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Articles by Al Constan

Portable Pre-assembly Tables

 

An Easy Technique for Pre-assembling Casing

(Photos by Kirk Grodske)

I don’t do a lot of trim work. But when I do, it’s often stain-grade or pre-painted, and the miters have to be perfect! I mostly hang doors, so I rarely have a full-size work table set up—usually, I just have a door bench. Most of the casing I work with is small. At first, I thought it was too small to survive a Clam Clamp, but I’ve learned better (more on that later!). Read the full article…

Portable Pre-assembly Tables – Toolbox

 

An Easy Technique for Pre-assembling Casing

(Photos by Kirk Grodske)

I don’t do a lot of trim work. But when I do, it’s often stain-grade or pre-painted, and the miters have to be perfect! I mostly hang doors, so I rarely have a full-size work table set up—usually, I just have a door bench. Most of the casing I work with is small. At first, I thought it was too small to survive a Clam Clamp, but I’ve learned better (more on that later!). Read the full article…

Multi-Tasking Tools

Oscillating tools that make a carpenter’s life easier

For years, the only oscillating tools made my contractors, capable of cutting, sawing, grinding—a multitude of tasks per- formed by no other single tool—were the Fein Supercut and the Fein Multimaster. Rumors have circulated that the patents held by Fein on its well known Multimaster have expired and now the doors are wide open for other manufacturers to introduce their own versions. Whether the rumors are true or not, today there is a multitude of multitasking tools available for carpenters, among them, the Fein, Dremel, Sonicrafter, Bosch, and Chicago Tool’s model. Read the full article…

Al’s Amazing Tool Box on Wheels

Long ago I built a version of Gary Katz’s tool box, but I wasn’t too happy with the way it turned out—too heavy and the wheels were too small. After that I decided to build the one I’m using now, and to be honest, this last tool box has won more praise from my clients than my door hanging. I would say that almost every client that sees it makes a comment about it. One older women went as far as to say that by looking at the tool box she could tell that I was a craftsman. I don’t take compliments too easily, so I just tell people that my tool box is a progression of Gary’s tool box, and in fact it is. I’ve been using this tool box for about 2 to 3 years and I have been very happy with it. Read the full article…