wwwwoodsmith.com Vol.26 / No. 153

llllllilllilil]llllililfllPlease display untrl Aug. 2

A Publication ofAugust Home Publishing

lookinq inside

Table odepartments

from our readersTips & Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

tools of the tradeO n e - H a n d B a r C | a m p s . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

These c amps are so easy to usq you'll wonderhow you ever managed without them.

all aboutPerfect Plane Performance.. .. .. .. 10

5 shop-tested tune-up techniques for makirgthis handy tool work even better.

techniques from our shopAn Invisible Plywood Edge. .. . . .. . 12

A plywood edqe that won't be noticed? We'show you how easy it is to do.

tips from our shopShop Notebook. . . . . . .25

small shop solutionsExtra Work Surfaces . . . , . . . . . . . . 42

Can't find a space to do an assembly or even setdown a tool? Take a look at some easy-to-b!ildsolutions to this common problem.

working with toolsThreeEas icRouterB i ts . . . . . . . . . . 44

You probably already have the blts yo! need tornake a host of decorative profi es.

finlshing roomSolving Finishing Problems .. .. . .45

shellac can help you avoid common finishingproblems and give you befter resuJts.

in the mailboxQ & A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 8

hardware and suppliesS o u r c e s . . , . , . . . . . . . . . 4 9

Knock-Down Bookshelf

featu res

weeKeno projeclP d n e l e d W i n d o w S e a t . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4

lust startwith a simple plywood box and go flomthere.You won't believe the end result.Dtl|cr|l ltotroor

r ld< i^nor <or ia< nr^ io . r

Knock-Down Bookhe l f . . . . . . . . . . 20It's functional and looks great, but the best part

. . is it goes together with no trouble. ffinmt

nerfloom projeciPenc i l Pos t Bed . . . . . . . . 28

Thi5 classic bed features sirnplejoinery, handcatued detailt and traditional hardwafe.

editor's note

SawdustI

f\" you -ighr "*p".1, quile a bit of pld.ruing goes into ed(n issue

Fl ot wood.ntth. Blrsu?nsln8ly, rl s uxe unplannecl parl thal I

find the most interesting.

?*e the pencil post bed in this issue for example. I'v€ always

been impressed with the look of this twe of bed. And I've been

planning on featurhg it as a prcject for quit€ some time. But whar

I didn't plan on was how excited everyon€ amund here (mys€If

included) became about thjs prote.t For one thhg, it gave us an

opporhmity to try our hand at some diff€rent woodwoiking t€ch-

niques. Esp€cialy when it came to making the tal, tapeied po6ts.

The initial plrn was to taper them on the band saw, then plane

the edges to create an octagonal slupe. This method works Fstfine. But, Steve Johnson (our shop aaftsman) came up with a jig

which allows you to do most of tlte shaping on the table saw.

But the po6ts are iust part of th€ pmj€ct You stil ne€d to connect

them with a headboard and rails. Like the Shakers, we used a

draw bolt system to hold th€ rails to the posts. And th€ headboard

just slips into mortis€B b€twe€n tt€ tal posts. Nothing is glued in

place. This means the bed can be completely taken apart which

mak€s getting the ta[, tapered posts throuSh a dooMay much

easier. Made s€nse ther! stil makes sense today

-rrr,\

ffiffiThese two symbols let you know there's more information online atwww.Woodsmith.com. There you'll see step-by-step videos, te€hnique andhardware animation, bonus cutting diagrams, and a Iot more.

Dtltottl| Lolroor

D||tm!||otlloolChoosing the Best Joinery 38

Learn the ins and outs of how to selecting theright joinery foryour next project.

. la1: i l< ̂ { . r>{ i<m)n<hi^

A Lamb's Tongue Chamfer . . . . . . .50A chisel, carvinq knife, and file are all it takes tocreate this grcat-looking traditional detail.

Pencil Post Bed

No. 153

page 28

from our readers

Tips & TechniquesBond Sow Arc JigI liked the tile toptable in issue rs2so much that ldecided to make afew ofthem as gifts forfrisnds andfamily. And when building multiple,identical pieces, it's important tofind ways to makecutting and shatring p6rts as quick and effident aspossible. One place that I needed

to find a way to savesome rme was cul-t ing andshapingthearcs on the lowerra i ls of the tableshown in the photoat left. Cutting eacharc free hand on theband saw and thensanding i t smoothwould be a difficult,time'consumingjob.

To speed thingsalong, lbu i l t a s im-ple arc-cuning jig

for my band saw, asshown in the photo

There's really not much to thisjig.justtwo main parts. Thefirst isa r/a" plywood base. To locate theb6se on the band saw table, Iattached a hardwood runfler to fitin the miter gauge slot. Th€ base isheld in placewith a spring clamp.

The second part of the iig is apivot arm th6t holds the workpieceas it's being cut. The %" plywoodarm swivels on a nail set into the

base to match the radius (26s,6" forthe tile top-table). A side and endstop register the workp;ece andkeep it in place during the cut.

To usethe i ig, al lyou haveto dois pullthe pivot arm awayfrom theblade, set the blank in place, andthen make your cut. Noweverycutwi l lbe ident ical .

CulVoodBrLsm, lts

o

cuttlnglig nrakes iteasy to cut identi-

like the lower ra lson this table.

above right. Ther€ are two advan-tages to this iig. First, it makes iteasy to create identical cuts onmultiple pieces. Second, the sur-lace is a lot smoother, so I won'tneedto do as much sanding.

SUBilIT YOUR TIPSlf you have an original shop tip, we would liketo hear fiom you and consider publishing yourt ip in one or more of our publ icat ions. Justwrite down your tip and mall il tot Woodsmith,Tips and Techniques. 2200 Grand Avenue, DesMoines, lowa 50312. Please include your n6me,address, and dayt ime phone number in casewe have any qu€stions. lf you would like, FAXit to us at 515'282-6741 or send Lrs an emailmessage at woodsmith@woodsmith.com. Wewill pay up to $200 if we publjsh your tip.

4

|r

woodsmidr No. 153

Ddll Prere StorugeftrrIn a smallworkshop, making the most ofevery square inch of space is important.One area that has alwaysgone unused, isthe space around my f loor model dr i l lpress. Then I found the solutjon in mykitchen -a rolling pantry cart, as shownin the drawing at right.

What makes the cart so perfect is thatit's not much wider than the drill press,and it rolls out otthe way if Ineed morespace. The shelves hold boxes of bits,clamps, and other accessories withine6sy reach. And the wire shelves let dust6nd chips fall rightthrough to the floor.

EmbStziwGoodr@, 1fi\@

Edgebonding lupporlWhile making a set of plywood book-shelves recentlv lused iron-on veneer taDeto hide the edgss of the plywood panelsand shelves. The problem wastinding an

Spin Your Filter CleonEvery so often I need to clean out thepleated filter in my shop vacuum. To getthe ,ob done faster I've come up with away to dothis using my electric drill.

Start by chucking a piece of threadedrod in the dr;ll. Then twist on a hex nut,wash€r, and the fiher Next, cut 6 circularpiece of scrap to fitthe open end of the fil-ter and secure itwith anotherwasher andnut. After going outdoors, I run the drill,holding a brush against the pleats. Thebristles brush away the dust in thetolds.

Ro4er bwBlaminsh, Minmoia

extra worksurface that would hold thepiecas on edge while keeping my work-bsnch free for assem bling the shelfunit.

The solution was right in front of me.The miter gauge slots inthetable saw are3/a' wide, which is a perfect fit tor theslightly undersized 3/.- plywood. Usingthe slots leaves one hand free to positionthe veneer tape and iron it in place withth€ other hand. For a little extra support, Ipositioned the saw's rip lence alongsidethe workpiece, as you can see in thephoto at left. Best ofall.the pieces are setat the perfect working height, so there areno long reaches orstooping over.

The slip fit of the panels in the slots letsme work quickly. I can pick up one piece,set it in place, apply the €dgebanding.Then pull out the shelt and move on tothe next piece in a short amount oftime.

Brcu WdlAipAJdillo, Tetu

lvoodsmit1lNo. 153

No. 153

Illustrators

June/Juln 2004

Donald B. Peschke

Terry J. StrohmanTed RaifePhil Huber

ChrisFitch

Todd LambirthDavid KreylingDirk Ver SteegHarlan V Clark

Dave Ka emln

Publishe.

EditorA$istant Editors

Contdb. Editors

An Di!€ctorSenior lllusEatorg

CREATI\,'E RESOURCES

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SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS.i" yPj b4]rs L H& . n' Dk,'] o4gh. ^ Eh'. s&6',H

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COR?OR-IIIE SERVICES

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Online Cusroh€. Seni.€,tNlv.Woo&mith,.om. A.cess you. accost. Checl a subsdiption paldent. Te[ us if you've misd an issue' chd8e you miliry or eroil adde$. Renew yow subsaiption

Ehail woodsmith@woodshirh.comWrite to Woodsritl, PO. Box 842, D6 Moines, tA5030!L9961 oi call 1-80G333-5075, 8:00 m ro 5:00pm, Cotral Tme, w@kdays. Or sd m emil to:ordeB@woodsmirh.@

AucusrHolcI \ PrBr i3Hin i i conF;n i

Prini€d in u.s.A.

5

amore tips from our readers

Shopllode Barh DogaBench dogs come in handy for allk inds oJjobs atthe workbench, l ikeclampinga long workpiece for rout-ing or planing. Butwhatthey cantdo is hold something down on thetop ofthe bench, for example, theplaning stop shown in the photo atr ight. Forthjsjob, l turn to a di f feFent "breed" of bench dogs.

These dogs can be locked inplacewith a sjmpletwist ofa wingknob. The secret is a stove boltlo€ted in the stem, as you cansee in the drawing at right-

The tapered head of the stovebolt rests in a countersunk holedrilled through the length ofa 3L"-

dia. hardwood dowel. Twisting aplastic wing knob atthetop ofthedog draws the head of the boltinto the stem. A slit in the dowelallows it to expand and hold fastin the dog hole, as illustrated indetait ,a., A 3/4" ptywood cap isglued around the dowel andanchors the jig or workpiece.

Merua VanftleBehe, OhD

Roufer ftble llold.DownWhile working on my router tablerecently, I noticed that the workpiecehad atendencyto ride uponthe bit.The way to solve this problem is touse a hold-down, asyoucan see in

The hold down that I made ispretty simple and doesnl takemuch material or time. lt's madefrom a piece of 3r" plywood, asillustrated in the drawing below.There are tlvo angled saw kerfs inthe bottom edge to hold a shortpiece of steel strapping. (The kindused on shippins boxes.)

All you have to do is clamp the

hold'down to the router t6blefence with the strapping set a hairlower than the top of the piece youwill be routing. The strapping actsl ike a spr ing and appl ies enoughpressure to the workpiece to holdi t f i rmly against the router tableand in contactwith the router bit.

Paitk Brcnl@

Butla, K6.eL,

cRoss sEcnoN

t

2U,

-l_

c

No. 153

Bond Sow Dust Colle(torResawing and cutting thickstockonthe bandsaw creates a lot of dust that seems to geteverywhere and can bedifficultto cle6n out.Although my saw has a buih-in dust collec-tion pon, l've nev€r b€€n real happy with it.Itiustdoesn'tseem to be big enough to catchmuch ofthe saw dust.

To overcome this problem, I built a newdust collector attachment for my saw,6sshown in the drawing atrightand below.lt!just a small box made from %' hardboard,with an opening atthe top and bottom. Th€upper opening fits under the lower bladego;des. The lower opening is sized to fitthehose from my dust coll€ctor.

When making the collector attachment,you want to make sur€ the joints are wellsealed to make itasairtight as possible. Thetop of the collector is angled at 45" so thatthe sawtable can still be tihed without having to remove the collector attachment{detail'a'). I sized thecollectorto fit over thedust port on the band saw. To attach the

WnrTI{lsBruocB CrrvBr.ocr<PreuBThat's right, s€nd us your shop tips. lfyourwooclworking tip ortechnique is selectedasthe featured readerttip, you'llwin aBridge City Block Planejust likethe one

dust collector to the saw, I bolted it to backof the band saw case (not the door) withsome aluminum L brackets, bolts, washers,and nuts. This way lcan still open the doorto access the blade and lowerwheel.

CLrt UrnslaSieleru Ponr, U/6.min

QuiokTipe

SEIT.ADIII'IYE IEfl PI.AIISl 've hadtrouble inthe pastkeepingpapertemplates in place on a work-piece- To so lve this problem, I nowcopy the templates on clear labelstock avai lable at of f ice supplystorcs. Thaiway lcan peeland stickthe template right where I need it.

lin HeddGr@e, Okhn ro

sl t PnooHltc ctaflPsToo many times l've found stainson glued-up panels that werecaused by the pipe clamps react-ing with glue squeeze-out. To pre-vent this from happening, lgavethe pipes a coatoffast drying spraylacquer When it wears off, you cansimply spray on another coat.

Antue@ k@MCrc@ Pomr, lnAam

Pltoto EfioRY flDRemembering how to set up a iig orPower tool for a particular opera-tion can sometimestake a littletriala n d e r r o r B u t l f o u n d t h a t I c a njump start my memory bytaking aphoto ofthe setup with a digital or,nstant camera. lcan thentapethephoto tothejig or keep it in a filefor

Tm CookFdirore, Pmtullmid

shown here. Send yourtips and techniquesto:

lhe Winner!Congratu latio ns to CarlWoodof Burleson. Texas. His tip onmaking 6 band saw arc-cuttingj ig wasselectedto be the win-nerofa Bridge City Block Pla nejust like the one shown at left.

Carl designed the j ig tobui ld sevoral t i le-top tablesand found that i t had manyother uses 6swsll. To find outhow you could win one, seethe box on page 4.

Woodsmith, \ps and Techniques, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, lowa 50312.Or send us an email message at woodsmith@woodsmith.com.

tools of the tradelwo-way Levez The sliding kw advancing lever on the

quickand eaSV ?:::';;-;:"H:::v;:iilbardampcanbeused

One-Hhnd Bar ClampsBEssEy Get a grip fast with these new clamps.P,OlilrERGRlP

ai.ilE:";ltjf";kl& -1 .

Adamp js a damp, right? That's what I thought I havemy trusty pipe damps along with a good selection ofbar damps and C-clamps. And they handle just aboutevery clampingjob I ne€d them to. The trouble is, some-times I need a third hand (or even a fourth) - fast.That's wh€re these one-handed bar damps come 1Il.

