Using the set of grill tool hardware from Rockler, we decided to put the lathe to use and turn our handles from hard maple. With the set, you get the hardware to create a spatula, basting brush and a set of tongs.

We’ll turn the spatula and basting brush first, then create a split turning for the tongs second — it’s a slightly different process.

Preparing Blanks

You’ll need blanks that measure 1-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ x 6″. Square up the ends, then mark them with diagonal lines to locate the center.

At that center, drill a 1/2″-diameter hole to a depth of 1-1/2″ on one end of each blank. This is where you’ll install the threaded insert hardware that will join the grilling tools to your handle.

Grab the insert and, using an Allen wrench, turn it into the hole until it is just below the surface of the wood, keeping it square to the blank. If it is loose in the hole, use some CA glue or epoxy to secure it firmly.

Turning Spatula and Brush Handles

To turn these two handles, you’ll want to first mount a drill chuck in the lathe’s headstock and install a 1″ Shoulder Mandrel with 5/16″-18 threads in it. Thread the blank on the mandrel. With a live center in the tailstock, engage it to the center of the blank and tighten it.

Begin by roughing your blank into a cylinder, then turn it to the profile you want. Your only restriction? The diameter of the hardware: the 1″ shoulder mandrel is sized to match that diameter. You’ll also want to take note that the tail end of the handle has to be turned to 1″ diameter, too, matching the decorative loop cap hardware.

After turning, sand your workpiece up through the grits, and apply the finish you want. I went with a clear wipe-on polyurethane.

Remove the blank from the mandrel and, using an 11/32″ twist bit, carefully drill a 1-1/4″ deep hole centered on the tail end of the handle. The dimple left by the tailstock will locate the hole.

You’ve got one of your tools’ handles almost complete; thread your other blank onto the shoulder mandrel and repeat the process.

To assemble your spatula and brush, thread the tool hardware into the handle inserts. Attach the loop caps at the handles’ tail ends using quick-set epoxy on the loop cap posts, inserting them in the handles. Make sure to immediately wipe away any glue squeeze-out. And, voilà! You’ve now got a hand turned spatula and basting brush for your grill.

Turning the Split-Handled Tongs

The tongs, because of the two-piece handle, are slightly more complicated. Don’t worry, you can handle it! (Get it?)

You’ll be using the split turning method, and you’ll need two pieces of wood measuring about 3/4″ x 1-1/2″ x 6″ each. Cut a strip from a brown paper grocery bag or just plain brown kraft paper that’s a little bit longer and wider than your pieces of wood. Spread an even layer of wood glue on one face of each of your wooden blanks and sandwich the paper layer between them. After you get this arranged, clamp them together and let the glue cure. (Could be a good time to get a refreshing beverage and set your steak out to thaw.)

When you come back to your tong turning project, first square the ends of the blank if you need to, then use the same process you did with the other handles to draw diagonal corner-to-corner lines to find the centerpoint. It’s critical this center mark hits where your paper is layered between your two pieces of wood to produce matching halves of your tongs.

Mount your glued-up blank assembly between centers on your lathe — no mandrel this time. Make sure the points of the drive and live centers are on the center marks on the blanks’ ends.

Carefully — you absolutely must wear a faceshield for this operation! — rough your blank into a cylinder, taking slightly lighter cuts than usual. Then turn the blank to your desired profile, making sure the ends have a 1″ diameter.

Remove the blank from the lathe, then stand it on end on a solid work surface and carefully position the cutting edge of a sharp 1″ chisel on the paper line. Strike the chisel, using gradually increasing force, to split the blank along the paper layer.

Sand off the residual paper and glue from the flat sides of your blanks.

Assembling the Tongs

It’s time to mount the handles to the tongs. Rough up the mating surfaces of the metal and wood with sandpaper. Apply quick-set epoxy to one of the handle blanks and press it onto one side of the tongs, aligning the blank to the edges and tight against the curved shoulder. Wipe away any squeeze-out and clamp the handle until the epoxy cures.

Next, squeeze the tong handles together and use clamps or tape to hold them in this position. Use the holes in the metal tong hardware as a guide to drill 1/8″-diameter holes perpendicularly through the wood handle for the pins.

Now glue the other handle in place as you did before. This time, drill the 1/8″-diameter holes in the second blank, using the holes in the first handle as a guide.

Now that you have all these holes in your handles, insert a pin into each of them. If they’re loose, use (CA) glue or epoxy to secure the pins. Once they’re tapped in place, file the pins close to the surface of the handles before you do your finish sanding.

