Oaken Gearbox

Nothing beats the smell of a freshly cut 2x4. Seriously, it's the one of the best smells on earth, and when you catch a whiff of that smell and hear the high pitched whine of an electric saw on a sunny Saturday afternoon it means times are good. Two-by-fours are generally used for construction, but they are good for a whole lot more than just building houses. You may have to spend a few minutes sorting through the bin at your local big box hardware store for good, straight boards without a lot of knots, but its time well spent. Two-by-fours are cheap, sturdy, and easy to work with. You may not end up with an heirloom quality piece that will be passed on for generations, but for less than $20 in materials and a long weekend you can construct some basic furniture that far surpasses what's available at Ikea or Target. Take this small kitchen table I built to go next to our gas range for example. Materials 2 2x4's 1 3/4" x 5" board 1 16 x 36" pine ...

Edge joining two boards can be one of the more intimidating techniques in woodworking. If the edges on each board aren't completely smooth and flat, your panel will have a big, ugly crack in it. In this post I will describe how to get a perfect joint every time using only hand tools. If like me, you have an inexpensive table saw, or just work with boards with the 'factory' edge on them, they probably don't have a clean enough edge to just glue them together and call it good. With some very simple tools though, you can accomplish the same thing that a $400 jointer can. Tools For the Job: - A Jack Plane. This is really a nifty tool. I just bought the cheap one from Home Depot. It works okay,  although the blade needed to be sharpened right out of the box. - A Dowelling Jig. This isn't strictly necessary, but will let you make a much stronger joint. I bought the self-centering one from  Rockler . It's a little bit pricey, but when I bought it, it was...