Although they look a 1ot lil€ the bal clamps youmy aheady own, these you can pick up and lock inpoEition with on€ hand. One-handed bar clamps canbe divid€d into Lwo categodes: heavy duty andm€dium dury I'[ start by iaking a look at the hearyhitters. To find out where you can get these barclamps, turn to Sources on page 49.

IIIYY DUIY - flGl lotoutHea\y-duty bar clamps woik great for assemblywork, like you s€e in d1e photo abov€. Th€ two mod-

els shown in the photo at left are the Bessey Poa,e/G/ip(top) and drc Jorgensm E-Z Hold (bottom). And as

Large hand <ew lets youin.€a3edahping pe3uc

-.:.. -€you cd see, they have similar featur€s.

RUGGI0 ItATUtEt. Both clamps are builtaround a b€eb' steel bar that resists flexing.

The bar on the Pozrdcflp has an I-beam ooss-sectionfor ev€n more ngidiry The metai stiding jaw is posi.

toRGEISEil

Woodsmith No. 153

Inline grip and lever advancetsliding iaw to exert up to 300

,ORGE SEflE.Z HO!-D ll

tioned against the workpiece and held in place on &€bar by small teeth. On the E Z Hold, a multiple-disccluich keeps the jaw from slipping.

At ihe top of the sliding jaw, a hand screw leis youcranl up the pressure io beween 600 and 1,000 lbs.The jaws on both clamps have removable, plastic padsto Fote.t against marring ihe workpiece.

0IFHA[D[0 (0[TR0l. The feature that separates tlEseclamps from oiher bar ctamps, however is ihe leverlocated under the screw handle. This lever is linlGd ioa ratcheting mechanism in ihe sliding jaw thatadvances d1e jaw foryard with every squeeze.

The squeeze lever provides about 200 lbs. of dmp-ing foice. And as I mentioned before, after the ctamp isset, you can tighten it dolan even more wittr the handscrew On tl€ Porrelcrp the lever works from both d€bar side and the handle side (ilrset photos at left).

EDtUn DUIY - outfl( REtPot{tENot every job requnes a healy-duty clamp. For el<am-ple, when you're clmping a jig to the workbench orholding smal parts together. That's where ihe medim-duB' .lamps aF hmdy. The jaws on these .lamps aremade tuom glass-fiber reinforced composite. But thatdoesn't mean ihese clmps are weaklings. They're capa-ble of exerting r.rp io 300 lbs. of force-

In the photo ai right ald in the box below you cansee the three t1?es of medim-duty clamps available.The most common are the pistol-grip style IrwinQrirck Gr,p (see box below) and cmfs,,na (middle atright). The other two clanps are ihe JorSensen E-ZHold lI and the Bessey Kl,fth,?,p. lnstead of a pistolgrip, the E Z Hold II uses m inline gdp aid lever (top,

Fixed jawr car bellipp€dareund to act ar tpread-

CRAFTS|uAIC

mak$ clamp lightweight

photo at ight)- The KiiHd,??p locks securely with a slm-ple lever action on the sliding jaw (bottom).

oilt foR [vtRY .108. Another great thing about theseclamps is ihat ihere's a size to fit almost any job -from the snmall]est Klkld?, p ar 4" up to a 50" Quick Grip.They aI come with rubber or plastic clamp pads thatprevent maning the workpiece and resist glue.

The<a feaiues dlone mi8ht be enough to convin.eyou to pick up a few of these damps, but iJ you tal€ alook at the box below, you can see several otheroptions that make ttlese damps a Dust-have. N

BE55EYKLIKI.A|I|P

WorthALoolcClawith Versatilitheir smaler size and light weightmales medium-duty clamps suchas the kwin QrLlr-Grp Fetty handyto have in your shop.

One of the best features of mostmedium-duty clamps is that you

can flip the jaws aiormd to usethem as spreadeis (photo below).

Also, you can remove drc stan-dard, soft rubber pads that com€with the Irwin Qlt.k-Grp clampand replace thein with deep rea€h-ing padr as shown in the photo atright. These pads can apply pres-sur€ from the tip of the jaw an theway down to th€ bar.

llTtn (LA[PlllG. Another acces-sory is a miter clamping set. Alar8e, V-shaped face attaches to thefixed jaw to hold th€ outside of amiter joint. A matching rubberblock fits over the sliding jaw. Asthe clamp is brought together itforces the joint iogether A rclief inthe V-face protects ihe comer andalows foi glue squeeze-out.

Sqeader lhe jaws on medium-duty bar clamps can be easilyrcveRed to use as a spreader

No. 153

and hold miteE at 9(r

lvoodsmith

5 steps for perfec[Plane Performance

couldn't Bet a decent shaling.Bui just like super-iminB a car so

it lus faster there are some hicksto improvin8 the results from your

ne alonq the bottom

I still remember my tust aitempt atusing a hand plane. It was a Pal l€s-son in frustration. No maiter howmuch I fiddled sith ihe plane, I

face on a workpiec€, ihe bottom ofthe plan€ (the sole) also has to beflat. To check this, turn the planeover and hold a straightedge up tothe bottom. If you can see lighteniering underneath ihe straight-ed8e, you cm bei the sole isn't flat.

Forhnately all you need to flattmdE sole is some smdpaper, a flat su-face, ard a little elbow $ease. Startby drawing a squiggily line alongthe sole of the plane with a felt pen.Then begin "lappjng" the sole bylubbjn8 the plane on some loGgritwet or{ry sandpaper attached to apiece of plate glass (see drawing).Lubricating the sandpaper with a lit-de water or oil lvil] carry away ihemetat "drtst." The squiggly line youdrew earlier wil help you to meas-

plme. Here are five quick ways torev-up your plane's performance,whether ii's brmd new or been si!ting on the shelf for years.

Cherk Out Your SoleFor a plde to ceate a flat sur- You don't have to worry about

getting the entire sole flat. Thear€as you wani io focls on arc iheback and front of the sole, as wellas the arca jusi in fiont of the bladeopening. When these are flat, youcm move up to finer grits of smd-paper, siopping ai arcud 4{]0 grit.

\#{,,. As you ap the ' -

<n o rhe npn np (

wrL wear away. Oncethey re qon€, the so e isfat

10 No. 153

ti

Replorc Bhde ond Cop lronOne of the easi€st and sim-

plest upgrades you can make toyou plane is to replace the bladethat came with th€ ptane. Moststock blades ar€ fairly thin.lnstead of slicing through thewood, they may tend to flex anddlatter giving you a poor{ualitycut- But ihere are a handtul ofmanufacturers who make high-quality r€placement blades forbench planes. Typically, theseblades are thicker and made out

plan€, it's important to hav€ asharp blade. \.rr'hether you use oil-stones, waterstones, or sandpaPerto sharpen your blade, themethod isn't nearly as importantas taking the time to make surethe €dge is huly sharp.

BLrt one thing that is often over-looked when sharpening a bladeis the profile of the edge. A honingguide will a[ow you to create anedge that is shary, straight, andsquaie with the sides of the blade.But ihe only problem with this isthat it's all too easy for ihe comers

ldiurr lrogTo prevent t€arout as you

Q lr"poring the BtodeV lL goe' without saying rhat of lhe bldde to di8 inLo lhe work-

to ger the best rcsults from your piece you're Planing, l€aving

l The thin bladesthat com€ with

tenng.

Hock Toolr(8 ades andcap irons)

848-282-5233

Lie-NielsenToolwork5

(Blades)800-321-2520

of better steel, so they staysharp longer A qualityr€placement blade will costyou around $30, but it'sworth every penny. (Seesources in right maryin).

In addition to replacingthe blade, you miSht wantto also consider replacing the capiron. Lile the replacement blades, ar€placement cap non is thicker andbeefier. It helps to stiffen the cut-ting edge and support the blade.

uneven ridges in youl workpiece.To prcvent this from happ€n-

ing, I like to "round off" the cor-ners of the blade, as shown in thesecond exampl€ in the lower right

The extra mass of this thickreplacement blade and cap

iron g ves you a smoother cut.

drawing. To do this, iust tilt theblade slightly by lifting up oneside so that the opposite cornerrests on the sharpening stone.After making a couple of passeson the stone, repeat the Pro.edurefor the other comer

plane tlle workpiece, the otting €d8eof the blade should be positioneddo6€ to ttre tont ofdxe op€ning in tt€sole of the plane. In order to do this,you'[ need to adjust the "frog" oftheplane dre pan of *le pl"ne that

To adjust the frog, remot e theblade and slighdy back off the twosdews that hold the frog to th€ bodyof *rc plane (see &awing at ri8ht).Then us€ the frog adjusting screwto mov€ the frog forward oi back-ward. The goal her€ is to positionO€ frog so that the gap betwe€n theblade and the froni of the openingin the piane is about r/3r" to 146".

After the frog is properly posi-tioned, you can tighten down thescrews and reinstall the blad€.

No. 153

f,, ldiusl Blode7 r-n" *or.rop *'or. ui'glouprane ,' .oaojusrthe blade. And there are two adjustments to be con-cemed witn. To adjust the depth of fte blade, tum theadiusthg knob unril *€ blade just barcly starts to Proiect fmm Orc mouth op€ning. Then use the lateral adiust-ment lever to position the blade so &at the cutting edgeis paralel with the front opening of the mou& (see detail'a'). AJter initally adjusting the blade, give the Plane ago on a piece of ssap wood and fine-hme the blade seftings until you get wispy-thin shavings. N

v frco fowrd d ba.kwith tdg adj5tins new

1 1

techniues from our sho

get an invisible

Plywood EdgeYou want to hide Lhe edges ofyour plywood panels. but youdon't want the edging to show. lt'snot as hard as it sounds.

A thicker edging

a rn n eoge.

I use hardwood p\1!'ood in my proiects aI tlLe time. It makes tlrc iob goeasier and tlrc quality of Orc projectbetter. But th€re is one drawba& topl'aa/ood - drc exposed edges. Toput it simply, the edges of pry"wood

can be downright ugly.

A thick edging pieceglued into a rabbet in the

edge of the p ylvood l€aves< dn invisible seam.

And more often than not,they need to be hidden.

For some p.ojects, I'lsimply glue on a r/a"-widestrip of solid wood, trim itflush and not worry too much ifthe edging doesn't "blend" well�But other times, you might want toapply an €dge io the pl',woodthat's a little more subtle - aninvisible edge. Sound impossible?We th€r€ are actually a number orways to accomplish this withouttoo much extra effort.

fl rc|l |llWhen your edging is ihin enough, itbecomes nearly impossible to see.Edging thars only y3r" to yr6 ' widewon't be noticeable except under th€closest examination. And there ar€several different "thin" options.

lDclxc IAP[. One of the quickestand easiest options for thin ply-wood edging is adhesive veneer

Heat-sens tive veneer tape can be eas lyappled to ihe pywood edge with a warmiron When tr imnred { lush, the thinveneered edge won't be noticed.

.4,: ",i:''./::;:Al

tape that's made specificany forthis puryose. It comes in mls andis made ftom very thin hadwoodveneers. You cm find it in most ofthe common wood species.

There are two different q?es ofedging tape and both are prettyeasy to apply. The self-adhesivet?e works jusi like siicky tape. Itcan be applied using nofiing morethm some firm pressure.

The heat sensitive 9?e takesonly a littl€ more work. It has acoating of adhesive on one sideihat can be activat€d with "gende"

heat AI you do to js set it in placeand use an iron to apply the heat,as shown in tt€ photo above. Bothtypes of edging tape are madeslightly oversized in width. Once

Edging Frcm Plwood, To makethin edging fron pflwwd scraps, lirstmake a saw cut an the joint linebetuveen the face veneer and aorc.

Cut lt Loose. Next, use a sharp util-ily knife to cut the veneer strip framthe plwood panel. Ihe edging wilhe a peiect match in grain and color

12 No. 153

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the iape is siuck firmiv in place,you irim it flush to the surface ofdr prywood and you're done.

TRI$ lT lHlx. Sometimes I want adin edge drai rvill hold up to a litde more wear and tear than -"dCingtape. So in this case I make mv o$inslighily thicker edging, as shownin the upper example at far ieft.

The easiest way to do this is tostart thick and end up thin. By thisI nee you apply a ihicker edging(aboui Y4" thick) to the plys,oodand then irim off the excess on thetable saw A final thickness ofabout Yr6' gives you a little moredurability at the edge, but ji sti1ljsn't thick enough to be noticed.

A PIRIIC flAlq{. If you want toapply a drin edge and also ensure aperfect match between the edgingand pl'wood face, the two draw-ings on the opposite page showyou how. This method uses thethin, face veneer from a scrap pieceof ihe same plla'ood as the edgingpiece. When it's glued to the workpiece, you have both a ihin edgeand one with the same grain andcolor as dr pryvood fac€ veneer

A 0llf tRtilT APPR0A(H. Anoiher wayio go "ihin" wiih edging takes a'rique approach. l-tere, the ply-wood veneer provides the thinedge. A thicker edging strip isused, but stili creates an in!,isibl€edge on onc face of the ply'lvood.

The tri.k here is shos'n in thelower example and .lrawing at left.

F i L S i . . , i - " 1ihc p l \ -

s'ood edge israbbetecl so thator y the ihin iacevcneer of the pl,$'oodremais on one side. Whena ihick edging strip is gluedtightly inio this rabbet, the jointlinc between ihe thin face veneerand the edging sirip disappeais.You end up lr'ith wl1at looks Like aseamless, solid wood edge. Thisicchnique involves a little morework,buiitwork like a charm.

onto the edgrngst p wi I prov dea disgu se for the

DFoU|$ |lN4aking it thin isn't the only way tohide you p\M'ood edging. Anotherstrat€'gy involves using a thicker edg-ing piece and then disguising it. Iheidea is to visua Lly blend the the ply-wood md the edgjng piece so thatthe trasition from one to the otherwon'tbe noticeable.

I siart by ghing a standard %ilick cdging strip to the pll.woodand then trimming it flush to thesurface. Then I add a little some-tling extra. A molded edge thateasily draws your eye from thecdging io the plywood face cansucccssfully hide the joini line orat1y grah or color differencebctrlecn the iwo pieces.

Thc drawing and ihe photoabove givc you dreidea. The edgesof the rouicd molding cuts (chamfer or roundove4 on the edging

A Smooth Transition. A carefullyrauted roundaver ending right atthe joint line bet"^reen the edgingand the plryaad can foal the eye

strips fall right at tlE joint ]nle. Andif ihe panel wil] be seen from bothsides, make a se.ond cut on thebottom edge. You siil ha\.e edSedplvwood but you wouid have tolook pretty cbse io see it. S!