Cover the metal on the surface of the tongs to protect it as you sand through the grits — it takes some care to avoid scratching the metal edges next to the wooden handle pieces.

After you’ve applied your finish and let it cure, you’ve got custom tongs to go with the rest of your grilling tools, and the set is complete. Time to celebrate! How about a nice porterhouse?

Grill Tool Turning Hardware

Rockler Grill Tools Hardware Kit #51066
Mandrel with 5/16”-18 Threads #43469

The post Turned Grilling Tool Handles appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Cordless tool options continue to expand as batteries, motors and electronics become smarter and more energy-efficient. These seven cordless brad nailers are a good case in point. Nowadays, you don’t have to attach an air hose or drag a heavy compressor around wherever you need to install 18-gauge brads. Just pop on a battery and you’re all set — the nailers are completely self-contained.

I was skeptical of them at first, because I’ve used lighter weight and smaller pneumatic nailers all along. But after putting 1,000 brads through each of these test tools, I see the advantages. Cordless brad nailers are entirely game for driving brads into tough hardwood, delicate trim moldings and veneered plywood. There’s no tangled air hose, no loud compressor kicking in, no burst of exhaust air to blow dust in your face, and plenty of battery run time to get most DIY or wood projects done long before the charge fizzles.

You can buy several of these guns “bare,” too, then use the batteries you already own from other tools to power them, saving money and foregoing another charger.

With five of these nailers, there’s a second or two of “ramp up” time after you squeeze the trigger before the nailer drives the brad. But, that brief delay really isn’t a big deal. You’ll get used to it quickly. I did.

Even if you’re a diehard pneumatics user, read on and imagine the possibility of going cordless, instead.

DeWALT DC608K 18-volt

Street Price: $279 (kit) / $229 (bare tool)
Weight (with battery): 7.5 lbs.
Brad Lengths: 5/8″-2″
Features: Two firing modes, tool-free jam release, carry case
Battery (included): One 18V XRP NiCad and charger
Web / Phone: www.dewalt.com / 800-433-9258

DeWALT powers this brad nailer with an included 18-volt NiCad — and that chemistry is a throwback, considering the domination of lithium-ion these days. But, there’s a reason for it: DeWALT remains loyal to contractors that are heavily invested in NiCad-powered tools. And, this rugged nailer should be appealing to them.

With the battery freshly charged, the gun fired 100, 1-1⁄4″ brads deftly into pine crown molding without leaving dents behind. Then I drove 525 more 2″ brads into some 8/4 poplar test lumber before the battery finally petered out. Just because lithium-ion is sweeping the cordless world, 625 nails proves that NiCad power can still go quite a long distance.

Once the charge was replenished, I put the DC608K to work again, driving a total of 800 brads into poplar and 100 more 1-1⁄4″ brads into a 3/4″ maple plywood corner joint. The tool didn’t falter.

There’s just one oddity about this gun: when you depress the contact element on the nailer’s nose (a standard safety feature) against a workpiece, the tool’s motor starts running. It continues after you squeeze the trigger, too. It does that, in part, to spin up a flywheel, which engages a driver blade that punches the brad into the wood. But, with other guns the motor starts and stops with the trigger squeeze. Some battery charge seems wasted here this way.

NiCad is typically a heavier battery than lithium-ion, but the weight didn’t impact the DC608K’s balance in hand — it’s very comfortable to hold and use, even overhead, and its 7 lb. weight is about average for the test group.

The nailer has both sequential and contact-actuation modes, which means you can fire a single brad with each trigger squeeze or a series of them by just bumping the contact element, repeatedly. However, it has no dry-fire lockout, so this nailer will continue to fire the driver blade even after the magazine is empty. That’s a useful feature this gun deserves but lacks.

For other extras, the DC608K has a pair of yellow lights for working in shadows and a tool-free jam release. It comes with safety glasses and a hard carry case. At $279, I think it’s fairly priced.

Makita XNB01Z 18-volt LXT

Street Price: $249 (bare tool)
Weight (with battery): 7.8 lbs.
Brad Lengths: 5/8″-2″
Features: Two firing modes, dry-fire lockout, safety lock
Battery (Provided for Test): 4.0Ah LXT lithium-ion and charger
Web / Phone: www.makitatools.com / 800-462-5482

If you’re already invested in Makita, this XNB01Z is a “bare” option that will accept any LXT® lithium-ion 18-volt battery you own — Makita provided a 4.0Ah sample and charger for this test. And just one charge powered through 1,000 fasteners I sank into poplar, pine and plywood. This gun shot and set brads consistently and with gusto.

