January/February 2020 Archives - Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To

Set Gaps for Band Saw Guides with Tape

Reader Submitted — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:53:28 +0000

Setting the gaps between my band saw’s blade and the side guides using a folded dollar bill is awkward and obstructs the view — especially with a narrow blade. Instead, I’ve found that using green painter’s tape makes the job so much easier.

I place the tape just behind the teeth gullets and trim it flush with the back of the blade. A few tape layers produces the desired gap. The bright tape makes it easy to see just where the guides need to be positioned, and when I’m done, I just strip off the tape.

– Richard Krehnovi
Mansfield, Ohio

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A Clean Way for Marking Wood

Reader Submitted — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 20:39:52 +0000

I’ve tried various ways to mark furniture or cabinet doors and drawers for hardware locations before installing it, but this is my favorite method. I use a fine-tip marker that’s made to be erasable. Either a “wet-erase” or “dry-erase” marker will work well. The beauty of the marker is that the color shows up on a finished or painted surface, but you can simply wipe it off if you make a mistake or need to reposition your marking holes for other reasons. Of course, the markers only work on furniture parts or cabinets that already have a finish applied. The ink won’t wipe off of raw wood.

– Andrew Sensenig
Penn Yan, New York

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How to Control a Vacuum Hose

Reader Submitted — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 19:08:04 +0000

A long shop vac hose can be handy for extending your reach, but it quickly becomes a nuisance when you try to store it or move the vac to a new location. It becomes a reluctant serpent slithering wherever it can and finding something to snag. But I finally built a solution to this aggravation. I made four L-shaped brackets from 3/4″ plywood, shaped to fit the sides of my shop vac and with enough standoff and height to accommodate the hose’s diameter and length. I fastened them to the tank with screws. Now, my vacuum “snake” is effectively tamed.

– Bruce Wedlock
Peabody, Massachusetts

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Dovetail Jigs: Handy Options to Handwork

Chris Marshall — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 19:32:35 +0000

When examining a piece of furniture, even non-woodworkers will often open drawers and search for that pleasing interplay of pins and tails that mark dovetail joints. In the same way, it’s hard not to fawn over a blanket chest adorned with through dovetails on its corners. There’s a truism at work here: dovetails are one of the calling cards of high craftsmanship. And, in spite of the fact that we woodworkers have other joinery options that also form equally rugged connections, they just don’t get the same nod of approval as dovetails. So, it’s only natural that, sooner or later, you’re going to want to learn to make these interlocking, timelessly popular joints.

At that point you’ll face a choice: learn to saw and chop them by hand — the classic method. Or buy a dovetail jig and whip them out with a router instead. Both are entirely viable options, but router-cut dovetails require less hand-and-eye coordination. They’re also quick to churn out, once your jig and router setup are carefully dialed in. If this power tool method seems a better fit for you, here’s what to keep in mind.

On the Level

When I started routing dovetails 20 or so years ago, it didn’t take long to learn a few humbling lessons you may face, too. First, dovetail jigs aren’t panaceas for simplicity. If you hope to unpack a new dovetail jig on a Saturday morning and be milling flawless joints in an hour or two, temper your enthusiasm. To cut a properly fitting joint, most jigs will require that you fine-tune a combination of settings on both the jig and the router bit depth. The trouble is, achieving these critical settings isn’t always quick or easy to understand.

Part of this challenge comes from the nature of dovetails themselves, regardless of how they are cut: pins or tails must fit their sockets within close tolerances. Joints with repeating geometry like these are also subject to cumulative error. Settings can’t begin to drift, even in the slightest, over the width of the parts or the joint will be progressively thrown out of registration. The wider the joint, the more important that every router pass is done with precision.

Then there’s the matter of a jig’s ease of use. I don’t envy the engineers who’ve been tasked to make their company’s dovetail jig simple to set up and operate, more versatile than the competition and still priced affordably for the average home-shop woodworker. It would be no small order! Some jig designs show the spit and polish of brilliant engineering: they’re a breeze to dial in and systematically troubleshoot so you know clearly what to tweak next. Others can be more enigmatic, suffering from design shortcomings or cryptic instruction manuals.

Thankfully, I’ve seen dovetail jigs become generally more user-friendly over the years, and some fine new jigs have come to market, too. You’ll probably also be able to find YouTube videos for just about any dovetail jig you buy that can clarify details in the manual or offer tips and tricks to shorten your learning curve. With any jig, plan on making several test cuts before expecting a piston-fitting dovetail. And be patient with your process. You’ll get there eventually!

How Dovetail Jigs Work

Once a dovetail jig and router bit (or bits) are properly set up, you can machine dovetails quickly and easily for one drawer or a production run of as many drawers as you need.

Dovetail jigs are really just elaborate examples of template routing. The router’s path is limited by a template to cut a specific pattern of pins or tails and the sockets in between. In most cases, you feed the router over the template, which is mounted on top of the jig’s housing. For a few jigs, a handheld router is unnecessary: the template with a workpiece clamped to it is inverted and guided over the router bit on a router table instead.

Fine-tuning the settings on a dovetail jig can be time-consuming. Bit depth, stops on the jig and template adjustments all can impact how joints fit together. Mark the order of the test joints to keep track of your progress.

