Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2019 i Woodsmith

Sometimes, all it takes to expand the capabilities of a tool is to think of it in a different way. That might sound a bit strange, but bear with me. My fixed-based router has been a key tool in my shop for years. But when I got a plunge base, I found even more uses for it. Then one day, it occurred to me that the action of a plunge router is pretty similar to how a drill press works. A spinning bit is lowered into a workpiece with a high degree of control. When I started thinking of my plunge router as a small drill press, several other operations came to mind. Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting you can use drill bits in a router. That’s a…

The tongue drum is one of the world’s oldest known instruments. They’ve been a part of many cultures for thousands of years. The idea behind the tongue drum is simple — a hollow box, or “sound chamber” reverberates when the individual tongues, or soundboard, are struck. On some tongue drums, the tone the tongues produce is varied by making each one a different length and width. On this design, I opted for form over function and made the tongues symmetrical in appearance. The tone is varied by removing material from the back face of the toe or heel of each tongue. I’ll talk more about that later. SOUND MATERIAL. One of the fun aspects of a tongue drum is that different wood species can produce distinctly different sounds from one…

Most of us strive to get our work done in an efficient manner. Having tools and accessories well organized is critical to meeting that goal. That was the inspiration behind this drill bit storage center. It’s big enough to hold all of your drill bit sets and drill press accessories, yet small enough to mount close to your drill press for convenient access. DESIGN OPTIONS. The beauty of this storage center is the multiple ways in which it can be customized to suit your needs. There’s a series of drill bit holders that can be made any size you need to hold your drill bits. The holders slip over the cleats in the cabinet and doors. And speaking of those cleats, they have embedded magnets to hold other metal accessories.…

At home, I have a pair of dogs that are very much a part of the family. Most of the time they’re well behaved and they’re often lying down in their kennels. In the past, these have been a pair of wire kennels from a big box store. These kennels really leave something to be desired in the looks department and were tucked out of sight in a back room. When I saw the initial concepts for this kennel, I was excited because I knew it would be a well-designed piece of furniture that I would be proud to place in my family room. It’s size makes it perfect for most small to medium size dogs. NOT YOUR AVERAGE KENNEL. Like I mentioned, this kennel is a blend of furniture…

Groove in the Drawer Parts. All four parts of the drawer receive the groove that holds the drawer bottom. Rabbet the Drawer Front & Back. An auxiliary fence attached to the rip fence lets you dial in the tongue thickness. Dado in Drawer Sides. Cut dadoes in the sides to hold the front and back of the drawer firmly in place. Position False Front. Use shims and double-sided tape applied to the drawer front to evenly space the false front. Rabbet in Top Panel. The rabbet cut here forms part of the groove that will hold the tongue of the top trim. Rabbets Form Tongue. Cutting rabbets on both edges of the top trim will create the tongue.…

My woodworking world changed the day I bought my thickness planer. With my new planer, I could plane lumber to whatever thickness I desired to suit the needs of the project I was building. But there was a tradeoff. Nearly every piece of lumber would end up with snipe. Snipe is that tell-tale divoting of the wood at the front and back end of the board (photo below) after passing it through the planer. Over the years, I’ve learned a few handy tips and tricks for dealing with it. Before getting started, make sure your planer is set up correctly. The key is to align the infeed and outfeed tables with the bed of the planer (or slightly elevated for some planers). And when planing long workpieces, use auxiliary infeed…

Woodworking has a number of challenges. None more so than when you have to deal with angled cuts. For most of the projects I build, the workpieces come together at 90°, with an occasional 45° here and there. When I have to deal with angles other than those, I can’t check them accurately with a combination square or easily set up my machinery using the adjustment options offered on the tool. THE SOLUTION. In most cases, you’ll find that a bevel gauge is the tool of choice to solve the problem (photo at left). A bevel gauge is also referred to as a sliding T-bevel, carpenter’s bevel or sliding bevel gauge. Regardless of the name, its purpose is to duplicate an angle exactly, without having to do any measurement. A…