My favorite detail, among many standard features, is its sharply tapered nailing tip: you can place nails as accurately as a pin nailer with it. I had no trouble targeting pencil marks and crown molding shadow lines. On the grounds of nailing precision, this gun tops them all.

But, the Makita had a big drawback for me, which my wrist reported: it’s noticeably imbalanced. The weight of this gun, with a batter installed, is mostly behind the grip and on the battery end. The nose end distributes very little of the weight forward. If you’re only firing a few brads, you may not feel it at first, but holding the gun horizontally in a normal nailing position causes your wrist to correct for the tail heaviness, and that became really fatiguing when driving 800 brads continuously into poplar. My wrist faded long before the test ended.

For features, this gun has dry-fire lockout, a safety lock near the trigger, both sequential and “bump fire” modes and a white LED that helps light the nailing area. Its internal motor hums quietly before each shot and ran cool throughout testing.

You’ll need to remove three Torx screws to open the nosepiece if a nail jams, but the gun never misfired.

So, all in all, the $249 XNB01Z was a mixed blessing: it’s accurate and powerful but ergonomically unforgiving in hand during sustained use.

Milwaukee M18 FUEL 18-volt

Street Price: $379 (2740-21CT kit) / $329 (bare tool)
Weight (with battery): 7 lbs.
Brad Lengths: 5/8″-2-1⁄8″
Features: Two firing modes, dry-fire lockout, brushless motor
Battery (included): One 2.0Ah M18 RedLithium and charger
Web / Phone: www.milwaukeetool.com / 800-729-3878

Just this summer, Milwaukee unveiled its M18 FUEL Brad Nailer, which comes with an M18 RedLithium 2.0Ah battery that powers many “red” tool options.

Squeeze the trigger, and this nailer grabs your attention fast: it fires instantly and with a brisk recoil. The absence of “ramp up” time is due to the fact that the M18 employs a unique drive system. The tool’s motor and piston compresses pure nitrogen inside a sealed cylinder. That provides an immediate source of energy to propel the driver blade.

Milwaukee includes a brushless motor here. These state-of-the-art motors are compact, run cooler and use battery energy more efficiently than standard carbon-brush motors do.

In testing, the M18 dispatched 1,000 1-1⁄4″ and 2″ brads with only a few nails remaining less than fully set. The gun’s contact element left some small dents on pine crown molding, due mostly, I think, to the tool’s recoil at the tip. There were a few misfires too, but the M18’s flip-lever nose release made them easy to remove from the magazine.

That same big jam-release assembly makes it harder to sight nail positions if you’re looking down over the front of the tool, but I found that my accuracy improved pretty quickly. In hand, this nailer balances comfortably.

It took around 800 nails to drain the RedLithium battery of charge (impressive!), and from clip to clip, the gun has a dry-fire lockout feature that stops the action within the last four or five fasteners. Milwaukee also has engineered thermal overload protection into the design: if the electronics get too warm, the gun shuts down until it cools off. Milwaukee says that feature will help extend the overall life of the tool.

You can switch between sequential or bump-fire modes using a push-button selector in back. And, a rear-positioned LED light provides a bit of aid beside the gun when nailing in a dark place.

At $379, this M18 FUEL kit also includes a canvas bag.

PORTER-CABLE PCC790LA 20V MAX*

Street Price: $199 (kit) / $149 (bare tool)
Weight (with battery): 5.9 lbs.
Brad Lengths: 5/8″-2″
Features: Tool-free jam release, safety lock, LED task lights
Battery (included): One 20V MAX* lithium-ion and charger
Web / Phone: www.portercable.com / 888-848-5175

Maybe brad nailing isn’t a regular task, or your modest tool budget must be obeyed. Fair enough. PORTERCABLE’s PCC790LA may be just the kit for you. For $199, its flywheel-based drive system and 1.5Ah battery were up to snuff for setting brads into all my test lumber neatly and effectively. The tool’s quiet motor helped sink 400 nails before the battery needed recharging, and there was only one jam in 1,000, which cleared easily through the flip-open nose release.

There’s no dry-fire lockout here, unfortunately, or bump-fire mode, but the magazine’s viewing window will tell you when the clip is low. The gun has ample overmolding and pleasant balance. It weighs just 5.9 lbs — the lightest here.

