popular woodworking 1999-09 no. 110

Endurance Test:Forrest Saw Blades & Bessey ClampsForrest saw blades and Bessey K-body clamps are pricey tools for ahome shop. Are they worth it?We let you know.

$19.99 Dovetail JigYou don’t need an expensivedovetail template jig or years oftraining to cut half-blind dovetailsthat are tight as a tick. Cabinet-maker Troy Sexton has built hun-dreds of drawers using this methodthat is fast, easy and very cheap. By Troy Sexton

Martha’s VineyardCupboardSliding dovetails and mortise-and-tenon construction ensurethis Shaker-inspired cabinet willbe prized for decades to come. By Glen Huey

Modern WardrobeWith a couple sheets of off-the-rack plywood you can build thiswell-proportioned wardrobe.Simple lines keep it stylish forgenerations to come.

Restoring aHandplaneFlea markets are infested with dirt-cheap old handplanes.Rick Peters shows you how totransform a $5 piece of junk intoa workhorse for your woodshop. By Rick Peters

The Little Shop Mark IIAfter three years and 10 projects,we update and improve this pow-erful yet portable workshop.

POPULAR WOODWORKING September 19992

America’s BEST

Project Magazine!

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Photo by Al Parrish, Parrish Photography

In Every Issue

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Out On a LimbOne-handed editor

LettersMail from readers

Tool TestNew Quick Grip clamps, shoplighting, Makita cordless jigsaws

Projects From the PastClassic workbench

Tricks of the TradeMore math tricks, and how to keep your cords safe

Flexner on FinishingThe truth about “oil” finishes

Tales From the WoodReaders’ most amazing woodshop tales

Wood TypesBur Oak

Caption the CartoonWin Makita’s LS1013 slidingcompound miter saw

Classifieds

Out of the WoodworkShop dogs and sawdust

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On theCoverAssociate EditorJim Stuard checksthe bottom of aStanley #5 planefor flatness using astraightedge and a desk lamp. In thisissue, Rick Peters shows you all thesteps to transforming old handplanesinto woodshop workhorses.

Cover photo by Al Parrish, Parrish Photography

Pinhole CameraGot $20? Then you can build acamera that takes darn nice pho-tos. A great project to do withkids. Build it in the morning.Take pictures in the afternoon.

Borrowing a DesignIf you’ve ever sat at your kitchen table with a blank sheetof paper and an equally blankmind, let Roger Holmes showyou how some pros design origi-nal pieces of furniture. By Roger Holmes

Pencil BoxSculpted from one chunk of exot-ic wood, this desk-top companioncradles your prized writing instru-ments in protective fuzzy flocking.

Tall ClockCurly maple and a hand-lettereddial make this reproduction ofBrother Benjamin Youngs’ clocka constant reminder of the simplebeauty of Shaker design.

Autumn BasketAn evening at the scrollsaw is all it takes to make this eye-pop-ping fretwork basket—a perfectcenterpiece for the table and ahot item at craft shows. By Rick Longabaugh

Clamp RackThis wall-mounted rack takes up little space and is a huge im-provement over that pile ofclamps you’ve got in the corner.

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September 1999, Vol. 19, No. 4 www.popwood.com

Editor & Publisher Steve Shanesy

Senior Editor David Thiel

Managing Editor Christopher Schwarz

Associate Editor Jim Stuard

Art Director Amy Schneider

Contributing Editors

Technical Advisers:

General Manager Jeffry M.Lapin

Editorial Director David Fryxell

Creative Director Matthew Small Gaynor

Magazine Art Director Nancy Stetler

CIRCULATIONDavid Lee, Director

Mark Fleetwood, Single Copy Sales Mgr.Terry Webster-Isgro, Direct Sales Mgr.

PRODUCTIONBarbara Schmitz,

Director of ManufacturingMartha Wallace, Magazine Production Dir.

Vicki Whitford, CoordinatorRuth Preston, Studio Manager

ADVERTISINGNational Sales Representative

Bill Warren, Five Mile River Assoc. LLCRR1 Box 1400, Stockton Springs, ME 04981Tel. (207) 469-1981; Fax (207) 469-3050

Advertising SalesJoe Wood, Tel. (513) 336-9760

Fax (513) 336-9761

Classified Advertising SalesJoan Wright,Tel. (513) 459-9298Advertising Production Coordinator

Debbie Thomas, Tel. (513) 531-2690, ext. 219

Popular Woodworking (ISSN 0884-8823, USPS 752-250) ispublished six times a year in January, March, May, July,

September and November by F&W Publications, Inc. Editorialand advertising offices are located at 1507 Dana Ave.,

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Copyright ©1999 by Popular Woodworking. Periodicals postagepaid at Cincinnati, Ohio, and additional mailing offices.

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new subscription.

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OUT ON A LIMB

Remember Harry Truman struggling to get the economy moving, asking

his economists for the right strategy? Theeconomists would invariably say, “On onehand, blah, blah, blah. But on the otherhand....” Finally, in frustration, Truman re-sponded, “What I need is a one-handedeconomist!” Regular readers of this columnknow I’m not shy about expressing an opin-ion, sometimes strongly. I’ve tried to be thatone-handed economist Truman longed for.

I see the mission of Popular Wood-working as a clear voice speaking consis-tently about proven and practical ways ofwoodworking. A beacon in a sea awash inso many impractical and hair-brained tech-niques that it’s impossible to identify soundadvice when it slaps you in the face.

Our mission continues, but I want tolet you know that we’re going to show awider range of techniques now and in thefuture. Some might say I’m mellowing, butI say I’m finally making the transition fromcabinetshop manager to magazine editor.

In a shop, you see, there are approvedways of doing things. It contributes to qual-ity control and making sure a job gets doneon time. I’ve come to realize that a wood-worker at home pursuing the craft for hisown enjoyment might not be so concernedwith practicality all the time. He mightchoose a joint that’s more traditional, or justmore personally satisfying to him. Even inthe commercial custom furniture world, moretraditional methods, which may be morelabor intensive, are certainly appropriate forsome cabinetmakers and their clientele.

I’ve never believed there was just one wayto do something. We all know there can beseveral. Even among the staff here we often

go about things in different ways. It leads todiscussions on the merits of a method as wellas its shortcomings. It’s healthy.

So starting with this issue you’ll see pro-jects and techniques featuring some newfaces. Professional furnituremakers GlenHuey and Troy Sexton share their work.I’ve been familiar with and admired theirwoodwork for several years now. Rick Pe-ters, who writes on rehabbing old hand-planes, has been an acquaintance for anumber of years as well. Finishing expertBob Flexner is highly regarded, as is thework and wisdom of woodworker/authorRoger Holmes.

Nonetheless, there’s still a lot of flot-sam and jetsam floating in the sea of wood-working advice. Junk like discussions onhow many thousandths of an inch a perfectwood shaving is, or making jigs to makejigs to make a hidden sliding dovetail joint.

Some of this arises from a group of au-thors I call X-treme Woodworkers — youknow, like those X-treme Sports guys —who go to outrageous lengths to do some-thing just to show they can. Their goal isto impress you with their prowess, notteach you anything useful.

So now that the castle gate is open andthe bridge across the moat is down, rest as-sured I’m still going to check credentialsbefore anyone’s work is given the go-aheadfor publication. It may not be the most po-litically correct attitude in these days of“diversity,” but I’m following the adviceof a magazine editor who said, “There’s nosuch thing as a good magazine that’s ademocracy.” PW

One-handed editor

David ThielSenior EditorSpecialties: Projects,new products and tools,tricks of the trade(513) 531-2690 ext. [email protected]

Christopher SchwarzManaging EditorSpecialties:Authorliaison,website, projects,photography.(513) 531-2690 ext. [email protected]

Jim StuardAssociate EditorSpecialties:Projects,carving, turning, project illustrations(513) 531-2690 ext. [email protected]

Safety NoteSafety is your responsibility.Manufacturers place safety devices on theirequipment for a reason. In many photosyou see in Popular Woodworking, these havebeen removed to provide clarity. In somecases we’ll use an awkward body positionso you can better see what’s being demon-strated.Don’t copy us.Think about eachprocedure you’re going to perform before-hand. Safety First!

Contact InformationSteve ShanesyEditor & PublisherSpecialties: Projects,techniques, article and project selection(513) 531-2690 ext. [email protected]

Got Questions or ProblemsWith Your Subscription?To report problems with your subscriptionvisit our website at popwood.com, call oursubscription offices at 515-280-1721,orwrite to Popular Woodworking, P.O.Box5369,Harlan, IA 51593.

Our Privacy Promise to YouWe make portions of our customer listavailable to carefully screened companiesthat offer products and services we believeyou may enjoy. If you do not want to re-ceive those offers and/or information,please let us know by contacting us at: ListManager, F & W Publications, 1507 DanaAve., Cincinnati,OH 45207

Amy SchneiderArt DirectorSpecialties:Magazineand cover design, photodirection(513) 531-2690 ext. [email protected]

New Reasons to Visitpopularwoodworking.comIf you haven’t checked out our website recently, you might want to try some ofthe new features we’ve recently launched.First is our new Searchable Linksfeature.Type in a few words describing what you’re looking for (for example,router bits) and you’ll get a list of links that’s up-to-date, to-the-point anddouble-checked.Second,we’ve launched a free newsletter distributed by e-mail.Every couple weeks you find out who has the best deals on tools, you’llget workshop tips and get to read some stuff before it gets in the magazine.And did we mention it’s free? Plus you can now purchase PopularWoodworking Books on-line.


LETTERS

This is in regards to your great and finalinstallment in your finishing series in

the March 1999 issue (#107) “Secrets toa Silky Smooth Finish.” What a new andfresh approach to finishing a finish, espe-cially for a DIYer like myself. Up until nowit was a labor of love to finish a finish. Nowit has become a labor of fun, and it is soeasy. Thanks a million.

Unfortunately, I missed your previousstories on finishing because local maga-zine stores didn’t carry your magazine untilrecently. Would it be possible to obtainreprints of some of your previous articlesfrom your finishing series without havingto purchase all the back issues? Once again,many thanks for such a well-written andilluminating article.

Murray RossMoncton, New Brunswick, Canada

At this time, reprints are not available. How-ever, we will be posting portions of the serieson our newly expanded website at www.pop-wood.com. Click on “Select Articles” to findthe latest finishing stories.

The Magic of Unplugging Your ChargerJust wanted to thank you for your articleabout NiCad battery chargers in the Tricksof the Trade column (#108). I had a 12-volt battery that wasn’t taking a charge.After reading your article, I unplugged mycharger for a few hours, then plugged itback in and — woooo-hoooooo — itworked like magic. Thanks for saving me$50 or more.

Kevin RobertsKaty, Texas

Another ‘Botched’ Band Saw Blade I read the story about the guy who thoughthis band saw blade was welded inside-out(“Tales From the Wood” #107) and near-ly laughed myself off the throne in thereading room (a.k.a. my library). After re-gaining my balance and not dropping any-thing, I finished reading the story of thebackwards band saw blade. I once accom-

plished this same task. The only defense Ihave is that I was very young at the time inage and in experience. I have learned muchin my few years of practicing woodwork-ing, construction and engineering.

The worst part about my backwardsband saw blade experience was that I con-fronted the guy who welded the blade forme at work (needless to say the blade-weld-ing job was what is commonly known asa government job) in front of several co-workers. Needless to say I wanted to crawlin a hole. Try facing those guys on a dailybasis and being teased mercilessly! Tons offun. Thanks for the laugh.

Andy YoungbloodEau Claire, Michigan

Everything Old is New AgainLike Aubrey Thomas, whose letter waspublished in the May ’99 issue, I get a bigkick out of your column, “Projects FromThe Past.”

The word “Deltagram” rang a bell, soI went through my horde of woodworkingmagazines and located 30 or so copies ofthe old Deltagrams dating from 1943 to1963.

As an old patternmaker with 50 yearsexperience with cutting wood, I still put-ter around my shop making sawdust. Yourarticle made me look at the old mags, andI might start making projects again. Thecolumn is great, keep it up.

Rocco LegiadreDelhi, New York

Buying Your Doors is CheatingI have just received my May 1999 issue ofyour magazine, and I read an article that Ijust couldn’t understand, “Commercial-Grade China Hutch.” Why on earth wouldthis person go through all the trouble ofbuilding this great-looking hutch and thenwimp out and buy the doors for it? I justdon’t understand why this was done, andI don’t for one second believe the lineabout it is “cheaper.” I am really disap-pointed in that part of the article. Justthought I would drop a line and let youknow that I am really pleased with most

of the issues. Keep up the good work. Justdon’t buy furniture and try to pass it off ashand made.

Brian K. PowersDelphi, Indiana

You raise a good point that we discussed atlength here about doors. Thing is, a lot of pro-fessional cabinetmakers order their doors forkitchens and these built-ins because it’s so muchfaster for them — and the cost gets passed ontothe client. The reason we say it’s “cheaper” isbecause we think that most woodworkerswould have to first buy some cope-and-stickrouter bits (or shaper knives), some cathedraldoor templates, and the bit to raise the panelbefore they could build these doors. So if youwere going to build this hutch once for yourhome, we guessed it would be cheaper to buythe doors than all the tooling. If you’ve alreadygot the tooling, of course, then you’re absolutelycorrect. Building the doors would be cheaper.

Celtic Chair Turns BookishI am a very green woodworker (pun in-tended) and am taking a beginning wood-working course. Your September 1998 issuewas my first, and I fell in love with theCeltic peasant chair, but thought it a bitover my head for being only in my eighthweek of class.

Instead, I took your Celtic chair pat-tern, shrunk it and incorporated it into thedesign of a little bookshelf. I am pleasedwith the results. Thanks for the help forthis really green beginner.

Cynthia WilliamsGrant Terrace, California


Continued on page 10

Wetsanding Works Wonders

LETTERS

Woodworking an OddCombination of Sharing andSolitary StruggleThe “Out of the Woodwork” column hasalways been a great parting shot for themagazine. Reading Todd Peterson’s “Dove-tail Dilemma” (#107) made me think a lotabout why I love woodworking so much. Itreminds me of the tedious fumblings I hadwith trying to get my first block plane toextrude that perfect, paper-thin shavingof wood, but instead getting chattered, tornfibers that mocked my passion to becomea “craftsman.” With the help of people likeyou I can now produce piles of shavings asthin as I like.

My own infatuation with woodworkingI suspect originates from its similarities tomy training as a physician. Studying theproperties of wood itself, reflecting on thehistory and tradition of woodwork, learn-ing the technology and mastering the skillsto use it to do a thing that people marvelat, and question the mystery of its creation.

The phenomenon I did not count on ineither venture was the impact that the dis-semination of knowledge from one to an-other would have on me. The process ofacting as both teachers and students makesus special. The unselfish sharing of wisdombinds us as a community.

The letters in this month’s issue of PWbother me somewhat. I find it upsettingthat my fellow woodworkers are arguingabout whose style of tape measure is best.As we endeavor to improve ourselves, andour craft, we learn that there is more thanone way to do a thing. Using a machinist’srule, a tape measure or a familiar length ofstick can all produce the exact samething...a transferable reflection of dimen-sion. My grandfather, who was a tool anddie maker for Fischer Body, taught me thattools allow the craftsman to express hisskills in a meaningful way, and in return, hegives them a lifetime of care and respect.

Yancey Holmes, M.D.Highland Heights, Kentucky

More Advice on Making DrawersI made some nice dovetail drawers after Iread your article a few months back (“FearDrawers No More” #108). What I’m find-ing is mounting those drawers (because ofthe near zero clearance between the draw-er face and the side of the drawer open-ing) required me to rout a track in the sideof the drawer and then make some hard-wood rails that screwed into the inside ofthe desk.

Although the plan was to have thedrawers ride smoothly on the rail, theytend to bind and be too snug. I could con-tinue to shave the side of the drawer downand sand the rails but thought there mightbe an easier way. It’s going to take somework to get these right. Any ideas?

Jim EndicottNewberg, Oregon

It sounds like you’re on the right track. Somecommercial drawer manufacturers will actu-


Continued from page 8


www.popwood.com 13

LETTERS

ally take a 1⁄32" jointer cut on the side of a fin-ished dovetailed drawer and stop 1⁄4" from thefront to give some slop to the drawers’ fit. Ifyour drawers aren’t too tall you could try some-thing like this on the jointer. Another option isto try building half-overlay dovetails with a lipon the drawer front. Even if the lip is flushwith the supporting sides and rails, you cannail unobtrusive stops into the cabinet to stopthe drawer. Otherwise you’re stuck with beingbrain-surgeon accurate and worrying aboutthe drawer swelling into the opening (I’ve seenit happen).

The old-timers really used the lipped draw-er to their advantage back in the 18th and 19thcentury. It lets you make a fairly sloppy draw-er that will accommodate wood movement andstill looks good.

—Jim Stuard, associate editor

Woodworking — In the Eye of the Beholder

I thought that youmight want to see aboard that I cut outof a white oak logfrom my property.When I was cuttingthrough the log I no-ticed some unusualgrain on the board.Only after I planedthe wood about ayear later did I seewhat was really hid-den in the wood,and I decided tobuild a cabinetaround this board.The image in the

grain looks different to everyone who seesit. Some see a naked lady; others see JesusChrist. PW

Tom RowanDanville, IA


We welcome your comments aboutPW or anything related to wood-working. We’d also like to see colorpictures of what you’re building.Send your input to:Letters,PopularWoodworking,1507 Dana Ave.,Cincinnati,OH 45207.Our e-mailaddress is:[email protected] be edited for publication.

How We Rate ToolsWe test a lot of tools at PopularWoodworking, and while we don’toften test tools until they fall apart,we do give them an honest, real-world workout.Each issue we sharethe results of our hands-on experi-ence with you and offer insights tohelp guide your shopping decisions.The ratings reflect the opinion of themagazine’s editorial staff.

Here’s how our rating systemworks. Performance: A rating of“five” indicates we think this tool is aleader in its category — for now.(You won’t likely see performanceratings of “one” or “two” in thesereviews because we wouldn’t publi-cize an inferior tool.) Value: “Five”is a great tool for the money; “one”isn’t the mark of a value.However,alow “value” rating shouldn’t preventyou from buying that tool. Sometools might be worth a little morebecause they’re one-of-a-kind or justa really great tool.

If you have a question about aspecific tool — whether it has beenreviewed or not — you can contactme at (513) 531-2690,ext.255,or bye-mail at [email protected].

And by the way,many of our pasttool reviews appear on our websiteat www.popwood.com, includingdata on entire categories of tools(such as table saws).Check it out.

— David Thiel, senior editor

Quick Grip® Line Re-Tools to Clamp/Spreader DesignThe tool that revolutionizedthe clamping world is un-dergoing a facelift and im-proving performance. TheQuick Grip line of one-handed bar clamps fromAmerican Tool is now avail-able with a quick-changejaw that quickly convertsthe clamp to a spreader.This was an option on ear-lier models of the clamp, butyou needed a hex wrench to make the change. Now you simply pull down on a “quick-clip” on the jaw, which allows it to slide freely off the bar and be reversed for use as a spread-er. Also, new “stay-on” jaw pads have been added that will not work loose duringoperation. And the upgraded line is now sporting new bright yellow resin on some of themain components.

We were pleased to see the changes in two areas that had been minor annoyances inan otherwise handy clamp. The quick conversion to a spreader clamp and the no-slippads will make working with the Quick Grips more convenient, and cement the ben-efits for one-handed clamps in any wood shop.

The new Quick Grip line will be available in September in most woodworking andhome center stores and catalogs, but the improvements aren’t free. The redesign willincrease the clamp price by a couple dollars.For more information, circle #164 on the Resource Directory Coupon.

Performance: ●●●●❍Value: ●●●❍❍

Performance: ●●●●❍Value: ●●●❍❍

Throw Some Halogen Light on Your Woodworking From RegentI’d been complaining about the lack of light over my bench at work for a while now, and I hadn’t gotten any satisfaction. So when Iran across this halogen task light and saw the reasonable price, I took matters into my own wallet.

