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.

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.
An (almost) foolproof method for hand-cut dadoes

December 1, 2020

A straight piece of scrap, a backsaw or handsaw, and you'll be cutting straight dadoes in no time.
Pine(ing) for perfection

October 27, 2020

Save the walnut and cherry for blanket chests and other fine furniture projects that will end up in the house; don’t waste them on a shop project.
On nails

September 30, 2020

Nails sometimes get a bad rap from modern woodworkers – Megan Fitzpatrick thinks that’s because most of the naysayers are using the wrong nails.
Time-Tested Finishes that Just Work

August 24, 2020

Megan Fitzpatrick prefers finishes that are easy, fast, and foolproof. In her experience, these six check all three boxes.
The woodworking clamps you need

July 30, 2020

It’s true that you can’t have too many, but you can have too many useless ones. So here’s Megan Fitzpatrick's take on what clamps you need, in the order that she uses them most.