A plastic contact tip prevents marring workpieces, and twin LED lights help guide your way. Among some stiff pro-tool competition, P-C’s value-priced brad nailer delivered a good showing.

RIDGID R09890B Hyperdrive 18-volt

Street Price: $229 (bare tool)
Weight (with battery): 7.9 lbs.
Brad Lengths: 5/8″-2-1⁄8″
Features: Two firing modes, dry-fire lockout, brushless motor
Battery (Provided for Test): 5.0Ah lithium-ion and charger
Web / Phone: www.ridgid.com / 800-474-3443

At 7.9 lbs., this orange and gray nailer has a hefty feel in hand, but RIDGID balances the weight well. It wasn’t unwieldy, even when fastening crown molding overhead. Lavishly overmolded, the soft rubber lends a comfy grip.

RIDGID packs the R09890B with many desirable features: two firing modes, dry-fire lockout, a brushless motor and tool-free jam release. A slender button behind the trigger lights up a front LED, so you’ve got improved visibility as soon as your hand wraps the grip. It’s the best task lighting feature among this test group.

This gun’s Hyperdrive energy system uses two pistons that move in opposite directions to form a vacuum inside a chamber. When you squeeze the trigger, the motor pulls one piston down to draw a vacuum, then a moment later, ambient air drives the top piston down to create the nailing force. You can dial the air pressure up or down with a slider switch on top.

It was plenty powerful for my nailing tests. Brads set and countersunk every time, and the gun operated quietly with almost no recoil. RIDGID provided a 5.0Ah battery for this bare tool; on the first charge the battery still had gas in the tank after driving 1,000 nails continuously.

For $229, this gun comes with a canvas bag and 500 1-1⁄4″ brads. RIDGID backs it with free replacement of seals, pistons and driver blades for life. While not the least expensive bare unit here, the R09890B proved to be an exceptional tool.

RYOBI P320 One+ AirStrike 18-volt

Street Price: $129 (bare tool)
Weight (with battery): 6.9 lbs.
Brad Lengths: 5/8″-2″
Features: Two firing modes, dry-fire lockout, grip LED
Battery (Provided for Test): 4.0Ah lithium-ion and charger
Web / Phone: www.ryobitools.com / 800-525-2579

If you have other RYOBI One+ tools already, $129 will add a brad nailer to your cordless options — and it’s a dandy! In fact, given all the standard features that come with it, I’m surprised it’s priced so economically. The nimbly balanced P320 includes both sequential and bump-fire modes, and it stops firing when you’re down to five or so brads to protect the driver blade. It also shares RIDGID’s grip-activated light styling, with two bright LEDs that shine down in front.

Here’s how RYOBI’s AirStrike system works: a single piston inside pressurizes ambient air with each trigger squeeze, and that’s what drives the brad. The motor is quiet and the ramp-up time is brief. This nailer sinks even long brads into thick hardwood without unpleasant recoil — and mine didn’t dent delicate pine trim or veneered plywood, either. You can fine tune how deeply to countersink those nails with a large air pressure dial on top — it’s unique to RYOBI. Plus, there’s a second contact element adjuster wheel in front to set countersink depths. (The other guns are similarly appointed.)

If the nailer should happen to jam, you’ll be able to clear the brad by popping open a tool-free release on the nose. My nailer didn’t clog up once over 10 clips of 100 brads. RYOBI includes 500, 1-1⁄4″ brads with the tool.

SENCO F-18 Fusion 18-volt

Street Price: $329 (kit)
Weight (with battery): 6 lbs.
Brad Lengths: 5/8″-2-1⁄8″
Features: Two firing modes, dry-fire lockout, tool-free jam release
Battery (included): One 1.5Ah lithium-ion and charger
Web / Phone: www.senco.com / 800-543-4596

SENCO was first to offer a nitrogen-based drive system in this “Fusion” line several years ago. It functions similarly to Milwaukee’s M18 FUEL drive. And, like that gun, this nailer fires revolver-fast, with about the same amount of blunt recoil. But even with a powerful nailing force, the F-18 left behind tidy nail holes without dents.

SENCO says its sealed nitrogen “vessel” should last 100,000 nailing cycles before needing any service.

While quite tall, the Fusion is about a pound lighter than the M18 FUEL. It’s slender and evenly weighted from front to back.

