Bookcase - Wood Tools

A Publication of August Home Publishing

®

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low-costClassicBookcase

build 1,2,or 3

low-costClassicBookcase

build 1,2,or 3

100% WOODWORKING

1HOURWorkshop:

10 Easy-To-Build Bench

Accessories

4 BestBits for Router Table

Joinery

1HOURWorkshop:

10 Easy-To-Build Bench

Accessories

4 BestBits for Router Table

Joinery

NO ADS!NO ADS!

2 www.Woodsmith.com

departments

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

all aboutStrong & Sturdy Shelving . . . . . . . . . 8

Learn the secrets to building sag-free shelves.

tools of the tradeRouter Table Joinery . . . . . . . . . . . 10

We tried out some joinery bits with great results.

techniques from our shop 5 Repairs for Major Mistakes. . . . . 12

Find out the steps you can take to repair fivecommon woodworking mishaps.

jigs and fixturesUsing Pocket Hole Joinery. . . . . . . 14

Take your pocket hole jig beyond face frames toa few applications you may not have considered.

tips from our shopShop Notebook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

small shop solutions One-Hour Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Work faster and more accurately at your work-bench with 10 easy-to-build accessories.

working with tools5ToolsThatWill ChangeYourWork. . 44

Find out which tools can really make a big difference in your shop.

finishing roomNever-Fail Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Nothing beats an oil and wax finish for looksand ease of application.

in the mailbox Q & A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

hardware and suppliesSources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Table of Contentslooking inside

Tile-Top Table page 16

Tall Bookcase page 24

www.Woodsmith.com 3

Sawdusteditor’s note

features

weekend project Tile-Top Craftsman Table . . . . . . . . . 16

This small table is the perfect project to try yourhand at mortise and tenon joinery.

designer series project Tall Bookcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

This easy-to-build bookcase has everything youwant — sturdy construction, adjustable shelves,modular design, and classic molding.

heirloom project Classic Oak Tool Cabinet . . . . . . . . . 34

What more could you ask for? Quartersawn oak,simple joinery, fine details, and lots of storage.

Fine Tool Chest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Build the perfect companion to the tool cabinet.It shares all the same details — just smaller.

details of craftsmanship Built to Last . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Learn what it takes to build long-lasting projectsusing solid wood.

elcome to Woodsmith! Do you want to learn all the tips and

tricks that can make you a better woodworker? Would you like

to build practical projects that not only look good, but give you an

opportunity to try your hand at interesting techniques as well? If

this all sounds good, then I think Woodsmith is the right magazine

for you. But you don’t have to take my word for it, just check out

some of the things this issue has to offer.

For starters, there are three great practical, versatile projects in

this issue — a tile-top table, a tall bookcase, and a classic oak tool

cabinet. And you’ll find a range of projects like this in each issue of

Woodsmith — everything from quick, weekend projects to func-

tional storage projects to fine, heirloom furniture projects.

But Woodsmith is more than just great woodworking plans.

You’ll also find helpful, time-saving tips and skill-building ideas

that you can use in your shop. Each issue contains over ten differ-

ent departments that cover virtually every aspect of woodwork-

ing, from tools and shops to joinery techniques and finishing. For

example, take a look at the one-hour workshop article on page 30.

There you’ll find ten workbench accessories, any one of which

you can build in an hour and put right to use in your shop.

I hope you enjoy this complimentary issue of Woodsmith and

find it a useful and practical addition to your shop.

W

These two symbols let you know there’s more infor-mation online at www.Woodsmith.com. There you’llsee step-by-step videos, technique and project ani-mation, bonus cutting diagrams, and a lot more.

Tool Cabinet page 34

from our readersfrom our readers

In my small, basement shop, therejust isn’t enough room for a per-manent outfeed table for mycabinet saw. I needed a tablethat I could set up and takedown quickly, but was stillstrong and sturdy.

I found the solution whileroaming around in my localhome improvement center —the folding shelf brackets you

see in the photo at left. As the drawings

below show, I attachedthe vertical arms of the

brackets onto mounting platesso the table top would clear thesaw’s fence rail when it was ineither the up or down positions. Idid the same thing with the hori-zontal arms to raise the outfeedtable level with my saw table. Tokeep the table flat and to add

strength, I added braces under-neath the outfeed top and thenmounted the table perfectly levelwith the saw table. Finally, I cutgrooves in the table to line up withthe miter slots in my saw table.

It works very nicely, and now Ihave the outfeed table I’ve alwayswanted — one that’s there when Ineed it and gone when I don’t.

Malcolm RobbBrantford, Ontario, Canada

{ These shelf brack-ets lock in the upposition and arereleased by press-ing the leversinside the horizon-tal arms of thebrackets.

Flip-Up Outfeed Extension Table

a.

b.

< This outfeed extension tableswings into action when it’sneeded and safely tucks out ofthe way when it’s not.

Releaselever

4 www.Woodsmith.com

Tips & Techniques

www.Woodsmith.com 5

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PUBLISHER Donald B. Peschke

EDITOR Terry J. Strohman

SENIOR EDITORS Vincent Ancona, Bryan Nelson

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Phil Huber, Ted Raife

ASSISTANT EDITORS Ron Johnson, Mitch Holmes,Randall A. Maxey

EXECUTIVE ART DIRECTOR Todd Lambirth

SENIOR ILLUSTRATORS David Kreyling,Dirk Ver Steeg, Harlan V. Clark

ILLUSTRATORS David Kallemyn, Peter J. Larson

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ted Kralicek

SENIOR PROJECT DESIGNERS Ken Munkel, Kent Welsh, Chris Fitch

PROJECT DESIGNERS/BUILDERS Mike Donovan,John Doyle

SHOP CRAFTSMEN Steve Curtis, Steve Johnson

SR. PHOTOGRAPHERS Crayola England, Dennis Kennedy

ASSOCIATE STYLE DIRECTOR Rebecca Cunningham

ELECTRONIC IMAGE SPECIALIST Allan Ruhnke

VIDEOGRAPHERS Craig Ruegsegger, Mark Hayes

Woodsmith® (ISSN 0164-4114) is published bimonthly (Feb., Apr., June, Aug.,Oct., Dec.) by August Home Publishing Company, 2200 Grand Ave, Des Moines,IA 50312. Woodsmith® is a registered trademark of August Home Publishing. Copyright© 2005 August Home Publishing Company. All rights reserved.Subscriptions: Single copy: $4.95. One year subscription (6 issues), $24.95.(Canada/International add $10 per year, U.S. funds.)Canadian Subscriptions: Canada Post Agreement No. 40038201. Send change ofaddress information to PO Box 881, Station Main, Markham, ON L3P 8M6. Canada BN 84597 5473 RTPostmaster: Send change of address to Woodsmith, Box 37112, Boone, IA 50037-2112.Subscription Questions? Write to Woodsmith, P.O. Box 842, Des Moines, IA50304 or call 1-800-333-5075, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Central Time, weekdays. Or send anemail to: [email protected]: [email protected] World Wide Web: http://www.Woodsmith.com

Planer SledPlaning a flat face on awide, warped board canbe a real challenge. Theproblem is that theuneven surface of theboard causes it to rockback and forth on theplaner bed like a see-saw.To solve this problem, Ibuilt a planer sled.

A pair of cleats on theend register the work-piece. Then to get oneface flat, I added a row of cut-off woodscrewsalong each side, asshown in the drawing.By raising the screws,you can support theworkpiece (detail ‘a’).When the top face is flat,remove the sled, flip theboard over and finishplaning the other side.

Brent RobinsonSt. Paul, Minnesota

a.

Working with long stock and wide panelscan be a real hassle. Not only are they dif-ficult to move around, but they’re hard tosupport while working on them. This isespecially true when the piece has to besupported on edge. For that, I usually clampthe piece in the face vise of my workbench.However, that meansthe other end isunsupported forplaning, sanding, orcutting mortises.

While wrestlingwith another largeworkpiece, I cameup with a prettysimple solution thatuses a traditionalwoodworking tool— a wood hand-screw. As you cansee in the photo atright, all I did wasclamp the handscrew at the end ofthe workpiece and

rest it on the top of the bench. It workedperfectly. Now if the workpiece stillmoves around as you’re working, youcan clamp the handscrew to the benchwith another handscrew or other clamp.

Scott WallaceGoshen, Massachusetts

Handscrew Support

more tips from our readers

6 www.Woodsmith.com

Band Saw BladeTension Lever

If you have an original shop tip, we would liketo hear from you and consider publishing yourtip in one or more of our publications. Justwrite down your tip and mail it to: Woodsmith,Tips and Techniques, 2200 Grand Avenue, DesMoines, Iowa 50312. Please include your name,address, and daytime phone number in casewe have any questions. If you would like, FAXit to us at 515-282-6741 or send us an emailmessage at: [email protected]. Wewill pay up to $200 if we publish your tip.

SUBMIT YOUR TIPS

Spacer

Riser

Lever

2#/4

Nuts andwasherprovidepositivestop forlever

Longer rodwith knobmakes iteasier toadjust bladetension

24

#/4%/8

Round overbottomcorner

Roundoverinsidecorner

a.

Setting the tension on my bandsaw blade was time-consuming. Ineeded a way to release the ten-sion and then quickly return thetension to the proper setting thenext time I used the saw. One day,it struck me that I could make asimple lever to quickly release thetension (see photo at right).

First, I replaced the band saw’soriginal “knuckle-busting” tensionrod with one long enough to clearthe saw’s housing. That will makefine-tuning the tension easier.

For the lever to clear the tensiongauge, I built a riser and slid itdown the rod. The riser sits on theguides on either side of the gauge.

To make the lever, I used a 2'piece of hardwood and tapered itto fit my hand better. I rounded thefront and bottom corners to makethe lever easier to raise and lower.

Next, I attached a spacer blockto the lever. This block will holdthe lever in the “up” position tomaintain the proper blade tensionwhen I’m using my band saw. Butyou’ll need to attach the block tothe lever at this point so the holefor the rod is drilled at the correct

angle. Then, I took thelever (with the spacerattached) to my drillpress and drilled the holeto accommodate the rod.I counterbored the hole to hold awasher and lock nuts at the sameangle as well.

Then I added the lever and thehardware (see detail ‘a’). To ten-sion the blade, I simply lift thelever and pivot it toward the sawuntil the spacer rests on the

riser. To release the tension, all Ihave to do is just lift and pivot thelever away from the saw. You canstill fine-tune the tension if youneed to by adjusting the longertension rod and knob.

Bill EspositoRindge, New Hampshire

Quick Tips

DUCT TAPE SANDPAPER BACKERIt’s easy for the sandpaper on mysanding block to get snagged andtorn on a workpiece. Besides beinga pain, it’s a waste of materials. ButI’ve come up with a simple way tomake it last a little longer. I apply alayer of duct tape to the back foradded reinforcement.

Bill ReimanBrooklyn, New York

SHARPENING SURFACEI sharpen my tools with sandpaper.But to get the best results, I need aflat surface. So I bought a granitereference plate used by machinists.It’s inexpensive and heavy so itwon’t get pushed around from thesharpening action.

Charles JarmanEl Cajon, California

PLAYING CARD PROTECTORSTo keep the workpiece from beingmarred by the collar of the coun-tersink bit when drilling holes, Ipunch holes in a playing card witha paper punch. Then when youdrill a hole in which the drill collarcomes in contact with the work-piece, slip the playing card overthe hole and the playing card pro-tects the workpiece.

Len UrbanRancho Mirage, California

www.Woodsmith.com 7

Drilling centered, consistentholes is crucial for doweljoints. While you can pur-chase a doweling jig, I mademy own (photo at right).

The drilling guide is just apiece of hardwood with afew centered holes thatmatch common dowelsizes. A pair of 1/2"-thickfences are attached to a pairof pivoting spacers.

To use the jig, slip it overthe end or edge of a work-piece. Then pivot the spac-ers until the fences are flat against theworkpiece. A few strips of self-adhesivesandpaper keeps the jig from slipping.

Jared HuberAppleton, Wisconsin

Doweling Jig

Pipe clamps are a great way to assemble aproject. The problem is the jaws can damagethe wood. So I came up with a simple solution— wood pads that fit over the jaws of my pipeclamps and protect the project (see photo).

The wood pads slide over the 3/4" pipe,remain in place at all times, and can serveas clamp stands when needed .

The 3/4"-thick pads start out as 2" x 31/4"blocks. To allow the pipe to pass through theblock, I drilled a 11/8"-dia. hole at one end.

After rounding off the sharp edges at thehole end, all that’s left is to slide the pads inplace and you’re ready to go to work.

Vince FranzikChesapeake, Virginia

Pipe Clamp Pads

all about

solutions for sagging shelves

Strong & Sturdy ShelvingBuild plywood shelves that not only look great but will stand up toheavy-duty loads for the long haul — without sagging.