On occasion you not only need tohide the edgc of fte pllvood, butalso add some extra strength andthickness. Healy-duty bookshelvescome to mind. So how do you dothis and not make it look obvious?Wel, a couple solutions are shownin the photo at ri8ht.

The firsi example (top shelf)shows a thick rabbeted sh.ipapplied to the plyvood ihat addsboth visual thickness and a conside.able amomt of stiffness. And

No.153

then nohce how I bo(owed thetrick shown above to disguise theedge. A simpl€ roundover creates aseamless flow from the plywoodpanel to the soli+wood edging.

The second example (lowershelt uses a similar idea but with adifferent joint. Here I applied astout piece of edBing with a care-tuIy cut splined miter joint. Theresulting invisible joint and crispedge win have anyone guessing -is ii prywood or soud wood?

l A thick edginq piececar-"fu y joined to theprylvooo nor onryhid€s the "core," but

a paneled'WindowSeat

r Thls bead board paneled norage chest starts wthrh" ." na' fr" nao pl ,alooo oo Jr.-dnqeo afew ofthe deta s fora l€ssformallook

Some basic materials and simple joinery addup to a great-looking prolect,

You'Iprobablyhaveor y one prob-lem when yolr build the windowseat pictured above convin€ingyour friends that itonly took a cou-ple of days to build.lt looks muchtoo njce to be so easy

You start by building a simplepllvood box. A sheei of pl)ryoodand a little bit ofbasic joinery is allit takes. Next, you cover this"shell" with solid-wood framinSand add some tradihonal molding.Glue, brads, and a lundful of

screws hold ii all iogether. ln notime, ihe basic pllvood box istrmsfomed into a classic.

One of the shortcuts that makesthis possible is using pre-mademoldings purchased at a homeimprovement store- This saves a lotof work with no sacrifice in quality.

And if the casual look of th€bead boa.d paneled chest in thephoto at left grabs you, it's an easychdge. It's the same box and fram-ing with different details.

14 No. 153

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il'p,ryll,The drai{ing at right shows ho*' togei started on the window seai -

bv putting together a sturdy ply-i{ood bot. To ke.? weight down,Idecid€d to use Yr" p\a'ood.

T[t JolillnY. The box needs io besolidly builibutalso easy io assem-ble, so I used some basic joineryihai se^,es boih puryoses. As youcan see in detail 'a,' ihe ends of thebox sides are rabbeted to hold ihcbox ends. This gives vou pleniy ofglue surface and alo$,s you io eas-ill, Une up the comers of ihe boxduring th€ assembly.

The bottom is firnrly captured ingrooles cut into th€ inside faces ofall four panels (detail'b'). So it $'illstay put under the heaviest loads.And woodscrelr's take the place ofclamps during the glue up.

IHt RA8[[T5. Once the ti\,o ,oi stdcsrA) and the two bor crds (B) are cuiio size, the next siep is to cut therabbets in the box sides. For this jobI nrstalled a dado blad€ on the iablesaw and "buried" it in an auiliarvfence as sholr'n in the box below

The widih of these rabb€tsshould match the thickness of ftepllvood you're using. (The ply-s'ood is often a bit und€rsized.)And just as important is a consis-

NOTE: Rabbett and grooeet

blade on table saw

tent depth. A simple hold-downlike that shon'n in the lower ghtphoto s'ill help keep the pli4\'oodpmels flat on the table saw for aneasrcr md more accuraie cut.

rHt GR00V[9. After cutting the rabbets,I switched to a narrowerdadoblade to cut the grooves that capture the bottom panel.lust like therabbets in the side panels, yor.r

want a snug fit. So as shom below,this is a "two pass" operaiion. Thetust cui does most of the work ddafter adjusting the fence, a se.ondcut wil complete the job.

A|{t A 80x. Now, after cutting ihebottom to size, you can assemblethe box wiih couniersunl $'ood-screws and glue. Then youleready to sta adding the "extras."

How-To: CuttiRabbets and Grooves ShopTipcut to

., thi<knett ofa ' a ptywoad

t :no vrcw

Hold-down. A simple shop-madehald-dawn nakes the job af cuttingthe rabbets and the graaves in theplryaod panels a little easier

Rabbets. Cutting the rabbets in the ends afthe side panels is a hb for a dado blade butiedin an auxilbry rip fence. lust naxh the widthof the nbbet to the thkkns of the plwaod.

No. 153

Grgoves, A narrawer dado blade is used tocut tight-fitting gr@ves in the s/des and endsaf the box to hold the bottom. The secondaf two passes sizes the graave accurately.

with toD edae rOPot b6t-�- END RAiL

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Box 1l[

Once tlli' bLr\ is assrmbled, ilt rr\tstep js to add d1c sokt rlood fraDlc,asshownin the dawing abo\ c. Ardsi.ce all th€ ftame paiis nre na;ledancl gLue.l to th€ plr''vood bo\, I kepttlle joinery io a nlnmum.

IHI (oltltRs. The first job is tomake and install the four preassenl'L€d coners. A glance atdetail 'n shows how thc), goiogcihcr ILN i likc thc plyrvood tro\,a ratrtreicd coNcr johi addssirengih and cases thc asscnbly

Tlt "pockci" crcaied by tlle rabbetin ihc sidc siilcs fnmly caFhues theend stilc. Tlis gives yolr d stronliflush cornef thafs easy to install.

Star t bv. l t t ing ih€ sr?c. . f , r r -strls (D) dncl tlle nrrro\r'er crli ..r,r.f st,l.s fEl to siz€ lrom 1+ thlckskrck. When the ndfower endsiiLes are fit irlto th€ rdbbet n) thesjcle sijlcs, the result is af eqlrtl"revcal" on theconcb ldet.il .r')

Oncc ihc stilcs arc cut to sizc, tb€ncxi iask is to use the dadobl.rcle to

rabb€t the s ide st i les. Just matchtheNiclth of therabbet t(r the ihickness of the end siiles fof a ilush fit

lvhen vou re throughal the iabicsar', the stiles can be asscnblcd(glue and L'rads) inLo concF. ?\rldfinall)', the cornefs arc glucd andnaile.l in dace on thc bo\, flush klthe top edSe (deta i l 'a ' ) .

IHt rRAMt. Completnlg ihe ham-ing goes cluicklr First, ctrt the iopnrcl l)ott.,r st,tu rdjis f/, Cl and thelo/r and r(r1i.,r tt nils (tt, I) ro$'idth and rough len8ih. Then clrt€ach rail to fii snr8 h beta'een L\ccorners. Use glue and L'rads io fas'ten them in place. Finall), vou cancut the sri?r'd;i,i?,T (/) to fit and add

A CAP. To compl€te the haming, Iapplied a cap to the iop e.1g€ ofthetro\. This piece lrides the Fltaloode.lge and the joint befu'een theIram g.rnd the bo.-. Cut the l,orc/rt l() to size from i/r' thick siockand then chamier both edgesb€lirre iteringit io iitasdescribcdai right (cl€tirils 'b' an.l 'c').

-..t-zTheonlydrawbackto us ins brads lsthatyou haveto h idethem. But th isis s implya mal terof "set l ing" them.

Firs t , L t ry to avoid "hammer

dings" by leaving the nai ls s l ight lyproud of the wood sur face. Then af ine-poinr nai l set takes over todr ive the naiLfar enoush below thesudace to be comp ete ly h iddenwi th wood put ty (aboutr / r6 ) .

,q)

the Brads

Il]] No. 153

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{r ftimming itOUI

lvrth th€ iraDrnrg or thftn,\ I.onrplete(t, lor.in blsnr to Ladd. l l t t l . s indon dr .ss iDE.I rznt fd n) g i !€ thc bo\ .mfe torn.l l(hk $ ith a n ri|Ferlbase...l sonc "P.riel nn)ld!rg. ButI d i . ln ' t \ 'nn i to m.kc. t lo t oa e\hnn1,rk outof thrs. lhe.)nsncfr2s k)r'sc som€ sic,.l nold i,)gs Plurhas€!lf roDr a loc. r l honre l i rpro\ . .nre. ts tofc fhesc " l . rnc\ " r ro l . l lngss1ul . l h . r \ c Lrccn.rL,ch tu) d i i i t .u t rafd r ime consuml.s k , n.ke,r fdthc.ost \'.s Prcttv tuasonabl€

TR|MII |NG THr 8ASr. I thou8ht thctr.sc oi thc bo\ neerlcd a soli(tt.trutl.tio. \.iih. liftl€ e\h.a d-.r.r itFof th is jot , Ip ick.L l out !om..u lorlrl stl'le lrns. nnnLllfg The Lmsethi I lL nd $ is .Lrr r t5 \ r 'L lc .ndt l is s .s . i l t t lcouio ip i r+nnl io f toth! s.rle of rhc box. So Lr.iinc geithg sta(c(l on iitting thc b.rseN)lLling tu thc Lro\, I t(\)l ii nr theLrblc s.r' .lful ripped it i() l1: ifs idrh ( . l i1 . l l a ' ) . Ih tss izcsrr

h .dth. solld recl ihat I \..rnt.Ll bri iltth! bo\. littlc Lrctltl.

L)n.c the b is . m) ld ing is .ut ( l$ i r ] ih , i t s i !5 t a mat ter ofDl i t . r insi t n) i j t the bo\ ofe p ic .c at . rhn. . Lse thc sanre nr i ic f t ( r i i t

icchnjquc thatrou usld tirr the c.rpnolL l i fg As e i .h p iecf is .u i , g lueanLl nai l i t in p iac- . l lush h) ihc botk,n eLlge of thc .u.f€rs Gctail

'b')

Wi)fk.rounrl th. Lr\ Lntil \(r.ndup back \ hlrc vou strficd.

PAr l lLr i lo tDl l lc . Ihepancl nrnLl i rg(sol.l asc.rp nol.llng) that IboLghtl . i fs t . l l nnNnd the ins e ot the

NoTE:3ase naldihqt arcrnitcrc.t to fit nanAd Lox

lr.nre.l p.n.ls (.s n Fcficci complcnrent to thc coloniribasc. \1tr1'llncc.l enough io franre .tll oi the"pan€ls".nd lhc proc€.j1,rc is sinrpLc.. s \'oL, clid nn ihe lr.rs. nollling, miier one piN. io iit.jnd glue.nd nai l i t in l t . .c as j . d l ta i l ' . . '

TIcn ('ork arolnd the.,pfnnrgs tiliit the r€nl.tirlinil pieces.

How-To: MiterMoldinto Perfection

Miter One End. Using this nterta,fit tech-nique, yau dan't need ta rely an "hard,,

neasuremenfs. sirnply statt by mltenng aneend ot an extralong watkpiece

No. 15:l

Make Your Ma*. Nexl set the mireledptece it place ta nark far the iecond clt Apencl line an the inside edge af the warkpte.e willshaw where ta cut.

The Final Cut. Nary back at the saw you reready fat the se.ond cut. Warking frcn thelelt side af the blade, yau can eteak up anyour nark for a pedect fit.

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Ai this point, the box looks prettyslurp,but ii's lackjng one imporiantpart. ff this project is going to be us€das a windos'seat, itne€ds a solid lidor seat to cover ihe box. And agamI iook the easv route. Rather thanmake a tricky-io-install, hinged lid,I lYeni with a simple,lift offlid.

How lI rlr. When vou take a lookat the drawing above, you'll see

hor! ihis lid js pui ioSether. Withno hinges on the lid to hold it inplacc, I nc€ded a different way tokeep ihe lid on ihe box. I solvedthis problcm by ushg thc samemolding used io frame ihc panelsas a "tid stop." Added io iheunderside of ihe lid pmcl, ii keepsihe Lid in place md also adds somedepih dd dctail as we .

How-Tor Getthe Riht rit

BUIID lT. The same Y: p lywoodthat you used for the box will donicely for the lid. So get started byby cutiing the l;d pflrsl (|,, io size.Nexi, vou'll want tohide dreedgesoi thc ply&'ood. You can makecnough cdginS (I used leiloverframing scraps) io wrap the iidpalel md L\en applr it as you diddre prevjous mitered pieces onepiece at a iime, gluing and nailingas you go (details 'a' an.l 'b').

LID rlotDlilG. After fie edging is inplace and sanded ilush, the lidmolding can be added to the bot-tom of the ]id. The box at left shorlsthe process. Working ('ith i]le boxand lid upsidedown nakes thejobof filting the nolding a loteasier.

You !\'antthe lid to fithghtly butshll b€ easy to Lifi on and off. So Iused spacers to create a Yr6 clearance on allsides. Thistumed out tobe a good conpromise.

Once the lid molding has beeninsialled, all you need to do is fillthe brad holes and do a liitie sand-ing and vou're ready to paint. 0

Tuh ft Upside Down- lt's much easier toaccurately fit the cap molding to the lid if yautuh the whale w)rks upstde dawn. With the

l 8

box.enteted an the lid and some spaces inpla.e, simply miter the lid malding to fit andinstall it just as yau have the other noldings.

0psidedow, Lid nalding

an lid atauhd bo\

i o - @'oi'3,'u

N o . 1 5 3

oa different

Utoffi |

@To downloada materiah lisi andcrlting diagran for thh b€adboard paneled chen, go to:

Tne "caet-)al" bead boara che6l, in t"he

Arawinq atr riqhL ha6 r,he oar.e ba.ia6lruaLve ag ilg r.are formal cau6in,Bult a fev:/ .imple chanLee qive iL avery Aifre.ert ap?earance.

Fir6L, I lrada^ the wrap?ea ba6efar a ein?le chamler an lhe bot-taYr' ol Lhe " e6b:' And the frame

a?enit1q' are covereA wilh beaaboard, Finally, Na?ped Lhe che6twith a natrural y-f lni 'he^ pine l iAlaaaely hela in paeilion by c eata,'fhi.

vereion io iroL ao ea6y Lc ̂ il^ana bok6 iu.t a6 trice.

Look

3A x th' Fh woa.|t.rcw

No. 153 Woodsmith 19

knock-downCheryBookshelf

A classic design thatlooks great. And afew woodworkingtechniques that justmight surprise you.

When you hear the phras€ "lnock-

down tumiture," what comes tomind? You pobably pictur€ some-$ing that comes in a cadboad bortal€s haff an hour to assemble andcan bar€ly hold its own weight.

W€I, the cherry leock-downbooksh€[ in the photo at Ieft defi-nit€ly do€sn't fit that mold. It maybe knock-down construction, buttllags wh€rc th€ r€semblance ends.

