ShopNotes #102 - Cabinetmaker's Workbench

ContentsFeaturesweekend workshop

lbckle Box Tool Tote 16Learn the secrets to making the pivotingmechanism for this great-looking tool tote. lt'sall in the technique and we show you how.

dream shop project

Ca bi netma ker's Workbench Eff@zr,Put your skills to work with this classicworkbench. Solid joinery and traditional featuresmake it the perted addition to any shop.

hands'on tedrnique

Working with LeatheWith some simple, inexpensive tools andthese helpful hints, you can put this versatilematerial to use in your shop.

storage solutionsTackle BoxToolTote page 1 6 Leather Tcol Holders

36

40

10

12

14

22v

Protect and transport your hand tools in thesepractical and easy-to-make tool holders.

v

Working with Leather

Shoplested tips and techniques to solve yourwoodworking problems.

DepartmentsReaders'Tipsrouter workshop

Router Bit SetupTake the guesswork out of setting up a router.Here's how to make a perfect cut every time.

materials & hanfrrvarcpage 36 Choosing Drawer Liners

Find out what you need to know to proteclyour drawers and tools with a liner.

jigs & accessories

4

I

Hacksaw Tips & TechniquesFollow these handy tips to get the most fromthis essential shop workhorse.

hands'on technique

Shaping Brass

tips from our shop

We'll show you the step-by-step process forgetting great results when bending brass,

Shop Short Cuts

HacksawTips page 12

ShopNotes No. 102

_il

Cutoffs

page 24

he old-fashioned, haditional look of

the workbendr at left sure athacted a

lot of attmtion in our shop. It seemed to remind

everyone of a bendr they used to work orL or

wished ttrcy had, when they started wood-

working years ago. Ifs sfuldy, features a pair

of handy vise, and has loads of storage. It's the

perfect additionto any Shop old orneW.

Speaking of new, we're offering a way to

make it easier for you to-build the bench for

your shop. If you go to ShopNotes.com,you'L|

find a 3.D Sl<etchUp model of the workbench

you can download, complete with all the

joinery. Besides helping you better under-

stand how it all goes togetheq, you can mod-

tfy thu model to suit your needs. You'll also

find a complete set of bonus plans for build-

ing the storage drawers. Thke a look and let

us know what you think.

This ryrnbollets youknow there's more

information online atStpptl*s,com

OaA

Sources

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V CabinetmakersWorkbench

eefrftg rydropGetting More out of Benchtop Tools

Maximize your shop space and work moreefficiently with these helpful ideas.

nffir*qt tfis*le srv

Rip Fence Add-OnsWith a few accessories, make your table sawsafer, more accrJrate, and even more useful.

tu

ffirLatcutatoo wreAdding up fractions is always a challenge. Butwith one of these handy helpers, it's a breeze.

hdF*oePlate Joiner Tune-Up

Learn how to return your plate joiner to like-newperformance.'lt's easy to do.

v

www.ShopNotes.com

Readers

Tlps for

Shop

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Air Gompressor DollYWorking on some projects around the shop and house,

I needed an easy way to move my small comPressor

closer to the action. During u ttiP to the local home cen-

te{, I came up with the idea you see above. As you can

see in the drawings at left, an inexpensive hand cart and

a few pieces of hardware are all you need.

I used 3/+" plywood for the base and I sized it to fit the

base of my compressor. The feet of the comPressor are

bolted to the plywood. A set of four holes drilled in the

baseplate of the hand cart secure the plywood base to the

cart. This prevents the compressor from tiPPi^g when

moving the cart around from place to place.