The twin 150-watt shop light was a pleasant addition to my home away from home. Designed to hang from hooks from a ceiling(hardware included), the light fixture puts out 4,800 lumens of light, which is more than enough to bathe my bench in a bright, warmlight. The halogen bulbs turn on instantly and will start in any temperature without hesitation, unlike florescent fixtures. The bulbs areprotected in reflective boxes with diffused tempered glass lenses and wire safety cages over the front. For $35 it’s a great and simple wayto light your work area. One minor drawback I noticed is the heat produced by the halogen bulbs. Drawback, I say, because I installedmine in the summer. In the winter in a less than perfectly heated shop I’d move that into the benefit column. The HSL3000 fixture isavailable from a number of woodworking catalog companies, or contact Regent at 800-334-6871 by phone, or on their website at www.re-gentlighting.com.For more information, circle #160 on the Resource Directory Coupon.


Makita Cuts the Cord OnTwo New Cordless JigsawsAdding to its extensive cordless tool line,Makita is now offering a 12-volt and a14.4-volt cordless jigsaw, both in the 2.0amp hour category. Both jigsaws offer castaluminum bases that bevel from 0 to 45degrees to the left or right, with stops at 0and 45 degrees; three orbital settings;a large trigger with lock-on buttonaccessible from either the left or rightside; and externally replaceable brushesto simplify routine tool maintenance.

The 12-volt model, 4330DWA, retails for about$215, and the 14.4-volt 4332DWA is about $235. Both offer a 1" length of stroke anduse either tang, universal shank or Makita blades. The 12-volt model produces 2,400strokes per minute, while the 14.4 volt produces 2,800 strokes per minute.

The performance of these tools is as good as most corded, with the obvious lack ofcontinuous run-time. There was plenty of power to scroll-cut through 1" ash, and thoughthe blade wandered a bit, the cut was efficient and clean. With a number of new jig-saws offering tool-less blade changing, we were disappointed to have to use a hex wrenchon these models. Regardless, these tools will prove useful anywhere access is difficult(in the attic, a crawl space or at the top of a 20-foot extension ladder), and dragging anextension cord is awkward. If you already own a 12- or 14.4-volt Makita tool, then ei-ther of these tools would fit into your cordless tool crib easily. For more info., circle #161 (12v) or 162 (14.4v) on the Resource Directory Coupon.

Tool ScoopOut of This WorldMakita ToolsWhile many tools used inspace exploration won’t be

available at a home center store inyour universe any time soon, some ofthe tools woodworkers use are mak-ing their way into space.During arecent space shuttle Endeavor mis-sion,astronauts used Makita’s 6213Dcordless drills with modified Makita12-volt batteries and chargers toconstruct components of theInternational Space Station.Specifically, the 6213D drills wereused to attach handrails and fasten-ers to the walls of the Unity Module.The handrails will be used by astro-nauts to guide themselves weight-lessly through the space station. The6213D drills are the first commer-cially produced power tool to beused in outer space by NASA.Previously,power tools had to becustom made for space.

Delta International and Porter-CableCentralize OperationsDelta International and Porter-Cable (both subsidiaries of PentairInc.of St.Paul,Minnesota) are con-solidating their headquarters begin-ning the first quarter of 2000, form-ing the Pentair Tool Group located inJackson,Tenn. (the current locationof all Porter-Cable operations).Thetwo brands will remain separate anddistinct companies in the market-place,with the consolidation expect-ed to provide the Pentair Tool Groupwith “the strength of top manage-ment working together to supportall distributors with the most com-plete line of tools in the industry(and) provide the most efficientmeans to serve today’s industry,”says Porter-Cable president JackGarlock.Delta is currently head-quartered in Pittsburgh,Penn., andhas a distribution facility inMemphis,Tenn., as well as a manufac-turing plant in Tupelo,Miss.

JET Paints Tools White in Response to Popular DemandWhen JET Tools offered its 40thAnniversary woodworking tools in awhite limited edition, companyofficials thought they had a winner.The popularity and positive responsefrom customers has led to the intro-duction of the “JET white” powder-coated finish this summer.Now JET’sentire line of woodworking toolssport a white finish with red andblack accent striping.

“This is something we’ve beenworking on for a long time,” says JETpresident Bob Skummer.“We could-n’t be more pleased with how wellour new, rich white has fared withthe woodworking public.”PW

Affordable QualityBand Saw GuidesBand saws are great toolsand belong in everywoodworking shop. But,as with the miter gauge,the blade guides are OK,but not what you wouldcall precision. CarterProducts makes excellentreplacement guides thatprovide the precision weall want from our bandsaw — but the guides costabout $150.

The good folks atWoodcraft now carry anew product called BandRollers that are a more affordable option to Carter guides. TheBandRollers are ball bearing guides mounted in aluminum bar stock that replace thestock guide blocks. The BandRollers are currently available for Delta, Jet and most im-ported 14" band saws and install and adjust very quickly. They provide solid blade sup-port leading to less blade “wander” and a much more precise cut. Priced at $70 theyaren’t cheap, and when you’re holding them in your hand they don’t feel like $70 worthof metal, but the performance is definitely improved. We’re anxious to see how theyhold up over time. They’re not Carter guides, but they are half the price. PWFor more information, circle #163 on the Resource Directory Coupon.

Performance: ●●●●❍Value: ●●❍❍❍

Performance: ●●●❍❍Value: ●●●●❍

www.popwood.com 15


Are you one of those peoplethat has to have a Lie-

Nielsen plane when a very niceRecord plane would do almost aswell? Do your layout tools have tohave Rosewood handles, or canyou get by with plastic? If spendinga little extra money to have thebest is worth the effort — Forrestblades are for you. Don’t get mewrong, the benefit is more thanperceived — these are excellentblades. But you have to ask your-self, at what price excellence?

A quality blade for the PopularWoodworking shop will cost be-tween $40 and $60. So when JimForrest of Forrest ManufacturingCo. offered us a $120 blade to testI was ready to shoot it down beforemaking a single cut because of thepremium price. Four years and alot of board feet of lumber later Iunderstand the difference, and yes, I’dspend the extra money.

When you add up the benefits (a clean-er saw cut, money saved by going longerbetween sharpenings, improved safety bynot having to force a piece of 8/4 maplethrough a rip cut), you’ll probably breakeven with the price difference, and stillhave the best blade money can buy.

Forrest’s blades offer a superior cut thatleaves a rip-cut saw edge that is as smoothas if it had been sanded, and a cross-cutedge that is almost mark-free. The bladesrun very quietly, and backside tearout inplywood is negligible.

Each blade is virtually hand-made. Theplate is hand-tensioned (up to 15 minutesper blade), superior C-4 carbide teeth arehand-brazed to the plate, and the blade is

straightened and restraightened multipletimes throughout the process.

Think of a Forrest blade as a tool inyour shop, not an accessory. Forrest standsbehind its blades by offering a sharpeningservice that bring blades back to the exacttolerances offered in a new blade. And thissame exacting service is available for othermanufacturer’s blades as well, so theyshould come back better than new.

Forrest offers a variety of blades for mosttypes of woodworking machinery. Themost popular blades include the Wood-worker II combination blade offered as a10" x 40 tooth for a little more than $100,or a 10" x 30 tooth for about $90 in eithera 1⁄8" standard kerf, or 3⁄32" thin kerf.

The Woodworker I crosscut blade isavailable in a 60-tooth design for 10" and

12" saws for $130 or $140.

RECOMMENDATION: The Forrestblades’ performance and benefit are hard tobelieve until you have the chance to useone. Effortless, super-smooth performancethat makes using your table saw a pleasure.It really is worth spending the extra money.

ENDURANCE TEST

Results Woodworker IINICE FEATURES• Super smooth rips and crosscuts• Negligible backside tearout• Low noise• Superior re-sharpening availableRECOMMENDED MODIFICATIONS• Buy a couple to bring the price

down• Send your old blade to Forrest

for resharpeningForrest Blades are sold by Forrest(800-733-7111) or select catalogs.

Forrest Saw Blades:Woodworker I & II PASSEDSEPTEMBER 1999

POPULAR WOODWORKING

About Our Endurance TestsWhen a new tool hits the market we do our best to tell you what the benefits and pitfalls are with that tool.While this isgood information,we know that the question you really want answered is,“How long will the tool last?” That’s what thiscolumn is for.We regularly pick a tool we’ve used in our shop for at least a year that has stood up to our regular use.Wemake sure the tools we’ve tested here are virtually unchanged from the versions in the store today.So when you see atool written up in here, it has passed the Popular Woodworking Endurance Test.—David Thiel, senior editor


ENDURANCE TEST

Most of us “grew up” inshops that survived on

multiple lengths of pipe clamps.If we were really lucky, we hadsome old-style ratcheting I-barclamps. They did the job, butwe were always fighting withaligning the clamps to avoidcupping and slipping, and wehad to leave panels lying wherethey were clamped up for fear ofmoving them. We knew thereshould be a better way, but what?

Then along came Bessey(who was already a well-knownfriend to the woodworker) withthe K-Body clamp. It sneakedinto our lives three years ago,(actually we saw it on Norm’sshow first, and decided we hadto get some) and revolutionized our clamp-ing chores.

In a nutshell, Bessey designed a clampwith jaws that stay parallel to one anoth-er and at a right angle to the bar. Theythen made the face of the jaw flat alongthe entire length, so you can clamp any-where on the jaw and be assured of paral-lel and even pressure. You can even clampfrom the side of the clamp to provide widersurface pressure for panels. No more needto alternate clamps or clamp from bothsides of a panel.

The moveable jaw slides easily with-out any releasing mechanism, but it retainsa toothed grip to avoid slipping duringsetup. Both faces are encased in Super-polyamide, which is break-proof, and glueand solvent safe.

The bar rail is make of bright-drawnsteel and does not flex under pressure. Inaddition, the steel doesn’t mar the woodwhen in contact with glue.

And it gets better. The fixed jaw is flaton the outside face, so when clamping apanel it can be stood up anywhere in yourshop to dry. No worry about shifting or

leaning against a wall.Also, the back edge ofboth jaws is flat, allow-ing the clamps to lie flaton a work surface whileclamping, again withoutany shifting.

OK, now the down-side. They’re not cheap.Ranging from $25 for a12" length, to $45 for a 50" length, the av-erage woodshop would need to spend $200to $400 to have enough clamps for a de-cent-sized project. And you know younever have enough clamps. The upside iswhen you bite the bullet and spend themoney, you won’t be replacing theseclamps for a few decades. We’re not verypolite with our clamps in the PopularWoodworking shop, and these clamps haveheld up extremely well.

We have noticed the need for somemaintenance. Dried glue on the bar cancause the jaw to hang-up. And when themoveable jaw is opened to its full length(a little roughly sometimes) the jaw willstick and need a love tap to knock it loose.

A little WD-40 every now and then willimprove that situation.

We have managed to crack one of thebreak-proof jaw casings, but we had towork at it, and the clamp is still very ser-viceable.

The clamps are available in 12", 24",31", 40", 50", 60", 82" and 98" lengths with11⁄2" x 31⁄2" jaw faces.

RECOMMENDATION: If you’re juststarting your shop, or adding to existing tools,you owe it to yourself to try these clamps.And even though they’re pricey, once you trythem you won’t be able to go back. Our rec-ommendation is to start small and let theset build. Christmas isn’t too far away to startdropping hints to your family. PW

Results Bessey K-Body ClampsNICE FEATURES• Parallel, right angle jaws• Even clamping along entire jaw

length• Excellent holding pressure• Simple,mess-free operation• Sturdy, reliable construction• Flat surfaces for easier glue-upRECOMMENDED MODIFICATIONS• Buy them in sets or bulk to reduce

the price• Do routine maintenance to keep

everything moving freelyBessey clamps are a product ofAmerican Clamping.For moreinformation about the K-Bodyclamps,visit their web site atwww.americanclamping.com.Orcall toll free at 800-828-1004 for thenearest distributor.

Bessey K-Body Clamps

PASSEDSEPTEMBER 1999

POPULAR WOODWORKING



A simple sturdy work bench will give you an excellentplace to spend many happy hours at your hobby. You can buildthis one in your own shop. The bench may be increased inlength to suit your own needs. Perhaps you would like it twicethe length shown, with cabinets and doors on the other half.

The bench top is constructed of hardwood strips. The sizeof these strips will vary depending on the wood you have avail-able to you in your locality. The construction, however, is the

same. The strips are planed smoothfor a good glue joint and the holesare drilled for the bolts. Glue andbolt the top together and allow todry. Dowel onto this the tool trayand back board. Bolt the top tothe frame with lag bolts or car-riage bolts with heads counter-sunk as shown in the top.

The drawer sides and backs aremade of 1⁄2" material, with 3⁄4"-thick fronts and 1⁄4" bottoms. Thesides are slipped into dadoes inthe drawer front and the backs fitinto dadoes in the sides. The bot-tom fits in a groove in the sidesand front and slides under thedrawer back.

We recommend buying a goodquality wood vise for your bench.There are several good makeson the market which will fill yourrequirements. PW

A nostalgic look back at plans published by Delta Machineryafter World War II.

WoodworkingBENCH

From “How to Plan aHome Workshop”

Splitting OddFractionsIt’s easy to divide an evenfraction in half. You canalmost do it in your head.Odd fractions seem muchmore difficult, but theycan be just as easy usingthe following process.

To find half of 57⁄16",first divide the 5 by 2, leav-ing 2 and ... just forgetabout the rest. Then addthe numerator and de-nominator of the 7⁄16" to-gether (7 + 16 = 23). Youknow that the denomi-nator of the fraction youworking for will by 32nds,so take the 23 and makeit the numerator, 23⁄32".

Add the whole num-ber, and the answer is223⁄32". Simple.

Bud DeunkFairview Park, Ohio

Share Your Knowledge and Win!Turn your woodworking knowledge into a truly tricked-out tool from the SimpsonMachine Tool Co. (www.smtco.com).Your best trick or shop tip can earn you a repro-duction of the 19th Century Stanley Odd Job #1 — the original multi-tool — and acheck for $50.The Odd Job is an inside miter and try square,mortise scribe, layouttool,depth gauge,beam compass and bubble level,with a 6" and 12" brass-linedmaple rule.This re-creation of a classic tool is cast from solid manganese bronze andis machined to within .0015 tolerance.One winner will be chosen each issue;pub-lished runners-up receive $25.

To make things easier, you can e-mail your trick and daytime phone number tous at [email protected] or mail it to:Tricks of the Trade • Popular Woodworking• 1507 Dana Ave. • Cincinnati,OH 45207.All entries become the property ofPopular Woodworking.

Sponsored by

Illustrations: John McCormick


Make a Small Hole LargerIf you’ve ever put a new handle on an existingdoor, you’ve likely encountered the problem ofcutting a larger hole where a smaller one alreadyexists. Using a Forstner bit, spade bit or holesaw can be a problem because they guide on acenter point. The solution is to make a simplejig that will provide an inside diameter the sizeof your new hole. The bit will then guide on

the jig, which is centered overthe old hole. This type of jig alsoworks well for recessing boltheads when the clearance holeis already cut, and will also

work well to guide spadebits whose tips havebeen ground to make aflat-bottomed hole. PW

The Editors

Safety Tip for CordsPower tool cords have a tendency to get tan-gled when not in use. Or worse, they canget damaged, trip you or knock other toolsover. To keep cords out of the way, use this cordkeeper that mounts 30" above your bench.Slip the plug end of the cord in one of theslots. The rest of the cord can be coiled andslipped on the other notches. Or use the keep-er for three different plugs.

Roland OesterleSaint Louis, Missouri

$19.99

Seems to me that most people think there areonly two ways to cut half-blind dovetails: byhand or with a jig that can cost as much as

$300. As someone who makes a lot of customfurniture, I can tell you that neither method hasever worked well for me. Sure, the size and spac-ing of hand-cut dovetails are easily customized,and it’s nice to sometimes work in a quiet shop. Butthe handwork just takes too long when time ismoney. Dovetail jigs, on the other hand, are fast.But the size of your drawers is dictated by all butthe most expensive jigs on the market.

That’s why I’ve come up with a method that’sfast enough to use in a professional furniture shopbut allows you to space the tails almost anywayyou want. The price? Only $11 for a templateguide and $8.99 for a carbide-tipped dovetail bit

by Troy Sexton

Troy Sexton designs and builds custom 18th century furniture and is a private woodworking instructor in

Sunbury, Ohio, for his company, Sexton Classic American Furniture.

DovetailDovetail

JigJig

Photography by Christopher Schwarz

You don’t haveto be a master craftsman or have

deep pockets to cut

perfect half-blind

dovetails.

(you’d have to buy both for a dovetail jig,anyway). I’ve probably made more than500 drawers using this method, and if youown a router, table saw and band saw youcan make them this way this weekend.

In a nutshell, here’s how it works. Whileyou’re ripping your drawer pieces to width,rip an extra piece of scrap to use as a tem-plate. Use a dado stack in your table sawto cut notches on one end of the template.One notch for each tail. Clamp the tem-plate to the back side of your drawer front.Install the template guide and dovetail bitin your router, set the depth and run therouter in and out of the notches.Congratulations. You’ve just cut the pins.

Now use the pins to lay out the tailson one drawer side. Cut the tails on yourband saw. It’s simple work. Occasionallyyou’ll then have a little fitting to do, butafter a little practice your dovetails will fitsnugly the first time.

Get StartedWhen you’re doing this for the first time,keep in mind that all the measurementsand settings I’m about to give you applyto drawers with 3⁄4"-thick fronts and 1⁄2"-thick sides. I use a 23⁄32"-diameter templateguide in my router (though 11⁄16" or 3⁄4"will work fine, as well) and a 1⁄2"-diame-ter dovetail bit with sides that slope 14 de-grees. See the “Supplies” box at the end

of the article for ordering information.Begin by making the template. They’re

real easy to make. So easy, in fact, that I’vegot dozens of them for almost every sizedrawer I need. While you’re ripping outyour drawer parts, rip an extra piece of 5⁄16"-thick stock for the template. Check thedepth of your bushing because the thick-ness of your template needs to be slightlythicker than the depth of your bushing. Forthis particular drawer, my sides were 3"wide. Now go to your table saw and set upa dado stack. Don’t worry about how wide

the dado cut is, the idea here is to get a feelfor how this system works. You’ll see howto fine-tune the tails after you make a fewtemplates. Set the height of the dado stackto 11⁄16". Now set your table saw’s fence sothere’s 1⁄4" of space between the fence andblade. Using your miter gauge and a pieceof scrap attached to it, run the template onend as shown in the photo.

Turn the template around and run theother side of the template. Now move thefence away from the blade and removemore material from the template until you

1⁄4"

11⁄16"

A dado stack in your table saw is all youneed to make the template for routingthe pins.Don’t worry too much abouttearout on the backside of the work. It’sjust a template (left).

When you finish making the template,here’s what it should look like. For this3"-wide drawer, I made two notches.Each of the teeth is 1⁄4" wide.You canmake the notches almost any width youwant.The spacing can be varied by usinga smaller template guide in your router(below left).

Here you can see how the bushing ridesagainst the template,while the bit cutsthe pins.When you cut your pins be sureto stand in front of the work so you canbetter see what you’re doing. I steppedaside for the photo (below).

have three teeth on the template, each 1⁄4"wide as shown in the photo.

Cut the PinsNow set up your bench to cut the pins inthe drawer front. Put the drawer front facedown on your bench. Line up the templateon top of it and clamp the two together toyour bench. Install the bushing in yourrouter and then the dovetail bit. Set thebit’s height to 3⁄4" (including the bush-ing on the router’s template guide). Differentdepths will work. I use 3⁄4" because theamount of carbide on my dovetail bit suitsthat depth perfectly. Cut the pins by run-ning the router in and out of the notches.

Cut the TailsThe hard part is now done. Unclamp yourdrawer front and place it on top of its mat-ing drawer side as shown in the photo.Using a sharp pencil, trace the outline ofthe tails onto the drawer side. Cut the tailsusing your band saw or coping saw. Be sureto cut outside the lines for a tight-fittingjoint. If necessary, pare the tails with a chis-el. Then comes the moment of truth.

Let me say that after a couple attemptsthe truth won’t hurt so much, so don’t getdiscouraged. I think you can now see howeasy it is to customize the location and size

of your tails. Use a smaller-diameter bush-ing and you can make your tails even clos-er together. This will require some trialand error on your part. Basically, the out-side teeth will have to be slightly widerthan 1⁄4". And if you make different-sizednotches in your template, you’ll producedrawers that are impossible to make witha $99 dovetail jig. Best of all, you can stopplanning your projects around a jig, andyou’ll be cutting dovetails fast enough tohave some hope of finishing your projectwhen you actually thought you would. PW

Now lay out the tails by tracing around the insideof your pins. A sharp pencil is key (above).