You start with two solidly builtframe and spindle sides. Usingbis-cuit join€ry in place of mortis€ andtenon joinery on t]rc stil€s and railssimplifies building Arc sides with-out sacrficing any strength. Andanother work-saving techniquealows you to fit th€ conhastintspindles to the side assembli€saccurately and quicl:ly.

So if you want to leam a litttre bitabout knock-down construction,the way it should be, this prcjectn'ight just be for you.

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CoII�TRUGTIOI{ DHAIL3OVERALL DlMEl,lSlOl'lS: 4AW x U"D x 63th"H

No. 153

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Woodsmith 21

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TSTh€ tllo id.ntical s e asscmlrliesp(\ i(ie thr main shlcllrrc .nd sLppor t to ihc bookshclt. So this is .gocrl plac. to si.rrt LrLril.llns.

TnI TWo SlDts. As rou c. rn see inth. dra( in ! at r ight , l r iscui ts . r reuscd h) jon ihc st i les ind r i i ls o lth. hLo sntcs. Thiswillensurc g.rflrer jonlts Lrch\'.cn ihc sheh es an.ls idc.s. Thc 1 th i .k s l i lcs in . l Yrthick raits itu jolrcd ilLrsh ilongthr hsntc iicc (dciail'Lt).

Snull tcnons on lh€r spifdles fitDnrfiisls nl the fails. Ult a linrL .)tL lc i . i l ' . ' s ln \ rs thr t th is ls notvourc\eNdav nnlise anLl tenon jonrt.Thc nrorlis.s Lrcgirl .s centereLlgroolcs cut inb the ra i ls . Wh€rvou iili thcsc a(ues with somenotchcd i j l lc r s i r ips, vou efd !pNi th accuratc\ ' s iz-pd mort ises.AnLl thc b.ncfii is thrt vou do.'tha lc h) .u i i lo t o fsnr . l l nrot ises.

RA[t AND 5PNDtEt. I st.rrted buildnlg thc silles from the insjde o!tsr ih lhr ra i ls rn l l s | i r .1 les Tl lercason is simple. l .le.ided th.rtgh,irg th! spnlllcs into the mo|1ls€sin ihc njls ilasn't n€.ess.r\. lhceth. sp indl .s and fa i ls i re p! l l€ .1tishily n)geihctr gl!nrg the r.rils tothc siilcs rlill keef th€nr in pl.rrcSo frrst con.entr.rte or th. rail iospi'L1le jolnerv .r n.l thc!.ts\ Lriscuit

lolrerv will conie l.rterGR00Yt5 AND I l t lEnt . At t r r cut t ing

ihr lrlrid"r mih lA), nrt,,rrls ltsl, nn(l,/;,l,ll.,rri^ ral, io si7e, the fi.st st.pjr ih. tolrcrv is to.ui the L/r' .le+l.cnicrcLl Bfoo\es in the r.rlls thati rc ihe star tof th€ n)or t ises.

Filler Strip Blank. fa makecansistent ltller stflps, I cutnat.hes inta a wide blank andthen npp-ac! it into sLrips

Square Tenons. Use a dadablade butied in an auxiliary fenceta aacurately cut the tenons ant h . ah t t . ^ l t ha . ^ ' ^ . 1 t . .

No. 153

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How-To: Qu ick Mortise & Tenon

r,ril

t/i souata

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Llnc. ihr gruoYes in ihc rails arc.ut, nc\t rou rvant nr irLn thcrrinto nldilidual mortiscs. Thcnoich.Li iilicf sirD ncihod rlillrnsure ihat the moriiscs are accuraielv sized tu1d e\ e ) spacect.

The tro\ or1 the pre\ious pageshoils an easv wal to speed uF thL'

Frocess of naking ihe 16 jdenfical

l.icccs. Ti{o i{idc blanks ilill bccnough io nakeall ihc sirjps.

tvhcn ihc notchcd fillcr siril's.rc glucd inio thc groolcs in ihcfails, vou haYc "hsta1i" nrcrtiscs.

Jr$i nakc surc thai ihc fillcr stripstund rails are flush on both ihe

mndc this a\

stilet raik, an.l spindles

THt 5PlilDttS. Non it's time t.)make and fii the spinctles. First,vou should notc that ihrfe nrc hlodiffercni lcngths of sl.indlcs. Andfc,r . good rail b rail iii, ii's inPor-tant ihai ihc hLolcngihs arc consis-tcnt. So whcn cuiting thc sphdlcsb length, I rls€d a stop trlockclampe.l to the nite. gaugc.

NrN th€ spindles nee.t a square.,\ tenon on e.rLh enrl sized f(, fif the

I nro, t ,s . ' in thc , i i l \ Thc Lt ,Ni rrighi bo\ on the Frc\ious pagcgjles l'(nr ihe i.lca. Sincc troih ihcsphdlcs md ihc ienons arc s.luarc

lou can sinph rotate thc spindlcto cut each iace oi ihe tenon.

ADDING THt tTlU5. Once ihe spindl€s afe fit io th€ rrils, ),ou can\'c'k on nddins the siiles to th€mi\. The biscuit joLnefy that I used

bclo!v). BrLt thrrc arca fclv ihhgs yollll nccd

Thc tust ihing I did aitcrcuttfig thc l ihick sr.n stil(\ fclrlas io clrjll thc r/r dia. hdes forth€ conneciLr. bolis. Ii's easier bdont this Foint ihan lateron.

Ard oncc )'ou have a good tightfii bch{ccn the s}rindles nnd iherajls, you wani to kccp ii that i{al,:To do ilis, I clanpcd ihc sl.nldlcs,raiis, anct stilcs togcthcr on mybench, as shoi{n abole, bcior€ layingoui thc biscuitjonefy Once thepieces afe alignelt and clanp€d,simply mafk .tcross the stil€s anclihe rails for thc Lris.uiicuts.

Second, in ord€r to create a flushinside face, i,ou !\'ant to lav out andcui the biscuit joinery fron this side.You'L l not ice that the ins ide face ispositionecl face up on the ben€h. You

'/r" rhick spacers roraise the rails flLrsh l\ith the thickersiiles, as shorvn in detail'a.'

AtsEii0tY. Afteryo! set dos'n thebiscllit joiner the gherp goes smoothl):As I ention€d before, ihe spindlesaren't glued. Just Pull them iight lviihn.l.mp and ihe'r Blue the siil.s to ihc.dils to keep them thaisr\r

'-/a" tpace6 will keeostiles and hilt fluth

Stron

Btscuit jatnery can be a quick alternattve ta traditianal martise andtenan joinery. strang, peffedly flushjaints anly take minutes.

No. 153

The Layout. Laying out biscuitlocatians goes quickly. A linesquared acrass the stiles and railsmarks the centers af the cuts.

#20 Biscuits. Next, I used thelayout lines to cut a slat far a#20 biscuit in bath the stilesand the ends of the rails.

:til

connectinq fie$irs

At ftb point, th€ hard$i stretch ofthe pmject js over. Now, it's just amatter of connecting ihe two sideswith a couple of reinJorcing frames,adding a top, and fiially the shelves.

ruo nrIiIS. First in Iine are th€upp€r and Iower cormectingfiames. These frames will be fas-tened tighdy to ihe sid€s to seat€ angid framework that will esistracking. As you can see at right, the1'-thick frame ends and the 3/a'-thicl ftame sides are joined at thecomers with a tongue and dado.But each frame has a couple ofdeails worth noting.

UPPTR tt$lt. When you add th€solid-wood top, you'I need a wayto attach it that allows it to expandand contract. The back mil of th€ftame has deeply countei-boredshrnk holes ro hold the top tighdywith woodscewE. But at th€ front,the top will be held "loosely" bytabletop fasteners that fit a groove

in the front rail. A finaldetail is a rabbet €ut intothe front lower edge of th€upper frame that mirrors adetail you'I se€ later onttre shelves (detail 'a').

rcfil lrr L A tal book-shelf needs to sit fairlyl€vel. So I instaled cabin€tlevel€rs on the lowerfram€ that can be easilyadiust€d by lifting theremovable bottom sheu(detail 'c'). And a Iip cre-ated by th€ taler {ront railof the lower frame wil

IHI I0?. l4ith the cas€ assembl€d,I turned my attention to makingthe top. As you can se€ abov€, itstarts as a panel glued up from 1'-thick sto€k. AJt€r cutting it to size, Ibeveled th€ und€rsid€ of th€ topalong the front and sid€ €dges. Thebox on the following page showBhow to do this on the table saw

4a

SIDE

SIDE

43Ib

L A coarse ouur tueal. nunqsnuse dveaded ir'ser* idedfot Be in enl sain.

serve to lock fte bottom shelf inplace when i{s added later on.

0[I Sl. Onc€ tlrc upper andIower ftames ar€ completed, youcan put them to work connectingdre sides. Use the holes thmugh t]rcstil€s to locat€ the position of theholes for the connecting hadware(details'a'and S').I used cap nutsat the top in the bottom frame Iinstaled tlu€aded inseis.

No. 153

oddino fte1"r Silrrvrs

\\'iih ihc ifanrc ot thc booksheifass.nt r lcd, rou .an (ofk on the"business" p i f t o i th ls pro jectsheh es b hoi!l the bools.

5T0UT SHtwtS. As yol r can see jn

the L l rawing . t r ight , the shel \ esth i t I bu i l t nre design€d lorstrcngih. I hes€ reiniorc€Ll sheh esadd b th€ riBi.l structlrre of thehr)ksh.li anll rlill easil) hol.1 anyhralv lo.Ll wiihoul ih. leasi Lrii ofsag Th. ihrcc middle shches arei . lcn i r .a l . ' Ihc bot tonr shel f has a.ouplc of mrbf Lliiiefences thit l'llmeniion atong the Nay.

Al l Iour of th-" shel les st . r r t outas r / i - th i .k

81ue. l up panels. Th€boii(rn shcli is cul a bii shorler soihai it ( on'i bnLl sten remo!'edi., adjL$i ih. lcrcicfs.

THt RAl tS. Ai th is poin i , I adLledsonc rciniitrc.ncni. FiNt, a ii onih. L'ack cdg. of .acll shell d oub les.s Lroth a s l i i icner anl l n "back

st(+r." ]\ gu\c in ihe back frrll.aldurcs ihc shcli ior n little e\trast fcngth. , \ narro(cr i r rnt r i l isg lLr lL l hk, a groo\ .c . lons thel(nt .r .dgc of ca.h sh.li Gerr il

'b').

Thc Lroinnn shcli Llocsn'l halc aironi rail but il siill has a gnrve

o

I

that lits o!€r the front of the lN\efhinne.rnd ke€ps it n'r Fositirtrl.

Cl .ce a l l ihL 'sheh,cs arc con

f let€, the middl€ shel \€s c. in bef.stened b th€ si.ies (.1et.ril '.r')

The r ight bo\ belo$, shons thei r ick. Af ter r l i t t lesnrd jngnnd se!era l conts of wip ing vnmish, thebooksh€lf is re.dy for !ise. W

SIDE SECTION VIEW

i t

A 30" Bevel. The shallow angle af the bevel an the under'side af the top makes a vetlical table saw cut a necessity.With the saw blade set to 30" and a tall fence in place tasteady the tap, this cut isn't a prablem.

How-Tor Chamfers and Cleatso .

_ de€p

SECTION

Cleat Supports. With the shelf resting an a cauple af longcleats, the holes far the threaded insert can be ac.uratelylocated in the ends ofthe shelves lust clamp the top edge afthe cleat flush to the bottam edge af the ratls.

N o . 1 5 3 :5

NolE: 3th' sq. ihdexinS

botton end of leg blank

NorE: Mounting blo.ks areret at an anole to kee,

thensquarc-to leq blahk

woodsmior4s" dia dowet ,, -.^

ptv.t ptn

tips from our shop

sH@pHffiFBOOK

Cutting the tapers of tlrc pencil postbed legs on ihe band saw and th€ncreating d€ chamfers with a spoke-shave and plane is a great way toget some "hands-on" expedence.But if you want to do the job a littlequicker, the table saw jig you s€e inthe photo at right is the answel

This unique jig is designed toride on the rip fence of the tablesaw and funchons in two ways.Fnst it acts as a taper jig - holdingthe leg blanl at an angle as youfeed it through the blade. Second,(this is the best part) it alows youto easily duplicate this taper cut toquickly oeate both the tapers andchamJers on tlrc pencil post legs.

lilDtIlilS 810(|{. The key to accuraiely duplicatin8 the cuts is theindexing block (the numberedblock in the drawing below). Thisblock has eiSht indexing holes cor-responding to the eight cuts you'ltmal€ on the leg blanl. wlen fastened to the bottom end of the

Buildithe

blanle it alows you to easily rotatethe blank between cuts and thensecurely lock it in place with adowel indexing pin. Onc€ the legblant is mounted in the jig and therip tunce is seL ihe only adjustrnentyou'll need to make to the s€tup i-sto rotate the blank between cuts.

ItoUiT TfiE lilDtlllc ll0((. Theindexing block is fastened io theleg by tust driling a centered holein the botttom end of the leg blar&.The pivot pin is then used to €enterthe indexing block on the legblank. lt's important that the blo.kis mounted square to the blark, soa pair of dia8onal lines drawn on

the back of the block help you alignthe block and blank - cornei tocorner. Then a coupl€ of wood-screws hold ihe block in place.

Gfl nmY. After mounting the legblar& in the iig, you'[ want to setup boft infe€d and outfeed sup-port. The iig is eiSht feet long. sotlis js pretty ess€ntial for a smooth,easy fe€d. And as you make thecut, the leg won't nde on the tableof the saw, so adding a center sup-port as shown in the €enter dmwing at n8ht, helps stiffen the longblanl dudng the cui.

TAPEI (UTt. The four taper €utscome first (upper drawings at

INDEXING , U'-dia.3roc,( - r

'€_- ridelng\ i '\:- hole- 2 . i

2

, . , ' l i i2 i " 2

Cut the TapeB Fitst. The fiBt step in the 'tabte sawprocess' is to use the jig to cut four even tape6 anthe four faces of the leg blank (detail 'a,).

Cenftr suryott. A simde L-srE(fdsupqn-C stending beneath the legblank, is clamped to the guidebeam of the jig to provide a little

Chamfers

dgho. For t}€se €uts, you, use theindexing holes marked with a ,1.,

Wiih the jig resting on the fence,sei it so that the saw blade willenter ihe blar < just to the outsideof the layout lines drann on thetop end of the blanl. (I teft about%, ' for final cleanup.) Now ifs justa matter of standing behind rhe jjgand pushing it through the saw.After the first cut, just rotare theblant one quarter ruln to .epearthe prccess tlrce mor€ times.