For added convenience, it's easy to make a small panel

for the air connection. Again, a piece of plywood is all

you need. The panel is easily fastened to the cart with a

few U-bolts from the hardware aisle.What's really nice is the large tires on the hand cart

make it easier to move my comPressor around the shop

and home. And when I'm done for the day, I just just

tuck it into a comer, out of the way.Daaid Hodes

Yardley, PennsYlaania

ShopNotes No. 102

#10-24x2" U'OOLT5gECURE PANEL

#10-24x1 lz " FhMACHINE gCREW

gECUREg OASETO CART

-t *1o-2+ x2" Fh -/

MACHINE gCREW SECURESCOM?

v

Ftame GlampClamping picture frames during glueuphas always been a challenge.My shop-built frame clamp shown above takesaway the hassle and frushation.

The key to the clamp's versatility liesin the adjustable comer blocks. Each oneconsists of two rabbeted blocks you cancut.from scrap hardwood or 2x4 stock.

Once they're glued togetheq,drill two holes for a couple

lengths of threaded rod. The threadedrods are sized to span the frame andpass through the comer blocks. Thedrawing below shows how everythinggoes together. I keep an assortment ofrod lengths on hand for gluing up awide range of frame sizes.

Stanley HushenSomeraille, Tennessee

NAIL gECUREg THREADEO RODFOR CLAMPINO YET ALLOWg

FOR EAgY REMOYAL

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$ubmit Y.our Tips Cnlinelf you have an or ig inal shop t ip, we would l iketo cons ider pub l i sh ing i t in one or more o four publ icat ions. Just go onl ine to our web si teshown on the right.There, you'l l be able to uploadphotos of your t ip. Or you can mai l your t ip to theedi tor ia l address shown in the r ight margin. Wewi l l pay up to $ZOO i f we publ ish your t ip.

Ihe Winner!Congratulations to Bob Dawson ofBennington, Nebraska. His tip (shownon page 6) was selected as winner of theBosdt lmpactordriver. Bob's tip maximizesshop space by adding a folding extensionwing to his miter saw stand.

To find out how you could win thisdriver, check out the information above.Your tip just might be a winner.

www.ShopNotes.com

Go toShopltlotes,eom

and cl ick on the l ink

SUBffiIT A TIP

1Y2

lssue 102 Nov./Dec. 2008

PUBIISHER Donald B. Peschke

EDITOR Terry J. StrohmanMANAGING EDITOR Bryan Nelson

SENIOR EDITOR Phil Huber

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Randall A. MaxeyCONTRIBUTING EDITORS Vincent Ancona,Ted Raife, Dennis Perkins, Carol Beronich

EDITORIAt INTERN Catherine Seiser

EXECUTI\IE ART DIRECTOR Todd LambirthART DIRECTOR Cary Christensen

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER jamie DowningSENIOR ILIUSTRATORS David Kreyling, Dirk Ver Steeg,

Harlan V. Clark, Peter J. Larson, David Kallemyn

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Shelley Cronin

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ted KralicekSENIOR PROJEO DESIGNERS Ken Munke,,

Kent Welsh, Chris Fitch, James R. Downing, Mike Donovan

PROJECT DESIGNER/BUILDER lohn DoyleSHOP CRAFTSMEN Steve Curtis. Steve Johnson

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS Crayola England,Dennis Kennedy

ASSOCIATE STYTE DIRECTOR Rebecca CunninghamSENIOR PREPRESS IMAGE SPECIALIST Allan Ruhnke

PRODUCTI0N ASSISTANT Minniette JohnsonVIDEO DIRECTOR/EDITOR Mark Haves

ShopNotes@ 0SSN 1062-9696) is published bimonthly 0an., March, May,July,Sept, Nov) byAugustHome Publishing, 2200 GrandAve., Des Moines, lAsmU.ShopNotes@ is a registered trademark ofAugust Home Publishing@Copyright 2008 by August Home Publishing. All rights reserved.Subscriptions: Single copy: $4.95. One year subscription (6 issues): $27.95.Canada/International add $10 per year, U.S. funds.Canadian Subscriptions: Canada Post Agreement Number 40038201 .Send change ofaddress information and blocks ofundeliverablepopies toPO. Box881, Station Main, Markham, ON I3P8M6.Canada BN &1597 5473 RTPeriodicals PoSage Paid at Des Moines, IA and at additional mailing offices.