Most of the storage and cabinetprojects I build have at least a cou-ple shelves. The shelves are used tostore everything from odds andends to heavy books and electron-ics. And nothing’s more disap-pointing than seeing a shelf sag assoon as you start loading it up.

The amazing thing is how little sagit takes before you begin to noticeit. All it takes is a sag of about 1/32"for each foot of shelf length beforeit stands out like a sore thumb.

So any time you build a projectwith shelves, it’s important to keepstrength in mind. And one of the

first things to consider is the mate-rial you use to build the shelves.

MMAATTEERRIIAALLSS.. For most of my projects,I’ll either use solid wood or ply-wood over particle board ormedium-density fiberboard (MDF).And nine times out of ten, ply-wood will be my first choice.

Now don’t get me wrong.There’s nothing wrong with solidwood shelves. They look great andthey’re strong. But using only solidwood can be expensive. Plus, solidwood expands and contracts —just another thing to think aboutwhen designing a project.

PPLLYYWWOOOODD SSHHEELLVVEESS.. To avoid theseproblems, I turn to plywood. Butlike other materials, even plywoodhas its limitations. You can find outhow much a plywood shelf will sagusing an interesting program, calledThe Sagulator (see Plywood Shelving

Plywood Shelving Fast Facts:• Always consider the expected load for a shelf when designing a project• The total load, how it’s arranged, and how the shelf is reinforced all affect the

strength of a shelf• You’ll start to notice sag once it measures 1/32" for each foot of shelf length• The maximum shelf length to consider without any reinforcement is about 30"• The main ways to increase the strength of a shelf:

Widening (deepening) the shelfShortening the shelfAdding a hardwood strip on edge (roughly triples the strength)Doubling the thickness (increases shelf strength by four)

• You can calculate the approximate sag of a shelf by use an online program: The Sagulator at www.woodbin.com

8 www.Woodsmith.com

Fast Facts at left). This program con-siders the material, size and load-ing of a shelf and gives you a roughidea of how much a shelf will sag.So what if you find your shelf isn’tup to the task?

SSTTRREENNGGTTHHEENNIINNGG AA SSHHEELLFF.. One of thesimplest ways to minimize sag is tomake shorter shelves or make themdeeper. But that’s not usually anoption since it affects the overalldesign and look of a project that Imay not want to change.

GGIIVVIINNGG PPLLYYWWOOOODD AANN EEDDGGEE.. Instead, Ilook for ways to give my plywooda better “edge.” What do I mean bythat? Well, I almost always have tocover up the edge of plywood withthin strips of hardwood to hide theplys. You can see what I’m talkingabout in the top photo at right.

But hardwood edging doesn’talways have to be thin and narrow.With a little thought and extrawork, you can make that edgingstrip do so much more — it canreally add strength to the shelf.

To do this, but still maintain thelook of a “thin” shelf, I’ll often usea wider hardwood strip. Gluingon a wider strip can be a chal-lenge. So when I do this, I like to

use a tongue and groove joint, likeyou see in the second photo fromthe top. The tongue and grooveprovides a mechanical “lock,” soit’s easy to keep the strip alignedwith the face of the shelf. Formany shelves, this simple addi-tion may be all it takes to elimi-nate any noticeable sag.

TTUURRNN IITT OONN EEDDGGEE.. But the best way toensure a strong shelf is to simplytake that strip, widen it just a bit,and turn it on edge, like you see inthe main photo on the oppositepage. Now there are a couple waysyou can add a strip on edge (seelower two photos at right).

The first way is to cut a rabbet inthe hardwood strip and glue it inplace. The other is to join the edgingto the shelf with a tongue andgroove joint. Both ways will triplethe strength of a shelf. Even thoughthe tongue and groove joint is a littlemore work, it ensures the edgingand shelf are aligned perfectlywithout much effort.

HHEEAAVVYY--DDUUTTYY DDEESSIIGGNNSS.. There are timeswhen strength is what mattersmost. To see a couple differentways to make a really strong shelf,check out the box below. W

Super-Strong Shelves. For very heavy loads, like encyclopedias andelectronics, you might want to consider the shelves shown above. Theyadd more strength than what’s shown in the margin.

Adding a pair of strips under the shelf along with an edging strip (left)helps reduce the sag to a fourth of a plywood shelf the same size. Want asimpler look with less joinery? You can get the same strength by doublingthe thickness of the shelf and then gluing on a wide edging strip (right).

www.Woodsmith.com 9

Turn it on Edge. Taking a wide hardwood strip andturning it on edge (top photo) significantly strength-ens the shelf without requiring a lot of additionalwork. Adding a tongue and groove joint (bottomphoto) adds just as much strength, but the joinerymakes aligning the edging and shelf a snap.

Wide Hardwood Strip. To add strength, but stillmaintain a “thin” edge, use a tongue and groovejoint to add a wide hardwood strip to the shelf.

Simple Edging. Although it adds a small amount ofstrength, the main purpose of a strip of thin edgingis to cover up the plywood edges.

Heavy Loads: Beefing it Up

How-To: Add Strength GOOD

BETTER

BEST

Arouter table can be a pretty handytool when it comes to cutting joinery.Dadoes, rabbets, grooves, and othersimple cuts can easily be made usingstandard straight bits.

But in the past few years, routerbit manufacturers have come outwith several new bits that open upsome really interesting joinery pos-sibilities. So I decided to pick upseveral of these bits for a trial run.And what I found in my quick testwas pretty impressive.

The four bits that I looked at allallow you to quickly and accu-rately cut joints on the router tablethat would be tricky or next toimpossible to do otherwise. Thekey is that each “single” bit cutsboth halves of a locking joint.

These bits are all fairly big, soyou’ll need a router with a 1/2"collet and enough horsepower tohandle them. And I got the bestresults by slowing them downwith a variable speed router. (Forsources, see page 49.)

I’ve seen lock miter bits incatalogs and on store shelves for afew years and the idea intrigued

me. Just cutting an accuratemiter on the table saw is no

easy job. But then you stillhave to figure out how to

glue and clamp the joint after-wards. Well, here’s a router bit thatcan easily take the hassle out ofboth these operations.

If you take a look at the photobelow, you’ll see how it works. Thebit will cut a 45° miter on the endsor edges of boards to be joinedtogether. At the same time it cutsmatching tongues that “lock” thetwo halves of the joint togetherduring assembly. This makes glu-ing and clamping the joint a snap.

As you can see in the drawingsbelow and the photo above, the

matching miter joint is made byrunning one piece horizontally andthe other piece vertically.

To do this accurately and withbetter control, I cut an L-shapedplywood guide piece and thenclamped the workpieces to it. (Youcan see it behind the workpiece inthe photo above.) This both backsup the cut and steadies the work-piece as you make the cut.

tools of the trade

10 www.Woodsmith.com

1Lock Miter Bit

{ A lock miter bitcan take a lot ofthe hassle out ofcutting and assem-bling miter joints.

4great bits for

RouterTable Joinery

You can view a videoof these router bits inuse by going to:www.Woodsmith.com

Edge joining boards is a prettycommon operation in any shop andthis handy glue joint bit is designedto make the process a little easierand the joint stronger.

The glue joint created by this bitoffers a couple of advantages overa simple butt joint. As you can seein the first photo at right, the shapeof the joint greatly increases theamount of gluing surface and givesyou a much stronger joint. Second,the joint becomes self aligning so

achieving a smooth, flush surfaceis almost foolproof (second photobelow). Anyone who has had toglue up large panels can certainlyappreciate this feature.

A match is made by adjustingthe bit to the proper height andthen routing one piece face upand the second piece face down.It worked great for me.

This new box joint bit (madeby Amana) gets my award for inven-tiveness. It will cut small box jointsin material up to 1/2" thick and from3/4" to 11/2" in height with a sin-

gle pass. And asthe photo at leftshows, the resultis an easy-to-assemble, tight-fitting joint. Butmaybe best of all,I found it a realtreat to use.

The drawing atright shows howit works. I cut one corner at a timeby flipping one of the workpiecesupside down and then clampingboth workpieces to a backupblock. Then with a single pass

across the bit, both halves of thejoint are cut simultaneously. Afterthe cut, just flip one piece overand the joint will fit together likea hand in a glove.

At one time or another, justabout every woodworker haswished for a board stretcher. Well,the adjustable finger joint bit in thephoto at right might be the next bestthing. With this bit, you can routtightly interlocking fingers on theends of boards that allow you to jointhem together. The fingers create

both a mechanical lock and a largeamount of gluing surface. And asyou can see, end-to-end joints are areality. (Check out the cherry/wal-nut board in the left photo).

There are just a few simple tricksto getting good results with this bit.First, it needs to be adjusted to thethickness of your stock. This justinvolves adding or removing cut-ters and shims (right photo).

Next, in order for the two facesof the workpieces to end up flush,the bit has to be set to the correctheight in the router table (drawingat right). This requires a test cut ortwo. Then, using a backup piece toto give me a little better control, Irouted one piece face up and oneface down. Once glued, the joint issurprisingly strong. W

2Box Joint Bit

www.Woodsmith.com 11

3Glue Joint Bit

4Finger Joint Bit

{ A glue joint bitwill create astrong, self-aligning joint.

{ With this cleverbit you can cutbox joints forsmall drawersand boxes.

{ This adjustable finger joint bit will cut a tight-fittinginterlocking joint in stock from 7/16" to 13/8" thick.

Shims

SpacerCutters

Drilling pilot holes forhinges screws is not one of myfavorite chores. No matterhow hard I try, it seems likethere’s always at least onehole where the drill bit driftsoff its mark. When this hap-

pens, the best solution I’vefound is to “move” the hole.

This might sound impossi-ble, but if you take a look atthe drawings below, you’ll seehow easy it really is. All youhave to do is drill out the

offending hole with a larger-diameter drill bit. (A Forstnerbit works best.) Then glue aface grain plug into this hole.Finally, lay out the correctlocation for the pilot hole andre-drill the hole.

1Router Chipout

2Moving a Hole

There are few things morefrustrating than routing a profile onthe edge of a workpiece only tohave a sliver of wood blow out.Fortunately, there’s an easy fix.

All you have to do is rout a rab-bet along the edge of the profile to

removed the damaged area (Step1). Then glue a slightly oversizefiller strip of matching wood intothe rabbet (Step 2). After planing orsanding the filler strip flush withyour workpiece, you can rout anew profile along the edge.

< Router chipout like this can be easilyfixed by removing the damaged areaand gluing in a filler strip.

5 simplerepairs for

MajorMistakes

a. a.

techniques from our shop


Mistakes happen. And whenthey do, you have to deal withthem. Here’s a look at somequick and easy fixes for fivecommon woodworking goofs.

STEP TWOSTEP ONE

It’s not only mortises thatcan give you problems. Some-times, a tenon can snap off whileyou are making a dry run to testthe fit. Here again, making anentirely new replacement piecemay not always be the bestoption. In this case, you can recutthe tenon by gluing on a new“end” to the workpiece.

To do this, start by trimming offthe damaged tenon at the shoul-der. Then cut a slot in the end ofthe workpiece as shown in thedrawing at right. (This slot shouldbe at least 1" deep.)

Next, cut a tongue on the end ofa scrap piece of stock to fit in theslot in the workpiece. After gluingthe scrap piece into the slot, youcan go ahead recut the tenon.

There are few mistakes inwoodworking that can make youfeel as foolish as making a mor-tise in the wrong spot on a work-piece. If you have extra stock, it’sprobably easier to make a newpart. But if you’re working onsomething more substantial (likea heavy table leg) making a newpiece may not be an option.

In this case, the next best solu-tion is to “patch” the mortise. Theprocess is really pretty straightfor-ward. Start by cutting a woodplug to fit in the mortise. Aftergluing it into the mortise, trim 1/8"off the face of the workpiece. (Theface with the mortise.)

Next, cut a facing out ofsome 1/8"-thick stock and glueit to the workpiece. (Try tomatch the facing to the colorand grain of the workpiece asclose as possible.) After trim-ming the facing flush with theworkpiece, you can lay out themortise in the correct location.

Miter joints are notori-ously tricky when it comes to get-ting a tight fit without any gaps.This next tip has saved me onmore than one occasion.

If you have a miter joint that isopen just slightly, try “burnish-ing” it closed. All you have to dois take a burnisher (I use theround shank of a screwdriver)and run it across the edge of theopen miter (from bottom to top).as in the drawing at right.

The burnisher closes up the jointby “rolling over” the mitered ends

of the workpieces. Once the projectis finished, you’ll probably be theonly one that will know there wasever a problem to begin with.

Note: This tip works well onmiters that areoff just slightly(1/32" or so). But ifyou have a miterwith a largergap, you’re bet-ter off cuttingthrough the jointand re-gluing thepieces again. W

Half Lap. You can repair a dam-aged tenon by trimming it off andgluing on a new piece of wood tothe end of the workpiece.

3Misplaced Mortise

5Open Miters

4Damaged Tenon


{ Plugging a misplaced mortise allowsyou to salvagea workpiece.