(HAflftn (UTS. The four chamfercuts fo ow the tapers (lower dJalr,ing at right). These curs use rheindexing holes marked with a ,2.,The difference here is that thes€ arestopped cuts. You wanr to end thecut before the "lower edge', of theblade the reaches your layoui tinesfor the lamb's tongrie chamJer

So to make certain I didn,i go toolaa I installed a simple srop on rhejig (near righr photo). This pieceiits under the saddle, and simpiybutts up against the rip fence tostop the travel of tne ji8.

Aft€r reaching the end of eachchamJer cut and rurning off thesaw just back the jig beyond theblade, rotaie the 1e8 and removethe waste piece with a caretul handsaw cui (1ar right photo).

You']l find that once you,re setup, going from leg blmk to accurately 'loughed out" pencil postleg only takes a few minutes. S

No. 153

An Eght-Sided Leg. Once the four tapers are cut makinq the faulstopped chdmter turs ̂ l con)tete fie eight sided upp;r teg se.tian. The indexing holes rarked ,2, are used fot these cuts.

I a simpe stop bar inna led on the the jtg fofthe chamfer cut keeps yoLr from ruining ablank by cutting too far The bar simply runsinto the rip fefce to end the cui

A The waste p ece eft attached to the btankis femoved after each chamler cut with ah.nd saw lust make a carefu crrt that foflou/s the angle of rhe saw kerf.

NOTE: Cehtet suobort \t used on f iR t .h ;n fe r .u t _ , .4

tapeted and .hahtsedfor a tradhi@al look

trs

h

OVEF,ALL DIMENSIONS: 55."1u.{ x AS"D x B3h-ti

gt

Thirteen parrs. Thays ft. Thafs aI thereis to this pencil-post bed. But wh€nthose pie.es come togethea the result isrcally strikin& as you can see in thePhotio on th€ oPPosit€ Page.

It's also a chatlenging project robuild because there,s a Iot that goeBinto those 13 parts. There,s mor€ to itthan it s€edls. You,I sp€rd most of thetime wo*ing on just iour parts - rlrcpencit posb. But by the time vou,reIinislEd with 8js be4 you.Ii hav€rean€d some new tedmiques _ likenow to taper and chamfer larqepieces, simple carving, turnine, ;dworking wi*! old-tihe hardwale.

No. 153 Woodsmith

rhe Posrs Whaifcnlh cntchcs ) orrr e!eon ihisLreLl arc ih. nrr pencil posts. AnLjlike I siiLl L'cn)rc, this is \\heir a lotof the Rnk tak.s l.l.ce. Tl)e P()stssi.r oui as l(Dg, squ.r re Lrhr ks fnsl,th.fc.it a fctr nulises to cut, nc\i.oncs lhc sh.p ing (nr fet ing an. lchinft rg) ofthc posts. AnLl fin.ll);

)ou'll c.u c a snall dft.ll cillell r"lamlrs t(nglrc."\'()u c.r re.c1 nNreabor i th i i on pag.50.

IriltASURlNG IHt MAITRtSS. Don't st.rrtbL, i ld ing thc Lrcr t just )c i As $ i th.nv ted !'rcj.ci, it s n good idei tohi \e lh . mathrss dfd bo\ s i ) r inBon h ind ( ( , r a i lcnst ensufed) .lllnt's cspcciallJ- hu, h€re be.aus.

thc th i .kn€ss or the mai i rcss andbo\ .pfing d€ter ine ihe lo.ainDoi thc hcadbdrrd. ln tnt€c1 ihchca.ttroard to be iLrout an nlchb!l(\ thc bF ot the nrattrcss, as

IT^A|(ING THt POSTS. \on vou'fcrcadr- to get st.rr1e.l. firsl, \1u'llnccd to nr.le bl.rls ior thc posis.Surcc thcs! parts.i€ so lon8, vollllr!.ni n) iakc sonre e\trn tinre nlse lcc i ing st f . ight gr . ined shrckihai is pfcttv dry )'ou don't lvaniihc B,si b de\ eloF nn) 1\,afpir18.

Onc. ihc Fosts \\'efe sizcd, Idillcd a hole jn tl)€ top anLl t\nknnoicach post. Tl)€ top holc '!illhddi finirl th,rt is mr.le laicr Yu u \nccd to drillih€ lroiidn holc ii vou

dan on using the spe.ial i.llnc sawtapcr jig sho$lr on tage 26.

\c\i, you'll.ut two s-.ts oi nntr-tiscs. Th. first s€t holds thc L'.Lira i ls . The. l lnrensions n)r ihcsenort ises.re in the drashg at lc f t .

The olher set of nrcrtiscs vou'llc r t $ i l l ho ld thc hcadl .oard anclnre clt in onlt hlo oi the posts AsI nr€ntioned .arlicr ihe locatiolr oithes€ moftiscs d.l.cnds on thcihi.kn€ss oi ih. mattr:s .n.l bo\sping. C! t t ing ihcse mor i isesno$, r !h i l . ihc l .osts i re s i i lLstt!.r., nikcs thnrgs i krt e.sicr

Final\: I rutcd a rcun.lolcr onthe Lroinrn oi each post

'this is

nrrc ihan n dcco(rti\e dciail. Thcrcundolcr i!ill k€ep tlle c.tgcsfrcnr sFnli. lg ol,t (hen (not ii)the Lrell is dragged n.ross thc iloor

,lt

How-To: Treatthe Post Ends

Dri ing Holes. Ta keep the drill bitcentered on the end grain, use adawelhnqtiq ta dril'/s -clia holes.

!

2h

2h

i

t

RoundoveL Ta rcut a i/s'tad.

rcundaver on the rcuter table, use asuppon stund fot the lang posts.

@N o . 1 5 3

-lh

Shaping ihe pcncil posts is the mostchal€nging part oi the bed. The reason is fiai the posts are tapered onalt four sides. Then each comer ofthe iapem is dramiered. What yodnlooking for is to keep all the facesflat, smooih, md consistent.

There are a couple of wairs yoLrcan taper iheposts.Iuse.l the bandsaw tLr do much of ihe heaw cutiing and tl1en clcmed Lrp the faceswith somc hand-tool work. Youcould also cut both ihe tapers andchamJers on ilE iable salv using aspecial jig shown in ihe photo airight and on page 26.

lAYllG oUTTflt TAllRS. To cut accLrrate tapers, you'll need to startwith an accurate layout. I did thisby making a simple template forthe iop end of fte post, as you cans€e in the lo&'er right dralving

belo! . Next , 1m.rkecl the cndpoinis oi the tapefs on the sides ofL\e posi and connected thc pointswith a long straighiedge.

(UIII G 0 IflE BAilD SAW. Wiih ihepaiienl in place, you can cut a$'ayU1e $'aste. tsecause the posts arr solong, I sei up a suppoft siand onboth sides oi the sarv fLrr a liitlehclp, as shorln in the photo abovc.Nos you can siart cutting.

It's a 8oo.l id€a to cui s cil to thewaste sid€ of the line, so you'll beable to sneak up on thc iinal sizelatc!. Ailer each cut, rotaic thcworkpiece 90'and make the nextcui. To keep ihe piece squafe to ihebiadc $'hile cutting, I tap€d ihecutoffs back on the post.

9fi00THlrlc lrll IAPIR5. With ihetapcrs cut, you can nolv clean upftc faces. If j/ou have a jointcr dns

step is pretty simple. Bui if not,you'll stari by redrawing thc lav-out lines that were cui away. Then

with a bLock plane and somc sand-paper as shown in the box below:

CleaniU theTa

You can .ut both the tapers and, :hamferson lhe tab e saw with this s mp e I g TobL d one, turn to pdge 26

< 2r/,

I

f*Smooth Faces. After chmping the post to the workbench and propping up the tapered end, use a bla<k phne ta smaoth away the bladematks from the band saw Then finish up with a sanding black.

Suppart bl.ck ptopsup rdpeteo eno'. and keeps it stable

TADENIEMFLAE(Fun the)

tI

3 l

I

No. 153

hond tooling theCmrurns

Once all four iapers have b€en cutmd dcan€d up, the nexi st P rs to cutfie chan{ers. As beiore, it's importmi io keep the chamfers consistentfor a perfect eightssided post.

\ryhat's diftereni aboui cuttingthc chamfers is ihat insiead ofusing the band saw to rcmove thewast€, I did it all with a spoke-shave, block plane, md chisel. Thatma), sound like a lot of work, butvou aren't removin8 a ld of material and ihe process goes quickly

Lay Out Chamfet Mark the end paints af the chamfersan the end ancJ edges af the past. Cannect the pointswith a lang straightedge to guide theshaping.

simple Holding Device. A tula-part V blo.k makes it easy to clamp thepost to a workbench far cutting the chamfers. lt also holds the chanfersface up at a comfatTable working heiqht Sandpaper Eves it a firn grip

ttllllc UP IHI WoRKP|t(t. Since allthe l\'ork will trc done at thebench,I stat€.l b)' nraking a sirnple V-bbck to holct ihe posi, as you cansee in the drawing above. Theblock has a couple of advantages.Fnsi, itholds the posi steadv snlihI'n 'vorking. Second, it positionsihe post with the chamler lacingup so it s e.sier b $,ork on-

With the (orkpiece secure,I laidoui the chamfers on the taPercdsides of the posts like I did beforewhen cutting the tapers, as shos'nin ihe drawingat leit and detail'a.'

(UTTIlic IHI (NAlUlR. Begin shaP"hg the chamfcrs *'ith a spok€-sha\,e set for a hca\,y cut. I uscd aspokeshave lrre b€ca!6e it lcis meremove a lot of material .ittickly, asin the box below. As you approa.h

the layoui lnes, you can set theblade for a inlcf and smoothercui.

To flatten out the tapet I reachedior a block plane. The longer sole ofthc block plane makes it easier tostraighten out any .tips left bY ihespokeshave. Kcep planlng uniil

I'ou reach L\e layout lines, then iin-ish up rlilh a sanding block.

Unlike the tapefs, the chanrJersare stoppcd. Butn€ither dt sPokeshave or block plane can work intight enough to creaie a cdsP edgeand a straight line. For that, Ipicked up a chisel to cut dlc shoulder of the chamfer and clean up ltsface. To avold tearoui, Ifind it's

besi io take !,ery li8hi shavingsacross tl1e grain- l\hcn You re tu-ishcd, give the chanf€r one lasipass i{ith some smdPaPer.

rJl

v block holds chanfeR

How-To: Cuta St

,t)Rough Out Waste, A spokeshave set far ahea\,y cut is grcat way to quickly rcmavemost of the waste alang the chamfer.

32

Snooth With Block Plane Next, a blockplane set for a fine cut straightens andsmaoths the chamfer up to the layout lines.

Finish Stopped End. Ta clean up the endsaf the (hamfers, I used a chisel. Take lightcuE aarass the grain ta awid tearcut.

No. 153

1...-

&

a)re of ihe u.i(luc teaturcs oi thisbed is ihat nonr o i the jonrrs. reglu€d. The reas.D is s lmpl . i rnlhrts fic Lred tLr conr€ npart easil),and be sci up alnrsi an\whcre. llutth€ jonts siill necd to be srron8, so iused a Shnker siie knock-Llol{!1linnt thai combirlcs a shallow moft'se anLl tenon wilh a dralv bolt rL)Fll c\ crvthins t()getheL

i{A|(lilC IHI RAltS. B-.stdes the ioinerv th. bed falls n.ell to Lrc srfongas well fler€ I used 11/: -thickstock. Thcv .re tjcefler than vouDrghtcxpect, bui snrce th. failsnrc

iairlv narow, ihc e\h.;r thicknesspr€lents ihe ra i ls i ro b.ndingan.1 tlvistjng. Thc thick fajis alsoalloN rrc io makc i ihick icnon rokeep tllc bell f,om facking, as illus

tven ihol ,gh ihe jonl r isn ' i

8 lued, vou st i i l rvant n snu8 f i tIh is i { i r the mort ise and ienonbftrr ih. Neight of the.raih..ss andLro\ sprh8 (and slccpers).

Ihe other hal l o f ih€ jon1t , thedra(' tjolt system, can be a.tdeLlonce the rajls . re complete VN ernsee ho$ th1s works in ihc Lro\

bclorr.r1d nl detail 'tr' abo!,e I usesiandn,cl hcx bolts.rnd nuts for ihedraw bolts, but n'.rdiinrnat "b.Ll

bol is" nrc s i i l l n \a i l ib le. DcD'rnorry aboui the erposed bol rhca.ls, thc_y']ILre covcrcd !p lailr

InADllloltAt HAnDW RI. lb suplnrlih-. nintircss and tro\ spring, Itlrrne.l kr anoih€r picce of trad!honnl hnrd\yare "bcd irons, ' assln)sn in ihe drawnl8 abovc.Thcse l. shapcLl steel bfackets arcscrcived inb shallow B)ckets cut

oG

' ll rlii' ? l

'${

InstallDraw BolR

Drilling the Recess. Staft by drilting a 11h'-dta. recess in the inside face af the bed raits.The recess is 1 I/4" deep

No. 15ii

Flatten One Side. Cut a flat face i, the recessan the tenan side. The flat pravides a bearingsuiace for a washer and nut.

Woodsnr;th

Dri ing Rolt Hole. Use a drillbittolo.ate the hole in the rail. Dtill the3/s.dia hale wnh a daweling jig.