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'.CUSTOTIEBSERYICE Phone:8oo-333-s8s4SUBSCRIPTIONS EDITORIALCustomer Service ShopNotes MagazineP.0. Box 842 2200 Grand AvenueDes Moines, lA 50304-9961 Des Moines, lA [email protected] [email protected]

Postnaster: Send change ofaddress to

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,Golll

Ar"rcntsrFlol,rsI \ o u r l r 6 k { } J { r c o i r P ^ * Y Printed in U.S.A

Folding Extension for Miter SawMiter saws are handy for cross-cutting long workpieces. But theirshort tables don't offer enoughsupport for these longer lengths.Commercial extension tables arenice, but there wasn't room in *y

shop - or budget - for one. So I

ctune up with my owrl design.First, I added a support wing

to my the miter saw stand (photo

above). Next, I built the extensiontable. The extension supports alongworkpiece and incolporates asliding stop for repeatable cuts.

Y4"'2O THREADEDKNOF AND WA9HER

The extension is built aroundtwo lengths of gvfr metal conduitfrom the home center. The two endpieces capture the conduit tubesthat create the "ways" for the slid-i.g stop block (drawings below).

The adjustable stop is slotted toallow it to be raised when neededfor use as a stop block. And it canbe lowered out of the way to offeradditional support for long work-

pieces (End View drawing below).Now I can place a longboard on

the saw and cut the exact length Iwant safely and accurately. And

best of all, with the extensionfolded down, I regain all of my

shop space when I'm through.Bob Dawson

Bennington, Nebraska

\/

ADJUgTMENT ELOCK(4/+" x8")

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ShopNotes No. 102

\-

Bench RiserMy work at the bench is much more comfortable,accurate, and easier on my back since I built the benchriser you see in the photo. It's a simple device thatbrings the work up higher where I can see it moreclearly. The extra-large top and bottom provide plentyof space for clamping.

The riser is built from 3/+" plywood. The top, bot-tom, and two sides have a groove down the centerthat houses the center brace. I cut the groove in a longpiece of plywood first, then cut the pieces to length.Next,I cut a pair of dadoes onthe top andbottomto fitover the side pieces. Alittle glue and a few clamps areall you need to assemble this handy bench helper.

Donald MotterStockton, California

(hricl(Tips

l Totamethe excess banding whenusing band clamps, Len Urban ofRancho Mirage, California uses acouple of small spring clamps.

www.ShopNotes.com

Pegboard AccessoryI use my tape measure and pen-cils a lot when I'm in the shop. Iwanted a way to stow them onthe pegboard that was both secureand convenient. \tVhat I designedwas all that, plus it's easy to makefrom a piece of scrap.

The holder is made from "two-by" stock. I cut a shallow dado tocreate a recess for the metal bracketthat holds the measuring tape. Thedeeper groove leaves room forthe clip on the back of the tape. Aseries of holes along the top edgeholds pencils and other accesso-ries. A couple of L-hooks placed

HOLEg FOR PENgAND PENCILS

gHEET METALERACKET HOLOSTAPE MEAgURE

\- OLOCK MADE FROM"TWO - OY'9TOCK

near the top edge on the back sideof the block hold it in place on thepegboard within easy reach.

Peter SherrillF or estaill e, W is consin

\I A sanding drum and a cross-slide vise areall you need to sharpen a chisel, says JeftreyDoemel of Reedsville, Wisconsin The visefeeds the tool precisely for a sharp edge.

I The most critical setup in mostrouting tasks is to accurately setthe bit height. It sounds simpleenough. But depending on thetype of bit and what task you'redoing (joinery or profiles), set-ting the bit can be tricky. Over theyears, I've picked tp a few shortcuts that make this task fasteq, eas-ier, and more accurate.

