Archive for the ‘Woodworking Articles’ Category

I know what your thinking, this is not a router or a router table.  However when you see something that is totally unique you just have to step outside the mold a bit and give credit where credit is due.  My friend Dave and I were checking out IWF this year in Atlanta and we ran across this beauty.  It is an antique Whitney planer and the salesman had such an interesting story about this tool that I just had to share it.  Turns out this was one of those American Pickers type of stories since the planer was recovered underneath a tarp in an old barn in the middle of nowhere.  The machine screams old school quality and you can just tell it was built to last.

If you were up close you could see the amazing cast iron and steel parts that are just so thick and heavy duty.  I would imagine there are a bunch of old tool guru’s that would just die to get their hands on this.  1835 was a good year.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joe_Marziano

This is the latest from Wood Magazine, they put all 195 back issues on one DVD.  I spent a good hour cleaning out my closet trying to figure out which issues I wanted to keep and which ones I wanted to throw away.  I am going with this, its easier and I have what I need at my fingertips.  I usually just try to keep the issues with router table and router stuff, but you never know when you need something you saw a while back and cannot figure out where it went.

This content is straight from Wood Magazine:

Readers told us they wanted all 195 back issues on one disc, with a single, comprehensive, searchable index. So we did just that, while maintaining the super-high-quality, 300-dpi resolution, ensuring you crystal-clear illustrations and photos. 

High resolution PDFs make for easy, enjoyable reading.
View every photo, drawing, and detail in digitally reproduced, crystal clarity. Zoom in for a closer look, or print articles for use in the shop with the handy “Print this article” button.

Free up shelf space in your home and shop:
The disc and protective case fits 195 issues into the space of a slim paperback.

Save hundreds of dollars versus buying back issues.
In fact, many of the most sought-after issues on this disc have been out of print for years and are no longer available in any other format.

Compatible with PC and Mac.
If you don’t already have it, Adobe Reader is included on the disc for viewing.

Router Table Fence

This project comes from my friend Stefang on Lumberjocks.  He built a really nice tall router table fence and used some great joinery to make sure it lasts in his shop.  With his permission  I am reprinting here for your enjoyment.  If you have a project that you would like featured contact me at theroutermaniac at gmail

Tall router table fence

I needed a special fence for routing lock miter joints. I found one designed by Norman Ellis who sent it in as a tip to another website. The fence I made below is 7” tall. It can be clamped to your regular router table fence. I jointed the top and bottom edges of this fence making sure that they were parallel.

Here it is with the sliding fence mounted and another pic with a workpiece clamped onto the slider. When you rout it you should hold the lower portion of the workpiece with medium hand pressure pressing it toward the fence without getting your hands anywhere near the bit.

Some slider details: The 2nd shot is the back of the slider.

Here are two pics of a routed lock miter joint. Keep in mind that this is construction quality Fir. Note the tear out on the trailing edge. This is normal with LM bits, but a thin Ply backer between the slider fence an the workpiece might reduce that. I haven’t tried it yet. Unless it is plywood you should route lock miter joints in one go to prevent chipping.

More good news! you can also use this set-up to rout tenons. The faces are routed with the workpiece clamped in the jig as in the first photo.

I routed the edges by clamping one of the other tenon workpieces in the slider and then holding the current workpiece edge against the fence and it’s face against the edge of the one in the clamp. It was routed like this being hand held.

The tenon routing finished

The routed morise

Here the tenon edges have been rounded to match the routed mortise.

and finally a dry fit. What do you know? It came out perfect!

I hope you find something interesting here and get some use from it. Thanks for viewing.

So Fire up that router and get out in the shop and make some sawdust!

Cuttting Dados on the Router or Tablesaw

So your project calls for some precise dados to be cut.  Some are through dados and some are stop dados.  Having never cut one before, which tool do you reach for?

 The thought process:

Router:

Never having done this before, you will have to thing about what you need.  If you use the router, you already have one (assumption).  A straight bit will do the trick for the cutting portion.  What about a dado jig?  How will you guide the router?  Do you need to buy a jig or make it?  Do you have time to make one?

Once you have or make one, you need to practice using it.