{ Open miters like this are a commonproblem. Burnishing the miter closes up the gap and makes thejoint nearly invisible.

STEP TWOSTEP ONE


When you think of pocket holejoinery you usually think of mass-produced kitchen cabinets and fur-niture. The kind that are easy tobuild and fast to assemble.

But this type of joinery is not justfor making face frames for cabi-nets. And you don’t have to workin a cabinet shop to use it. Becauseit’s so quick and easy (see boxbelow), I find myself drillingpocket holes more and more.

Pocket hole joinery works wellfor almost any joint. Here are a fewways I’ve found they work great.

CORNER JOINTS. Pocket holes aregreat for joining aprons to tablelegs. They’re faster and easier thancutting mortise and tenon joints.And with a little of reinforcementfrom a corner block, they’re everybit as strong. You can see what Imean in the photo above and in theone at the lower left on page 15.

Just use your jig to drill twopocket holes at the end of eachapron. Then choose the rightpocket screw for the job (see thehardware box on the next page)and secure the apron to the leg.

Drilling Pocket Holes. The pocket hole jig guides the drill bit atexactly the correct angle. The stop collar can easily be set to accu-rately drill the correct depth hole in various thicknesses of wood.

Inserting Pocket Hole Screws. After thehole has been drilled, it's easy to drive theself-tapping pocket hole screws in place.

a.

jigs & fixtures

putting

Pocket HoleJoinery

to work for you

How-To: Pocket Hole Basics


JOINT REINFORCEMENT. As I men-tioned, it doesn’t hurt to reinforcetable legs with a corner block asshown in the photo on the oppositepage. It’s attached with threepocket hole screws. One screw isdriven into each apron and oneinto the leg. This adds even morestrength and stability to the legs ateach of the corners.

MITER JOINTS. Pocket hole joinerycan come in real handy when youneed to pull a miter joint together.To hold a miter joint tight, drill apair of pocket holes opposite andperpendicular to the joint line, asshown in the photo at the right. Aface clamp holds the joint flushwhile you drive in the screws.

ATTACH A TABLE TOP. You don’t usu-ally think of using pocket screwsfor attaching the top of a table. Butit’s as easy as drilling holes into theaprons (see photo below) and thendriving screws into the table top.Using the jig and the correct screwsize insures that the screws don’tcome through the top of the table.

If you’re concerned about woodmovement, drill the pilot holes inthe edge a little oversized. Thenafter driving the screw, back it outone quarter turn so it can move astemperature or humidity changes.

SHELF BANDING. Adding shelf band-ing to plywood with pocket holesis another alternative to splines orbiscuit joinery. Simply drill pocketholes along the edge of the top likeyou see in the photo at the rightbelow. Then drive in the pocket

hole screws to fasten the shelfbanding piece securely in place.

The right angle clamp shown inthe photo helps out here. One armfits into the pocket hole and the flatsurface on the other arm holds thethe edging in place so you candrive in the pocket screws.

As you can see, pocket hole join-ery has many uses. The joints arestrong, and when the holes are hid-den the joint looks great. You’ll besurprised at how easy it is to do.

{ Two pocket holes square to the miter joint and opposite one anotherallows pocket hole screws to secure the miter joint. A face frame clampmakes it easy to hold the joint in position while the screws are inserted.

{ Attach a table top by drilling pocket holes and drivingscrews. Drilling the pilot hole a bit larger and backingthe screw out slightly, allows for wood movement.

{ Pocket holes are a great way to secure edging to ashelf. A right-angle clamp holds the edging to theshelf while the screws are driven in place.

{ Head Style. Use washer head screws(top) for plywood and pine. Pan headscrews (bottom) are for hardwoods.

Hardware: Choose the Best Pocket Screw

{ Thread Type. Fine threads (top) areused for hardwood and coursethreads (bottom) are for softwoods.

{ Screw Length. Choosing the right screwlength depends on the thickness of theworkpiece you are using.

W

You say you’ve never tried to cut amortise and tenon joint before? Wellthis attractive Craftsman-style tablemight be a great place to start.

Like most Craftsman-stylepieces, this table sticks to thebasics. It’s mostly just straight linesand straightforward joinery.Mortise and tenon joinery is one ofthe cornerstones of woodworking.And once you get a good feel for it,

you’re well on your way to build-ing this classic little table.

Let’s break it down for a quicklook at what’s going on. You startwith four, square legs and then jointhe upper and lower rails with“mitered-end” mortise and tenonjoints. Next, you add some verticalslats on three sides. They’re joinedto the rails with a shallow mortiseand tenon. And then to top it off,

you build a mortise and tenonframe into which is set a ceramictile panel. You get the picture?

The best news is that the joineryhere isn’t the least bit difficult.Whether you decide to cut yourmortises by hand, the way I like todo it, or maybe invest in a mortiserlike those discussed on page 44,you’ll get some good practice witha great end result.

A simple design with no-nonsense mortise and tenon joinery makes this table an irresistible project.


tile-topCraftsman Table

Weekend Project


How-To: Make a Mortise

making the LEGS

I like to start work on a table by mak-ing the legs, and if you take a lookat the drawing at right, you’ll seethat this is a straightforward task.

GETTING STARTED. The first thingyou’ll need to do is to cut fouridentical legs (A) to size from 13/4"-thick stock at the table saw. Whenthis job is complete, it’s a good ideato take time to pair up the legs forthe best look (front and back) andthen mark them clearly on the top.

THE MORTISES. The box belowshows you the steps to hand mor-tising. With the legs cut to size, youbegin by laying out the four mor-tises on each leg. I like to “gangthem up” and mark them all atonce as shown below.

With the layout completed, thenext step is to gather up the fourlegs and take them to the drillpress. Here, I drill a series of over-lapping holes to remove most ofthe waste from the mortises.

Take a look at detail ‘a’ andyou’ll see how the two adjacentmortises meet in the leg. What thismeans is that when drilling the sec-ond mortise into the previously

drilled mortise, you’ll need to goslow to avoid splintering.

After roughing out the mortisesat the drill press, I moved to theworkbench to complete the job.Using a sharp chisel, I pared awaythe peaks between the holes andsquared the ends of the mortise.

EASE THE EDGES. To wrap up thework on the legs, I took them to therouter table. I didn’t want to leavesharp edges that could be easilydamaged, so I installed a 1/8"round-over bit to ease all four longedges and the bottom edges asshown in details ‘b’ and ‘c.’

a.

b.

c.

Lay Out the Mortises. Since the mortises arepositioned identically in each leg, just markone leg and then use a square as a guide totransfer the marks to the other legs.

Back to the Bench. The final step is to cleanup the mortise with a chisel. Smooth thecheeks by paring back the peaks left by thedrill press and then square the ends.

Drill Out the Waste. Once the mortises arelaid out on the legs, you can take them to thedrill press. Drilling a series of overlappingholes will remove most of the waste.

With the four legs ready and waiting,I turned next to making the upperand lower rails that connect them.

TENONS FIRST. Once you’ve cut thefour, identical upper rails (B) andthe four, identical lower rails (C) tosize from 3/4"-thick stock, you caninstall a dado blade in the tablesaw. Use it to cut the tenons on theends of the rails (detail ‘a’).

When each tenon is a snug fit inits mortise, switch back to a stan-dard blade to miter the ends of thetenons (detail ‘b’). A small gapbetween the tenons will leavespace for glue and ensure that thetenons seat fully in the mortises.

A FEW MORE MORTISES. At this pointthe leg to rail joinery is done. Butlater, you’re going to add verticalslats between the upper and lowerrails on three sides of the base. Thisrequires cutting a few more shal-low mortises. You can do this usingthe same method used for the legmortises. Both the upper and lowerrails on the two sides and the backhave identically-spaced mortises— but not the two front rails.

THE SHELF DADO. You’ll also beadding a shelf that’s captured bydadoes in the lower rails of thebase. So cutting these dadoes is the

next task. The drawing belowshows you what you need to do.

GENTLE CURVE. The shallow curveon the lower rails is a classicCraftsman-style touch. Detail ‘c’gives the dimensions you need andthe photo below shows a cleverway to draw consistent curves.

KNOCK OFF THE EDGES. After cuttingthe lower rails to shape at the bandsaw, I sanded the edges smoothand then took all the rails to therouter table. There I used a 1/16"round-over bit to ease all of thesharp long edges (but not the topsof the upper rails).

How-To: Shelf Dadoes

12

12

14

14

1

C

B

!/16"roundover

UPPERRAIL

NOTE: Upper and lowerrails on sides and backare mortised for slats

NOTE:Curve on lower

rails can be cut withjig saw or band saw

Dado inlower railscaptures

shelf

"roundover

!/16

"roundovers

!/16

Mortisesfor slats

LOWERRAIL

B

C

C

C

B

Bfitting the RAILS

a.

c.

b.


Cutting the Dadoes. The dadoes in the lower rails that hold the shelf canbe cut quickly with a 3/4”-wide dado blade installed in the table saw. Clearlymark the top edge of each rail and then hold that edge against the fence.Gradually raise the blade to sneak up on the final depth of the cut.

{ A notched scrap of hardboard and a short length ofstring is all you need to lay out a smooth, consistentcurve. A series of knots tied in one end of the stringallows you to easily adjust the amount of “bow.”

a.

At this point you might be getting alittle anxious to see the fruits of yourlabor take shape. Well, once you’vemade the vertical slats and the solidwood shelf, you can start to put allof the pieces together.

THE SLATS. First, I tackled the slats.You’ll need to cut 6 vertical slats (D)to size from 3/8"-thick stock. Theslats have a short tenon cut ontoeach end to fit the mortises in therails (detail ‘b’). Once again, a dadoblade is the tool for the job.

For short tenons like these, I usea 3/4"-wide dado blade buried in anauxiliary rip fence. You want toend up with a snug-fitting tenonand a slat that fits tightly betweenthe rails. So slowly sneak up on thelength and the width of the tenonsby adjusting the rip fence andgradually raising the blade.

Then, just as before, you cansoften all the long edges of the slatswith a 1/16" roundover.

MAKE THE SHELF. The final part tothe base is the shelf and it won’ttake long to complete. First, glueup the shelf (E) from 3/4"-thickstock. And when the glue is dry,cut it to size and sand it smooth.

Now in order for the shelf to fitaround the legs, it needs a squarenotch in all four corners as shown

in detail ‘a.’ I completed this jobquickly at the band saw. Don’tworry about getting a tight fitaround the legs. The shelf will fitsnugly in the dadoes but needs to“float” freely. And a bit of clearance

around the legs will allow it toexpand and contract easily.

Finally it’s time to begin theassembly. For this I took a slow,step-by-step approach as describedin the box below.


9

8

3

E

D

D

DD

DD

Mortise and tenonjoins railsand legs

Mortise and tenonjoins rails andvertical slats

Shelf fitsdadoes inlower rails

VERTICALSLAT

SHELF

NOTE: Shelf is notglued into dadoes

Shelf isglued up from

"-thick stock#/4

NOTE:Cut notches to allow

small clearancebetween shelf

and leg

Shelf shouldfit snugly

in dado

Long edges ofvertical slats have

" roundover

NOTE:

!/16

NOTE: Notchesin shelf cornersare square#/4"

13!/2

!/213#/8

b.a.

completing the BASE

Slats to Rails. The first step is to glue up thethree rail and slat assemblies. The legs are justused to square the assembly.

Rails to Legs. Once the rail and slat sectionsare assembled, the two side leg and railassemblies can be glued together.

Complete the Job. Finally add the backrail section, the front rails, and the shelf.But don’t glue the shelf into the dadoes.

NOTE: Shelfnot glued

into dadoes

With railsin place,slide shelfinto dadoes

Shop Tips: A Step-by-Step Assembly

All the table lacks now is a top.And as you can see in the photoat left, the top for this table isnot your standard, everyday,glued-up slab table top. Theinlaid tile center adds a bit of a wrin-kle to the construction, but the goodnews is it’s not the least bit difficultand it looks great.

THE FRAME. The solid framethat surrounds the tile is

just more of whatyou’ve done before

— mortise and tenon.The two long rails are

mortised to accept the tenonsof the two short rails. It’s pretty

simple. I got started by cutting thetwo long top rails (F) and the twoshort top rails (G) to size from 1"-thick stock. Detail ‘a’ shows whatyou need to accomplish in the nextstep. Begin by cutting a mortise inthe long rails. Then cut matchingtenons on the short rails. Once thejoinery is complete, you can gluethe frame pieces together.

ROUND THE EDGES. Once the frame isassembled, take it to the routertable to soften the top and bottomedges with a 1/8" roundover.

ADDING THE PANEL. Next you need toadd a center panel on which to setthe tile (How-To below). Thisrequires rabbeting the lower, inside

edge of the frame to accept the ply-wood top center panel (H). Butthere’s a little more to the processthat needs some explanation.