PRI|FITE BITSOne of the main jobs I call on myrouter to do is create a profile on

the edge of a workpiece. Depend-ing on the profile, it can be atedious, trial-and-error process tozero ln on the correct height.

Chamfers. Chamfer bits arenotorious for being tough to setto a precise height. That's becausethere really aren't any comers touse as a reference point. So gettingan exact size usually involves anumber of test cuts.

Once I get the bit set, I rout theprofile in a small block and labelit. So the next time I need to set the

bit, I can use the block as a guide,as shown in the photo above. Evenif the chamfer sizel need doesn'tquite match the ones routed on theblock, the block can still get me inthe ballpark more quickly.

Roundover Bits. Another typeof profile bit that can cause a head-ache is a roundover. The problemhere is that if the bit is set too high,you end up with a slight ridge linethat's tough to remove withoutaffecting the profile.

A quick and easy tip for settingthe bit height is shown in the firstphoto at left. Raise the bit trntil theoutside edge just touches a rulerheld across the bit opening.

After making a test cut to con-firm the setting, rout the profile ina set-up block (left margin) dedi-cated to all your roundover bits.

< Router Table. Use a metalruler to set the bit height (left)

and the fence (right) when usingprofile bits in the router table,

f RoundoverGuide. Thisguide block

ensures accu-rate setup for

roundover bits.

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ShopNotes No. 102

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< Strte & Rail Bits. Use the matingprofiles of these set-up blocks to savetime when setting the bit height in yourrouter table.

In the Router Thble. There'sone other trick I use at the routertable when I'm working with pro-file bits. Even though the bits havebearings, I like to use the fenceto provide greater control of theworkpiece. For this to work, thefence has to be flush with the bear-ing on the bit. The second photoat the bottom of the facing pageshows how to do this quickly andeasily with a straightedge.

JtlII{ERYJoinery is the other main task Iuse my router for. And setting bitsfor joinery has its own set of chal-lenges like cutting interlockingjoints and routing precise depths.Thankfully, there are some simpletips for getting top-notch cuts.

Specialized Bits. Some joinerybits like dovetail bits, drawer jointbits, or the stile and rail bits shownabove require specific setups for anaccurate fit. And this can involve a

lot of fussing around. If you don'tuse these bits often, spendingsome time getting the bit set rightmay not be a big deal. But if theywere easy to set up, you may findyourself using them more often.

The way to simplify the processis to make a gauge block, as shownin the photos above. It's as simple asrouting the profile in a piece of scrapafter the bit is set correct$ The nexttime youneed thebit, use the gaugeblock for your setup, make a testcut, and you're ready to go.

Straight Bits. Dadoes, grooves,slots, rabbets, mortises - it's safeto say straight bits are essentialfor cutting joinery. And while it'spretty corunon to use a square toset the height of a bit, it's not nec-essarily quick or precise.

Don't Measure. One of the easiestwaysaroundthisis to skip themea-suring. Instead, use a workpiece orpiece of hardware as a set-up gurde.You can see one example of this in

the photo above. \A/hen routing ahinge mortise, instead of measuringthe thickness of the hi.gu and thensetting the bit to that mark, you canuse a pair of hinges as a fast andsimple set-up gauge.

Stepped Set-Up Gauge. Speak-ing of set-up gauges, you can seea shop-built version in the lowerleft photo. The advantage of a set-up gauge over a ruler is that thebit contacts the top of a screw for apositive setting. Another advantageis thatyou canuse the gauge to stepthe bit up for multiple passes.