 Tablesaw:

Do you have a Dado blade?  Can you afford one?  What is the best brand?  Is your saw big enough to hold one? (check your arbor length, a bench saw arbor are sometimes shorter)  How do I cut the stop dado on the saw?

 These are good questions.  Its better and easier when you already know the answers.  Deciding the first time is what takes all the research and time.  After that when you have the tools, you can easier figure out how you want to tackle the dado proposition on your project.  One of the things I like about the tablesaw, is that it is fast.  I can cut a groove or dado quite quickly.  But I love using my Router Table, and any chance to tweak or improve its capabilities is fun.

The last thought is of course budget.  If you think that you are going to cut a lot of dado’s then the dado blade on your table saw would most likely make the most sense.  If you are budget minded and the only project you may need it on is the one you are working on then the router may suffice.

It has been an interesting week in reference to router table insert plates.  Lots of questions and lots of comments on different types of plates.  One of the biggest comments has been why are router plates all different sizes?

I think the best way to describe it is money.  If a manufacture can make their shape conducive to their own brand they will keep you locked in as a customer.  What I mean is this, say you buy a router plate from Bench Dog and later on you want to upgrade to a router lift.  If you made your table, or bought a Bench Dog table, you would have to buy a Bench Dog Lift because nothing else will fit.  Its that simple.  Most guys will not start over.  It is similiar to computers.  I am a PC, but  I would really love a Mac.  Why, well to be honest PC’s kind of suck.  They are bloated with a pig of a operating system, they crash a lot, have all kinds of problems and are always being exploited by hackers.  But I am “all in” because of the software I need and use is not available on a Mac and starting over from scratch seems more of a pain than its worth.  There is also the money.  The Mac costs more than the PC and there you have it.  Back to the plates, is one any better than the other?  Nope.  Just know you may be committing yourself to a brand in the name of budget and time.

Last thought.  There has been a lot of questions abot aluminum verses phenolic or acrylic.  Aluminum plates are very expensive so does that mean they are better?  Not necessarily.  You will always have the guys that have to have the very best of everything so aluminum is great for them.  But what you really need to look at is what size router are you hanging from the insert.  You should never store your router on the insert in the table.  Most of us do and that is where the problems start.  After a while the gravity bandit comes and your insert is now not flat (acrylic or phenolic).  To complicate the matter, some people thing they need the big 3 1/2 HP router in their table. (cause bigger is better right..uh no) So they buy this monster 23lb thing and hang it on a phenolic insert and let it sit in the table for a year.  You guessed it, bad news for the insert plate.  Why in the world do you need a 3 1/2 HP router in a router table in the first place is beyond me.  You still can only shave off so much in a single pass unless you love the smell of burnt wood and dull router bits.  If power is your game, buy a shaper.

About four years ago I built this loft for my son.  He had the smallest room in the house and it has given him a lot more room.  Its kind of a cross from a giant tree fort and a stilt home built near beaches.

If you have a small bedroom and want to maximize your space, building a loft in your child’s room can be a great project. They are surprisingly easy to do and can be completed in a weekend. You will be amazed at the ton of room that you gain by not having a bed on the floor plan. Didn’t have one in college? Then the key to building one is planning. I am not talking about a glorified bunkbed, I am talking about a room defining space that will change your child’s bedroom

The key to preparation is looking at your room and figuring out what you have to work with. Do you have high ceilings? Is your closet internal or external?

High Ceiling Homes

Obviously, the higher your ceilings are the better your loft possibilities are. Standard 8 foot ceiling rooms are not conducive to building lofts. However in today’s building market 10′ and 12′ ceilings are becoming more and more common.

Closets

 A room with a bumped out or external closet looks like this. It creates a natural ledge on the top of it and has some room from the ceiling. An internal closet is just that, it fits inside the internal dimensions of the room. The closet is a great point to use for stabilizing your loft, we will discuss that later. The example shown here is with an external closet, in my opinion it is just as easy to build one for both examples.

In the last part of the preparation phase you want to note the closet style so that you can plan your posts. In this example two of the main posts actually attach to the wall next to the closet. Internal closets loft styles are free standing.