Cutting the tails on a band saw is a breeze onceyou get the hang of it (top right).

After a while you’ll have enough templates to cutdovetails for almost any drawer (right).

drawer front

drawer side

SuppliesBushings are available from manycatalogs.Woodcraft (800-225-1153)carries several universal bushings thatfit a wide range of routers.Price of thebushing:$7.50.The lock nut costs$3.50.

Carbide-tipped dovetail bits (1⁄ 2" diameter,14-degree slope) areavailable from almost every wood-working catalog and home center.Expect to pay about $8.99 on average,and a little more from specialty bitmanufacturers.

A few summers agomy wife and I were travel-ing through Martha’sVineyard on vacation whenwe stopped at a small an-tiques store. On one wallwas a simple hanging cup-board with two flat paneldoors. Its simplicity andconvenience caught my eye, and I hadnever seen one quite like it before. Rather thanbuying the piece I took a photo and thanked the store-keeper for her time. Once home I spent some timerethinking the cupboard and redesigned it to addsome details, including the beading on the door edgesand the back slats. The original had been made ofpine, but I opted for a more dramatic bird’s-eye maplefor the exterior with painted poplar inside.

Here’s how the cupboard goes together: slidingdovetails hold the top to the two sides. The center shelf

and bottom rest indadoes cut in thesides. To strengthenthe cabinet, I use tra-ditional square pegsto attach the shelf,bottom, face frameand doors. And I’vegot a great trick toget the pegs to fit eas-ily. See the story

“Square pegs, round holes” to learn how.Construction begins by planing the wood to prop-

er thickness, then cutting the top, sides, bottom andshelf to size. Next, using the diagram, mark the dadolocations on the sides and cut the 1⁄2"-deep dadoes.Cut 3⁄4"-wide by 3⁄8"-thick rabbets on the sides to holdthe back. The scroll work pattern for the bottom edgeof the sides is available at our website at:www.popwood.com/fixes/scroll.htm

by Glen Huey

Glen Huey builds custom furniture in his shop in Middletown, Ohio, for Malcolm L. Huey & Sons and is a regular contributor to Popular Woodworking.

Though I swiped about 50 percent of the look of this piece from an antique, the

joinery is 100 percent traditional.

M A RT H A ’ SV I N E YA R D

Cupboard

The next step is to plough the dovetailslot in the top piece, then form the 1⁄2"-long sliding dovetail pin on the top end ofthe sides. Again, find the location for millingthe top on the diagrams. A router tableworks well for both steps, running the topflat on the table, and the sides on end againsta fence. Now cut a 1⁄2" roundover on the

front and sides of the top.With all the pieces milled, assemble

the carcase. Dry-fit the pieces and clampthem in place. Unclamp the piece, addglue and reassemble the carcase. Clamp itup, then drill 1⁄4" clearance holes for thepegs through the sides and into the shelfand bottom and drive the 11⁄2"-long square

pegs into the 1⁄4" holes.The face frame uses mortise-and-tenon

joinery for strength. Once you’ve cut the1"-long tenons and the mortises, dry-fitthe face frame. Locate and cut the recess-es for the hinges on the stiles. Glue andclamp up the face frame. When dry, drillfor pinning the mortise and tenon with

Cutting the sliding dovetail on the sides using a homemade jig. Cut thefemale part first, then cut the male part as shown here.

3/4" 2 1/4"

6 1/4" 2 1/2" 2 1/4"

3/4" 2 1/4"

6 1/4" 2 1/2"

30 3/4"

3 1/2" 1 7/8"

11 1/4"

1 7/8"

3/4"

1"

26 3/4"

2 1/4"

Elevation Profile

3 1/2"

3/4"

1"

26 3/4"

1 7/8"

17"

3/4" 6 1/4" 3/4" 7 3/4"

2 7/8"

2 7/8"

See detail above

5"

10 1/4"

3/4"

3/4"

10"

3/8"

1 7/8"

ledge on

shelf

Hangingstrip

Martha’s Vineyard CupboardNo. Item Dimensions T W L Wood1 Top 3⁄4" x 101⁄2" x 351⁄4" P2 Sides 3⁄4" x 7" x 265⁄8" P2 Shelves 3⁄4" x 61⁄4" x 301⁄4" S2 Face frame stiles 3⁄4" x 3" x 221⁄2" P1 Frame lower rail 3⁄4" x 17⁄8" x 263⁄4" P1 Frame top rail 3⁄4" x 35⁄8" x 263⁄4" P1 Frame center stile 3⁄4" x 21⁄4" x 19" P4 Dr rails 3⁄4" x 27⁄8" x 9" P4 Dr stiles 3⁄4" x 21⁄2" x 17" P2 Dr panels 1⁄2" x 67⁄8" x 117⁄8" P1 Hanging strip 3⁄4" x 13⁄4" x 291⁄4" S7 Beaded bkbrds 3⁄4" x 413⁄16" x 221⁄2" S

41⁄2 Linear feet of 1" x 1" cove moulding41⁄2 Linear feet of 3⁄4" x 15⁄8" intermediate mouldingP=primary wood:Bird’s eye maple • S=secondary wood: Poplar

1/8"7/8"

60°

5/8"

1/2" radius

2 1/4"

7/8" 7/8"1/8"3/4"

3/4"

Side dovetailedinto top

1/8"

5/8"

2 1/2"

radius

Detail case joinery

square pegs. Then fit the frame to the frontof the carcase, apply glue and peg the framein place.

The back pieces use a 5⁄16" x 3⁄8" mat-ing rabbet (or shiplapped joint) to allowmovement in the pieces while still main-taining a gapless back. The back piecesrest in a rabbet cut in the sides, against theshelves and the hanging strip. The hang-ing strip is nailed between the sides andflush against the top, 3⁄4" in from the backedge. Once the back pieces are cut to size,run the mating rabbets on the edges (ex-cept for the two outside pieces). As a nicedetail I used a moulding cutter head in mytable saw to run a single bead on the in-side edge of each piece. Test the fit of theback pieces, but leave them unattached atthis time to make finishing easier.

The next step is to make the doors. Likethe face frame, they are assembled usingmortise-and-tenon joinery, with the railscaptured between the stiles. The doortenons are 13⁄8" long. Cut a 1⁄ 4" x 3⁄ 8"deep groove in the center, inside edge ofeach door piece to hold the panel, whichhas a 1⁄4" x 5⁄16"-long rabbet on all four sidesto form a tongue. Don’t forget to cut a beadon the outside edge of each stile.

Assemble the doors using glue in themortises, but keep the glue out of the panel

grooves to allow the panel to float in thedoor frame. Again, the mortise-and-tenonjoints are drilled and square pegs added forstrength. After the glue is dry, locate andrecess the hinge locations, then fit thedoors, allowing space for the hinges.

The last construction detail is to addthe intermediate and cove moulding tothe underside of the top to finish off theupper section of the cabinet. The diagramshows the orientation of the pieces. Miterthe moulding to fit, then nail it in place.

Paint the interior of the cabinet. Theexterior is finished with a homemade fin-ish of equal parts boiled linseed oil, var-nish and turpentine. I follow that up witha coat of wax. After the finish has dried,attach the hardware, doors and add wallhangers for mounting the cabinet. PW

Square Pegs, Round HolesI’m sure you know the adage about howyou can’t fit a square peg into a roundhole.But I’m here to tell you that in

woodworking,you can fit asquare peg in around holeusing a pencilsharpener. Istart with 1⁄4" x1⁄4" squarepegs and thensharpen themin the pencilsharpener.Then I add alittle glue andpound them inplace in the 1⁄4"clearance

holes I’ve drilled in the project.Theround part slips in easily, and then thesquare part cuts into the round edges ofthe hole— creating the illusion of asquare hole.Some people add thesquare pegs after finish sanding, thensand them so they’re just a little proudof the surface. It’s a traditional method.Plus, if you sand the pegs flush,you’llsometimes start to reveal some of theround shape of the hole.

The doors (left), before assembly and after.Noticethe haunched tenon on therails to hide the panelgroove.The back (below) isshiplapped and nailed inplace. Because the back isthe last thing to go in, Ipaint the back pieces whilefinishing the rest of thecupboard.Then,wheneverything is dry, nail theback in place to the hang-ing strip and shelves.

After you’ve dry-fit the case,disassemble thecase, add theglue in thedadoes andclamp it up.Drillthe clearanceholes for thesquare pegs andknock the pegshome (left).

SuppliesFrom Horton Brass,800-754-91272 - Door catches #SL3,$11.00 each2 - Pair - hinges #DH-2-125 $4.50 a pair

furniture design in the last twocenturies has swung back and forthwildly between austere and outra-geous. One year everything’s Rococoand carved; the next year the far simplerHepplewhite style is the thing. Then comes the or-nate Victorian stuff, which is followed immediatelyby the straight-lined Arts & Crafts style. It’s no won-der furniture manufacturers stay in business.

If you haven’t noticed yet, the country is headinginto another era where simple is better. And whilesome of these clean and contemporary pieces are crit-icized as merely boring wooden crates with drawers,others show off the elegant proportions of the fur-niture using only understated accents. We hope you’llagree that the subtle black accents on this wardrobehave achieved that goal.

The wardrobe uses frameless construction, and it

is built almost entirely of ply-wood so it’s stable and lightweight. The vis-

ible plywood edges are covered with iron-on ve-neer tape to retain the simple clean lines of the piece.

The concealed hinges (above) provide smooth dooroperation without interrupting the proportions ofthe door and drawer arrangement of the front. Thepulls are unobtrusive and echo the black line of thereveal at the top and the bottom and the black base.

Construction begins by cutting the case pieces tosize. Next, cut 3⁄8" x 3⁄4" rabbets on the back, top andbottom of both side pieces to accept the back, topand bottom. Also rabbet the top and bottom pieceson the back edge to hold the back. Now cut a 3⁄8"-deep x 3⁄4"-wide dado in the top and bottom piecesto leave an 11" opening between the right side andthe vertical partition.

Before rushing to assemble the case, there are a

wardrobe

by David Thiel

M O D E R N

Use subtle black accents to complement the understated grain pattern

on this maple chest.


www.popwood.com 33

Photo by Al Parrish, Parrish Photography

few things to do first. Cut your four draw-er dividers to size and apply veneer tape tothe front edge of each. Mark the locationof the drawer dividers and decide whetheryou want to use biscuits or dowels to holdthe drawer dividers in place between theleft side and the partition. The draweropenings are graduated in size and shouldbe as follows from top to bottom: 5"; 57⁄8";71⁄4"; 9" and 111⁄8".

Because the door section of the wardrobeis only 11" wide, it’s a good idea to pre-drill

the right side and partition for shelf pinsand also for the European-style hinge platesbefore assembly. One more pre-assemblytask: sand the inside of the shelf sectionand the part of the back that’s visible. You’llbe glad you did.

Now assemble the case using glue andby driving nails through the top and bot-tom pieces into the sides and partition.When in place, the drawer dividers shouldbe proud of the front edge of the case bythe thickness of the veneer tape. Lastly,

Before assembly it’s best to mark and drill the locations for the shelf pins, and to lay out andmount the base plates for the hinges. As always, a little masking tape on the drill bit makes ahandy depth stop.

Learn SomethingFrom the EuropeansEuropean hardware is a broad termcovering a number of hinges and shelv-ing systems.Best known for its use incommercial furniture, I chose to use itin this piece for a number of reasons.The door hinges allow adjustment ofthe door in three dimensions after thedoor is attached,and it is invisible fromthe exterior of the piece,keeping thelines clean and simple.The hinges dorequire a 35mm Forstner bit ($14.99)to insert the hinges in the side of thecabinet, and a jig designed just forinstalling “cup” hinges is available fromRockler (800-279-4441) for $29.99,(item #10260).

Contemporary decorative hard-ware can be tricky to find, so I waspleased to find Spokane Hardware onthe Internet (see the Supplies box).Offering a large and varied selection ofcontemporary, fanciful and traditionalhardware for sale on the web, this savesa lot of time running from store tostore.The pulls selected for this pieceare commercially available to cabinetshops,but it's nice to find them accessi-ble for the home woodworker as well.

This was the first time I’d used thedrawer front adjusters, though they'vebeen available for years.Having foughtwith adjusting drawer fronts on insetand flush-mount drawers forever, Ifound these clever plastic devices to bea big help. Allowing 1⁄8" adjustment inany direction, fine-tuning a drawerfront is now a snap rather than a chore.Though the instructions specify a25mm bit to mount the adjuster in thedrawer face,a 1" Forstner works ad-mirably with a little shimming.

The drawer face adjusters are a simpleplastic pocket with a metal "nut" capturedinside.When attached, the nut will slidefreely within the plastic case, allowing theface to be moved 1⁄8" in any direction.

The hardboardreveal strip ispainted black,

then mitered toextend beyondthe front of the

cabinet itself.The reveal stripis recessed 1⁄4"

in from theedges of the

top.


nail the back in place into the rabbets.This will square up the case.

With the case assembled, go nab yourspouse’s iron. Apply veneer tape to thefront edges of the case, and to the top ofthe case on the front edge and sides to hidethe rabbet joint. The 7⁄8"-wide tape is plen-ty because the reveal will only show 1⁄4" ofthe top of the case.

The false top is simply a piece of ply-wood edged with veneer tape. Checkthe size against the finished size of the as-sembled case to make sure the false topwill flush up with the sides, front and back.Remember that the false top extends overthe door and drawers and should flushup to them. The 1⁄4" reveal between thetop and case is created using strips of 1⁄4"x 1" hardboard, with one edge spray paint-ed black. Fit the strips to the underside ofthe top, allowing the 1⁄4" setback on thefront and sides. Add a fourth strip flush tothe rear of the top to level it out. With thestrips fit, use black spray enamel paint tocoat the visible edge and the underside ofthe front piece, then attach the reveal stripsto the underside of the top.

Now attach the false top to the case.Drill clearance holes through the case andattach the false top using screws up throughthe inside of the case, again, flushing theback edges of the case and the false top.

The base is a simple frame held togetherby biscuits, dowels or mortise-and-tenonjoinery, with the legs attached betweenthe stretchers at the corners. With the baseglued and assembled, add 1⁄4" x 13⁄16" hard-board strips to the top edge as you did tothe underside of the top. Next, finishthe base and strip with black paint to addvisual “weight” at the base of the chest.When dry, attach the base to the cabinetusing metal chair braces at the corners.

Now build the drawers using simple 1⁄4"x 1⁄2" rabbet joints on the sides, with thefronts and backs captured between thesides. The bottoms slide into 1⁄4" x 1⁄4"grooves in the sides and front that are cut1⁄2" up from the bottoms of the drawerpieces. The back is cut 1⁄2" shorter thanthe front to allow the bottoms to slide intoplace. Use the bottoms to hold the draw-ers square while the glue dries, then re-move them to make finishing the drawerseasier. I set up a 1⁄4" radius router bit in arouter table and ran the top edges of thedrawer parts (both sides) to make them

AB

C

J

K

LM

S

T

U

V

D

N

EF

O

W

X

P

G

H

Q

Y

Z

R

I

A

C

AA

1/4" X 13/16" hardboard

1/4" X 1" hardboard reveal strip

S

N

reveal strip

www.popwood.com 35

Modern WardrobeNo. Letter Item Dimensions T W L Materials

2 A Sides 3⁄4" x 171⁄4" x 423⁄4" MP1 B Partition 3⁄4" x 161⁄2" x 42" MP2 C Top & bottom 3⁄4" x 171⁄4" x 351⁄2" MP1 D False Top 3⁄4" x 18" x 36" MP1 E Back 3⁄4" x 351⁄4" x 42" MP1 F Door 3⁄4" x 12" x 421⁄2" MP1 G Drwr face 3⁄4" x 12" x 237⁄8" MP1 H Drwr face 3⁄4" x 99⁄16" x 237⁄8" MP1 I Drwr face 3⁄4" x 713⁄16" x 237⁄8" MP1 J Drwr face 3⁄4" x 67⁄16" x 237⁄8" MP1 K Drwr face 3⁄4" x 57⁄8" x 237⁄8" MP4 L Drwr dividers 3⁄4" x 2" x 227⁄8" MP3 M Shelves 3⁄4" x 16" x 1015⁄16" MP2 N Drwr sides 1⁄2" x 101⁄16" x 16" BB2 O Drwr sides 1⁄2" x 81⁄16" x 16" BB2 P Drwr sides 1⁄2" x 61⁄4" x 16" BB2 Q Drwr sides 1⁄2" x 5" x 16" BB2 R Drwr sides 1⁄2" x 4" x 16" BB2 S Drwr front & back* 1⁄2" x 101⁄16" x 211⁄4" BB2 T Drwr front & back* 1⁄2" x 81⁄16" x 211⁄4" BB2 U Drwr front & back* 1⁄2" x 61⁄4" x 211⁄4" BB2 V Drwr front & back* 1⁄2" x 5" x 211⁄4" BB2 W Drwr front & back* 1⁄2" x 4" x 211⁄4" BB5 X Drwr bottoms 1⁄4" x 211⁄4" x 153⁄4" L4 Y Legs 11⁄4" x 11⁄4" x 4" P2 Z Base stretchers 3⁄4" x 11⁄4" x 337⁄16" P2 AA Base stretchers 3⁄4" x 11⁄4" x 159⁄16" P9 - Linear feet each of 1⁄4" x 1" and 1⁄4" x 13⁄16" hardboard reveal strip75 - Linear feet of 7⁄8" maple veneer tape

*If using a “slide in” drawer bottom, subtract 1⁄2" from the height on the drawer backs.

MP=Maple plywood L= Luan plywoodBB=Baltic birch plywood P=Poplar

more finger-friendly. Don’tround over the front edgewhere the drawer face will at-tach. With the drawers as-sembled, attach the drawerslides to the cabinet and tothe drawer sides and check forsmooth operation.

Cover the edges of thedrawer faces and the door withveneer tape. Then rout thea shallow mortise centered in the top edgeof each for the pulls. Use a router with astraight bit. See the photo above for thejig I built for this.

I want to mention that the screws pro-vided with the pulls are round-head screws.In an effort to keep things flush and sim-ple I used a countersink on the clearanceholes in the pulls and then used flat-headscrews to attach the pulls. Now attach thedrawer faces to the drawers using the hard-ware shown in the photo on page 34. Thisallows for easy adjustment.

Now drill the door to accept theEuropean hinges and mount them to thecabinet. If you haven’t used concealedhinges before, take a few minutes to playwith the adjustment to get a feel for the

versatility of these hinges.Lastly, cut a groove the length of both

sides of the shelves and then add veneertape to the front edge. The shelf pins shownslip into the slots in the shelves and pro-vide invisible support. It’s your choicewhether to make the shelf locations ad-justable by adding more shelf pin holes. Ipreferred to use set locationsto keep the interior cleanand unmarred.

The case is now ready tofinish. Remove the hard-ware and finish sand. Use aclear finish everywhere, anddon’t worry about coatingthe black accent strips. Afterthe finish has dried, attach

the hardware and hang the door. Adjustthe drawer fronts and door to make all thespaces equal. Then step back and enjoythe clean simple lines of your work — untilthe tastes of the furniture world swing backthe other way. Then perhaps you’ll haveto apply some fancy moulding or some-thing. PW

SuppliesFrom Rockler,800-279-4441, (www.rockler.com)5 - Pair - 16" drawer slides #161442,$4.99 each1 - Pair - hinges #123032,$9.49 each2 - Packs - drawer face levelers #110763,$5.99 each1 - Pack - shelf pins #22286,$2.99 each

From Spokane Hardware Supply,800-708-6649,(www.spokane-hardware.com)5 - handles #DP40-BL,$5.46 each

wood wordsREVEAL: A decorative detail formedby offsetting a portion of the side toform a recessed feature.This can bedone by adding pieces,or a groovecan be cut in the material to createthe same effect.

PROUD: Where two pieces meetwith one slightly raised above theother, it is said to be “proud.”

I cut the top and back recesses for the handles using thesame jig.Unfortunately I made my jig a little short and hadto move the clamps between cuts.Make your jig the widthof the drawer and to fit your own router template guidesand you’ll be in good shape (left).