Pushing an illuminated switch allows you to choose between single-shot or contact actuation. I appreciated how, unlike other nailers here, the Fusion will shoot every single nail in a clip before engaging the dry-fire lockout feature; you won’t be left with a little stick of four or five fasteners to get hung up inside the magazine when you load the next clip. It also shuts off when the 1.5Ah lithium-ion battery needs recharging but before nailing performance suffers. Nice.

In testing, the battery lasted through 700 brads and then needed topping up. SENCO says the included charger will replenish it to 80 percent in just 15 minutes.

The Fusion’s contact element is located ahead of the nailing tip, which makes it a little harder to visually position nails than when it’s behind the tip. But, you’ll get the hang of it. And, its well placed front LED light helps you see your target better.

Priced at about $50 under Milwaukee, SENCO’s F-18 Fusion kit with canvas bag edged it out by a nose in features and performance.

The post 18 Gauge Cordless Brad Nailer Reviews appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Later in this article, I’ll tell you how to make a fern stand as an exercise in turning columns. First, however, it’s time for a lesson in history.

Greek Origins

Technically, any vertical support, whether square or round, could be called a column. Most of us think of columns as round, however, because the ancient Greeks came up with classifications of round column styles we still use today. The Greeks’ column styles not only beautified these essential building supports, they also developed a shape that corrected perspective, no matter where the viewer is standing. The Romans later adopted the Greek styles — and today’s architects are still using them.

The Greeks created an entasis taper. At about one-third its height, a column’s taper narrows inward to its capital (the decorative top). Sometimes the capital is placed directly on the column that’s supporting it; sometimes a square plate, called an abacus, is interposed between the column and the capital to broaden the support.

The Romans sometimes also tapered the column downward toward the plinth, the square block that better distributes the load to the foundation. This convex entasis taper corrects the illusion of curving inward that a straight taper appears to have.

While scholars have tried to come up with mathematical formulas for the entasis taper, there is no evidence that the ancients crafted it in any way other than by eye. That’s the way I have always made columns: get the ratio right, then just turn a slight bulging taper. See the illustration above.

Greek Revival

About the time of the founding of the U.S., Greek Revival architecture became the predominant style, especially in public buildings. It spoke to the egalitarian ideas of the new republic. Greek Revival looked back to the Greeks’ temples for its inspiration, so the facades of Greek Revival buildings are stylized temple fronts. Outside columns define the portico (from porticus, the same Latin root word that gives us “porch”) of a temple. Many churches and synagogues you can see today get their exterior look and feel from Greek Revival styling. The style was carried to the inside of buildings with things like fireplace surrounds also looking like temple ends.

So, what did Greek temple fronts look like? They, as well as Greek Revival buildings, often have massive columns of large diameter towering multiple stories. This is because a wood or stone column will buckle (bend sidewise) when the length exceeds 11 column diameters. Therefore, a column necessarily has to get bigger in diameter as the height increases. A 6′-diameter column can go to 66 feet without buckling. Of course, Greek columns taper, but the taper is quite slight, and the diameter stays hefty toward the bottom, where it counts. The most slender columns are about a 10:1 ratio.

Flutes, Astragals

Most of the stone columns you see, whether classical Greek or modern, are fluted with about 20 flutes. In my observations of a lot of Greek Revival architecture, I have noticed that most wood columns are not fluted. However, if you want to flute a wood column, there are lots of router jigs that can be used in conjunction with your lathe to do the job handily. You simply use a core box bit of appropriate size.

If you plan to turn a wooden column, you will also want to consider that most Doric columns and some of the other styles have a molding, called an astragal, just below the capital. The astragal molding is a raised band with a bead centered on it.

Grecian Column Orders

Each of these orders (classifications) is progressively more slender and graceful, but all are under 11 column diameters so they can bear loads up to the compressional limit of the material. The stubby proportions of the Doric column, at 7 diameters, lend themselves to furniture supports and the fern stand in this article. Ionic or Corinthian columns are better for engaged columns applied to furniture.

The diameter at the plinth and under the capital are also a ratio based on the height of the column. For columns up to 15′ (all furniture columns), it is a top to bottom ratio of 5/6.

Most furniture columns are no more than three feet, so I am not afraid to adjust the ratio to make the taper look right. This is to say that 5/6 is a good starting point — but trust your eye and turn what looks good!

Doric Column Fern Stand

Speaking of turning wood, it’s time to get back to that fern stand I promised. As an exercise in turning columns, I thought we would make a fern stand which is useful to elevate anything from plants to artwork. The support is a 31″ Doric (it has a circular capital at the top) column with an astragal. The base is inspired by a temple portico with steps up to the column. The top is simply a square of wood, but you can scrape a pocket for the pot or artwork you want to elevate to make the elevated item less prone to gravity. You can often find a plastic tray at a garden store that you can scrape the recess to fit so that haphazard watering will not cause problems.