Preperation

The first step in building the loft is building the posts. Posts are easy to build and can be very simple in construction. If you have experience in woodworking, it will be even easier. All four posts can be built from two pieces of ply wood. You will want to rip the plywood into four even strips of wood to build a hollow box. The diameter is up to you, but the bigger the posts the more stable the loft will be. I kept my posts fairly big around 8 inches square. Do yourself a favor and buy the cabinet grade plywood at Home Depot or Lowes. This grade costs about $40 per sheet but it is worth it when you go to finish the project. You will use simple butt joints and you can screw them together. Make sure you counter sink the holes and then fill in the screws with either a plug or with wood filler. Take your time here, and sand them up real nice and clean. These posts are multifunctional, they will hold the electrical work that you run inside for the lights that shine up on the ceiling. When you are done with the posts paint them to your desired finish.

Loft Post

Bring the posts into the bedroom and put them in the approximate spots the will go to. You will then need to cut the two long support beams that connect to the posts. You can use any time of wood you like. If you are going for a rustic look, you can use 2″x6″ lumber. Make sure you do not get the pressure treated variety. When you have the supports cut, sand them, and then finish them with paint. Bring the supports into the room and get ready to install them to the posts.

Supports

This is really the trickiest part of the assembly since you will need some help holding the support up against the post. Use carriage bolts to bolt the support to the post. You may have to reach down into the post with your arm to attach the nut to the bolt. Once you have the main two supports bolted on, repeat the process with the two cross supports. You are basically building a big box, or something similar to a deck that would be outside your house.

Support

While the unit is still movable move the loft into the desired position. If you are going to attach it to the wall through a closet you would do that next. For mine I went and bought 14″ carriage bolts and ran them through the loft post, through the wall and through a homemade washer. (A piece of wood)

Add the rest of the cross bar supports. As you add the supports the unit will get more stable. (and heavier) If your loft is free standing, use this time in the framing stage to access its stability. The bigger the posts are the more stable the loft. If it is not stable, add whatever bracing you need. (keep in mind the floor will add a lot of stability) The loft I made was 8 feet by 8 feet, so it was very stable because of the materials and the size of the unit.

Floor

Adding the floor to the loft is next. Simple sheets of plywood attach to the top of the supports. You can substitute MDF for the plywood. It is a much smoother surface and costs less than the ply. You won’t have to do any sanding on MDF either. When you add the floor, make sure you countersink the screws so that they do not stick up. The floor will add considerable strength and stability to the unit.

Ladder

Next build a custom ladder that you can paint to match the loft. Again the type of wood is your choice. We made ours out of 2 x 4′s and custom cut it to fit the space we had. The strength of the ladder can easily hold an adult if you build it right.

Railings

Don’t let any kids go up until you build the railing. The railing is very important and your wife won’t probably let you build this project without one. Other parents will appreciate the railing too since their kids are going to be in the loft as well. These lofts are kid magnets, so make them safe. I made my railing a bit fancier since I had access to a router table. I ran the flat spindles on the router table with a roundover bit to make them round. This softens up the unit and makes it look more furniture like.  Keep this in mind, the railing is not designed to be leaned on, swung from or to be some sort of super stable safety device.  My son was 9 when I built this and he pretty much knows that the railing is there as a reminder where the edge is.  It also adds a nice finishing touch the the loft so I took the time to edge profile each one on the router table.

Loft Railing

Finishing Touches

We put carpet up on the loft floor; it was quick and easy and cost about $25. Next we hoisted up the mattress. There is no need for a box spring, since the wood gives more than adequate support. If you have an external closet, you will have a natural ledge in which you can install a bookshelf or even a TV set. Ours had a TV and Xbox for our son and all his friends were in the loft.

Loft Bottom

The bottom of the floor is the perfect opportunity to finish off with some plywood to make a mini ceiling. In the ceiling you can recess some lights. This makes if more functional for the room and less dark.

Loft Options

I choose to use the hollow post design for running two light fixtures near the top of the loft to shine upwards onto the ceiling. Use the newer “green” Eco friendly light bulbs and you will not have to worry about excess heat from ordinary standard bulbs. You can run regular extension cord up from the bottom of the post by drilling a hole at the bottom and pulling the wire through.

loft carpet and bed

Hiding Spots

I like to take the other two posts and put caps on them with a hinge on the inside. If you put a shelf in the inside while assembling the posts, it makes a great hiding place for kid things. From the outside it looks like an ordinary cap, kids love it.

