Innehållsförteckning för April 2022 från Woodworker's Journal

In this issue you’ll find the second article of a new six-part series for 2022: Power Tool Fundamentals. Our goal is to provide great basic information about the most commonly used power tools in woodworking shops. This time, it’s band saws! Power tools hold a fascination with most woodworkers (myself included) and are key to getting projects done quickly and easily. But they are a moving target when it comes to updated models and new gadgets. For example, I own several handheld routers, but my newest router is at least 10 years old. What has changed between then and now in router technology? Let’s find out! Each of our articles will also list the most important and newest accessories for the power tool at hand. So if you are new…

Tip from a Clever Nine-year-old: Clamp Makes Dispensing Glue Easier While helping me with a big glue-up task, my nine-year-old grandson Caleb — an avid woodworker — suggested we put a clamp onto the glue bottle to help squeeze out the glue when his little hands got tired. Turns out, his idea worked great! I only wish he had thought of this nifty trick when the two of us glued up 200 lineal feet of stock for a butcher block countertop last year… That was a lot of glue! Bruce RidgwayTupelo, Mississippi Rabbeting Fence Stays Put I keep a sacrificial fence permanently attached to the right side of my table saw’s rip fence for cutting rabbets with a dado blade. It just makes sense; there’s a lot more room on…

If you often could use a third hand like me when gluing and clamping larger components and panels together or carrying out routing and sanding operations, this clamping table might just be the ticket! Made from a sheet of ¾" MDF covered with high-pressure laminate, it features a grid of T-slots that work perfectly with Rockler’s wide variety of stops, clamps and accessories that use T-bolts for attachment. You can make this table as large or small as you like. I’ve sized mine to fit on top of Rockler’s Material Mate Panel Cart (item 56889). The cart enables me to tip the clamping table down when I’m done using it to save space. But you could mount this project to a wheeled cart or leg base you make yourself or…

Over 200 years ago, the idea of the band saw was born. A patent in 1808 was approved in England to William New-berry. Although another 40 years passed before a French woman, Anne Paulin Crepin, invented a welding technique that made manufacturing band saw blades, and hence the band saw, practical. What Do They Do? Band saws have a flexible metal saw blade that spins around two (or sometimes three) wheels — a drive wheel and an idler wheel that tensions it. It is a highly versatile tool that enhances woodworking in a number of ways. Band saws are used to cut wood, plastic, non-ferrous metals and even animal parts (at butcher shops). One of the most important aspects of band saws is that they can controllably cut curves in…

Sharing Our Legacy in Wood AN UNBROKEN CHAIN OF WOODWORKING LORE “It is never a mistake unless you can’t fix it.” This important piece of woodworking advice was shared with me by Warren Nelson, the foreman in the woodworking shop owned by my dad and uncle. Warren offered these tidbits of wisdom from his 40 years of working wood. I went into the shop knowing next to nothing about woodworking, and when I left it 10 years later, I was well-versed in the craft and competent. My next big influence was Larry Frye, my lutherie instructor. Larry would demonstrate techniques while keeping up a constant narration of what he was doing. He left the school not long after I was there to start his own stringed instrument repair business. (I…

When I walked into the workspace of the Urban Boat-builders (UBB) Saint Paul, Minnesota, headquarters, I felt instantly at home. Urban Boatbuilders began in 1995 with a goal of introducing youths to working with their hands as a path to employment. The early group had a contingent of woodworkers in their midst, so they decided to teach kids how to build boats from scratch. The journey had begun. UBB in the 21st Century Over the decades since, the goal of the program has grown while keeping true to its roots. Recognizing that youths in general and especially low-income youths lack both the academic opportunities and work-force training to succeed, UBB developed a program to address those roadblocks. They now offer an apprenticeship program where they hire people 16 to 21…

Building outdoor furniture has proven to be extremely popular. Enjoying your yard while seated in a chair or bench that you’ve made is a fine thing! Adirondack-style outdoor furniture reigns supreme as king of the open-air world with chairs, benches and tables gracing yards, porches and patios across the county. But while the popularity and practicality of the Adirondack style cannot be challenged, there is a rustic feel to that family of furniture that might not be for everyone. That’s why this patio love seat is a lovely option. Its pocket-hole and countersunk screw joinery matches the ease of assembly of traditional outdoor furniture, and Rockler has developed cardboard and MDF templates (see above) to aid in shaping its curved and angled components. Another departure for our love seat is…

Perhaps our December issue’s tool specimen — a double-hooked wire gizmo with a spring-loaded clip on the bottom — truly has you stumped, because only a few have weighed in on its purpose. Or it could be that our usual posse of diligent guessers were making merry over the holidays instead of scratching their noggins about Wayne Vaughn’s mystery tool. Fair enough! But a couple of you are willing to take your best shots at its intended purpose, and two others know the answer. “It looks like a weed puller,” offers Chip Arm-strong. “Step on it to push it into the ground, then pull up on the wire and the clip flips sideways as it goes back out of the ground and snatches the root of the weed.” Creative idea,…

While this little taboret was a popular product coming out of the Roycrofters’ furniture shops back in the early 20th century, it doesn’t appear as a project plan very often these days. So we thought it was about time to offer our version with a unique cutout shape (an actual Roycroft taboret will have circular openings and no shelf). The table only requires about 15 board feet of 4/4 lumber, and you’ll have it built and finished in just a couple of weekends. Preparing Six Project Panels Select ¾"-thick stock to make four side panels for the taboret’s base, plus a top panel and a shelf. If you go “traditional” and use quartersawn white oak as I have here, try to compose your panels with a fairly balanced ray flake…

Every so often it’s fun to spoil yourself with a new tool, and buying that tool usually means making a couple of new jigs and fixtures for it. For example, I came up with this pretty fancy table for my new benchtop drill press. You could opt for a plain-Jane version (top photo). But I decided that I was going to dig out a couple of special scrap pieces, add some of my favorite Rockler T-track accessories and build the drill press table of my dreams. Start this project by cutting all the needed materials to size according to the Material List on page 50. In terms of material selection, I used some cherry plywood for the table, a piece of maple for the banding and fence and a small…