In short, when you set the tile,you want it to sit flush with thesurrounding frame. I used fourstandard-sized (57/8"-square) tilesbut the catch is that different

brands and styles of tile can vary inthickness. This means you need tocustom-fit the panel so that therecess matches the thickness of thetile you choose. This just involvescutting a second rabbet on the ply-wood panel. If you just follow thestep-by-step below, you shouldn'thave any problems.

Squaring Up the Corners. Next, I setdown the router and picked up a sharpchisel to carefully square the rounded cor-ners left by the rabbeting bit.

Rabbet the Frame. Get started by usinga hand-held router with a rabbeting bitinstalled to cut a 3/8” x 3/8” rabbet aroundthe bottom, inside edge of the frame.

Rabbet Panel. After sizing a panel to fit theframe, adjust its height by rabbeting the topedge. You want the “tile” recess to match thetile thickness plus space for adhesive.

building the TOP


a.

a.

How-To: Fitting the Center Panel

b.a.

To download a free CuttingDiagram for this project, go to:www.Woodsmith.com

ATTACH THE TOP. Once you’ve gluedthe panel in place, the top can beattached to the table base. Themetal “figure-8” fasteners that Iused made this an easy job (leftdrawing). One fastener counter-sunk into the center of each toprail, as shown in detail ‘b,’ willhold the top tightly to the base.

TILE SETTINGBefore getting started on the tile, Iwent ahead and applied my finish.

This way the wood is sealed fromany stray adhesive or grout and Iwon’t have to worry about keepingthe stain and finish off of the tile andgrout later on. Then to protect thefinish, I carefully taped off the framearea around the center panel.

Setting the tile in the top isn’t adifficult job, it just takes some basicknow-how. The technique I used isfairly traditional, but also prettyeasy. The boxes below give you thebasic step-by-step approach. W

Grouting. Once the tile is set, mix asmall batch of grout and work it intothe joints with a grout trowel.

Spread Adhesive. First, tape off theframe. Then use a small, notched knifeto spread the tile adhesive.

Clean the Surface. Finally, use adamp sponge to clean the excessgrout from the joints and surface.

You can simplify thetiling process a bit by

picking up a tube of pre-mixed grout. >

The simple design of this tableallows you to easily modify the sizeand create a table with maybe adifferent purpose, but an equallyattractive appearance. If you takea look at the drawing at right, you’llsee that all I did was make thesquare footprint of the tableslightly larger. Instead of two ver-tical slats between the rails thetable now has three. All of the join-ery and construction techniquesstay exactly the same.

To download a materials list andcutting diagram for this larger table,go to: www.Woodsmith.com

same table

Larger Size


To see a step-by-stepvideo of how the Tile-Top table is built, go to:www.Woodsmith.com


One of my favorite features on thetool cabinet are the false tenons thataccent the sides (right photo). Theyreally draw your attention and givethe cabinet a “hand-crafted” look.

But I didn’t want to knockmyself out cutting all these mortis-es by hand. Routing them seemedlike the best way to go. And for thisjob, I built the simple mortise jigthat you see in the drawing below.

The jig is designed to be usedwith the dado cleanout bit shownon the left. Since this bit will cutflush to the template, the guideopening is sized to the mortise.

The easiest way to create anaccurate opening is to piece thetemplate together, as shown in thedrawing below. When you glue thepieces together, you can leave anopening the exact length andwidth of the mortises. A cleat fas-tened to the template spaces themortise at the correct distance fromthe edge of the cabinet sides.

To use the jig, just clamp it inplace with the opening over theposition of the mortise (detail ‘a’).After routing the mortises, I left thejig in place while I used a sharpchisel to square the corners. W

The challenge to making the chamfered falsetenons for the tool cabinet lies in their smallsize. Once they’re cut to their final 3/8" length,there’s just not much to hold on to when try-ing to chamfer the ends. The solution is tochamfer first, then cut them to length.

I started with a blank of wood sized to fitthe mortises and long enough to make all 16tenons. At the router table, I chamfered allfour edges of both ends (Fig. 1). Then I tookthe blank to the table saw. Here I set up thefence with a stop block in front of the blade(Fig. 2) to gauge the length and cut each endoff of the blank. Now repeat the processuntil all 16 tenons are completed.

Shallow Mortise Jig

NOTE: Opening in templateis exact size of mortise

NOTE: Template ismade from

"-thick maple!/2

Template is piecedtogether to create

guide opening

Mortisingtemplate

Hardwoodcleat

9

4

18

5!/2

!/2

2

a.

tips from our shop

How-To: Make Chamfered False Tenons1 2

{ The false tenons hide the screws in thecabinet sides and also add a nice detail.

{ The dado bit isguided by a top-mounted bearingand has a longercutting lengththan the clean-out bit.

Shaping Bead Molding

Shelf-Pin Hole Jig

I used one of my favorite mold-ings, a simple bead, to add a classictouch to the bookcase project onpage 24. Shaping the bead takesplace at the router table using aroundover bit. The challenge hereis the small size of the finishedpieces. But there’s a pretty easyway to get around this.

As you can see in Figure 1, thebead starts out as an extra-wideblank. This gives you plenty ofmaterial to hold on to as you work.

For the 1/4" bead, you’ll use an 1/8"roundover bit as shown in Figure1. To get a fully rounded bead, setthe depth of the bit carefully so thatafter a pass on each side of theblank, the roundovers will meet

right in the middle of the blank,forming a half-round. As you cansee in Figure 1a, the fence needs tobe set on the money as well, sincethe bearing won’t support theworkpiece on the second pass.

After routing a bead on bothedges of the blank, I take it to thetable saw to complete the job. Justset the rip fence so that you cansafely rip each bead free from theblank, as shown in Figure 2. W

It’s pretty disappointing when youset a shelf in place only to find thatyou didn’t drill the holes for thesupport pins accurately. A shelfthat rocks from corner to corner ordoesn’t sit level wasn’t in the plan.So when building the bookcase onpage 24, I didn’t leave this tochance. A simple jig made the jobquick, easy, and foolproof.

The holes are in groups of five on2" centers. So to space the holesaccurately and keep them in astraight line, I started by making adrilling template out of plywoodas shown in the drawing below.

Next, you need a way to spacethe holes 11/2" from the front edgeand the rabbeted back edge of thecase sides. To do this job, I attacheda thin hardboard cleat to either sideof the template. The two thin cleatswill fit over the rabbet cut in thesides for the back panel. And with

a cleat on either side, the jig cansimply be flipped over to drill theholes on the opposite edge. Byusing the same template hole todrill both the front and back, you’llensure the holes will line up.

Finally, you need a way to accu-rately locate the jig on the casesides. To do this, first I squared apencil line through the center tem-plate hole out to and across theedge of the template. This refer-ence line can be matched up withlayout lines on the case sides mark-ing the location of the center holein each group as in Figure 1.

Once the layout is complete,Figure 2 shows how to completethe job. Butt the guide up to theedge of the side and align it withyour layout line. Clamp it in placeand drill your holes. Then flip thejig over to repeat the process on theopposite edge. W

NOTE: Measure fromthe bottom of caseside and markthe centerlineof each holegroup

Square centerlineacross case side

18#/4

31#/4

44#/4

57#/4

Align centerline oftemplate with

layout lineand clamp to

case side

Template

!/4"-dia.bit

Blockingallows jig

to beclampedto side

!/2”-thick, extra-wide blank

!/4” roundover bit

Rip bead freeto outsideof blade

1 2

2

END VIEW

Rout both sidesto create bead

a. END VIEW%/8

Bookcasebead molding

a.

SECTIONVIEW

Edge guidesets in rabbet

!/2

Tape

a.

1



Designer Series Project

It only takes a quick look at the photo at leftto see that this classic-looking bookcase is agreat way to transform some unused wallspace into versatile storage. But it’s not untilyou get into all the construction detail thatyou get the full picture.

ONE SHEET. For starters, the trip to the lum-beryard will be easy on the wallet. The caseand shelves can all be cut from one sheet of3/4" plywood. Throw in a few board feet ofhardwood lumber and a piece of 1/4" ply-wood and you’re good to go.

THE BASICS. Once back at the shop, thingswill go just as easy. This bookcase is built tostand up to about any load, and all it takesto accomplish this is some basic joinery.

The case is built with sturdy, but easy-to-cut, tongue and dado joinery. So you’ll havethis part of the project together in no time.The face frame is more of the same. Biscuitjoinery makes the job quick and easy with-out sacrificing any strength. Then, whenyou add some shop-made trim to the case,the bookcase takes on a whole new look.

But, believe it or not, there’s one morefeature that makes this project even better.And that’s how easy it is to expand thebookcase to fill an entire wall, as shown onthe following page. All you have do is buildmultiple cases, modify the trim a bit, andthen fasten them together. So you might saythis project is “one design fits all.”

classicBookcase

Sure, it looks great. But that’sonly part of the story. This project

is also versatile, easy-to-build,and solid as a rock.


OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 33”W x 131/2”D x 733/4"H

{ If you like the looks of this project, why notexpand it to cover an entire wall? Separatelybuilt sections make it easy.

My first goal here was to puttogether a solidly built plywoodcase. If you just take a look at thedrawing above, you’ll have a goodidea of what’s involved.

LAYOUT. As I said before, the book-case is designed so that the maincase parts and shelves can all becut from one sheet of 3/4" plywood.So before I started cutting, I took aminute to lay out the parts on my

plywood and made sure every-thing fit the way I wanted it to.

THE SIDES. The major part of thework on the case involves makingthe two plywood sides. So once Icompleted the layout, I started bycutting the two case sides (A) to size.

Now you can start on the joinery.As you can see in detail ’a,’ the casesides are joined to the top and bot-tom with a tongue and dado. Thisjoint gives you good gluing surfaceand “racking” resistance.

Cutting the dadoes in the longcase sides on the table saw wouldbe pretty awkward. So the solutionis to use a hand-held router and asimple edge guide, as shown in thebox on the opposite page.

With this task complete, the nextstep is to cut a rabbet along the

back, inside edge of each side. Thisholds the 1/4" plywood back.

And to complete work on thesides, you’ll need to drill someshelf pin holes. To do this quicklyand accurately, I used a simple ply-wood drilling jig (detail ‘b’). You’llfind more about this on page 23.

TOP AND BOTTOM. That’s it for thesides. Next up are the identical casetop and bottom and there are just acouple things to mention here.First, since the back panel simplylaps over the top and bottom,they’re sized 1/4" narrower than thesides. And then a dado blade onthe table saw will take care of cut-ting the tongues on the ends of thetop and bottom (detail ‘a’).

At this point, I got out the gluebottle and a few clamps and

a.

c.

b.


building theCASE

assembled the case. And then oncethe clamps come off, you’ll want tocut the plywood back panel to sizeand glue it in place. This will helpkeep the case square and rigidwhile you add the face frame.

FACE FRAME. The face frame doesmore than just hide the plywoodedges. It provides one more way tostrengthen the case. So to makesure the face frame I added was upto the task, I did a couple things.

First, for added strength, I madethe parts of the face frame prettysubstantial — 2"-wide stiles, a 21/2"-wide top rail, and a 61/2"-wide bot-tom rail. And second, as you cansee in detail ’a,’ I got out my biscuitjoiner to handle all the joinery. Itmakes the work go quickly and theface frame plenty rigid.

You’ll have plenty of room fortwo #10 biscuits between the bot-tom rail and the stiles. But smaller#0 biscuits are a better fit in the toprail, as you can see in detail ‘a.’Once the biscuit slots are cut, theface frame can be assembled andglued in place on the case.

FOUR SHELVES. I had two goals inmind when I made the plywoodshelves. I wanted them to lookpretty stout and to be “sag proof.” Iaccomplished this by reinforcingboth the front and back of the shelfpanels with a sturdy, 1"-wide pieceof edging (detail ’b’).

a.

b.

How-To: Routing Dadoes

Layout. To ensure the case is flushacross the top, use a scrap of plywoodto lay out the dadoes in the sides.

A Simple Guide. The two case sides are lined upand clamped edge-to-edge. Then a shop-madeedge guide is used to accurately rout the dadoes.

{ As you can see, the hardboard base ofthe guide has been trimmed so that therouter cut falls right along its edge.


With the case complete, you can startwork on adding the trim that dressesup the top and bottom. If you’rebuilding a single section, you’ll findeverything you need to know righthere. For side-by-side sections, you’llneed to do things a little differently.So check out the opposite page.

THE TOP TRIM. The drawings aboveshow how to finish out the top ofthe case. First, I assembled a three-

sided mitered frame to create awide overhang (detail ‘b’). Biscuitswill help with the assembly andkeep the miters tight (detail ‘c’).After assembling the frame, I easedthe edges with a 1/8" roundover.

Once the frame is fastened to thecase, the next job is to add the sim-ple cove molding that fits beneathit. The cove can be made in shortorder at the router table and then

mitered to fit. Finally, I fastened thecove to the case and frame withglue and a few brads (detail ‘b’).