The drawer face adjusters are attached by first drilling twoclearance holes in the drawer box front.Then locate theapproximate spacing of the drawer face on the drawer front(the closer the better) and make a mark through the clear-ance hole on the back of the face with a scratch awl.Removethe drawer box and drill the 1" holes for the adjusters.Thenjust screw the face on and adjust (below).


restoring a

by Rick Peters

Rick Peters is a woodworker and publishing professional and resides in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

a diamond in the rough. That’show I view every old tool I pick

up at an auction or a yard sale. And theold, rusty Stanley No. 51⁄2 that I boughtrecently for $4 is no exception. Beforethe auction, I examined the plane justlike a diamond merchant would whenbuying a rough stone — I looked forflaws. I made sure all the parts were there,that castings were intact, and rust wasonly surface deep.

With my new treasure in hand, I head-ed for the shop to restore it. Why both-er you might ask? Why not purchase anew plane? Three reasons. First, youcan’t buy a quality hand plane for fourbucks. Second, the old adage “they don’tmake ’em like they used to” is true; it’svirtually impossible to find castings asnice —and of such high quality as theseold planes. And third, I really enjoyrestoring one of these old beauties.There’s tremendous satisfaction gainedfrom giving a fine, old tool a new life.

There are three main tasks involvedwith restoring a hand plane: disassem-bly and cleaning, reshaping parts for op-timum performance, and re-assemblyand adjustment.

Disassembly and CleaningThe first thing to do to your old planeis disassemble it. Take the time to fa-miliarize yourself with the parts andlearn their correct names (see the il-lustration for the parts to most planes).Start by lifting the thumb lever and slid-ing off the lever cap. Remove the planeiron and chip breaker, unscrew the frog,and remove the front knob and handle.

Now give all the parts a mineral spir-its bath and a good scrubbing with anold toothbrush. In many cases, this re-moves the surface rust along with caked-on dirt and grime. Set the parts on aclean rag to dry overnight.

With your squeaky-clean plane partsin hand, the next step is to remove anyremaining rust on the parts. If the rustis light, you can rub it off with steel

planeJust below that pitted, rusted and crusty exterior is a great woodworking tooldying to come out.

wool or a rust-erasing abrasive productcalled Wonderbar™. If the rust is stub-born, consider using the miracle of elec-trolysis. (See the story at right.)

Reshaping PartsAlthough it has a funny name, the frogis one of the most important parts of theplane. It holds the plane iron firmly at theproper angle, while at the same time al-lowing you to adjust the depth of cut andthe position of the iron. It’s a shame thefrog is often overlooked when restoring aplane; a poorly tuned frog is the leadingcause of blade chatter.

For a frog to do its job well, it’s imper-ative that its mating surfaces—the bot-tom where it contacts the sole, and thesloped face that holds the plane iron—beabsolutely flat and square. For the slopedface, I use a diamond hone or a small stoneand gently rub it on the surface. Check forflatness often with a straightedge. Becausethe bottom surface usually requires morework, I use a fine file. Here again, go slow-ly and check often.

With both surfaces flat and square, reat-tach the frog to the body with the screwsyou removed earlier. (Don’t worry aboutpositioning now, we’ll fine tune this later

Remove old grease and grime by scrubbing allthe plane parts with an old toothbrush andmineral spirits (top). Steel wool, abrasive padsor a Wonderbar (shown here) all work well tostrip off surface rust (inset).

To ensure solid contact between the frog and the blade, use a diamond hone(shown) or a small file to flatten the top surface.

Parts ofa Plane

Illustrations by Kristi Cullen

in final adjustments.)I can’t tell you how many times I’ve

seen a woodworker spin a depth adjust-ment knob, first one way, and then theother when trying to fine-tune the depthof cut. It doesn’t have to be that way. Allyou need to do is remove the slack in theY-shaped yoke that accepts the depthadjustment knob. The only thing to becareful about here is applying too muchpressure as you remove slack. The yokeis cast, so it’ll only bend so far withoutbreaking. I’ve found steady pressure froma clamp or bench vise works best. Don’tstrike the arms of the yoke with a malletunless you’ve got a replacement handy.

There’s not much to do on the lateraladjustment lever; check for burrs on thecam and smooth any you find with a fine

file or piece of emery cloth. The sole of the plane, on the other

hand, usually requires quite a bit of work—and it’s worth it. Next to a solid frog anda sharp iron, the flatness of the sole willhave a great impact on how well your planeperforms. The easiest way to check a solefor flatness is with a straightedge. I’ve foundthat holding the plane up against a brightlight will show any dips or high spots thebest. It’s also important to check the solefor twist. For this, I use winding sticks andsight down the length of theplane.

To flatten a sole, I affixa couple sheets of siliconecarbide sandpaper to a flatsurface with spray adhesive.For years I used the bed ofmy jointer. But a while backI picked up a piece of re-placement glass for a jalousiewindow at the local hard-ware store—it’s 4" wide, 30"long and 1⁄4" thick. What’s really nice aboutjalousie glass is the edges are rounded overfor safety. I usually start with 80-grit andwork my way up to 220-grit.

Before you begin, however, it’s para-mount that you re-install the iron, chipbreaker and lever cap. Why? An installedblade puts tension on the sole. If you flat-ten it without this tension, and then in-stall the iron, it won’t be flat. Just makesure to back off the iron 1⁄8" or so beforerubbing the sole on the silicon carbidepaper. Use firm, steady strokes and flip theplane end-for-end occasionally to ensureeven pressure over the entire length andwidth of the sole.

Check the sole often for progress.Although purists will flatten the entiresole, the only parts where it’s critical thatit be flat are the toe, heel and front of throat.

A side effect of flattening the sole isit often changes the shape of the throatopening. Take the time to check to makesure the throat is straight and square to thesides of the plane. A small engineer’s squareworks great for this. If necessary, use asmall file to square things up.

Just like the lateral adjustment, thelever cap doesn’t require much attention.Check for smooth operation and a posi-tive lock. Remove any burrs with emerycloth and lubricate the hinge with a dropof light machine oil.

Removing rust with electrolysisI was surfin’ the web recently and cameacross a great way to remove rust—using electrolysis. In a nutshell,electroly-sis passes a small electrical current froma battery charger through a rusty toolthat’s submerged in an electrolyte solu-tion. An exchange of ions takes placeresulting in rust removal.Magic? I thinknot—just simple science.Here’s howeasy it is to do.

First,mix up an electrolyte solution(one tablespoon of baking powder pergallon of water) in a non-conductive,plastic container.Then,remove anything

that’s not metal from the tool.Next,clean the tool in warm sudsy water toremove any oil or grease.Now clamp thepositive (red) lead of a 2-amp batterycharger to the anode—this is just anylarge, flat piece of steel (like a kitchenpan lid)—stainless steel works best as iterodes slowly.And connect the negative(black) lead to the rusty tool.

At this point you’re ready to fire upyour science experiment.Set the rustytool and anode in the electrolyte solutionso they’re a couple inches apart.Makesure the tool is completely submergedand that the red clip that’s attached tothe anode is above the solution (this willprevent it from corroding).Turn on thebattery charger and check that it’s notdrawing more current than it’s rated for(this is where a built-in ammeter is indis-pensable). If it is drawing too much,ornot enough current,simply move thetool father away or closer to the anode.(Safety note:make all adjustments withthe charger unplugged!) You can tell it’sworking when you start to see bubblesforming on the surface of the tool.

The average tool will de-rust in abouttwo hours,resulting in some fairly nasty-looking electrolyte.Turn off the charger,slip on some rubber gloves to remove thetool,and unfasten the clips.You’ll notice alot of black crud on the tool.The quickestand easiest way to remove this is with anon-metallic abrasive pad. Just scrub thesurface with a pad dipped in warm,soapywater. If the rust is gone,you’re done. Ifnot,repeat the process until it is. A noteof caution here.Prolonged electrolysiscan remove the japanning (the blackpaint) on a tool—check the tool oftenand stop as soon as the rust is removed.

For a more in-depth discussion of remov-ing rust with electrolysis,key in this URLon your computer:http://www2.inter-connect.net/nlindsey/Electrolysis/elec-trolysis.htm#Introduction.

A small metal file works well to clean up thearea where the frog meets the sole.

A battery charger, some baking soda electrolyte and a scrap metal anode are all it takesto remove heavy rust with the power of science.

Where theIron Goes

I mentioned earlier that an un-tunedfrog is one of the main causes of blade chat-ter. Another culprit of this pesky problemis a sloppy cap iron. The job of the cap ironis twofold. First, it adds rigidity to the planeand prevents it from flexing during use.Second, the slight hump at its business endserves as a tiny wedge to break chips as theiron cuts into the wood. Neither of thesejobs can be done properly if the cap irondoesn’t come in full contact with the en-tire edge of the plane iron. To ensurethis contact, flatten the front edge on astone as shown. I also like to polish thechip breaker portion of the cap iron sochips will slide smoothly on and off of it.

Finally, you can turn your attention tothe handle. If the screw bottoms out be-fore the handle is tight, grind 1⁄8" off thescrew. For stripped screws, re-tap at thenext larger size. On handles that are cracked,you can fix them with epoxy, or make a

new one. To make a new handle, use theold handle as a template. It’s best to drillthe hole for the handle screw before shap-ing the handle. Then cut out the shape,then smooth and sand the handle to fityour hand.

Even if there’s nothing wrong with thehandle (or front knob), I always suggestshaping them to fit your hand. The facto-ry-made handle is designed to fit the mass-es, not your hand. You’d be surprised howmuch nicer a custom-fit handle feels.

Re-assembly and AdjustmentsNow that we’ve tuned all the individualparts, it’s time to tune them all togethermuch like a symphony orchestra does be-fore a performance.

Before you attach the cap iron to theiron, the iron needs to be sharpened. I startby hollow grinding the iron. Then flattenthe back and hone a bevel on a waterstone.

Position the cap iron on the sharpenediron square to the front edge and set backabout 1⁄16". Slip this assembly onto the frog,and lock it in place with the lever cap.Adjust the depth of cut and the lateral ad-justment lever as necessary.

Although you re-attached the frog be-fore flattening the sole, it still needs to befine-tuned to fully support the blade. Startby loosening the frog screws so they’re fric-tion-tight. Then use the frog adjustmentscrew to slide the frog into perfect align-ment with the sole at the throat opening,see the illustration on the previous page.(You’ll most likely need to remove the han-dle to get to this screw.)

Now for the test. Secure a scrap of woodin your bench vise and take a few passeswith the plane. Ahh... the joy of rescuinga fine old tool. And the sweet sound itmakes as it glides over the wood, shearingoff paper-thin, crisp shavings. PW

Don’t put up with a sloppy yoke—remove theslack by applying gentle pressure to the yokewith a C-clamp.

Check the sole for flatness with a straightedge.Abright light in the background will make it easyto see any high or low spots (top).Winding sticksplaced on each end of the plane will reveal anytwist in the body of the plane when you sightalong its length (inset).

The toe, heel, and frontof the throat (shown)are the critical areaswhere the sole of theplane must be flat(near right).

To support the bladeand prevent chips fromjamming between thecap iron and blade,hone a bevel on thefront edge of the capiron (far right).

hree years ago we published plans forthe Little Shop That Could, an economi-cal, small yet functional portable work-station. Stocked with basic tools that costless than $500, the concept was to get youin the door to woodworking. Editor SteveShanesy, the father of the Little Shop, madesome hard fiscal decisions about what equip-ment to buy, not always choosing what hepreferred, but what was within budget. Sincethat time the Little Shop has produced 10projects for the magazine, using only thosetools. We decided it was time to upgradethe equipment. The result is the Little ShopMark II. It’s still designed for tight quarters,but we’ve spent a bit more on tools to allowmore versatility and precision.

I tried to carry on the tradition of beingas frugal as possible, without sacrificing qual-ity. A budget of $1,000 was decided on asan acceptable amount to purchase every-thing needed, while keeping me from whin-ing about not having “vital” tools. We also

by Jim Stuard

If you have very little space but

high ambitions for your

woodworking, take a

look at our redesigned

and upgradedLittle Shop That Could.

If you have very little space but

high ambitions for your

woodworking, take a

look at our redesigned

and upgradedLittle Shop That Could.

Little SHOP

Little SHOP

TT

mark II

The original Little Shop from the July 1996 issue.The project was so popular that last year we soldout of copies of that issue.

wanted to use parts and tools from the orig-inal Little Shop as a starting point.

I decided to use the two larger cabinetsfrom the original Little Shop and simplyadd a new cabinet to support the new sawand some other power tool goodies. If youbuilt the original Little Shop and want tobuild the Mark II version, simply substi-tute the new middle cabinet for the oldone. For those of you who are visiting theLittle Shop for the first time, there aredrawings and schedules for all the cabi-nets. This center cabinet makeover tookplace because of an unforeseen design flaw.The height of the original center cabi-net couldn’t adequately support the entireLittle Shop and it began to splay. I designedthe new cabinet to hold more weight, tostore more stuff and to roll around on someheavier-duty casters.

The first and most critical tool addressedwas the table saw. While the original Skilbenchtop saw was a star player, I wantedthe advantages of a contractor saw. Namelymore power, a longer arbor for dado headsand moulding cutters, a better fence andmore cutting capacity. Before you startcalling me a whiner like Steve did, con-sider this: I compare woodworking to myhobby, playing guitar. For years, I strug-gled on cut-rate, lousy instruments. Myfamily will attest to the struggling part.That was until the day I dropped some se-rious coin on a Fender Telecaster. Thedoors of music making had suddenly beenthrown wide, and I knew that I’d be mak-ing hits in no time. Seriously, on a betterinstrument, I began to practice more. Myskills improved, and I acquired the abili-ty to play without offending people.

I searched high and low for a saw thatwould provide the right combo of priceand capabilities. The Grizzly G1022 con-tractor saw ($375 + $60 shipping) fit thebill. I added the optional 70" fence ex-tension tubes ($60) for wider cuts and tomake room on the cabinet for a router tablefence. The Ryobi plunge router from thefirst Little Shop also performed well, butit had a 1⁄4" collet. The natural upgradewas the Porter Cable 693PK fixed/plungebase router kit ($179), which has both 1⁄4"and 1⁄2" collets, and the fixed base willmount nicely in the router table sectionof the Mark II. Tired of cutting biscuitswith my router, I decided to purchasethe Freud JS102 ($117). The outfeed table

on the original was a good idea, but Stevehadn’t used a Black and Decker Workmate™($98 each) before then. The obvious util-ity provided by these ingenious sawhorse,clamp, tool-stand contraptions was hard

to ignore. I added some torsion boxes tobring the height to that of the finishedheight on the Mark II, so I have two stur-dy, folding outfeed tables. This gives a grandtotal of $987 before taxes. Not bad.

ConstructionThe case construction is the same rabbet-ed-sides style as the original Little Shopexcept that instead of nailing the case to-gether, I used screws and glue for addedstrength. The new table saw works fine sit-ting on one of the Workmates until thecase is made.

Begin construction by cutting out allof the parts for the tops. I substituted thesetops for the cast iron open wings on thesaw because dust would inevitably settlethrough the holes in the wings. And clean-ing it would be difficult in the confinedspaces under the saw. Start the tops by nail-ing the buildup to the underside of thetops. Make sure to keep it flush and square.Cut plastic laminate (check your yellowpages for local cabinetmaker supply stores)1" bigger than the tops in both dimensions.Attach the laminate with contact cementand rout flush. Using a sanding block, sandthe edges to smooth out any irregularities,and begin cutting 3⁄4" x 11⁄2" stock to edgethe tops. Use biscuits to align the edgingthen glue and clamp in place. Try to keepthe edging as flush to the top as possible.When the glue dries, clean up any edgingthat sticks above the top with a block planeand sand the edges. Apply three coats ofdanish oil as a finish.

Measure the center locations of the existingholes on the saw table and the fence bars.There are five threaded insert locations per top.Next, drill the 3⁄8" receiving holes for the inserts.It helps to use a doweling jig, but it’s not neces-sary.Make sure you measure every hole on both sides.They aren’t located in exactly thesame place.

Small top

Large top

Router cabinet

Center cabinetCasters

Boltholes

Dustchute

Contractor sawGeneral storage cabinet mountedflush with dooron center cabinet.

Support rail

centered oncenter cabinetend.

Attach the topsWhen unpacking the saw, one nice thingyou’ll realize is that the only assembly nec-essary is attaching the motor and fencebars. Grizzly sends a base with the saw, butit’s not necessary for Mark II construction.You can’t buy the unit without the base soconsider it a bonus stand for some futuremachine in your shop.

To attach the tops, first install thread-

ed inserts into the edge of thetop. See the photo for detailson this procedure. Use a board,on edge, of appropriate height to prop upthe end of the top while bolting the topflush to the saw table. Repeat the sameprocedure for the small top.

The extra long fence bars require somemodifications to keep the Mark II’s large,right-side top sturdy. Drill two 1⁄4" holes

in each bar at 6" and 22" from the far end.Enlarge the outside holes in the bars to 1⁄2"to clear a screw bit holder. Use #10 x 11⁄2"wood screws and spacers between thebar and the top to secure the large top atthese four holes. Adjust the wooden spac-ers until the fence works smoothly.

1/4"1/2"

17 1/2" 1/4"1/2"

3/4"4"3/4"

21 1/4"

3/4"1 1/2"

1/4"1/2"

13 1/2"3/4"3/4"13 1/2" 3 1/4"3/4"13 1/2"1/4"1/2"

3/4"1 1/2"

10 1/8"

3/4"

17 1/2"

47 1/2"Elevation Profile

29"

19"

3/4"4"3/4"

21 1/4"

3/4"1 1/2"

29"

1 1/2"x 5 1/2"rails

1/2" 23 1/4"

23 3/4"

4" rails

11 1/2"

4 1/8"1/4"

space

Futureaccessory

Rollout Drawer

Drawer

Doors and drawerfronts omittedfor clarity.

Rollout

Rollout

Rollout

Drawer1/2"back

3/4"1 1/2"

10 1/8"

3/4"

17 1/2"

11 1/2"

4 1/8"1/4"

4"

2 3/4"

CL

See detail of dust drawer

Use spacers to setthe height of eachslide accurately. Startwith the highestdrawer and workyour way down.Theeasiest way to do thisis to attach thedrawer slide to thedrawer. Lay out in thecabinet exactly whereyou want the drawersto go.Then place thecabinet part of theslide on the drawer.Measure where thebottom of the slide isin relationship to thebottom edge of thedrawer. Subtract thisfrom the drawerheight inside thecabinet and that’s thespacer height.

Little Shop Mark II•New Center CabinetNo. Item Dimensions T W L Material

1 Large top 3⁄4" x 251⁄2" x 411⁄2" Plywood1 Small top 3⁄4" x 251⁄2" x 171⁄2" Plywood3 Buildup strips 3⁄4" x 4" x 96" Plywood4 Solid edging strips 3⁄4" x 11⁄2" x 96" Maple

Center Case1 Small end 3⁄4" x 233⁄4" x 16" Plywood1 Large end 3⁄4" x 233⁄4" x 271⁄2" Plywood1 Small partition 3⁄4" x 231⁄4" x 141⁄2" Plywood1 Large partition 3⁄4" x 231⁄4" x 263⁄4" Plywood1 Vertical divider 3⁄4" x 231⁄4" x 211⁄4" Plywood1 Dust shelf 1⁄4" x 23" x 14" Plywood1 Top 3⁄4" x 233⁄4" x 281⁄2" Plywood1 Bottom 3⁄4" x 233⁄4" x 47" Plywood1 Case back 1⁄2" x 27" x 47" Plywood2 Case rails 3⁄4" x 4" x 181⁄2" Plywood1 Drw. rail 3⁄4" x 4" x 18" Plywood2 Support rails 11⁄2" x 51⁄2" x 471⁄2" Pine1 Large door 3⁄4" x 19" x 221⁄2" Plywood1 Small door 3⁄4" x 141⁄2" x 157⁄8" Plywood

Rollouts4 Backs 1⁄2" x 2" x 12" Plywood4 Fronts 1⁄2" x 2" x 12" Maple4 Bottoms 1⁄4" x 12" x 221⁄4" Plywood8 Sides 1⁄2" x 2" x 223⁄4" Plywood

Lower drawers2 False fronts 3⁄4" x 8" x 133⁄4" Plywood4 Fronts & backs 1⁄2" x 6" x 12" Plywood4 Sides 1⁄2" x 6" x 221⁄2" Plywood2 Bottoms 1⁄4" x 12" x 22" Plywood

Upper drawer1 False front 3⁄4" x 41⁄4" x 19" Plywood2 Front & back 1⁄2" x 23⁄4" x 16" Plywood2 Sides 1⁄2" x 23⁄4" x 223⁄4" Plywood1 Bottom 1⁄4" x 16" 221⁄4" Plywood

Case ConstructionOnce the tops are flush, cut out the caseparts according to the Schedule of Materials.Cut 1⁄2" x 3⁄4" rabbets in the top and bot-tom edges of the case ends and the top ofthe large partition. Use the two-step tablesaw method for these rabbets, standingthe part on its edge for the first cut, thenlaying it flat and cutting the rest of the

rabbet. These rabbetsaccept the rails, topand bottom pieces.The last rabbet cut

is the 1⁄2" x 1⁄2" rabbet forthe back.

