popular woodworking workbenches and toolboxes

Workbenches& ToolBoxes

$230 Bench:

10 PLANS TO SERIOUSLY IMPROVE YOUR SHOP

MAY

200

5

THE BEST BENCH FOR YOUR SHOP5 Ingenious, Easy & Affordable Designs

4 Toolbox Plans – Stow it All

PLUS• Deadman: A Forgotten Bench Accessory • Ultimate Mission Tool Cabinet• Rolling Storage from Germany

$230 Bench:Better Than Store-bought

Display until 5-2-2005

ON THE COVER

You shouldn’t have to get a sec-ond mortgage for a workbench. We designed a rock-solid bench that’s simple to build and will serve you well for years – for a mere $230.

PHOTO by Al PARRisH

PoPular WoodWorking May 20054

C O N T E N T s

6 $230 WorkbenchYour bench doesn’t have to cost as much as your table saw. For less than $250, you can build a quality bench that will last for years.

12 Power-tool WorkbenchNo one sells a bench like this. This workhorse serves as a traditional work-bench, outfeed table and assembly bench.

23 I-beam Work IslandA little plywood engineering is all it takes to build a stout base that offers loads of storage.by Nick Engler

26 Bullet-proof WorkbenchWe took the best of European and patternmaker’s bench designs to create this versatile, rock-solid workhorse.by Jim Stuard

37 Height-adjustable Modular BenchThis modular system has it all – a height- adjustable assembly bench, two benchtop tool stands and six drawers of roll-around storage space.

42 Sliding DeadmanThis simple and traditional bench accessory allows you to easily work on large assemblies and boards. It’s a great upgrade.

45 Stanley Tool CabinetWe adapted a Stanley classic that organizes and protects a small collection of bench tools.

12

Workbenches & toolboxes

23

42

popwood.com 5

48 Arts & Crafts Tool CabinetMonths of research resulted in this carefully designed tool cabinet that can store an incred-ible number of tools in minimum space. It’s a perfect project to show off your craftsmanship and your tool collection.

58 Machinist’s Tool ChestThis toolbox, perfect for safe-keeping your smaller hand tools, is a great first tool chest or a valuable addition to a well-equipped shop.by Jim Stack

62 German Work BoxWe discovered this clever, fold-out, carry-anything tool chest on wheels in a German workshop. We improve the construction and introduce it to U.S. home shops.

Workbenches & toolboxes

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48

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W O R K B E N C H E S

$ 2 3 0

WorkbenchAfter more than four years of daily hard use, we show you how we have modified our $175

workbench to make it even better. It costs a bit more now, but the upgrades are worth it.

When I built this bench in 2000 my mis-sion was to construct the best bench I could for just $175. When I completed

the project, my plan was to take it to my shop at home to replace my grandfather’s workbench. Plans, however, change. The bench turned out to be so useful that I left it at work and built a similar one for my shop at home.

Like anything in an active woodshop, the work-bench evolved during the following four years. My work habits changed – I use hand tools even more now. And my knowledge of what makes a good workbench has deepened.

As a result, what you see here is the product of more than four years of tinkering and experiment-ing. I cannot say this is the ultimate workbench, but I can say it is a flexible design that can be easily

altered as your work evolves.

The Bench’s FeaturesThe following is going to sound like a description from a wood-working catalog, but keep in mind that the price is about one-fourth of the sticker price of a commercial bench. It’s a good deal. This bench features a simple – and yet versatile – sys-tem for clamping large or odd-shaped pieces. You can secure an entryway door in this bench. You can clamp a round dining room tabletop on the benchtop with ease. A planing stop on the end of the bench allows you to plane material that is mon-

strously thick or even 1 ⁄4" thin. The stop is an easy modification.

The bench is 34" high, so it can be parked as an outfeed table behind most brands of contractor saws and cabinet saws – and 34" is an ideal height for most planing and power-tool operations.

The bench is stout, heavy and designed for the long haul. The base is built like a bed with a system of bolts and nuts so you can tighten it up if it ever wobbles (I’ve had to do this once in four years).

And it is a tremendous value. When I first built the bench it was $175 in materials. With inflation, the price has risen to $184. However, a few years ago I replaced the original wooden face vise with the metal one shown here. I am so glad I did; this vise is much more stout. If you build the bench in this configuration (which I recommend), the price is $230. And that’s still a good deal.

Let’s Go ShoppingFirst a word about the wood. I priced my lumber from a local Lowe’s. It was tagged as Southern yel-low pine, appearance-grade. Unlike a lot of dimen-sional stock, this stuff is pretty dry and knot-free. Even so, take your time and pick through the store’s pile of 12-foot-long 2 x 8s. Tip: Don’t be tempted to use 2 x 4 stock for the legs and top. The 2 x 4s generally have more knots and twists.

To find Southern yellow pine in your area, visit southernpine.com. Fir and poplar also will work.

Here’s the story on the hardware: The bolts, nuts and washers are used to connect the front rails to the two ends of the bench. Using this hard-ware, we’ll borrow a technique used by bed makers to build a joint that is stronger than any mortise and tenon. The Bench Pup and Wonder Dog will

by Christopher

Schwarz

Comments or questions? Contact

Chris at 513-531-2690 ext. 1407 or

[email protected].

Shopping List 8 2 x 8 x 12' Southern yellow

pine boards @ $9.57 each 76.56 8 3⁄8" x 16 x 6" hex bolts

@ 51 cents each 4.08 8 3⁄8" x 16 hex nuts @ 7 cents each .56 16 5⁄16" washers @ 3 cents each .48 1 Veritas Bench Pup 7.95

(see Supplies for ordering information) 1 Veritas Wonder Dog 24.50

(see Supplies for ordering information) 1 Veritas Front Vise 69.50

(see Supplies for ordering information)

Total Cost $183.63

Total cost of project with steel-jawed vise instead of wooden-jawed vise: $229.13 plus tax and shipping

popwood.com 7

Phot

o by

Al P

arris

h

Mortises are 11/4" deepin long stretcher

1" x 2" x 2" tenonon short stretchergets pegged

7/8" x 3/8"-deepcounterbore

3/8" x 6"hex-head bolts

3/8" peggedmortise-and-tenon

joint

3"

3"

11/2"

1/2"

Leg

5/16" washers



Base – exploded view

Mortises are 11/4" deepin long stretcher

1" x 2" x 2" tenonon short stretchergets pegged

7/8" x 3/8"-deepcounterbore

3/8" x 6"hex-head bolts

3/8" peggedmortise-and-tenon

joint

3"

3"

11/2"

1/2"

Leg

5/16" washers

When you glue up your top, you want to make sure all the boards line up. Lay down your glue and then clamp up one end with the boards perfectly flush. Then get

a friend to clamp a handscrew on the seam and twist until

the boards are flush. Con-tinue clamping up towards your friend, having your friend adjust the handscrews as needed after

each clamp is cinched down.

keep you from having to buy an expensive tail vise. Using these two simple pieces of hardware, you can clamp almost anything to your bench for planing, sanding and chopping. The face vise goes on the front of your bench and is useful for clamping and holding with the assistance of the sliding dead-man accessory shown on page 42.

Preparing Your LumberRip and crosscut your lumber. You’ve probably noticed that your wood has rounded corners and the faces are not glass-smooth. Your first task is to

use your jointer and planer to remove those rounded edges and get all your lumber to 13⁄8" thick.

Once your lumber is thicknessed, start work on the top. The top is made from 13⁄8" x 33⁄8" x 70" boards turned on edge and glued face-to-face. It will take five of your 2 x 8s to make the top. Build the top in stages to make the task more manage-able. Glue up a few boards, then run the assembly through the jointer and planer to get them flat. Make a few more assemblies like this, then glue all the assemblies together into one big top.

When you finally glue up the whole top, you want to make sure you keep all the boards in line. This will save you hours of flattening the top later with a hand plane. See the photo below for a tip when you get to this point. After the glue is dry, square the ends of your assembled top. If you don’t have a huge sliding table on your table saw, try cut-ting the ends square using a circular saw (the top is so thick you’ll have to make a cut from both sides). Or you can use a handsaw and a piece of scrap wood clamped across the end as a guide.

Build the BaseThe base is constructed using mortise-and-tenon joinery. Essentially, the base has two end assem-blies that are joined by two rails. The end assem-blies are built using 1"-thick x 2"-long tenons. Then the front rails are attached to the ends using 1" x 1" mortise-and-tenon joints and the 6"-long bolts.

popwood.com 9

Drilling the 3⁄8" holes for the bolts is easier if you do it in this order. First drill the holes in the legs using your drill press. Now assemble the leg and front rail. Drill into the rail using the hole in the leg as a guide (left). Remove the leg from the rail and continue drilling the hole in the rail. The hole you drilled before will once more act as a guide. You still need to be careful and guide your drill straight and true (right).

After you cut your tenons, lay them directly on your work and use the edges like a ruler to mark where the mortise should start and end (top). Use a 1" Forstner bit in your drill press to cut overlap-ping holes to make your mortise (middle). Now square up the edges of the mortise using a mor-tise chisel and a mallet (right).

Begin working on the base by cutting all your pieces to size. The 23⁄4"-square legs are made from two pieces of pine face-glued together. Glue and clamp the legs and set them aside. Now turn your attention to cutting the tenons on the rails. It’s a good idea to first make a “test” mortise in a piece of scrap so you can fit your tenons as they are made. I like to make my tenons on the table saw using a dado stack. Place your rails face down on your table saw and use a miter gauge to nibble away at the rails until the tenons are the right size. Because pine is soft, make the edge shoulders on the upper side rails 1" wide. These deeper shoulders will prevent your tenons from blowing out the end grain at the top of your legs during assembly.

Now use your tenons to lay out the locations of your mortises. See the photo at right for how this works. Clamp a piece of scrap to your drill press to act as a fence and chain-drill the mortises in the legs. Make your mortises about 1⁄16" deeper than your tenons are long. This will give you a little space for any excess glue.

Once you’ve got your mortises drilled, use a mor-tise chisel to square the round corners. Make sure your tenons fit, then dry-fit your base. Label each joint so you can reassemble the bench later.

Bed BoltsThere’s a bit of a trick to joining the front rails to the legs. Workbenches are subject to a lot of rack-ing back and forth. A plain old mortise-and-tenon joint won’t hack it. So we bolt it. First study the diagram at left to see how these joints work. Now here’s the best way to make them.

First chuck a 1" Forstner bit in your drill press to cut the counterbore in the legs for the bolt head. Drill the counterbore, then chuck a 3⁄8"-brad-point bit in your drill press and drill in the center of the counterbore through the leg and into the floor of your previously cut mortise.

Now fit the front rails into the leg mortises. Chuck that 3⁄8" bit into a hand drill and drill as deeply as you can through the leg and into the rail. The hole in the leg will guide the bit as it cuts into the rail. Then remove the leg and drill the 3⁄8" hole even deeper. You probably will have to use an extra-long drill bit for this.

OK, here’s the critical part. Now you need to cut two small mortises on each rail. These mortises will hold a nut and a washer, and must intersect the 3⁄8" holes you just drilled. With the leg and rail


3"

7"

11"34"

7"

6"3"

11/2"

23/4"21/4"17"

23/4" 21/4"27"

1" x 2" x 2" tenons onends of lower-side rails

1" x 2" x 5" tenons onends of upper-side rails

1/16"13/8"

11/16"

91/8"

13/8"

Hole layout on the top is identical on both sides

121/2"

121/2"

41/2"

21/4"

23/4"

23/4"21/4"

17" 27"

23/4"

23/4"

13/8"

91/8"

23/4"

23/4"

11/2"

11/16"11/16"13/8"

191/2"

47"

47"

1" x 1" x 6" tenon on ends of front rails

5"

7"

3"

5"

4" 4" 4" 4"4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4"

3"

34"

6"

7"

70"

70"

Centerline layout for dog holes

5"CL

3"

7"

11"34"

7"

6"3"

11/2"

23/4"21/4"17"

23/4" 21/4"27"



1/16"13/8"

11/16"

91/8"

13/8"


121/2"

121/2"

41/2"

21/4"

23/4"

23/4"21/4"

17" 27"

23/4"

23/4"

13/8"

91/8"

23/4"

23/4"

11/2"

11/16"11/16"13/8"

191/2"

47"

47"


5"

7"

3"

5"

4" 4" 4" 4"4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4"

3"

34"

6"

7"

70"

70"


5"CL

Plan

Elevation


Illus

trat

ions

by J

ohn

Hut

chin

son

SuppliesLee Valley Tools 800-871-8158 or leevalley.com

1 • Veritas Bench Pup #05G04.03, $7.95

1 • Veritas Wonder Dog #05G10.01, $24.50

1 • Large front vise #70G08.02, $69.50

1 • Quick-release steel bench vise #10G04.13, $115

Prices as of publication date.

assembled, carefully figure out where the mortises need to go. Drill the mortises in the rails as shown in the photo at far right. Now test your assembly. Thread the joint with the bolt, two washers and a nut. Use a ratchet and wrench to pull everything tight. If you’re having trouble getting the bolt to thread in the nut, try chasing your 3⁄8" holes with a 7⁄16" bit. That will give you some wiggle room with-out compromising the strength of the joint.

Base AssemblyThis bench has a good-sized shelf between the front rails. Cut the ledgers and slats from your scrap. Also

cut the two cleats that attach the top to the base. Now plane or sand everything before assembly – up to #150 grit should be fine.

Begin assembly by gluing up the two end assem-blies. Put glue in the mortises and clamp up the ends until dry. Then, for extra strength, peg the tenons using 3⁄8"-thick dowel.

Screw the ledgers to the front rails. Make sure they don’t cover the mortises for the bed bolts, or you are going to be in trouble. Now bolt the front rails to the two ends (no glue necessary). Rub a lit-tle Vaseline or grease on the threads first because after your bench is together you want to seal up

3"

7"

11"34"

7"

6"3"

11/2"

23/4"21/4"17"

23/4" 21/4"27"



1/16"13/8"

11/16"

91/8"

13/8"


121/2"

121/2"

41/2"

21/4"

23/4"

23/4"21/4"

17" 27"

23/4"

23/4"

13/8"

91/8"

23/4"

23/4"

11/2"

11/16"11/16"13/8"

191/2"

47"

47"


5"

7"

3"

5"

4" 4" 4" 4"4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4" 4"

3"

34"

6"

7"

70"

70"


5"CL

Profile

popwood.com 11

The mortises in the front rails are also made on the drill press. Make them 11⁄4" deep to make sure you can get a washer in there. If you can’t, try clipping an edge off of the washer.

Drilling your dog holes may seem like hard work using a brace and bit. It is. However, you get an amazing amount of torque this way – far more than you can get with a cordless drill. Sadly, I had cooked my corded drill, so this was my only option.

those mortises with hot-melt glue. The Vaseline will ensure your bolts will turn for years to come.

Screw the cleats to the top of the upper side rails. Then drill oval-shaped holes in the cleats that will allow you to screw the top to the base. Now screw the seven slats to the ledgers.

Finishing the TopBefore you attach your top, it’s best to drill your dog holes and attach the vise. Lay out the loca-tion of the two rows of dog holes using the dia-gram. I made a simple jig to guide a 3⁄4" auger bit in a brace and bit. The jig is shown in action in the photo at right.

Now position your vise on the underside of the top and attach it according to the directions from the manufacturer. I added a wooden jaw to my metal vise, which extends its clamping abilities and is easy on my workpieces.

Now you are almost done, but first you must flatten the top. Use “winding sticks” to divine the problem areas in your benchtop.

Winding sticks are simply identical, straight lengths of hardwood. Put one on one end of the top and the other on the far end. Now crouch down so your eye is even with the sticks. If your top is flat, the sticks will line up perfectly. If not, you’ll quickly see where you need work. Use a jack plane to flatten the high spots. Then work the top diag-onally with a jointer plane. Finally, work the top along the grain. Rag on a couple coats of an oil/varnish blend on the base and top.

$230 Workbench

NO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) COMMENTS

T W L

1 Top 3 27 704 Legs 23⁄4 23⁄4 312 Front rails 13⁄8 7 49 1" TBE2 Upper side rails 13⁄8 7 21 2" TBE2 Lower side rails 13⁄8 3 21 2" TBE2 Ledgers 13⁄8 13⁄8 477 Slats 13⁄8 3 181⁄22 Cleats 13⁄8 13⁄8 17

TBE= Tenon, both ends

With the bench complete, I was pleased with the price and the time it took, which was about 30 hours. When you complete your bench, don’t be afraid to modify it. I’m sure that my bench still has some changes in its future. PW


P o w e r - t o o l

Workbench


You can’t buy a bench that does everything this one does: It’s a traditional workbench, outfeed

table and assembly bench. And even if you could buy one, it would be a lot more expensive

than the $388 we spent on the wood, hardware and vise.

In a world dominated by power tools, it’s a won-der that commercial workbenches are still designed mostly for handwork. These Euro-

pean-style monsters are set up more for planing, mortising and dovetailing, rather than routing, biscuiting and nailing.

What’s worse, most traditional benches are too big (most are 6' long) for the handwork necessary in a modern garage shop; and they are too small (usually 24" deep) to assemble sizable projects on. Plus, there’s the cost. You can buy a decent work-bench for $800, but nice ones will easily cost more than a brand-new cabinet saw.

One of our contributing editors, Glen Huey, found a solution to this problem when he set up his professional cabinet shop many years ago. Huey does do some handwork, but for the most part, his motto is this: “If you can’t do it on a table saw, it isn’t worth doing.”