ADD THE BASE. Next comes the widebase trim shown in the drawingsbelow. As you can see, it’s made upof two separate parts, a wide base-board with a cove routed on thetop edge and a narrow bead that“caps” the coved edge.

To make this base, you’ll need tospend a little time at the routertable. Detail ‘a’ below shows thefirst step. After cutting the base-board blanks to rough length, Irouted the cove along one edge.Next, comes the 1/2" bead molding.Here, you can turn to page 23 for ashort lesson on making bead.

When the bead is complete, it’sglued to the coved edge of thebaseboard. Then the completedtrim is mitered to fit around thecase. Wrap things up by gluing thetrim to the case and adding screwsfor good measure (detail ‘b’).

STRAIGHT AND LEVEL. The final task isto make certain the bookcasealways sets level and upright. To dothis, I first installed a leveler ineach corner of the case, as shown indetail ‘b.’ And then after the book-case is completed and moved intoplace, it’s a good idea to anchor itto the wall (detail ‘a’ above). Thiswill eliminate any worry of thebookcase tipping forward. W

a.

c.

b.

a.


K

JTOP

FRAMESIDE

TOPCOVEFRONTTOP

COVESIDE

NOTE: Assembleframe beforeit is screwed

to case

Modifiedangle

bracket

#10biscuit

Routroundover

after assembly

!/8"

13!/2

33

31!/2

L

TOPFRAME FRONT

Miter coveto fit case

I

Fastencove trim to

case withbrads

12#/4

MBASE-

BOARDFRONT

BASE-BOARD

SIDE

BASEBEADSIDE

NOTE: Baseboardtrim glued and

screwed to case

NOTE: Gluebead to base,

then miter to fit

Leveler blocksadded to all fourcorners of case

(For sources, see page 49)

BASEBEADFRONTP

NOTE: Levelersare glued andscrewed in place

O

N

12#/4

12%/8

31!/4

31!/2

adding theTRIM

b.

One of the nicest features ofthis bookcase is that you cancombine as many sections asnecessary to fit your wall space.And this only takes a couple ofminor design changes.

The idea is that each sec-tion is built as a complete,separate unit. Then the sec-tions are set side by side andfastened together with con-nector bolts as shown in thedetail drawing below.

So there are no changes tohow you build the basic ply-wood case. But since the sec-tions have to butt tightlytogether, the top and bottomtrim are fit a little differently.

For an end section, you’llmiter the trim at the outside,but fit it flush with the caseside on the inside. (see draw-ings below). To make a centersection, fit the front trim flushto both sides of the case.


Side-by-Side Bookcase

Pivot pin

Lock-down


Our Top 10 WorkbenchAccessories

small shop solutions

These simple, shop-built devices helpyou get the most outof your workbench.

One of the keys to accurate handwork is making sure that your work-piece is held securely. That’s wherethe hold-downs you see in the draw-ings come into play. Since they’re

made from wood, they won’t maryour workpiece. And a large wingknob makes it a snap to tighten theclamp down or loosen it quickly toreposition the workpiece.

1-Hour Workshop

Securing large panels to my workbench forplaning or belt sanding was always a bit tricky.Clamps often get in the way of the tool and benchdogs are too narrow to keep the workpiece fromshifting. To provide a solid stop for the workpiece,I attached this board to one end of the workbench.A pair of angled slots in the stop allow it to slidebelow the worksurface when it’s not needed. Acouple of screws anchor it in place.

The workbench is the largest “tool” in my shop. And I use it for a lot of tasks.But even the best of tools can benefit from some practical accessories. The tenyou see on these pages are the ones I use most often in my shop. Besides mak-ing tasks quicker, safer, and more accurate, these simple add-ons can be builtwith mostly scrap material and in less than one hour. That’s more than enoughreason to add a few of these to your bench.

1Hold-Down Clamp

2Planing Stop

Short arm is used forthick stock

Size bolt to fitworkbench

thickness

Pivot blockholds arm

in place

Planing intothe stop keeps workpiece frommoving aroundwithout clamps

Slots allow stop

to slide below bench top, out of

the way

Long arm keepsthin stock in

place

T-nut in blockattaches hold-down

to bench

Nuts act as astop to keep

bolt fromdropping

down


I like to think of these narrow benchhooks as benchtop saw horses. They raise aworkpiece high enough off the benchtop tocrosscut the end without damaging mybench. I also use them for trimming tenons.

It’s a good idea to make at least two soyou can support long stock. I made mine thesame depth as the full-size bench hook shownabove. This way, they can serve as “outfeed”support so long workpieces won’t sag.

4Bench Hook

5Bench Horse

Upper blockprovides flat spot

for clamps

V-block madefrom "two-by" stock

Lower blockcradles workpiece

and keeps it in place

Fence can be usedas a guide for crosscutting

Wide base can be used forchiseling tokeep workbenchfree of dings

Cleat hooksover edge of

the bench

FenceBase

Two horsesfully supportlong work-

pieces

Size bench horses to matchbench hook to use as “outfeed”support

CleatSide view of bench hook and bench horse

This is one bench accessory that Ialways keep close at hand. I can use it as aguide for quickly cutting parts to length or asa planing stop for small parts, as you can seein the drawing at left. The base also protectsthe bench from sharp chisels and carving tools.

The bench hook is made up of a wide ply-wood base with a thick hardwood fence atthe back and a cleat along the front edge tocatch on the edge of the workbench.

Plane into the fencefor best control

The large, flat surface of my workbenchis perfect for most of the work I do. Butclamping a round or odd-shaped workpiece tothe benchtop can seem more like trying to holdonto a wet bar of soap.

To make it easier to grab and hold thesepieces, I turn to the simple, two-part V-blockyou see here. I made mine from a section of“two-by” stock. The base can be any length,but I found 12" to be about right. It provides astable, wiggle-free platform for drilling, shaping,or smoothing. A shorter top piece gives theclamps a flat spot to lock the part in placewithout marring it.

3V-Block

Like small parts, clamping andsupporting long boards or wide panelsto a workbench can pose some chal-lenges. Especially if you need to work

on the edges of these pieces. The solution I use isn’t really new.

In fact, it’s been used by wood-workers for hundreds of years. It’scalled a board jack. (Although somepeople call it a “sliding deadman.”)

As you can see in the drawing atleft, the board jack supports theopposite end of a long workpiecewhile it’s clamped in the face vise.

Although some board jacks are per-manently attached to the workbench,mine is just a board that gets clampedin the end vise. A row of holes drilledalong the length and a short wood pegmake it easy to adjust for the width ofthe board or panel.

accessories for theBENCH VISE


6Small Parts Platform

7Board Jack

Hunching over a bench whileworking on a small workpiece is a good wayto get a back ache. And securing a small,thin part to a large workbench top can beanother problem. But the solution to thesetwo problems is a plywood platform thatcouldn’t be simpler to make.

The plywood top is small and thin enoughto securely clamp a workpiece on all foursides for carving, or other close-up work.I’ve also found this plat-form comes in handy as asmall parts assembly table.

The raised platform atright is just two smallpieces of plywood joinedinto a “T” shape with adado and some glue andscrews. Just be sure the bot-tom leg of the “T” is longenough to bring the plat-form up to a comfortableworking height when it’sclamped in a bench vise.

Base supports workpiece and

allows clamps on all sides as

neededPlatformand supportmade from

#/4" plywood

Sizegrooveto matchsupportthickness

Platformbrings

small, detailedworkpieces to a comfortable

height

Board jack madefrom apiece of“two-by”stock

Position board jack belowedge of workpiece so itwon’t interfere with tool

Board jack supports long

boards or panelsheld in a face vise

Zing! If you’ve ever tried to cutsmall pieces of molding on a power miter saw,you know the sound a piece makes as it catcheson the blade and goes whistling across the shop.Besides being difficult to control, cutting smallparts on the miter saw cansometimes lead to tearout andrough cut edges.

A cleaner and safer way tomake those cuts is to use ahand saw and the small miterbox you see in the drawing atright. It clamps securely in abench vise. A kerf for 90° andleft and right 45° cuts in thefence guides the saw forsmooth cuts every time.

A poor-fitting miter joint on a project sticks out like a sore thumb.However, trimming it to fit tight on the table saw or miter saw can be a chal-lenge. That’s when I like to turn to a sharp hand plane and this mitershooting board. With the shooting board, I can hold the workpiece firmlyagainst the angled fence. Then I can trim a bit at a time to sneak up on thefit. The plane is guided by a wide rabbet cut in the edge of the base. A pairof fences attached to the base allow you to trim right or left miters.

8Miter Shooting Board

9Add a Machinist’s Vise

10 Mini Miter Box


Miter box makes it easy to

accurately cut small partslike dowels or molding

at 90° or 45°

Fences support workpiece

at 45° to trim miters

Dust channelkeeps chips from

interferingwith cut

Secure themachinist's viseto workbenchin face vise

Attach fence to cleat with screws

Kerfsguide

hand saw

Rabbet guides plane

Attach cleatto base

withscrews

Workpiece

While I work with wood most of the time I’mat my bench, there are times when I need to cut, file, orshape metal. For that, a machinist’s vise comes in prettyhandy. But I don’t want or need it on my bench all thetime. To make for easy use, I bolted the vise to a plywoodbase that has a cleat on the bottom. The cleat getsclamped in the face vise of the workbench and holds themetal vise steady as a rock.


Heirloom Project

classic oakTool Cabinet


Heavy-Duty Trays hold portable powertools and other accessories. Now nothingwill get lost in the back of the cabinet.

Easy-Access Drawers travel on smooth-riding slides. The shallow drawers makefinding and organizing tools a snap.

False Tenons give the look of more com-plex through-mortise and tenon joinery.Chamfered edges add a nice detail.

TOP

Trays built usinglocking rabbet joints

Frame and paneldoors featurequartersawnoak panels

False tenonsdisguise

screw joinery

Store bulkypower tools

on theseheavy-duty

pull-out trays

Back ismade withstub tenonand groove

joinery

Drawersride on

full-extensiondrawer

slides

Build a companionfine tool chest

starting on page 42

Drawersare constructed

with tongueand dado joints

Tool cabinet is builtfrom riftsawn andquartersawn oak.

Solidbrass knob

NOTE:Graduateddrawers holdlarge and smallitems

Tool cabinetmade from

riftsawnand

quartersawnoak

OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 361/4"W x 20"D x 48"H

I like to think of this tool cabinet asthe trusty sidekick to my work-bench. I do most of my work at ornear the workbench — everythingfrom planing and routing, to trim-ming joints and assembly. So it’simportant to have all the tools Ineed close at hand.

When it comes to building a bigproject like this, it can be a littleintimidating. So I find it’s helpfulto step back and break it down intosections so you don’t get over-whelmed by the details. That’swhat I did here. The tool cabinet ismade up of four different elements:the case, doors, drawers, and trays.

SOLID WOOD CONSTRUCTION. The firstsection of the cabinet to build is thecase, as shown in the drawing atright. Since all the case membersare the same thickness, I glued upall the parts at one time.

With such large solid-woodpanels, it’s a good idea to spendsome extra time in selecting andarranging your stock for color,grain, and appearance.

DADO JOINERY. At first glance, itlooks like the case is built with

through-mortise and tenon joinery.However, the tenons you see aresimply plugs. They hide longwoodscrews that secure the sidesto the horizontal parts. Dadoes on

the inside of the case help supportthe dividers. Using false tenonsand screws gives you a traditionallook without all the work.

The case is assembled with sim-ple dado joints. You can cut thedadoes with either a table saw orhand-held router. It’s not impor-tant how you cut the dadoes. Butbecause the ends of the dadoes arevisible, it is important that the bot-toms of the dadoes are smoothand flat. (I prefer to use a dadoclean-out bit to end up with thesmoothest bottom possible.)

There’s just one other thing tomention about the dadoes. Theyshould match the thickness of thestock as close as possible for thetightest, strongest joint.

SIDE DETAILS. Before moving on tothe dividers, there are a few morethings you’ll need to do to the sides.First, cut a chamfer along the top

lower caseCONSTRUCTION

3!/2

12#/4

20!/8

3!/81

1

1

1

%/8

2448

34!/2

20

19!/4

18#/4

3%/8

19%/8

19%/8

NOTE: Case partsmade from1"-thick stock

VERTICALDIVIDER

TOP

SIDEA

B

A

D

C

C

BOTTOMDIVIDER

C

#8 x 2"Fh woodscrew

a.

SIDESECTION

VIEW

&/16

#/8

!/4

#/32"chamfer

1"-widestoppeddado fordrawerdivider

D

B

C

VERTICALDIVIDER

b.


Shop Tips: Chamfers and Slides

Routing the Chamfer. A support boardclamped to the case side and a spacer in thedado allow you to easily rout the chamfer.

Drawer Slides. Pre-drill the holes for thetop drawer slides before assembly. Supportblocks and a spacer keep things aligned.