33

",?\,

oddingfteAncnro Hrnosonno

l{

Thc hendtn)ard is rhc lasr trig pi.cr

thai you ll ncc.1 to m.kc lor ihe Pen'cil post bed. It's just a Largc Pan.lwi ihacl r^ecuta longthc ioP nnd a

pair of tenons in e.ch enLl to fit ihe

Dn)rLises in lhc Posts ihai )'ou cut

eariiei ns in thc clrawnlg aboveBccause the rardldnrl(D) is such

.1 \'isible part of the bcd, I took

sonc e\_tra carc iLr seleciPicces thai

had a s i ln i lar co lof and gran) Pi i -tenr. Nc\t, I shricd work on thc

tL1r!n1s. Yrr'll noiice in the.lrawnrg

atrole thit th€ i€nons on thc hend

t'orrd arca 1ittle .l iftereni. 'Ihct

e's .1

renson ior th i t . I fv i ig to.u ian. l I ' i

tenons f()r i tighi lit on taFereLl

Fosts wotlld b. very Lliffi.L,lt lir

soh. ihat pfoblc.r, I born\'e.l a

.rnoihcf te.hnique lrtn ihc

ShakcN. Here I rcm e.l ihcshoul-

ders oi ihe tenon albgethci Th.

shouldcrs dre "s.ooped" on botli

sides so thnt thc hendboarll jtrsl

floats Lrchllen thc Fosts, as jn the

clrawug ;,n.1 in rleiail 'a' .bovc.N4akinS thcsc s.ooPcd tenon

shouldcrs ind .heeks is a s imPle,

h!o-si.p prcccss. To scc how it's

.lon., tate a l(x)k at thc Lro\ b-"lr^!

ft

The tenons on the headboaro are adetai l lound on many Shakerstylebeds lis a great way to lit the tenonto the narrow mortses without havIng to get a tight fit on the taperedpost Somet mes, it3 done on Y onthe back slde of the headboard ButI thoLqht i l ooked so good that Iappled it lo both ndes.

To make lt, I rout the shouLderwth a core box bri on tfre routertable. Beca!se trre workplece slong, t's a good idea 10 set uP sorneside support. Then to remove theren of the wane, I took the head-board over to the tabLe saw

34

the Scooped Tenons

Routing the Shoulder The ftRt step tn mak'ing the tenans is to tout the shaulder with a1/!'dia cate bax bit an the rautet table

completing the Tenon. To cut a$/ay thewaste an the .heeks of the terron lused adada blade on the table saw

'J

No. 153

1Io(ATING IHI ItN0il5. Oncc rhe

shoulders aie cleincd up, you cafmole on io cutting the renons Lo fitthe posts. But to do thdt , vou ' l ln.cd to gfalr iheb€dposts ro usc asa guide. Thc mortises nr the ln)srsilill help Iou tocate the renons asr\'.U as th€ .'nd poinrs of ihe cun.eon the top of ihe hea.lboard. Youcan feaci morc aboLrt this in thc bo\. tDsht ancl c leta i l 'b . '

The lpFcr and loirer tenons areseparat€ct Lry a half-circle cuiout.Th. ends of ihe 3 radi r |s cu ioutshorlld llne up ilith the Dsi.ieeclecs oi the mortise hcations voujusi marked ftom thepcncilFosi

tAY oUI A D(UTISI(UnVr Oncc thetenon locahons a'€ marked. youcai lavout ard c!'t thc cunealongthe iop e.]gc. What vou're lookingfor is a gap,iree fii at rhe iop andbotiom of ihe ienons, so usc thepaticn shorln below as a $ide tocreatc an e\en c l rne ar .1n smoothtransiiion to thc tenons.

tllTlilG IHt T!IoN5. IVhen ihetenons are cui out, you may ncedio do a tittLe fiiiing for rhem to slipinto ihe moriises. A fiie and somesandpaper rvill take care ofthat.

To ocate the tenons on the headboard, Ia d one of the pons alongside the headboard blank. Align the bottom edge of theheadboard with the bottom of the towermonrse, as shown in the dfaw nq above.Then transfer the location of the moarsesn the posts to the headboard. This definesthe size ot the tenons.

lhen you can draw in the 3 radius arcrnat sepafates the tenons and cut it oLrtw[n a ]r9 saw as in the drawing ar rightalld detaii 'b'on the opposite pag€.

,li\

\o . 153

oddingthe irtt,

Frrun foucnrs31,

I

Thcre'sjust a.ouFLe oi thnrgs left todo Lrciorc thc becl is compLi,t€. Th€firsi is b cap off the tops of thr'Fefcil posts ivith a hrNecl iini.l. Th€

sccond is io co\cf th€ dnrs boltheads af cl coLht€rbores.

TURnED r lNlAt . A l tho!gh

)oL, cnn fnrcl nrail orLlersour .es fof i inLr ls , I

> col , lL ln ' t i inc l o fe

.nd slorle.l ihc d rill prcss .loiln ki

.rbo!ii Sil0 j,(l0l) +rnr.

Af ter c ! t t lng the i in ia lLr lank t ( )sl7e, lLlrilled . hole in th. Lroii(rnnfLl g[r-".] in i cut-oif Lnrli sjthepox\r is sllo\Ln trr ih. rlfa\\ ing airight. lho Lrrlt pfo\ id.s i sinrganchof polrt fof shapng thc ftrl.lon eiihcf ihc Llrill l.rcss orlathe Tos.!e linr., I knockcd off the .0ners oi ihc Lrlank on ihc b.nd snr!Ai ter sh ip ing ihc inr i i l $ i ih thctuhhli tools, \'ou can spccd Llp thcclrill pi('ss and sand il snlooth.

DRAW 80tT (0VIn5. Thc l.sidc.cirati\e i(Nch is.tincling a set of tf.ditional dnw bolt covcrs t() hid€ thecountcflnns and thc bolt h€ads, asin ihc l{Ncf rlfa$ ir1g . ight.

Thc coYrfs arc attnche.l \,lths.rclvs aiicr sc\craL toats of finishhi\r bc.n appiicd.Tlrrc's no nee.lto dri\'. thc scrcws in tc( tight. Inia.t, it's Lrcst k) l.avc th€ coveF il i l i lc l ( r )se n) th . i theyc.rn easi lv bcf l ipPcd out of ihr $, r \ ' h ' l thouts.ral.hng ihc finish. M

tii :

that lookecl j!st filiht,s o I h r m c d \ o s r )If !1rLr havc .r l.the,thb rs Frettr €ns\.B! t e !€n i t vou don' t ,

J I I ) u L , . . , n i f i l l r L n l

forr orvr nnr l ls or1the c l r i l l press us ingthe tempLrte shown

rr , . t le l t lor . g l r iL leTo do th is , vo! ' l l

necd a te$' t(]olsr n

01

urghmg gorge, isp in( l le goi rge.nd ap.r r t ing tool . I . lsoLlu i l t a s imf le toolrcst (se€ bo\ bel !) $,

I

I. j ,

{

How-To: Turnithe Finialon a Drill Press

NO|E: lig i5 na.le ft.n

Dti Prcss Tuning Jig. 1 bullt the taal rest out af t/r' thick hardwoad. lt'sthen clanped in pla.e an the dril press with the -.dge af the tool rcstpointing at the centerline af the warkpiece

No. 153

qI DESIGT{EKS NOry ooKtraditi stor thi! project, go toi

lj._=1

4 Added Materials & SupglrgpA Testor Sde Rails (2)B Testor End Raits (2)C Testor Slats (2)

No. 153

1 x 1 t / 2 - 8 41 x 1 1 / r - 6 41 x 1 / , - 6 4

: ir_ < Tettot hahe. pdtts.anne.ted

ni11) hall lanano tap lot.ety

37

ln the aA aay., ?ehcil ?oet. bed. aer,leaa ?raatical ?urpa.e. the Lap af Nhepaar,a hela a I)eotor - a f6fie af alatoana rail6, as ehown in lhe drawln6.

lh lhe winler, yar coua drape blar-ketg, ara aurlaina over it ta keep inI:,he warrnth. Then in the 6ummer, theqult6 and cnrLains were rcplaceA wiNhmaoqui+"o neL'inq to kee? the buqs aibay ard eh.urc a qaoA niqhfb elee?.

)n rhoaern hamee, bueo an^ aavniehte aren't a prob)em, but theteal,ar can aLil adA a Lra4itional ele-ment to a c)a65ia be^. You'll fird lhemar"eriala and .up? ie6 hee^e^ bebw.

Ti " t ' ,o ' , )

, t

NOTE resiatpafts nadenon !

'7 ' rh t . t r to .k i :

.'

DESIGNEKS NOTfEBOOK

Choosing the Best Joineryfor your ne>ct pro1ect\ryhen it comes to choosing joineryfor a project, the possibilities oftenseem endless. Mortise and tenons,haff laps, dovetails, dado€s, rabbets,grooves the choices can be a littlepuzzling. Fortunately, choosing theright joinery doesn't have to b€ amystery AI it takes is a litd€ under-slanding of the principles behind thejoints and how they work.

When we select the joinery fortlte projecls in t{oodslxitr, there areseveral factors that come into Play- strength, appearance, and easeof constructiorr to name a few. This

all sounds good on paper Butmaybe the best way to illustratehow th€ process works is to take aiook at a 9?ica1 project and exam-he the tPes of johts we use. Andeven more importantlt talk about

Clse Constru.lionWhethei you are building a book-cas€, a di€sser, or a cabinel rnost tur-niture proiects are really nothingmore than a basic box (or maybe agroup ofboxes). But in ord€r for thepiece of fumiture to stand uP to the

test of time, the box has to be builtto last. And the s€.tet to this is in th€johery used in the construction.

(IROSE Jolil Y. II you take a lookat the project shown below, you'[see what I mean. Th; is a case for asmall cabinet. To construct the cas€,I used several different tt?es ofjoints, each foi a specific rcason. Tojoin the top and bottom of ttl€ caseto the sides, I used a tongue arlddado joint. Although you coulduse a simple rabbet joint here, atongne and dado joint is strongerbecause it interlocks the two

PLYWOOD AACK FlrgINIO RAEgEIEO OPENINGTo dREN6'}IEN G{ENET

AGAINs' IACKNG

l=------

)

t\r ll \ tI

VItI

Woodsmith No.153

pieces. The shoulder on the tonguehelps to keep th€ two piecessquare, which makes assembly alittle easier. And finatly, you getbetter gluing suface with a tongueand dado joint than you woutdwith a rabbet joint.

D|YDIIS. In choosing a joint forthe vertical drawer divider of rhecabinet, I went with a simpler dadojoint instead of a tonSue and dado.The ieason is a dado joint is a tittleeasier to make since it onlyinvolves one setup. It's just a mat-ter oI cutting a dado to fit the lnar-ing pi€ce. And sinc€ the drawerdivider is not a structural elemmtof the cabinet, I wasn't as con-cemed with stength.

uq( To compl€te th€ basic box,a[ w€ need to do is add a plt'rvoodback. Now you €ould jusr glt]e ornail the back directly ro the case_But a bett€r method is to creare arecessed opening to hold the backby routing a rabbet aI aromd theback edSe of the case. This doestwo things. Filrsr, it conceals theedges of th€ panel. And s€con4 ithelps pi€vent th€ case from rack-ing. Once the back panet is gluedinto th€ rabbeted openin& it acts asa shear panel to stiffen the cas€.

Jore lrcmeWith the basic box completed, thenext step is to add a fac€ fiame. Faceframes are often us€d ro conceal thejoinery or pry-wood edges ar tlle fionrof a cabinet - or simply tjo give apiece of furnitur€ a morc rraditionatlook. And because of this, I thinlthere's a tenden.y to vie'/ faceframes as pur€ly de.orative. But th€truth is thar face fram€s serve animpoitant stru€tural puryose aswell� Just lik€ the back of th€ case, aface frame ke€ps the case squar€ andpr€vents it Iaom ra&ing.

Face ftames are constructed ourof stiles and rails rllat arc joined arright angles. But in order for rh€face fiame to be effective at pre-venting racking, the joints need tobe strong. For this reasorL mortiseand tenon joints are usualy mvfirst choice when U"nai"e tu"uftames. They are mecharLicaXy

No. 153

strong and also otfer plenty of gluesurfac€ for a joint rhat realy holds.

For less formal projects or shopfumitur€, I often use lap joints formaking fa€e frames. From thestandpoint of strengrh, a lap-jointed face frame wil be n€arly asstrong as one made with mortiseand tenon ioints. But th€ lap joinfsar€ a lot quicker to make. (All youneed is a table saw.) The ontydownside to using tap joints is th;tthe end grain of the pieces is

exposed. On some proiecrs, thisdoesn't rcally matter, but on orheE,it may stand out like a sor€ thuinb.

Although they aren't a "rradi-

tional" fa.e hame ,oint, bisorits ar€another option for building faceftames. They're fast and easy touse, and really help to speed upproduction. They're a good choic€ror proie€ts that won't b€ subjecredto a lot of rackint stress - likekitdlen cabinets thar are going tobe attaded directly to a wall�

Woodsmirh

Once the basic case is complete, thenext st€p is to add the doors anddraw€rs. Unlike the casq doorsand draweB are subj€cted to theadditional stress of beinS openedand closed. Because of this, ihereare some different tt?es of jointsthat corne into Plali

DoorsWhen it comes to doors, the t}?e ofdoor you us€ wil depend larg€lyon th€ style of the project. Fof thiscabinel I chose a frame and paneldoor with a plywood panel (seedrawing). The advantage of thistt?e of door is that since the panelis pl''wood and won't expand andcontract (as a solid panel would) itcan b€ glu€d into the frame. Andgluing th€ panel rnto the framemakes lor a stonger, mor€ rigiddoor Because of this, I was abl€ tous€ stub tenon md Sroove joineryto build the door frame.

Stub tenons and grooves aren'tquite as stong as traditional mor-tise and tenon joints, but they are alot less work to male. You iust cut agroove on the inside edge of thedoor mils and st es to hold thepanel. Th€n cut stub tenons on theends of th€ rails to fit in thegrooves. The whote thinS can bedone on a table saw or a routertable. Orce the shib tenons and thepanel are glued inro th€ grooves,Orc door becomes a solid unit.

Stub tenons and grooves workgeat when the door panel can be

JOINIS ARE ETgLYMADE ON TA9LE gAW

glued into the frame. But for doo$with glass panels or floating, solidwood panels, you'n want to use ajoint that js stronSer, since thepanel won't be adding anystrength to the door.

In cases like th*€, I usualy optto m&e the door frame with bridlejoints or a mortise and tenon;oints(s€€ drawings below). Both of ttrcs€joints have more gluing ar€a thanthe stub tenon and groove, sothey're stronger. And they alsoalow you to rabbet out an oPeningin tlle back o{ t}rc tuame to hold the

panel, whether it's a pane of glassor a solid wood panel.

DrowerrDrawers are always a chalerge tobuild. In a sense, they are a "project

within a pmject." Not or y do theyhav€ to be caretully made so they fitaccurately, but they have to be strongenough to widrstand tlrc stress ofr€peated openinS and dosing. thisis especially true for the joints at the

Since this cabinet is a faidy tradi-honal style, I went with a tradi-

ilr1

-ti \

r \ i

TH^N MORflsE AND TENON5,tut Nor ourE A5 sllor.{6

No.153

qtional drawer ioint - half-blinddovetails (see drawing at righr).

