A good push block (or two) is an essential accessory to a table saw, bandsaw, router table or jointer. There are many commercially available ones, but I prefer to make my own.
Tools
Canadian Woodworking tool articles deliver honest reviews, buying advice, setup tips, maintenance guidance, and comparisons to help woodworkers choose, use and care for tools with confidence.
-
-
A guide to help you easily cut perfectly angled dovetail pins and tails more quickly and accurately with less effort.
-
This ancient tool is just as crucial to have in your workshop as it ever was. Though there are many options when building a hammer, here’s one with a brass head and nicely shaped wood handle.
-
Make a wood hand plane in an afternoon
Wooden planes offer flexibility that is unmatched by metal planes. Using the same construction, a plane can easily be made long or short, wide or narrow, or radiused across the width or the length of the sole.
-
This shop-made tool will help you customize small mouldings, as well as add pleasant details to the edges of surfaces. Whether it’s a bead, a groove or something else entirely, a scratch stock will add a third dimension to your work.
-
For most of us, measuring depth is just a matter of putting a ruler into the mortise and taking a reading. However, there are times when even our skinniest ruler won’t fit. That’s where a depth gauge comes in.
-
Easy and inexpensive to make, these quickly adjusting clamps with non-marring jaws are ideal for a wide range of light duty clamping jobs.
-
This traditional bow saw is great for many tasks around the shop. It’s also a lot of fun to make.
-
Making a wooden smoothing plane
Making your own plane is a great shop project that results in a fine tool that you will use on a regular basis.
-
You’ll make quick work of chopping mortises with this easy to build mallet.
-
Hook, crooked or bent - whatever you like to call them, these knives are exceptionally versatile tools that you can make yourself.
-
This is an easy and enjoyable project to make and a great way to use up some exotic off-cuts.
-
This marking gauge is handy to have at hand whether you are laying out joinery, using it as a depth gauge, or simply using it to transfer a measurement to another location.
-
This Krenov style plane, named after James Krenov, is quite easy to make. And, when fitted with a Hock iron, it is sure to cut every bit as nicely as a high-end bronze low-angle plane.
-
You won’t realize how useful these squares can be around the shop until you have a few at hand.
