Author Archives: Julien Lecomte

Hand tools only projects

I recently decided to dive into the world of hand tools-only woodworking, mostly because the only times I can do any sort of woodworking is early in the morning or late at night, and my wife, my dog and my … Continue reading

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Julien’s Guide to Hand-Cutting Through Dovetails

In the age of power tools, why in the world would you want to hand-cut dovetails? Well, first of all, one can hand-cut dovetails that can’t be made by a router, so there’s a bragging rights reason for doing it… … Continue reading

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An unconventional loading strategy for YUI 3

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A tenoning jig for the Dewalt DW745 portable table saw

Here’s a basic tenoning jig I made for my Dewalt DW745 portable table saw. It should make cutting tenons a breeze! (Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger version of each photo.)

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How to make a square hole…

The mortise and tenon joint is one of the most fundamental joinery techniques used in woodworking because it is both simple and strong. It is what separates “IKEA-style regurgitated termite barf” from fine furniture. Although there are many variations on … Continue reading

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First hand-cut mortise and tenon joint

Here are a few photos of my first hand-cut mortise and tenon joint. There is a lot of room for progress, but for a first trial, I am pretty happy with the result. (Click on the thumbnails below to see … Continue reading

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From Dream To Reality (follow up)

About a year ago, I announced on this blog that I had started designing and building an Albert Highe inspired 16″ F/4 dobsonian telescope. This project has now come to its conclusion as you can see in the photos below. … Continue reading

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OR: Dinosaur Point, 11/2/2010

Were present: George Feliz, Rogelio Bernal Andreo, Paul Duncan, Peter Natscher, Jim Molinari, Jeff Weiss and myself. The conditions were extremely pleasant: warm (temps in the 50s), dry, no wind. The transparency was good (NELM 6.2 in UMi) and the … Continue reading

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OR: CalStar 2010

Attendance at this year’s CalStar was surprisingly low compared to last year. I setup in the “dark enforced area”, right next to Mark Johnston whom I must thank for helping me get out of a bad battery situation… The skies … Continue reading

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OR: DARC Observatory, 8/14/2010: Prison escapees enjoy dark and steady skies

When I showed up at the entrance of the Hollister BLM access road, off of Little Panoche Rd, around 7pm, I saw Dr. Lee Hoglan, Craig Scull, Peter Nastcher, Tony Hurtado and Mark Johnston fiddling with the gate. Apparently, a … Continue reading

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