-Cut Setups for the Shop Woodworkers discuss radial-arm saw and sliding miter-saw choices for cross-cutting stock in the shop. May 16, 2008
Biscuits for face frames A discussion of using biscuits for assembling cabinet face frames. Pros and cons of biscuits on face frames, and equipment used. November 21, 2000
Dyes and Wash Coats Conditioning "naturally blotchy" woods to accept stains and dye uniformly. February 26, 2005
Matching stain to existing work Techniques for matching the finish of new work to that of the existing cabinets in a cherry kitchen. November 7, 2000
Dowel drilling and use guidelines A quick guide to dowel clearances and practices, including drilling depth, diameter-to-edge ratios, and dowel selection. 1998.
Hanging Cabinet Doors The efficiency of hanging doors before or during install. January 28, 2004
Where Doors and Panels Meet How various cabinetmakers deal with the relationsihp between overlay doors and the adjacent edges of finished end panels. January 24, 2005
Test your gluing knowledge Answer these true-or-false questions to see what you know about adhesives and gluing. 1997
Teak Finish on Kitchen Cabinets Teak may be naturally water resistant, but in a kitchen environment, even this tough lumber needs some help. February 26, 2005
Alternatives to dado cabinet construction John Elvrum offers a practical approach to identifying viable, mechanical alternatives to traditional dado joinery of cabinet boxes. 1998.