Bench Standoffs Breaking down sheet goods is something that I see a lot of tips on. I used to cut sheet goods on a piece of foam insulation. And it worked well. However, I was tired of having to store the large sheet of foam. That’s when I decided to find my own solution using my workbench. The idea I came up with is the standoffs shown here. SNUG FIT. The standoffs are designed to fit snugly over my workbench. They hold any sheet goods up off the surface of my workbench and allow me to break them down without cutting into my benchtop. I also sized a few of these to use with a folding table for when my workbench is in use. The construction starts with a base…

Rabbet Bottom & Top Edges. The bottom and top fit into the box using a snug-fitting rabbet around the edges. The same dado blade setup is used to make these cuts. Be sure to note the difference in material thickness. Through Holes. With the pattern in place on the top blank, drill the eight through holes at either end. Decorative Countersinks. Switch to a large countersink bit to chamfer the edge of each hole. Finish Cutting Template. A scroll saw makes quick work of removing the waste between the tongues. Round Over Top. Head back to the router table one more time to ease the top edge of the top.…

A Bottom/Subtop (2) 3/4 ply. - 21 1/2 x 37 1/2 B Side (1) 3/4 ply. - 21 1/2 x 34 3/4 C Vertical Divider (1) 3/4 ply. - 21 x 33 D Horizontal Divider (1) 3/4 ply. - 21 x 30 3/8 E Top Rail (1) 3/4 x 12 7/8 - 18 F Bottom Rail (1) 3/4 x 3 1/2 - 18 G Stiles (2) 3/4 x 1 3/4 - 34 3/4 H Back (1) 1/2 ply. - 37 1/2 x 33 I Upper Rail (1) 3/4 x 2 1/4 - 34 3/4 J Lower Rail (1) 3/4 x 1 3/4 - 34 3/4 K Middle Rail (1) 3/4 x 2 - 28 L Outer Stiles (2) 3/4 x 1 3/4 - 34 3/4 M Inner Stile (1) 3/4…

When it comes to the table saw, most of us think of it as a tool for cutting through a workpiece. But occasionally, you may have a need to make a stopped cut. And while there are several different tools you can use to make stopped cuts, from a band saw to a jig saw to a hand saw, sometimes the cut demands the precision and accuracy that can best be provided by a table saw. A stopped table saw cut is just what it sounds like. You push the workpiece part way into the blade, stopping at a given point. Then after turning the saw off, simply back the workpiece out of the cut. Making stopped cuts isn’t difficult, but there are a few things that you’ll definitely want…

Bevel Gauge Jig The bevel gauges on page 38 require accurately routing small parts. To ensure safety and repeatability, I used the router jig shown here. It’s designed to use in conjunction with a small palm router. EASY TO BUILD. The construction of the jig is pretty simple. It consists of a plywood base with two layers of plywood on top. The first layer creates an opening for the workpiece and acts as a platform for the router base. The second layer is a set of cleats that help keep the router aligned during use. I applied plastic laminate on the top layers of plywood to allow my router to slide smoothly. SLICK OPERATION. As I mentioned, this jig was designed to be accurate and repeatable. That’s accomplished with a…

Most of the materials and supplies you’ll need to build the projects are available at hardware stores or home centers. For specific products or hard-to-find items, take a look at the sources listed here. You’ll find each part number listed by the company name. See the right margin for contact information. COPING & FRET SAWS (p.14) • Blue Spruce Toolworks Ultimate Coping Saw. . . . varies • Knew Concepts Coping Saw . . . . . . . . . . 125.012 Titanium Fret Saw . . . 125.005T • Elkhead Tools Knew Concepts Handle . . varies TONGUE DRUM (p.16) • McMaster-Carr Neoprene Balls (black) . 9957K12 Poly. Balls (semi-clear). 6490K14 The tongue drum was finished with two coats of spray lacquer. DRILL BIT STORAGE (p.22) • Amazon Bar Magnets . . .…