Depending on the joint, workpieces are presented to the jig’s template with either the board’s edge facing up or a face side up. Clamps in front or on top of the jig’s housing lock boards in place for routing. In the case of half-blind joints, both the pin and tail boards are cut simultaneously. For through dovetails, the tail and pin boards are cut with separate templates, router bits and setups, one board at a time.

Most dovetail jigs require that a guide bushing be mounted to the router’s baseplate to follow the openings in the template. Or the bit may have an integral pilot bearing on top that takes the place of the guide bushing. You’ll also need an 8° or 14° dovetail router bit, depending on the joint’s geometry. For through dovetails, a straight-cutting router bit is also required. These bits are often provided with the jig, as are the guide collar or collars required to operate them. But standard aftermarket bits are suitable options, too, provided the cutting angle is correct for the joint style.

A mid-size router with a fixed base that can be equipped with guide bushings is ideal for dovetail jigs. Bit requirements will include both dovetail and straight styles; some jigs also use bits with integral pilot bearings.

A mid-sized or larger router with a 1/2″-capacity collet is the right choice for making the demanding cuts these dovetail jigs require. I find that the lower center of gravity of a fixed-base router makes it easier to handle and preferable to a plunge router. The fixed base makes precise depth-of-cut changes a little easier too — you’re not working against the spring compression of a plunge router this way.

Fixed-template Jigs

On fixed-template dovetail jigs, both the pin and tail boards of half-blind dovetails are routed simultaneously with one template. The tail board mounts in the jig’s front clamp, and the pin board clamps behind it.

There are two primary families of dovetail jigs, based on their template style. Fixed-template dovetail jigs, like Rockler’s, uses one template for cutting the tails of a through dovetail pattern (and both the pins and tails of a half-blind joint) with a dovetail-shaped router bit. The template’s slots are straight and parallel. For through dovetails, a second interchangeable template enables the “pin” side of the joint to be cut using a straight router bit instead of the dovetail cutter. Here, the template’s fingers are angled, rather parallel, in order to mill angled faces on the pins that fit between the tails.

You can’t alter the joint pattern created by a fixed template, but you might be able to expand the variety of joints your dovetail jig can make by installing accessory templates, like these from Rockler.

The templates that come standard with a fixed-template jig typically cut a pattern of pins and tails that have the same size and spacing. But optional templates can expand the range of joints to patterns with larger tails, irregular spacing between the pins and tails and even box joint styles.

Adjustable-template Jigs

Adjustable-template dovetail jigs feature pairs of metal fingers that create tail cuts on one end and pin cuts on the other. You can alter their spacing and pattern by loosening set screws and sliding them left or right.

One of the benefits of learning to hand-cut dovetails is that you can choose any pattern of pins and tails that suits your preference and application. That’s impossible to do with a fixed-template jig; spacing is always predetermined by the template, and it can’t be changed.

The tails of a through dovetail joint are routed on an adjustable template.

If customizing your dovetail joint layouts is important to you, an adjustable-template jig can help. Here’s what makes this family of jigs distinct: a collection of paired metal fingers create the template that guides the router bit in a handheld router. One end of each pair of fingers forms a parallel slot for cutting tails with a dovetail bit. The other end of the fingers are angled to guide the pin cuts of the joint using a straight router bit. The same metal fingers will cut a range of joints in both half-blind and through dovetail styles.

Flipping the template over resets the jig for cutting the mating pattern of pins and tail sockets on the pin board.

Each pair of fingers can be unlocked and opened or closed to create wider or narrower pins and tails. Even better, adjusting one end of the fingers automatically dials in the other end for the mating cut. Pairs can be spread apart from other pairs along the jig’s mounting bars to vary the joint layout and spacing however you like. Once you set the pattern, tails are cut with the template oriented outward in the jig. To cut the pins, just flip the template over and reinstall, and switch router bits.

Other Variations

The RTJ400 Dovetail Jig from Leigh Industries is a “top down” variation on the fixed-template concept: here, workpieces clamp above the template, which is fed over a router table. In this photo, through dovetail pins are being cut.

If you’d rather not steer a heavy router over the top of a conventional dovetail jig, a “top-down” option, such as the RTJ400 from Leigh Industries might be a better choice. Here, you can use a router table and benefit from its larger work surface to support the jig when feeding workpieces through their cuts. Effectively, the jig is a fixed template with an integral clamping system. It functions similarly to a conventional fixed-template jig, just upside down.

All it takes are a pair of aluminum or phenolic templates, piloted dovetail and straight bits and two backup boards to mill through dovetails using a Keller & Company dovetail jig system.

Another even more streamlined option for dovetail jigs amounts to a pair of fixed templates and nothing more. With these, you fasten a piece of wood to each template to serve as a backup board during cutting. It also provides a clamping surface for workpieces. Keller & Company innovated this “template only” dovetailing method in the late 1970s, and it remains one of the simplest systems on the market.

Aside from their ease of use, there’s no limit to the width of workpieces you can rout with Keller’s aluminum or phenolic dovetailing templates. With other dovetail jig styles, workpieces must be narrower than the clamping apparatus that holds them in place. Depending on the jig, that might only be 12″ — too narrow for large projects.

Dovetailing Challenges

As I suggested at the outset, dialing a dovetail jig in for accuracy usually takes some trial and error. Shifting the jig’s template slightly forward or backward, changing the bit’s depth of cut or altering how workpieces are offset from one another inside the jig all influence how well the joint parts align and fit together. Here are a few of the common problems you’ll probably encounter when working with your jig. If you’re just getting started, expect several or even all of these situations to occur sooner or later.