To rout the 1⁄4"-deep da-does in the case, set up a pat-tern routing bit with the bear-

ing on top, using oneof the partitions as a

straight edge. It’snow a simplematter of usingscrews and glue

to assemble the case.Use this sequence forthe most trouble-freeassembly. Assemble thelarge partition and thetop, followed by thesmall end and small par-tition, the bottom, thelarge end and the rails.

Keep the inside of the back rabbet flushduring assembly. It’s easier to flush upthe front edges that way. Make sure to keep

the case square as you go. Screw the backin last.

If you need to make the two outer cases,do so now using the schedule at right.Construction is the same as outlined forthe new section, using 1⁄2" x 3⁄4" rabbets inthe ends, otherwise continue on.

The next step is to apply iron-on edgebanding to the front edges of the case.Finish the case by attaching the casters tothe bottom support rails.

The Dust DiverterDust collection can be accommodated bybuilding a small diverter out of sheet metaland plywood. It’s removable for cleaningfor when (not if) you drop the arbor nutinto the saw. See the photo and drawingabove for details.

Drawers and DoorsAfter leveling the case on a flat surface,make the drawers. (You’ll notice thatthe drawer openings for the new sectionare all 131⁄2" wide, with one exception.This makes cutting out drawers and roll-out shelves much easier.) Use a 3⁄8" x 1⁄2"rabbet cut on the drawer fronts and backs,and use a 1⁄4" x 1⁄4" groove, 1⁄2" up from thebottom edge for the bottoms. Install thedrawers with standard 1⁄2" x 22" drawerslides.

Next, edgeband the doors and drawerfronts, then hang the doors using Europeanhinges. These are full overlay hinges, whichmeans that the front of the door completely

TorsionboxesOne decision thatI made early on inthe redesign wasto eliminate thefull-length outfeedtable on the LittleShop. It was a littleawkward to set up,and I would muchrather have a work

table for assembly at a lower height.Using the Workmates, clutter is

kept off the saw,and the clampingvises can be used during furnitureassembly.With the addition of torsionboxes, they make adequate, light-weight,outfeed tables at the samelevel as the table saw top.

The boxes are made by nailingtogether a plywood frame like a studframe in house construction.Offsetstretchers are nailed in place betweenthe studs, then plywood skins arenailed to the outsides.

Begin construction by cutting outthe parts listed in the Schedule below.Nail the frame together by standingthe four short frame parts on end andnail the long frame part onto them.Use the stretchers as spacers fornailing.Next,nail the 1⁄4" plywood skinon one side.Clamp the two clampingrails into a Workmate using theWorkmate’s third spacer as well.Place the partially assembled box onthe Workmate and flush the rails onone end.Leave 1⁄2" overhang on theside with thehandles.Markthe locationsof the rails onthe 1⁄4" plywoodand turn the boxover.Drill pilot holesinto the plywood liningthe box up on thepencil marks and at-tach the rails.Nowattach the other skinon the top side of thebox.Finish sand andapply two coats offinish.

Depending onhow loose a fit youwant, you mighthave to take a1⁄16" cut off of thewidth of theWorkmate'smiddle spacer.As designedthe riser boxesare 1⁄4" lowerthan theheight of thesaw table.Thisis so you canadjust for any irregularities in thefloor and still have a surface level tothe saw table.

Torsion BoxesNo. Item Dimensions T W L2 Sides 3⁄4" x 31⁄2" x 30"3 Stretchers 3⁄4" x 31⁄2" x 9"4 Studs 3⁄4" x 31⁄2" x 221⁄2"2 Skins 1⁄4" x 24" x 30"2 Clamping rails 1⁄2" x 13⁄4" x 30"

Use the diagram above to lay out the support blocking for sheet metal in the dust diverter.Whenyou’ve built the drawer, take an oversized piece of sheet metal and start by attaching it to the cleat onthe back of the drawer front. Gently force the metal into the mold and screw in place.Tap the edgeover with a hammer and screw this lip into place. Attach door weather stripping to the parts of thediverter that may leak dust when it's slid in or out of the case.

3/4" x 1" cleat

Blocking to

3/4" x 4 3/16" x 13 1/2"

1/4" x 14" x 23"

3/4" x 3 7/8" x 21 3/4" sides

accept pan

bottom

front

1 1/2" x 1 1/2" block with 4"

radius

3/4" X 3 7/8" X 6"

overhangs the edge of the cabinet. Europeanhardware is designed to use a hole creat-ed by a 32mm Forstner bit. A 13⁄8" Forstnerbit is close enough. The plate gets mount-ed to the inside of the cabinet per the man-ufacturers instructions. Attach the draw-er fronts with screws through the drawerboxes. Attach the drawer/door pulls andset the case on the floor.

Once you get everything fit, it’s timefor finishing the cabinet and innards withtwo coats of clear lacquer. Take all of thehardware off to do this as it might gum upthe slides and hinges, and it leaves unfin-ished spots on the drawers and doors.

Making the Whole from the PartsIt’s now time to attach the two outer casesto the center case. Attach the large caseto the left end of the center case withthe drawer/doors facing to the left. Attachthe small case centered on the right enddoors facing to the right. This will housethe router table assembly which will beaddressed in a future issue. Once you at-

tach the top to the cases the whole unit isquite sturdy.

In the next issue, I’ll show you howto trick out your saw with a versatile mi-tering sled that can be stored in the slotnext to the rollout shelf unit. You can cross-cut with it all day long. Next we’ll con-struct the router table part of the shop thatcan be quickly set up to work as a jointer.Finally we’ll get started on the reason webuilt the Mark II: building projects. PW

Elevation Profile

3/4"

17 3/4"

3/4"

9"3/4"

29"

1/2"1/4"23 1/2"

25"1/2"1/4"

1/4"x 3/4" dado

3/4"

17 3/4"

3/4"

9"3/4"

29"

16 1/2"18"

1/2"1/4"

1/2"1/4" 16"

17 1/2"

3/4"

27 1/2"

3/4"

29"

12 1/4"13 3/4"

3/4"

Elevation Profile

3/4"

27 1/2"

3/4"

29"

Router cabinet

General storage cabinet

3/4"

3/4" 3/4"

$500 Shop • Old CabinetsNo. Item Dimensions T W LRouter Cabinet

2 Ends 3⁄4" x 13" x 29"1 Back 3⁄4" x 17" x 283⁄4"1 Bottom 3⁄4" x 13" x 17"1 Top stretcher (front) 3⁄4" x 4" x 17"1 Door 3⁄4" x 171⁄2" x 145⁄8"1 Drawer front 3⁄4" x 171⁄2" x 3" 1 Drawer subfront 1⁄2" x 21⁄2" x 157⁄16"1 Drawer back 1⁄2" x 2" x 157⁄16"2 Drawer sides 1⁄2" x 21⁄2" x 12"1 Drawer bottom 1⁄4" x 113⁄4" x 157⁄16"1 Drawer front 3⁄4" x 171⁄2" x 37⁄8"1 Drawer subfront 1⁄2" x 31⁄2 " x 141⁄2"1 Drawer back 1⁄2" x 3" x 141⁄2"2 Drawer sides 1⁄2" x 31⁄2" x 12"1 Drawer bottom 1⁄4" x 113⁄4 " x 141⁄2"1 Drawer front 3⁄4" x 171⁄2" x 7"1 Drawer subfront 1⁄2" x 6" x 141⁄2"1 Drawer back 1⁄2" x 51⁄2" x 141⁄2"1 Drawer side 1⁄2" x 6" x 12"1 Drawer bottom 1⁄4" x 113⁄4 " x 141⁄2"

General Storage Cabinet2 Ends 3⁄4" x 171⁄4" x 29"1 Back 3⁄4" x 241⁄2" x 281⁄2" 1 Bottom 3⁄4" x 171⁄4" x 241⁄2"2 Stretchers 3⁄4" x 4" x 241⁄2"1 Rail 3⁄4" x 4" x 241⁄4"1 Drawer front 3⁄4" x 25" x 4"1 Drawer subfront 1⁄2" x 3" x 22"1 Drawer back 1⁄2" x 21⁄2" x 22"2 Drawer sides 1⁄2" x 3" x 16"2 Drawer bottoms 1⁄4" x 153⁄4" x 22"1 Drawer front 3⁄4" x 25" x 53⁄4"1 Drawer subfront 1⁄2" x 41⁄2" x 22"1 Back 1⁄2" x 4" x 22"2 Sides 1⁄2" x 41⁄2" x 16"2 Doors 3⁄4" x 127⁄16" x 183⁄4"

SuppliesFrom Lee Valley 800-871-8158:4- Casters - $10.95 ea.

Item #00K2001 10- Threaded inserts - $1.30

Item #00N1025

From Rockler 800-279-4441:2 pr - Hinges - $13.29 pr.

Item #345957 pr - Drawer slides - $5.99 pr.

Item #34876

From Grizzly 800-523-4777:G1022 Table Saw with 70" extension tubes (G1187) - $ 494.95

Use a European hinge that will allow the door toswing free of the rollout shelves and not hit theadjoining cabinets.

When I was about 12, I made my firstpinhole camera from a Quaker Oats con-tainer, a scrap of tin foil and electrical tape.I took a picture of a sculpture at a localcommunity college, developed the filmand was intoxicated with the results. Becausethe film had been curved against the backof the oatmeal container, thephoto was wildlydistorted — itlooked like thesidewalk aroundthe sculpture wasleaping into the sky.

A few months ago I sawsome wooden pinhole camerasfor sale in a photographic supplies cat-alog. I briefly thought about ordering oneuntil I saw the price, about $100, plus youhad to buy the film back. Ouch. So I didwhat any self-respecting woodworker woulddo. I headed for the shop.

This pinhole camera is my fourth pro-totype. I first played around with trying tobuild one that would take Polaroid film (amessy disaster). Then I toyed with medi-um-format 120 film (too much engineer-ing). Finally, I decided simplicity was best.This camera uses a 4" x 5" film back thatholds two pieces of 4" x 5" sheet film. Youload the film into the film back in a darkcloset. Then you put the plastic film backinto the camera. When you’re ready tomake a picture, you remove what’s calleda “dark slide,” and this begins the expo-sure. To stop the exposure, you replace thedark slide. Then you take the film to thelab. The film isn’t cheap (about $2 a shot),

but the quali-ty makes up for the price.

You can enlarge 4" x 5"s to an im-pressive size. Here’s how to make your owncamera:

Make the PinholeWhen building a pinhole camera, one ofthe most important things is the distancebetween the pinhole and the film. This iscalled the “focal length.” For every sizepinhole, there is an optimal focal length.If your focal length isn’t correct, your imagewill be blurrier than it should be. This cam-era uses a pinhole that is .016" in diame-ter (about 1⁄64"). The focal length is (andI hate to do this to you) 120 millimeters.If you’re not daring, you can order a set ofa dozen pre-cut pinhole apertures from thecompany listed in the supplies box. Ormake your own by poking a hole in a very

thin piece of 11⁄2" x 11⁄2" aluminum sheetmetal with a needle. Examine your progresswith a magnifying glass. When your holeis 1⁄64", file the burr off the exit hole.

Build the BoxSimple stuff here. The top and bottom areglued into rabbets in the sides. The frontis attached using cleats. The back is hingedand also rests in rabbets in the sides. Beginby cutting your pieces to size. Cut 1⁄2" x 1⁄4"rabbets on three edges of both side pieces.Glue the top and bottom into the rabbets,clamp and let dry. Now put the film backin place and mark where the three “filmholders” will go. These hold the film backin place when you shut the back of thecamera. Glue the holders in place. Addlightweight foam weather-stripping to theholders and the back edge of the top. Thesewill help seal out light and give you a tight

Build your own working camera this weekend.by Christopher Schwarz

Pinhole CAMERA

fit. Now fit the back of thecamera. You might need tomake a saw kerf cut on theback to accommodate araised lip on the film back.Attach the hinges and adda shutter latch (the kindfor shutters in your home)to the back to keep the cam-era’s back shut. Glue thetwo cleats inside the cam-era flush to the front. Thesehelp keep the front in place. Paint the in-side of the camera flat black.

The front is simple. The only im-portant thing is to bore a 1"diameter hole in thedead center. I also cuta curve on my frontwith a band saw. Nowattach your pinholeaperture with electri-cal tape. Measure yourfocal length and shimthe aperture with elec-trical tape or thin slicesof wood if necessary.Glue the front to thecleats on the case.

To allow your camera to be mount-ed to a tripod, install a 1⁄4" x 20 tpi thread-ed insert into the tripod mount piece. Glue

and screw it to the bottom of the cam-era. Add a couple coats of clear finish, and

you’re ready to take pictures.

Test DriveExposure times are longfor pinhole cameras. Infull sun, this size pin-hole needs about 10 sec-onds of exposure using50 ASA film. On cloudydays, expect about 40seconds. If you have alight meter, here’s howto determine the expo-

sure for this size pinhole. Setthe meter to f64 and take a read-

ing to get the exposure time. Multiplythat time by 20. That’s your exposuretime.Before your exposure, make sure your

camera isn’t going to move. And keep inmind that this will be a wide-angle shot,so try to get close to your subject. Don’t beafraid to experiment. For example, to makeit look like a ghost is walking through yourphoto, have someone stand still in theframe for about half the exposure time.Shots with waves or water will look sur-real with the long exposures. PW

SuppliesCalumet • 888-888-9083Lisco Regal II 4 x 5 film holder, item#LS4500,$18.95Pinhole aperture set, item#PY3005,$29.95

Hardware1" x 1" hinges (2)Shutter latch (1)1⁄4" x 20 tpi threaded insert (1)

Cincinnati’s Union Terminal—now the home to several museums—in full sunlight.This exposure was about 12 seconds with 50 ASA Fuji Velvia.Notice the cloudsmoving in the background (left).The Roebling Suspension bridge (the prototype forthe Brooklyn Bridge) seen from Covington, Kentucky, at sunset on 100 ASA FujiProvia. (right)

Film holders

1/4" x 1/2" rabbet

1/8"W x 3/16"Dgroove for film back

1"dia hole

Cleats

Pinhole CameraNo. Item Dimensions TWL2 Sides 1⁄2" x 65⁄8" x 55⁄8"1 Bottom 1⁄2" x 55⁄16" x 55⁄8"1 Top 1⁄2" x 55⁄16" x 45⁄8"1 Back 1⁄2" x 55⁄16" x 61⁄8"1 Front 1⁄2" x 65⁄8" x 513⁄16"2 Film holders 1⁄4" x 1⁄4" x 55⁄8"1 Bot. film holder 1⁄4" x 1⁄4" x 45⁄16"1 Tripod mount 1⁄2" x 21⁄4" x 31⁄4"2 Cleats for front 1⁄2" x 1⁄2" x 55⁄8"

Note: All parts are White oak

Borrowing a

Woodworkers are oftenpassionate craftsmen and reluctant de-signers. We like the challenge and sat-isfaction of building things in the shop,but we struggle when we try to designthem. Confronting that first clean sheetof paper on the drawing board, we findthe only thing we can draw is a mentalblank. Then, when ideas begin to take shape, not one of them seems to be original.Frustrated, we retreat to the bench and work from someone else’s design or cobble thingstogether as we go, convinced that real designers must have some sort of creative flair orinnate gift that we too obviously lack.

Design is indeed a creative process, but it is not a mysterious one. No less than crafts-manship, it is a skill that can be learned. Like many woodworkers, I am not a particu-larly inspired designer, so over the years I’ve had to develop a design method that helpsme overcome that initial “blank page” anxiety as well as my meager allotment of orig-inality. I start by letting the basic physical requirements of the project itself generatethe initial sketches. Then I sustain the process by engaging in a little genteel larcenythat I call “borrowed design.”

The method is a practical one, short on theory and principles, so I think the bestway to explain it is with a practical demonstration. I’ll walk you through the designprocess I followed for a settee I recently made for friends. The process is exactly thesame whether you’re designing for yourself, a member of your family, a friend or apaying customer.

Using What You’re GivenThe first step is to determine what I call the “givens;” the physical requirements im-posed on the piece by its function and the desires of the person for whom it is made.Function is a powerful design determinant. And because most furniture must insome way accommodate it, the human body is the most powerful functional determi-nant. This is particularly true of seating. My settee, like every settee, had to be easyto sit down on, comfortable while seated upon, and easy to get up from. Fortunately,I didn’t need to figure out how to satisfy these requirements on my own. My friendshad found a settee they thought was comfortable, so I was able to take the seat height,depth and width dimensions from it. Basing critical dimensions on a personal “testdrive” of a piece similar to the one you want to build is fairly reliable. If you think yourpiece would be even better if you adjusted this or that dimension, consider making amock-up to test the effect. Small changes in the height of a dining table or writing desk

by Roger Holmes

Roger Holmes trained as a furniture maker in England and has beenworking wood professionally and for fun for 30 years.

He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.

D E S I G N· · · · ·A little genteel larceny jump-starts diffident designers.

www.popwood.com 53

This striking “Cantilevered Couch” from Bexley Heath Ltd. (Grand Rapids,Mich.) provid-ed inspiration for the settee I recently built forfriends. Photo courtesy of Bexley Heath

or in the height or depth of a chair can besurprisingly noticeable. If you don’t have“samples” to try out, you can find criti-cal furniture dimensions in a number ofbooks on design. (See the box at left.)

So far, the physical requirements forthe settee were fairly standard — a seatheight and depth for individual comfortand a length that accommodates threepeople with no crowding. But my friendswere after something a little out of the or-dinary, too: a wide shelf-like surface ex-tending along both arms and along thesettee’s back. Both are avid readers whoenjoy stretching out with a book, a drinkand a snack, and they wanted to have allthree right at hand as they reclined on thesettee. Also, they wanted the settee, as thecenterpiece of the room, to accommodateparty guests looking for a spot to park drinksor food while they stood around chatting.

The arm/shelf imposed several physi-cal requirements. It had to be at least 6 "wide, preferably wider, to support platesand books without risk of their being eas-ily knocked off. For convenience, it seemedthat the height of the seat back and thatof the arm would need to be the same. Thechallenge was to support a sitter’s back

comfortably while providing easy accessto the arm/shelf for sitters and for peoplestanding by the settee. The 13" height ofthe back cushions of the “test-drive” Artsand Crafts settee was within recommendeddimensions in design guides I checked.Simple mock-ups I made using cushions,chairs and couches in my house confirmedthat a sitter could comfortably reach thingsplaced on an arm at the same height. AndI knew that the height of the arm abovethe floor, 29", is a standard dining tableheight, so it would work well for peoplestanding around the settee, too.

Translating all these “givens” to papertakes the anxiety out of making the firstsketches. At this stage you don’t need toconsider style or ornamentation, you justestablish critical dimensions. I use 11" by17" sheets of graph paper with 1⁄8" squaresfor this sort of sketching. The squares makeit easy to draw elevations and plan views inscale, and the lined grid eliminates the needfor a straightedge. In a front view for the set-tee, three long horizontal lines establishedthe floor plane, the height of the seat andof the back; two vertical lines indicated thelength of the seat. An end elevation showedthe seat and back height again and estab-

All shapes and sizesGiven the marvelous variety we find inhuman beings, it is remarkable howlittle variation there is in the criticaldimensions of the furniture most of ususe.Dining tables and chairs, for exam-ple, vary a few inches at most in theheight of tabletops and seats, yet thereis seldom a complaint from dinnerguests,whether they’re 6 feet 6 inchesor 5 feet 2 inches tall.The narrow rangeof furniture sizes may not always beideal for this or that individual,but it isserviceable for most.And this is a bless-ing for anyone trying to design furni-ture to serve people in general or evengroups of people as varied as a circle offriends.

