Innehållsförteckning för April/May 2025 från Woodsmith

If you’ve been a longtime subscriber of ours, it will come as no surprise that we have a clear penchant for using plywood — more specifically, Baltic birch plywood. The reason for its frequent use may seem clear to some: strength, durability and stability throughout the seasons. However, let me take this time to dispel any pestering speculation concerning its validity and place in projects outside the shop. The influence of its use, for me, can be attributed to the works of Donald Judd. Judd was an American artist associated with the Minimalism movement. Much of his work was constructed using industrialized materials such as plexiglass, iron, steel and plywood. Like Judd, and for many of us, the choice of material is often dictated by what’s readily available or accessible.…

A kitchen or dining room adorned with a trestle table and benches for seating adds an air of relaxation to the room. As you see in the main photo this version has a generously sized top that’s up to whatever task is at hand — be it a meal to be shared with family or friends, or maybe it’s the parts of a school project that needs to be spread out for clarity. As for the long, low, and inviting benches, they throw out any stuffy, introverted notions while sliding you right up to your neighbor — well hello there. SERIOUS FUN. While it’s a fun project, there’s nothing flippant about the way it’s built. Note that the top is bound by breadboard ends, ensuring the surface will stay flat…

In the age of the smartphone, a clock feels like a throwback. Yet, at the risk of hyperbole, everybody loves a clock. A clock is like a wristwatch — functional jewelry for a room. The recipients of the clocks I’ve made love the handcrafted touch. Students in clock-making classes enjoy the building process. Part of the appeal is that a clock allows you to focus on small details without feeling overwhelmed. Creative Director Chris Fitch offers a cautionary tale of the allure of these small projects. Tasked with coming up with one design ... he ended up with three. In addition to the delight of making, Chris had several concepts in mind for these. First, he wanted a unique look for each one. The Art Deco and Mid-Century designs recall…

Router Track Guide When putting together something like a case, grooves and dadoes are often the meat and potatoes of the joinery. And, on large panels like the one you see above, I find the best way to cut them is with my router. A straightedge is an easy way to guide the cuts, but a more reliable method is to use the track from a track saw. The plywood guide you see below screws onto the router base, and the series of grooves shown in detail ‘a’ allow it to slide along just like the track saw would. The big advantage here is that the track sets up square cuts much quicker than a straightedge, making case joinery a breeze to rout. Marc HopkinsDes Moines, Iowa NOTE: The…

Attention is a finite resource, and “big” things tend to take up more of it, whether that’s in life or in the shop. For this edition of Great Gear, we’ll be taking some time to look at a few “smaller” items in the shop — things you may overlook in your day-to-day woodworking, but which are certainly handy, and can make a big difference in the quality of your shop work. GATOR SANDPAPER The first product on the docket is the sandpaper shown on the next page. Gator makes a number of different kinds of sandpaper styles (for more than just wood, though I’ll stick to the ones that relate to woodworking here). As you can see in the photos on the next page, I took a look at five…

Although the table saw is primarily a ripping tool, it’s hard to beat its precision when it comes to crosscuts as well. If I need a perfect crosscut, whether that’s 90°, 45°, or somewhere in between, then chances are I’m going to cut it at the table saw. But, miter gauges can be notoriously fiddly, and even then they don’t always provide the kind of support I want for larger workpieces. That’s why when I need to make a high-quality crosscut I turn to a table saw sled. T-TRACK. In our shop here at Woodsmith, we’ve accumulated several shop-made sleds over the years, and we get plenty of use out of them. However, there’s one thing that makes these sleds stand out: the T-track. Not only does this allow for…

In last issue’s All About, we began creating the epoxy inlay you see here, and in this edition we’ll show how to turn that blank (literally) into a stylish lid for the box shown at left. One of the great things about epoxy is that, once cured, its hardness is comparable to hardwood, making it an excellent choice for a contoured top like this one. If you’ve been following along with this two-part series, then you’ll already have a blank ready for the lathe. If not, take a look in issue 277 to see how we made the dragonfly inlay. MOUNTING THE BLANK Epoxy takes at least 12 hours to fully cure, though I like to give it 24 to be safe. Once the epoxy is cured, you’re ready to…

There’s a good argument to be made that creating things that move stirs something deep inside of us. When those movements are realized in a drama such as you see here — that stirring sparks to a flame that warms us. I see it in the smile that shows whenever someone turns the handle on this automata and the actors on the stage come alive. Although this project is small, there’s a lot going on here. In this issue we’ll make the gear box — the box holds the under-the-hood workings that make the automatons on the stage above move. In the next issue we’ll carve and fit the actors that reside on the top. PLOT SUMMARY. Let’s briefly walk through the story unfolding on the stage. The dog wants…

Large glued-up panels draw attention. We woodworkers fuss over the details: arranging the boards for a pleasing appearance, achieving tight gluelines, planing and sanding the panel for a smooth-to-the-touch surface. Another critical aim is making sure the panel is (and stays) flat. Embedded stress in the wood along with seasonal expansion and contraction conspire to thwart that goal. One of the tools at our disposal to maintain flatness is to add breadboard ends. These strips of wood are attached across the grain of the panel. The rigidity of the pieces is meant to constrain a panel from warping. Breadboard ends perform a decorative role as well as a functional one. The strips conceal the end grain and the change in direction of the ends acts like punctuation for the panel.…