You will need to find an appropriately sized piece of wood: most functional Doric columns are at least 4″ in diameter. I turned the column for this fern stand to 4-1⁄2″.

Starting at about a third of the way down the column, I used a sharp roughing-out gouge to turn the bottom third to a nice, smooth finish.

Use a beading and parting tool and a set of calipers to establish the diameter just under the capital of about 3-3⁄4″. Make sure you plan for the astragal during your layout, because it is hard to put wood back if you turn to the final taper from the get-go.

You’ll then remove the wood between the astragal and the capital; this area is called the necking.

If this is your first column, it may be useful to draw it full-size first to get the taper right. A piece of shelf paper is great for this task. Draw a centerline, followed by the base diameter of 4-1⁄2″ and the diameter under the capital of 3-3⁄4″. Now carry the 4-1⁄2″ to the top. From one-third the height, draw a diagonal line to the capital. Draw the entasis by flexing a thin strip of wood between the 10″ height and the 3-3⁄4″ line just under the capital. The entasis must always lie between the two straight lines. Find points to take caliper measurements in the Drawings. Once you have more experience making columns, you can do this by eye.

Remove wood to create your desired taper, then move to skew work.

The astragal for this fern stand is a 1/2″ bead with a shoulder on each side. Use the beading and parting tool to bring the shoulder down to just proud of the column. Make sure your shoulders are the same height on both sides. Then turn the bead with a spindle gouge.

I also turned the capital with a molding at its bottom edge.

The torus is a disk of wood with a half-round bead faceplate turned on the edge.

To create the base, I glued pieces together to form the steps. I used four 1/4″ x 1″ x 1″ blocks to create feet for underneath the base.

To assemble the base, the easiest way is to drill a center hole in each piece and use a dowel to center everything during glue-up.

The fern stand is best painted. Greek columns are all about form, and paint better carries that message. Have fun and trust your eyes while experimenting with the column, an ancient — but still relevant — form.

Click Here to download a PDF of the related drawings.

The post Grecian Columns: History and Turning appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

The post Building a Lighted Bookshelf appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

We at the Woodworker’s Journal are pleased and honored to be working with BackYardHive. We support their efforts to help better the bee and pollinator situation. Below, in their own words, is what they are all about (from their website): “Our primary focus is on improving bee ecology and beekeeping methods that respect the honeybee.

Our hope is that by introducing new hobby beekeepers to the rewards of beekeeping there will eventually be backyard beekeepers worldwide who will help bring back the feral bee population and improve the genetic diversity of the honeybees. This diversity is critically important to the survival of this most precious natural resource. Thank you for being a part of the solution and being a part of the growing community of backyard beekeepers we are helping to create at BackYardHive.com.”

Get Your Beekeeping Supplies

Once you’ve built your beehive and found a good location to place it, you are going to need some supplies — for example, some bees.

We recommend our partner in this project, BackYardHive.com, as a great place to get the stuff you need to put this project into production. They have informational online material that can get you started as well as a nicely produced DVD that walks you through the process. They have supplies for sale and even an online place to ask questions. Here is a short list of “must-haves” our partners recommend:

How-to DVD — demonstrates how to care for bees in your backyard

The Original Hive Tool — key to working the hive, loosening the combs for harvesting

Herding Tool — helps to gently move the bees off the comb without using smoke

Natural Beeswax — used to coat the bars; this encourages the bees to align their combs on the bars

Building the Box

Start the project by laying out and cutting the two hive ends (pieces 1) to shape. Then use one of these workpieces to set your table saw’s blade tilt angle for trimming the top and bottom edges of the hive sides (pieces 2), which also cuts them to width. Then cut the sides to final length. Now chuck a rabbeting bit in your router and rout a 1/2″ x 3/4″ rabbet on each end.

This hive has a viewing window in one of the sides. You can make the window opening’s long cuts on the table saw, carefully raising the blade through the stock at the starting point and then ripping to the stopping point.

Then make the short end cuts with a jigsaw. Or make all four cuts with a jigsaw, if you prefer. Finish it by routing a 1/8″ x 3/8″ rabbet around the inside edge for a glass recess.

With that done, trim 1/2″ off of the bottom of one of the hive ends: this gap will be the bees’ entrance. Go ahead and assemble the sides and ends with waterproof glue and stainless steel screws.

