Innehållsförteckning för December 2021 från Woodworker's Journal

Building handmade gifts is one of the most satisfying woodworking experiences of my life. Whether the gift is fanciful or practical, complicated or easy, it makes little difference. I am exhilarated as I build, excited when I complete it and gratified as I see the gift opened and enjoyed. On the other hand, I have been making holiday presents for some 40 years now, and I have to confess that coming up with new and exciting gift ideas can be a bit daunting. If that’s true for you, I have a suggestion that could be very helpful. Rockler and Woodworker’s Journal have teamed up to create a gift guide to inspire woodworking and spark ideas. Find it at https://www.rockler.com/gift-guide and light your fire for gift-building anew.…

Toolbox Urn Honors Carpenter Father My father recently passed away, and I wanted to honor him in a way that would recognize his carpentry talents. He and my mom built houses as a hobby and as a way to finance their retirement. I don’t have his carpentry skills; I’m more of a woodworker and antiques restorer, but I got the love of wood from him. I made this urn for my dad using curly maple, Honduran mahogany and monkey pod with purpleheart accents. His favorite house-building hammer will sit on the top lid. Jeff Hudson Yuma, Arizona Lathe Stand with Tool Storage Here’s a modified version of your June 2020 “Mobile Lathe Stand” project to fit my RIKON lathe. I built it mostly from red oak boards I cut from…

Forget Less with Scratch Pad on Your Tape Do you ever forget a tape measurement you just took? Here’s a trick I’ve been using for more than 50 years to avoid that problem. Attach a piece of white vinyl or plastic laminate to the side of your tape measure with hot glue or silicone caulk to create a scratch pad that goes wherever your tape does. Pencil notes rub off easily for the next measurement. Larry Stephenson Rockford, Ohio Blown Away: No-rip Glove Removal When I’m done using latex or nitrile gloves but want to reuse them, I simply pull the wrist portion down far enough so a gap appears at the base of my thumb. I press my mouth against this opening and blow. That inflates the glove so…

Whether secular or religious, festive candleholders are an integral part of the holiday season. My “modular” design uses tea light candles for a stylish, modern look. It can be made with nine candles as a menorah or with fewer candles as a table decoration. All versions require one center module and two end modules; the number of side modules linking the center and end modules can vary as you wish. The modules can be arranged and glued to form either straight or curved arms (see inset, above). Cutting Components from Patterns Each module consists of two ⅜"-thick pieces: a top piece that is drilled with holes for the candles and a bottom piece that allows the convex and concave ends of adjacent modules to slide into each other. Additional pieces…

When the idea of turning a honey dipper for the issue was decided, several staff members came forward wanting to do the project and article (well, all of us). Chris was selected to take charge of the article, but several of us felt excluded and wanted to join in the fun anyway. Hence it was decided that we should have a “Honey Dipper Challenge” and see our designs through to reality. We hope you’ll watch our video as we let our lathe creativity loose! Then vote on which honey dipper design you think is the sweetest, so to speak. Go to www.woodworkersjournal.com/honey-dippers Your vote counts. (And if you vote, you might win a prize!) May the best dipper win!…

When my family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam in 1985, we were sponsored by the Lezons, a Polish-Italian family that tended to our needs as my mother searched for employment. My mother was a successful embroiderer in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). It just so happened that John Lezon, the father of our sponsor family, was a sewing machine repairman that serviced several local dry cleaners. Those connections enabled my mother to establish a small business as a tailor for many of these dry cleaners using an old Singer sewing machine that the Lezons gave her. Since my mother was single and working to support my sisters and me, the Lezon family cared for us for the majority of my adolescence. I would often watch John repair…

When my family moved into our new home, we needed a table to fill the larger dining room space you see here. Our house’s architecture is an open floor plan concept, so we wanted a table with a modern but very buildable design to closely match the house’s styling. We also envisioned the table to have a substantial appearance, so we settled on a trestle table made of soft maple. I think the style has just the “heft” we were after, with 2¼"-thick splayed legs, an upper and lower stretcher, two diagonal braces and a 1¼"-thick tabletop. It seats six diners comfortably. Since the table components are large and heavy, I decided to use Rockler’s 1/2" Beadlock tenons, doubled up at each joint, to keep the joint-making process easy. Beadlock…

This simple geometric serving tray can be made using only a handsaw, a drill, three clamps and some sandpaper. It is a perfect beginner’s project, and experienced woodworkers could make several of them as nice gifts in a short time, too. The tray consists of three pieces of 3/4"-thick hardwood. The handles are cut from one piece of 1/4"-thick lumber, and the feet and handle details are made from eight maple pegs cut to two different lengths. All of these supplies are available at rockler.com or from a Rockler store (see the “Hard-to-Find Hardware” box on the opposite page). Cutting, Clamping and Sanding I used padauk for the center board and made the two outer boards from black walnut. My plan was to use a food-safe oil finish, and those…