Have Fun

You will find different customizations for your loft. All of them are super fun for the kids and a real accent to your home. If you use good quality materials you are really making furniture. Take your time and you will be glad you did. Young boys will think you are the best parent in the world for taking this project on!

Electrical runs down hollow posts

Well it is the holiday’s and if you have some woodworking skills (and I assume you do) then putting them to work as gifts seems like a natural idea.  I originally started out making kids furniture to sell on Ebay (highly recomended by the way, so go ahead and steal that idea).  Of course this year we have a new munchkin in the family so it only seemed naturally to dust off the old kids chair project.  I use to make the chairs the hard way which is cutting all the sides and doweling them together and hoping it comes out flat.  I have (fnally) learned that this takes way too long to do and there is a different way to skin this cat.  This year I redrew the design to be cut on the cnc machine.

I had the CNC cut all the parts and it tool like 5 minutes and they came out perfect.  Next we rounded over the edges with a palm router.  Anytime you finish an edge, wood becomes furniture in my opinion.  I do realize that not everyone has access to a CNC machine, but if you do, this can be really fun.  Next up was some good old fashioned hand sanding.  I used MDF on this project.  I know what your thinking, it will break, or its cheap, or whats your problem?

Here is my reasoning, and it comes from making a lot of these.  First of all, kids do not weigh that much, so weight is not an issue.  If you use decent joinery along with glue, they really cannot break it.  I use to build the chairs and ship them out assembled.  They were made out of maple, which is about as tough as it gets.  Federal Express still managed to destroy them, so I switched to building them as flat stock with “some assembly required” (like the rest of the world)  Once you put it together, its amazingly strong.  I had the conversation of building it out of other materials, it went like this:

Maniac: maybe we should cut them out of plywood?  CNCoperator: You will spend forever filling the voids and somehow chinese plywood has infiltrated the lumber yards and its full of voids, you will have to sand the heck out of it and I know you hate that.  You could go with Russian Birch, but thats like $80 a sheet.

Maniac: How about getting some 12″ hardwood like poplar and cutting it from that?  CNCoperator: If you can find it, its not very stable and chances are it will split.  If you send it out west where the humidity is low, it will almost always split and then you have that to deal with.  Smaller pieces with intricate joinery always make for better stability, or you can use this MDF.

Maniac: How about some other engineered material?  CNCoperator: everything is so expensive are you sure you want to go that direction?

Maniac: How about if we make the outsides out of hardwood and the support pieces out of MDF to save money?  CNCoperator: Now your bugging me.

Maniac: Or we could use decent hardwood cut on the CNC from like 6″ pieces and then pocket join them together?  CNCoperator: not a bad idea but do you want to see all those holes?

Maniac: Or we could make it out of MDF.  CNCoperator: You drink too much coffee.

See part 2 for video of the CNC and of the finished product (gift).

After cutting all the parts and do a dry fit with clamps, you will next need to prep the stock.  In my case I used MDF for the chairs and that means the end cuts have to be sanded.  If you don’t sand them it will continue to suck up paint or primer forever.  I recomend using an 80 grit then an 120 grit.  You might think that is not enough, but here is why.  The minute you prime the ends of MDF, you will raise the grain (so to speak)  Then you will have to go back and sand again.  Some use some sort of sealer, joint compound, spackling, and even bondo (yep).  But I have found that if you sand once, prime it, sand again, and then prime again you should be ok.  The last prime will of course need a sanding, and I use a 240 paper for that.

Prime the stock

I use two coats of primer on my chairs and table.  This helps me and saves some paint since the stock somewhat sucks up the primer fairly quickly.  This can be time consuming but if you are making a future family heirloom, it does not matter.  Besides most primer today is quick drying and you can reprime it fairly fast.

Next I lightly sand the primer and then paint with my final colors.  If you are going to do some art work, I recommend using a flat latex paint.  The satin finish and gloss finishes make it hard for the acrylics that most artists use to work with.  After you get the artwork done, let it cure for a couple of days.

Seal

I like to seal my artwork since little kids are involved and they like to bang on everything.  I have had very good luck with polyacrylic protective finish by Minwax.  It comes in a blue can and I like clear satin for the gloss factor.  Again I let everything cure for a while before shipping or using the item.