Next, cut the bottom panel (piece 3) to size and set the hive assembly on it. Trace around the inside. Use this outline as a guide to pre-drill angled pilot holes for attaching the bottom panel to the sides and ends.

If you’d like to round over or chamfer any part of the hive up to this point, now is the time to do it, before attaching the bottom. Then go ahead and install it on the hive with glue and screws.

The end handles, window trim and feet (pieces 4 through 6) come next. Cut them to shape, mitering the ends of the handles, and fasten them all to the hive.

You can also rip and crosscut the window cover (piece 7). Round over and rabbet its ends and top edge, leaving the bottom edge flat for attaching the hinge.

After you’ve cut the hinge (piece 11) to length, fasten it in the window opening, and attach the cover. Make and install the latch block (piece 8) above the window opening, and screw the latch (piece 9) to the window cover. Wrap up by setting the glass (piece 10) into its rabbet with a bead of silicone caulk.

Assembling the Hive’s Lid

The lid comes next: it fits over the hive and rests on the handles to protect the inner compartment and combs.

Cut the lid frame sides and ends (pieces 12 and 13) to size, and rabbet the ends of the side pieces.

Notice in the Drawings that the lid (piece 14) fits down into a top rabbet in the frame.

Rout that 1/4″ x 3/8″ rabbet along the top edge of the four frame pieces, before assembling them with glue, screws and corner blocks (pieces 15). Now bed the lid panel into its rabbet with silicone caulk.

Making the Roof

The hive’s roof covers the lid and creates a seasonal thermal barrier, plus weatherproofing.

I decided to style my roof with some resawn lap-siding (pieces 16) to add a “homey” touch. To make it, start with 3″-wide by 3/4″-thick stock.

With your band saw’s table tilted 5°, resaw the stock, making two almost equal halves. Doing this can be difficult, so set your fence to saw the offcut about 1/32″ thicker. After cutting the first piece, run the offcut through, so it will end up exactly the same.

When the dust clears, you’ll notice that because of the angle on the siding’s bottom edge, the rough, resawn faces will be the outer faces. To change this angle relationship, rip the bottom edge of each piece with the rough sides face-down and your table saw set at 90°.

Cut off just enough to change the angle. Next, use a dado blade tilted to 85° to cut the rabbet into these bottom siding edges. Leave two pieces un-rabbeted; these will be the bottom edges of the roof. Then cut the siding to finished length.

One last step: use a straight bit in your router table to make the 1/4″-wide, 30-1⁄2″-long roof vent cutouts in only the top two pieces.

Most router table fences aren’t long enough for this, as the cutout is longer than the fence. Mine wasn’t long enough, so I clamped a long auxiliary fence with a cutout for the router bit.

Glue the eight siding pieces into two roof panels, using weights and clamps as necessary to keep the assemblies flat and square. When the glue dries, trim their top edges at 15°, so there’s no gap where they meet at the roof peak.

Next, lay out the roof ends (pieces 17), and cut them to finished length. Cut their slopes on the band saw. Now, rip two roof sides (pieces 18), and bevel-rip their top edges to 15°. Cut them to final length.

After you mill 1/2″ x 3/4″ rabbets on their ends, glue and screw the roof ends and sides into a frame. You’re now ready to install the roof panels with glue and finish nails. Then bore a 1-1⁄2″-dia. vent hole through each roof end, and staple window screen (pieces 22) over them to cover them from inside.

The roof has two end blocks (pieces 19). Make their V-shaped cutouts on the table saw. If you have a left-tilting table saw, move the fence to the left side of the blade for this operation.

Cut the angles a bit at a time, raising the blade incrementally after each cut. Be sure to cut from both edges before raising the blade. Crosscut the blocks to length, and glue and screw them to the roof.

Install screen (piece 22) over the ridge vent with screen retainer strips (pieces 21) and staples. Wrap up the roof by attaching the ridge cap to the roof ends with countersunk screws.

Machining the Top Bars

The 24 top bars (pieces 23) lie across the hive and form attachment points for the bees to make individual hanging combs. To build the bars, start with 1-3⁄8″-square billets that are cut to the final length. Cut the non-through end angles at the table saw using a miter gauge equipped with a long fence and a stop block for accuracy. Trim off this waste at the band saw to form a lapped end.

Set up for drilling the bars’ top holes by making three 1-1⁄4″-wide spacers. Clamp a stop on the drill press for the end hole. Drill the first hole and then slip a spacer between the stop and the bar’s end for each successive hole.

