Starting a New Project

Recently, I've started a new project--a Mission style table to sit beside my leather armchair. I've spent the last several weeks learning Google SketchUp, at least enough to be able to draw up a couple different designs to get the dimensions right. That wasn't easy; SketchUp has a steep learning curve. But once I got through it, I found it makes design a lot easier and more accurate. Probably, it is faster too.

Awhile back, I bought a supply of quartersawn white oak to use for the table. Now I am ready to start cutting and dimensioning the lumber into actual parts. The photo shows the stock that will make up the legs. Clearly, this 4/4 stock is not thick enough for the legs, which will be 1-1/2 inches square. So instead of cutting four legs from thicker stock, I'll be cutting 16 pieces to make up four faces for each leg. These pieces will be routed on each end using a lock miter bit so that when assembled four pieces will lock together into a single leg. The advantage of doing this is that the legs will also show quartersawn oak on all faces, making them much more attractive than if I had used a single board for each leg.

I've already jointed the boards in the photo. Next step is to plane them to 3/4 inches thick and make the two jigs I'll need to rout the edges. I'll plane that wood at the same time so the boards in the jig are identical in thickness to the leg pieces. I hope to have the planing done by the end of the week.

I will chronicle this project, the first of my own design, step by step in this space.

Norm

Another Jig Completed

I've been working on this one for a couple of weeks, off and on--a jig to cut box ends at a 45-degree angle. The basic jig wasn't all that hard to build--a base out of Baltic birch plywood, runners out of UHMW to fit in the miter track of my table saw, and front and rear fences out of soft maple. The real trick was to get the front fence squared up at exactly 90-degrees to the saw blade.

I tried several techniques before I got it right. First, I used my Wixey electronic digital protractor to try and measure to the angle to the blade. This proved to be highly inaccurate, given that the blade was leaning at the necessary 45-degree angle to the base. Then I tried cutting boards to measure the resulting angle by trial and error. At first I used a narrow board but found that too inaccurate also. Finally, I used a 5-inch wide board and after many tries was able to get the fence adjusted spot on to 90-degrees.

The plan now is to make tissue box covers using some highly figured quartersawn sycamore I was able to get hold of. That'll be the test of just how accurate the fence really is. The good news is that I can always make more adjustments if I need to.

Before I start on that, I want to hook up my dust collection system, now that my hoses and connectors have come in. But who knows, I may not be able to contain myself from building an actual project before I get that done!

Norm

A Bad Day in the Shop

Woodworking is fun and most days spent in the shop are rewarding and, usually, successful. This wasn't one of them. It began when I set about removing the dado set from my table saw. After neatly packing it away in its case, I got down several saw blades from their peg on the wall to select the one I wanted to install next. As I moved around the table saw, my loose shirt tail caught the teeth of one of the saw blades and dragged it off onto the floor with a resounding clang. Upon inspection, I saw that one of the teeth had been damaged and there was nothing to do but consign it to the waste can. It was a Forrest Woodworker II blade, my best and most expensive one.

I chalked that one up to experience. Then I moved on to cutting the fences for a miter jig I'm building. The next step called for cutting through the aluminum T-track I'd installed in the maple fences. My table saw, a SawStop, is equipped with a safety system designed to stop the blade if it touches anything conductive, like a finger--its intended purpose--or soft metal, like aluminum. There's a bypass procedure, however, that allows the saw to cut aluminum without triggering the safety system. So, armed with what I thought was the correct information about using the bypass system, I proceeded to cut through the first piece of fence. No sooner than it had touched the first bit of aluminum than I heard a pop and the blade disappeared below the tabletop. After opening the table, I saw the results of my misguided handiwork--the safety device was firmly attached to the now-ruined saw blade. Scratch another blade and chalk it up to . . . experience. The good news is, the safety system works.

Now wiser about the bypass procedure, I installed my remaining saw blade and a replacement safety cartridge I'd had the foresight to purchase. Then I cut the aluminum-studded fences with no trouble. I learned a lot today. But it was a costly set of lessons.