So Huey set up his workbench as part of his table saw. It attached to the outfeed side of his Unisaw and served as the following:

• a smaller, traditional workbench for work-ing with hand tools

• a spacious and solid outfeed table• an enormous assembly bench (when you take

into account the table saw and its table board)• and a cavernous place for hand tools and

hand-held power tool storage in the drawers and on the large shelf underneath the top.

I’ve watched Glen build dozens of projects with this rig – everything from corner cabinets to a drop-lid secretary – and it has never let him down.

I took Glen’s great idea and tuned it up a bit with

an enormous tail vise, bench dogs and an extra shelf. Plus, I built this bench using Southern yel-low pine for the top, legs and stretchers, and I used birch plywood for the tool box. (If you live in the West, you’ll have to substitute fir for pine for this project.) The total cost of the wood, hardware and vise was $388 and change – less than half the price of an entry-level commercial workbench. If that’s still too rich, you can make this bench for less. See the story “Build a Bench – Keep the Change” on page 17 for details.

As shown at right, this workbench is designed for a Delta Unisaw equipped with the short 30" fence rails. By lengthening the bench’s legs up to 3", you can accommodate any table saw on the market today with the same shopping list and basic bench design you see here.

When completed and attached to your table saw, this workbench will give you a huge area for project assembly – more than 19 square feet. I call it the “assembly acre.”

If you have a contractor-style saw, this bench can be adapted easily to accommodate the motor hanging out the back. If you build the bench with-out the toolbox, the legs will clear the motor with no changes to the design for most contractor-style saws. I checked half a dozen right-tilt contractor saws to make sure this is true. If your saw is the exception, all you have to do is shift the top left before attaching it to the base. If you want some storage beneath, I suggest making one bank of drawers for the left side only and leave the right side open for the motor.

No matter which bench you build, it will change

by Christopher

Schwarz


Chris at 513-531-2690 ext. 1407 or

[email protected].

Phot

o by

Al P

arris

h


the way you work. You can assemble large cabinets on the saw and bench instead of on the floor or driveway. You will have a dedicated outfeed table for your saw instead of a tipsy roller stand. And you will have a bench for handwork that has all the bells and whistles. With a set of bench dogs, the excellent Veritas tail vise will handle every common clamp-ing and holding chore. So let’s get started.

Start at the TopIf you don’t have a workbench, build the top first, throw that on sawhorses and construct the rest of the bench there. The first task at hand is to cut down your six 12'-long 2 x 8s into manageable lengths. Here’s how I did it.

With five of the 2 x 8s, crosscut them at 54" and 108" from one end. Then rip them down the middle. This will give you the 20 boards you need to make the top. You then can glue up eight of the shorter fall-off pieces face-to-face to make the bench’s four legs, and use the remaining two fall-off pieces for the end rails. With the sixth 2 x 8, you can get the front and back rails, a couple more end rails and have some scrap left over for cutting test joints.

If you have a planer and jointer, dress all the wood so it’s true and then cut it to final size on your table saw. If you don’t have these machines, use your saw to rip off the rounded edges. Now bor-row some extra clamps from your neighbor and make sure you have a lot of glue on hand. It’s time to assemble the top.

Here’s some hard-won advice for you on these tops: Assemble the top a few boards at a time. Yes, it takes longer, but the result will be a top that has no gaps between the boards and is more likely to be flat in the end. Assemble your top using four boards at a time, using plenty of glue and clamps (I needed almost three 8-ounce bottles for the job). Here’s one more important tip: If you are going to flatten the top using a hand plane (as opposed to a belt sander), arrange all the boards for the top with the grain running in the same direction. This will reduce any tear-out when planing.

After the glue has dried on each section, it’s a good idea to dress each assembled section of your workbench’s top with your jointer and planer. This will make assembling the top easier and the end result a lot flatter. If you don’t have these machines,

Drill the 3⁄4"-diameter dog holes into the front edge of your bench before you put the top together. This will save you from making a jig later or having dog holes that wander if you cut them freehand.

I built the top in four-board sections and then glued those sections together. Don’t skimp on the glue or clamps – the quickest way to a big old gap in your bench’s top.


popwood.com 15

be careful during your glue-ups and flatten the entire top at the end. Before you glue all the sec-tions together, pick out the section that will be the front and drill the 3⁄4"-diameter dog holes now for the front edge. It’s much easier to do this now than when the top is assembled.

After drilling those dog holes, glue the five sec-tions together, clamp and wait for things to dry.

A Mortise-and-tenon BaseThe base of this bench is built entirely using mor-tise-and-tenon joints. The two ends are glued and assembled using an old-school process called “draw-boring,” which I’ll show you how to do. The ends are attached to the front and back rails using an unglued mortise-and-tenon joint and bench bolts, which essentially are heavy-duty knockdown hard-ware that is similar to bed bolts. These bolts are better than any glued joint and can be tightened throughout the life span of the bench.

The first step is to make a practice mortise in a piece of scrap that you can use to size all your ten-ons. I made my mortises on a drill press using a 3⁄4"-diameter Forstner bit and a fence. You can make amazingly clean mortises this way. See the photos above for details. After you’ve made your test mor-tise, head to the table saw to make the tenons.

I made my tenons using a dado stack in my table saw. The fence determines the length of the tenon; the height of the dado blades determines the mea-surement of the tenons’ shoulders. Set the height of the dado stack to 5⁄16", cut a tenon on some scrap as shown in the photos at right and see if it fits your test mortise. If the fit is firm and smooth, cut all the tenons on the front, back and end rails.

Now use your tenons to lay out the locations of your mortises on your legs. Use the diagrams as a guide. Cut your mortises using your drill press. Now get ready to assemble the ends.

I cut my tenons using a dado stack as shown. I like this method because it requires only one saw setup to make all the cuts on a tenon. First define the tenon’s face cheeks and shoulders.

Then define the edge cheeks and shoulders.

Finally, check your work using the test mortise you cut earlier. This process will ensure a good fit.

The easiest way to make clean mortises using your drill press is to first drill a series of over-lapping holes (far left). Then go back and clean up the waste between these holes several times until the bit can slide left to right in the mortise easily, without stopping (left). Then you only have to square up the ends with a chisel.

SuppliesDeluxe BenchLee Valley Tools 800-871-8158 or leevalley.com

1 • Veritas Standard Twin-Screw Vise #05G12.21, $169

4 • Veritas Special Bench Bolts #05G07.01, $22.50 a set

4 • Veritas Round Bench Pups #05G04.04, $14.95/pair

Woodworkers Hardware 800-383-0130 or wwhardware.com

4 pairs • Waterloo 193⁄4" Full Extension Slides

#WW1690B20Z, call for current price, sold by the pair

Basic BenchLee Valley Tools 800-871-8158 or leevalley.com

1 • large front vise #70G08.02, $69.50

Any hardware store

8 • 3⁄8" x 16 x 6" hex bolts 51 cents each

8 • 3⁄8" x 16 hex nuts 7 cents each

16 • 5⁄16" washers 3 cents each



1/2"

15/32"

Drill hole through tenonat a point 1/32" in towardthe shoulder

Tenon shoulder

Drill hole through legat a point 1/2" fromthe shoulder

Leg

Rail

Drawboring ExplainedBefore glues were as reliable as they are today, 18th-century craftsmen would “drawbore” a mortise-and-tenon joint to get a more mechanical fit. It’s not at all difficult to do and reduces the chance of having a gap in your joint, too.

The key to a drawbored joint is a wooden peg or dowel that pulls the tenon into the mortise. Begin by drilling a 3⁄8"-diameter hole for the peg through the mortise only, as shown in the photo below. The hole should be located 1 ⁄2" from the edge of the leg and go just a little deeper than the wall of the mortise.

Now assemble the joint without glue and clamp it up. Take a 3⁄8"-diameter brad-point bit and place it in the hole you just drilled. Use a mallet to lightly strike the bit to mark the center of the hole on the tenon’s cheek, as shown in the photo below. Remove the tenon and find the mark made by the drill bit. Make a second mark that’s 1⁄32" closer to the tenon’s shoulder. See the illustration at left for more details on how to create this joint.

Drawboring is an easy way to make a heavy-duty joint. Begin by drilling a 3⁄8"-diameter hole through the mor-tise. Now clamp the tenon into the mortise and mark the center point of the hole using a drill bit and a mallet, as shown above. Now drill a hole in the tenon that’s 1⁄32" in toward the shoulder from the mark you just made.

Drawboring the tenons on the end rails

Power-tool WorkbenchNO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL COMMENTS

T W L

1 Top* 3 26 52 SYP 4 Legs 21⁄2 21⁄2 31 SYP4 End rails 13⁄8 3 22 SYP 11⁄4" TBE2 Front/back rails 13⁄8 7 40 SYP 3⁄4" TBE2 Vise jaws 13⁄4 71⁄8 26 Maple2 Toolbox sides 3⁄4 235⁄8 16 Plywood 3⁄4" x 1⁄2" rabbet for back2 Toolbox top/bottom 3⁄4 235⁄8 37 Plywood 3⁄4" x 1⁄2" rabbet for back1 Toolbox divider 3⁄4 141⁄2 227⁄8 Plywood1 Toolbox back 3⁄4 151⁄2 38 Plywood2 Top drawer false fronts 3⁄4 61⁄2 181⁄8 Plywood4 Top drawer sides 1⁄2 51⁄2 211⁄2 Plywood 1⁄2" x 1⁄4" rabbet on ends2 Top drawer front 1⁄2 51⁄2 165⁄8 Plywood2 Top drawer back 1⁄2 43⁄4 165⁄8 Plywood 2 Top drawer bottom 1⁄2 165⁄8 211⁄4 Plywood In 1⁄2" x 1⁄4" groove2 Low drawer false fronts 3⁄4 8 181⁄8 Plywood4 Low drawer sides 1⁄2 7 211⁄2 Plywood 1⁄2" x 1⁄4" rabbet on ends2 Low drawer front 1⁄2 7 165⁄8 Plywood2 Low drawer back 1⁄2 61⁄4 165⁄8 Plywood 2 Low drawer bottom 1⁄2 165⁄8 211⁄4 Plywood In 1⁄2" x 1⁄4" groove

* The top is made from 20 individual boards. With most of the 2x material I managed to get 13⁄8" of usable thickness, however other boards were a bit corkscrewed and ended up thinner. You should be able to get a 26"-wide top with the material list for this project. TBE=Tenon, both ends. SYP=Southern yellow pine.


popwood.com 17

10"

71/8"

381/2"

4"

3"

26"

3/4"52"

191/2"

167/8"

26"

21/2"

3"

21/2"21/2"21/2"

10"

52"41/4"

31"

7"

16"

187/8"

3"

1"

3/4"-diameter bench-dog holes

Bench bolt 3"

Jaws oftwin-screw vise

3/4"-diameter bench-dog holes

Drawer fronts set back 1/4" from face of case

Build a Bench – Keep the ChangeBuying a decent workbench will set you back $800 to $1,400. You can build a bench that is just as heavy, use-ful and bulletproof for a fraction of that price. Here’s how much we paid to build this bench and three ways to build it for even less.

Deluxe Bench• Six 2 x 8 x 12' Southern yellow pine (or fir)

boards @ $10.58 each: $63.48• One sheet of 3⁄4" birch plywood: $42• One sheet of 1⁄2" birch plywood: $35• One Veritas Twin-Screw Vise: $169• One set of Veritas Special Bench Bolts: $22.50• Four Veritas Bench Pups: $29.90• Four pairs of 20"-long full-extension drawer

slides: $26.64

TOTAL PRICE: $388.52

More Basic BenchesIf that’s still too rich for you, it’s easy to make this bench for less. • Less-Expensive Vise: Make the deluxe bench with a

simpler vise (see Supplies box) and make your own bench dogs.

Total price: $259.12• Nice Vise But No Toolbox: Make the deluxe bench

without the toolbox and make your own bench dogs.Total price: $254.98

• Total-economy Model: Make the bench with the less-expensive vise, no toolbox and use hex bolts (see Supplies box) instead of the Veritas bench bolts.

Total price: $137.78

Illus

trat

ions

by J

ohn

Hut

chin

son

Plan

Plan - top removed

Elevation Profile


31/2" 1/2"

Leg

Rail

11/8" counterbore

1/2" x 6" clearance holefor bench bolt

1"- diameter holefor brass nut

3/4" x 3/4" x 63/8" tenon

Drill a 3⁄8"-diameter hole through the tenon at that second mark. When you are ready to assem-ble the ends you will glue and clamp up the end rails between the legs, put some glue in the holes and then pound in some 3⁄8"-diameter dowels. The offset holes will pull the joint together instantly. Hold off on this final assembly step until after the bench bolts are installed.

Once you’ve drilled the counter-bore and the through-hole for

the bench bolt, mark its location on the end of the tenon using a

brad-point bit.

Bench Bolts are ForeverThe set of bench bolts for this project cost $22.50, which might seem expensive. But they are worth it. They are easier to install than traditional bed bolts. And they are much easier to install than using off-the-rack hex bolts, nuts and washers.

Begin installing the bench bolts by drilling a 11⁄8"-diameter counterbore in the legs that’s 1 ⁄2" deep. Then drill a 1⁄2"-diameter hole in the center of that counterbore that goes all the way through the leg and into the mortise. Now dry-assemble the ends, and the front and back rails, and clamp everything together. Use a 1⁄2" brad-point drill bit to mark the center of your hole on the end of each tenon, as shown at left.

Disassemble the bench and clamp the front rail to your top or in a vise. Use a doweling jig and a 1⁄2" drill bit to continue cutting the hole for the bench bolt. You’ll need to drill about 31⁄2" into the rail. Repeat this process on the other tenons.

Now you need to drill a 1"-diameter hole that intersects the 1⁄2" hole you just drilled in the rail. This 1"-diameter hole holds a special round nut that pulls everything together. To accurately locate where this 1" hole should be, I made a simple jig shown in the photos above right that I picked up from the instruction book for the vise. It works

Bench boltDrill a hole for the bench bolt using a doweling jig and a 1⁄2"-diameter drill bit. It’s a deep hole, so you might need an extra-long bit to do the job.


popwood.com 19

like a charm. Sometimes drill bits can wander – even when guided by a doweling jig – and this jig ensures your success.

Plane or sand all your legs and rails, and assem-ble the bench’s base. Attach the top to the base. You can glue dowels in the top of the legs and drill holes in the underside of the top, or you can use metal desktop fasteners with 21 ⁄2"-long screws. Either way, be sure to leave some way for the top to expand and contract.

The Modern Toolbox After all that traditional joinery, I was ready to fire up the biscuit joiner. You can build this toolbox using one sheet of 3⁄4" plywood and one sheet of 1 ⁄2" plywood. I’ve posted optimization charts for these cuts on our web site at popwood.com. Click on the “Magazine Extras” link.

Cut your parts to size and start construction by cutting a 3⁄4" x 1⁄2" rabbet on the back edge of the sides, top and bottom to hold the back. The best way to do this is on your table saw. Cut bis-cuit slots to join these four parts, then glue and clamp up the case. Once the glue is dry, cut the case divider to its finished size, position it inside the case and nail it in place. Screw the back into its rabbet and iron on birch edge tape to cover the plywood edges. Screw the toolbox to the front rail and legs of the bench’s base.

Build the drawers using 1 ⁄2"-thick plywood. Most drawers have 1⁄4"-thick bottom panels, but because these drawers have to stand up to extra abuse, I chose to use 1⁄2" plywood instead.

With the drawer boxes built, it’s time to hang them in the case. Installing drawer slides is easy if you know a couple tricks. Most professionals sim-ply will scribe a line on the inside of the case and screw the slide there. You’d do it this way too if you

installed slides every day. For the rest of us, it’s easier to make spacers using scrap plywood that hold the slide in position as you screw it to the case. Install the slides for the top drawer first. Put your spacer in place and put the slide on top. Screw it in place using the holes that allow you to adjust the slide forward and back.

Now install the slides on the drawer sides using the holes that allow you to adjust the slide up and down. Put the drawer in the case and check your work. Adjust the slides and, when satisfied, add a few more screws to lock that position in place. Hang the remainder of the drawers.

I nailed the divider in place in the toolbox so I could check and double-check its position before fixing it in place.

To accurately position the hole for the brass nut shown in the photo above left, build a simple jig like the one shown here using 1⁄2" dowel, a scrap of wood and a nail. The nail is located where you want the center of the brass nut to go. Insert the dowel into the hole in the rail and tap the nail. Now drill a 1"-diameter hole there and your joint will go together with ease – it’s as simple as that.


False Drawer FrontsInstalling false fronts also can be tricky with inset drawers such as these. The best two tools for the job are some shims that you can buy at any home center and the drawer-front adjusters that install on the back side of the false fronts.

Begin by ironing on edge tape to the plywood edges (if desired) and installing the screws for your drawers’ knobs. Now get set to install the false fronts on the lower drawers. Remove the drawer boxes from the top of the case and clamp the false fronts to the lower drawer boxes. Using the shims, adjust the false fronts until you have a 1 ⁄16" gap on the sides and bottom. You might have to trim the false fronts a bit using a plane or sandpaper for a good fit. Once satisfied, nail the false fronts in place, then secure them with a few screws.

Now put the top drawer boxes back into the case. Drill a couple pilot holes into the front of the drawer box and put screws into the holes so the points poke out about 1⁄16". Take a top drawer false front and carefully put it into position and add shims to get it close. Press the false front against the drawer box until the screw points bite into your false front. Remove the false fronts.