The gauge is made from a fewsmall pieces of vtPf'. Each of thescrews is set to a different height.Brass screws prevent chipping the

carbide cutting edges.By leaving your ruler inthe drawer and using

these tips, you canmake setting thebitheightonyourrouter quicker

and more accu-rate. And you'llbe one big stepcloser to getting a

perfect cut. A

L HingeMortises.Rest the routeron the hingeleaves andlower the bituntil it touchesthe workpiecefor foolproofresults.

www.ShopNotes.com

,rj:k,,,,,

choosing & usin$'*

I

L Natural.Inexpensive

felt (top),velvet (center),and cork (bot-

tom) make iteasy to line

a drawer. ofof

Drawer LlnersHeres what you need to know when deciding on adrawer liner to protect and cushion your hand tools.Drawers and tays are two of themost cofiunon methods of storinghand tools in a shop. And for goodrcasoru th"y'* thebestwayto keepthem safe fncm damage.

The only real hang-up is thatevery time you open or close adrawer, it tends to jostle every-thing around. And all too oftenthis damages a sharp cutting edgeor knocks around a precision tool.

The Solution. To solve thisproblem,I've installed liners in allthe drawers irr *y shop. The lin-ers provide a cushion for my toolsand help protect them from dam-age. They even protect the drawerbottom itself from being damagedby the sharp edge or corner of atool. And most liners "gtip'th"tools to keep themfromslid-ing around inside.

Liner Options. Onethe drallenges

a suitable liner is the wide rangeof options available. Woodwork-ing retail outlets and mail-ordersources often cilry the ones yousee in the margin at left.

The material at the top is feltand the center one is a velvet-likecloth. And they're often adhesive-backed, which makes installingthem a snap. But you can also findthese materials in most fabric storeswithout the adhesive backing.

Both materials are suited fordrawers or trays that aren't goingto be exposed to a lot of dust and.hips.The dust and chips tend to"strck" to these materials, so theycan be a challenge to keep clean.And they will absorb moisture.

Cork. The third material yousee in the margin at left is cork.And it rates among my favoritesas a drawer or tray liner. It's a nat-ural material that provides a greatcushion for any tool. Plus, it's easyto keep clean. You can find it withor without an adhesive backingin thicknesses ranging from Vto"to7/s". As an added benefit, corkis resistant to moisture. And it just

looks great in a drawer.Foam. Other options include

the foam-like materials you seein the photo below. If they lookfamiliar' it's because they're com-monly used to line the drawersand shelves in kitchen and bathareas. But they're also a greatchoice for lining the drawers and

\/

< Household Option. Foam-likekitchen and bath shelf liners

work equally well in the work-shop for a drawer or tray.

10

deciding on

ShopNotes No. 102

\,

trays in your shop for a numberof good reasons.

For starters, they're inexpensive.You canbuy a whole roll of mate-rialto line anumber of drawers forjust a few dollars. The materialsare typically designed to grip bothon the top and thebottom faces, sothey'll stay put in the drawer alongwith keeping your tools secure.

Another great feature is thatmany of these liners have anti-microbial properties to inhibit bac-teria, mold, and mildew. Aperfectsolution for a damp shop.

You'll find other kinds of foamand rubber liners, like the onesyou see above. The two at the leftcome as pre-sized tool mats to fitthe drawers of metal tool carts. It'san easy solution to the problem ofsizing the liner to fit.

Anti-Corrosion Solution. Butthe one at the far rightinthe photoabove was something I recentlyrEU:t across at a local home center.It's an anti-corrosion mat designedspecifically for use in the shop.

The liner contains a vapor cor-rosion inhibitor (VCI) formula-tion designed to protect the metalsurfaces of a tool from rust andcorrosion when it's stored in anenclosed area. Orrce installed, theliner emits a VCI vapot, which dif-fuses throughout the enclosureand clings to the metal surface.

rl{slAtul{G A UI|ERAfter deciding on a liner, install-i^g it is the next step. And thatdepends on the type of liner.

Just Cut to Size. Liners madeof foam and rubber are designedto rest directly on the drawer bot-tom. So it's just a matter of cuttingthe liner to malch the size of thedrawer and slippi^g it in place. Acutting mat, a straightedge, and autility knife make quick work ofsizing the material.

Note: It's always a good idea touse a framing square and checkthat the drawer is actually squarc.This way, you canmake anyminoradjustnents to ensu-re a good fit.