If you can pull the pins and tails partially apart on a through dovetail joint, their fit is too loose. Resetting the bit for a slightly shallower cut will tighten the joint. Overly tight joints can be loosened by lowering the bit.

– Overly loose or tight joints. A properly made half-blind or through dovetail joint should slip together without noticeable gaps, but you shouldn’t have to pound them together either. Overly tight fits on a dry joint will only cause you more trouble, once glue is applied and the wood begins to swell. Conversely, loose joints are inherently weak and look sloppy, too.

What’s the fix? Typically, loose or tight joints are the result of a router bit that’s set too deeply (loose fit) for the cut or not deep enough (tight fit). On the next test joint, try a tiny change to your router’s depth of cut, and you’ll probably see a noticeable improvement in how the parts come together. Sneak up on a “push” fit, making only slight depth adjustments each time. On a good day, it may take at least two or three more test cuts after the first try before you’ll achieve a proper joint.

Half-blind tails that stand proud of the pin board like this require deeper sockets in the pin board to seat into. Adjust the jig’s template or stop bar slightly backward to remedy the problem.

– Half-blind joints don’t fit together flush. It’s common for the tail board of half-blind joints to either slide too far into the sockets of the pin board or not far enough. In these situations, turn your attention to the template’s depth-of-cut setting — not the router bit. A tail board that embeds too deeply into the pin board means the template is allowing the bit to cut too far. Reset the template further forward on the jig housing and try again. Or if the tail board won’t push all the way home, the bit isn’t cutting far enough into the pin board. Move the template backward a smidge and make another test cut. In either case, the amount of mismatch between the parts is the distance you should reset the template.

Sometimes, a dovetail jig’s workpiece stops can be adjusted to prevent misaligned edges. Be sure your boards are the same width, too.

– Part edges misalign. You can see that the edge of this joint’s pin board stands out from the tail board when assembled. In these situations, make sure your pin and tail boards are precisely the same width. Misaligned parts might also indicate that a stop on the jig needs to be adjusted a nudge. If the offset is only minor, the problem might not be worth tweaking the jig; a few swipes with a hand plane or a pass or two over the jointer could be the quicker fix.

– Pins or tails grow or shrink across the joint. Here’s a dastardly problem I once encountered. It occurred well past the stage where my dovetail jig was tuned and cutting beautifully. Some half-blind dovetails on a figured maple drawer I was routing drifted from 3/8″-long tails on one end of a joint to nearly 5/8″ long on the other end. The culprit: my bit was slipping ever so slightly out of the collet in the tough maple, cut by cut. I hope this catastrophe never happens to you, but learn from my mishap: be sure to use a clean router collet in good condition, and periodically check it for tightness as you work — not just before you begin. Dull bits, tough woods, loose collets or simple expansion and contraction of the collet as it heats up and cools off during use all can result in slipping bits…and ruined workpieces.

Tips for Success

Here are a few more tidbits of hard-fought wisdom that might help ease your dovetailing process:

You’ll better your odds for dovetailing success if you begin with workpieces that are flat, of uniform thickness and with edges and ends that are precisely square. Prepare your stock carefully.

– Take time when preparing your stock. It’s crucial that boards are flat, of uniform thickness and have square ends and edges. Otherwise, prepare for “garbage in, garbage out,” as they say.

– Read and reread your jig’s manual. Unless you use a dovetail jig routinely, you won’t memorize its nuances or probably even keep it set up for use. Make the manual your friend.

The tiniest of adjustments to a dovetail jig’s template can have marked affects on how the joint fits together. Be methodical and conservative about each adjustment, and assess your progress by making more test cuts.

– Change settings one at a time and incrementally. A quick way to get befuddled with a dovetail jig is to tweak too many variables at once. Ask any experienced user…

When a test joint fits together well, save the parts to use as setup helpers next time. Write notes on them so you’ll recall which router and bit you used, plus other important jig settings and the final cutting depth.

– Save your best sample joints. When a test joint fits just right, by all means save it for future reference. Mark the parts with any relevant information — bit type and depth, template setting, router used, etc. — that can help you replicate the scenario next time. Life is short, so work smarter, not harder.

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Accessories for Excavating Tall Hollow Forms

Ernie Conover — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 19:15:12 +0000

The most common wooden vessels are bowls that are faceplate turned for reasons of strength. But when the height of a vessel surpasses more than a couple of times the diameter, it becomes stronger to switch to spindle orientation instead.

Therefore, hollow forms are generally lidded and unlidded boxes or tall, slender (for their diameter) vessels. I have expounded before on small hollow forms, which can be easily excavated with a spindle gouge and some scrapers. Any hollow form that can be made in a mini lathe can be turned with these tools.

Deep Hollowing Challenges

Since tall (in proportion to their diameter), slender hollow forms are generally made with a small mouth opening, the tool-rest cannot be placed inside of them. The extension of the tool from the rest ultimately will be slightly greater than the depth of the vessel. If you want to turn the inside of a hollow form deeper than about three inches, a spindle gouge becomes problematic. The shaft of the tool starts to flex, and controlling the tool becomes progressively more difficult. At some extension from the tool-rest, control becomes impossible. One solution is to go to a larger-diameter gouge, since resistance to flexing increases by a power of four as the diameter increases. Going from a 3/8″ gouge to a 1/2″ gouge would make a big difference because the latter is four times stiffer.