Dovetails have alnost every-thing you could want in a drawerjoint. For starters, they arc e)<cep-tionatly stmng. The interlockingtails and pins create a strongmechanical cormection as well as agreat amount of glue surface. Inaddition to strength, dovetaiis ar€vjsually app€alin& so you don'thave to wony abour covering themup. Add to this th€ facr thar youcan us€ dovetails either wirh orwithout a fals€ front, and itbecomes obvious thar this is themost v€rsatil€ drawer ioint amund.

r dovetaG have a downside, ir,sthat they can be dif6cdt and tim€-consuming to male. Even wirh arouter and a dovetail ji& theyr€quire a fair amomt of set-uptime to get good results. Tllat,swhy I usualy save dov€taG forheirloom furniture projects wherethe €xtra tim€ is wel spenr For lessfomat projecg tllere are a coupteof other drawer joints I Iik€ ro use.

oPlloll/tl DRAWII ,otilTt. For draw-ers that don,t r€quire a fals€ fronL Iolten use a lo&int ralbet (see leftdrawing below). This joint is easilymade on the table saw, and onceass€mbled it is hidden when rheftawer is viewed from the front.Ils also fairly strong. So ifs a gooddoice for projects with smal tomedium-size &awers.

Draw€rs that use metal dlawerslides commor y cal for an

DOVETAIs IMIERIOCK To COM'INEMECHANIC1L SIRENO'H wlIH LARG€6LUE AREA FOR A VERY 9TRON6 JONf

applied false front. In rhis case, Iusualy tuln to a tongue and dadojoint (see right drawing below).This is essentially the same jointthat we used ro build the case ofthe cabin€t. AlthouSh it doesn'thave the same amount of glue sur-face as the lo.king rabbet, it is sritl ar€asonably shong drawer joinr

One last thing. In woodworkin&rarely will you find that ther€,sonly one "ri8h1' way to do some.thing. The same thing holds rrue

whell s€lecting joinery No matterwhat you are buildin& your pri-mary consideration wil be rhestreBs€s and demands that aregoing to be ptac€d upon th€ prcj-€ct. But beyond that, rhe ioineryyou eventualy choos€ wil bebas€d on other factors such asappearanc€, the equipment you arcworking with, and your own abili-ties. In most situations, you'[ findthat ther€ at least a couple of differ-ent joints that wil wo*. N

HALF-'LIIID DOVETAILS ARE5rtoN6 ANt ATT! rcnyE -

G{N EE USEO WTh OR

- ---1r:T"l ,z- lL RS **"D&\WER ..lY I l, l -. srDE

' - 'Ro|.r f+ l.dd

lsw ;

LOCKING RA9AET JONT PRO1IDE9NENTY OF 6!UE SURFACE _ 6OOD

cltolcE FoR DaAmRg WTHOW

IONGUE AN' DADO JOIMT 19EAgYTO MAKE - 6REAT FOR

15 HIDDEN 6Y FALgE FRONiNo. 153

small shop solutions

space savlng

WorkSurfaces

) great ways to getthe most out ofyour shoP.It's frustrating when You can't rind

a clear sPace in the shoP on which to

set a glueup,lay some workPieces,

or just temporarily s€t down a tool

Sure, a workbench can't be beat tor

doing lay our joinery, or some of ttle

oiher eleryday shoP task ButI find

ihat one worksurface is never

enough. And in a smal shoP, fhd'

irg spacL for permment worlsur-

taces can be tough To sol !e thrs

pmblem, you need to be creahve

3/aaDlA. lRON

HEA!'/-DUTY570RAAE

tloke if tloveOne way to 8et arolurd a shortage

of floor space is to have wo* areas

that move. When You work in the

shoP, ),ou often go from siation to

station, so why not have a s ork sut-

face thai does the same The t$'o

worktables in ihe drawings above

and below illustrate fte Pornt

The sturdy storage worktable in

the lower drawing rests o'1 large,

locking casten This allows it to be

easily moved around the shoP and

ihen firnny locked in Placc for dte

task at hand. You might *'ant to

build ii to maich iheltightoryour

tablc sas and use it as m ouiteed

table, as shown in ihc drawrng

The bon s is that ii's designed to

do doublc-duiy as a lunter sior

age ra.k. Stort horizontai PtPesbelow the worksurface create easY

to get to, trut out of the $'a, storage

sDace. Ard wi*l heav-v duty "t'\'o

b;" conshlction, it i\rillhandle all

that you can Ptle on

lf you ilink somcthnrg a liitle

smaller and easier b move about

would betier lit yolt needs, take a

look at the hvo-handle.t shoP ca

shorql above. Storage sPace belo$'

and a small bui soLjd toP make uis

caii a Practical solution io Yourextra surtace necos

The two fliP-uP hdldles and the

fixed cast.rs on the hont legs make

steering the lightweiSht cart

arolmd a cramp€d sl1oP a breez€

a

CART 15 9UILTU9INO LIOHTWEIOHT1x CON9TRUCIIoN

fi

FLIP.UP HANDLE9

MOVEMENT

LOCKTNOCAgTER9 No.153

Use the Corner SpoteThe comcrs oi ihe shop can be atough space lo get a handle on.Oiher ihan maybe a ddl press, noldrg€ machine fits welL into a cor-ner and often ihis space ends upnot being used very effectivelv.

Well, one way io make good uscorihe com€rs of fie shop is to adda corn€r workstation as shown inthe drawing at right. A sturdy 2x4frame \\,itl a 3/r'plfvood top cre-ates a large worksurface thai canbe us€d for arv number of tasks.

Here you see the workstationsuPPorted by base cabineis (andthe lvals)on eidrr side. Butifdnsarran8em€nt doesn't work in your

shop, simply modily thed€sign byadding a pai of stoui ]egs to theoutsidecLrmers ofi]le frame to cre-ale a lree standing station.

The advantagcs b ihis type of'/oPen sPace'/ arranSement areeasv io see. \Mlatyou've.lone is toadd another lai,ei of useful space.As you can s€e, lhc space Lreneaththe work area can still be used forstorage. A shop laclrunr, tools orany number of other iiems youwant to keep widlh easy reach canstill be stashed in the corner. Andabove, you havc a spacious su rfaceihat yo! surely won't have anyhouble finding a use for

10? CREAIE'.WORK SURFACE

OUT OT UNUSED5?ACE

4' AUl\HINOE9

SOLIOLYFASTEN?x4 CLEAI

A lold.Awoy BenrhEver a small shop may have someopen $'allspace. So ii makes senseb put this space to thc best use.1\.nd this use mlght be for a fold-awav auxiliary workbench.

As you can teu from the dnwingat left, this bench can be used fornorc thal light-dutvwork. A soLid2x.l frame and a % plywood iopmakc iisuitable for the toughcst ofshop iasks. And notice how it'shing€d to fold up, noi dorvr lca\-ing the floorsp.ce below clear

Usc it as a work station for abenchiop iool or to clo a hea\.yglueup. Ard when the task is .orr-pleted, ),ou snnplv fold the benchup and latdr it in place on the lral]�

LAROE AREA EELOWCORNER 9IATIONCAN BE UgED FOR

LEAYINOSPACE oELOW

CLEAR

Si [e Knock-Down TableOne minute it's there, the nextmL,ute it's gone. Well, honesrly iis'iU probably take more ihan aninute to disassemble the knock-down table shown in the drawing,but yolt gei the idea.

And the idea is a good one. Asimple, knock down worktablecan reallv help sretch the Limitedspace in a smallshop. Justsetiiuprvhen you need it, take ii apart andsiore the pieces out of the lvaywhen ihe job is complete.

And the neat thing about this"stripped down" design is thaibuilding it won't take much of

N'o. 153

your time or money. One.1 x 8sheet of 3^ plywood will do thes'hole job. Ihe inierlocking joineryused io assemble ihc base is aboutas simple as it coi d be. And oncethe base is assembled the top ismerely set into place. A couple ofcleats aitached to the und€rside ofihe top act as siops to k€ep ii toomsliding aromd while you work.

You can easiiy adjust the size iofit the needs of yorr shop. Butregardless of the size, this knock-down table rvill provide a handtextra work placc without takingup valuable shop space. E

TAELE I5 MADEFROM ONE 9HEET

KNOCK'DOWN

a

43

--

workin with tools

make all these profiles and more with

Three Basic Router Bits I

Over the years I've accumul,ated a lotof dilferent router bits. The "work-

horse" bits that have standard pm-files get used over and over aganrwhile the more exotic "big money"bits usualy just gather dust. Thisfinally led me to the realization thatyou don'i need a drawer full ofexpensive biis to rcut fdcy profiles.

,UST THnEI UTS. Th€ photo aboveiilustrates the poini. A[ of themolded edges shown (a[ examplesare % -thck siock) can be madeusing just thr€€ common router bits.These are biis you'll find in justabout my woodworker's coilection.And as you cd clearly see, the pos-sibilities for putting ihem to use are

The ihre€ biis (shown at lefi) Iused io make these examples are a% iouid-ov€rbit, a % iolmd-oveibit, ard a Yr"-dia. .or€ box bit.

oilt 8lT, STVIRAL (UTS- The followingpage shows how to make a ferv ofmy favorite profiles- To see evermore options, be sure to check outthe Online Extras at ourwebsite.

Th€re's really no greai secrei tothe process. First, I tsy to avoid get-ring stuck on the idea that a singlerouterbit cm or y make one t}?e ofcut. The truth is that many 9?es ofbits can produce a variety of shapes

depending on how you put them touse. To make some of the profilesabove, I used different parts of the bitor changed the depth or height ofthe rut. For example, a core box bit(or cove bit) can be used to cr€ate awide, shailow cove o/ a d€€p holola'.

UulPlE 8llt. Som€ of the simplepiofiles you see were made usingor y a single bit. But to oeate themore complex shapes, you' needto use a combination of bits. Forinsiance, a % rcundover along withan accurately cutr/r'cove oeafes alarge reverse ogee.

A(oRATI CUTS- One of the keys tosuccessful rcsr ts is to mal<e fte cutscarefully and accuraiely. Two orttuee (or more) light.uts wil} oftenyield beiter results than one deep.ut. This is more important thandoing the job qui.Uy. And finaly, alittle fine sanding is often needed to"blend" multiple cuts into onesmooih, seardess profi1e. E

yiBeating an be /aund overrenovedfar_ trit

I

- eA = c l#S*;.

.ore box

44 No.153

How.Tor 7 EasProfiles sh Ti DesiYourOwrOna gieup

As you can see, the layouttools I used to design these pro-files are pretty basic. A section ofrr" dia. dowel workssreat as a template for a r/a" roundover or a r/a" cove (%"core box bit). And a 1'Ld'a. dowelwas my r/r" found-overbit. Chances afe if you can draw it on paper, you can finda way to make it with a few common router bits.

Irrc S.lupr

mak nq addl t ionalmo ded edqet qo to

l\.::-'

p-j-a) /' /

r-!q,!d$"tIl-

.J.,''-

aTn

1," l

N o . 1 5 3

solve your finishingproblems with

ShellacAJier spmding a lot of time buildinga pioj€ci, the last thing I want is towipe on some stain and end up witha blotchy mess. ff you've ever hadthis happen, you know how frus-trating pioblems like thjs can be.

There are quite a few produ.tsthat you can buy that claim to solvefinishing problems. But chancesare you hav€ the solution to mostof these problems in your finishingcabinet akeady - shelac.

sAilDlxG stAlEr. One way shellaccan prevent finishing problems iswhen it's used as a sealer beforeapplying a fiLn finish to a project

(inst€ad of an oil finish). \ r'henusing a film finish, I'm

looking for a glass

smooih surface and a proteciivelayer, which js great for table tops.

The problem is bare wood canabsorb a lot of finish, so it takesseveral coats to get a good build.And you end up sanding awayquite a bit of the finish to get asmooth, flat surface.

In this case, a coat of shellacworks like a coat of primer wil] forpaint. The shellac penetrates thesurface of the wood and seals thepores that abso$ finish- Thismear's you won t need as manycoats to get a decent build.

Once dry, the shellac is easy tosand flat. And since it's compatiblewith most finishes, it provides agood bonding surface for the fin-ish. You'[ also find that the finishlays out flaiter as you brush ii on.

SlAtll (olltloltlR. Like I men-iioned at the beginning of the arti-cle. one of the most frustratingfinishing problems is stain blotch-ing. Blotching is .aused by thestain beinB absorbed unevenly inthe surface of the wood.

To see what I mean, take a lookat the two pine boards in the pho-tos ai left. On the upper board, Iapplied an oil-based stain on bare

wood. Some areas had the evencoloring I was looking for In otherareas however, the stain is muchdarker and muddy looking.

To prevent bloiching on thelow€r board, I applied a thin coato{ shelac and then lightly sandedit with 220-grit sandpaper. Theshelac evens oui th€ surface of thewood so that the stain Penetratesuniformly. AId you €an see theresults. Not only does the piecehave a more pieasinS coloa thesiain doesn't obscure the grain.Because shellac stows th€ absorp-tion of stain, you may need toapply another coat of stain to getthe color you're tooking {or.

ff this was aI shelac could do tosolve problems, ii would eam aplace in my finishing cabinet, butas you'[ see, ii does much morc.

sIAlil sEAtER. Even if you aPplystain without blotchin& it .an stiucause a pirblem once the finish isapplied. The stain lifts from thesuface of the wood and nul<es thefinish look cloudy. \,ar'hat happensis the solvents in the finish reactwith the pigments in the staincausing them to redissolve. This isespecially the case when I'm in a

shella( .omrelr the stain,rerufting in a moE ewn@lor, even on end grain

]| To prevent sta nblotch ng on p ne (topboard), apply a thin coat of dewaxed shelac toeven out the color and controlabsorption.

No. 153

hurry and don't give the stajnenough time to dry completely.

A coat of shela€ solves this protslem by actin8 as a bdier betweenthe stain and the finish. Best of all,shelac dries {ast so you can applythe finish in just a few minutes.

One more thing, the choice ofshelac can affect the finish. Thepremixed shellac you'ie likely tofind in the hardware store containswax. The wax can int€rfere \arithpolyurethane and cause it to p€elaway. If you plan on usingpolyurethane, male sure the shel-lac is labeled de.rnred or wax-free.It may be caled a universal s€alerTo avoid the problem altogether,you can use spray-on she ac ormix your own from d€waxedflakes, as shown in the box betow.

loDllg (olOR. Th€re's one oihe.thing shelac is good for And that'sto add color and enlance the Fainin a project like a stain. The thrcecherry boards in the photo at riShtshow what I'm talking about.

