Megan Fitzpatrick

I am Megan Fitzpatrick, a.k.a. @1snugthejoiner. I’m a woodworker, the publisher and editor at Rude Mechanicals Press, incoming editor (Autumn 2018) of the Early American Industries Association’s The Chronicle quarterly journal, and a freelance editor for Lost Art Press and Mortise & Tenon Magazine. I am short one dissertation of a Ph.D. in English literature (focused on early modern drama), and am a former editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine. You’ll often find me building furniture alongside another former PWM editor, Christopher Schwarz, at the Lost Art Press shop.

In addition to woodworking (inquiries about which are welcome), teaching woodworking, writing about woodworking and editing other people’s writing about woodworking, I’m in the midst of restoring a 1906 home in the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati … and living in it amidst the chaos.

Using a dowel plate to peg a Shaker cat table

September 28, 2021

One chonk of a cat, one bedside table, and a great lesson in reinforcement and dowels.
My lands! You shouldn’t buy just any chisels

September 8, 2021

If the flats on the sides of your chisels are too wide, you may have wasted your money.
Skills class or project class?

July 27, 2021

Even though learning new skills is the meat of a beginner class, Megan Fitzpatrick finds it's the project that makes it appetizing.
Within reason, size doesn’t matter

July 8, 2021

There's almost always some wiggle room when it comes to sizing parts for a project.
No shame in painting (or in using a roller to do it)

May 25, 2021

It's often historically accurate to paint furniture, plus it's a great way to dress up and protect the wood.
Thumb molding by hand

May 3, 2021

Megan Fitzpatrick creates a half thumb molding on the edge of her toolbox lid by hand, in only a few minutes.
Tongue-and-Groove Joints by Hand

March 18, 2021

For the tongue-and-groove joint, there is only one hand-tool method that Megan Fitzpatrick teaches, and it takes a specialty plane: the No. 48 or No. 49.
Three Planes for Cutting Rabbets

February 24, 2021

Megan Fitzpatrick favors a straight rabbet plane, a shoulder plane, or a skew rabbet/moving fillister for this task.
When to use screws

February 4, 2021

Your choice of mechanical fastener should depend on the forces it must withstand.
The one power tool every hand-tool woodworker needs

January 7, 2021

A 14-in. bandsaw saves you a lot of time and sweat, letting you reserve hand tools for the fun stuff.