Boring Bars

Sorby’s boring bar accepts interchangeable high-speed steel, carbide or titanium nitride-coated (TiN) carbide tips.

While this math is interesting, it is time to switch to a different tool — a large scraper, often called a boring bar. Boring bars are small scrapers mounted on the end of a stout bar. They are intended to work parallel to the lathe bed with the tool’s edge on the centerline at all times. They can be mounted in a handle and used conventionally or with a turner’s gate, which is a device that will ensure that the bar stays level, never rotates and that the scraper is always on the centerline of the lathe.

Carter Products Axe boring bars have flat-sided handles — similar to an axe — to help provide a more secure, comfortable grip. Their shafts accept replaceable carbide inserts.

Most boring bars have a flat surface milled on the bottom to help the turner resist rotational forces that are trying to spin the tool when working without a gate.

Turner’s Gates

Here the author employs a boring bar in tandem with a turner’s gate mounted to his Oneway lathe. In this application, he’s also using a bowl steady rest, equipped with a pair of wheels, to help support the hollow form being excavated.

A turner’s gate is a set of parallel bars or rollers that keep a boring bar level with the cutting edge on (or very slightly above) the centerline of the lathe. The tool can be moved latterly but it cannot move up or down or rotate. The gate is clamped to the lathe bed where the tailstock would normally reside. Most gates offer a range of boring bars, often with movable tips that allow for deeper boring as well as removing material from the side wall or undercutting the mouth opening. Most manufacturers offer carbide tips for their boring bars, and some are even TiN (titanium nitride) coated. Some brands also offer tips made of high-speed steel. While TiN coating does wonders when cutting metal because chips will not stick to the tool, it is of questionable value to woodworkers other than to give the tip a pretty gold color.

This blue Carter Products Hollow Roller Vessel Turning System is mounted to a Robust Scout benchtop lathe.

There are a number of turner’s gates on the market. The most popular is the Carter® Products Hollow Roller Vessel Turning System. It costs about $370 and will fit most benchtop and full-size lathes. My students find this hollowing system easy to understand and use.

Oneway offers three sizes of their Complete Laser Hollowing System. The smallest size fits benchtop and full-size lathes that have 10″ to 12″ of swing capacity. The medium size fits 13″ to 19″ lathes, and the largest model is for full-size lathes with between 20″ and 24″ of swing. This is the model I am using on my Oneway 2436 lathe throughout this article. All three options are priced at just under $600.

Laser Pointers

An overarm laser pointer on Oneway’s Complete Laser Hollowing System provides easy visual reference for wall thickness: when the laser beam drops off the edge of the workpiece, the user knows the correct wall thickness has been reached.

A standard feature of turner’s gates is the ability to add a laser pointer mounted on a movable arm that places it about a foot or so above the workpiece and shining downward. The pointer is adjusted to shine at a distance from the cutting edge that is the desired wall thickness.

The laser beam’s offset from the edge of the boring bar (reflected on the author’s hand) indicates the wall thickness the setup will cut. The laser can be adjusted left or right as desired for turning thinner or thicker walls.

As you remove material from the inside wall, you have a constant idea of how thick the wall is. When the laser beam drops off of the workpiece, the desired thickness has been obtained. It is a splendid idea!

Hollow Forms Workflow

A blow nozzle with a cross hole is a safe way to clear accumulated swarf from inside a hollow form.

The order of workflow is important when hollowing a tall, slender form. Here’s a brief overview of the process: First, a suitable billet (either dry wood or green) is mounted between centers and turned round. A tenon is turned on one end for grabbing with an external hold in a four-jaw scroll chuck or for mounting in a glue block.

Once the tenon is in place, you can transfer the work to a chuck or glue block in order to turn the outside shape of the vessel.

Start the opening with a spindle gouge and/or a drill. The idea is to get a cavity large enough to get your boring bar inside. It’s also time to set the laser to the desired wall thickness from the tip, then begin to excavate the vessel’s interior.

As the work progresses, you’ll need to frequently stop the lathe to blow out accumulating chips and debris until you achieve the proper wall thickness everywhere. It is usually best to keep the base area a bit thick for several reasons. For one, the base will be stronger. Some extra mass in the bottom will also provide extra weight, given that hollow turnings otherwise often end up very light.

Because of the small mouth opening in most hollow forms, getting the chips and debris (swarf) out is an often-needed operation that is akin to clearing a drill. For small hollow forms, blowing through a length of plastic hose or even a soda straw works fine, but at some size this scheme fails. Most seasoned hollow form turners use a blow nozzle on an air hose to quickly remove swarf. Be sure to use an approved nozzle that has a cross hole to prevent problems if this tip is blocked.

Do this operation with the lathe stopped and always wear safety glasses with side shields and a face mask. I run the blow nozzle with my right hand and deflect the chips away from me with my left as an additional precaution.

All this said, give larger hollow forms a try! They can be great fun. You can further embellish a hollow form by cutting embroidery-like designs into the wall with a rotary tool or through pyrography (wood burning).

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PROJECT: Raised Panel Cabinet

Chris Marshall — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 15:51:07 +0000

Practice your basic cabinetry skills when you build this sweet little project. It’s a good refresher for carcass construction, panel raising and installing hardware.

