Indholdsfortegnelse for May/Jun 2016 i Woodworker's Journal

If you think the only things you’ll find on social media are political rants and people bragging about their amazing pets, kids and food — um, you’re mostly right. But if you haven’t checked them out yet, the Woodworker’s Journal social media channels, including Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram, feature great woodworking videos, tips, articles and projects every day. Thousands of your fellow woodworkers are already there, asking and answering questions and posting pictures of their projects (and maybe a few of their dogs, too). We even give away prizes once in a while! So we encourage you to give the Woodworker’s Journal social media channels a try. We think you’ll “Like” what you find. Who knows, you might even find yourself compelled to share pictures of your latest…

THIS ISSUE’S EXPERTS Chris Marshall is senior editor of Woodworker’s Journal and author of several woodworking books. Dr. Jim Randolph, DVM, is a veterinarian practicing in Mississippi who regularly blogs at mypetsdoctor.com. Contact us by writing to “Q&A,” Woodworker’s Journal, 4365 Willow Drive, Medina, MN 55340, by faxing us at (763) 478-8396 or by emailing us at: QandA@woodworkersjournal.com Please include your home address, phone number and email address (if you have one) with your question. Winner! For simply sending in his question about moving a wood shop, Greg Glennon of Charlottesville, Virginia, wins a General International 7-piece Deluxe 8" Dado Blade Set (item 55-185). Each issue we toss new questions into a hat and draw a winner. Q I have been a woodworker since working in my dad’s basement workshop…

In my lifetime, I have witnessed some groundbreaking advances in sharpening of turning tools. In my boyhood, many turners sharpened their tools on oilstones, not owning a grinder at all. It was slow and fussy. Fortunately, my father’s shop had several grinders, but we did all of our grinding of turning tools freehand. As I have often stated, freehand sharpening is turning turned inside out: turning’s evil twin, so to speak. Compounding matters, we only had carbon steel tools, which required constant quenching in water, or they overheated and lost their temper. (So did my father.) A beginner often left enough facets in the bevel to make a diamond merchant envious. A huge advance in turning tools was the introduction of high-speed steel in the late 1960s. The turner no…

Looking for something fresh and different, I decided on a box with a floral decoration that would rival any found on fancy cakes in bakery windows. I started by covering the hard maple blank for the box body with clear packing tape to reduce burning, and attached the pattern, aligning it with the grain. I drilled an entry hole inside the inner cutting line, inserted a #7 Polar blade, and cut out the center of the box. I removed the pattern from the center waste to save for the lid and lid liner. I smoothed the cut area with my spindle sander, and hand sanded the lower edge to remove “fuzzies.” I glued the body to the wood for the bottom, and clamped it in a press. After 10 minutes,…

Sooner or later, woodworking involves using jigs of one sort or another. They can make machining tasks safer, add accuracy to joint-making or other repetitive tasks and even help make tools more versatile. Want to cut perfect inlays with your router or turn a table saw into a molding machine? A specialized jig can make that happen. We woodworkers are pretty inventive, and most of us are quite frugal, too. We make many of the jigs we need for little or no cost. But sometimes a prefabricated jig just makes sense to buy. It’s a better “mousetrap” than we can make ourselves, right from the start, and it saves the time and effort of designing and building the jig before you can even use it to build a project. You…

Contact Information Affinity Tool Works (Sjöbergs) 248-588-0395 Rockler 800-279-4441 ShopBot Tools 888-680-4466 SKILSAW 877-754-5999 Titebond 800-669-4583 Triton 855-227-3478 The SKILSAW® SPT70WT-22 is the first 10" table saw with worm drive. Drawing on the company’s heritage with worm drive handheld saws, SKILSAW has added to this 15-amp, 120-volt saw worm drive gearing and a Dual-field™ motor with dual copper windings that power and cool the motor. The SPT70WT-22’s rip capacity is 25", for cutting sheets of plywood in half, and its depth of cut is 31⁄2", for quick cuts of 4x material. The saw has an all-metal roll cage design and a die-cast aluminum tabletop. It weighs in at 49 pounds and comes with a 10", 30-tooth DIABLO® carbide blade, miter gauge and self-aligning rip fence. Suggested price for the SPT70WT-22…

The cabinet shop next door was full of nice guys, but crummy tools. The shop I worked in had some really top-drawer equipment. I actually felt a bit bad for those guys, and then it happened. I walked into our building and looked into the other shop and they were all standing around looking at a new drill the owner was holding. It was blue and awkward looking. The handle was long and skinny and, well — weird. And then it struck me — there was no cord on that drill. Whoa! That Makita (Model 6093 I believe) was the first cordless drill I’d seen. And I wanted it as soon as I held it in my hands. The foreman at my shop said they were “toys” and wouldn’t hold…