Books on furniture design some-times provide standard sizes for arange of common furniture — suchinformation can be, in fact, a determin-ing factor in whether to buy the bookor not. I often refer to Seth Stem’sDesigning Furniture (The TauntonPress,1989),which includes a veryuseful section devoted to standard orcommon dimensions for basic furni-ture types.As a bonus, the rest of thebook is a thorough and practical guideto furniture design. (This book is out ofprint so you’ll need to hunt for it.)

If “one size fits all” is too rough aguide for you, take a look atHumanscale 1/2/3,by Henry DreyfussAssociates (MIT Press,1974).Consisting of just three hard-plasticwheel charts and a slim booklet,Humanscale provides more than20,000 pieces of anthropometric andergonomic information.The faces ofeach chart depict human figures whoare standing, seated or reaching.Byturning the wheel or “selector” em-bedded in the chart, you can dial uphundreds of critical measurementsvisible in the appropriate spots throughcutouts in the plastic.Selecting 76inches on chart 1 “BodyMeasurements,” for example,providesa wealth of data about a person of thatheight.A seated 76-inch tall person, forexample,measures 20.2 inches fromthe floor to the top of the knee. (Metricmeasurements are also given.)Interestingly, a person 14 inches short-er,measures just a little more than 4inches less from floor to knee (15.7inches).This helps you understand whystandard tabletop height and rail clear-ances work as well as they do.

The seating and table chart is par-ticularly useful for furniture design.One side provides measurements forseven different adult body types (largemale,average male/large female,andso on) on 14 different kinds of seating(including vehicles).The other sideprovides seat/table data for children byage and school grade and for adults bybody type.

Over the years Dreyfuss Associateshas added Humanscale 4/5/6 andHumanscale 7/8/9,presenting in thesame format data related to differentdesign problems.Each volume costs$60 — a lot for a book,but not bad fora useful tool.


The design I settledon incorporatedelements of Arts &Crafts and Prairiepieces.

Illustration: Bill Carroll

lished the seat depth; I slanted theline of the back cushions by eye towhat seemed a comfortable angle.In both views I represented thearm/shelf with a horizontal lineextending out about 6" from thetop of the seat back. Simple as thesesketches were, they representedthe essence of the piece — no mat-ter what sort of style and details Iwould add as the design processprogressed, I could not stray toofar from these lines or the piece

wouldn’t do what it was sup-posed to do.

Seeking InspirationSketches generated bythe givens of a piece

remind me of packingcrates — they define the

space within which the pieceof furniture will exist, but theyreveal little about what it will ac-tually look like. Form, style and detail givelife to a piece, and determining them isthe most daunting part of the design processfor many woodworkers. We do not brimover with ideas as we sit with sketch bookin hand. Being a washout at originatingmy own ideas used to frustrate me greatly.Then it occurred to me that in additionto a love of making things by hand, I hadbeen attracted to woodworking by thingsother people had made. A vast amount ofinteresting furniture has been producedover the centuries. Why not incorporate

bits and pieces of what I liked into my owndesigns?

“Borrowed” design is not, of course, aninvention of mine. Through the ages, trulyoriginal, never-seen-before design has beenextremely rare. Most designers swipe, adaptor are “inspired by” (depending on the de-gree of larceny) ideas of other practi-tioners. The cabriole leg had been arounda long time before designers of the Americancolonial period gave it their own distinc-tive treatment. Designers seldom intro-duce something really new; instead, they

transform something that already existsinto something else, something more in-teresting or unusual perhaps, or just some-thing slightly different. For my part, I don’texpect to improve on what I borrow ormake it newly distinctive; I’m thrilled if Ican just meld the various elements I’veborrowed into a workable, pleasing unity.

Part of the fun of borrowed design isamassing a library of inspirational examples.The miracle of photography allows you tofit into a modest bookcase a vast collectionof woodworking from around the world andthrough the centuries. Books provide thebig picture or the in-depth look. Magazinearticles and advertisements lay out an up-to-the-minute smorgasbord of current work;tear out and file what you like and toss therest away. Whether it’s a small detail or anentire room that appeals to you, make a habitof squirreling these ideas away. Books andmagazines aren’t cheap, but the cost is eas-ier to bear when you think of them as pro-viding raw material for your own designs.

Good as they have become, photographscan’t compete with the real thing. When youget the opportunity to see pieces first hand,study them closely, from a variety of vantagepoints — unlike photos, face-to-face en-counters allow you to explore a piece in threedimensions. Snapshots, if you’re allowedto take them, are records of your observa-

www.popwood.com 55

Reprinted with permission from David Phillips

Details of the leg construction from the author’s original drawing.

Frank Lloyd Wright dining roomin 1908.This is where I gotinspiration for the legs

tions for later use. Even bet-ter are sketches. There’s nosurer way of truly under-standing a design elementthan drawing it yourself.

Borrowing in PracticeTo start putting flesh on thebare bones of the settee, Iasked my friends about thekinds of furniture they liked.The simplicity of AmericanArts & Crafts furniture ap-pealed to them, and they pro-duced photos of several Arts& Crafts-style settees theyhad considered. (Includingthe one shown at right, whichthey had tried out and foundcomfortable, and from whichI took the seating dimen-sions). They also admiredFrank Lloyd Wright’s work.They showed me a photo ofa Wright sofa (see the BexleyHeath couch on page 53)with a broad, cantilevered arm wrappingaround its back and ends; it was the sourceof the shelf-like arm they wanted.

So, right away I had a stylistic direc-tion and several specific examples to workfrom. The borrowed design process does-n’t always narrow itself down so quickly.You may thumb through books, clippingsand sketches for hours before you find aplace to start. Or you may find yourselfcoming to the project with a detail or spe-cific example already in mind, one you’vebeen itching to work with if only the rightproject turned up.

My first sketches took a predictablecourse — I tried to graft a wide arm/shelfto an Arts & Crafts-style settee, with itssimple, unadorned slatted frame ends andback. Two problems arose. The 8"-widearm I had decided was necessary to sup-port the books, plates and drinks, was outof proportion with the 3"-square legs sup-porting it. The legs, in turn, seemed toospindly when viewed from the front of the7'-long settee; any thicker, however, andthey would be too hefty when viewed fromthe narrower ends. Second, the Arts &Crafts style seemed somehow wrong. It ap-peared too simple or spare to succeed asthe centerpiece of a large room. And itseemed inappropriate for the cherry that

my friends had set their hearts on. Thesimple lines and narrow slats of dark-stainedoak appear just right in Arts & Craftsexamples, but it seemed a shame not toprovide some broad surfaces to display thecolor and pattern of cherry.

Since my friends liked Frank LloydWright, I decided to look in his direc-tion for a solution to these problems. Thefurniture Wright designed around the turnof the century shares some of the simple,direct character of Arts & Crafts piecesbut is generally more refined and has amore commanding presence. The can-tilevered sofa had presence, certainly, butthe piece reminded me a bit too much ofan aircraft carrier — I wanted somethinga little less strident. Paging through a bookof Wright’s work, I came upon the photoshown on the previous page, of a diningroom designed in 1908. Bingo. The detailof the table leg and top struck me as justwhat I needed for the leg and arm of thesettee. The leg is rectangular in section.Its wider face would be nicely proportionedwith the length of the settee when viewedfrom the front, while its narrower facewould be equally well proportioned withthe narrower end of the settee. Like Wright’stabletop, a thick arm would be nicely pro-portioned to the substantial leg, and its

width wouldn’t overpower the leg. I alsoliked the way Wright extended the leg andnotched the top into it, but figured thatfor the settee, raising the leg just a fewinches above the arm would be more at-tractive — and less of an obstacle.

Wright’s table details solved my prob-lem very directly — I hardly altered themin the final settee version. Borrowed designisn’t always so literal; sometimes what youborrow is the “feel” of a piece, rather thanany specific detail. This is what happenedwhen I turned to the rest of the settee’s struc-ture. When I sketched the legs and arms inplace on the elevations, I knew I needed tocomplement their “presence”, and I want-ed to show off the cherry. I decided that solidpanels in the end and back frames would doboth. But rather than use wide, fielded pan-els, I chose narrow, upright panels, V-groovedon their edges, which have something ofthe same “feel” as the vertical slats in an Arts& Crafts piece.

Doting on DetailsDetermining the major elements is a big partof designing a piece, but attending to thesmaller details is just as important to the suc-cess of a design; sometimes more so. LikeWright, I added rectilinear moulding detailson the legs and a small rabbet around the


Profile and elevation views of the settee

edge of the arm. I echoed this rabbet on thetop and bottom rails of the end and backframes. These mouldings and rabbets, alongwith the series of slightly offset planes formedby the faces of the legs, rails and panels re-inforce the solidity of the piece by giving itdepth. And the play of light and shadow ontheir surfaces adds interest. The importanceof small details was brought home to mewhen I added the gentle flare to the bottomof the legs. I started with straight legs, butthey were somehow awkward, appearingto rise through the floor. A closer in-spection of the Wright photo indicateda slight flare at the bottom of the legs, soI tried the same and liked the result. Theflare creates a small plinth for each leg,settling them comfortably on top of thefloor. (Plinths are a staple of borrowed de-

sign, dating from classical architecture,where they were employed to join build-ings gracefully to their sites.) Small as theyare, the flare’s curves somehow relieve themonotony of the otherwise strictly recti-linear forms of the piece — at least it seemsthat way to me. It is often difficult to putyour finger on the effect of this or that de-tail. Sometimes the best (and most hon-est) explanation is just that it “looks right.”

Of course, practical matters of strengthand methods of construction require at-tention throughout the design process. Apoorly engineered or poorly functioningpiece is an unsuccessful design no matterhow handsome it might be. And unneces-sarily complicated joinery or assembly cansap the fun (and profit) out of the workaltogether. Woodworkers who take plea-

sure in joinery usually have no difficulty re-membering to consider construction de-tails as they design. Joinery is frequently adecorative element itself, but through dove-tails or keyed tenons should fit with theoverall design, not just demonstrate yourskill with a backsaw. Decorative joinery —most often through tenons — is frequent-ly employed on Arts & Crafts pieces, but itdidn’t seem appropriate for this settee.

Joinery and strength, however, werenever far from my mind as the design de-veloped. The settee’s front and back bot-tom rails are the most important structur-al element; they must be strong enough tosupport the weight of three hefty sittersover a span of almost 7'. The Arts &Craftssettee my friends liked included a short legin the center of these rails for support. Thisdidn’t suit the look of my settee, so I hadto beef up the width and thickness of therails to provide the same strength. In ad-dition, I joined the rails to the legs witha long, wide tenon to counter the end-to-end racking forces that would work, in par-ticular, on the front rail.

As the design progresses, I move backand forth between sketches on ruled graphpaper and scale drawings made at a draft-ing table. Precisely drawn elevations ordetails, often at half or full size are in-valuable for working out exactly whatsomething will look like and how best toconstruct it. (Beginners in particular should-n’t hesitate to draw all the joinery in a piece— this can save headache and heartbreakat the workbench later.) Isometric or per-spective drawings take time to make, butare helpful for imagining the piece in threedimensions. But drawings, no matter howaccurate or detailed, have their limits andsometimes a mock-up is the only way toresolve a design or part of a design. Small-scale mock-ups allow you to see three-dimensional relationships that even thebest perspective drawing can only ap-proximate. Full-scale mock-ups are usefulin determining proportions, exploring thesubtleties of a moulding detail, or figuringout a knotty construction problem.

Design, like any other skill, is acquiredby practice. If you’ve shied away from de-signing your own pieces, I hope the “method”I’ve outlined here will get you started. There’sa lot of satisfaction to be had in designingsomething yourself — even if you’ve doneit with parts supplied by others. PW

www.popwood.com 57

My friends liked thesecomfortable Arts &Crafts couches made bythe Michaels Co. ofSacramento,Calif., thatwere designed byMichael Vermillion

Plan, elevation and profile drawings of the settee

I am a certifiable pen collecting nut.When I was younger, my mom worked ina doctor’s office and would get pens fromall the salesmen that came to her office.I never quite got over getting those cheesypens that looked like hipbones and surgi-cal replacement parts. Now, my tastes runtoward the more classic writing instru-ments. This box is a great way to store myprized pens and mechanical pencils.

The box starts out as one slab of canarywood. This wood is highly figured, and youhave to choose your stock carefully to avoidmaking a box that will blow apart on you.A piece roughly 15⁄8" x 31⁄2" x 131⁄4" willyield a lid and box.

Begin by band sawing the lid from theslab. The lid might warp when you cut itas tension is released in the wood, so leavea little extra thickness for restraightening.

Plane the larger part of the slab to 11⁄8"thick. Affix the full-size pattern at right tothe wood. This is the best time to mortisethe piano hinge. Fold the hinge back onitself and place it, centered, on the backedge of the box. Draw an outline of thehinge and rout a mortise that is a little lessthan half the thickness of the hinge whenclosed. Place the lid on the box and trans-fer the ends of the mortise to the lid. Repeat

Tired of losing your prized Mont Blanc in the black hole that is your lapdrawer? Use one piece of wood and‘flocking’ to line the inside to create ahandsome desktop box for your prizedwriting instruments.

by Jim Stuard


Pencil BoxPencil Box

the mortising process. Cut out the ellipseson the ends of the box and sand smooth.Mount the lid to the box. Turn the boxover and cut the ellipses on the lid. Sandflush with the box and remove the lid.

Drill holes on what will be the insideof the box. Cut out the inside using a scrollsaw. Sand the inside of the box using aspindle sander. At this point, rout a 1⁄8" x1⁄8" rabbet in the bottom edge of the box.It helps to do this on a router table.

Rip a piece of Baltic birch for the bot-tom that is the correct width for the rab-bet but is a little long. Place it over thebox’s rabbet and draw the outline of theellipse. Band saw out the bottom and fit itinto the rabbet. Glue the bottom in placewith wood glue. Use masking tape to holdit until dry. Fit two 1⁄4"-thick dividers inplace in the box. Use the lines left fromthe glued-down pattern as a guide. Gluethem in place.

Begin shaping the lid by cutting the pro-file on the top as shown in the diagram. Usea plane and sandpaper to shape the rightprofile. It’s arbitrary as to when you’re fin-ished with the profile. Just make sure thatthe transition from the front angle to theend ellipses is smooth. As a finishing touch,use a rotary tool to grind a small notch inthe underside of the lid front for a finger pull.After finish sanding, spray three coats of la-quer on all surfaces. It’s important to sealthe inside of the box. This will give the flock-ing adhesive a smooth surface to stick to.

Follow the instructions on the flock-ing kit and line the inside of the box. Trya sample piece before tackling the box.Make sure to put masking tape on the topedge of the box so you will have a sharptransition from liner to wood.

After drying overnight, assemble thelid and box. When it’s all said and done,it may take you longer to find your goodpens in that lap drawer than it took to makethis box. PW

Full-size profile of Lid

Full-size plan of box witha location for the divider. Make two copies of thebox and lid drawings and tape them together, atthe centerline.

Full-size elevationof Lid

CL

Line of rabbet cutfor the bottom.

Divider

Pencil BoxNo. Item Dimensions T W L Material1 Lid 3⁄8" x 31⁄2" x 13" Canary wood1 Box 11⁄8" x 31⁄2" x 13" Canary wood1 Bottom 1⁄4" x 31⁄4" x 123⁄4" Plywood1 Dividers 1⁄4" x 7⁄8" x 3" Plywood

Supplies: Lee Valley 800-871-8158 Hinge (#00D50.09/$3.70). #0 Screws(#91Z00.01/$2.40 box of 100). Flocking gun (98k10.02/$4.95),black flocking (#98K08.33/$6.95), black adhesive(#98K06.53/$6.95). Shipping not included.

by Steve Shanesy

clocktall tall clockBrother Benjamin Youngs’

clock is an exquisite example of how a simple

Shaker design can carry across the ages, and still have a foot firmly

planted in two centuries.

Brother Benjamin Youngs’ clock is an exquisite example of how a simple

Shaker design can carry across the ages, and still have a foot firmly

planted in two centuries.

You’d never guess what the most inspiring aspect of building thisclock was. Not the awesome curly maple or rich-looking finish, butsomething altogether plain—the clock’s paper face.

Nice, but what’s so special about it, you ask? It was hand-drawn and let-tered using 100-year old drawing instruments passed down from my great-grandfather, a draftsman, who laid out track beds for the railroads. The set,lovingly stored in a velvet- and satin-lined walnut box, contains calipers,two delicately turned ivory handled inkers and finely tooled and in-credibly machined compasses, and was made in Manchester, England,by A. G. Thornton & Co.

My great-grandfather’sdrawing tools

After experimenting with these spe-cial tools I was ready to put pen to parch-ment. As I did so I was amazed with thetool’s ability to guide the drawing tip, ren-dering the precise lines. In making myclock face I imagined for a brief momentlooking over my great-grandfather’s shoul-der as he sat at his drawing board.

Using this old way of drawing was in-finitely more simple to figure out than as-sembling the various parts that made upthe clock’s works. Most parts were obvi-ous as to their function: the works, pen-dulum, weights, chain, etc. But how theymounted, attached or were oriented toeach other was a complete mystery. Theyarrived in a kit without the first hint of in-struction, and left me scratching my head.Thank goodness building the clock’s case

was easier than figuring out the works.Easier, because I had the help of three

books referencing this famous clock madeby Brother Benjamin, so determining over-all dimensions was relatively easy, save forthe fact none of them agreed exactly.

The original Shaker clock was builtfrom poplar, but I had just enough curlymaple to do the job. One board was evenwide enough to make the 12"-wide front,which is where I began construction. Tokeep the look of a single-board front, cutthe board to length then rip from eachedge the “stiles” at the door opening. Cutout the door opening 30" up from the bot-tom, then 9" from the top. When done,mark the orientation of the pieces. Nowglue the front back together, less the open-ing for the door.

Next, cut a 1⁄2" x 3⁄4"rabbet along the insideback edge and top edgeof the two side pieces.Mill the same rabbet onthe top of the front piece,and on the back edge ofthe top as well. Whileworking on the top, alsomake the cutout to ac-commodate the swing-ing pendulum and thehanging chains from the works (see dia-gram). The front and sides are then gluedup using a simple butt joint to take ad-vantage of the long-grain to long-grainconnection, while the top is glued andnailed in place. Before screwing in theback, fasten cleats to the front and sidesto be used later to attach the bottom panel.

When the case is complete, make thetwo-part base using a 1⁄2"-radius profile bitfor the wider piece and 1⁄4" for the small-er base shoe. Miter the front corners andcut a rabbet on the other end for the baseback. The front and sides of the base sleeveover the lower case about 1" and are fas-tened from the inside of the case.

The upper case that shrouds the clock’sworks uses the same joints for the back andtop as in the lower case. A 3⁄8"-thick railis haunch tenoned and mortised into thesides at the bottom of the front to hold thesides square and in place. When gluedup and still in the clamps, pin the tenons

The bonnet, glazing compound, face, coppersurround and cleats for

attachment.

Horology 101I didn’t know what “horology” meant when I received the big box full of clockparts for this project.Fortunately, I had a dictionary, so I quickly learned itmeans “the art of making time pieces.” Too bad there wasn’t a reference foridentifying and assembling the clock parts. I’m still a long way from being anexpert,but for this project at least, I think I can talk you through.

The “works” are the gears and movements that are sandwiched between afront and back plate.The works for this project are made by Hermle,areweight-driven,require resetting the chains every eight days, strike a bell onceon the half hour and ring the hour with the number of rings for the hour struck.

The works have the stem for the hands facing front,of course,and the pen-dulum faces rear.The pendulum attaches to the works with a narrow,metalpart called a leader.

The works require two weights suspended on two chains.One weight drivesthe time-keeping job of the works, the other provides the energy to make thechimes work.The weights use equal lengths of chain and so are reset at thesame time.

When facing the works, the chains go over the sprockets with the weights onthe outside of each sprocket. (When you set the chains on the sprock-

ets make sure they are not twisted and are seated properly.) Theweights are attached to the chains with an “S” hook.Each lead weight goes inside a brass tube called a shell.Eachtube has two end caps with holes where a rod with threaded

ends go through which keeps the whole thing together,with anut on the bottom and hook on the top.The hands of the clock fit on the stem,which consists of two

parts,one inside the other.The hour hand goes on first andsleeves over the outside part of the stem. It is a tight press fit

slipped on in the appropriate direction of the given hour.The minute hand,on the other hand (sorry!),has a squarebushing and sleeves onto the inner part of the stem. It

must be adjusted by turning the bushing that’s pressed into thehand.A decorative brass nut holds the minute hand in place.