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FREE PROJECT PLAN: Tool Chest

Dan Cary — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 15:36:29 +0000

If one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2020 is to get your shop better organized, this easy-to-build, double drawer tool chest can help keep that promise. Ours is made of 1/4,” 1/2″ and 3/4″ Baltic birch plywood – this is a practical shop accessory, not a jewelry box. We used Rockler’s Drawer Lock Router Bit in the router table to form sturdy, interlocking corner joints for the drawers. The case’s butt joints are reinforced with stepped Miller Dowels that are as easy to install as drilling holes and pounding them in.

Download this complete plan.

Making the Drawers

Rockler’s plastic Drawer Lock Set-Up Jig makes it easy to dial in the correct height and projection for a drawer lock router bit. Use the jig in the configuration shown here to prepare for cutting the drawer side portion of the joints.

Your first inclination might be to make the tool chest’s case first, but then the drawers must be precisely fitted to its interior. The easier route – especially considering the interlocking nature of the corner joinery and how that impacts final part sizing – is to make the drawers first and wrap the case around them. Start by cutting two 7-1/2″ x 13″ pieces of 1/2″-thick Baltic birch plywood. They’ll yield all four upper and lower drawer sides.

To prevent chipping the plywood veneer on the faces of the drawer side workpieces during routing, score them 3/8″ in from both ends of one face with a sharp knife or razor blade several times before routing.

Install the drawer lock bit in your router table, then take a close look at the photos. Notice that the geometry for a drawer lock joint consists of a tongue-and-groove profile on one piece that fits into a mirror image tongue-and-groove on the mating piece. Adjust the bit vertically so the cutter creates an equal-sized tongue-and-groove. Rockler offers a plastic setup block that can make finding this bit height quick and easy.

After making test cuts on scrap, rout the drawer lock profile into the drawer side blanks with the panels oriented vertically against the fence. Install a featherboard on the router table to keep the panels pressed firmly against the fence.

It also can help you determine bit projection out from the router table fence. But, if you don’t have the benefit of the setup block, move the fence until the top portion of the cutter will cut 1/4″ into the drawer side stock, and raise the bit 3/8″ above the table.

Reset the bit’s projection using the other end of the setup block to cut a deeper profile into the ends of the drawer backs. Make test cuts and adjust the bit accordingly.

When the bit’s settings are dialed in, knife a line across the face of the plywood 3/8″ from both ends where the top corner of the router bit will intersect it, to help minimize tearout during routing. Now, carefully mill the profile across one face of both workpieces, on both ends, with the blanks standing vertically against the router table fence, to form the drawer side profile of the four corner joints. Set these workpieces aside for the moment.

The drawer back fits correctly when its thin outer tongue overlaps the end of the drawer side.

Rip and crosscut another piece of 1/2″ Baltic to 7-1/2″ x 20-3/4″ to create both drawer backs. You’ll see that the drawer back has a thin, elongated tongue that covers the ends of the drawer sides.

Rout the drawer lock profile across both ends of the back panel — the face against the router table will become the inside back face of each drawer. We made these cuts into a double-wide blank of 1/2″ plywood to improve stability during routing and to help speed up the process. Once the joints are cut, you can rip the panel to form both drawer backs.

To achieve this overlapping profile, reset the bit’s projection from the fence using the other end of Rockler’s setup block as a guide (the bit’s projection changes to 3/8″ but its height remains the same). Then mill this cut into both ends of the drawer back stock. Set this workpiece aside for now as well.

The front rail and drawer fronts are cut from the same piece of plywood to create continuous grain across the front of the chest. Start with a piece of 3/4″-thick Baltic birch plywood measuring 10-3/4″ x 21-3/4″. Cut the 3″-wide front rail off the top of the panel. Then trim 1/8″ from each end of the remaining wider piece to create a doubled-up blank for the drawer fronts.

The drawer faces come next, and we’ll harvest them from the same piece of plywood as the tool chest’s top rail. Start with a piece of 3/4″ plywood measuring 10-3/4″ x 21-3/4″. Cut the 3″-wide front rail off the top of the panel (see photo 6). Then, trim 1/8″ off each short end of the remaining wider piece to create a single combined blank for both drawer fronts.

The drawer face blank receives a deeper profile cut that forms a long tongue to overlap the drawer sides and drawer slides.

Study the photos and you’ll see that the thicker drawer front material creates a tongue that both covers the drawer sides and also conceals the ends of the drawer slides. The goal for this tongue length is 7/8″. To form it, make a series of passes into the ends of the drawer front workpiece, shifting the fence back a little with each pass to expose more of the router bit.

Make shallow passes, resetting the fence further from the bit to lengthen this tongue.

Make each new cut in a scrap piece first to check your progress, before continuing to rout the drawer front ends. Stop cutting when the length of the inside face of the drawer front blank matches the length of the inside face of the drawer back blank.

Continue routing until the length of the inside face of the drawer front matches the inside face of the drawer back.

Now, dry-fit the corner joints. If they lock together well, rip the drawer side and drawer back blanks to their final widths. Then lower the saw blade to 1/4″ and plow 1/4″-wide grooves along the inside bottom edge of each drawer part to fit your 1/4″ drawer bottom plywood. Cut these grooves carefully so the plywood will fit them snugly.