Adding a Backer. For doth andcork liners, I use a slightly differ-ent method. I don't like to stickadhesive-backed material directlyto the drawer bottom since I can'tremove it or dean it as easily. Andplain cloth or cork won't lay flatand sectrre. The solution is to usea more solidbacking.

h this case, installing the linerstarb wittr cutting the backingmaterial to size. I like to use a heavy-duty posterboard as a backer. Hereagain, a straightedge and a utility

larife make it easy to cutthe poster-board to final size so it matches thedrawer Qower left photo).

The next step is to attadr the linerto the backer. Tlo do this, I start bycutting the material slightly over-sized (about L"), whether it's adhe-sive-backed or not.

For a liner without an adhesiveback, simply apply spray adhesiveto the posterboard (center photobelow) and then prcss it firmly-against the liner. After thaf it's justa matter of trimming it flush withthe edge of the backer (lower rightphoto). For an adhesive-backedliner, you can skip the spray adhe-sive and attachthe liner directly.

One last thing. To make iteasy to rc{nove a linerwith a backing (forrqplaceurentordean-hg), I like to drill asmall hole near flrecomer of the drawer.This way, I can "Wp'out the liner easilywith ascratdrawl ornail.

As you c€ul see/ prctectingyour tools isn't difficult. All ittakes is some common drawer linermaterial and an aftemoon. A

I Tool Specific,Pre-sized mats (farleft and center)fit the drawers ofmetal tool cartsbut can be sizedfor other uses. /f'seasy to cut a roll ofanti-corrosion liner(near left) to fit anysize drawer.

L Finished.The installedliner looks greatwhile protectingyour valuabletools.

A Cut the Backer to SEe. Aftermeasuring the drawer, cut thebacking mateitrhlto size. Then, testthe fit to ensure there are no gapsaround the edges.

www.ShopNotes.com

L.A Spray & Mount.Spray adhe-sive makes quick work of attach-ing a liner without an adhesivebacking. Simply press the backeragainst the liner to secure it.

L Trim the Liner. A straightedge(or a framing square) makesit easy to accurately trim thedrawer liner perfectly flush withthe edges of the backer.

11

, ' i : j i ' sF la ig,, *,,. '1,' '

1t" - 1ST 'r!

, , ' , ' . ' 3 . : l J t lmn , ,*Nr, or,n 1,",4 lr y' f j! /r-r /' /. ti

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J - l "

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l r i t

Y A Better Bite.( ) h n n q a a n t r n l i f- u - - " .Y

blade with a toothcount approprtate

for the material.

",+Sil'

:rit:.+'

For me, using a hacksaw was anexercise in frustration. The bladewould often jam in the cut, orbreak. And the resulting cut wasusually rougher than I'd like.

But, as I found out, there aresome tips and tricks you can use toget the results you want from yourhacksaw. The key to success startswith the tools and accessories.

FRAMI AHII BTABESThe first, and perhaps most impor-tant, thing to consider is yourhacksaw frame. Upgrading to ahigh-tension frame, like the one

you see in the mainphoto, makes ali thedifference. It's a littlemore expensive, butthe improved resultsprove its worth.

Blade Tension.And the reason issirnple. The high-tension frame isable to put consider-abiy more force onthe blade to keepit straight. It helpsprevent the twistingand buckling that

can sometimes occur when usinga less expensive frame.

Blade Quality. The other impor-tant thing I learned was to spendmy money on good quality, high-speed steel blades. There are manyto choose from, but I like bladesmade by Stnrrett, Lenox, or Bnlrco(formerly Sondaik). These bladesare more expensive than generic" gruy" blades, but they're still lessthan a couple of dollars.

Blades with a Bite. And whenyou're choosing a blade, the num-ber of teeth per inch makes a dif-ference. It pays to take the time toswitch out the blade for one that'sappropriate for the task. (You'llfind some unique, specialty bladeson the opposite page.)