How-To: Hiding Screw Joints With False Tenons

Woodscrew Reinforcement. After rout-ing the pocket for the false tenon, squareup the corners with a chisel and drill acountersunk shank hole and pilot hole forthe 2”-long woodscrew.

{ A simple router template and a hand-heldrouter are all it takes to cut the shallowpockets for the false tenons. To find outhow to make the template, turn to ShopNotebook on page 22.

Hide the Screws. Chamfered false tenonsfit snugly in the pockets routed in the cabi-net sides and hide the woodscrews. Oncethey’re made (turn to Shop Notebook onpage 22), simply glue them in place.

inside edge of each side panel. Takea look at the left box on the bottomof the opposite page for a tip on thebest way to do this.

The second thing to do is rout arabbet on the back edge to hold aframe and panel back that is madelater (detail ‘a’ on the oppositepage). This rabbet is stopped at thetop divider dado and doesn’t runthe whole length of the side.

The last thing you’ll need to do isrout small mortises in each side tohold some false tenons that hidewoodscrews. I used a simplerouter template to do this. It’sshown below and on page 22. Eventhough the case is going to beglued, the end-grain joints needsome screws for reinforcement.

SIMPLE DIVIDERS. At this point, youcan set aside the sides and work onthe dividers. These are the horizon-tal panels that make the top, bot-tom, drawer, and cabinet dividers.You can see the dimensions foreach divider in the drawing.

The front edge of each dividersits proud of the case sides and ischamfered on the front. Plus, thecase top and upper drawerdivider have centered, stoppeddadoes cut in each panel to hold ashort, vertical divider between apair of narrow drawers. You can

see this illustrated in detail ‘b’ onthe opposite page.

There’s one last thing to dobefore assembling the case. Andthat’s to install the drawer slidesfor the two upper drawers. I didthis now because after the case istogether, it will be nearly impossi-ble to reach inside the small open-ing, drill the holes and then align

the slides. Take a look at the rightdrawing on the opposite page tosee how I did this. The case canthen be assembled.

APRON AND GLUE BLOCK. To completethe front of the case, I added anapron at the bottom, as in thedrawing above. It has a shallowarch and is glued to the dividerabove and a pair of glue blocks.

G

G

NOTE: Glue apron to casedivider, then attach glueblocks for support

34

3!/2

3

1

APRONF

GLUE BLOCK

a. b.

All that remains to complete thecase of the tool cabinet is the back.The back assembly is made withsimple stub tenon and groovejoints. For step-by-step instructionson how to make this strong joint,take a look at the “How-To” below.

STRENGTHENING THE CASE. Besides clos-ing in the case, the back also addsstrength. You can see what I meanin the exploded view at right. First,it fits into the rabbets cut in thesides of the case. This prevents thecase from racking. After the back isglued up, a series of dadoes andgrooves are cut to fit over the hori-zontal dividers to keep the largecase rigid and square.

BUILDING THE BACK. I began by cuttinggrooves on the inside edges of thestiles and rails. Then stub tenonscan be cut on each end of the rails.Note: The joinery for the doorframes is identical to the back. Tosave time, you could cut the doorrails and stiles here as well.

Once the joinery is complete, Icut a small arch in the bottom railto match the front skirt, as shown

in detail ‘c.’ Finally, 1/4" plywoodpanels are cut to fit the grooves.Now the back assembly can beglued together (including the pan-els). Note: Bottom rail (K) sits 3/8" up

from the end of the rails, as indetail ‘a.’ Finally, I routed groovesto fit over the dividers and a smallshadow line around the outsideedges, as in detail ‘b.’

How-To: Stub Tenon & Groove Panels

Grooves. The first step is to cut a 1/2"-deep, centered groove on the inside edgeof the rails and stiles. The groove is sizedto match the thickness of 1/4" plywood.

Tenons. The next step is to cut the stubtenons on the ends of the rails. Positionthe rip fence as a stop and cut the stubtenons with a dado blade.

Panels. The center panels are sized to fitbetween the stiles and rails. Plywood panelscan be glued in place. Solid-wood doorpanels are allowed to “float” in the grooves.


b. c.

frame & panelCASE BACK

& DOORS

a.

Solid-Wood DoorsWith the case complete, Imoved on to building thedoors. Like I mentioned ear-lier, the joinery here is the sameas the case back. There’s onedifference between the doorsand the back. The panels in thedoors are solid wood, insteadof plywood. They’re solidwood for appearance. I wantedthem to look as good whenthey were open as closed. Andto make them stand out fromthe frame, I selected straight-grained (riftsawn) stock for theframe parts and used highlyfigured quartersawn wood forthe door panels.

DEALING WITH WOOD MOVEMENT. Withthe parts cut to size, you can thencut the joinery on the stiles (N, O)and rails (P). Because the panels (Q)are solid-wood pieces, they are cutslightly narrower than the groovesso they can expand and contract.

Next, I cut a rabbet on all foursides of the panels to form atongue, as in detail ‘b.’ The rabbetsare cut a little wider than thegrooves to create a shadow line sothat they stand out even more.

At this point, you can assemblethe doors. I applied glue only to thestiles and rails. The panels need to“float” in the grooves to expandand contract. But to keep the pan-els centered in the frame, I applieda dot of glue at the top and the bot-tom of the panels and used some

spacers while clamping. It’s also agood idea to stain them as well, asyou can see in the shop tips below.

HANGING THE DOORS. The doors cannow be hung in the case. To do this,I cut shallow notches in the sides ofthe doors, as in detail ‘c,’ to hold

the hinges. The notches are 1/8” lessthan the thickness of the hingeknuckle. The hinges will be surfacemounted on the inside of the case.Then the doors can be trimmed tofit. All that’s left is to attach theknobs and catches, as in detail ‘d.’

{ To keep the panels centered in the doors, Iplaced a dot of glue in the center of the tongueand used thin spacers while gluing up the door.

{ Staining the panels before assembling the doorsprevents unfinished areas from appearing as thepanels expand and contract seasonally.


a.

b. d.c.

Shop Tips: Great Panels

At this point in the construction, thetool cabinet is nearly complete. Allthat remains is to build the drawersand trays. The upper portion of thetool cabinet contains five drawers.

The two trays divide the spacebehind the doors in the bottom ofthe cabinet (more on that later). Boththe drawers and trays ride on full-extension, metal slides. While theconstruction is similar, there are afew differences to point out.

SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION. The drawingabove shows how the drawers aremade. Each drawer is nothingmore than a shallow box with afalse front. I built the box frommaple and the false fronts fromquartersawn white oak.

The boxes are built with simpletongue and dado joinery, as shownin detail ‘b.’ A dado is cut at thefront and back of each side. Amatching tongue is then cut oneach end of the front and back.

Once the joinery is cut, you canthen cut a groove on the inside faceof all the parts to hold a 1/4" ply-

wood bottom. Then the drawerboxes can be glued up.

The next step is to attach thedrawer slides. The full-extensionslides come in two parts. One partis screwed to the side of the case.The second part is attached to thebottom edge of the drawer box.

FITTING THE FALSE FRONTS. Once thedrawers are in place, I made andattached the false fronts. I wantedto end up with a 1/16" gap on allfour sides (to match the doors) so Icut the false fronts slightly oversizeand trimmed them to fit the open-ing. The photo at left shows a sim-ple way to position the false fronts.When the false front is in the rightspot, the tape holds it in place fordrilling the screws holes, as shownin the tip at left. The last thing to dobefore attaching the false fronts, isto add the pulls, as in detail ‘c.’

16#/8

15

5!/4

5!/42#./4

5!/2

4

3

18!/2

18!/2

18

32!/232!/2

33&/8

W

V

Centerpull on

upper drawer

Alignlower drawer

pulls with upper

FALSEFRONT

DRAWERSIDE

DRAWERFRONT

DRAWER BOTTOM( x 18 - 15)!/4

NOTE: Drawer sides, fronts,and backs are made from "-thick

stock. False fronts are " thick!/2

#/4

U

R

RS

T

S

DRAWERBACK

Y

Z

EE

DD

CC

CC

DD

B B

DRAWERFRONT

FALSEFRONT

DRAWERBOTTOM

X

adding theDRAWERS& TRAYS


b. c.

a.

Shop Tip: False Front Fit

{ A few strips of carpet tape keep the false front posi-tioned for the proper gaps and hold it firmly in placefor drilling the screw holes.

Heavy-Duty TraysAfter making the drawers, I turnednext to the trays that will be installedin the lower portion of the tool cab-inet. This large space is perfect forstoring portable power tools. Likethe drawers, each tray rides onfull-extension slides. This makesit a lot easier to find something atthe back of the tray. Storing heavytools here means the traysneed to be strong enoughto stand up to the weight.

BUILT FOR STRENGTH.There are two thingsyou can do to beef upthe construction. Thefirst is the joinery. Forthe trays, I used a lock-ing rabbet. In detail ‘a,’ youcan see that the sides, front, andback interlock to create a joint morerugged than a tongue and dado. Tomake this joint, check out the three-step process that you see below.

The second thing you can do tobeef up the trays is to strengthenthe materials. Here I did twothings. The first is to make the frontand back from 3/4"-thick hardmaple instead of 1/2" material. Theother thing I did was beef up the1/4" plywood normally used fordrawer and tray bottoms.

To reinforce the tray bottom, Imade it out of a double layer of 1/4"plywood. The first layer is gluedinto a 1/4" groove cut in the traysides, front, and back. The secondlayer is then cut to fit underneath

the first, as shown in detail ‘b.’ Thismakes the tray bottom much morerigid and less likely to flex under aheavy load of tools.

MOUNTING THE TRAYS. Finally, Iinstalled the trays. In order for the

trays to clear the doors, they’remounted to a pair of spacers (detail‘c’). The spacers are attached withscrews and washers in oversize,counterbored holes to allow thecase to expand and contract. W

Tongue. Next, cut the inside tongue of theslot back. I set the rip fence as a stop andsupported the workpiece with an auxiliaryfence on the miter gauge.

Dado. The final step is to cut a dado in theside pieces. The dado should match thetongue on the front and back. The remain-ing tongue should just slip inside the slot.

How-To: Locking Rabbet Joint


a. b.

c.

Slot. To make a locking rabbet, start bycutting a slot in each edge of the front andback. The depth of the slot should matchthe thickness of the sides.

When it comes to keeping andorganizing my favorite hand tools,I wanted to make a special case forthem. So I built this tool chest. Youcan build it to sit on top of the toolcabinet shown on page 34, or your

workbench. The construction of thischest is very similar to the tool cab-inet — just on a smaller scale, as inthe exploded view below.

BUILDING THE CASE. To build the toolchest, I started by assembling the

case. The 1/2"-thick top, bottom anddivider are joined to the chest sideswith 3/16"-deep dadoes.

A pair of stopped dadoes in thetop and divider hold drawerdividers for three narrow drawers.They’re notched at the front so thatthey’ll sit flush with the sides, as inthe exploded view. The horizontalparts all have a small chamfer cuton the front edges to match thechamfer on the top of the sides.

The frame and panel back of thetool chest is glued into a stopped

FINE TOOL CHEST

!/2

26#/8

25#/8

26#/8

29#/8

NOTE:Notch

dividers sothey are flush

with sides at front NOTE:Stopped dadoes

cut in top and dividermirror each other

29#/8

14!/16

13(/16SIDE

SIDE

14

!/4

9#/8

5#/4

8#/4

5!%/16

8(/16

3@ !/32

@&/32

1#/32

( x 13 - 2 )!/2 !/2 %/8

( -thick stock)!/4 "

13!/8

8#/16Routdadoes

-deep!/4"

Routdadoes

-deep#/16"

!/2"

#/16"

-widerabbet,-deep to

hold backpanel

&/16

2

2H G

G

F

F

E

D

CC

B

A

A

BOTTOMDIVIDER

TOP

BACKSTILE

BACKRAIL

DRAWERDIVIDER

DRAWERRUNNER

BACKPANEL

( plywood)!/4"

#6 xFh wood-

screw

%/8"


c.

a.

b.

It’s the perfect place for your best hand tools andworks great alone or sitting on the tool cabinet.

rabbet cut in the case sides. Asmall rabbet cut on the out-side edges of the frame cre-ates a shadow line, as indetail ‘a’ on page 42.

Before the case can beassembled the drawer run-ners should be installed, asin detail ‘c’ on the oppositepage. The openings are toosmall to do this after thecase is glued up. The lastpiece to install on the case isa small filler strip (I) underthe bottom (drawing at right).

BUILDING THE DRAWERSThe five drawers in the tool chestare much smaller than those in thelarger tool cabinet. Because thesedrawers are small, I didn’t use falsefronts. Here, the drawer fronts aremade from oak and the sides andbacks of the drawers are made frommaple, since only the drawer front isvisible when it’s closed.

