Woodworker's Journal August 2014

Woodworking for Fun! WE ALL KNOW WOODWORKING IS FUNCTIONAL. When you (or your spouse) need an end table, shelves for the pantry, a boot rack for the closet … you get out in your shop and get busy — and you enjoy it. Some projects, though, seem to skew even more toward the “fun” end of “functional.” You might be making a game, like the Croquet Set you’ll find on page 32. Or perhaps building something whimsical, like the Douglas fir Dog Bed on page 26. In this issue, you’ll find some really fun projects: they provide a useful item, but they’re also likely to tickle your fancy. Even our very practical Hobby Desk (page 56) is a project designed (by Sandor Nagyszalanczy) to hold stuff for your (or your…

Hold (Almost) Everything in Your Shop Tested and photographed by Chris Marshall Clamps Left Holding the Bag Once you empty most dust collectors, it’s hard to hold the bag in position around the rim while installing the strap clamp again. Usually, the bag slips off just when you’re ready to snap the clamp closed. Frustrating! Well, here’s a simple solution to the problem: hold the bag in place with three or four small plastic spring clamps while you position and close the strap clamp. It makes the job quick and easy. Bruce Barker Cedar City, Utah PVC Corner Cauls Strap-type web clamps are a handy way to close the four corners of a box during glueups. A caul at each corner can help direct the clamping pressure even better without…

Change One, Change All? Q After reading about spiral cutterheads on jointers and planers, I understand the advantage of being able to just turn the cutter insert for a new edge. My question is: when you change one of the cutter inserts to a new edge, should you change just the one insert or should you change all of the inserts? Could there be an uneven, though slight, cut on the surface? John Mahoney West Burlington, Iowa A If you find that one edge of a carbide insert is worn, it is certain that others in the cutterhead are not that far behind. It would be recommended to change all at once, especially if you constantly work with hard or exotic woods. If you have a new machine or just…

Measure for Measure In surveying the answers submitted for the mystery tool belonging to Ray Elish of Brecksville, Ohio, that appeared in our April issue, two things became clear: 1) Stumpers readers eat a lot of pizza. 2) Every other person’s grandfather was either a blacksmith or a wheelwright. Readers offered such suggestions as Mike Runge of Waterloo, Iowa’s, note that it could be “a fancy Weight Watchers pizza cutter where you can measure out the exact slice.” And several people thought it was a wheelwright’s traveler. While that classic tool is among those referenced in the patent for Ray’s tool, it’s called, in Patent 2,662,292, a “Space Measuring Means.” Or, according to Steve Steenburgh of Gahanna, Ohio, it was also known as a “Wooden Distance Measuring Tool, made by…

New Era for South Pacific Coconut Wood? Ron Davison first encountered the Pacific island country of Kiribati as a missionary teacher training adults for their secondary teaching certification. The father of one of his physics students happened to be the chief agricultural officer of the country and told Ron in 2004 that 95 percent of his coconut forest was close to its 65-year life expectancy and would need to be replaced to support the island’s only export. The planting of many of those coconut trees dates to the latter years of World War II, when the islands were occupied by Japan. Following an Allied victory in battle, the U.S. forces buried the casualties in deep trenches, with coconut seedlings planted atop them. “We returned to Utah from Tarawa in October…

Scrapers: A Simple Tool with Many Uses Let’s take an in-depth look at a simple tool: the scraper. The street view seems to be that real turners only use gouges and chisels. Nothing could be further from the truth. The scraper is a necessary tool that continues the journey to places that a gouge or chisel cannot go. Scrapers will make a repetitive shape time and again — a great solution for making small, repetitive coves or beads in hard-to-reach areas. Scrapers will make an undercut that a gouge cannot, such as captive rings on spindle work and bowls, or hollow forms with interiors turned through a small opening. Finally, scrapers are the only tool that will machine a perfect fit between parts. For example, for a snap fit box…