Drill 25mm holes in the back of the false front for the drawer-front adjusters and pound them in

place so they look like the photo at left. Now replace the screws in your drawer box with the screws for the drawer-front adjusters and attach the false front. You’ll be able to shift the false fronts around a bit until you get a consistent gap all around. When you’re happy, add a couple more screws to lock the false front in position.

Details: Dogs and the ViseThe spacing of the 3⁄4"-diameter dog holes on the top of the bench are determined by the type of vise you purchase. If you are using the Veritas Twin-Screw Vise, drill your dog holes every 10" as shown in the diagrams (or less spacing if you please) and chamfer the openings of the holes. I purchased four Veritas Wonder Pups to use as dogs in this bench. You also could make your own dogs by gluing a 3⁄4" dowel into a small block of 3⁄4"-thick wood.

Installing the tail vise is a project unto itself and requires a long afternoon and some precision drilling. The instructions supplied with the vise are first-rate – as is the vise itself – so there’s no need to go into detail here. If you mount this vise as shown, it’s remarkably versatile. It excels at clamp-ing boards so you can work on their ends, such as when dovetailing. With the dogs, you can clamp large panels to your bench for sanding. And with the dog holes drilled on the front edge of the bench and vise as shown, you can secure long boards (up to 61" long) to work on their edges.

If your work is both long and wide (for instance, a large cabinet door) you can pull out one of the drawers in the toolbox below for additional sup-port while you work on its edge. The drawer slides are rated to hold up to 100 pounds, so you should be able to tackle all but the heaviest panels.

One of your last acts on this bench is to flat-ten the top. I removed the high spots with a No. 7 jointer plane, cutting diagonally across the top in both directions. Then I cleaned up my work with a random-orbit sander. Check your progress occa-sionally using a straightedge or winding sticks. A belt sander will take the place of a jointer plane if you prefer.

Once you load up the toolbox with tools, it’s not going anywhere, so there’s little need to attach it to the back of your saw. If you do find yourself pushing the bench around, you could add a shelf between the front and back rails of the bench base (below the toolbox) and load that up with more tools or sandbags. Or you can cobble up a way to

Use spacers to position your drawer slides for installation. They take an extra few minutes to make, but they act like a third hand when securing the slides to the case.

Here you can see a drawer-front adjuster installed in the backside of a false front. The machine screw can wig-gle a bit in the plastic housing, which allows you to move the drawer front slightly for a per-fect fit. Here’s a tip: You can plane the white plastic easily if the adjuster isn’t flush with the false front.


popwood.com 21

165/8" 181/8"

3/4"

1/2"

1/2"

1/4"

211/2"

211/4"

1/4"

1/2"

1/2"

1/2"

1/2"

3/4"211/2"

43/4"

211/4"

1/2"

1/2"

1/4"

1/4"

61/4"

1/2" 1/2"

61/2"8"

1/2"

Bottom

False front

Front

Side

Side

Backattach the bench to your saw’s table board and sheet-metal frame.

Once you get your bench where you like it, you’ll want to rout out a couple channels in the bench’s top to accommodate your miter gauge’s bar. For my saw, these slots measured 3⁄8" deep, 11⁄8" wide and 10" long. Measure the bar of your miter gauge with the longest bar and add a little extra for good measure.

For me, the only real problem with this new workbench is that it begs the question: What do I do with my old bench? Natural selection just weeded it out. PW

Once your drawer front is in position, press it against the screw tips. This will mark the wood for the location of your drawer-front adjusters.

Exploded box drawer

Drawer section

Drawer plan

Drill two pilot holes in the drawer boxes and install screws in them so the points stick out about 1⁄16". Now position your drawer front where you want it using shims.

I - b e a m

Work IslandA bit of plywood engineering is the key to a stout base.


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by Nick Engler

Nick Engler is the author of more

than 50 books on woodworking, plus

countless articles. He is a contributing

editor for Popular Woodworking.

I have set up a lot of workshops in my lifetime. Recently, our little band of pioneer aviators have set up several shops in Dayton, Ohio,

where we are manufacturing the parts of Wright brothers airplanes and assembling them. We also set up a third shop in Kitty Hawk, N.C., which served as a repair station to take care of the inev-itable wing-dings these reproduction aircraft suf-fered when flown. And because the heart of any

good shop is its workbench, I have built a lot of workbenches as well.

With time and materials at a premium, I’ve developed a simple design that we have used in many shops. It’s strong, offers loads of storage and with a few casters, can serve as a movable work island. We found this last feature very important, because we constantly reconfigured the shops as the Wright airplanes grew during construction.

I make utility benchtops by lam-inating two layers of particleboard between two sheets of tempered hard-board. This doubles the life of the benchtop. When the hardboard sur-face facing up becomes dirty and stained, remove the screws from the cleats, turn the top over and replace the screws. Phot

os b

y Al P

arris

h

PoPular WoodWorking April 200524


Illus

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ions

by M

ary J

ane

Favo

rite

A

A

Cleat

Cleat

21/2"

21/2"

12"

12"

3/4"

3/4"

3/4 "

3/4"

Positionof top

Top laminated from two sheets of 3/4" particleboard and two sheets of 1/4" hardboard

28"

2"

18"

24"115/8"

10"

275/8"

3/4" w. x 1/4" d. dado

3/4" w. x 1/4" d. dado

3/4" w. x 1/8" d. dado

2"

60"

56"

34"

3/4"

Plan

Elevation Section A

benchtop to the base and draw it down tight, the factory edges brace the top perfectly flat.

Making the SandwichThe bench can be made almost any size – it’s only limited by the size of the sheet materials you use. The dimensions shown in the plans are just sug-gestions – make the bench whatever size you need. Most craftsmen, I know, will immediately want to make the top a bit higher – 34" is somewhat low for a work surface for most people. But it works for me because I’m a short guy.

Once you’ve decided on the overall dimensions of the bench, cut the plywood parts and rout a few dados to help you assemble and align the parts. Cut the bench ends with three intersecting dados in each – one vertical dado to hold the center divider and two horizontal dados to hold the shelves. Make each of these dados 3⁄4" wide and 1⁄4" deep. Also make 1 ⁄4"-deep dados in the shelves to hold the shelving dividers. Then rout horizontal dados in the center divider, 3⁄4" wide and 1⁄8" deep. You must make these dados on both sides of the center divider – that’s why they’re only 1⁄8" deep.

Assemble the base parts with glue and screws (use pocket screws to attach the shelves to the cen-

A Sandwich of I-beamsThe base of the bench is made entirely of 3⁄4" ply-wood. The plywood parts form three “I-beams,” each beam consisting of two caps and a center beam. The shelves and dividers in the bench make up two small I-beams – the shelves become the caps and the dividers are the beams. These are sand-wiched together inside a large I-beam that con-sists of the two workbench ends (the caps) and a center divider (the beam). The resulting struc-ture is very strong.

A flat benchtop is an important characteristic of a good bench. This benchtop should be flat if you are going to use it for precision work. I cut up the plywood sheets so the factory edge – the outside edge of the plywood as it comes from the factory – is the top of the center divider and the top of the two ends. As a rule, factory edges are pretty straight even if they appear a bit rough. When I attach the

popwood.com 25

2

3

1

1

Rout the dados using a T-square jig. The one shown here is designed to cut 3⁄4"-wide dados. First mark on your work the location of the dados. Line up the dado that’s plowed in the T-square jig with your lines. Clamp the jig in place, set the depth of the cut on your router and make the dado.

Exploded view

ter divider). To make sure that the top edges of the ends and center divider remain true to one another while the glue dries, stretch two strings diagonally from the outside corner of one cap to the outside corner of the other.

The two strings should cross the base, forming a large “X.” The strings should just kiss each other where they cross over the center divider, and they should rest lightly on the edge of the divider. If the strings aren’t laying properly, level the parts of the workbench’s base with small wedges and shims before the glue dries.

Topping the SandwichYou can put a variety of tops on this base – I’ve used both butcher-block tops made from rock maple and less-expensive tops laminated from particleboard and hardboard. Any hard material about 11⁄2" thick will do. To attach the top, screw wooden cleats to the center divider and the ends, flush with the top edges. Position the top over the base and drive screws through the cleats and up into your top piece.

You can customize this work island to serve your own needs with vises, work lamps and other accessories. I usually add swivel casters to make the bench easy to move. If you want more shelves, drill 1⁄4"-diameter holes in the ends and the shelv-ing dividers for shelving support pins, then rest the shelves on the pins. To add drawers, mount guide rails or commercial drawer slides to the ends and divider, then build wooden boxes to slide on the rails. PW

B u l l e t - P r o o f

WorkbenchThis workhorse combines the best of European and patternmakers’ benches.



popwood.com 27

The first shop I worked in was run by a Ger-man cabinetmaker from the old school. Even though it was a commercial shop,

things were done in the traditional way. We used modern power tools, but most of our work was performed on traditional European-style work-benches. These benches were made with a sturdy frame and a thick maple top. One twist was the cast-iron vises on the front and the end, and a row of dog holes drilled in line with the dog on the tail vise. Until a couple of years ago, that bench was the best I’d used.

by Jim Stuard

Jim Stuard is a former associate edi-

tor at Popular Woodworking and now

divides his time on the projects he is

most proud of: his children, his writing

and teaching woodworking.

Then I got to use an actual 19th-century pat-ternmaker’s bench. It was a bit lower than I was used to. It was equipped with a patternmaker’s vise made by the Emmert Co. The vise pivoted 90° and rotated 360°. It also had a small set of jaws on its bottom side for holding small parts. The wide jaws tapered to hold odd-sized objects. It was an excel-lent vise for just about any type of woodworking. Alas, the Emmert Co. is long gone, and unless you find an old one of those cast-iron behemoths, you’ll have to settle for a reproduction. Highland Hard-ware and Woodcraft have a nice Emmert repro-duction, and at about $220, it costs less than what vintage patternmakers’ vises go for today.

For my bench, I wedded my two favorite benches: The bench in the photo is their firstborn. In addi-tion to possessing the best traits of its parents, it has a few options that make it an original.

The workbench has the versatility to perform many woodworking tasks easily. It has a row of dog holes for hand planing, routing and carving. Plus, there is a utilitarian tail vise on one end and a pat-ternmaker’s vise on the front.

Phot

o by

Jim

Sta

ck

Some of the hardware I chose for my bench includes a Jorgensen tail vise, a patternmaker’s vise, several dogs and hold-downs from Veritas, and the bolts for the legs.

Step

pho

tos b

y the

aut

hor



Choose Your MetalBefore you cut the first piece of wood, make sure you have all the hardware you need. This includes the vises, any dog hardware and the bolts for the knock-down base. Begin your bench by laying out the top to accommodate the vises. Measure the vises and the dogs to find the proper spacing they require to operate. Make sure the dogs don’t interfere with vise operation. Next, determine what style of base you will use. My bench when I was an apprentice had four stout legs with upper and lower stretch-ers. The patternmaker’s bench had sled feet, and the base was two end assemblies connected by two wide stretchers. This is the base I chose.

Make the TopThe top and much of the base was made from two large planks of 10⁄4 hard maple (about 80 board

feet). The stretchers were made from laminated pieces of 4⁄4 maple that yielded material about 15⁄8" thick (two boards 7" x 14', about 16 bf). Lay out the rough cuts on the large planks and make your initial crosscuts.

After jointing an edge on each plank, rip the planks to about 21⁄2" widths. The lumber that I bought was flat-sawn. What I accomplished by rip-ping the planks was to turn the 21⁄2" widths 90° and glue them together, thereby creating a quar-tersawn top. This is a desirable feature because a quartersawn surface cuts down on cupping.

Put the Pieces Back TogetherGlue the top together in sections of 8" or less in width. This makes it easier to surface one side on an 8" jointer and then plane to get a uniform thick-ness. Then glue up two halves of the top; and after cleaning these sections up, glue the two halves together. For a little variety I added pieces of 4⁄4 maple into the top for a decorative effect. When you have the top glued together you can flatten the slab. I have an old Stanley No. 7 corrugated jointer plane, which worked perfectly for the task.

Cut your maple planks into 21⁄2" widths. The photo here shows the cuts being made on a band saw. I made a few cuts this way, and then I made the remainder of the cuts on the table saw. Either way, make sure you have a friend or a roller table to catch your work.

Now that you have ripped your maple into strips, it’s time to glue them back together. Use regular wood glue (no biscuits) and make sure the one side of the wooden strips that hasn’t been squared is facing up. In addition to clamping the width of the top, I also clamped the ends to my gluing surface.

See the illustrations at right for the locations of the mortises on the legs and feet. If you don’t have a mortising machine, use a drill press with a 1⁄2" bit and then clean out the waste with a chisel. No matter which machine you use, you will have to clamp your work to the table as you cut each hole. The mortises in the feet and for the top stretchers are 11⁄2" deep; the mor-tises for the long bottom stretchers are 3⁄4" deep.

popwood.com 29

84"

Centerline spacing for dog holes

Bottom stretchers

Outline of foot

End stretcher

3 /7 8"on center

Note: The stationary side of the vise jaw, including the jaw pad, is mounted flush to the outer edge of the top.

Double tenonsSee detail above

7"7"7"7"7"7"7" 7"7" 7"7" 7"

Indexing pegon top of each leg

33/4"21/4"

31/2"

21/4"

513/4"

53"21/4"

31/2"

27"

33/4"

38"293/4"

27"Tenon size:1" x 5" x 11/2"

21/4"

6"

331/2"

173/4" 38"

6"

21/4"

33/4"

11/2"31/2"26"16"

6"

3/4"3/4"

31/2"11/2"

Double tenonsSee detail

31/2"

21/4"

1/2"1/2" x 23/4" x 11/2" tenons

Detail of double tenon on bottom of leg

Profile

Plan

Elevation

Bullet-proof BenchNO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL

T W L

1 Top 21⁄4 27 84 Maple4 Legs 21⁄4 31⁄2 35 Maple2 Feet 211⁄4 31⁄2 26 Maple2 Front/rear stretchers 11⁄2 6 541⁄2 Maple2 End stretchers 15⁄8 6 19 Maple

Illus

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by t

he a

utho

r



To cut the ends square, you could use a very nice cabinet saw and sliding table, but I am going to share a simple, cheap method for squaring the ends of large panels using a straightedge and a cir-cular saw. I have a “Clamp’n Tool Guide,” which is a straightedge with small clamping jaws. The straightedge can guide a circular saw. Simply mea-sure the distance from the saw base edge to the blade and mark that distance from your finish cut line on the top. (Do this with a framing square.) Clamp the straightedge to the top at the offset line and cut the top square. You might have to take more than one pass at different depths if your saw isn’t powerful enough to cut the entire thickness.

Next shape the top so your vises will fit well. Both of the vises came with complete installation instructions. Some vises will require routing in the top, others need buildup (like my Jorgensen vise). Next come the dog holes. I used bench dogs and hold-downs from Veritas. These require a 3⁄4" hole. In order to lay out the holes properly, first measure the maximum opening on your tail vise. In my case, it was the Jorgensen. The maximum open-ing was 9", so I laid out the dog holes on 7" cen-ters at 7" from the dog on the vise. So unless your material is less than 7" in length it can comfort-ably be clamped in this dog system. Next, make the holes in the top for the dogs. The instructions for the Veritas bench dogs show how to rig a jig for drilling those holes.

Mortise the Legs and FeetYour bench height should relate directly to your height. I used the height of my hip bone as a guide (about 38") though other craftsmen recommend your palm’s height from the floor, which would be lower. This is a good height for me because it won’t cause undue back strain. First cut the legs, feet and stretchers to length. Lay out and cut the mortise-and-tenon joints in the legs, feet and stretchers. The short stretchers are mounted flush to the inside of the leg assembly.

The front and back stretchers are mounted 3⁄4" back from the front and back legs. This gives me room to add accessories. To make the mortises, I simply used a hollow-chisel mortising machine with a 1⁄2" chisel bit.

For Sturdy FeetUse a double tenon on the feet. This doubles the gluing surface and is a stout joint. Cut the tenons

Use a dado set in your table saw to cut the tenons. Your first pass should be the one that defines the shoulder. Then make several other passes to cut to the end. For extra strength, make the tenons that go into the feet double tenons. After you make the standard tenon, clamp the leg to a piece of wood as shown in the photo. Set your dado to cut 1⁄2" wide. The end result is two 1⁄2" tenons.

To clean up the mortises, use slicing cuts with your chisel as much as possible (left). Avoid the hammer. The only place you might have to use it is at the very end of the cut. Use a shoul-der plane to trim the tenon cheeks (right). Make a few passes with the plane, then test your fit. Keep doing this until everything is snug.

After cutting the access holes in the side of the stretcher for the bolts (left), use a self- centering doweling jig to drill the holes for the bolts in the end of the stretchers (right).

popwood.com 31

with a dado set, which yields a nice flat tenon. The stretchers’ tenons are 1" thick. The double tenons for the feet are 1⁄2" wide each.

Making Things FitAfter cutting the mortises and tenons, some fitting may be required to get a snug fit. I used sharp 1⁄2" and 3⁄4" chisels to clean out the mortises and used a shoulder plane to thin the tenons to size.

Make Room for the HardwareBefore gluing the end assemblies together, drill the 7⁄16" holes for the hardware. Use a drill press for the holes in the legs and a doweling jig for the holes in the stretchers.

Now make the square access holes in the stretch-ers with a 3⁄4" Forstner bit, then square and clean up the holes with a sharp chisel. The 3⁄8" bolt will pass through the end of the legs, into the stretcher and end up here, which is where to attach the nut. Then cut the 7⁄16" holes for the bolts in the ends of the stretchers.