Glueup Mat. Hermie Tolerba of Sugarland, TX, discovered that inexpensive plastic drawer liners from discount stores make perfect gluing mats. The slick surface doesn’t allow glue to stick to it, and they can be rolled up for storage anywhere in the shop. Blade Cover. William Aulick of Cincinnati, OH, was tired of his forearms getting scratched up by the teeth of the table saw blade when changing it. To protect his arm, he now wraps a cord organizer tube over the teeth of the blade before reaching inside to loosen the nut. Push Stick Scabbard. Lou LaFrate of Vail, AZ, was tired of searching for his push sticks. To keep them organized and close at hand, Lou added a scabbard made out of a cardboard tube to…

If your budget doesn’t allow for a pricey air filtration unit, try out this shop-made setup that won’t break the bank. It works great filtering the air for task-specific operations, like sanding at the workbench, as shown here. All that’s required is a simple box fan and a furnace filter sized to match the fan. Be sure to strap the filter to the intake side of the fan. Now, when you place it close for dusty tasks, the fan pulls the dust from the air and captures it in the filter.…

There isn’t a hand tool better suited to tackle fine, meandering cuts than a coping saw, or it’s close cousin, the fret saw. In fact, these saws can often be faster than a band saw. Here, I want to take a look at a few saws (photo below) that aren’t your dad’s old coping saw. BLUE SPRUCE. If I were to make a list of boutique tool makers, Blue Spruce Tool-works would be at the top. While the price of the Blue Spruce fleet is up there, they have the quality to back it up. And Blue Spruce’s new Ultimate Coping Saw may be their best tool yet. HYBRID FRAME. When you look at the main photo above, one of the very first things you notice is the hybrid frame…

Mallet Shaft Jig. The V-groove in the base is made at the table saw with the blade tilted 45°. The stops hold the shaft blanks in place. The distance between the stops is determined by the length of the shaft blanks. Easy-To-Use. Set the depth of cut so that the planer just skims the corner of the mallet shaft blank (detail ‘a’). Drill Rubber Ball. Secure the rubber ball in a handscrew to drill the mounting hole for the shaft.…

There’s something about shop-made tools that resonates with me. It may be the nod to a simpler time, where a crafts-person would often make a tool he or she needed. It could be the chance to break out of the production mold and customize your tool set. Or, it may be the opportunity to build a quality tool that future craftsmen will marvel at and wonder about the person who made it. Whatever it is that calls to you, these bevel gauges are the perfect project to scratch that itch. TWINS. We designed these gauges to be a set. The larger excels at standard angle-measuring duties, and the smaller version is the perfect size to keep in your apron for laying out dovetails (inset photo). Both gauges are built with…

Sometimes you run across a board that has a grain pattern that just won’t behave. Regardless of how you feed it into your planer, it comes out with those annoying little divots in the surface. The first impulse is to ditch the board for one less unruly. The problem is that the beauty of the board is most likely tied to that grain and the pattern it reveals. And that’s something worth fighting for. Using a low-angle jack plane (like the Lie-Nielsen No. 62 you see above) with three different blades makes short work of unruly grain. These blades are standard 25° bevel blade, a toothed blade (also 25° bevel), and a 90° scraper blade. LOW-ANGLE JACK PLANE. The core of a low-angle jack is basically a big block plane.…

The Ceiling Track System by Rockler consists of heavy PVC track and trolleys designed to slide along the track. The track resembles a heavy-duty, upside-down T-track. The trolleys fit inside the track and include a stem used for mounting hanger hooks. You can purchase sliding trolleys and locking trolleys, depending on your needs. Track stops close off the ends of the track.…

The same techniques used to make stopped table saw cuts can also be applied to making stopped dadoes using a dado blade. The key difference here is that because you can’t raise the dado blade very high, you’ll end up with fairly long curved area at the end of the cut. The solution here is simple. Just square up the end of the cut with a chisel. Most of the time, a stopped dado is used to hold a shelf or divider, so the end of the cut will be hidden anyhow.…