Norm

My Spline Jig

Recently I completed a jig to make cuts for splines in the corners of boxes, such as tissue box covers and jewelry boxes. It's a fairly simple thing, made mostly of 1/2 inch Baltic birch plywood with a cradle that rests at a 45 degree angle to the table saw. I got the plan from Paul Anthony's new book, Table Saws (Taunton). He's also published the same plan in various articles he's written for magazines.

Using it is fairly simple. Once a box has been assembled, I'll clamp a stop block to the jig so the cuts will be made where I want them, then make the cuts, turning the box so that all four corners get identical cuts. I'll use a rip blade to make the cuts so the bottom of each cut is at 90 degrees to the edge. After the cuts have been made, all that remains is to insert splines of a contrasting color into the cuts and trim them off with a chisel, plane and sander.

The completed boxes will be my holiday presents for this year. And, if they turn out well, I may even try to sell some.

Norm

Building a Shaker Table

Last weekend, I took a class in furniture making at Woodcraft. The project was to make a small Shaker-style table out of cherry. The instructor was my friend Jeff Fleisher, from whom I had taken a previous class.

We began with rough 4/4 (1 inch) cherry boards that had been run through the jointer one time to help them acclimate to the humidity at which we would be working. We started by deciding which sections of the boards to use and marking them up. Then we cut them to length before running them through the jointer to get one smooth side. After that, we ran our boards through the planer to smooth the second side and reduce the width to 3/4 inch. Finally, we cut our boards to proper width by ripping them on the table saw.

As soon as we could, we glued up three boards side by side to make the table top. We then set these aside to dry overnight.

Next we moved on to the legs. These were made from 8/4 (i.e., 2 inch) boards cut into 2X2 widths. We marked up the ends of the boards so the grain would run at a 45 degree angle so it would approximate being rift sawn. The reason for this is so the grain would run straight along the length of the leg and also to add strength. In some cases, this required us to cut the legs lengthwise on a band saw with the table angled in order to achieve the desired angle of the grain. Once we had one edge cut to the proper angle, we jointed that edge, then rip cut the other edges on the table saw until the legs were square.

The legs are tapered on the two inner edges to give the table a lighter appearance. To taper them, we used a jig that Jeff provided. The jig held the legs at an angle so we could run them through the table saw at the proper angle.

Once all the parts were cut to final dimensions, we moved on to joinery. The method used was mortise and tenon. We used a mortising machine to cut the mortises on two sides of each leg, then cut the tenons on the apron pieces using a dado blade in the table saw. This is only one of several methods of making tenons, but it was easy and worked quite well. I will adopt this method at home, now that I've done it. It makes me wish I hadn't recently purchased a tenoning jig; I'll have to find a way to sell it to get my money back. After cutting the mortises and tenons, we cleaned out rough areas in the mortises with a chisel and trimmed the tenons with Jeff's Veritas shoulder plane until they fit snugly together. Then we sanded the parts and glued the legs to the aprons, completing the table assembly.

Next we turned our attention to the table top. Any unevenness was smoothed off using a scraper. This worked well to get rid of glue squeezeout, but I found it really hard on my arthritic thumbs and I was unable to do as much of it as the project needed. I eventually finished the job at home using a random orbit sander. The final stages of construction were to cut the table top to 18 inches square on the table saw, then by standing it on end using a special tall fence, we cut 2 inch bevels on the bottom of the tabletop which has the effect of making the table appear lighter, a nice effect.

The final step was to sand the top and attach it to the frame, which was done using figure 8 hardware.

We did not have time to put a coat of finish on the table so this will be done at home. I'll use the recommended oil-based sealer, followed up with four to five coats of an oil-urethane top coat. I hope to have the finishing done within the next week.