Shape the FeetTo keep the ends of the feet from looking blocky, shape the top edge with a 7⁄8" roundover bit in your router table. Use a band saw to make a 3⁄8" cutout on the underside of the feet.

Assemble the BaseNext, bore the holes in the legs for the bolts. Then glue the end assemblies together. After the glue is dry, clean up and sand the ends. Then do a test assembly on the base.

With the bottom stretcher inserted into the leg mortise, use the 7⁄16" bit to ream out the bolt pas-sage. This will make your assembly easier. As you proceed to bolt the base together, you can set the nuts with some hot-melt glue. Dip your bolt ends into some petroleum jelly to keep them from stick-ing in the bolt, then squirt some hot-melt glue into the hole until the nut has been covered. This will make sure the nuts stay in the same place. When the glue has hardened, repeat the process on the other side of the base. Go ahead and disassemble the base

Tips on Tenons• When using a stacked dado to cut tenons, make the shoulder cut first. This will prevent tear-out occur-ring on the shoulder.

• When using circular saws to cut thick wood, take two or three passes at progres-sively deeper cuts. This will save your saw from burn-ing out.

• A good way to drill the bolt holes is to drill the 1" counterbore to the depth of the bolt head and washer, then drill the bolt hole with a 3⁄8" brad-point bit.

• When cutting tenons, you want a snug fit, one that allows you to push them into the mortise using hand pressure only.

If you don’t have a 7⁄8" router bit to shape the top edges

of the feet (right), cut a 45° bevel on the top with your

table saw. Then ease the edges with sandpaper. To

make the 16"-long cutout on the bottom of the sled feet,

first make the relief cuts that define the ends. Then cut

the bulk of the material out (below). And finally, clean up

the ends.

To make the holes in the legs for the bolts, first drill

a 1" counterbore that is as deep as the head of the

bolt. Then drill through the rest of the leg with

a 7⁄16" bit. Insert the stretcher into the mor-

tise, put the bolt in, then tighten the bolt. I held the nut in place with needle-

nose pliers.



and sand it. A coat of oil finish will seal the bench from humidity. Then reassemble the base.

Place Your TopWith the bench’s top upside down on the floor, position the base where you would like to attach it, and mark those locations. Turn the base over and mark the centers of the top of each leg. Drive a nail into the center of each leg. Leave about 1⁄4" showing so you can remove the nail. Now set the

top down on the base. Press down on the top to transfer the nail marks to the underside of the top. Drill 3⁄4" holes into the top using the nail marks as centers. Do the same in the base. Now glue a 3⁄4" dowel into the top of each base leg and set the top on the dowels. The weight of the slab is enough to hold it in place.

When the glue is dry, install your vises. Then comes the one step you cannot skip. Put your mark on this bench, whether it’s your signature or brand. Otherwise you’ll be cheating future generations out of ever knowing its lineage.

All This and Storage, TooThe bench shown on the preceding pages stands on its own merits, but we decided tool storage space wouldn’t be gilding the lily. Senior Editor David Thiel built the cabinet for this bench. Thanks, David. The height of the cabinet allows the bench dogs to operate without obstruction.

First cut the carcase pieces to size according to the cutting list at right.

Cut the RabbetsThe rabbet joints are made on the table saw using a dado set and an auxiliary jig for the rip fence. Set the saw to remove 3⁄4" (or whatever dimension your 3⁄4" plywood is). Raise the dado set to 1⁄2" height and run both sides flat on the saw, rabbeting the top, bottom and back edges. The back edge of the

After you sand or plane the top, put it face down on two sawhorses. Then position the base on top. Mark the loca-tion of the base on the bottom of the top. Then mark the location for the holes for the dowels and drill 1"-deep holes into the legs and top for the 3⁄4" dowels that hold the top to the base.

The corners use a standard rab-bet joint. Cut them using a dado stack on the table saw, leaving a 1⁄4" x 3⁄4" tab. The 1⁄4"-deep dado for the center partition can also be cut in the top and bottom at this time.

popwood.com 33

Cockbeading

211/2"521/2"

1/4" 1/4"

3/4"

20"211/2"

3/4"3/4" partition3/8" space for drawer slide

1/2" drawer slide3/4"

181/2"

3/4"

3"33/4"

5"

63/4"

20"

253/8"3/4"

3/4"

53"

253/8"

1/4"

1/4"

191/2"

3/4"20"

211/2"

3/4"

3/4"

1/8"

7/8"

Door or drawerfront

3/4"

Tool CabinetNO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL

T W L

2 Top & bottom 3⁄4 211⁄2 521⁄2 Birch plywood2 Sides 3⁄4 211⁄2 20 Birch plywood1 Partition 3⁄4 203⁄4 19 Birch plywood1 Back 3⁄4 191⁄2 521⁄2 Birch plywood2 Doors 3⁄4 121⁄8 177⁄8 Birch plywood1 Drawer face* 3⁄4 243⁄4 21⁄2 Birch plywood1 Drawer face* 3⁄4 243⁄4 31⁄2 Birch plywood1 Drawer face* 3⁄4 243⁄4 4 Birch plywood1 Drawer face* 3⁄4 243⁄4 61⁄4 Birch plywood2 Drawer sides 1⁄2 2 191⁄2 Birch plywood2 Drawer sides 1⁄2 3 191⁄2 Birch plywood 2 Drawer sides 1⁄2 31⁄2 191⁄2 Birch plywood2 Drawer sides 1⁄2 53⁄4 191⁄2 Birch plywood1 Drawer front 1⁄2 2 241⁄8 Birch plywood 1 Drawer front 1⁄2 3 241⁄8 Birch plywood1 Drawer front 1⁄2 31⁄2 241⁄8 Birch plywood1 Drawer front 1⁄2 53⁄4 241⁄8 Birch plywood1 Drawer back 1⁄2 11⁄2 241⁄8 Birch plywood1 Drawer back 1⁄2 21⁄2 241⁄8 Birch plywood1 Drawer back 1⁄2 3 241⁄8 Birch plywood1 Drawer back 1⁄2 51⁄4 241⁄8 Birch plywood4 Drawer bottoms 1⁄4 191⁄4 241⁄8 Birch plywood

*Note: W is cross grain direction; L is long grain direction.

SuppliesHighland Hardware 800-241-6748 or tools-for-woodworking.com

1 • Patternmaker’s vise #168042, $219.99

Lee Valley 800-871-8158 or leevalley.com

• 43⁄8" Veritas Bench Dogs #05G04.02, $18.50/pair

• 23⁄8" Veritas Bench Dogs #05G04.04, $14.95/pair

• Veritas Hold-Down #05G14.01, $54.50

Woodcraft 800-225-1153 or woodcraft.com

1 • Patternmaker’s vise #128748, $219.99

1 • Jorgensen Bench Vise #16T51, $139.99


Plan

Elevation

Detail of cockbeading on doors and drawer fronts

Profile



top and bottom pieces should also be run at this time to form a rabbet for the 3⁄4" back.

Reset the saw to cut a 1 ⁄4"-deep dado for the center partition. By setting the rip fence to cut 253⁄4" to the dado stack, the partition should be centered; but just to be on the safe side, make both dado cuts from the same end of the top and bot-tom (left or right).

Assembly is next. Glue and nail (or screw or staple) the center partition between the top and bottom. The partition should fit flush to the front edge, and flush to the inside edge of the rabbets in the top and bottom. If it’s a tad wide, allow the extra on the front so it can be planed flush later. Attach the sides the same way, then drop the back in place housed by the four rabbets, and fasten.

Tape the EndsNow it’s time to cover the plywood edges with birch veneer tape. Choose tape that’s sold in rolls with pre-glued, heat-sensitive adhesive. You will want to cut the tape a little long for the piece and then apply it with a hot iron. When applied cor-rectly, the cabinet looks like it’s been assembled from solid lumber.

First, apply the edging to the top and bottom pieces, trimming the ends of the tape flush to the inner edges of the sides. Next, apply the tape to the center partition, allowing the tape to run over the top and bottom. Trim the tape flush to the previ-ously taped edges. Tape the ends last. Use a wooden block to press the tape down.

Make the DrawersWith the case basically complete, it’s time to build the drawers. Make your drawer boxes with simple

joinery. A 1⁄4" groove (set 1⁄4" up from the bottom of the drawer sides and front) accepts the drawer bot-tom, which is nailed in place through the back.

All of the joints can be cut on the table saw. The four drawers shown in our cabinet are all dif-ferent sizes, providing a graduated depth that not only looks good but also provides for efficient use of the space. Feel free to make your drawer depths to suit your needs.

We used enamel-coated under-mount slides for the drawers that required 3⁄8" clearance on both sides of the drawer box. Many standard slides require a 1⁄2" clearance per side, so adjust the drawer sizes if your slides don’t use 3⁄8" clearance.

Extra TouchesThe drawer faces and doors are dressed up by apply-ing a simple moulding made from 1⁄4" x 7⁄8" solid maple. Round over one edge with an 1⁄8"-radius bit in a router mounted in a table. These mouldings are then miter-cut and glued to the plywood edges.

One piece of advice on the moulding’s miter cuts: We had some difficulties with tear-out on our saw, so we set up our disc sander and a slot-miter gauge set at a 45° angle. After cutting the mould-ing to rough length, we then finished the miter using the sander. To hang the doors, we used Euro-pean-style hinges. The hinges you use are up to you. The cockbeading on the edges of the drawers and doors hides the plywood core and provides a nice detail to the project.

To keep the cabinet in place between the bench’s stretchers, we attached four 1 ⁄2"-thick blocks to the bottom of the cabinet. These held the cabinet in place while still allowing it to be easily removed when necessary. PW

The veneer tape is applied using a standard household iron set for cotton. Keep the iron moving to avoid scorching.

While the adhesive is still warm and soft, use a block to keep the edges of the tape from curling while the glue cools and sets.

A tongue and rabbet joint at each corner gives the drawer box lots of strength. The drawer face is then screwed to the box front.

A Bullet- riddled Bench

When you’re dealing with heavy lumber, don’t be sur-prised to find a few old bullets in the wood. Mills usually find these stray pro-jectiles in thinner stock before they get to your lumberyard, but that’s not always the case with wood this thick.

I found a few slugs in the 10⁄4 maple while I was resawing the wood for the top. The bullets appeared as a shiny glint on the wood’s surface dur-ing a cut. I easily removed the metal with a chisel. The small slugs I found were most likely from a .22-cali-ber rifle, though I’ve found much larger ones in the past. I’d recommend keep-ing the bullets as a conver-sation piece so that when people ask you about your bench, you can tell them a “war story.” –JS

H e i g H t - a d j u s t a b l e

Modular BenchThis ingenious system offers a height-adjustable work surface, two stands for benchtop tools

and six drawers of storage. Plus, it breaks down fast and stores in small spaces.

popwood.com 37

by David Thiel


David at 513-531-2690 ext. 1255 or

[email protected].


By adding smaller tops to the individual cabi-nets, each makes a fine tool stand with lots of storage beneath. Note the roller stand mounted on the underside of the top. Flip the top over and you’ve created an outfeed table for any machine. Ph

oto

by A

l Par

rish


My shop at home is a two-car garage. To make things more complicated, my wife feels pretty strongly that the two cars

should be allowed to stay in the garage. What a silly idea, but it’s been an interesting challenge to keep her happy and still work comfortably on my projects. At the heart of this dilemma is getting enough storage and assembly space. There’s enough room in the garage to put some shallow cabinets on or against the walls, but storing my “assembly bench” (fold-up horses, planks and a partial sheet of plywood) stops me from getting to my storage. And while the fold-up horses are handy, they’re not as stable as I’d prefer and I can’t adjust them higher or lower. Sometimes I want to work 24" off the ground, other times 34".

I decided it was time to solve my dilemma and here you see the result. When assembled, this unit offers sturdy, height-adjustable bench space with easy access to the stuff in the drawers. When not in use, the two cabinets store conveniently against the wall; the top leans against the wall. You also can use the cabinets as benchtop tool stands and still have easy access to the drawers. Locking cast-ers on the two cabinets make everything easy to move, then lock in place.

Building BoxesThis is really a basic project. The only complicated part is the height-adjustment feature of the cabi-nets. As far as cabinet construction is concerned, I haven’t gone into too much detail, but the illus-trations and the following construction descrip-tion should get you there safely.

The cabinets consist of a 3⁄4"-thick plywood top and bottom, rabbeted between the two 3⁄4"-thick sides. The back is also 3⁄4" and is rabbeted into the sides, top and bottom. Start by cutting the pieces to size, then cut 1⁄2" x 3⁄4" rabbets on the top, back and bottom inside edge of each side. I made the rabbets on my table saw, but you could easily use a router instead. Then cut the same rabbet on the back edge of the top and bottom pieces.

I used my brad nailer to shoot the cases together, adding some glue to the joint for good measure. Screws (#8 x 11⁄4") would also work. Use the backs to square up the cabinets. This will be important when you install the drawers.

I was feeling pretty minimalist with this proj-ect and decided to let the utility show through by simply rounding over all the plywood edges with a 1⁄4" roundover bit in my router. If you prefer a more finished appearance, take the extra time to apply

Modular BenchNO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL COMMENTS

T W L

Cabinets 4 Sides 3⁄4 15 213⁄4 Birch plywood 1⁄2 x 3⁄4 rabbets, 3 sides4 Tops & bottoms 3⁄4 15 27 Birch plywood 1⁄2 x 3⁄4 rabbet, back2 Backs 3⁄4 27 211⁄4 Birch plywood2 Tops 3⁄4 30 72 Birch plywood4 Support arms 3⁄4 6 195⁄8 Birch2 Top plates 7⁄8 6 291⁄8 Birch 1⁄2 x 3⁄4 rabbets, ends8 Channel sides 3⁄4 7⁄8 20 Birch8 Channel fronts 3⁄4 2 20 Birch4 Channel bottoms 3⁄4 7⁄8 6 Birch4 Dowels 1 21⁄2 Maple4 Dowels 3⁄4 15⁄8 Maple

Drawers 4 Fronts 3⁄4 5 257⁄8 Birch plywood Clearance space included2 Fronts 3⁄4 10 257⁄8 Birch plywood Clearance space included8 Box sides 1⁄2 4 131⁄4 Birch plywood 1⁄4 x 1⁄4 groove, 3 sides 4 Box sides 1⁄2 9 131⁄4 Birch plywood 1⁄4 x 1⁄4 groove, 3 sides4 Box fronts 1⁄2 4 241⁄2 Birch plywood 1⁄4 x 1⁄4 tongue, ends4 Box backs 1⁄2 31⁄2 241⁄2 Birch plywood 1⁄4 x 1⁄4 tongue, ends2 Box fronts 1⁄2 9 241⁄2 Birch plywood 1⁄4 x 1⁄4 tongue, ends2 Box backs 1⁄2 81⁄2 241⁄2 Birch plywood 1⁄4 x 1⁄4 tongue, ends6 Bottoms 1⁄4 13 245⁄16 Plywood

SuppliesGrizzly Industrial Inc. 800-523-4777 or grizzly.com

4 • 3" fixed casters #H0689, $4.10 ea.

4 • 3" swivel casters w/brake #H0693, $6.50 ea.

6 • 12" full-extension ball-bearing slides #H2902, $8.40/pair

Lee Valley 800-871-8158 or leevalley.com

2 • Veritas Wonder Pups #05G10.02 , $22.50 ea.

1 • Veritas Bench Pups #05G04.04 , $14.95/pair



popwood.com 39

Table plan

6"

2"

1" dowel

6"

27"

15"

10" 10"

10"

5"

5"

4" wire pull

6"

15"

20"

15"

72"

5" 5"

4"

4"

30"

3"

20"

4"

4"

9"

1" hole

291⁄8"

195⁄8"

15⁄8" 15⁄8"

131⁄4"

213⁄4"

201⁄8"275⁄8"

271⁄2"

213⁄4"

257⁄8"

2"2"2"

3⁄4"dowel

3⁄4"hole

1" hole

1⁄16"gap typical

1⁄4"

7⁄8"3⁄8"

1⁄4"

iron-on veneer tape to the exposed plywood edges and skip the roundover.

To make adding the height-adjustable supports easier, I attached the four casters (two standard, non-swivel and two swivel locking) to each cab-inet at this time.

Going Up, Going DownI went through a lot of different ideas to make the top height-adjustable. After making it a lot more complicated than necessary, I threw away those drawings and went back to simple. The height-adjustable table supports are brought to you by the letters “U” and “L.” The support arms are U-shaped solid-birch assemblies that slip into two L-shaped channels on each side of the cabinets.

I used my brad nailer to tack the channel bottom in place between the two chan-nels through the front and through the sides. Be care-ful about shooting too close to the end of a piece to avoid splitting.

Box elevation Box profile

Plan

Box section

Support assembly profile

Illus

trat

ion

by Jo

hn H

utch

inso

n


Start by jointing and thicknessing all the solid birch necessary for the pieces and cut them to fin-ished size, except for the channel pieces. Leave those pieces a little long until after they’re glued up. I once again took advantage of my brad nailer to speed up the assembly process. Glue and nail the channel fronts to the channel sides, then set everything aside to let the glue cure.

While they’re drying, cut the channel bottoms to length. Cut an extra one to use as a spacer while you’re at it. When the channels are ready, clean up any extra glue, then get the roundover router out again. I rounded all the outside surfaces on the channels and the top lips where the support arms will enter the channels.

Now glue and nail the channel assemblies together. Be sure to use the extra bottom to help maintain even spacing at the top of the assembly.