Once the corner joints fit together well, cut apart the upper and lower drawer fronts, sides and backs. Then set the table saw blade to a 1/4″ cutting height and make multiple side-by-side passes to cut a groove for the bottom panels in all eight drawer parts.

Assemble the drawer boxes again in order to take inside measurements for the drawer bottoms. Cut the two drawer bottoms to size. Finish-sand all the drawer parts, and bring the drawer boxes together with glue and clamps.

After the drawer bottoms are cut to size and the parts finish-sanded, glue the drawer boxes together. Check them for squareness by measuring both diagonals. If these numbers don’t match, adjust the clamping pressure or the positions of the clamps until they do.

Before the glue begins to set, be sure to check the boxes for square by measuring their diagonals: if the numbers match, you’re all set. If they don’t match, adjust the clamping pressure or the clamp positions to correct the problem; out-of-square drawers are a hassle to correct after the fact — especially when they’re made of plywood that can be hand-planed to correct things.

Lock-Align Drawer Organizers

A tool chest without some form of inner dividers will quickly become a disorganized dumping ground for hand tools and other small parts. But Rockler’s system of Lock-Align Drawer Organizers can help.

Lock-Align Organizer Starter Kit (item 56117)

The interlocking, synthetic rubber components create a grid of compartment walls that you can customize to the size of the drawer by cutting with a utility knife or scissors.

Then, dividers and small parts bins slide into slots in the walls and hook over their rims for a secure connection. A starter kit of trays and bins is available. Additional trays, bins and holders are sold separately.

Assembling the Chest Carcass

Create a subassembly consisting of the front rail, divider and back panel. We reinforced these glue joints with walnut stepped Miller Dowels.

Cut a pair of workpieces for the chest divider and back panel to size from 3/4″ plywood. Finish-sand them, along with the front rail. Then glue the front rail to one long edge of the divider so the rail’s bottom edge is flush with the bottom face of the divider.

Use a Miller Tru-Fit Drill Bit to bore the tapering dowel holes.

When the joint dries, you can reinforce it with three Miller Dowels as we did, or use countersunk #8 screws or even brad nails, if you prefer. Now, draw a layout line 3″ in from one long edge of the back panel.

Apply a small amount of glue to the ribbed section of the dowel, then tap it into the hole with a mallet until the dowel seats at the bottom.

Align the bottom back edge of the divider to this line, and glue and dowel the divider and back panel together to complete the chest’s inner subassembly.

Apply painter’s tape around the protruding dowel to prevent marring, and trim off the excess with a flush-cut saw.

Cut the chest’s side panels to shape and sand them. Attach the sides with glue and dowels to the inner subassembly — make the back edges of the side panels flush with the back face of the back panel.

Continue to assemble the chest carcass by installing the side panels to the initial subassembly, followed by the back and bottom panels. Each of these joints is first glued, then reinforced with Miller Dowels.

Cut, sand and install the chest’s bottom panel next, with its back edge flush to the back of the carcass and its ends extending evenly out from the side panels. Use dowels or other fasteners to reinforce these joints, too.

Installing Hardware

Rockler’s 120mm Edge Pulls mount flush to the top edges of the drawer fronts, so you’ll need to cut a 1/8″-deep mortise in the top of each drawer front to match the length of the pull. One way to do this is to make a simple jig to guide your router and limit the cutting area.

The finish line for this project is in sight, but there’s a little more milling yet to do. Rockler’s metal flush-mount drawer pulls require a 1/8″-shallow mortise cut into the top faces of the drawers. The easiest way to accomplish this is to create a simple routing jig that controls the length of the mortise cuts, then use a straight bit to cut them.

We made one with a couple of long scraps of plywood that sandwich the drawer front and two shorter crosspieces that serve as stops for the router base. Once the mortises are cut, drill pilot holes for the screws and install the pulls.

Our routing jig amounts to a pair of long scraps that straddle the drawer face and also help to stabilize the router base during mortising. Two crosspieces, fastened to the long pieces, stop the router’s travel and limit the length of the mortises to fit the 120 mm-long pulls. Once the drawer faces are mortised, fasten the pulls to them with the included screws.

Install a pair of 12″ Series 757 100-lb. Over-Travel Centerline Lifetime Drawer Slides 7/16″ back from the front edge of the case sides, to allow the drawer faces to close flush with the chest sides. Locate the slides in the carcass so they will be centered on each drawer side. Center and attach the drawer side components of the slides to each drawer side as well.

Next up are the drawer slides. Carefully lay out the positions of the cabinet side components of the slides inside the chest. Inset their front edges 7/16″ back from the front of the chest, and fasten them in place with the included screws. It’s a good idea to use the slotted holes provided on the slides for the screws, in case you need to move the slides slightly up, down or back and forth. Fasten the drawer side member of each slide so it’s centered on the width of the drawer sides. Then, connect the slide components together to hang the drawers, and check their action. Adjust the slides as needed to create even gaps between the drawers and so the drawer faces close flush with the front of the chest.

Mount a pair of partial wrap-around hinges to the top and back panels of the chest. Then install the Easy-Lift Lid Support, adjusting its tension as directed in the lid support instructions. Once you are satisfied with the lid and drawer operation, remove all hardware and apply your preferred topcoat finish to complete the project.

Cut and sand a panel for the chest lid. We installed ours with a pair of low-profile, partial wrap-around hinges that don’t require mortising. Just mark their positions on the lid and back panel, drill pilot holes and fasten them in place. Then, to keep the lid up while using tools, we completed this project’s hardware needs with Rockler’s Easy-Lift Lid Support — it also simply screws to the lid and back panel.