The drawers are shallow so thateverything inside is in plain sightwhen I open a drawer. However,the drawers still need to be asstrong as possible. So I used lock-ing rabbets to join the parts.

SIMPLE JOINERY. Since the drawersare built with the same joinery,(only the drawer part sizes are dif-ferent), it makes sense to cut thejoinery for the drawers, as in detail‘a’ above, all at once.

Before assembling the drawers,you’ll need to cut some grooves.

First I cut a groove on the insideface of all the parts. It’s sized tohold a 1/4” plywood bottom.

A second and larger groove iscut on the outside of drawer sides.This groove will fit over the drawerrunners in the case. I positioned thegroove so that there is an even gapat the top and bottom, as in detail‘b.’ To do this, I cut a few test piecesso that I could check the setup.

Once the grooves are cut, youcan go ahead and cut the drawerbottoms and glue up the drawers.There’s just one more thing to do.You’ll need to notch out the drawerback so that the drawers will fitover the runners. You can see how Idid this in the drawing below.

Finally, I added the brass pulls.They’re a smaller version of theknobs I used on the tool cabinet. W

Drawer Guides. The drawers in the tool chest slideon wood runners mounted in the case. The runnersfit in grooves cut on the drawer sides. A little wax willmake them slide even smoother.

Groove. After cutting the joinery forthe drawer parts, I cut a groove in thedrawer sides. The groove is sizedslightly larger than the runner.

Notch. To allow the drawer to slideonto the runner, you’ll need to cut anotch in the drawer back. I used ahand saw and a chisel to do this.

How-To: Wood Drawer Guides


RLOWER

DRAWERBACK

SLOWER

DRAWERSIDE

NOTE:Drawer fronts

and backsare made of

-thick stock.Sides are made

of -thick stock

#/4"

!/2"2!/2

2

13

28#/8 12!/2

13

11&/8

7&/8

NOTE:Lower two

drawersare identical

2!/2

28&/8QLOWER

DRAWERFRONT

T

S

P O

N

M

L

L

I

CENTERDRAWER

BACK

CENTERDRAWERFRONT

CENTERDRAWER BOTTOM

LOWERDRAWER

SIDE

LOWERDRAWERBOTTOM

( " plywood)!/4

L

SMALL/CENTERDRAWER SIDE

K

SMALLDRAWER BACK

JSMALL

DRAWERFRONT

FILLER STRIP( x 1 - 29)!/4 !/2

12!/2

11#/8

SMALLDRAWER BOTTOM

( x 12 7 )!/4 !/2 #/8-

Alignlower drawer

pulls with upper

a. b. c.


Over the years, we’ve cut quite a few mortiseand tenon joints for the projects you see in the maga-zine. To make the mortises, I usually use a drill pressand Forstner bit to drill them out. Then I clean thesides and ends with a chisel. It’s a simple, reliablemethod. But if there are a lot of mortises to cut, thistechnique can be a bit time consuming.

With a hollow-chisel mortiser, you can cut half ofthis traditional joint much quicker. Quite simply, a

hollow-chisel mortiser makes cutting mortises anaccurate, one-step operation. Start by setting the fenceand workpiece hold-downs. Then all you have to dois drill a series of “square” holes to define the mortise.Since, there’s little or no clean up afterward, cuttingmortises takes less time with a lot less hassle.

Best of all, these tools are becoming more afford-able. So if you cut a lot of mortise and tenon joints,you may want to pick up one of these machines.

1Hollow Chisel Mortiser

2Biscuit JoinerSome tools, like the mortiser shown above,

make woodworking tasks faster and easier. But oth-ers, like a biscuit joiner, can change the way youdesign and build a project altogether.

With most joinery methods, you need to factor inthe joinery when sizing parts. But with biscuit or platejoinery, you just cut the parts as if they were going tobe butt jointed and the biscuit joiner takes care of therest. The joiner cuts a shallow slot in each of the mat-ing edges of the workpieces. A short, compressedwood “biscuit” is then glued in the slots. The biscuitacts like a spline to hold the two parts together.

Biscuit joinery is a fast, accurate, and easy way tobuild cabinet cases. But you’ll probably find a lot ofother uses for it too — like building face frames,attaching fixed shelves, or reinforcing miter joints, asillustrated in the photo at right.

Get a group of woodworkers together and the conver-sation usually turns to tools. It’s always interesting to hearwhat tools a woodworker uses and why. In the end, I usu-ally learn something new about tools I already own —or the tool I’m thinking about purchasing next.

After talking with a few people around here, I puttogether a short list of power tools that have made abig impact in our shop. Each of these tools will helpyou work quicker and give you more accurate results.

5 tools that will

Change theWay You Work

working with tools

{ A biscuit joiner makes assembling projects fast and easy.Designing is easier too, since parts are cut to finishedsize without having to account for joinery.

{ A hollow-chiselmortiser makesquick work ofcutting square,accurate mortisesin one step.


The first time I picked up atrim router, it seemed more like atoy than a “real” woodworkingtool. Too small. Too wimpy. Butafter using one for a while, you couldn’t tear it away from me.

So what makes these pocket-sized routers so great? First off,they’re the perfect size for routingthose final details on a project likechamfers and roundovers. I caneven do it one handed (not some-thing I’d try with a full-size router).

On small decorative details,you’re not removing a lot of mate-rial so lots of horsepower isn’t too

important. And it’s easier to con-trol a small trim router than tryingto balance a larger, full-size router. Iusually keep a roundover or cham-fer bit in the trim router ready to goat a moment’s notice. This way, Idon’t have to take extra time mess-ing around with changing bits onmy full-size router.

Another job where a trim routerreally comes in handy is routing ahinge mortise, as shown in thephoto at left. The small size andand greater control of the trimrouter provides accurate resultsand less cleanup when I’m done.

I get impatient waiting forglue to set up while attaching trimmolding to a project. It seems to takeforever before you can take theclamps off and move on. That’s whyit’s nice to have a brad nailer around.Not only does it speed up assemblytime, but it’s faster than trying topound in brads with a hammer.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m notabout to throw out my clamps oruse nails on every project. But abrad nailer can do some jobs betterand faster than using clamps or ahammer and nails.

For instance, installing molding.Who hasn’t had a hammer slip andding a workpiece? Brad nailers are

great for applying molding, as youcan see in the photo at right. Thinmolding can be hard to hold inplace with clamps and the delicateprofiles can be easily damaged. Butwith a few well-placed brads, allyou have are a few tiny holes to fill.

A brad nailer will come in handyfor more than just pinning moldingin place though. You can use it toquickly build a jig — or even shopcabinets — and get right back towork. Once expensive, you cannow find top-notch nailers pack-aged in kits that include an aircompressor and all the accessoriesyou need at many hardware storesand home centers.

When you think of sprayfinishing, you usually think of thegreat results that come from pro-fessional furniture and cabinetshops. But the truth is, you can getthose same results in your shopwithout spending a lot of money.High-quality spray equipment isnow available (and affordable) forthe average woodworker.

So why would you go out andget spray equipment? Speed forone. Spray finishing is perfect forlarge projects. You’re able to sprayon several coats in the time it

would take to brush on one. Best ofall, it’s easier to get into tight cor-ners with a spray gun than a brush.

Spraying on finishes allows youto use fast-drying finishes that areproblematic for brushing. But whatI like best are the consistent results.A good sprayed-on finished is flat-ter and more even without leavingany tell-tale brush marks.

If you’re like me, you’d rather bebuilding a project than applyingfinish. So investing in some sprayequipment will get you back to theshop building projects sooner. W

{ Whether it’s routing hinge mor-tises, chamfers or simpleroundovers, a trim router is neverfar from my workbench.

{ A basic spray system and fast-drying finishes make quick workof finishing large projects.

3Brad Nailer

4 Trim Router

5 Spray Equipment

{ Speed and accuracy are the nameof the game with a brad nailer.You’ll spend less time assemblingprojects, and use fewer clampswith one of these in your hand.


When you can’t face the finish, callon linseed oil and paste wax to do the job.

never-fail

Oil and Wax Finish

finishing room

I think every woodworker has, atone time or another, felt the “fear offinishing.” You take the last clamp offof a project and it looks great, butyou just know the finishing grem-lins are waiting to mess up your hardwork. Well, when you find yourselfin this situation, I have an answer.Treat yourself and your project to aboiled linseed oil and wax finish.

An oil and wax finish is about asfoolproof as any finish can get. Asyou’ll see, it’s so easy you can prac-tically apply it in your sleep. Andthe bonus is the thin protective filmyou create lets the natural beautyof the wood shine through.

TWO PARTS. The secret to an oil andwax finish is how the two partswork together. First, the boiled lin-seed oil soaks into the wood to giveit a warm glow and create a thin

protective layer. The color and fig-ure of cherry, walnut, maple, andeven oak will really “pop” afterjust a single coat of linseed oil.

But the oil alone has no shine.And that’s where the wax entersthe picture. A thin coat of pastewax rubbed on over the oil andthen buffed out will add anotherlayer of protection and leave a softsheen that can’t be beat.

GIVE IT A GO Applying an oil and wax finishcouldn’t be much simpler. But likeanything, there are a few tricks to it.

SMOOTH SURFACE. Since an oil andwax finish is very thin, what yousee on the surface of the wood iswhat you get. This means youneed to start with a really smoothsurface. And all this takes is some

{ The supplies you’ll need to gather for an oil and waxfinish couldn’t be much simpler. And applying thefinish won’t send you into a panic.

thorough sanding (220 grit doesthe job). And when I set down thesandpaper, I give the project agood going over with a tack cloth.

WIPE ON THE OIL. Now the “easy”work begins. Dip a pad of #0000steel wool into a jar of boiled lin-seed oil and start rubbing it intothe wood (top right photo). A softcloth will also do the job, but I pre-fer steel wool. It holds the oil welland its fine, abrasive action allowsme to really work the oil in.

You want to flood the surfacewith the oil and then rub it in witha vigorous circular motion. Whenthe project is thoroughly coveredyou can relax for a bit. Give the oil10 or 20 minutes to soak into thewood. As this happens, you’ll startto see the surface dull down.

WIPE IT OFF. After this short wait,just take a soft cloth and wipe offany excess oil left on the surface(middle right photo). I try to bepretty thorough and get into all thecorners and recesses.

MORE OIL. If conditions are good(dry and warm), the oil will be dryenough to recoat in a day. If thesurface still feels tacky, wait a littlelonger. First, give the piece a quickrubdown with #0000 steel wooland then wipe on a second coat justlike you did the first.

On the third day, you guessed it,more oil. You still won’t noticemuch build or sheen but that’s notwhat you’re after. You want the oilto soak in, not lay on the surface.

TIME FOR WAX. After the third coatof oil is dry, it’s time to bring up theshine with a coat of good qualityfurniture wax (I use a beeswax andcarnauba blend like the Briwaxshown in the lower right photo.)

The wax can go on with either asoft cloth or steel wool (bottomright photo). But unlike the oil, youwant to apply the wax a little moresparingly. Just enough to leave aneven layer on the surface.

The wax dries quickly. About assoon as you finish wiping it on,you start to buff it out with a softcloth, or even better, a piece oflamb’s wool (top left photo). You’llneed to use a pretty vigorous circu-lar motion for this job. The surfacewill feel a little tacky at first, but themore you rub, the easier your“buffer” will slide across the sur-face. And this is when you’ll seethe magic. The surface of the woodwill come to life and take on a sub-tle, soft sheen. When your bufferno longer grabs and the surface hasan even sheen, you’re done.

Now you might wonder howwell such an easy-to-apply, thinfinish will hold up. Well, for proj-ects that don’t get a lot of heavywear and tear, I’ve found that it’splenty durable. And a big plus isthat, unlike thick film finishes, anoil and wax finish can be quicklyrepaired. To remove a scratch orwatermark, simply rub off the waxwith steel wool, sand if necessary,and repeat the simple process. W

Awhile back, I came across an inter-esting recipe for an “all-in-one” oiland wax finish. Always on the look-out for new finishes, I decided tomix up a batch and give it a try.

This simple mixture called forequal parts (by volume) of three ofthe oldest finishing materials in thebook — boiled linseed oil, turpen-tine and beeswax. You can melt thebeeswax in a double boiler andadd it to turpentine, but I just

shaved pieces off a block and let itdissolve overnight. After addingthe linseed oil, you’ll have a mix-ture that looks a bit like varnish.

Apply the mixture just like youwould straight linseed oil — wipeit on and then wipe off the excess.After several coats, you can buffout the surface. I found that youonly get a low sheen from this mix,but it has a nice look and theprocess sure was easy.

#0000 Steel wool

{ A jar of oil and a pad of steel wool are all you need toget started. Wipe on a heavy coat and let it soak in.

{ The second step is just as easy. After giving the oil timeto soak in, wipe off any “leftovers” with a soft cloth.

{ A light coat of paste wax goes on over the third coat ofoil. A soft cloth and a circular motion do the job.