The pendulum helps regulate the speed of the clock. If it’srunning fast,you adjust the brass-colored circle down mak-

ing the travel of the swing longer.Moving it up shortens thetravel,making the clock faster if it’s running slow.The beat of the clock—that’s the rhythm of the tick/tocksound, is also important.Like your heart, it wants to be regu-lar.Tap your finger to each tick/tock sound.The time betweentaps should be equal.Adjust the beat by moving the escape-ment ever so slightly.The escapement is the “C” shaped metal

part in the center upper back of the works. It regulatesthe gear that’s connected by a rod to the top ofthe leader from which the pendulum hangs.

The works are attached to the top of the box onwhich it mounts using two long, thin machine screws.

They thread into tapped holes in the lower bars,whichhold the front and back metal plates of the works to-gether.The works are mounted to a plywood box that rests on the lower case.

Gluing up the top case was made a loteasier by these 90-degree clamps.Gettingthings square was a real snap.

using 3⁄16" dowel stock. After the uppercase is assembled, add a filler strip to thefront upper edge that’s as long as the frontis wide and 3⁄4" square. This build-up ac-commodates the thickness of the door sothat the top chamfered moulding is cor-rectly positioned.

The upper door has a cockbead detailon its outside edge. To create the detail,take 10 minutes to make a simple scratchstock using a flat-head screw. Simply in-sert the screw in the end of a block thatfits comfortably in your hand. Let the headproject out about 1⁄4". With a hacksaw, cutthe projecting screw head in half from topto bottom. Dress the cutting edge (theface) with a file, and use a small triangu-lar file to relieve the back.

Cut the cockbead on the milled stockfor the door frame, then cut a 1⁄2"-square

rabbet on the back inside edge of the stockto let in the glass. Now cut the parts tolength and glue up.

Now, make the last mouldings you’llneed. The chamfer at the top is easy. Runit, miter the corners and judiciously nailit in place. I only used a dab of polyurethaneglue at the center of the moulding because

B

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F

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A

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Cove moulding

Top chamfermoulding

Base moulding

Base shoemoulding

Cleats

Base brace

Cleats

O

CL

3/16" 1 5/16"

Front "Q"

Back "Q"

1/8"W x 1/16"Dgrooves

CLCL CL CL

1 1/16" 1 3/8" 1 1/16" 1 3/8"

3/4" holes

3/4"

1/8" holes

1 9/16" 2 5/8" CL CL

Bottom "S"

End "P"

7/8"

Detail of hole locations in riser box

Top "R"

Tall ClockNo. Let. Item Dimensions T W LLower Case1 A Front 3⁄4" x 12" x 65" P1 B Door 3⁄4" x 67⁄8" x 257⁄8" P2 C Sides 3⁄4" x 61⁄4" x 65" P1 D Back 3⁄4" x 111⁄2" x 643⁄4" PL1 E Top 3⁄4" x 63⁄4" x 111⁄2" PL1 F Bottom 3⁄4" x 51⁄2" x 111⁄2" PL

Upper Case2 G Sides 3⁄4" x 71⁄2" x 15" P1 H Back 3⁄4" x 14" x 143⁄4" P1 I Top 3⁄4" x 71⁄2" x 14" PL1 J Frt rail 3⁄8" x 11⁄4" x 133⁄4" P2 K Dr stiles 3⁄4" x 2" x 143⁄16" P2 L Dr rails 3⁄4" x 2" x 149⁄16" P1 M Face pnl 1⁄4" x 13" x 1213⁄16" H1 N Face cvr 13" x 1213⁄16" C1 O Buildup 3⁄4" x 3⁄4" x 141⁄2" P

Clock Works Stand2 P Sides 3⁄4" x 2" x 43⁄16" S2 Q Frnt/bk 1⁄4" x 47⁄16" x 51⁄2" PL1 R Top 1⁄4" x 2" x 51⁄2" PL1 S Bottom 1⁄4" x 23⁄8" x 9" PL

MouldingsTop chamfer 36" of 3⁄4" sq. • Cove 36" of 21⁄8" sq.• Base 36" of 3⁄4" x 31⁄2". • Base shoe 1⁄2" x 1".P=primary wood,maple • PL= plywood • S=sec-ondary wood,poplar • H=hardboard • C=copper

The homemade 10-minute cockbeading tool in use.

its grain runs contrary to that of the sides.The cove moulding is more difficult to

produce and is made from a triangular-shaped length of wood using the table saw.By clamping an auxiliary fence at a severe,oblique angle to the blade, the part is thenrun with the blade just above the table,raising it slightly after each pass. Thankgoodness only about three lineal feet arerequired because this method requires alot of sanding to remove the mill marksfrom the blade. When finished sanding,cut the miters and attach it just like thechamfer moulding.

You may be wondering how the top caseattaches to the lower. It doesn’t. It simplyrests on top and lifts off to access the works(after removing the hands).

I used the clock face supplied in theclock works package as a guide to lay outmy paper face. Construction need notchange if you use the painted aluminumface in the kit. In either case, fix the clockface to 1⁄4" tempered hardboard using sprayadhesive. Then drill a 5⁄16" hole in the cen-ter of the face.

I’m sure Brother Youngs didn’t use cop-per sheetmetal to surround the face out-side the clock face proper, but I did. I madethe round cutout using a router mountedon a circle cutting jig. It’s a very simpleprocess. When done, I used a random orbitsander and 220 grit paper to put a satin-

like sheen on the copper, followed by acoat of shellac to retard tarnishing. Thehardboard and copper are mounted insidethe upper case on cleats positioned to co-incide with the mounting location ofthe works (see diagram).

The last bit of building is the small boxon which the works sit. Its height is es-pecially critical because that determines

the height at which the stem protrudesthrough the hole in the face. Make thebox using 3⁄4" solid poplar sides and 1⁄4"Baltic birch top and bottom. Note that thebottom is wider and longer. Use the extralength to screw it down. Follow the dia-

gram to position the holes in the top of thebox where the chains run through.

Before the upper door can be hung, in-stall the glass. I used glass from stock I sal-vage from old houses. This old materialhas imperfections in the thickness whichcause ever-so-slight distortions and addsto the authentic look of the piece. Regardlessof the glass you use, install it using glazingpoints and glazing compound.

Now the upper door is ready to hang.The hinges in the clock kit don’t requiremortising so attach them directly. Thelower door is the same. However, beforehanging the door, run a 1⁄4"-radius pro-file on the outside edges. Then attach thehinges to allow it to set 1⁄4" proud of thecase.

It goes without saying that I was justitching to set up the works and check every-thing out. It’s a good idea to do this beforesanding and finishing anyway. Set it upand let it run overnight.

Thoroughly sand all the surfaces start-

ing with 100 grit and progress up to 180using a random orbit sander. Break allthe edges by hand with 120 grit. After re-moving the dust, color the wood usingwater-based aniline dye called GoldenAmber made by J.E. Moser (availablethrough Woodworker’s Supply). Becausethe water raises the grain, very carefullyand lightly hand sand the flat surfaces with360-grit paper. Be extremely cautious nearedges. Don’t sand through the color. Dustagain, then apply a light coat of boiled lin-seed oil. As a penetrating finish, this stepplays an important factor in making thecurly figure on the wood pop. When done,rub down with a clean rag to remove anyexcess oil. Wait 24 hours to allow the oilto dry, then brush on four coats of ambershellac in a two-pound cut. Lightly sandbetween coats to produce a smooth finish.

The unusual experiences of learninghow to set up a mechanical-works clockand creating the clock face from my heir-loom drawing set added a new dimensionto the satisfaction I always find at the con-clusion of a project. I felt in touch with adistant branch of my family tree, rather thanmerely reproducing an artifact from thepast. Some day, should my tall clock findits way into one of my children’s homes, Ihope my name, scrawled on the clock face,will imbue a similar sentiment. PWHere you can see the cutouts to accommodate

the swinging pendulum and the hanging chainsfrom the works.

It’s simple work to inkthe lines for the paperface. After you makethe three circles, use acompass to ink the topand bottom of theroman numerals (far left). Then inkthe straight lines to fillin the numerals. It’s notcalligraphy, so youdon’t have to worryabout curving lines(left).

SuppliesS.LaRose Inc.336-621-1936• Hermle movement #084124,$89• Roman numeral dial

#087172,$4.25• Upper door hinges (2) #085263,

$1.25 a pair• Lower door hinges (2) #085264,75

cents each• Hands #083666, free with purchase

of movement

Front

Location of riser box

3 1/2" 4 1/2" 3 1/2"11 1/2"

5/8"

1 3/8"1/2"2"

2 1/4"

6 3/4"

4 1/8" 4 1/8"3 1/4"

Detail of case top cutouts

1/2"CL

AutumnBasketAutumnBasket

www.popwood.com 65

This unusual centerpiece will make yourscrollsaw humand your family’s

jaws drop.

This unusual centerpiece will make yourscrollsaw humand your family’s

jaws drop.

by Rick Longabaugh

If you like this plan, you can find many others like it by contacting Rick Longabaugh’scompany, the Berry Basket, at 800-206-9009 or at www.berrybasket.com.

his stunning centerpiece holds fruit,flowers and the attention of every visi-tor to your home. Construction is sim-ple if you follow the plans provided on thenext two pages.

First take the diagrams to your localphotocopy store and enlarge them tofull size. Then select your materials from

either hardwoods or plywood. I used 1⁄4"Baltic birch for the sides and 1⁄16" solid-core ply for the bottom and handle. Measureeach pattern and cut out the stock youneed. Now sand it up to 220 grit. Attachthe patterns to the wood with a reposi-tionable spray adhesive (you can stack-cut the two sides to save time). Drill holes

for the inside cuts.Now cut the outer shape and the in-

terior designs on your scrollsaw. Sand asneeded. Assemble the basket by first at-taching the bottom to one side. Secure itwith glue. Then glue the other side to thebottom. Finally, attach the handle andhandle covers and finish as desired. PW

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Pattern overlap line

Handle (C)Stock: 1/16"

Predrill toattach Handleand Cover withscrews

AUTUMN BASKETDescription item Qty

ABCD

SideBottomHandleCover

2112

Cover (D)Stock: 1/4"

Predrill for a #4 x 1/2" flathead wood screwto attach to inside ofhandle.

D

B

A

A

D

B

C

www.popwood.com 67

You can purchase 1⁄16"plywood from Lee Valley(800-871-8158) A 25" x 25"sheet is $12.50 (item#03A10.04)

ClampRackClampRack

by David Thiel

ou may never have enough clamps, butthose you have are always in need of ahandy place to call home. This can be assimple as a 2x4 nailed to your wall, or ascomplicated as a rolling clamp rack asoffered in September 1998 (#104). Wefound ourselves looking for a happy medi-um that would be versatile enough to han-dle a number of clamp designs, and wecame up with this simple six-piece wall-

hung clamp rack.Construction is simple. We chose 1⁄2"

birch plywood for the top and back be-cause it offers enough support and strengthwithout looking clunky. The triangularbraces are made from 3⁄4" plywood ratherthan 1⁄2"—primarily to make it easier toget screws into the brace.

Start by cutting a piece of 1⁄2" plywoodto 121⁄8" x 36", then cut the four dadoes as

shown in the diagram. If you change thelength of the clamp rack, make sure thereare no more than four clamp slots betweenbraces to ensure adequate support. I useda stack dado in my table saw to make thedadoes. When complete, remove the dadostack, reset the saw’s rip fence for 6" andrip the piece in half, forming the top andback pieces.

Next, mark the top piece for the slots,

Stop making a mangled mess of clamps in the corner of your shop. Scrap plywood and a lazy day in the shop is all you need.

AB

C

D

E

F

YY

Know Your Clamps*Parallel ClampsParallel clamps are designed to maintainthe same spacing between the jaws alongthe entire depth of the jaw.Beneficial forpanel and box work,as well as generaluse, these clamps are heavy duty—and soare the prices.A - Gross Stabil Parallel - $32.99B - Bessey K-Body - $34.95

F-Style Bar ClampsThese steel bar clamps have been theindustry standard for years in a number ofdifferent duty ratings.With the introduc-tion of parallel clamps,bar clamps havebecome more popular as a light- or medi-um-weight clamp.C - Jorgensen Light Duty - $9.95D - Bessey Tradesman - $12.95

One-Handed ClampsFast-adjust,or one-handed clamps arerelatively new in the market,but havegained a strong following.Rated fromlight-duty to heavy-duty, they offer rapidone-handed tightening and release forcomplicated glue-ups or for quick clamp-ing during assembly.Some also convert tospreader clamps.E - Quick Grip - $21.95F - Wolfcraft - $15G - Jorgensen E-Z Hold II - $14.99H - Bessey Power Grip - $22.95

*All prices are averageretail for a 24" clamp.

1/2"x 4" slot3/16"x 3/4"

Center line marks

dado

for screw holes1"

1 1/4"3 1/2"

CL

1 1/4"

3 1/2"

1" 3/4"3/4"

45º

dimension

10 7/8"between dadoes

2 1/4"

Details

9 1/4"between dadoes

again as shown on the diagram. The 1⁄2" x4" slot holds the majority of clamps on themarket today. Your clamp rack might per-form better with a different size slot, socheck your clamps and adjust the dimen-sions if necessary.

The clipped corners at the entrance tothe slots guide the clamp bar into the slotwithout banging up the slot. Unless youhave a band saw with a very deep throat

you will not be able to cut all the slots onyour band saw. You may choose to use a jig-saw on all the slots, or use your band sawon some and finish the rest with a jigsaw.

With the slots cut, move on to thebraces. The finished brace is a trianglemeasuring 511⁄16" x 63⁄16" on the two legs.You can save material by interlocking thebrackets. Cut the four braces and sand theleading edge to avoid sharp edges.

Mark the top and back pieces for clear-ance holes used to screw the braces in place.Then drill the 3⁄16" clearance holes andcountersink for a flat-head screw. I nailedthe top onto the back to hold the rack’s“corner” flush while pilot drilling into thebraces. Now glue and screw the entire racktogether.

Sand all the sharp edges, then go findsome studs to hang your rack. PW

G

H


Finishing is a mystery to most wood-workers, but it’s not because finishes

are difficult to apply. All that’s involvedin applying a finish is transferring a liquidto wood using one of three really easy-to-use tools: a rag, a brush or a spray gun.

Finishing is a mystery largely becauseof the confusion created by manufactur-ers in their labeling, and there’s no betterexample of this than the mislabeling ofvarious “oil” finishes.

The BackgroundBefore the growth of the consumer mar-ket in the 1960s and 1970s there was littleconfusion about finishes. There were fewerproducts available and most were boughtand used by professionals who were fairlyknowledgeable about them. Manufactur-ers helped by listing ingredients, some-thing few do today.

Boiled linseed oil was available, ofcourse, and was used by many amateurswho sometimes added varnish to it to makethe oil a little more durable. To make themixture easier to apply, they thinned it withturpentine or mineral spirits so the pro-portions were about one-third linseed oil,one-third varnish and one-third thinner.

Linseed oil (which is from the seeds offlax plants) and blends of linseed oil andvarnish are both easy to apply. Wipe, brushor spray the finish onto the wood; keep thewood wet with the finish for 5 to 10 min-utes, or until it stops soaking in; then wipeoff the excess and allow the finish to cureovernight at room temperature.

Next day, sand lightly to smooth theraised grain. Then apply one or two morecoats, allowing overnight for each coat to

cure. Be sure to wipe off the excess aftereach coat, and leave your rags spread outto dry so they don’t heat up and sponta-neously combust.

Although boiled linseed oil and oil/var-nish blends are easy to apply, they cure soft,so they have to be left too thin on thewood to be protective or durable. Thegrowing consumer market created a needfor something better. Shellac, varnish andlacquer were, of course, available at everypaint store, but these finishes don’t havethe mystique of oil, and they require brush-

ing or spraying, which makes them moredifficult to apply than oil.

Oil/Varnish BlendOne replacement was prepackaged oil/var-nish blend. This didn’t add anything towhat was already being used, but manu-facturers made consumers think it did bylabeling their products with enigmaticnames like Danish oil (made by squeezingDanes?), antique oil (just for antiques?),Velvit oil and Salad Bowl Finish.

Then they attached misleading mar-

This top group of finishingproducts are oil and var-nish blends.They are easyto apply, but they cure soft.As a result, the necessarilythin coats don’t providemuch protection.

This bottom group of finish-ing products are actuallywiping varnishes.They arethinned down varnishes, andare as easy to apply as theabove oil and varnish blends.However, they offer moreprotection and can be builtup thicker.

Here’s how to cut through all the confusionabout oil, tung oil and wiping varnish.

By Bob Flexner

Oil Finishes: Their History and Use

FLEXNER ON FINISHING

www.popwood.com 71

keting phrases to the product such as “con-tains resin,” “protects the wood from theinside” or “makes the wood 25 percentharder” to make consumers think theywere buying something more than simplya repackaged oil/varnish blend.

Tung OilA second replacement was a product la-beled “tung oil.” This oil, which is pressedfrom the nuts of a tung tree, was introducedto the West from China about 1900. It wasuseful for making superior, water-resistantvarnishes, especially for outdoor use.

But tung oil is too difficult for most peo-ple to use by itself as a finish. You applytung oil just like linseed oil or oil/varnishblend, but you have to sand tung oil afterevery coat, not just after the first, and ittakes five to seven coats, allowing two tothree days drying time between each, toachieve a smooth, attractive sheen.

Tung oil comes from China, however,so it has a certain mystique. Because fewpeople really knew what tung oil was any-way, many manufacturers began packag-ing varnish thinned about half with paintthinner and labeling it “tung oil,” “tungoil finish,” or “tung oil varnish.” Othersfurther muddied the waters by calling theirthinned varnish Val-Oil, Waterlox, Seal-a-Cell or ProFin.

Thinned varnish (more properly called“wiping varnish”) can be applied likeboiled linseed oil or oil/varnish blend, or itcan be applied with a brush like regularvarnish. It makes an excellent finish be-cause it looks good after only two or threecoats, cures rapidly, and can be built up toa thicker, more protective film because itcures hard.

Wiping varnish is an improvement inprotection and durability over boiled lin-seed oil and oil/varnish blend, but the onlything new about it is the misleading nameon the can. Anyone can make their ownwiping varnish by thinning any oil-basevarnish or polyurethane enough so it iseasy to wipe on the wood.

The Difference Between Oil and VarnishTo help understand the differences in theseproducts, you need to know the differencebetween oil and varnish.

Oil is a natural product. Some oils, suchas linseed oil and tung oil, turn from a liq-uid to a solid when exposed to oxygen, sothey make effective finishes. But these oilscure slowly to a soft, wrinkled film if ap-plied thick, and this makes it necessary foryou to remove all the excess after eachcoat. You can’t build oil finishes to a thick-er, more protective coating.

Varnish is a synthetic product made bycooking a drying oil, such as linseed oil,tung oil, or modified soybean (soya) oil,with a resin, such as polyurethane, alkydor phenolic. Varnish cures relatively rapid-ly to a hard, smooth film if it is appliedthick, so you can leave the excess if youwant to achieve a more protective coating.

Varnish is as different from oil as breadis from yeast (an ingredient in bread). Itmakes no more sense to call a varnish “oil”then it would to call bread “yeast,” andmanufacturers do everyone a great disser-vice by doing so.

How to Tell Which You HaveBecause you can’t trust the labeling, youhave to know how to determine the dif-ference between these products yourself.

Linseed oil is always labeled linseed oil,

so far as I know. There are two types: rawand boiled. Raw linseed oil takes weeks tocure. Boiled linseed oil has driers added tomake it cure in about a day with the ex-cess removed. I know of no interior use forraw linseed oil.

Real tung oil has a distinct smell thatclearly separates it from wiping varnish andoil/varnish blends, both of which have avarnish-like smell. Only if you are willingto go through the extra work for the in-creased water resistance you get in a non-building finish should you use real tung oil.

Linseed oil and tung oil are always soldfull strength, so if “petroleum distillate” or“mineral spirits” is listed as an ingredient,this is a clue that the finish is either wip-ing varnish or oil/varnish blend. To tellthe difference between these two you’llhave to pour some of the finish onto a non-porous surface, such as glass or Formica,and let the finish cure for a couple of daysat room temperature. If it cures fairly hardand smooth, it is wiping varnish. If it wrin-kles badly and is soft, it is a blend of oiland varnish. PW

When wiping varnishes dry on a non-poroussubstance, such as this piece of glass, they aresmooth and hard.