Cutting the bars’ long angled sides is tricky, but with the proper setup, it needn’t be dangerous. You could easily make the first cut with the point facing down, but the second cut would be impossible. Instead, you’ll need to cut the bars with the point facing up. Again, if you have a left-tilting saw, move the fence to the left side of the blade.

You’ll need three essential items to make these cuts: a zero-clearance insert (with its slot cut through at the same angle that you’re cutting), a featherboard and a push block. The zero-clearance insert and push block are job-specific but worth the added measure of safety. Without the zero-clearance insert, the offcuts will slide down between the blade and the throatplate’s opening, causing a dangerous binding situation. If your blade doesn’t lower far enough to allow an uncut throatplate to seat completely, groove the throatplate’s underside where it contacts the blade, allowing it to fully seat. Then raise the blade through the throatplate while it’s pinned down by the rip fence.

The push block has two “feet” that hold down the thin lapped ends of the bars (see top center photo). Trim the feet to the same width as the bars, so that they don’t interfere with the featherboard. The block’s middle is cut out so that it bridges the taller part of the upturned bar. As you feed the stock, the blade becomes housed within the block.

Now that you’ve got all of your safety equipment ready, bevel-rip one side of each bar, then spin it end-for end in the push block to trim the other side.

Next, make a slight roundover along both top edges of each bar. The roundover makes it easier to insert a tool that’s used to separate the bars when they’re in the hive and coated with wax. The final step for the bars is to rout a 3/32″-wide, 4-3⁄4″-long vent on one side of each bar. When you set the bars in place in the hive, it creates a gap that’s too small for the bees to crawl through. The false back panel and top bar (pieces 24 and 25) are your last things to build. Rout a 1/4″ groove along the top bar for the panel, and just glue them together.

Apply a finish if you like, to the exterior only. The best choice is a natural finish , so it doesn’t affect the bees or the honey. Now assemble the hive and order some bees!

Click Here to download a PDF of the related drawings.

Hard to Find Supplies

Stainless Steel Piano Hinge #32611
Feed-N-Wax® Wood Polish and Conditioner #24545

Help our Pollinators

Pollinators are in trouble — and that is not good news for those of us who like to eat! (Or for the environment or life on earth in general.) Recent studies and news stories report that honeybee and Monarch butterfly populations are in steep decline. The list of challenges for these essential insects is long: not enough forage (they are starving), pesticides, pollution, mites and other parasites — it is no bed of roses, literally. One bit of good news is that everyday folks are now starting to step up to try to reverse the trends that are hurting our pollinators. Below are just a few good websites (there are many more) for you to check out if you’d like to be a part of the solution.

http://www.backyardhive.com/

http://www.fws.gov/pollinators/PollinatorPages/YourHelp.html

http://www.xerces.org/bringbackthepollinators/

http://baselandscape.com/portfolio/pollinator-boulevard

The post Building a Backyard Beehive appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Got Pores? Fill ‘Em

The easiest way to end up with a smooth surface is to start as flat as possible and keep it that way. Sand the raw wood very smooth and flat, then later sand out any dust nibs, brush marks, or orange peel as they come up.

That brings up the issue of large pores in open grain woods like mahogany, walnut, koa, etc. To get a flat surface, those pores must be filled. You don’t want to fill them with finish because it keeps shrinking over time, and eventually those pores will show up again and mar your otherwise smooth surface. Instead, fill the pores first with an inert material that will not shrink. Not surprisingly, it’s called pore filler.

While you can buy oilbased pore filler, I vastly prefer water-based filler. It can go directly onto raw wood, but I usually apply it after the first thin coat of finish. Either way, the application method is the same.

Most water-based fillers are sold extra thick, so mix them with water to the consistency of cream. Scrub the filler into the pores with fine ScotchBrite®, then remove the excess immediately. I squeegee off the excess with an old credit card held at right angles to the grain, and pulled in the direction of the grain. Remove as much as possible with the card; the object is to leave filler only in the pores. Let it dry overnight, then lightly sand off any residue with 320-grit paper.

The post Rubbing Out a High Gloss Finish and Filling Pores appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

The post Installing Blind Shelf Support Hardware appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

The post Using a Sliding Dovetail Rail to Secure Bookends appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

The post Test 18-gauge Cordless Brad Nailers appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

The post Overview of the Bosch REAXX Portable Jobsite Table Saw appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.