5 woodworking tips and tricks that are absolutely essential

We all love tips and tricks when it comes to woodworking. Some of these you may already be familiar with but you may learn a new way to use an already familiar technique.

If you have few woodworking projects under your belt you understand the importance of being precise.

If you are anything like me when I first started, I eagerly was pulling out the measuring tape, marking lines with my pencil and making cuts. I quickly started to see that although I thought I was being accurate with my marking, my cuts seemed to all be slightly off from each other and worse it was causing me to spend more time on projects trying to correct my mistakes and keep everything square.

Luckily over the years I have picked up quite a few tricks to help keep all my cuts as precise and error free as possible which greatly increased my efficiency building and the final result. I’m going to share a combination of techniques I’ve learned over the years. Some of these techniques are for power tools like the table saw or miter saw while others are for hand saws and chisels.

1. Leave a tiny bit of material for your finish cut. Ok so you are making cabinet parts from a full sheet of plywood. The temptation is to cut everything to the final size according to your plans. The problem with this approach is that when you are dealing with large stock like a full sheet of plywood the chance that your workpiece shifts ever so slightly against the fence is far greater than if you are dealing with a workpiece that is much smaller

If I am cutting cabinet carcass parts I leave an ⅛  to ¼ of extra material so that my final pass through the table saw is clean and crisp.

2. Make all the same width cuts without moving your fence! This one kind of seems like common sense but it has more to do with good project planning. A good practice if you are dealing with sheet goods is to make a cut diagram. SketchUp has a few different plugins that will generate a cut list and a cut diagram on a standard 4×8 sheet or any size you specify. For simpler projects where you may not have made a SketchUp drawing you can always mock this up quickly on paper. I have a free 4×8 sheet good printable that has markings on every foot so you can do this quickly by hand. Once you have your components laid out, go through your cuts mentally. This practice will make you better at laying out cutting diagrams so that you are not having to move the fence to cut one component and then another.

Picture of my table saw fence

Here is an example of an inefficient cut diagram for cabinet parts

Here is cutting diagram that lets you batch out more components without having to move your fence back and forth.

Drawing your cutting diagrams and mentally going through your cuts will make you much more efficient in the shop and make you more efficient as time goes on.

Always be sure you have the proper push sticks to feed stock through your table saw.

3. Use physical stops and not a tape measure when you can. Stop blocks are very common for the miter saw and for the tablesaw when using a crosscut sled. You should obviously use them on both of those tools whenever you can, whether it’s a quick and dirty piece of scrap just clamped somewhere or you have a nice  t-track and fancy Jonathan Katz Moses stop block.  What about other applications though? Let’s say you are making rip cuts with a circular saw on a full sheet of plywood. You could use two pieces of scrap cut identically to set the guide for your saw.

Stop block clamped on cross cut sled

 If you needed to make the same cut twice you could use them to make repeatable cuts with a circular saw.

Stop block piece of ply wood to set up circular saw

You can use two pieces of scrap to mark evenly spaced holes by leapfrogging them one over another. You can use two pieces of scrap to lay out face frames for cabinets with drawers.

Similarly use a piece of scrap to set drawer slides on when installing, this gives you a physical stop as measurement and it makes it much easier to hold your drawer slide in place.

Once you start using this technique you will find more uses for this very simple way of ensuring precise spacing.

4. Use a marking gauge. When I was just starting out woodworking I had never heard of a marking gauge. There is a reason this is one of the most crucial tools in the experienced craftsmans arsenal. As soon as you pick one up you will wonder how you ever got on without one.

Picture traditional marking gauge

A more traditional marking gauge with a cutting nail is typically used to mark along the grain. Also, an important note: make sure you are making a very light first pass if marking along the grain. The cutter will want to “ride the grain” and you risk making a wavy mark that doesn’t stay parallel to the edge of your board.

Picture new wheel style marking gauge

The newer style wheel marking gauge is the style I use 99% of the time. I love the weight of this tool and how it feels in my hands. This style marking gauge has a small cutter wheel with a bevel that faces in. This style marking gauge really excels marking across the grain and leaves a much crisper line than a tradition marking gauge. However, if you use a wheel style marking gauge to mark along the grain you will find that you need to make multiple light passes in order to get a line you can clearly see, especially if you are working with a softer wood like pine.

Here is an example where you can use all three of the methods we talked about to lay out a project.

You are cutting rails and stiles for a window.

1. Set your table saw fence and cut all your components ¼ oversized, make a mark with your marking gauge to really nail down your final size and sneak up on your cut with the table saw.

2. Once you have your size perfectly dialed, cut the rest of your components with the same fence setting.

3. Use a stop block with your table saw and a crosscut sled, or use a miter saw with a stop block to components of equal length.

4. You are building with mortise and tenons so now it’s time to use your marking gauge again to mark the shoulder line on your tenons.

5. If you need the final width of your rails to be super precise, cut a scrap piece of plywood and center it on your rail, checking both sides with your marking gauge until it is perfectly centered. Now make your marks.

5. Use a marking knife. The pencil is what most of us use when we are marking for material. It is a good way to quickly mark something and it’s not permanent. I suggest for the times when you want to be dead accurate, use a marking knife. Especially when you are hand sawing, a marking knife and a small indent to make sure your saw starts on the correct side of the line will make a huge difference in the accuracy of your cuts.

Once you start using these woodworking techniques and especially once you start using these in conjunction with each other you will see how much more efficiently your projects come together and how much more precise your cuts become.

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