Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2014 från Woodworker's Journal

To a non-woodworker, a bin of scraps or coffee can full of odd hardware is probably fodder for next week’s trash. But these sorts of tidbits are like gold nuggets to a woodworker — they’re the stuff jigs are made of. While it’s true that our woodworking machines are chock-full of helpful features, they only take us so far. Once you move beyond basic machine operations, jigs are virtually indispensable. Most projects involve at least one unusual or “advanced” operation that requires a bit of modified technique or machine use. When these instances come up, it’s time to reach for a good jig. Improving Accuracy and Repeatability If you’re just starting out as a woodworker, welcome to the world of jigs! You’ll probably cobble together as many jigs as you…

Most woodworkers are the frugal sort, always looking to get the most use out of the tools they already have. So am I, which is why I created this simple base fixture that transforms a standard portable belt sander into a small horizontal benchtop sander. The fixture is simple to build and lets you use your sander to accurately shape, trim and smooth small parts safely without holding the machine. To build the fixture shown in the Drawings on the next page, start by cutting out a base plate from 1/2" or 3/4" plywood or MDF that’s 14" wide and 6" to 8" longer than the length of your belt sander. (It’s important to note that we’re providing the actual dimensions of my jig, but you’ll need to adjust them…

Sanding is not one of life’s little pleasures. But, it’s unavoidable, which is why this downdraft sanding cart is so useful. That this cart is truly effective is not an accident. Working with the staff at Woodworker’s Journal, we tried many different approaches and gadgets in mock-ups and prototypes before we got to this simple configuration. It’s designed to be connected to a standard 4" dust collector hose. The end wings and back (which, when lowered down, becomes the top) tip up to create barriers that block the dust as it is thrown from the sander. The downdraft table panels — four steel plates with holes and rubber nonslip grommets pre-installed — allow the dust to be sucked down into the vacuum chamber. If you team up this table with…

DESIGNED TO BE UNIVERSAL, WITH SUPPORT SURFACES ON THREE SIDES, THIS MOBILE CART IS A BENCHTOP PLANER’S PERFECT COMPANION. Abenchtop thickness planer is an effective and economical way to surface your stock, but very few manufacturers provide a workstand with it. Our planer cart is sized to fit most benchtop planers on the market. It features two tip-up wings on either side that rest on pivoting supports when needed and hinge down flat when you’re done. It’s a handy place to park lumber when processing it! For really heavy loads, we’ve provided drop-down braces on the ends of the supports with locking hardware. Behind the cart, an outfeed table pulls out on full-extension drawer slides. It provides nearly four feet of “helping hand,” with a ball-bearing roller to catch the…

1. Project Plans Holder To keep project plans out of the way but accessible, I put them in plastic holders and use magnets to “hang” them on my table saw, band saw, lathe, etc., wherever they are needed. 2. Hand Plane and File Storage Rack I learned this hand plane storage trick from woodworker and author Chris Wong of Port Moody, B.C. To secure the planes in my wall-mounted tool chest, I predrilled holes and glued magnets flush to the storage surfaces. The magnets keep all the planes in place securely. I use the same method to hold other hand tools such as rasps/files, marking knives and calipers. 3. Snap-On Storage Solution Ever misplace an accessory or a tool that goes with a machine? I use magnets to keep my…

Some safety devices, like shop glasses and hearing protection, are “no brainers.” Noise and flying debris give you good reason to have your head gear in place. But the value of other safety widgets, like featherboards, bears repeating now and again. That’s because at times, it might just seem faster or easier to use your hands to steady a quick cut instead of setting up a featherboard or two. Why bother? Well, deep down we all know the answer: those quick “don’t need to overthink this” operations are exactly where accidents and machining errors happen. Why take chances? That’s the better question, but occasionally we still roll the dice. Maybe you don’t use featherboards for other reasons. Sometimes the typical featherboard thickness gets in the way of the operation you’re…

The cleanest way to cut tenons on a table saw is with workpieces standing vertically. To do it safely, you need a tenoning jig that holds parts upright and offers precise adjustability so you can cut tenons of many sizes. This jig satisfies both goals in spades. Its upper carriage slides back and forth across the base on a pair of beveled guides, and the lateral travel is simple to fine-tune with a carriage bolt and knob in back. A toggle clamp and backstop anchors the workpiece. To save the backstop from blade carnage, I’ve added a replaceable strip that fits onto a sliding dovetail. This is a must-have jig for any shop, so here’s how to build one for your saw. Assembling the Base and Carrier Plate Cut the…

This shop-made band saw fence adjusts for drift and it has a handy extension for ripping longer stock. It is easily removed, and it can be used on either side of the blade (necessary when making beveled cuts). You can adapt it to any band saw, but the dimensions given here are for a 14" Delta. You may have to vary them to fit your machine. Any straight, stable hardwood will do for making the fence. But before you start, create a flat surface on the front and rear of your saw’s table, if needed. Make two 3/4" battens and bolt them to the front and rear of your saw. This may change the length of pieces 1, 2 and 11 in the Material List, because it might require your…

THIS EASY-TO-BUILD CUSTOM BASE UNIT GIVES YOUR MORTISER THE CROWNING TOUCHES IT DESERVES. The standard features on benchtop mortisers can be a bit underwhelming, so this project is designed to give your mortiser a helping hand. It features a pair of pullout support arms that extend the machine’s “wingspan” up to about 4 ft. The drawer box adds storage and raises the tool almost 9" off the bench for easier viewing. Cutout handles offer comfortable lifting points, too. It’s the souped-up base your mortiser really needs. Assembling the Carcass Start by cutting your base (piece 1) to size and laying out the corner radii and handle cutouts according to the Drawings on page 40. Trim the corners round with a jigsaw or band saw. Bore two 11/4"-diameter through holes for…