What’s This? Darrel Mathieu of Luck, Wisconsin, learned what this tool is “many years ago.” Do you know what it is? Send your answer to stumpers@woodworkersjournal.com or write to “Stumpers,” Woodworker’s Journal, 4365 Willow Drive, Medina, MN 55340 for a chance to win a prize! Woodworker’s Journal editor Joanna Werch Takes compiles each issue’s Stumpers responses — and reads every one. From time to time, we get a Stumpers mystery tool that truly leaves our readers stumped. For instance, the mystery tool submitted by Joe Mollo of Brackney, Pennsylvania, in the February issue got less than a handful of responses. None of them agreed. The most likely explanation seems to come from Ivan C. Adams of Perry, Utah, who said, “This tool could qualify as a combination compass/protractor that can…

These days, it’s hard to imagine a woodworking shop — or even a New York apartment — without a cordless drill or two. We decided to ask our survey group about their drill/drivers and how they use them. As usual, you folks gave us a surprise or two! 98% of woodworkers own a cordless drill/driver. (The paper clips of the woodworking world?) For more about the most unusual ways readers have employed a drill/driver, please visit woodworkersjournal.com and click on “More on the Web” under the Magazine tab. More folks own DeWALT drill/drivers (20% of respondents). Coming in next at 10% were Craftsman, Makita and RYOBI. What do you use your drill/driver for? #1 Woodworking projects #2 Home improvement projects Dead last: Lending my drill to the neighbor Bigger is…

Unlike complex computer CAD and design programs oriented towards professional cabinet and furniture makers, woodworking applications (aka “apps”) are small, specialized programs designed to help even small shop tinkerers and DIYers accomplish specific tasks. The right app will help you quickly figure out the number of board feet in an oak plank, determine the miter and bevel angles needed to cut a crown molding corner, calculate the least wasteful way to cut parts from a sheet of plywood, measure the angle of a rafter or help you level a kitchen cabinet. Most apps are designed to work with specific kinds of smartphones and tablets. iPhones and iPads use Apple’s iOS operating system (OS), while various other brands of smartphones and tablets (Samsung, Asus, LG, etc.) run on the Android OS.…

Michael Dresdner is a nationally known finishing expert. He shares his expertise on the DVD The Way to Woodwork: Step-by-Step to a Perfect Finish, available through the store at woodworkersjournal.com. Did you ever wish you could control stains or dyes so well that you would be able to paint a picture on wood, make faux inlays, or add blended and flowing color to a carving? Think about coloring a bas relief of a ripe pear or an autumn leaf with its purples, reds, yellows, oranges and greens flowing into one another. Or add fake inlays of rosewood, bird’s-eye maple, spalted wood or even fake dovetails. You could use paints and wood stains, but controlling them to get a natural look is difficult. Fortunately, there’s a way to create the graceful…

Sponsored By Lacquer Thinner Rejuvenates Wood Putty If you have solvent-based wood putty that has sat too long in the can and now is as hard as concrete, all is not lost! Don’t throw it away. Instead, add a little lacquer thinner to the can and leave it for a couple of days. It’ll soften the putty again. Then mix it up thoroughly, and the putty will work as good as new. Fred Stark Neosho, Missouri Handy Quilter’s Tool Checks Dimensions My mother-in-law was a quilter, and among her supplies I found this aluminum measuring tool. It’s double-sided and has 14 measurements in eighth-inch increments from 1/8" to 2". I find it handy for measuring dadoes, rabbets and thicknesses. These are still sold at sewing stores for just a couple…

After years of frustration with factory-made turkey calls, turkey hunter and hobbyist woodworker Doug Wright decided to just quit the store-bought options “cold turkey” and attempt to craft his own. Combining his inherited love of woodworking with his love of the outdoors proved to be a lucrative combination for the young Rockmart, Georgia, native. “I began making them just a few years ago for personal use. After many botched efforts and drawers of mistrials, I finally crafted one that I was pleased with,” Doug said. Only after his first call produced results in the woods would he show it off. “I only intended to make me some calls. Then my friends wanted one. Then strangers wanted them. The next thing I knew, I had dozens of orders.” In 2014, he…

I enjoy making furniture from repurposed wood or found objects. If you live in an area where boating is popular, you might just find some old oars lying about. Once discovered, many of these garage sale finds are destined to be “wall hangers” in a restaurant or a man cave. Instead, why not make a chair from an oar and bring new life to a long-forgotten object? My first oar came from an old boat at our family cottage. I acquired a second pair of oars from an Internet classified ad site. The three-legged design and slender back of an old Irish Tuam, or Sligo, chair provided the inspiration for this version. Although primarily a decorative or hallway chair, it is fully functional. The legs angle outward for stability. The…

There’s nothing quite like an Adirondack chair to while away some lazy time outside on a summer day. Its countoured back and seat make this chair comfortable to sit in but still very easy to make. With some help, my 15-year-old built this chair in just two long shop days. The trick to tackling the curved seat frame and armrest shapes is to start by making a pair of plywood or hardboard templates. They’ll help you trace and duplicate pairs of matching chair parts, and you can save the templates for re-use. Make the template patterns by first drawing a 1" x 1" grid on your template pieces, then lay out the shapes with dots that match the gridded drawings on page 58. Draw the shapes, dot-to-dot style, cut them…