Finishing Up

You could skip a finish on this project in order to hustle it into service, but eventually raw, blonde plywood will begin to look grimy from use. So why not apply two coats of your favorite film finish — polyurethane, shellac or lacquer — it will keep this tool chest looking great for years to come.

Hard-to-Find Hardware:

12″ Series 757 100-lb. Over-Travel Centerline® Lifetime Slides (2) #49778
Easy-Lift Lid Support (1) #66649
Stainless Steel 120mm Edge Pulls (2) #1014281
Rockler Drawer Lock Router Bit (1) #22637
Router Bit Set-Up Jig for 22637 Drawer Lock Corner Bit (1) #53810
1x Miller Tru-Fit Drill Bit (1) #20300
1x Miller Walnut Dowels (1) #21366

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

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PROJECT: Folding Shop Desk

Jeff Jacobson — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 19:52:20 +0000

No matter how much I continue to dream about having a dedicated shop space, the fact of the matter is, I do my woodworking in a cramped garage that also stores two cars. So for me, every bit of usable, horizontal work space counts!

This shop desk project came about when I ran across Rockler’s Folding Shelf Brackets recently. They close by squeezing a release latch on the upper leg and lowering them. It didn’t take much daydreaming or time in SketchUp for me to create the plans that now give me the occasional desk space I need. I’m finding it to be a useful landing pad for my laptop when I’m watching a how-to video online. It’s also a handy place to spread out project plans or to stage small parts and tools as I work. And then, when I’m done using the desk, I can fold it down and out of the way until the next time I need it. But, while my desk is out in the garage, the range of alternative uses for it is truly wide open, so don’t limit your options to just woodworking.

Think Outside the Shop for Other Uses

Desk open to 80 degrees

There’s no reason why a practical, space-saving project like this needs to be pigeonholed to a shop setting! If you add one of these folding desks to your garden shed, you’ll have a work surface for amending potting soil in a planter, changing the chainsaw spark plug or whatever task can be made easier by working at standing height. Same goes for the laundry room: a prop-up counter could serve as a place to set the iron while it cools or to fold socks. If the hunting shack is short on counter space, here could be a place to refill the lantern, dismantle a hand gun for cleaning or sort your tackle box lures.

Desk open to 70 degrees

And don’t overlook the ways you could customize the design further: the shallow space behind the desk could store a clipboard and drawing pad, your measuring and marking tools or a rack of chisels. Add a groove or a simple pencil tray along the front edge of the desk, and you’ll never have pencils rolling off. For even more durability, cover the desktop with a scrap of plastic laminate so it won’t absorb stains or other chemicals while you’re mixing or pouring them. And an additional point of note: these brackets have three locking positions from partially to fully raised. Here’s a project with many possibilities!

Parting Out a Pair of Panels

I ordered a couple of 24″ x 30″ Baltic birch panels from Rockler, which will provide just enough material for all the desk components if you cut them carefully. The Panel Cutting Diagram shows the sequence of steps to harvest the parts efficiently. Start by crosscutting a 2-3/4″-wide strip off of one end of each panel for the two side pieces of the desk’s case. Then turn the panels longways and rip a second strip to the same width for the case’s top and bottom.

Crosscut a 2-3/4″-wide strip off the end of each panel first, following the Plywood Cutting Diagram, above. These become the sides of the case. Then rip a long strip for the case’s top and bottom pieces.

Trim down what’s left of the panels to form the desk surface, and crosscut the top, bottom and side strips to their final lengths, according to the Material List. Leave the back panel slightly large for now. If you haven’t worked with Baltic birch before, be advised that the surface veneer can splinter if you use a dull or dirty blade. Use your best blade, just to play it safe.

Adding Corner Joinery

Plow 3/8″ dadoes across one face of each of the case’s side pieces on both ends. Locate these dadoes 3/8″ in from the part ends. Back up the cuts with a larger scrap piece to guide these narrow workpieces past the bit; it will also help minimize tearout when the bit exits the cuts.

When you study the Exploded View drawing, you’ll see that the top, bottom and sides of the desk’s case interlock at the corners with rabbet-and-dado joints — they’re easy to machine and very strong. The case’s back panel has rabbets along its wide ends that fit into grooves in the top and bottom pieces to lock it in place.

I opted to cut the corner joints at my router table using a 3/8″-dia. straight bit. If you decide to do the same (you could also cut the joinery with a dado blade at the table saw, if you prefer), raise the bit to 3/8″ and lock your router table fence 3/8″ away from it.

Using the same bit and fence settings, cut a groove along the length of the case’s top and bottom pieces. These will house the rabbets of the back panel. Make sure to keep the workpieces pressed down firmly against the router table to ensure that the groove depths remain consistent.

Plow a dado across the end of each side piece and into the same face of the parts. Because these side pieces are so narrow, be sure to back up the cuts with a scrap piece to prevent the workpieces from skewing away from the fence as you push them over the bit. A backup piece will also prevent the plywood from blowing out along the back edge as the router bit exits the cut.

Reset the fence so the bit’s full 3/8″ diameter is exposed. With the grooves of the top and bottom workpieces facing up, mill a rabbet on both ends of the parts. Test these cuts on a scrap of the same thickness first, so you can adjust the rabbet proportions accordingly.