To attach the channels to the cabinets, first use a combination square to mark a line 41⁄8" in from the front and back edges of each cabinet. Double-check the lines to make sure they will fall in the exact center of each of the channel sides. After checking, drill five evenly spaced 3⁄16" clearance holes on each line. Countersink each hole from the inside of the cabinets, then attach the chan-nel assemblies to the cabinets, holding the top of the channel flush to the cabinet top.

Now move to the support arms themselves. Use your drill press to make a 1"-diameter hole through each support arm, 3" up from the bottom edge and centered on the piece. On each cabi-

net, mark the location for five 1" holes centered on the spaces between the channels, locating the first one 6" up from the inside of the channel bot-tom, then 2" on center from that first mark. These holes shouldn’t be drilled all the way through the cabinet side, or the dowels will interfere with the drawers. Make the holes about 5⁄8" deep. I used a Forstner bit and used the spur tip as an indicator of depth. By drilling slowly I was able to tell when the spur poked through on the inside, and I stopped the hole at that depth.

Next, round over all the edges on the support arms except those on the top, then slip the arms into the channels and check the fit. If they don’t move easily (though they shouldn’t be too loose) adjust the fit. With the arms all the way down in the channel, take one of the top plates and lay it across the two arms. Mark the location of the arms on the top plate, allowing the arms to naturally set-tle in the channels. If pushed too tightly against the cabinet, the arms won’t move easily.

Head to the table saw and cut 1⁄2"-deep rabbets on each end of the top plate using the marks for the support arms to determine the width. Then drill clearance holes, and screw the top plates to the support arms after pilot drilling the hole to avoid splitting the wood.

You should be able to raise and lower the entire assembly with little resistance. I used simple dow-els to lock the arms at whatever height I wanted. Round over the edges of the top plate, then move on to building the benchtop.

After drilling the clearance holes in the cabinet sides, I used a clamp to hold the channel assembly in place while pilot drilling, then screwed the channels in place from the inside of the cabinet.

A 1" dowel is a simple and secure way to hold the sup-port arms at the proper height. The five hole locations (and the all-the-way-down position) give you a variety of working heights.


popwood.com 41

to leave 1 ⁄4" between the fence and bit or blade. Set the depth of the cut for 1⁄4", then cut grooves in the front, back and bottom inside edges of each drawer side. Also run the bottom inside edge of each drawer front.

Next adjust the fence on your saw/router table to cut the tongues on the drawer fronts and back. Check the fit, then run all the fronts and backs. The drawers are then glued and nailed together. The bottoms slip into the groove in the sides and front, and then are nailed in place to the bottom edge of the drawer back. Use the bottoms to make sure the drawers are square before nailing them in place to the drawer back.

The false drawer fronts are again simple and utilitarian: 3⁄4" plywood with the edges rounded over. I held each drawer box 1⁄4" up from the bot-tom edge of each front. Attach the drawer han-dles (simple 4" chrome pulls from almost any home center store that cost about $2 each) to the fronts, countersinking the screw heads flush to the back of the drawer fronts. The false fronts are screwed in place through the drawer box fronts. Mount the slides following the instructions provided with the hardware.

I added a couple coats of paint to the cabinets, but left the top as bare wood. A coat of lacquer to the top support assembly and the drawer fronts finished things off. There’s only one thing left to do to make these storage cabinets all they can be. Make a couple of auxiliary tops to fit on the indi-vidual cabinets. I made mine with a piece of 3⁄4" plywood (drilled to match the dowels). Add a roller and you have a height-adjustable outfeed table that can be used with your table saw, jointer, planer or any other machine. When not in use as a bench or outfeed table, you’ve got two very handy tools stands that tuck away against the wall – right next to the cars. PW

More Than an Assembly TopThe top is made from two 3⁄4"-thick pieces of ply-wood glued together. Use lots of glue spread thinly over the entire surface of one piece, then nail the corners to keep the top from slipping around while you clamp up the top “sandwich.”

To give the top even more versatility, I added dog holes along the front and back edge of the top to accommodate a set of Veritas Bench Pups and Veritas Wonder Pups. These work like vises and can hold almost any workpiece. These holes also become the attachment points to hold the top in place on the cabinets.

Locate the dog holes 5" in from each edge and spaced 4" on center, starting 4" from either end. I used a 3⁄4" auger bit to make the holes, and the photo above shows a jig we’ve used before to make sure the holes are straight.

With the holes drilled, mark a centerline down the length of each support top plate. Then lay the benchtop on top of the cabinets and position it evenly on the top plates. Now look through the appropriate set of dog holes in the benchtop and move things around until the centerline on the plate appears in the center of the holes. Use a pen-cil to mark the hole locations on the top plate and then remove the top.

Drill 3⁄4"-diameter holes partway through the top plates (5⁄8" deep). Then drill a 3⁄16" clearance hole the rest of the way through the plates, centered on the holes, countersinking the holes from the underside of the top plate. Cut four 3⁄4"-diameter dowels to 15⁄8" in length, and screw them in these holes from the underside of the top plates.

The top can now be easily located on the dow-els without having to bend over. Once in place, the dowels hold the cabinets in place, and make the entire bench more sturdy. But don’t forget to round everything over. Not only did I round the top’s edges, but I also rounded the lips of the dog holes. This makes it easier to locate the dowels and dogs, and also keeps the plywood from splintering at the sharp edges.

Sturdy Storage DrawersThe drawers are the last step and are designed for basic utility. They are 1⁄2" plywood boxes with 1⁄4"-thick plywood bottoms and a 3⁄4" false front. I used tongue-and-groove joinery on the drawer boxes.

Set up either a 1⁄4" dado stack in your table saw, or a 1⁄4" bit in your router table. Then set the fence

The drilling jig is simply a piece of plywood with an edge stop (like a bench hook) with a guid-ing block screwed in position over the hole (centered 5" from the edge). You’ll notice another hole drilled through the plywood in front of the block. That hole is in line with the guiding hole and lets you see your positioning line drawn on the top to know if you’re in the correct location to drill.

S l i d i n g

Deadman



There are few clamping jobs that are more difficult than trying to secure something big so that you can work on its edge. Mor-

tising a large door for a hinge is a common situa-tion. Cleaning up the long edge of a board you just band sawed is another.

These problems are easily solved with $10 and by taking a lesson from 18th-century joiners. A common feature on older benches is what’s called a sliding deadman. This contraption works with your face vise to support work that is long, wide or both long and wide. I adapted mine from a sketch of a deadman by Graham Blackburn that was fea-tured in his excellent book “Traditional Wood-working Handtools” (Blackburn Books). This particular version is sized to fit our “$230 Work-bench” (page 6), though you can easily cut the rails and the sliding deadman to fit any bench.

After you determine the proper dimensions for all your parts, begin by cutting your pieces to rough size. Cut a 3⁄8"-deep x 9⁄16"-wide groove in the center of a long edge of each rail. Use a dado stack in your table saw, a straight bit in your router or a plow plane to cut the groove.

Before you cut the curves on the deadman itself, bore the 5⁄8"-diameter holes through the part for the ledge. I bored two staggered rows of holes; each hole is 2" down from the one above it. The top-most hole is located so that when the ledge is in place in the deadman, it lines up with the rails on my face vise.

Cut the 1 ⁄2"-long x 1 ⁄2"-thick tenons on both ends of the deadman. The tenons are slightly thin-ner than the width of the grooves they ride in. Now cut the deadman to shape. The long edges are curved in 7⁄8" so they are easy to grasp when

by Christopher

Schwarz


Chris at 513-531-2690 ext. 1407 or

[email protected].

For less than $10, you can rig your workbench to easily

support and clamp large panels, doors and long boards.

popwood.com 43

Phot

o by

Al P

arris

h



5⁄8" dowel

19⁄32" 9⁄16"

3⁄8"

19⁄32"

11⁄2"

13⁄8"

21⁄2" 21⁄2"

11⁄2"

11⁄2"

13⁄8"

195⁄8"

2"

19"

1⁄4" roundover on long edges of deadman

2"

2"

2"

2"

1"

7"

Your benchmay vary

Align top hole with rails of your face vice

Secure top railto bottom ofbenchtop or toprail of bench

Secure bottom rail to bottom rail of bench

1⁄2" x 1⁄2"tenon

1⁄2"

7⁄8"

1⁄2"

the deadman is resting against your bench’s legs. Round over the long edges of the deadman to make it friendly to grasp. I used a 1⁄4" roundover bit in a router for this operation.

Trim your rails to the proper length and install them. Screw one rail to the bottom rail of your bench using four #8 x 2" screws. Don’t use glue; you want to be able to remove the rail for later adjust-ments or repairs. Now put the top rail and dead-man in place and line them up with the bottom rail. Using screws, secure the top rail to the under-side of your bench’s top, or to the top rail of your bench – if you have one. Wax the grooves in the

rails. The deadman should slide back and forth with minimal effort.

Now make the ledge. You could simply use a dowel as shown on the cover of this magazine or make a fancier one. Bore a 11⁄4"-deep hole in one end for the 5⁄8" dowel and glue it in place, again making sure that when the ledge is inserted into the top hole, it lines up with the rails on your face vise. You might need to sand your dowel to fit the holes in the deadman. I used a 1⁄4" beading bit in a router to shape three edges of each side of the ledge. Finish your deadman to match your bench. PW

Illus

trat

ions

by J

ohn

Hut

chin

son

Half-size plan of ledge

Full-size section of rails

Bench DeadmanNO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL COMMENTS

T W L

2 Rails 13⁄8 11⁄2 47 SYP 1 Deadman 13⁄8 7 195⁄8 SYP 1⁄2" TBE1 Ledge 13⁄8 47⁄8 71⁄2 SYP 1 Dowel 5⁄8 dia. 5 TBE = Tenon on both ends; SYP= Southern yellow pine or equivalent

SectionElevation

s t a n l e y

Tool CabinetKeep all your

important tools at

your fingertips using

this adaptation of a

Stanley classic that’s

built to travel.

T O O L B O X E S

popwood.com 45

by Christopher

Schwarz


Chris at 513-531-2690 ext. 1407 or

[email protected].


T he man running the antiques booth was certain he’d found a sucker. I was fawn-ing all over a well-preserved tool cabinet

emblazoned with Stanley’s “Sweetheart” logo – so called because it featured a heart with the initials “S.W.” inside. As I examined the piece, the dealer dropped the price bit by bit.

Finally, I looked up at the dealer. He smiled because he smelled a sale – until I told him I’d rather build one and walked away. For the next couple weeks I tried to research the cabinet, but I couldn’t find a photo or drawing of it in any of our old Stan-ley catalogs. The cabinet I examined looked similar to the old #862 from the early 1920s, but it wasn’t

Here’s how to cut the finger joints. Put a dado stack in your table saw to make a 1⁄2"-wide cut. Raise your blade just a hair over 3⁄4". The jig is a piece of plywood screwed to the miter gauge. First attach the ply to your gauge, then make a cut in the ply using your dado stack. Now cut a small piece of plywood that’s exactly 1⁄2" x 1⁄2" x 3⁄4". Glue and screw this block exactly 1⁄2" away from the cut on the plywood as shown in the photo. Cutting your finger joints is now simple.

quite right. So I gave up and built this one from memory and my notes. This cabinet is similar to the #862, but it’s 13⁄4" deeper, has a small drawer at the bottom and is made from maple instead of a dark-stained oak. A great feature of this cabinet (and the #862) is the large handle on top of the cabinet. This makes it portable when you need to take your tools on a job – or when you quit your job. Cabinetmakers are an itinerant bunch.

ConstructionI built this cabinet and door as one box and then parted the front door off using my table saw. It’s tricky to keep the blade from binding during this operation, but I’ll show you a way to make this pro-cedure safer. The case itself is assembled using rug-ged finger joints. The back panel rests in a rabbet. The front panel sits in a groove on all four sides and the drawer divider is biscuited into place. Begin construction by cutting your parts to size accord-ing to the cutting list.

First cut the 1⁄2" finger joints on the ends of the top, bottom and sides. I used a homemade jig for my table saw like the one shown in the photo at left. Now cut the 1⁄2" x 1⁄2" stopped rabbet for the back panel on the back inside edge of the four sides. Then cut the groove to hold the front panel. The front panel rests in a 1⁄2"-wide by 3⁄8"-deep groove that’s 1⁄4" in from the front edge of the sides. Now cut the biscuit slots for the drawer divider, which is 43⁄4" up from the bottom edge of the sides. Make sure the divider is flush to the back panel when the case is assembled.

Get out your clamps and assemble the case with-out glue. The front panel should square up the case. If everything fits just right, assemble the case again, this time with glue.

Finally it’s time to part the front door off the case. As I mentioned before, this can be tricky. Get out a hot-melt glue gun and eight 6"-long blocks of wood. Glue two of these to the inside of each side of the box. These blocks will hold the box together, and the kerf open, as you cut the case on the table saw.

Now set your table saw’s rip fence to 41⁄4" and raise the blade to just over 3⁄4". Make sure the back part of the cabinet is running against the fence. First cut along the top, then one side, then the bot-tom and the other side. Pry the blocks loose after the cut and remove the glue with a scraper. Clean up the sawn edges with a plane.

T O O L B O X E S

popwood.com 47

AD

A A

A

B

B

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Exploded view

Use hot-melt glue to attach 6"-long blocks that keep the saw kerf open when you part the front off the cabinet. After that, rip-ping the cabinet is almost cake.

Drawer ConstructionThe drawer is a simple thing that’s great for hold-ing hardware. Here’s how I built it: The 1⁄2"-thick drawer sides rest in 1⁄2" x 1⁄4" rabbets on the ends of the drawer front. The back rests in 1 ⁄2" x 1 ⁄4" rabbets in the sides. And the 1 ⁄4"-thick drawer bottom rests in a 1⁄4" x 1⁄4" groove in the sides and front that’s 1⁄4" up from the bottom edge. I also cut a 1⁄4" x 1⁄4" rabbet on the drawer front as a deco-rative detail.

Glue your drawer together, then nail the sides to the front and back. Nail the bottom in place to the back. No glue is necessary.

Now attach all the hardware. The drawer gets two finger pulls. Screw two cabinet hangers to the back so your cabinet can be hung on the wall. Don’t forget the handle on the top. Also, put two screws at the bottom of the back piece to allow you to level it against the wall.

Finally, protect your cabinet with three coats of clear finish and nail the back in place. Hang it above your bench using wall anchors, but don’t make those screws too tight. You never know when you might have to change jobs. PW

Stanley Tool CabinetNO. LET. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL

T W L

2 A Sides 3⁄4 8 22 Maple2 B Top & bottom 3⁄4 8 14 Maple1 C Divider 3⁄4 33⁄4 121⁄2 Maple1 D Back 1⁄2 131⁄2 211⁄2 Poplar1 E Front panel 1⁄2 131⁄4 211⁄4 Poplar1 F Drawer front 3⁄4 4 121⁄2 Maple2 G Sides 1⁄2 4 31⁄4 Poplar1 H Back 1⁄2 31⁄2 12 Poplar1 I Bottom 1⁄4 3 12 Poplar

Illus

trat

ion

by Ji

m S

tuar

d

Supplies2" butt hinges are available at any hardware store. The magnetic tool strip is available in most woodworking catalogs. The rest of the hardware can be obtained from:

Lee Valley Tools 800-871-8158 or leevalley.com

2 • flush ring pulls #00L02.01, $13.60/each

1 • chest handle #06W02.01, $14.10/pair

1 • draw catch #00S70.01, $3.80/pair


The goal: The maximum tools in the minimum space.


by Christopher

Schwarz


Chris at 513-531-2690 ext. 1407 or

[email protected].

T O O L B O X E S

A r t s & C r A f t s

Tool Cabinet

From the Book of TolpinWhile Ruskin kept me going through this long and difficult project, I really have a 20th century craftsman and author to thank (or blame) for my obsession with building a fine tool cabinet. Since it was first published in 1995, “The Toolbox Book” (Taunton Press) by Jim Tolpin has become the most-thumbed book in my library. I’ve studied every page, toolbox and drawing between its maroon cover boards (the dust jacket is long gone).

Years ago, I resolved to build myself a cabinet that might rival some of the examples in “The Tool-box Book.” Last year, I gave it my best shot. Since early 2004 I’ve spent many spare moments doo-dling on graph paper and on my computer to come up with a design that satisfied the three things I wanted from a cabinet: It had to hold a lot of tools, look good and be built to last. After studying my work habits, measuring all my tools and paging through thousands of examples of Arts & Crafts casework, this is what I came up with.

It’s small but spacious. Have you ever ridden in an old Volkswagen Beetle? They are surprisingly roomy, and especially generous with the head-room. Somehow, the Beetle violates the laws of space and physics, and it is roomy but can also be parked between two oversized Hummers. This cabinet is designed to function the same way. The interior is a mere 111⁄4" deep, 221⁄2" wide and 311⁄2" tall. Yet, thanks to good planning, it holds every hand tool I need.

The cubbyholes and shelf for hand planes are carefully sized to hold all the planes needed in a modern shop. The drawers are loaded with trays of tools. Each tray contains all the tools for a rou-tine function, such as dovetailing, sharpening or shaping curved surfaces.

continued on page 52

Sometime while sawing the 60th dovetail for a drawer, when my patience was as thin as the veneer on cheap plywood, a familiar

feeling crept into my body. I began to experience an understandable lust for my biscuit joiner.

It sat patiently on the top shelf above my work-bench, and it watched with amusement my seem-ingly slow progress on the drawers. I knew that its chattering, rattling teeth would make everything about this tool cabinet proceed much faster. But I resisted, mostly because I had the words of a Victo-rian social reformer, art critic and part-time mad-man ringing in my head.