Oil and varnish blends, on the other hand,will cure soft and wrinkly on a non-poroussurface, as shown above.

What the Finishing Manufacturers Don’t Tell YouCOMMON BRANDS OF FINISHTHAT ARE WIPING VARNISH:Formby’s Tung Oil FinishZar Wipe-on Tung OilVal-OilHope’s Tung Oil VarnishGillespie Tung OilWaterloxGeneral Finishes’ SealacellGeneral Finishes’ Arm R SealDaly’s ProFinJasco Tung Oil

COMMON BRANDS OF FINISHTHAT ARE OIL/VARNISH BLENDS:Watco Danish OilDeft Danish OilBehlen Danish OilMaloof FinishBehr Scandinavian Tung Oil FinishMinwax Tung Oil FinishMinwax Antique Oil FinishVelvit OilBehlen Salad Bowl FinishBehlen Teak OilWatco Teak Oil

Bob Flexner is a nationally known finishingexpert in Norman, Oklahoma, and the authorof “Understanding Wood Finishing.”

WINNER!We’re just glad you didn’t buyhim an acetylene torchFrom the time my son was old enough tohold a hammer he loved to accompany meto the shop and drive nails. One uprightpost in the shop was soon full of nails near-ly as high as he could reach. Some werebent, others were driven all the way in. Ithought he needed a greater challenge.

So that Christmas we bought him hisown tool box, complete with a little ham-mer, saw, square and level. It also had a fewwrenches and a screwdriver.

That Christmas evening, I leaned backin my recliner, resting my eyes, with JimJr. pretending to fix everything in sight. Itwas then that his real talent became evi-dent, for upon awakening from my earlyevening snooze and leaning forward, therecliner fell apart. Every nut in his reachhad been removed.

Jim EllisCreswell, Oregon

Giving Until it HurtsHello, my name is Daniel L. Dole. A fewmonths ago something happened that ...well let’s just say that it took some timebefore I could laugh about it.

I am in the military, and my family andI move every three to four years. Our fur-niture does not always make it.

We had an old dresser that needed help,to say the least. It was about 15 years oldand we had received it from some friendsabout five years ago. I had fixed it up and

it had been braced several times, yet theNavy movers seemed to break it everytime. So we called the local charity be-cause it was good for holding clothes butmy wife wanted something new.

So my wife finally allowed me to makea dresser (when you are on a tight budgetpurchasing quality wood is considered aluxury). So I collected all the materials Ineeded and began.

I am a beginner when it comes towoodworking, and usually my plans comeout better then the finished product. Thistime was different. I was taking it slow andeasy. Once it was together I must admit itlooked great, even store quality.

I put the old one on our back porch soit could be picked up if we were not home.I also had just applied the final coat of fin-ish and all I had left was to lightly sandand wax. You see my porch is my shop. Ihad placed a note on the old dresser saying“This One.” When we came home I founda note on the front door saying, “Thankyou for the gracious gift. It will make some-one very happy, and if you wish to ever do-nate any more items please let us know.”

With a good feeling in my heart I wentto the back porch to finish my work of art,and to my astonishment the old dresser wasgone and — you guessed it — so was mine.So needless to say I need a work shop.

Dan DoleEwa Beach, Hawaii

When Tools Hide in Plain SightMy only comfort in writing this is in know-

ing that the only way people will readabout it is if I win.

My wife asked me to make some cur-tain brackets to hold a hardwood rod. Ihad a set of end caps to hang them insidea door frame, but these had to hang on thewall and come out from it to hold the rod.Because the caps were round, I decided tomake the brackets semi-circles. Theywould have to made up from 1" stock gluedup to double thickness. There were twowindows needing curtain rods, each hav-ing two brackets, each of those made oftwo 1" semi-circles.

Just one problem. How do I make eightidentical half-moon shapes? I figured Iwould just find an object (a coffee can,paint can, etc.) with the right size diame-ter, draw my circle, cut it out with my jig-saw, then cut the circle in half. Havingfound the best way to get my shapes, Iswitched off my brain and set about findingthe right size template to draw my circles.

Then I remembered a large hole saw fora drill that I got a while ago. The size wasjust about right, so I set about cutting every-thing as described above. It wasn’t until Iwas midway through the long process ofsanding my edges to clean up the jigsaw cutsthat it hit me. I realized what I did wrong,so simple and right in front of me the wholetime. USE THE HOLE SAW AS A HOLESAW!!! I was so devastated at my own stu-pidity I could hardly stand it.

Fortunately my wife, a constant sourceof encouragement, assured me that the onlything that mattered was the final product.

TALES FROM THE WOOD

Share Your Story & Win!Turn your favorite tale from the woodshop into a $150 gift certificate from Lee ValleyTools in Popular Woodworking’s “Tales from the Wood” contest.We’re looking for yourfunniest,most embarrassing or incredible story. And if we can learn something fromyour yarn —even better.

Each issue,our editors choose the best tale and print it here.Runners-up receive aVeritas Marking Gauge (shown at right) from Lee Valley Tools, the catalog company thatfeatures an impressive array of quality woodworking tools, supplies and accessories.One final rule:Please,no stories about people getting hurt.That’s not funny.

To make things easier, you can e-mail your tale and daytime phone number to us [email protected] or mail it to:Tales from the Wood • Popular Woodworking •1507 Dana Ave. • Cincinnati,OH 45207.All entries become the property of PopularWoodworking.

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Readers’ most amazingworkshop stories.

Not really believing her I grudgingly acceptedthe idea that it wasn’t that big of a deal. Everyonce in a while you need to step back andget a little perspective on the project.

Tim Carmody Lake Mary, Florida

My First Table Was Built For Fine China With Bent NailsWhen I was 6 years old in the mid-twen-ties, my sister got a real china set with fourcups, four saucers, four plates and a set ofsilverware. During warm summer weath-er she would play outside and had to playwith the set on the ground. So I decidedthat she needed a table.

Next to our house was a furniture ware-house, and I would go there and see the manuncrate the furniture. I asked if I could havethe wood, and he would say, “take it.” It wasoak, about 4 inches wide, and I took someboards and cut them for the legs of the table.I took the nails out and straightened themon a brick with my father’s hammer.

Next, I found a box and took it apart,

and joined the ends together, batten tobatten, so there was a space between for amake-believe drawer. When I tried to nailthe oak legs on, the nails kept bending. Ithen decided that if I used the ends of thepieces with the holes that were alreadythere, I could nail the legs on. I had noruler to measure with, so everything wasguess work. I think the table was about 16inches square and about the same height.

My sister was very pleased, and wewould kneel by it and pretend we werehaving lunch. I think that was my intro-duction to woodworking.

James W. MahonChesterfield, Virginia

Outside Dimensions vs. Inside Dimensions.What’s the Difference?Last summer, my wife asked if I could makea box to hold the mail that usually sits ina pile on the counter top. Knowing thatthis would be a great weekend project, Iwas more than happy to oblige.

I proceeded to measure various en-velopes to make sure that I had the propersize box. I then made a box that was truly awork of art. I took my time and picked outthe perfect piece of walnut, practiced myjoinery with dovetail joints, then sandedand finished the box to a gloss finish.

I returned from my workshop with this work of art in hand and a head as bigas Alaska. Expecting my wife to spend hourstelling me what a beautiful box it was, thefirst thing she said was, “It looks small.” Myresponse was, “It is not too small! Do I haveto show you everything?” I then proceededto prove her wrong. I put an envelope intothe box—only to find out that it didn’t fit!My mistake was I made the outside of thebox to the inside dimensions I had mea-sured from the envelopes.

The box now sits on my workbench asa humble reminder of two lessons learned.The first is to measure twice, cut once. Thesecond is that my wife is always right. PW

John BloemerSun Prairie, Wisconsin

www.popwood.com 75

Michael Romanos and I had receivedhundreds of calls after an article had

appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer aboutour efforts to turn downed urban trees intolumber for woodworking. So when localattorney Lewis Gatch called about a largebur oak that had been blown over in a re-cent storm, I thought, “One more yard,one more fallen tree.”

I have seen large trees in northern Cal-ifornia’s Muir Woods. And my wife and Ionce spent most of a Sunday in the LoireValley in France searching out the largestand oldest oak tree in France (about 350years old). Even so, I wasn’t prepared forwhat I saw when we visited the Gatch fam-ily farm to see the fallen bur oak.

Though most of the giant tree was lyingon the ground, I was still awedby the size of the stump and thelimbs. The trunk was roughly10' in diameter. The largestlimbs were between 3' and 4' indiameter, the size of the trunksof mature oaks growing in thisarea. This was the largest tree Ihad ever seen outside northernCalifornia. It was much largerthan the oldest oak in France.

What had taken some five cen-turies to grow was destroyed in amatter of minutes by a storm in thespring of 1996. Countless stormsand tornadoes had passed by thistree in five centuries, and the treehad survived them all. So why hadthe wind knocked it down now? Dur-ing the past half century, the heart-wood had slowly rotted out, and thevoid had been filled with concrete.Finally, the tree’s thin layer of sapwoodand what was left of its heartwood couldno longer support the weight of massive

limbs that reached outover 100 feet from the trunk. In the midstof fallen limbs and pieces of shatteredtrunk, the concrete that had been poured

into it stood like a headstone. For the Gatch family, this

was not the loss of just anothertree but more like the death of

one of their own. The bur oak hadbeen a silent participant in family gather-ings and events since 1849. In that year,the land where it stood and the nearby

Bur OakFor Sam Sherrill, this huge old tree had one morelesson to give at the end of its life.

By Sam Sherrill

Gatch beneath the tree on the hisfarm in Milford,Ohio.At his request,his funeral service was held beneaththe tree, the eulogy delivered byOhio Governor John M.Pattison(above).

The author with the table,which sitsin the basement of the Gatch farm-house.Norm Abram visited thefarm last year, and the table, treeand process the author wentthrough to harvest the wood wasfeatured this year on “The NewYankee Workshop” (left).



WOOD TYPES

stone house, built in 1826, had been pur-chased by “Black Jack” John Gatch. Chil-dren had climbed the tree’s trunk andswung from its limbs, successive genera-tions of the family had picnicked beneathit on summer days, and had even beenmarried beneath its green canopy. At hisown request, Black Jack’s funeral servicewas held beneath the tree.

The Trouble BeginsBecause the trunk was hollowed out, wecut all the lumber from the limbs of thetree and took it to a large sawmill and kiln.When my wife, Pat, and I drove up to takedelivery, the mill owner told me that thewood was not very good, more suited hethought for pallets or firewood, noting thatlumber from tree limbs is considered stresswood and difficult to work.

Only after we got home and began un-loading it did I understand the mill owner’scomment and the challenge ahead. Thelumber had cupped, bowed, warped andchecked. In short, it had contorted itselfin every possible way during drying. Thefirst project I had planned was a 9' trestletable adapted from plans from “The NewYankee Workshop.” I wanted to finish thistable by late November so the Gatch fam-ily could have its traditional Thanksgiv-ing meal on it at the old stone house onthe family farm.

My first challenge was to find fourboards at least 8' long and 8" to 10" widefor the table top. Out of almost 200 boardstotaling about 1,100 board feet, only fourmet my requirements.

The grain was unique and beautiful.Bookmatched pieces created Rorshach pat-terns that looked like animal faces fromone angle and devilish human faces fromanother. The price for this beautiful figurewas tearout, which led to frustration andgroping for new combinations of old ex-pletives.

At this point, the boards had been in

my basement work-shop for several weeks.In coming to theirequilibrium moisturecontent, they bowed abit more. Using oaksplines the full lengthof each board, Iclamped the one bend-ing up to the one bend-ing down in hopes of azero net bow. Once allfour were glued, eachone-at-a-time with every clamp I own, Ihad finally finished constructing the top.It weighed in at about 80 pounds. Tearoutwas removed at a local millwork compa-ny that ran the top through its 48" drumsander.

The two trestles and the stretcher thatholds them together were easier to build.I managed to complete constructing thetable by early November. I applied fourcoats of semi-gloss polyurethane in timefor delivery before Thanksgiving.

Later, Gatch told me that he and hisfamily were grateful for my effort andthough they missed the bur oak, havingthe table there meant that the oldest mem-ber of their family was once again in theirmidst. At our own dinner on Thanksgiv-ing Day, I was simply thankful that I hadbeen able to finish the table on time. ButI also realized that I had created somethingof deep personal value for the Gatch fam-ily from a tree that was a sapling about thetime Columbus set sail for the New World.The wood had resisted me as the tree hadwithstood the passage of nearly 500 years.In that light, I accepted the challenge itposed then and continues to pose as I amcommissioned to build more pieces of fur-niture for other members of the Gatch fam-ily. PW

Bur OakQuercus macrocarpa

Other Common Names: Blue oak,Cucharillo,Encino,Mamecillo,Mossyovercup oak,Roble,Scrub oak

GrowingRegions:Throughout NorthAmerica.According toWoods of theWorld,bur oak isoften found on dryuplands, limestoneand gravellyridges, sandy

plains, and loamy slopes to moistflood plains of streams.

Characteristics of Tree: Bur oaks attain a height of 50 to 80feet and diameters of 24 to 48inches.

Characteristics of Wood: The sapwood is whitish to lightbrown in color,and the heartwoodvaries from light tan or pale yellow-brown to a dark brown.The woodmay also have a pinkish tinge.Likeother oaks,the grain is open.Rays aretypically longer than those in red oak.Crotches,swirls and burls are occa-sionally present,and plainsawnboards have a plumed or flare-grained appearance.The grain pat-tern is tighter,and figuring is usuallylower in riftsawn lumber.Quartersawn materials often have aflake pattern that is sometimesreferred to as tiger rays or butterflies.

Finishing Characteristics: Like other oaks,bur oak has a hightannin content, so some finishingproducts,especially those that aremostly water,may turn the woodgreen or brown.

Workability: Individual pieces of wood can varyfrom being easy to work to quitedifficult.The wood glues well, butyou should pilot drill for nailing toavoid splits.Bur oak sands well andis easy to manipulate while steam-bending.

Common uses: Flooring,mine timbers, railroadties, veneer, stakes, sub-flooring,utility poles

Availability: Rare in some regions.

Special Features: According to Woods of the World,bur oak’s working properties de-pend to a large extent on the rateof growth of the individual trees.Slow-grown Appalachian trees cutmore easily.Faster-grown southernspecies are harder.


Sam Sherrill is a professor at the University ofCincinnati and a founder of the Trees to Fur-niture program.


What is Trees to Furniture?A few years ago,Sam Sherrill and Michael Romanos started harvestingdowned urban lumber and turning it into wood for their woodworking pro-jects.We thought it was such a good idea that we now try to hook up like-minded woodworkers across the country to keep these downed trees out ofthe landfill and provide lumber for projects (at about 50 to 60 cents a boardfoot). If you would like more information on the program,write to:Trees toFurniture • 1507 Dana Ave. • Cincinnati,OH 45207.Or you can visit Wood-Mizer’s website at:www.woodmizer.com or the site at:oz.uc.edu/trees

www.popwood.com 85

CARTOON

Submit your caption(s) for this issue’s cartoon on a postcard to Popular Woodworking,Cartoon Caption #37,1507 Dana Ave.,Cincinnati,OH 45207 by August 25,1999.Winners will be chosen by the editorial staff.

The winner will receive Makita's LS1013 10" sliding compound miter saw.Chosen as one of PopularWoodworkings' Best New Tools of 1998, this 13-amp,dual-rail saw bevels from zero to 45 degrees tothe left and right, and is one of the favorite toolsin our shop.

The runners-up each win a one-year subscription to Popular Woodworking.

#37

Nick Mihalic, from Munster, Indiana, is thewinner of our “Caption the CartoonContest #35” from the March issue andrecipient of the Makita 14.4-volt cordlessdrill.Congratulations Nick!The runners-up each receive a one-year subscription to Popular Woodworking:“Boy Ed, you really meant it when you saidyou’d drop everything and be right over.” Mark Harwood, from Gaylord,Michigan

“My floor is squeakin’,but your tools areleakin’!” Andrew Kirk,from Georgetown,Texas

“That’s quite a litter box you’ve got there.” Armin A.Hagen, from Pittsboro,NorthCarolina

Illustrated by Bob Rech

#35

“Hey Ed,when you said your business waspicking up, you weren’t kidding.”

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Shop dogs can tell you more about awoodworker than a credit summary.

They have an almost supernatural abilityto sniff out all the rogues, scamps and ne’er-do-wells of life. Last fall my dog Seanietrapped the furnace repairman in the base-ment and wouldn’t let him leave. She hadnever acted aggressively before. In fact,we’d always feared she wouldtake off with the first personto offer her a treat. Butwhen I got the bill, I real-ized I’d been robbed.

And that’s my point ex-actly. Although Seanie is asmart dog, it’s her judgment,her infallible perceptionof absolute good andevil that I really trustand need. And inthis photo- andtelegenic world where everyone looks tanand fit and healthy and smart, I need a ca-nine to separate the beefcake from the BS.

Of course, not every dog is a saint, buteven the rascals can be instructive. If, whenyou enter someone’s house, the dog attacksyou with more fervor than a telemarketerwhose rent is coming due, it’s a bad signbecause you know that the dog is only mim-icking behavior it has seen in its owner.

I find this weather vane of goodness tobe particularly instructive in the world ofwoodworking. I used to be a book editorfor Fine Woodworking magazine. After a fewyears of traveling the country and lookingin the shops of some of the best wood-workers, I came to believe that the merepresence of a dog in a shop was all I reallyneeded to see to know whether to enter orkeep walking. Invariably, if there was a dog,I was welcomed into the shop and couldlook forward to an evening of fine food,good humor and remarkable conversation.No dog, and the resident artiste was likelyto be a prima donna who would scarcely

deign to acknowledge my presence.The way I look at it, merely having a

dog willing to share space with you in aworkshop is a testament to the wood-worker’s character. Frankly, workshops aredirty, noisy places, filled with sneezy stuff,bad smells and lots of opportunities to getwhacked with a board or to pick up a nailin a paw. Most are virtually unheated,there’s never a sofa or wall-to-wall carpet-ing to lounge on, and the eats are poor tononexistent. Yet, if a decent human beingworked there, there was always a friendly,polite, happy-to-meet-you dog thumpinghis tail against the door to herald you in.

Much to my chagrin, I’ve never actuallybeen able to entice a dog to stay with mein my shop, and I suspect this reveals deepand significant character flaws. Well, Iguess I did have one dog, Sappho, whostayed in the shop with me, but she wasnever what you’d call a real smart dog.

Sappho never learned that skunksweren’t just striped cats. On a weekly basis,she’d sight a skunk, catch the darn thing,

get sprayed, and return home withher eyes streaming tears andher mouth foaming, grinninglike she was some kind of idiotsavant specializing in skunk.

Grinning? Yes, Sappho didhave a few redeeming qualities, and

one of them was her smile. She smileda sheepish grin whenever she did some-thing really awful, like roll in somethingreally dead. But her real talent was smelling.She was part Brittany spaniel, and if Godhad slighted her in the brains department,he gave her a nose that just wouldn’t quit.She could smell a chicken bone in a trashcan a mile and a half away, and virtuallynothing could prevent her from acquiringthat bone once she’d smelled it.

Even in her latter years when she wasdeaf, blind and so arthritic she could scarce-ly hobble, that nose never betrayed her. Ourneighbor bought a special burglar proofgarbage can just to defeat Sappho, but itgave her no pause. I saw her sneak off oneday shortly after he bought the garbage canand then bowl it over like a Greco-Romanwrestler doing a takedown. Then she sprangthe lid off with a nonchalant flip of her noseand was in the bones in a matter of seconds.

You can see she was an extraordinarydog, and her case is probably an exceptionon the otherwise perfect predictive rela-tionship between man in the workplace anddog. As a further demonstration of the re-liability of dogs as predictors of quality inpeople, let me cite one last example: 10 or15 years ago in my more idealistic youth, Iused to prowl the halls of state and federallegislatures looking for support for educa-tional legislation. Not a single representa-tive had a dog in his office, not even astuffed one, and these offices were muchmore comfortable than any drafty old work-shop I’d ever been in. PW


Shop dogs and sawdustCanines are a great judge of a woodworker’s character–now if only you could train them to be a moisture meter, too.

Andrew Schultz is a woodworker living inLincoln, Nebraska.

popular woodworking 1999-09 no. 110

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