One-Step Oil and Wax Finish

Drilling anddriving screwsinto MDF

When working with

MDF, I find that

woodscrews can split the

workpiece or cause a

noticeable bulge. How can

I prevent this?

Charlie ScheffelLyons, Illinois

The shank of a typ-ical woodscrew is

shaped like a wedge. Sothe problem is thatunless the shank holeand pilot hole are drilledjust right, the screw cansplit the workpiece (leftdrawing below). But I'vefound that simply

switching to a differentfastener and using a sim-ple, three-step drillingtechnique can help makethe entire process virtu-ally foolproof.

SHEET METAL SCREWS.Instead of traditionalwoodscrews, I like touse sheet metal screws(see right drawingbelow). Since the wholeshank is straight, it isn'tas likely to split the MDF.

Note: For extra hold-ing power, I use screwsthat are 1/2" to 3/4" longerthan I would typicallyuse for joining solidwood or plywood.

DRILLING THE SHANK HOLE.For the sheet metalscrews to securely fas-ten the parts together,you’ll need to size theshank and pilot holesaccurately. The key todrilling the shank holeis to size it so the screwpulls the top piece

down tightly tothe bottom piece.

To do this, I finda bit that’s slightlylarger than theoutside diameterof the threads. Thisway, the screw will justslip through the hole.

A COUNTERSINK. Anotherproblem that you’ll findin driving screws intoMDF is that fibers fromthe lower piece tend tolift up and prevent thetwo parts from pullingtogether, as shown inthe left drawing below.

To solve this prob-lem, I drill a small coun-tersink where the shankhole exits the top work-piece before drilling thepilot hole, as you cansee in the right draw-ing. The countersinkprovides clearance forthe raised fibers with-out affecting the fit ofthe two parts.

THE PILOT HOLE.At this point,you’re ready to drill thepilot hole. The pilothole should be thesame as the inner diam-eter of the screwthreads. This makes iteasy to drive the screw,and still gives thethreads plenty of bite inthe workpiece.

How deep should thepilot hole be? I like todrill it just past wherethe tip of the screw willend up. This way, I don'thave to worry about thescrew splitting the MDF

deep in the hole andcreating a bulge in theside of the piece. W

A

Q

Do you haveany questions

for us?If you have a question relatedto woodworking techniques,tools, finishing, or hardware,we’d like to hear from you.

Just write down your ques-tion and mail it to us:Woodsmith, Q&A, 2200Grand Avenue, Des Moines,Iowa 50312. Or you can emailus the question at: [email protected].

Please include your fullname, address, and daytimetelephone number in case wehave questions.

SOLUTIONSl Sheet metal screws and properly-sized shank and pilot holes prevent split-ting and bulging of workpiece.l Longer screws provide extra holdingpower in MDF.l Countersinks at both ends of shankhole allow screw to pull joint together.

PROBLEMSl Woodscrew splits MDF near edgescausing bulges on face of workpiece.l Shallow countersinks and overdrivingscrew “lifts” edge of hole.l MDF fibers pull away from bottomworkpiece and prevent the parts fromjoining together tightly.

in the mailbox

Questions & Answers


No. 153 Woodsmith 49

Sourceshardware & supplies

ROUTER BITS The router bits featured in the arti-cle starting on page 10 were allpurchased at the WoodsmithStore. The lock miter bit that I triedout is made by Freud (#99-035)The box joint bit (#53610), theadjustable finger joint bit (#55392),and the glue joint bit (#55388) areall from Amana. All the bits havea 1/2"-dia. shank.

POCKET HOLE JIGS There are a number of pocket holejigs on the market. Some arepretty simple and inexpensive,while others offer you quite a fewbells and whistles.

The jig that I like to use in theshop is made by the Kreg ToolCompany. Their line of pockethole jigs ranges from basic tocommercial sized. Kreg pockethole jigs, screws and accessoriesare carried by the WoodsmithStore. Other sources are listed inthe margin column at right.

CRAFTSMAN TABLE Building the tile-top Tile-Top tableshown on page 16 won’t take longand neither will rounding up thesupplies. I suggest that you startby finding some ceramic tile thatappeals to you. A home improve-ment store or one that specializesin tile will have a good selection.

The only other items neededare the figure-8 fasteners(#21650), available from Rockler,and a handful of screws.

CLASSIC BOOKCASE Besides being easy to build, theclassic bookcase on page 24doesn’t take a lot of hardware.Other than a handful of screws,the only other hardware neces-sary are some leveler blocks(#31210) and a package of spoon-style shelf support pins (#22765).

If you plan on making severalbookcases and connecting them,there are a couple of other itemsyou’ll need. The first is some11/8"-long connector bolts(#31831). Then, to go along withthese, you’ll need some match-ing cap nuts (#31815). All thesesupplies came from Rockler.They’re also available from theWoodsmith Store.

TOOL CABINET & CHESTFor such a large project, the toolcabinet on page 34 doesn’t reallyrequire much in the way of hard-to-find hardware. The commonitems (screws and washers) canbe found at any good hardwareor home improvement store. Iordered all of the other supplies Ineeded from Rockler and theWoodsmith Store.

First, you’ll need seven pairsof 18"-long Accuride full-exten-sion drawer slides in black(#89690). To install the doors, Ipurchased a nice pair of 2" brightbrass butt hinges (#25767). Anda couple of versatile brass ballcatches (#28613) will keep thedoors closed. Finally, you’ll needto purchase some 11/4"-dia.bright brass knobs (#35485) toinstall on the doors and drawers.

If you decide to put your cabi-net on wheels, the 5"-dia. redlocking swivel casters (#31845)that I used came from Rockler.

To build the small tool chest, Ionly had to purchase a fewscrews and some 1"-dia. brightbrass knobs (#35477).

OIL & WAX FINISH Another great feature of the fin-ishing technique shown on page46 is that all the materials are easyto come by. You can find every-thing at a hardware store. W

MAILORDER

SOURCESSimilar projectsupplies may be

ordered from the following companies:

Rockler800-279-4441

rockler.comBrass Ball Catches,

Brass Knobs, Cap Nuts,Connector Bolts, Drawer

Slides, Face Frame Clamp,Figure-8 Fasteners,

Hinges, Leveler Blocks,Pocket Hole Jigs andScrews, Right Angle

Clamp, Shelf Support Pins

Woodsmith Store800-444-7527

Amana Router Bits, CapNuts, Connector Bolts,

Drawer Slides, FaceFrame Clamp, Figure-8Fasteners, Hinges, KregPocket Hole Jigs, Leveler

Blocks, Pocket HoleScrews, Right Angle

Clamp, Shelf Support Pins

Amana Tool800-445-0077amanatool.com

Router Bits

Woodworker’s Supply800-645-9292

woodworker.comBrass Knobs, Drawer Slides, Keller Dovetail

Jigs, Tabletop Fasteners, Router Bits

Kreg Tool Company800-447-8638kregtool.com

Face Frame Clamp,Pocket Hole Jigs andScrews, Right Angle

Clamp

Woodcraft800-225-1153woodcraft.com

Drawer Slides, FaceFrame Clamp, Figure-8Fasteners, Pocket HoleJigs and Screws, Right

Angle Clamp

WOODSMITH PROJECT SUPPLIESWe now feature hardware from in manyof our new project kits. To order, please use our toll-freeorder line, see below. It’s open Monday through Friday,from 8 AM to 5 PM Central Time. Before calling, pleasehave your VISA, MasterCard, Discover, or AmericanExpress card ready.

If you would prefer to mail in an order, please callthe toll-free phone number below for more informa-tion concerning shipping charges as well as anyapplicable sales tax.

Online Customer ServiceClick on Subscriber Services at

www.woodsmith.com• Access your account status• Change your mailing or email address• Pay your bill• Renew your subscription• Tell us if you’ve missed an issue• Find out if your payment has been received

Call us at 1-800-444-7527 or online at www.woodsmith.com

• “Online Extras” - Plans, Patterns, & More• Over 100 Woodworking Tips Online• Visit Our Readers’ Project Photo Gallery • Project Plans You Can Download• Catalog of Project Kits, Tools, Jigs, & Plans• Forums for Woodworking, Tools, & Classifieds• Links to Other Woodworking Sites

on the webon the web


cabinet construction that’s

Built to LastLearn the time-tested techniques to frame & panel construction in solid wood.

details of craftsmanship


Wood moves. That’s a fact. No mat-ter what you do, it’s going to expandand contract with seasonal changesin humidity. So when building cab-inets in solid wood, you need toaccount for wood movement in thedesign of the project andthe joinery you use tobuild it.

FRAME AND PANEL.One traditionalway to deal withwood movementis to use frame-and-panel con-struction. Here, asolid-wood panel

is wrapped with a flat, rigid frame.The panel fits in grooves cut in thestiles and rails of the frame. But itisn’t glued in place. Instead, thepanel is cut a bit narrower than theopening and allowed to “float” inthe grooves. This gives the panel alittle breathing room to expandand contract without affecting therest of the assembly. Don’t get mewrong, the stiles and rails still domove. But since the parts are nar-row, this doesn’t amount to much.

RUGGED JOINERY. What this meansis that the frame and its joinery arethe key to keeping the assemblyflat and rigid. The joinery has tohave a lot of glue surface to be

strong enough to resist twistingand sagging (in the case of doors).

When deciding on what type ofjoinery to use, there are a couple ofthings to think about — the size ofthe frame and panel and its func-tion. For example, the joinery onthe small sides of a cabinet doesn’tneed to be as strong as the joineryfor a large door. Depending on theproject, I’ll pick one of two joinerytechniques — a stub tenon andgroove or a mortise and tenon.

STUB TENON & GROOVE The joint I use on small projects isthe stub tenon and groove, as shownin the top drawing on the oppositepage. And it’s the direction we tookwhen building the coopered door

Shop Tip: “Locking in” Loose Panels

Space Balls. Place these soft, rubber balls inthe grooves of the panel before assembly.They’re firm enough to hold the panel inplace, but soft enough to allow movement.

Wire Brad. Start by gluing the frametogether. Then drive a brad through the toprail on the inside (so it won’t be visible) tokeep the panel centered.

A Dab of Glue. Although you can’t glue theentire panel in the frame, a “dab” of gluecentered on the top and bottom of the panelwill keep it from shifting around.


cabinet. The cabinet sides are sup-ported by the top, bottom, and backso they aren’t under a lot of stress.What makes this joint perfect for thissituation is that it provides a goodamount of glue surface and it’s easyto cut on a table saw.

GLUE SURFACE. For the strongestjoint, I cut the grooves 1/2" deep.The stub tenons are then cut to fit.This gives you enough long-grainglue surface to create a surpris-ingly strong, long-lasting joint.

FITTING THE PANEL. There’s one otherthing to mention here. The stubtenons should fit snugly in thegrooves, but the tongues on thepanel should fit a little looser. Youwant the panel to fit tight enoughso it doesn’t rattle, but yet stillmove freely with changes inhumidity. (To see a few ways tosecure the panel and keep it cen-tered, take a look at the box below.)

MORTISE & TENONAstub tenon and groove works finefor small panels. But what aboutlarger case sides and doors?

In these situations, the frame-and-panel assemblies may beunsupported (like a door) or besubject to more weight andgreater abuse. To handle that,you’ll want to beef up the joinery.

That’s when I turn to thesecond joint — a mortiseand tenon. This joint hasa number of things goingfor it that makes it idealfor solid-wood construc-tion. If you take a look atthe lower drawing atright, you can see whatI’m talking about.

BUILT FOR STRENGTH. Likethe stub tenon andgroove joint, the panel iscaptured by grooves inthe frame. But instead ofrelying on the stubtenons and grooves tohold the frame together, adeep mortise is cut oneach end of the stiles anda matching tenon is cuton each end of the rails.This gives the frame alarge glue surface thatmakes a big difference inkeeping the frame rigidand square.

INTERLOCKING JOINT. Amor-tise and tenon joint providesa strong physical connec-tion too. The shoulders of the tenonresist racking and twisting perfectlyfor large doors. And the interlockedparts can’t slip apart and are able tosupport a lot of weight.

So all it takes are two basic jointsand an understanding of howwood moves, to build strong, flatframes that will stay flat fordecades to come. W

Final Detailslooking inside

< Classic Bookcase. Start with straightforwardconstruction and traditional moldings. Thenadd an expandable design that makes it just aseasy to build a single section or a whole wall ofstorage. Step-by-step plans start on page 24.

} Tool Cabinet. Of course, a tool cabinet needs tobe solidly built and have tons of storage space.But this heirloom cabinet looks great too. It’sbuilt from oak and features a unique joinerytechnique. By adding some casters and a pairof mounting boards, you can make it mobile.Detailed plans begin on page 34.

{ Tile-Top Table. This great-looking accent table usesrock-solid mortise and tenon joinery, and features afunctional and stylish tile top. The complete instruc-tions begin on page 16.

Bookcase - Wood Tools

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