A free, self-paced textbook in 7 chapters. Read a chapter, then drill it with the 206 companion flashcards using spaced repetition.
Woodworking is the craft of shaping wood into useful or decorative objects. It is a broad discipline that branches into several specialties. Carpentry focuses on building structure...
Wood is broadly divided into hardwoods and softwoods, but the names refer to botanical origin rather than true hardness. Hardwoods come from deciduous trees such as oak, maple, wal...
How a log is sawn profoundly influences a board's appearance and stability. Plain-sawn lumber, the most common cut, produces a cathedral grain pattern but tends to cup more as humi...
The table saw is the central tool of most workshops, using a circular blade rising through a flat table to make straight cuts. The width of material removed by the blade is the ker...
Joinery describes the ways wood pieces are connected. The butt joint is the simplest and weakest, with two pieces meeting at a right angle and relying almost entirely on fasteners...
Sanding smooths the surface by working through progressively finer abrasives, typically progressing 80, 120, 150, 180, and 220 grit for most furniture. The rule of skipping no more...
A good workbench is the foundation of the shop: stable, flat, and heavy, with vises, dog holes, and a flat top. A tail vise is mounted at the end, a face vise on the front, and a h...