Once those dadoes are milled, it’s time to rout a 3/8″ x 3/8″ groove into the top and bottom pieces of the case. These grooves are inset 3/8″ from the part edges, so your router table is already set to go from the previous dado cuts. Plow a groove into each part, keeping the workpieces pressed tightly against the fence and pushed down firmly so the grooves will have a consistent depth all along their length.

Cut rabbets into the wide edges of the back panel to fit the grooves of the case’s top and bottom pieces. But be sure to first trim this panel so it will fit the actual opening of your case when dry assembled.

The top and bottom pieces require rabbets on their ends to fit the dadoes you first cut on the side pieces. Here’s where the router table fence needs to be adjusted and, quite possibly, your bit height, too. Shift the fence forward so the bit has a full 3/8″ exposure but no more. Make a test cut on some scrap of the same thickness as your plywood, and see if the test rabbet fits the case’s side dadoes. If the joint is too tight, raise the bit a tad. If it’s loose, lower the bit instead. Once that’s dialed in, mill the rabbets on the top and bottom pieces. Again, back up these cuts with a scrap that stabilizes them and prevents blowout.

Final-sand all the parts of the desk’s case, then glue and clamp the pieces together. If you plan to paint the project, 120-grit sandpaper is sufficient. For a clear finish, sand up to 180-grit instead.

Dry-fit the corner joints, and take an inside measurement of the frame’s width and height to verify the final dimensions of the back panel. Cut the panel to size, then head back to the router table to mill a rabbet along its top and bottom ends using the same router table settings. When that’s done, carry out another dry assembly of all the parts. If the joints close well and the back fits its grooves properly, give the pieces a final sanding to 120-grit (for painting) or 180-grit (for a clear finish) and glue and clamp the case together.

Forming Handle Cutouts

With a compass set to a 3/4″ radius, draw pairs of opposite-facing arcs to form the “S”-curves of the handle cutouts on the desktop panel. The centerpoints for scribing these arcs are 3/4″ in from the ends of the panel.

Two cutouts along the edges of the desk surface enable you to simply reach in and lift up to lock the desk into place for use.

Bore the inside curves of each handle with a 1-1/2″-dia. Forstner bit at the drill press. Since the bit intersects the ends of the panel, use a scrap spacer between the panel and the fence to protect the fence from the bit.

Lay out these handles 2-3/4″ in from the front edge of the desk surface, using the Drawing as your guide.

Trim the handles’ outer curves to shape at the band saw or with a jigsaw.

I cut the handles to shape, starting at my drill press with a 1-1/2″-dia. Forstner bit, to form the two inside curves.

Then, remove the inner waste piece to form the rough handle cutout.

Once those were bored, I trimmed the outside curves and removed the inner waste piece at my band saw.

Shape and smooth the handle cutouts using a spindle sander or with sanding drums on a drill press. In lieu of either of these options, you could also wrap sandpaper around a 3/4″ dowel and sand them by hand.

Then, I fired up my benchtop spindle sander and gave the cutouts a final sanding to blend and smooth the curves.

Mounting the Brackets

Carefully lay out locations for the shelf brackets on the case back and desktop panel. What’s most important here is that the brackets are parallel, so their mechanisms will raise and lower without binding. Attach the hardware with screws driven into pilot holes.

Attaching the shelf brackets to the back of the case isn’t hard, but what’s critical here is that these brackets are exactly parallel to one another and to the sides of the case. If they aren’t, they can bind when they are closed. I first positioned the wider (release latch) legs of the brackets 3″ in from the narrow ends of the desktop and attached them to it with short screws driven into pilot holes. Then, with the brackets opened, I set the desktop into the case, pushed it up against the case top and adjusted it side to side for even clearance. I drew layout lines to mark the brackets’ narrower leg locations and attached the legs to the back with more screws. Test the up-and-down action of the desk, and make any adjustments to the brackets until they articulate smoothly. With that done, remove them so you can prime and paint the wooden parts. Or topcoat them with your favorite clear finish.

When the paint or finish dries, reinstall the hardware. Now, call a buddy over to help you mount this project to a wall. Of course, the right approach is to anchor the back to two wall studs, so locate their spacing with a pair of parallel layout lines on the inside face of the case back. Have your helper hold the project in place on the wall so you can lift the desk surface up and decide on a working height that’s most comfortable for you. Mark six installation screw locations on your stud layout lines in the case. Drill pilot holes, and drive 3″ deck screws into the wall to mount the desk. Then, put this handy desk to work!

Hard-to-Find Hardware:

Folding Shelf Bracket, 16″ (2) #65806
3/4″ Baltic Birch Plywood, 24″ W X 30″ L (2) #63453

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

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Woodworker’s Journal – January/February 2020

Matt Hocking — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 16:00:06 +0000

The January/February 2020 issue of Woodworker’s Journal magazine includes plans for a Folding Shop Desk, Tool Chest and a Raised Panel Cabinet.

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VIDEO: Tips for Turning Hollow Form Vessels

Ernie Conover — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 20:43:44 +0000

Ernie Conover shares his tips and techniques for turning hollow form vessels. Hollow forms are vessels that are spindle turned rather than face plate turned. The grain on hollow forms runs in line with the axis of the lathe. Most bowl blanks are face plate turned, meaning the grain runs across the axis of the lathe.

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