Standard metal-cutting bladesare generally available withbetween 14 and 32 teeth per inch.For heavy-drty tasks like cutting abolt to length, you can get by r.r'itha coarser, iow tooth-count blade.But for thinner materials, you'llwant to switch to a finer blade.The general rule of thumb for get-ting smooth cuts is that three teethshould be engaged in the materialwhen possible (drawing at right).

Stay Sharp. Finally,I've learnedit's important to throw the bladeaway as soon as you notice it'sgetting dull. There's no point infighting with a dull blade when areplacement is so inexpensive.

TESHNToUES FoS SUCCES$With the right equipment, you're

on your way to better results. Butthere are some tips and techniquesthat will help as weil.

Clear Layout. For clean, con-sistent cuts, go the extra step tomark clear layout lines. For metal,I sometimes use layout dye or amarker, then scribe the iine witha sharp an,l or metal scribe. Thisway, the layout line is easier to seeagainst the dark background.

FOR OE9T REgULTg, THREETEETH 9HOULO bEENGAGED IN THE MATERIAL

12 ShopNotes No. 102

II:

A Simple Block. A wood blocknestled rn angle iron helps guidethe blade for a square cut.

Support. But the most helpfulthi.g you can do is fully supportthe workpiece. You can see in thephotos on these two pages how Isupport a variety of workpieces.The key is to eliminate all vibra-tion and movement as you pushthe saw into the cut.

Blade Guides. Like the rip fenceon your table saw helps ensure astraight cut, a guide for your hack-saw can do the same. This can beas simple as a block of wood. Ortwo pieces of wood that "trap" theworkpiece to prevent movementand guide the blade.

L Rabbeted Guide. Clamp ahinge between rabbeted guideblocks for a smooth, straight cut.

Technique and Stance. Thefinal tip for straightcuts pertains tohow you hold the saw during thestroke and how you position yourbody. Since I'm right-handed, myright hand is on the handle of thesaw. My left hand is at the front ofthe saw to help apply slight down-ward pressure during the cut. Theleft foot is forward as I cut. Tomake the cut,it's just a mat-ter of pushingthe saw into thematerial thenreleasing the

< Threads. Acouple of nutsand washersform a guidefor cuttingthreaded rodand boltsto length.

pressure on the refurn stroke. Onceyou get used to it, it feels natural.

Cutting Loose. \tVhile a hack-saw isn't usually considered aprecision tool, you can tame thisrough-cutting saw with the rightequipment and techniques. Witha little practice, you'll be gettingprofessional results - without allof the frustration. A

L Grooved Support. A dadoacts as a support and guide

for cutting a section of Tlrack.

specioltyBlodesStandard hacksaw blades are great foreveryday metal-cutting tasks in the shop.But if you need to cut curves or uniquematerials like fiberglass, hardened steel, oreven glass, you'll want to pick up a specialtyblade. (Refer to Sources on page 51. )

Some blades have a carbide grit cut-ting edge to slice through tough materials(photo at right). \Mhile a spiral blade excelsat cutting curves and openings in many types ofmaterial, including sheet metal (photo below).

L UniqueBlades. Carbidegrit (top twoblades) and aspiral cutting edge(bottom blade) cutodd shapes andtough mateilals.

< Odd Shapes.A starter hole isall you need to cutan opening with aspiral blade.

13

Technique

bending ond

ShaplngBrass H

A simple jig and a littleheat are all it takes to

smoothly shape brass.

What *ully sets off the tool toteshown on page 16 arc the brasshandle supporb and pivotlinks tfiatallow the tays to swing open. Andthe key to it all isbending the handlesupporb to a consistent shape.

With the right technique andthe simple shop-built jig shownin the box on the opposite page, itisn't all that difficult to do. The jig

provides the consistency. And thetechnique ensures the brass bendssmoothly without breaking.