The board at the top is unfin-jshed. Given time, ch€rry willdarkm on its own. But let's face it,that can take a long time. And evenadding a coat of {inish (especiallywateFbased finishes) doesn't domuch to change the .olor, as youcan s€e in the middle board.

To speed things along, I brushon a thin coat of colored shellac.Shelac comes in a range of colorswith strange-sounding names.Most of the tim€, I use "supe.

blonde" (clear), but heie I useamber shellac (boftom) to walmup the color and grain. You canthen apply a clear topcoat and letnature take its course. Amber shel-la€ works great on pine too, givingyou an "antique" pine look.

STIIL ilEIDS PtoTt(TlO|{f On€ of theproblems with sh€lac when it'sused by itself as a finish is that itcan easily be damaged by waterBut you can overcome this byapplying a more durable topcoat,like vamish or polyu€ttrane. N

Unifnithed (herry is paleor lightpink, but gradually

A (@t of amber rhella. .dds@lor .nd enhanc tie figuE

rl|,How-Tol MixYourOwnor

lf there's one downside to using pre-mixed shellac, it's that it has a limitedshelf life, usually about one year. Sowhen lonlyneedto usea smal lamount, Iliketo mix it upfrom driedflakes.

The unmixed flakes have an unlimitedshelf life, so you never have to worryabout the age. Thellakes come in a rangeof colors, as you can see in the photosbelow To mb( i t . l f i l la pint jar about quaFterfullwith llakes and then pour in dena-tured alcoholto flllthe jar (photo at left).This makes it a little thinnerthan if lwasusing it as a finish. Then cover the iatshaking occasionally. The flakes shoulddissolve in about two hours.

For even faster dryingtimes, try spray-onshellac, which isalways dewaxed andsafe for allfinishes.

--t{ {= -.F-

No. 153

Lemn Yellow (anber)

Woodsmith

Suus EYE

$l|Euc' lFoler&I rhish"rpl

O

47

in the mailbox

Questions & AnswersGlues you canuse outdoorc

fit'^ o";Hi"g ."-"Voutdoot prciec.sand fd fiketo know whzkthe best ghte to useT

Jash Hdt@uPhMir, Anztu

A Euilding a project for/n outdoor use hassome unique challenges.Outdoor projects mustwithstancl rain, extremetemperature and humid-itychanges.and sunlight.

Besides choosing thedght building material, thegrue you use can go along way in making a proj'ect survive the weather.

TlllgollD lll. The newestwaterproof g lue is

Fmnklinb fnebond I .rhisis a new formulation forthe standard wood gluethat makes it waterprcoiThe advantage of this glueis that it works a lot likethe glue you use everyday. l t c leans up withwater and it has a coupleother advantages overregular yel lowglue.

The first isthat it has alonger open t ime. Thismeans you have moretime to assemble a proj-ect and getthe clamps inplace before the glue

The second advantageis that it c€n be applied ata lowertemperature (47").

The downside is thatthis glue doesnl f i l lgapsso the ioinery mustfrttight

POLIUREIIIIIIE OIUI. A SEC-ond type of waterproofglue is polyurethane glue.Like n@bond I , polyurc-thane glue is pretty easyto apply. The best featureof polyurethane glue isthat i t bonds to mostmaterials: wood, plastic,glass, and even metal.

Polyurethane glueneeds moisture to cure,So i t 's a good idea tomoisten one of the facesbefore applying the glue.As it cures, polyurethaneglue expands into afoam.But donl worry, once it'sdry, you can scrape offanyexcesswhh a chisel.

(0il5Ttucl0ll lDHl5lvt.While not usually consid-ered as a woodworking9lue, construction adhe-siv€ works great in some

situations. lf you're build-ing a deckorgarden shed,construct ion adhesivecomes in handy b€cause itgrabs qu ickly and doesn'tneed tight-fitting joints. lnfact, it'ssothickthatyou'llneed to al low plenty ofroom forsqueeze-out.

tPoxY. The last wateFproof glue is two-partepoxy. Although it's themost expensive, the bigadvantage is that i t f i l lsgaps. This makes it greatfor patching holes andreplacing damaged or rot-ten wood, But since i twon't take st.jn, jt needsto be painted.

Whatyou need to do ismatch the glueto thejob.To helpdecidewhich oneto use, take a look at thechart below. N

Do you haveany questions

IOr USrl f you have a quest ionrelated to woodwork;ngtechniques, tools, fi nishing,or hardware, we'd l ike to

Just write down yourquestion and mail it to us:Woodsmith, O&A, 2200Grand Avenue, DssMoines, lowa 50312. oryou can email us the ques-tion at woodsmith@wood-

Please include your ful lname, address, and day't ime telephone number incase we have questions.

48

Comparing Waterproof GluesTyPe Ease of use StrenSth Weakness Cost

,vff

wotkt tutt I'k. teFlhr

@dApply ||fth e stzndard

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6

No. 153

hardware & supplies

P:l|dt P03l ttDYou' l l real ly only need a smal lamount ofhardwareto build thepencil post bed. To attach therailstothe legs. I used standard3/s'x 6" hex-head bolts withwashers and nuts. You shouldbe ableto findthese at any welfstocked hardwarestore or homeimprovement centet

lf you would like to use tradi-tional bed bolts on the project(photo below), these can bepurchased lrom Bockler or oneot the other sources listed.You' l l need to buy a bed bolt

WOODSilIil PNOJECT SUPPI.IESWe now {€ature hardware fom RocK LE R in manyof our new projectkits. To order, please us€ our toU-feeorder lin€, s€e below Ifs open Monday through Friday,from 8 AM to 5 ?M Central Time. Before calling, pleasehave your talsA, Mastercard, Discover, or AmencanExpress card ready.

IJ you worrld Fefer to mail in an ordet please callthe toll-free phone number beloly ior more ir.forma-tion concerning shipping charges as well as anyapplicable sales tax.

Brasses (#H-550). These bedirons can vary in size, so it'sbest to have them in handbefore you start cutting themonises in the bed rails.

r(tr0d(.Domt B00t(tIruAll ofthe hardware used on theknock-down bookshellwas pur-chased lrom Rockler To assem-ble the bookshel l you' l lneed 2"connector botts {#31849}, capnuts {#31815}, hex-drive threadedinsens {#31872}, and a handfulof tabletop fEsteners {*t34215).To help levelthe bookshelf, you'llwant to install lour cabinet lift-ing levelers (#81696).

IInEE tOUlEn tltsYou may already own one or allolthe standard router bits usedto make the protiles in the 6 rticleon page 44. The three bits that Iused are made by Amana Tooland can be purchased trom theWoodsmith Store. Very silnilalbi ts are avai lable from manyother manufacturers.

oltE.[altDED ctt[PlThe one-handed clamps featuredin the anicle staning on page 8came from severa I sou rces. TheIrwin Auick-Gip andthe BesseyPower Gip ate hoth availablefrom eitherthe |toodsmith Store

. "O ine ExFas" - Plas, Patierns, & More

. over 100 woodworkinc Tips On[re

. M6it Our RqdeF ftoject Photo Galery

. Project Plac You Cd Domload

. Calalos of Projdt ICts, Tools, Jics, & Plans

. FoMs lor Wood*ortins, Tools, & Cla$fieds

. Lini<s to OtlBr Woodworkins Sites

. Orde. WoodMitLr & ShopNores Back lssu€s

www.woodsnilh.con

or RockleLlhe Bessey Kliklampis cattied by Rockler. Craftsmanclamps are avai lable at Searsstores orthrough their catalog,

The one-handed JorgensenE-Z Hold clamp shown in theanicle was ordered from theAdjustable Clamp Company.Their number is listed at right.

lfifilED w tDoYt JIttl{ youte lucky, you can flnd allofthe materials and suppliesyouneed to build either ofthe win-dow seats in a single tr ip to alumberyard or home improve-ment center, The pre-mademoldings (colonial baseboard,panel molding, and bead board)used are pretty common stylesbut they may vary slightlyfromstore to store. lt's notcriticalthatthe moldings you use preciselymatch those shown. Just f indsomething close and i f neces-saryyou can make minor ad;ust-ments to the design.

qfte (udomf S..|ieClick on Suhscrihs SeNices or

www.wondsl'l,frl,.6n

. 6!isa yor n!ih! d milodd6

.I!fl B ii yu/w [iEd m iw

. Frd qi ilFU wnar iG h6 @ivd

T Sources

To covor the counterboredholes I dr i l led in the legs toinstal l the bed bolts, I puFchased eight 1%"-dia. ant iquebrass bed bolt covers withscrews (#99235) trom Rockler.And f inal ly, you' l l need eighttraditional bed irons to supportthe box spring and mattress.They're available lrom eitherRocklet l|138593) ot Horton

taltORDER

s0uncESSimilar nroiects wnes tnaa o(

the fo\dwin!)

aoo.a35-5044

312.66646,!0

aaa-242-5233

aoo-?54-9127

800,871-815a

400-225.1153

No. 153

r.800.444.7527

Woodsmith 49

details of craftsmanship

carvrng a

Lambt TongueChamfer

Extra detail. That's whata lamb'stongue chamferis all about. Sureyou could cut a stoPPed cham"f€r. But on the Pencil Post Bed, Iwant€d to add an extra, hand-made detail, one that couldn'tbeduplicated by machine.

The lamb's tongue chamferis a traditional d€tail that's

carving. And you don't needspecial tools - just a chisel,knife, file, and some sandpaper.

If you take a look at th€lamb's tongue in the photoabove, you can get a good ideaof what you'll need to do. Thelamb's ton8ue stats at a line atthe bottom of the chamfer. Itthen nses to a small round, anddips into a hollow b€fore fadingto a point on the square sechonof the post. while it's a featurefound on pencil post beds, youcan apply this detail to justabout ajily stopped €hamfer

tltPARlllo YoUl I00lS. Ii Soeswithout saying that sharP toolsare important. Ev€n so, in carv-ing this detail, you'll be doing alot of cross-grain autting. So Itook some time to hone my€hisel and knife more than Iusually do. A shary tool will

edge cl€anly sii€e the woodfibers. A dull tool lifts the fibersand causes tearout, which canbe diffi.ult to sand away.

With your tools ready to go,all you'll n€ed to get .eady isthe post. The important thinghere is that you want the postsecure. Any movement in thepost while you're cutting canlead to a tool slipping and spojlthe cut. To keep the post steadtI held it in ptace wiih a V-shaped block clamped to myworkbench (shown below). Theblock holds the chamfer face upand puts th€ posi at a comfort-able working heighi.

The last thing t did beforecarving was to make a temPlateof the lamb's tongue out of r/{"

hardboard. Then I traced theprofile on the workpi€ce. Youcan use the full-size patternshown on the opposite pag€.

l,

handrrv

help the cutting

now you're reody to cnnvtThe first step is to rough out th€b a s i c s h a p e . i d i d t h i s r v i t h achisel, cutting a V shaped notchto form the concave hol low, asyou can see in F ig. 1. To preventchipping out a larBe p iece, takesmall cuts, rYo.klng first from oneside, then the L) ther , s t€adi ly- n l r r o nu rh - n , , r r l r

SHAPING THt ToP. \{iih ihe hollo$,rough€d out , i t 's t ine to (ork

on ihe round ' rpper par t . This

because th€ shor t gra in woodfibers can chip off pr€iiy easilt'.

There are iwo ihings you cando io prevent ih is . F i rs t , takeih in, par ing cuts c i thc i acrossihc gra in o i d iagonal io ihe

8rain, as in F iBs. 2 and 2a. Thesecond wav to preleni iearnrS isto moistcn thc gra in wi ih adamp rag. This sof tens ihewood fibers making them easierto slice away cleanly.

s 'dn La. ! t io rha ldmb\ tongua b) md\ ing d v <hapFdnotch in the hollow of the prafile, cutttng from bath sides.

A thin catvtng knife warks well ta reftne the curve aF thehallaw Again, work fram both directians ta dvotd tearaut

N o . 1 5 3

As ) 'ou approach the layol tl ines, be carefu i not to spoi l thel ine beiween the chamfer andihe lamb's tongue. You want ihel ines and edges of the carv ing tobe as crisp as ihe chamfers andtap€rs on ihe rest of the Fost.

SHAPINGWITfl A (Nltl. To refine thecurve of the holloe, I picked uFa carv ing kni fc . Whcn using aknife, al$,ays work "do$'nhill."

That is , you want to take l ightshavings with the blade runningdorvn the s lope of ihe hol low\^,ith a slight rocking moiion, asi l lust rated in F igs.3 and 3a.Coing uphill, you'rc morc likelyb l i f t and icar oui the gra in.

rlnAl tAlolric. At this point, ihelamb's iongue should be inpretty Soocl shal-e. All that's leftis some smooih ing to c lean upihe carved prof i le a l rd ed8es.

This is a iwo-step process. Thef i rs t s tep is io remove anv iooi

Shape the rcond pottian of the detail by taking thin, cross-gfttn cuts Moisten the wood to make it easier ta cut.

smaoth out any taal marks and raugh patches with a file andsame sandpaper Be sure not ta round aver the edges.

marks and smooth out thecurves $,iih a file, as shown inFig.4. Then, I l ike to s t ick apiece of adhesive-backed sandpapcr to my thumb for finalsmoothing on ihc cuives. Usingmy thumb, I have more controland can feel any rough patches.

The second step is to use asanding b lock io c lean up anddef ine the ed8es of the lamb'stongue and the faces of thelower portion of the posi. m

a

- !.i.,:

srDE vtEw

prcvent tearout

stDE vtEw

51

Knock-Dozon Boakshelf. f h is sturdy bookshellfeatures biscuit joinery and easy'to-install knock-down hardware.All of which makeitsurprisingiysimpleto build.The instructions start on poge 20. I

looking inside

Final Details

Bend Board Sforage Chesl. Buildthiscasualbead boardversion or onethat's a little more traditional. Either onewillfit rightin anywhereyou needto add somestorage space.With basic construction and ready-made moldings, you canbuild one in a weekend. Step-by-step plans begin page 1.1.

< Pencil Post Bed. There's no mistaking the classicdetails ofthis pencilpost bed-from the eight-sidedtapered posts and hand.carued lamb's tonguechamferc down to thetraditional hardware. Forplans, tumtopdge 28. The article on carving a lamb'stongue starts on page 50.