Combing multiple aspects of joinery methods we’ve discussed here, the Festool Domino is a unique — albeit pricey — tool option for making fast, strong joinery. Visually similar to a biscuit joiner, the Domino uses an oscillating plunging bit to make mortises for the company’s proprietary loose tenons. Joints are cut the same way, too, in that the tool’s fence is placed against a workpiece, and sliding the motor housing forward extends the cutter into the wood to mill straight mortises with rounded ends. The cutting action is different from a biscuit joiner, however. The cutter is very similar to a spiral router bit, and it cuts both forward as the bit enters the wood as well as side-to-side with its internal oscillating action. Mortise width is adjustable on-tool, and…

Poured resin, mixed with a cornucopia of different colorant options, can make a variety of small projects more eye-catching and exciting! With five new types of reusable casting molds from Rockler, you can pour custom epoxy resin blanks for turning pens, utensil handles or wearable rings as well as creating dynamic drink coasters and knife scales. Each mold option is made of flexible gray silicone so the resin blank is easy to extract after it cures. Excess resin will peel off the matte exterior, while a high-gloss interior leaves a smooth finish on the casting. Outer ribbing helps the molds retain their shape during use. The Pen Blank Casting Mold (item 69213; $24.99) includes cavities for pouring two 3/4" x 3/4" x 7" blanks. Eight blue stoppers, also made of…

Bubinga is wood derived from trees in the genus Guibourtia, named after the French pharmacologist Nicholas Jean Baptist Gaston Guibourt, who lived from 1790 to 1861. There are 16 known species of Guibourtia with 13 occurring in Africa and three in South America. Two species are commonly sold as bubinga (Guibour tia tessmanni and Guibourtia demeu sei). Other trade names for wood from the genus are essingang, ovang, kevazingo and waka. Some species of Guibourtia also produce Congo copal. Bubinga occurs through Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Gabon and Democratic Republic of the Congo. It grows in swampy and inundated forests and near lakes and rivers. The tree can reach a height of 130 to 150 feet in huge girths with straight boles up to 70 feet long…

While Chris Ericson’s small cast-iron mystery tool from our August issue (pictured at right) has had him stumped, several of you have thrown your hats in the ring to help solve this riddle. Two likely possibilities have sifted to the top of the mail bag, based on your general consensuses. After Sim Galazka took on the task of researching “C D MFG CO” cast into the tool, “I now believe it’s a die casting used in metalworking,” he contends. Douglas Harris agrees with the “press” aspect of Sim’s theory anyway, but in his opinion, it’s a book press instead. Ron Madsen of St. George, Utah, has a different hunch. “It has the overall appearance of what I used to use to compress my brake pistons back into the caliper holder…

If you live in the greater Denver area but haven’t visited your local Rockler store lately, you might not be aware that the store has almost doubled its footprint in 2021. To mark that expansion, it celebrated a grand opening with festive events and demos held each Saturday in September. Denver’s expansion showcases Rockler’s intention to offer more lumber in its network of nearly 40 stores nationwide. This, plus hardware, tools, accessories, finishing supplies and more, as well as expert advice, makes a trip to a Rockler retail store a one-stop shop for all those important project needs. Lumber Aplenty “We were able to take over an adjacent space and have almost doubled in size to approximately 11,000 square feet,” says Rich Johnson, Denver’s store manager of 35 years. “And…

If nothing tastes better in a steaming cup of tea or on top of a slice of toast than a dollop of honey, a special honey dipper like this could sweeten how you dispense that drizzle. Rockler offers a stainless-steel honey dipper (item 65970) with an end that’s threaded to accept any knob or handle you can dream up. I turned mine from a block of swirly colored resin using micro tools with negative-rake carbide cutters from Easy Wood Tools. Rocker carries these tools and 1 ½" x 1 ½" x 6"-long turning blanks in a variety of fun colors and patterns. To add some whimsy, I shaped the knob for my honey dipper to resemble a beehive. I turned a little “beehive” bowl from scrap cherry to go with…

Veneering — or applying very thin layers of wood to cover a substrate — has been around since, well, forever. Even the ancient Egyptians used veneer! Still, many new and even experienced woodworkers can be hesitant to make use of veneer in their work. But veneer can add a truly beautiful arrow to your woodworking quiver. Highly figured grain patterns from a wide variety of species — exotic or domestic — are at your fingertips. A dash of veneer can bring distinctiveness and vibrancy to what might otherwise be ordinary-looking projects. Even a small piece of highly figured veneer can provide a lovely accent to a tabletop. Geometric shapes are easy to inlay and add spark to an otherwise plain-Jane surface. Lumber that would be extremely expensive by the board…