The writings of Englishman John Ruskin (1819-1900) were a cornerstone of the American Arts & Crafts movement of the last century. In his essays and books, Ruskin decried the worst parts of 19th century industrialism. He promoted craft, pen-sions and public education when there was little of those things for the poor.

And in his book the “Seven Lamps of Architec-ture, The Lamp of Memory,” which was published in 1849, he wrote a passage that all woodworkers should read. It’s a bit long and a bit dramatic, but it has stuck with me just the same.

“When we build, let us think that we build for-ever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance on them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’”

The biscuit joiner stayed on the shelf. I contin-ued to saw, chop, pare and fit my joints. Ruskin, I hoped, would have approved.

Phot

o by

Al P

arris

h


6 Storage SolutionsTools need to be protected, organized and eas-ily retrieved. That’s a tall order.

Here are some of the problems I’ve run into over the years: Hanging tools on a wall keeps them organized and close at hand, but unpro-tected. Keeping them in a traditional sliding tool till in a chest keeps them protected and organized, but you dig around for them end-lessly. Drawers under a bench keep them pro-tected and close at hand, but most drawers end up a jumbled mess.

Here are my solutions, and so far they work well. The cubbyholes are sized exactly to hold a full complement of hand planes. Finding the right plane and getting it down for use has never been easier.

The chisel rack puts my most-used sizes out where I can get them. And the rack is designed to hold the tools even when the door is acciden-tally slammed.

The saw till on the right door is the same way. These two saws do 80 percent of my work and they’re always handy.

The real feature is the drawers. The smaller drawers hold tools for a specific operation. In the larger drawers, the interchangeable trays stack inside the drawers and also hold tools for a specific operation. Whenever I dovetail, I grab the top right drawer. No more making mounds of tools on the bench.

T O O L B O X E S

Chisel RackThis simple L-shaped bracket holds the five chisels I use most, plus my drawbore pins. Don’t use a magnetic strip; it will magne-tize your tools, which makes them difficult to sharpen.

Tool Trays, Lower DrawerThe bottom of the drawer is for the tools I rarely need. The tray at left holds files and rasps (I’m going to subdivide this tray as soon as some more rasps arrive in the mail). The tray at right holds specialty chisels and screwdrivers.

popwood.com 51

Tool Tray, Middle DrawerThe lower section of the drawer holds waterstones and honing guides (make sure the stones are bone dry before putting them back in the drawer). The tray shown above holds my four spokeshaves and some specialty sharpening equipment.

Top Shelf Plane CubbyThis area isn’t just what’s left over from the remainder of the cabinet. It is carefully sized at 221⁄2" wide x 53⁄4" high to hold a No. 7 jointer plane (a constant companion in my shop), plus a jack plane, panel plane and scraper plane.

Four Upper DrawersEach of the four drawers holds all the tools for a common operation: one is for dovetail-ing, the second is for trimming and squar-ing assemblies, the third is for marking and measuring, and the fourth is for nailing and screwing.

Saw TillMy saw till holds the two most useful join-ery saws – a dovetail saw and a carcase saw. My full-size saws reside on pegs below the cabinet.

Small Plane CubbiesThe cubbyholes are a magic size: 61⁄4" high, about 35⁄16" wide and 101⁄2" deep. This size holds all my joinery planes, my scrub plane, smoothing planes and miter plane.


continued from page 48

The cabinet looks pretty good. I spent months thumbing through old Art & Crafts furniture cat-alogs and contemporary hardware catalogs for inspiration. This cabinet and its lines are a little bit Gustav Stickley, a little Harvey Ellis and a lit-tle of myself.

The cabinet will endure. No compromises were made in selecting the joints. Every major com-ponent (with the exception of the changeable, nailed-together trays) is built to withstand heavy use. Of course, when you discuss durable joints, you are usually talking dovetails, which is where we’ll begin construction.

A Case that Takes a BeatingWhen this cabinet is fully loaded, my best guess is that it weighs more than any single member of our staff at the magazine (modesty prevents me from revealing what that upper limit might be). To ensure the bottom and top pieces can withstand this weight, I joined them to the side pieces with through-dovetails.

One interesting variation worth noting here is that instead of using one solid top piece, I sub-stituted two 3"-wide rails and dovetailed them into the sides to save a little weight. Because I cut these dovetails by hand, it was simple to lay out this unusual arrangement. If you plan to use a dovetail jig, you will save yourself a headache by forgetting the rails and making your top one solid piece instead.

If you’re cutting the dovetails by hand, it’s faster and more accurate to clamp your two sides together and saw the tails on the side pieces simultaneously. For years I resisted this technique because it seemed more difficult, but now I know better.

A second feature of the case to note is that the rabbet for the back is a hefty 1" wide. This allows room for the 1⁄2"-thick shiplapped back, plus a 1⁄2"-thick French cleat that will park the cabinet on the wall and keep it there.

And then there are the stopped dados. These 1⁄4"-deep joints in the side pieces hold all the divid-ers. Cutting these joints is simple work with three

If your rabbets for the back are perfectly square, your case is much more likely to end up square, too. Clean up any imperfections with a rabbeting plane, such as this bullnose rabbet plane.

The shop-made T-square jig and a plunge router make quick work of the dados as you can see here.

Here you can see how you use the dado cut into the jig to line up the jig with your layout lines. Using a router with a flat side on its base is more accurate than using a router with a round base.

T O O L B O X E S

When sawing the tails, clamp the two sides together and cut them at the same time. This saves time and effort, and prevents layout errors.

popwood.com 53

tools: a plunge router, a bearing-guided straight bit and a shop-made T-square jig that guides the whole shebang. Lay out all the locations of your dados on the sides. Park the jig so it lines up with your lay-out lines. Cut the dados in two passes.

Fitting all the horizontal dividers to fit the dados is easy. The 1⁄2"-thick dividers simply need a small notch at the front to fit over the rounded end of the dado created by the round straight bit. A sharp backsaw is just the tool here.

The 3⁄4"-thick horizontal divider needs a bit more work to fit in the 1⁄2"-wide dado. A 1⁄4" x 1⁄4" end-rabbet is the answer.

The through-dados that hold the vertical divid-ers use the same router jig, but with the plunge router set to make only an 1 ⁄8"-deep cut. Laying out the locations of these parts for the hand plane cubbyholes might seem daunting. If you want the openings evenly spaced, they should each be 3.333" wide. I don’t have any infinite numbers on my ruler. But it’s actually child’s play to lay out the cubby-holes with a pair of dividers (they look like a school compass but with two pointy tips – no pencil). You

can tweak these tools until they step off the cub-byholes as precisely as you please. Dividers are one of my secret weapons.

With all these parts cut and fit, make the back of the case. I used ambrosia maple. It’s cheap and looks a bit like the spalted maple I used in the doors and drawers. The back boards are joined by a 1⁄4"-deep x 3⁄8"-wide shiplap on each long edge.

The top cap is easy. Cut the wide chamfer on the underside using your table saw. Clean up the cut with a block plane. Attach the top to the rails with screws.

You are now at a critical juncture. You can go ahead and get some quick gratification and assem-ble the whole case. But good luck when you go to finish it. Getting those cubbyholes finished right will be murder. The better solution is to glue up only the sides, bottom and top rails. Tape off the exposed joints and finish all the case parts (I used two coats of a satin spray lacquer). Then assemble the case. I know it sounds like a pain (it is). But the end result is worth it.

Finish the back pieces and top cap while you’re

Fitting the dividers is easy with a hand plane. I merely make sure the dividers are surfaced a few thousandths of an inch thicker than where I want them to be. Then I thin them down with a smoothing plane until they slide in with just a little persuasion.

After gluing the sides to the bottom and top rails, trim the dovetails flush with a block plane. Soak the end grain with a little bit of mineral spirits to make it easier to cut. Here you can also see how I supported the case as I worked on it. The big slab holding up the side is an offcut from an old door that’s clamped to my bench.


at it. Now you can screw the back in place and the top cap. You are ready for the doors and drawers.

Easier than They LookThe doors aren’t too bad. The mullions and muntins that form the four lights in each door appear dif-ficult, but thanks to a little legerdemain, it’s no problem. Plus, it looks nice.

But before getting mired in those details, you need to assemble the doors. Here’s how they work: The stiles and rails are joined using mortise-and-tenon joints. For mid-size doors such as these, I use 3⁄8"-thick x 1"-long tenons.

Cut your tenons and your mortises, then mill a 1⁄4"-wide x 3⁄8"-deep groove in the rails and stiles to hold the door panel. I generally make this groove on the router table using a straight bit and featherboards. It’s the easiest way to make the groove start and stop in the right place in the stiles.

The door panel needs a rabbet on its back to fit in the groove. But before you mill the panel, you should know a bit about spalted maple. Its black spidery lines are caused by the spalt fungus, which attacks the tree after it’s been felled. In short, it’s partly rotted wood.

It’s always best to wear a respirator when dealing with spalted wood. There are numerous accounts of people who have had respiratory problems after breathing in the dust.

Once you fit the panel, assemble the doors – the mullions and muntins are added after assem-bly. Once the glue cures, cut a 1⁄4"-wide x 1⁄2"-deep rabbet on the backside of the opening for the glass. This rabbet will hold the narrow backing strips

that are built up into the mullions and muntins. This technique was explained fully by Glen

Huey in our August 2002 issue (“Simple Divided-light Glass Doors”). But the photos above explain it better than words can. Essentially, you create the T-shaped moulding that makes the mullions and muntins by gluing together 1⁄4"-thick x 1⁄2"-wide strips of wood. It’s simple work.

What’s not so simple is mounting the doors with the strap hinges. These hinges are inexpensive, beautiful and handmade. As a result, they need a bit of tweaking and bending and hammering and cursing to get them just right to hang a door.

Here’s my best tip for mounting the doors: Screw the hinges in place with the cabinet on its back. Then stand it up, loosen the hinge screws and make your final adjustments. I used a block plane to make some tweaks, and a mallet for others. Let your frustration level be your guide.

Getting a Handle on DrawersThe drawers are a long slog. Even though I’m a fair dovetailer, it took me three solid days of work to get the drawers assembled and fit. But before you start listening to that lock-miter router bit whispering in your ear, remember this: The drawers are going to hold a tremendous amount of steel. And when you open the drawers during a future project, you’ll never be disappointed to see dovetails.

To make things a tad easier, I built all the draw-ers using through-dovetails and 1⁄2"-thick material for the front, sides and back. Then, with the drawer glued up, I glued on a 1 ⁄4"-thick piece of spalted maple to the front piece. This trick also allowed

Glue one backing strip into the rabbet in the door on edge. Flip the door over and glue a mul-lion onto the backing strip. Then use spring clamps to hold everything while the glue dries.

Install the horizontal muntins the same way. First glue a backing strip into the rabbet on the backside of the door. Then flip the door over and glue the muntin to that.

Cut the rabbet on the backside of the door using a rabbeting bit in your router table. With a large tabletop such as this, it’s simple work.

T O O L B O X E S


6 • 28mm ring pulls 01A61.28, $1.65 each



6 • unequal strap hinges, 91⁄2" x 5" 01H21.39, $8.60 each

4 • magnetic catches 00S16.01, $1.15 each

7 • #6 x 5⁄8" black pyramid-head screws (bags of 10) 01X38.65, $1.40 a bag


popwood.com 55

1/2" back & front -11/2"x 63/4"

1/2" side -11/2"x 20"

3/8" bottom -73/4"x 20"

1/2" divider -11/2"x 63/4" 1" dia.

finger hole

Butt joint

1/4" veneer front

1/2" bottom

1/2" back

1/2" front

1/2" side

1/4"x 1/4" rabbet -front and two sides

1/4"x 1/4" groove

1/4"x 1/4"groove

Through dovetails

1/2" front

1/4" bottom

1/2" side

1/2" back

1/4" veneer front

1/4"x 1/4" rabbet

Through dovetails

me to stretch my supply of spalted maple. The four small drawers are built a little dif-

ferently than the two larger ones. Because the small drawers are shallow, I wanted to use every bit of space. So the bottom is 1 ⁄4"-thick plywood that’s nailed into a 1⁄4" x 1⁄4" rabbet on the draw-er’s underside.

The larger drawers are more conventional. Plow a 1⁄4" x 1⁄4" groove in the sides and front pieces to hold a 1⁄2"-thick bottom, which is rabbeted to fit in the groove.

Build all the drawers to fit their openings exactly, then use a jack plane to shave the sides until the drawer slides like a piston. Finish the doors and drawers, then it’s time for the fun part: dividing up the drawers, building trays for the tools and tweak-ing the hardware so everything works just right.

As you divide up the drawers and trays, one word of advice: Don’t fasten any of the dividers permanently. Your tool set will change, and you want to be able to easily alter the dividers. I fit mine in place with friction and a couple 23-gauge head-less pins. The dividers can be wrenched free when I need room for a new tool.

When you hang the cabinet, use wide cleats – mine were each 5" wide. This allows you to get more screws into the cabinet and into the studs. Also, for extra insurance, I rested the bottom of the cabinet on a 2"-wide ledger that also was screwed into the studs.

Illus

trat

ions

by J

ohn

Hut

chin

son

Tray joinery

Small drawer joinery

Large drawer joinery

Build the drawers with through-dovetails. Then glue a piece of 1⁄4"-thick veneer to the front.

Here you can see the two differ-ent ways of installing the drawer bottoms. The bottom in the top drawer rests in a rabbet in the sides. The drawer bottom for the larger drawers slides into a groove.


Once everything is finished, install the glass using small strips of cherry (1⁄8" and 1⁄4" thick). A few dabs of clear silicone and a couple small pins do the trick.

Install the dividers in the drawers so they can be easily removed in the future. A 23-gauge pinner is an excellent tool for this job.

T O O L B O X E S

Arts & Crafts Tool Cabinet NO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL COMMENTS T W LCarcase

2 Sides 3⁄4 121⁄4 33 Cherry 3⁄8"-deep x 1"-wide rabbet at back 2 Top rails 3⁄4 3 24 Cherry Dovetailed into sides 1 Bottom 3⁄4 111⁄4 24 Cherry Dovetailed into sides 1 Top cap 1 17 32 Cherry 1⁄2"-deep x 3"-wide bevel Shiplapped back 1⁄2 231⁄4 33 Maple 1⁄4" x 1⁄4" shiplaps 1 Major horizontal divider 3⁄4 101⁄2 23 Cherry In 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄2"-wide dados 1 Thin horizontal divider 1⁄2 101⁄2 23 Cherry In 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄2"-wide dados 3 Thin horizontal dividers 1⁄2 91⁄4 23 Cherry In 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄2"-wide dados 5 Vertical dividers 1⁄2 10 61⁄2 Cherry In 1⁄8"-deep x 1⁄2"-wide dados 2 Small vertical dividers 1⁄2 91⁄4 23⁄4 Cherry In 1⁄8"-deep x 1⁄2"-wide dados

Doors 2 Large stiles 3⁄4 23⁄4 33 Cherry 2 Small stiles 3⁄4 11⁄4 33 Cherry 2 Top rails 3⁄4 23⁄4 10 Cherry 1" TBE 2 Intermediate rails 3⁄4 21⁄4 10 Cherry 1" TBE 2 Lower rails 3⁄4 33⁄4 10 Cherry 1" TBE 2 Panels 1⁄2 81⁄2 163⁄4 Maple In 1⁄4"-wide x 3⁄8"-deep groove 2 Vertical muntins 1⁄4 1⁄2 8 Cherry 4 Horizontal muntins 1⁄4 1⁄2 33⁄4 Cherry 2 Backing strips 1⁄4 1⁄2 81⁄2 Cherry In 1⁄4"-wide x 1⁄2"-deep rabbet, glued to vertical muntin 4 Small backing strips 1⁄4 1⁄2 41⁄8 Cherry Glued to horizontal muntin

Drawers 4 Small drawer fronts 3⁄4* 21⁄2 11 Maple 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄2" rabbet on bottom edge 8 Small drawer sides 1⁄2 21⁄2 9 Poplar 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄4" rabbet on bottom edge 4 Small drawer backs 1⁄2 21⁄4 11 Poplar 4 Small drawer bottoms 1⁄4 101⁄2 9 Plywood Screwed to drawer box 1 Medium drawer front 3⁄4* 5 221⁄2 Maple 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄4"-wide groove for bottom 2 Medium drawer sides 1⁄2 5 9 Poplar 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄4"-wide groove for bottom 1 Medium drawer back 1⁄2 41⁄2 221⁄2 Poplar 1 Medium drawer bottom 1⁄2 83⁄4 22 Plywood 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄2" rabbet on bottom edge 1 Large drawer front 3⁄4* 63⁄4 221⁄2 Maple 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄4"-wide groove for bottom 2 Large drawer sides 1⁄2 63⁄4 9 Poplar 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄4"-wide groove for bottom 1 Large drawer back 1⁄2 61⁄2 221⁄2 Poplar 1 Large drawer bottom 1⁄2 83⁄4 22 Plywood 1⁄4"-deep x 1⁄2" rabbet on bottom edge* Finished dimension, laminated from two pieces of wood; TBE= tenon, both ends

popwood.com 5735/16" typ.

13"

5"

3"

33"

1"

8"

24"

23/4"

32" 17"3" 3"

33/4"

33/4"

21/4"

161/4"

33/4"

23/4" 11/4"

53/4"

61/4"

21/2"

21/2"

101/2"

91/4"

33/4"

63/4"

5"

53/4"

61/4"

21/2"

21/2"

63/4"

121/4"

221/2"

11"

35/16" typ.