IN JUST UNDER FIVE FEET OF WALL SPACE, THIS PIVOTING CART CAN STOW LOTS OF FULL-SIZE SHEET GOODS AND CUTOFFS. Sheet goods can be hard to manage, especially in a small-shop setting. They’re cumbersome, space-hogging and usually end up stacked in a ragtag pile against a wall. Most home shops don’t have room to store 4 x 8 panels horizontally like a lumberyard or home center can, so we resort to the only other option: standing them on end or edge. Still, that doesn’t solve the problem of how to pick from the back of the pile for the piece you need without unstacking everything. And there’s always the danger of a heavy stack of sheets toppling over. What’s a woodworker to do? Well, we think this roll-out organizer takes…

The worlds of woodworking and construction are similar but don’t always overlap. Tools used for one aren’t always suitable for the other. But when it comes to performing woodworking tasks away from the confines of the shop — deck building, patio furniture, garage and roof work, or repairing/replacing doors just about anywhere — who’s expected to get that done in your house? You, the woodworker, of course. With that in mind, a wise woodworker should always consider extending equipment from the shop out into the greater world. Few tools are better equipped for that task than power planers. While they may have limited usefulness inside a well-equipped shop, they do have the extraordinary ability to take a number of woodworking chores out of a shop’s confines and do them very…

Q I have been building some shop cabinets using MDF. I am partial to drywall and deck screws, but I have noticed a tendency for the MDF to split apart even though I drill pilot holes for the threads and a clearance hole for the screw body. What am I doing wrong? It’s heartbreaking to have parts split apart during the assembly. Please help! James E. Duermeier Lewisburg, Tennessee A Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is a little less dense and strong in its center than at its faces. Hence, screws tend to split or strip out in their hole. But you can successfully screw into an MDF edge, as long as you take certain precautions. You’re on the right track by using dry-wall or deck screws, which have straight shanks; tapered-shank…

Boring an accurately placed hole into a round piece of wood, either a cylinder or a sphere, can be a tricky feat to accomplish. Cylinders and spheres are hard to clamp securely because they don’t have many (or any) flat surfaces. Thankfully, the solution to the problem is called a V-block. It’s just a thick chunk of wood with a deep V-groove cut into it. The “V” cradles the cylinder, allowing it to be clamped securely in place. But, once made, the block only properly fits cylinders of a set size range. If what you need to drill is too big or too small, it’s time to make another block. And what if you want to drill a round object? The answer is to cut two V-grooves at 90 degrees…

By itself, a miter gauge offers limited accuracy for cutting angles. You’ve probably discovered how difficult it can be to hold workpieces tightly against the gauge’s short fence without them creeping out of position as you push the cut through. This clamping jig will help solve your angle-cutting problems, because it applies pressure against the miter bar to hold workpieces securely (see the project’s in-use photo on page 26). Start building this jig by ripping a 30" length of hardwood for the rails (pieces 1) to the dimensions shown in the Material List on page 26. Plow a groove with slightly angled walls in one of the wider faces (it takes three passes on the table saw) and then crosscut the rails to length. Make the fixed stiles (pieces 2)…

THESE VERSATILE SHOP-MADE SCREWDRIVERS HAVE A SECRET MAGNETIZED BIT COMPARTMENT. Until now, woodworkers who have wanted to use a multiple-bit screwdriver had to settle for a store-bought version. That’s not such a cool option for people who take pride in working with wood! So, I came up with a hollow-body design (with a press-fit cap) using a bit holder. My screwdriver consists of four parts: the cap, the handle, the bit holder and a locking mechanism for the cap. Its compartment can hold up to eight 1"-screw bits or four 2"-screw bits. Getting Started You’ll need a hardwood blank of your choice, a screwdriver bit holder, a rare-earth magnet, a screw and a photocopy of the full-size template found on the last page of this article. First off, use a…

Mitered frame doors are a nice change from those made with the traditional mortise-and-tenoned corners. They allow the use of a wide and intricate range of edge and face profiles, because the shapes will flow together in the corners. But making perfect miters is trickier than it may first appear. Closing up the miters without any gaps requires accurate setup and exacting stock preparation. Careful Milling Comes First My process for milling the frame stock is to first rough out the longest length needed, crosscutting boards to length and ripping them over-wide. Those too twisted or bowed are cut into shorter lengths. In this way, I work through the cutting list from the longest to the shortest parts. After letting them relax for several days, I joint one face and…

One of the great things about our craft is that, unlike money, lumber really does grow on trees. And as trees grow all across the United States, there are also people turning those trees into lumber from Alaska to Florida and most places in between. Some of those lumber operations are small mom-and-pop mills slicing up local lumber and selling it to all comers. Recently, the Journal visited a couple of one-man operations near our Minnesota headquarters and got some insight into their world. Ted Solberg and Steve Timm have sawmills about 30 miles apart, and both are family businesses. Ted, now in his mid 70s, started sawing wood back in 1974. Steve Timm’s dad, Russ, began reclaiming lumber in the 1970s and started up his own mill in 1981.…

Tight-quarters Sander Here’s a quick tool for sanding inside corners and other unreachable areas: apply a piece of sticky-backed (PSA) sandpaper to the blade of a putty knife. The blade’s edges will help you sand flush into corners, and its thin profile fits into narrow spots. Peel off the spent paper when you’re done. Rightsizing a Dowel Hole When a dowel is slightly undersized for the hole you’ve drilled for it, a scrap piece of fabric is a great way to shore up the fit. Spread glue on a small piece of fabric and the dowel. Place the fabric over the dowel hole, and tap or push the dowel down into place. Trim off the excess fabric before the glue dries. Eraser Squeeze If most of your shop pencils have…