This was a really nice project. The table is lovely. But more important to me is all the knowledge I gained about furniture construction. I learned a lot, some from doing things right, some from mistakes I won't have to make a second time. Now I feel I'm ready to start designing and building my own furniture. Thanks, Jeff.

Preparing to Make Jigs

I decided that the first thing I needed to make was a set of jigs to help me get things straight and right. Jigs like a crosscut sled so my corners would be exactly 90° and another that would let me cut keys in the corners of boxes by holding them at 45° to the table saw blade. I also saw a plan for a drill press table that I decided to build. So the first thing I did, then, was to lay in supplies for jig making.

I wanted to make them all out of 1/2" Baltic plywood, which because it is 9-ply is very stable and smooth. I decided I would be using a lot of this over the coming months and planned to get two 60"X60" sheets (which is the way it comes). I also needed some 1/4" hardboard for the top and bottom facings for the drill press table so planned to get a 4'X8' sheet of that. And just for good measure, I ordered a 4'X8' sheet of 1/8" plywood that I could cut into patterns for later use in cutting various shapes.

Fortunately, Heritage Hardwoods is located only about 5 miles from me and they either stock or were able to order in all these items for me. Unfortunately, after waiting through nearly a week of rainy weather for a dry day to pick up my wood, it turned out to be bitterly cold and very windy the day I drove to Heritage Hardwoods. I got my wood alright, but my hands were frozen stiff by the time I had tied the sheets on the top of my car. And in the high, gusty winds, I think I was lucky to get home with my wood intact despite limiting my speed to 25 mph.

The other thing I needed was material for runners that would run in the miter slots of the table saw. I've viewed a DVD with instructions on how to make runners out of straight-grained hardwood, but decided to use UHMW, a slick kind of plastic that comes in the right width for the miter slots (3/4") and can be ripped to the correct depth. I ordered that from Woodcraft.

Finally, I needed some miter slots, T-bolts and screw handles for my drill press table. I also got these from Woodcraft.

So now I'm ready to dive in and make those jigs! I'll report on how that goes once I get into it.

Norm

Getting Ready for Projects

Since I got my SawStop table saw in place, I've assembled it and set it up for use, finally making a few test cuts. So at last my woodshop is complete and I'm ready for projects.

In addition to getting the table saw installed, I also had to reset the knives on my jointer. I have a 6 inch Grizzly jointer that I was having a lot of trouble with. Every time I jointed something it came out skewed. So I checked the level on the infeed and outfeed tables; it turns out they were fine. Then I reset the blades. I had a lot of trouble with this, partly because the knives had a lot of grease on them from shipping and they did not move freely under spring pressure. I cleaned them, then set them the best I could with the tool I have. I also used a dial indicator to try to get them consistent, but I have to admit that it was my first time using that tool and I don't know that I got them right. Later today I'll run another board through the jointer and evaluate that to see if I have things set correctly. If not, it'll be back to basics on the jointer until I learn to do it right. Once I have that settled, I'll be ready to roll.

One of the first things I'll be doing is building some jigs to help me get accurate results with my woodworking. So yesterday morning I went to the local lumber company (which in my rural area I'm very lucky to have) and picked up a couple sheets of 1/2" Baltic plywood, a sheet of 1/4" hardboard and some 1/8" plywood for templates.

Here are my plans, pretty much in the following order, as of now:

1. Make a pair of pen rests for fountain pens from a block of Burmese rosewood I have
2. Make a jig to cut splines in boxes using a plan from Paul Anthony's new book, Complete Illustrated Guide to Table Saws (Taunton)
3. Make the wooden faces for my vise from some maple I have on hand, then face them with some leather I picked up free from my local upholsterer
4. Make a splined box using a plan that appeared in the December 2008 issue of Fine Woodworking
5. Make a sled for crosscutting on the table saw
6. Make a sled for making miter cuts on the table saw, which I'll use for picture frames
7. Make a table for my drill press
8. Make some picture frames to hang my photographs

I'll be writing about my experience with these projects as I go along.

Norm