13"

5"

3"

33"

1"

8"

24"

23/4"

32" 17"3" 3"

33/4"

33/4"

21/4"

161/4"

33/4"

23/4" 11/4"

53/4"

61/4"

21/2"

21/2"

101/2"

91/4"

33/4"

63/4"

5"

53/4"

61/4"

21/2"

21/2"

63/4"

121/4"

221/2"

11"

With the project complete, the voice of Ruskin was finally silenced for a short time as I assessed my work. (I for one was happy for the silence; Ruskin vacillated between madness and lucidity during the last years of his life.) I scolded myself for a few things: the reveals around the drawers on the left edge of the cabinet are a tad wider than the reveals on the right side. And in a couple of the dovetails at the rear of the drawers, there are a couple small gaps. It’s not perfect.

But before I got too down on myself, I remem-bered one more quote from Ruskin that relates to handwork and the pursuit of perfection. This one deserves as much ink as the first:

“No good work whatever can be perfect, and the demand for perfection is always a sign of a mis-understanding of the ends of art.” PW

Elevation - doors closed Profile

Elevation - doors open

M a c h i n i s t ’ s

Tool ChestOriginally designed

for machinists, this

classic tool chest is

perfect for storing

a woodworker’s

smaller hand tools.


T O O L B O X E S

by Jim Stack

Excerpted from “Building the Perfect

Tool Chest,” copyright 2003 by

Jim Stack. Used with permission of

Popular Woodworking Books, an

imprint of F+W Publications Inc.

Visit your local bookseller, call 800-

448-0915 or visit the Bookstore at

popularwoodworking.com to obtain

your copy.

Phot

o by

Al P

arris

h

These tool chests are a common sight in Cincinnati, which was home to scores of machine shops during the industrial age.

The chests were intended to hold the machin-ist’s precision tools, such as calipers, squares and micrometers. But they also make great tool chests for woodworkers.

This tool chest is a classic design. I made it out of

red oak and stained it a medium-dark color. When closed, the lid pushes a rod into a hole in the top of the drop-front door, holding it closed. If the top is locked, the whole chest is locked so you can go eat your lunch without worrying that someone is going to borrow your tools. The whole thing is easily moved using the handles on the sides if you ever change jobs.

popwood.com 59

Step

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Cut the panels for ends, back, flipper door and lid. Use a ripping blade to cut the bevels. These are cut at 19°, leaving a 3⁄16" flat on the edge. This angle creates a narrow section of bevel that shows and still allows the end of the bevel to fit into a 1⁄2" x 1⁄4" groove in the frame parts.

Mill all the joints for the frame-and-panel assemblies and then prepare to glue them up. First, lay out all of the parts, includ-ing glue, hammer and clamps. Orient all the parts as you want them put together in the final assembly. It may seem silly to do this for each assembly, but it is easy to make mistakes – for example, turning a panel upside down. Glue up all the frame and panel assemblies.

Next, glue the shelf and bottom to the back. This is a simple butt joint. Align the bottom of the shelf with the bottom edge of the back’s top rail.

Cut the stopped grooves (which are the tracks for the guide dowels in the flipper door) in the end pan-els, using a 1⁄4" straight router bit (see the drawing on page 61 for details). You can do this as shown on a router table or you can set up a router with a guide fence. Glue the sides to the case.

Now machine the drawer glides and the drawer sides. Set up a dado stack on the table saw and attach a sacrificial fence to your standard fence. Then machine the drawer backs with just the rabbet for the drawer bottoms.

Attach the divider to the underside of the shelf with screws, centering it carefully in the chest. Cut the drawer glides to length and attach them to the inside of the cabinet. Use a spot of glue, and staple or screw them into place.

Glue the hardwood edging on the front edge of the bottom. Level the excess edging to the surface of the plywood using a block plane or sand it flush.

1

2

3 4

5

6

7

Start markStop mark


Cut the groove in all the drawer sides, then attach the drawer sides to the backs with screws. Then put the drawer front in place and drill the holes into the fronts of the drawer sides, using the drawer front as a guide. Add glue and insert the drawer dowels. Use clamps to hold the drawer front tight to the sides while the glue dries. Glue the drawer bottoms in place. If the drawers need fitting, pare a little material off the glides in the chest. After the chest is finished, the drawers should work perfectly. Apply wax to the glides and the drawer sides if you want.

Set up a router with the proper size bit (measure the lock you have) and cut a shallow mortise for the full-mortise lock’s shoulder plate. Rough out the deep part of the mor-tise with your drill and then use a chisel to fit the mortise to the lock. When the lock fits, measure and lay out the hole for the key. Drill the hole and size it with a round file if nec-essary. Finish the chest. Next, install the flipper door, mark for the toolbox lock (avail-able at Rockler, 800-279-4441 or rockler.com, item #79236) and install the lock accord-ing to the manufacturer’s instructions. Install a small bullet catch to hold the flipper door closed. Attach the sash knob on the flipper door, the chest handles on the end panel’s top rails and the escutcheon plate on the front rail over the mortise lock’s keyhole. PW

Lay out the holes for the guide dowels in the flipper door. I needed to set the holes off-center, so I used a cardboard shim on one face of my self-centering doweling jig. Drill an access hole on the inside of the flipper door. This will allow you to use a sharp point to pull the guide dowel out of the groove and back it into the hole far enough so the door can be removed from the tool chest. I cut a spring (from a ball-point pen) in half. I inserted one of these halves in each of the holes for the dowels, then inserted the dowel. The spring pushes the guide dowel into the groove in the chest’s sides.

Machinist’s Tool ChestNO. LET. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL NOTES

T W L

End panels (2, part A) 4 Stiles* 3⁄4 13⁄4 14 Oak2 Top rails 3⁄4 23⁄8 71⁄2 Oak 1⁄2" TBE2 Bottom rails 3⁄4 13⁄4 71⁄2 Oak 1⁄2" TBE2 Panels 5⁄8 71⁄4 107⁄8 Oak1 B Bottom 3⁄4 91⁄4 241⁄2 Plywood 1⁄4" x 3⁄4" strip1 C Shelf 3⁄4 81⁄2 241⁄2 Plywood1 D Front rail 3⁄4 23⁄8 241⁄2 Oak

Back panel (1, part E) 2 Stiles* 3⁄4 13⁄4 14 Oak1 Top rail 3⁄4 23⁄8 22 Oak 1⁄2" TBE1 Bottom rail 3⁄4 13⁄4 22 Oak 1⁄2" TBE1 Panel 5⁄8 107⁄8 22 Oak1 F Divider 3⁄4 31⁄4 81⁄2 Plywood 1⁄4" x 3⁄4" strip

Flipper door (1, part G) 2 Stiles* 3⁄4 13⁄4 105⁄8 Oak2 Rails 3⁄4 13⁄4 217⁄8 Oak 1⁄2" TBE1 Panel 5⁄8 77⁄8 217⁄8 Oak

Lid (1, part H) 2 Front & back rails 3⁄4 11⁄2 26 Oak2 End rails 3⁄4 11⁄2 10 Oak1 Panel 5⁄8 9 25 Oak

NO. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL NOTES

T W L

Drawers (4, part J)4 Fronts 3⁄8 11⁄2 1111⁄16 Oak8 Sides 3⁄8 11⁄2 77⁄8 Oak See illo. details4 Backs 3⁄8 11⁄2 109⁄16 Oak4 Bottoms 1⁄4 81⁄4 1015⁄16 Plywood

Drawer (1, part K)1 Front 3⁄8 11⁄2 245⁄16 Oak2 Sides 3⁄8 11⁄2 77⁄8 Oak See illo. details1 Back 3⁄8 11⁄2 233⁄16 Oak1 Bottom 1⁄4 81⁄4 239⁄16 Plywood

Drawer (1, part L)1 Front 3⁄8 23⁄8 245⁄16 Oak2 Sides 3⁄8 23⁄8 77⁄8 Oak See illo. details1 Back 3⁄8 23⁄8 233⁄16 Oak1 Bottom 1⁄4 81⁄4 239⁄16 Plywood

Drawer (1, part M)1 Front 3⁄8 21⁄2 245⁄16 Oak2 Sides 3⁄8 21⁄2 77⁄8 Oak See illo. details1 Back 3⁄8 21⁄2 233⁄16 Oak1 Bottom 1⁄4 81⁄4 239⁄16 Plywood14 Drawer glides 3⁄8 1 77⁄8 Oak See illo. details

*Sizes do not reflect extra length for trimming. Bolded items denote dimension of finished assembly. TBE = Tenon, both ends

9

10

T O O L B O X E S

8

CL

CL3/8" on center

7/16" on center

1/4"-wide groovefor flipper door guide dowels

Cabinet side panel

Front of chest

popwood.com 61

1/8" x 1" dowels

3/16" lip typ. on all drawer fronts

11/4"

1/4"

3/16" 3/16"

Drawer glide X

Drawer side

1"

1/8"

1/2"3/8"

Backs have no side groove,just rabbet for bottom

CL3/4"

3/8" on center

3/8"on center

Locate side hole in the center of the doorDrill this hole

11/4"- deep3/8" radiusroundover

11/2"

23/8"

107/8"

3/4"

3/4" flipperdoor

10"

151/2"

3/4" typ.

All panels are raised

approx.3/32" gap typ. between

drawers/flipper door

End panel

assemblyA (2)

Bottom B

Shelf C

Front rail D

Back panel E

Divider F

Flipperdoor G

Lid H

J (4)

K

L

M

Lid H

Divider F

Woodenguide dowel (2)

Toolbox lock Continuous hinge is set into stopped mortise

9"Groove forflipper door

26"

3/16"

5/16"

1/8"1"

19°

This is the angle as it is readon the table saw blade tilt gauge

Illus

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Full-scale drawer glide/side detail

Flipper lid detail

Typical drawer construction

Raised panel detail

Half-scale detail of groove for flipper door

ProfileElevation

G e r m a n

Work BoxA fold-out, carry-anything tool chest on wheels.


T O O L B O X E S

During a recent trip to Germany, our editor and publisher, Steve Shanesy, snapped some pictures of a utilitarian, but also

clever, rolling tool cart used in one of the wood-working shops he visited.

The cart was designed to hold your tools so your bench or assembly platform remained tidy. It had doors and drawers on the lower section, plus wings that opened on top to reveal three tool wells that kept things orderly and prevented items from fall-

ing onto the floor. When not in use, the cart closed to a nice size and could even be locked.

The staff agreed that the idea was a good one, but we decided to put a Popular Woodworking spin on it. We divided and detailed the lower drawer space some more and added a tool till inside the center well with magnetic tool holders.

Plus we made sure the construction was sim-ple. Mechanical fasteners do all the hard work. You could easily build this cart with a circular saw, a drill and a router, making it a great project for beginners or even a professional cabinetmaker in a production shop.

Affordable SpaceWhile we didn’t start out worrying about price, the finished bill is worth talking about. Using two sheets of good-quality 3⁄4" shop-grade plywood and one sheet of 1⁄2" Baltic birch ply for the draw-ers, wood costs came in at about $125. The neces-sary hardware (there’s a lot more than you might imagine) comes in at less than $190 if you build it exactly as we have. So for $315, you’re still get-ting a lot of storage for the price and the space is arranged to be exactly what you need, unlike a store-bought toolbox.

The BasicsWhile this is a utilitarian work cart for the shop, we expended a little extra effort (veneer tape on the plywood edges and no exposed screw heads) to make it a more finished-looking project while main-taining the solid, simple construction details.

The cart joinery is a collection of butt joints assembled with Miller Dowels (see “The Pros & Cons of Miller Dowels” on page 70). This is a stepped wood dowel that replaces the screws and plugs the holes left by the drill bit at the same time.

by David Thiel &

Michael A. Rabkin

Michael Rabkin is a former associ-

ate editor who now lives in New York.


David at 513-531-2690 ext. 1255 or

[email protected].

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T O O L B O X E S

The back is 3⁄4" plywood (plywood offers great gluing strength on edge because of the long grain part of the plywood core). This size back offers excellent stability and the opportunity to square up the case without worrying about wood expan-sion because of changes in humidity.

On the interior plywood drawers we used sim-ple rabbet joints to add some extra strength. The bottoms of three of the drawers are screwed to the drawer boxes and stick out past the drawer sides to serve as effective drawer guides, emulating the metal drawers used on the right side of the case.

Begin with the Big BoxFirst cut the plywood panels to size according to the cutting list below. We’ve posted an optimiza-tion chart at popwood.com (click on “Magazine Extras”) to help you get all the pieces from your plywood sheets.

To allow the three smaller drawers to slide in and out of the case, you need to cut 1 ⁄2"-wide x 3⁄8"-deep dados in the left side of the case and in the left side of the center divider. Lay out the dado

locations – according to the illustrations at right – then cut them using either a dado stack in your saw, repeated cuts with a circular saw, or with a straight bit in a router, using two passes to achieve the full depth. There is 1⁄2" of space between each of the drawers and we worked from the bottom up, leaving a larger gap above the top drawer to allow clearance for the door catches.

Dowels and GlueAs mentioned, we used veneer tape to dress up the edges of the plywood. We had been using iron-on veneer tape for years, but recently discovered a self-adhesive veneer tape that is much simpler to use, takes the concern out of the glue melting evenly and sticks very well to the work.

After veneering all the exposed edges, sand the interior surfaces through #150 grit. Now you’re ready to assemble the case.

Start by clamping the divider between the upper and middle shelves, holding the front edges flush. We used regular #8 x 11 ⁄4" screws here because they would be hidden inside the case. Next, drill


4 • 2" metal drawers #05K98.20, $6.30 ea.

5 • 1" metal drawers #05K98.10, $4.85 ea.

2 • gripper mats #88K18.05, $5.95 ea.

2 • 12" magnetic bars #93K75.12, $7.95 ea.

Woodworker’s Hardware 800-383-0130 or wwhardware.com

3 • 11⁄2" x 48" nickel continuous hinges #LA11248 14A, $9.16 ea.

2 • 21⁄2" swivel casters #JH25 S, $4.19 ea.

2 • 21⁄2" swivel casters w/brake #JH25 SB, $4.86 ea.

1 • lid stay #KV0472 R ANO, $2.06

2 • 4" stainless steel pull #UFWP4 SS, $2.78 ea.

2 • roller latches #A09714 A2G, $1.01 ea.

1 • 18" 100# full extension slide #KV8417 B18, $12.26 pr.

Woodcraft 800-535-4482 or woodcraft.com

1 • stepped dowel kit 1X #144570, $24.99

Woodworker’s Supply 800-645-9292 or woodworker.com

1 • 13 ⁄16"x 50' PSA birch edge tape #934-960, $18.99


German Work BoxNO. LET. ITEM DIMENSIONS (INCHES) MATERIAL

T W L

Case

2 A Sides 3 ⁄4 191⁄4 32 Shop plywood3 B Shelves and bottom 3 ⁄4 181⁄2 281⁄2 Shop plywood 1 C Back 3 ⁄4 281⁄2 32 Shop plywood 1 D Front 3 ⁄4 67⁄8 30 Shop plywood1 E Divider 3 ⁄4 18 18 Shop plywood2 F Doors 3 ⁄4 1415⁄16 25 Shop plywood4 G Wing front and back 3 ⁄4 615⁄16 15 Shop plywood2 H Wing sides 3 ⁄4 615⁄16 181⁄2 Shop plywood2 I Wing sides 3 ⁄4 63 ⁄4 181⁄2 Shop plywood2 J Wing panels 3 ⁄4 131⁄2 181⁄2 Shop plywood1 K Till support 3 ⁄4 51⁄2 281⁄2 Shop plywood1 L Till lid spacer 3 ⁄4 3 ⁄4 281⁄4 Maple1 M Till lid 3 ⁄4 10 281⁄4 Shop plywood2 N Drawer section sides 1⁄2 12 18 Shop plywood

Drawers2 O Drawer front and back 1⁄2 4 153 ⁄4 Baltic birch2 P Drawer sides 1⁄2 4 171⁄2 Baltic birch2 Q Drawer front and back 1⁄2 41⁄2 153 ⁄4 Baltic birch2 R Drawer sides 1⁄2 41⁄2 171⁄2 Baltic birch2 S Drawer front and back 1⁄2 5 271⁄2 Baltic birch2 T Drawer sides 1⁄2 5 171⁄2 Baltic birch2 U Drawer front and back 1⁄2 51⁄2 153 ⁄4 Baltic birch2 V Drawer sides 1⁄2 51⁄2 171⁄2 Baltic birch3 W Drawer bottoms 1⁄2 163 ⁄4 18 Baltic birch1 X Drawer bottom 1⁄2 171⁄2 27 Baltic birch

popwood.com 67

7"

1/2"

121/2"

21/2"

51/4"

103/4"

123/8"

153/8"

171/4"

8"

14"

1/2"w. x 3/8"d. dados

E N

60"

I

3/4"3/4"

3/4"

181/2"

25" 25"

10"

20"

32"

15" 30" 15"

A

C

L

K

M

M

F

O

S

Q

281/4"

63/4" 67/8"

51/4"

61/2"

63/4" 615/16"

181/2"

615/16"

3/4"

3/4"

3/4"

3/4"3/4"

18"

U E

B

W

B

G

J

I

D

G

J

B

B

C

A

See wing hingedetail above right

3/16"

Piano hinge

4"

5"

41/2"

51/2"

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Cut the drawer dados in the case sides prior to assembly. We used a router to make the dados and a store-bought guide that clamps across the plywood to guide the router. You could just as easily clamp a straight board to the side to serve as a guide. Use two passes on each dado to achieve the full depth. This puts less strain on the router and the bit.

Elevation

PlanWing hinge detail

Profile

Drawer dado layout


T O O L B O X E S

and countersink 3⁄16"-diameter clearance holes through the shelves and then drill 3⁄32"-diameter pilot holes in the divider. Now add glue and screw the assembly together.

Next use either screws or Miller Dowels to attach the back to the center assembly. Check the spaces to ensure they are square, then add the bottom shelf to the back, holding the back flush to the bottom side of the shelf, as shown below.

Clamp your center assembly between the two sides, drill the appropriate holes, add glue and assemble the rest of the case. It’s a good idea to trim the dowels flush to the case side before flipping the case onto that face: It’s more stable and there’s less chance of messing something up.

Add the front piece to the front edges of the sides, holding it flush to the top edge. The front will overlap the top shelf, leaving 1⁄4" of the shelf

Top shelf

Divider

Middle shelf

Back

Bottom

The veneer edge tape is easy to use and quickly adds a fin-ished appearance to the cabi-net. Even though we ended up painting the exterior, the paint still applied better to the veneer tape than on a bare plywood edge. You’ll need to notch the tape with a file at the dado locations in the left case side.

Screw the divider between the top and middle shelves by first

drilling a pilot hole for the screws and countersinking the flathead

screws to the shelf surfaces.

Attach the back to the center assembly using screws or Miller

Dowels. Put glue on the back edges of the center pieces, then

position the back and clamp it in place. If using Miller Dow-

els, after using the proprietary stepped drill bit to make the

holes, add glue to the dowel and then tap it into place in the hole. Lastly, attach the bottom to the

back with stepped dowels.

popwood.com 69

edge exposed. This allows room to attach the front to the shelf with brad nails. The exposed edge will act as a door stop once hinges are installed.

The wings go together like simple versions of the case. The side closest to the cabinet on each wing is 3⁄16" narrower than the other side pieces. This creates a recess to house the hinge to mount the wings to the cabinet.

We recessed the captured panels 1 ⁄4" in from the outside edges to avoid any alignment problems. Using the stepped dowels, attach the wing sides to the wing panels. Attach the fronts and backs to complete the assembly.

Storage DetailsStart by adding the till lid to the back with a length of continuous (or piano) hinge. Because of the way the hinge needs to mount inside the cabinet (so the wings can close) we added a 3⁄4" x 3⁄4" maple strip to the back 1⁄8" down from the top edge. This allows the till lid to open to about 110°. Mount the lid to the strip with a length of continuous hinge. Carefully check it for clearance between the two sides as it closes.

Next, attach the till support to the top shelf by screwing into the support through the shelf. The support is set back 1⁄2" from the front edge of the till lid to allow you to get your fingers under it to lift the lid. Add some glue and a couple of stepped dowels through the sides to hold every-thing in place.

The next step is to attach one side (which side doesn’t really matter). Carry your location lines from the back around to the side and use them to lay out the dowel locations. Add glue, clamp, drill and dowel the joint.

After attaching the till lid, the wings are ready. The wings are held flush to the front and are tight against the cabinet side. The recessed wing side is the attachment point for the contin-uous hinge, allowing the lid to close flush against the top of the cabinet.

Before attaching the second side, it makes sense to cut the dowels on the first side flush to the surface. I used a Japanese flush-cutting pull saw that has teeth with very little set to them, reducing the chance of scratching the cabinet side. By applying pressure on the blade to keep it flat to the cabinet surface, I further reduced the chance of scratches. Do a little sanding, then flip the cabinet over and attach the second side, then the front.

Till lid

Till support


Now you need to attach the two wings to the case with more continuous hinge. Clamp the wings to the case in the open position (flush to the front) while attaching the hinges to ensure even and well-supported wings.

Lastly, attach the doors to the case (use a con-tinuous hinge again). To get the doors to seat flush against the cabinet front, cut a shallow rabbet (3⁄16" deep, the thickness of the hinge) the width of the closed hinge on the back of the door on the hinge side. You can use your router or table saw.

When attaching the doors, pay careful atten-tion to the height. Preferably they will be about 1⁄8" below the wings when open to keep the doors from bumping the wings.

You’ll also notice that the left-hand door’s hinge covers the dados for the drawers. Rather than place the hinge on the outside of the cabinet (making it too visible), we opted to simply file out the hinge to match the dado locations, as shown above.

Drawer SpaceUltimately you’ll decide how the interior space in your cart is used. We’ve used drawers because our experience has shown that low shelving just collects junk at the back of the case that you can never see or reach easily.

We’ve used a selection of drawer types for this project, both shop-made and purchased. You can follow our lead or pick a style you prefer.

The lower shop-made drawer is simply a Bal-tic birch box drawer mounted on full-extension, 100-pound drawer slides. This is a fine heavy-duty drawer joined at the corners with simple rabbet joints. We used a 1 ⁄2" bottom fit into a rabbet in the sides. While we usually would have recom-mended a 1 ⁄4" bottom, we had the 1 ⁄2" material and didn’t feel like by buying a whole sheet of 1⁄4" for just one drawer.

The store-bought drawers are metal, lighter-duty drawers of 1" and 2" depths, and have metal flanges that ride on dados cut into the sides of the case. With these, the front of the drawer overlaps the case sides to both hide the dados and serve as a drawer stop. As this would interfere with the door

You can see the two sets of dados for the drawers with a few

drawers removed. Also, notice the notched continuous hinge

to allow the drawers to slide in and out.

This shot of one of the drawers shows the rabbet joinery used. Also note that the bottom was trimmed slightly in width to allow the drawer to move more smoothly in the dados.

Notched continuous hinge

Rabbet joint

T O O L B O X E S

The Pros & Cons of Miller DowelsMiller Dowels are a clever concept that can make some types of assembly faster and easier. Essentially, the stepped-dowel idea offers the strength of a standard dowel with the ease of a tapered dowel. Alignment and splitting difficulties often associated with standard dowels are reduced, while the strength offered is actually better than with a standard dowel thanks to the ribbed design (increasing glue coverage).

These stepped dowels can be used in place of screws (as we’ve shown in this project) – think of them as self-plugging screws.

We’re going to stop short of advocating Miller Dowels as a replacement for all screws, though. While the strength is good, they still won’t pull up an ill-fitting joint, and if the glue is not allowed to cure before removing the clamps, there is the potential for the joint opening slightly after removing the clamps. So proper clamping and glue-curing time is still essential when using this product.

Then there is the economic consideration. A pack of 50 dowels (25⁄8" or 33⁄8" long) and the necessary bit cost about $25. Packs of 40 dowels cost about $14. That’s about 35 cents per dowel versus 4 cents per #20 biscuit or about 8 cents per premium screw.

All things considered, we like the idea of an all-wood, strong and simple joint – but we’d recommend choosing your application carefully.

The dowels are available in birch, red oak, cherry and black walnut. For details, contact Miller Dowel at 866-WOOD-PEG (866-966-3734) or miller-dowel.com. – DT

popwood.com 71

Pads line the bottoms of the wing and till sections to keep tools from rolling and to help trap dust. Dividers in the till section can be custom-ized to fit the tools you need. The magnetic bars on the till lid provide secure stor-age for small ferrous tools. Small-parts storage is easily accomplished with a couple of plastic storage bins held in place in one of the metal drawers with some hook-and-loop fasteners.

hinge, we added two drawer section sides made of 1⁄2" Baltic birch and set them back 1" from the front of the case. This also made it possible to cut the dados in the section sides after the case was assembled.

The three drawers to the left use the best of both worlds, finishing off some of the wood on hand and avoiding the cost of more drawer slides by using the “lip and groove” concept of the metal drawers. On all the wood drawers, a simple 1" hole drilled in the front serves as an adequate drawer pull.

Finishing TouchesThe last steps are adding a finish (we opted for two coats of dark green latex paint on the outside; the inside was left as-is) and then some sturdy 21⁄2" casters to the case and placing and organizing your tools. The photos here show you a couple of stor-age tricks and items available for sale to help keep things neat and tidy. PW

CaliforniaCerritos College – Woodworking Manufacturing Technologies11110 Alondra Blvd.Norwalk, CA 90650(562) 860-2451 ext. 2926E-MAIL: [email protected]: cerritos.edu/woodCelebrate woodworking at Cerritos College in sunny Southern California. Study furniture, cabinetmaking, turning, architectural and computer-aided woodworking. The award winning Woodworking Management Technologies program is one of the largest and finest in the nation. Visit our web site or call for more information.

Woodworker Academy1731 Clement Ave.Alameda, CA 94501(510) 521-1623E-MAIL: [email protected]: woodworkeracademy.comThe Woodworker Academy offers weekend, eight-hour-per-day workshops and private lessons to entry-level woodworkers. We teach how to always work the safest way; buy, set up, align, maintain, and use power and hand tools; design, build, wire and manage the home shop; and make furniture, craft items, cabinets and DIY projects.

GeorgiaThe Dogwood Institute School of Fine Woodworking1640 Mid-Broadwell RoadAlpharetta, GA 30004(770) 751-9571E-MAIL: rgpeyton@ dogwoodinstitute.

comWEB: dogwoodwoodworking.comThe Dogwood Institute School of Fine Woodworking is a new school in the North Atlanta, Ga., area offering courses for beginning, intermediate and advanced woodworkers. A signature series consisting of five two-day courses teaches the detailed foundation techniques necessary for building fine furniture. Courses include furniture making, veneering, woodturning and carving. New classes are now forming.

IllinoisFurnituremaking Workshops1774 W. Lunt Ave.Chicago, IL 60626(773) 761-3311E-MAIL: [email protected]: furnituremaking.comFurnituremaking Workshops offers a wide range of hands-on classes, from woodworking techniques to building furniture. Classes are small, with most taught by award-winning author and furniture maker Jeff Miller.

Alpine School of Woodcarving, Ltd.225 Vine Ave.Park Ridge, IL 60068(847) 692-2822E-MAIL: [email protected]: chipcarving.comOur school is dedicated to the study and learning of the decorative art of chip carving, taught by the acclaimed international carver and author Wayne Barton. Related to architecture and furniture design, all techniques and design aspects are taught. Visit our web site for a class schedule.

IndianaMarc Adams School of Woodworking5504 E. 500NFranklin, IN 46131(317) 535-4013E-MAIL: [email protected]: marcadams.comMarc Adams School of Woodworking is committed to excellence through education with the best woodworkers of modern time. Classes range from one day to two weeks and enrollment is limited. Call or write for information today and start your woodworking dreams tomorrow.

MassachusettsNew England School of Architectural WoodworkingOne Cottage St.Easthampton, MA 01027(413) 527-6103

E-MAIL: [email protected]: nesaw.comThere are three woodworking training programs at the New England School of Architectural Woodworking. We offer a 35-week certificate career training program in architectural woodworking with job placement assistance, a six-week summer intensive program for the serious woodworker and a short-term adult education introduction to woodworking classes. HeartwoodJohnson Hill RoadWashington, MA 01223(413) 623-6677E-MAIL: [email protected]: heartwoodschool.comHeartwood was founded in 1978 and offers one-week workshops in the fundamentals of woodworking, cabinetmaking, furniture making and various timber-framing topics. The charming schoolhouse in the woods features a shop, library, dining room and classroom. Tuition includes materials and lunch.

MaineCenter for Furniture Craftsmanship25 Mill St.Rockport, ME 04856(207) 594-5611E-MAIL: [email protected]: woodschool.orgCenter for Furniture Craftsmanship is a year-round woodworking school for all levels from novice to professional. We offer one-week and two-week workshops, twelve-week intensives, nine-month comprehensive and studio fellowships. Messler Gallery is on our premises. We have an outstanding international faculty.

New HampshireHomestead Woodworking School52 Bald Hill RoadNewmarket, NH 03857(603) 659-2345E-MAIL: [email protected]: woodschoolNH.comHomestead Woodworking School offers classes for novice, intermediate and advanced woodworkers. We’re located in rural Newmarket, N.H., near the seacoast. Our instructors are professional woodworkers with unique areas of specialization.

MissouriAmerican Woodworking Academy1495 Hoff Industrial CenterO’Fallon, MO 63366(636) 343-3750E-MAIL: [email protected]: awacademy.comWoodworking you can grow with. Our foundation of hands-on training lets students get the opportunity to develop their skills step-by-step. Courses range from a single class to our 22- or 44-week Master Woodworking Program. Looking for a new trade, setting up the golden years or fulfillment and opportunity to be your own boss? Let us help you.

New YorkArt’s Wood Shop & School of Woodworking240 Portage RoadNiagara Falls, NY 14303(716) 285-1814e-mail: [email protected]: awsnf.comArt’s Wood Shop & School of Woodworking offers programs in

basic woodworking, cabinetmaking, fine furniture making and wood finishes.

North CarolinaCountry Workshops990 Black Pine Ridge RoadMarshall, NC 28753(828) 656-2280E-MAIL: langsner@

countryworkshops.orgWEB: countryworkshops.orgCountry Workshops offers week-long classes in traditional woodworking. Classes include: Windsor and ladder-back chairmaking, carving bowls and spoons, Japanese woodworking, woodworking for women and more. Material, use of special tools, and room and board are included with tuition. Established 1978.

Rockingham Community CollegeHighway 65 & County Home RoadP.O. Box 38Wentworth, NC 27375(336) 342-4261E-MAIL: [email protected]: rockinghamcc.eduThe Fine & Creative Woodworking Program prepares individuals to build high-quality furniture and accessories. The students will begin by developing a strong foundation in basic hand-tool use and machining. Course work progresses to include study of finishing, turning, veneering, equipment maintenance and principles of operating a business.

OhioFine Furniture with Glen Huey6895 Dutchland Blvd.Middletown, OH 45044(513) 779-9798E-MAIL: [email protected]: hueyfurniture.com/calendar.aspClasses and workshops that are focused on building furniture from the 18th and 19th century perspective while using 21st century tools. Where we employ the “time-honored” joinery techniques of hand-cut dovetails, mortise-and-tenon joints and more.

Conover WorkshopsP.O. Box 679Parkman, OH 44080-0679(440) 548-3491E-MAIL: [email protected]: conoverworkshops.comConover Workshops was founded in 1980 by Ernie Conover with the mission of teaching technically correct, proper and safe wood-working. All teaching is at the highest level, and all instructors are acknowledged leaders in their fields. We offer workshops in hand- and machine-tool joinery, woodturning, Shaker chairmaking, etc.

PennsylvaniaJ.D. Lohr School of Woodworking242 N. Limerick RoadSchwenksville, PA 19473(610) 287-7802E-MAIL: [email protected] WEB: jdlohrwood.comForty-eight hour, one-week long, total-immersion courses in practical, get-the-job-done, machine-based woodworking. Focus is on safe, efficient production skills with home-shop-type table saws, jointers, planers and routers. Woodcarving and other weekend classes are also offered in this well-equipped, expertly staffed Pennsylvania studio.

TennesseeArrowmont School of Arts and Crafts556 Parkway P.O. Box 567Gatlinburg, TN 37738(865) 436-5860 E-MAIL: [email protected]: arrowmont.orgArrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is an internationally known visual arts complex in Gatlinburg, Tenn., offering one- and two-week programs plus weekend workshops in spring, summer and fall. The school is known for its excellence in woodturning and woodworking instruction. For complete course offerings, call or register online.

Lonnie Bird’s School of Fine Woodworking1145 Carolina DriveDandridge, TN 37725(865) 484-1145E-MAIL: [email protected]: lonniebird.comChoose from a variety of hands-on classes from dovetailing and casework to joinery and chairmaking. Classes range from one day to two weeks in length. Small class size guarantees that you’ll get personalized instruction – you won’t get lost in the crowd.

TexasCenter for Essential Education School of Woodworking608 Day Creek RoadWaco, TX 76705(254) 799-1480E-MAIL: info@shomesteadheritage.

comWEB: cfeeschool.comThe Center for Essential Education School of Woodworking is dedicated to establishing foundational skills in all areas of traditional woodworking by providing hands-on instruction through week-long and apprenticeship courses in general woodworking, fine furniture making and woodturning. Contact Paul Sellers, director.

WisconsinThe Wild Earth School924 County Road N.Hudson, WI 54016(715) 749-9011E-MAIL: [email protected]: aboutwildearth.comWe offer woodworking classes for all skill levels. George Vondriska’s Wild Earth School offers entry-level to advanced classes. We have hands-on classes in cabinet, furniture making and lathe turning. Our one- and two-day classes fit any schedule and our Wisconsin school is easy to get to. Check our web page or call for a free brochure.

Ontario, CanadaRosewood Studio Inc.P.O. Box 83983 Little Bridge St.Almonte, Ontario KOA 1AOCanadaE-MAIL: [email protected]: rosewoodstudio.comWelcome to Rosewood Studio! We offer an environment for creative woodworking and relaxation, with instructors from around the world. Students learn how to make heirloom-quality furniture while enjoying every step of their journey. Our courses run year-round. Call or visit our web site for further details and schedules.

The staff of Popular Woodworking believes woodworking education is essential to the development and preservation of woodworking craftsmanship. Woodworking schools offer a special opportunity for woodworkers to quickly advance their skills by learning under the guidance of a skilled teacher, much as the tradition of master and apprentice was practiced years ago. We are proud to offer our support of woodworking schools. If you are involved in the operation of a woodworking school and would like information about our Partnership in Education program, contact Steve Shanesy, editor & publisher, Popular Woodworking, 4700 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236; (513) 531-2690 x1238 or e-mail [email protected].

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