The Right Brass. To make thebending easier, I used alloy 360free-cutting brass (refer to page 5L

for sources). \A/henit's heated, this brassbends easily anddoesn't work-hardenas quickly as othertypes of brass.

Cutting to Size.One of the key stepsto getting consistentbends in the mirror-image handle sup-ports is to start withthem all sized identi-cally. After cutting them to roughlength, spend some time filingthe ends square so they're all thesame length (10").

Adding the Mounting Holes.Once you have thebrass sized, thenext step is to drill all the mount-ing holes. What's important hereis the spacing between the holes.Accurate placement is the keysince the holes determine the loca-tion of the bend on each support.

To ensure this, I used a stopblock on my drill press fence anddrilled all the holes at one settingbefore adjusting the stop block forthe next hole.

Plus,I made sure to drill the twoholes in the pivot links and the

L Angling the Support, Slowand steady, with a quick check(inset), is the key to bending thesupport to a 45o angle.

two matching pivot holes in thebrass supports at the sarne time. Idid this by working from the sameend so the spacing was identical.

After drilling all the holes, thereare two things left to do before youbend the brass. The first is to coun- :

tersink the threeholes at the top ofeach brass support for attachingthe handles later. And the secondis to file a gentle curve atboth endsof the pivot links and the end ofeach support with the pivot holes.

Setting up the fig. Now you'reready to bend the brass. To avoid

I

NOTE: ATTACHTHIg END TOEND PLATEFOR FIRgT EEND

FIR9T: cur5U?PORT TOLENGTH (1O")AND DRILLALL HOLEg. THENCOUNTER9INKU??ER THREEHOLEg ANPFILEOOTIOMEND ROUND

9ECOND:HEAT ANDMAKE 45"EEND

THIRD: nrerANP EENP 90.

NOTE:ATTACH

THIg ENDTO CENTER

9U??ORIFOR gECOND

9END

FOURfHT ?oLtsHALL PARTg

WITH gTEEL WOOL

#lJ,

L4 ShopNotes No. 102

v

the hassle of clamping the brass tothe jig, I used the holes in the sup-ports to mount each piece securelyto the bending jig.

The first step is to locate the twosets of mounting holes in the endplate of the jig. To do this, use asquare to position one of the sup-ports against the pipe with thecountersunk holes at the bottom(Front View in the box below).You'll need to do this for the oppo-site side of the pipe as well sinceyou'll be making mirror imagebends on the supports.

The process for locating themounting holes on each side of thespacer block is the same. The onlydifference is I positioned the sup-port at a 45o angle and used thetwo holes at the bottom to hold itin place (Side View below).

Bending the Brass. At this point,bending the brass is easy. The firststep is to make the 45'bend in eachpiece. The second step is to makethe 90o bend at the top.

To do this, secure one of the longstrips to the end plate. (It doesn'tmatter which side at this point.)Thery clamp a pair of locking pli-ers at the top (to avoid marring thebrass, don't use a lot of pressure).

The next step is to start heatingthe brass. I used a propane torch

\A/hile you could simply heat thebrass and do your bending free-hand or in a vise, it's best to takethe time to build the simple jigshown in the drawing at right. Itresults in consistent bends.

The jig is built out of 3/+" ply-wood and a single piece of

'LVz"-

dia. steel pipe from a local homecenter. The drawing provides thecritical dimensions.

The key is to size the spacer blockto match the diameter of the pipeand center it under the pipe. Thismakes it easier to bend and verifythe 90o angle on the supports.

www.ShopNotes.com

and directed the heat along thearea where the brass contactedthe pipe, like you see in the mainphoto at left. Give it about a min-ute and then start to apply gentlepressure at the top using the pli-ers. Be sure to use leather gloves toprotect your hands from the heat.

Note: As you heat the brass, anyareas of the jig that contact thebrass will scorch, as you can see inthe photos shown here.

Slow & Steady. Continue toapply heat and steady pressureas you slowly bend the supportto a 45o angle. Be sure to checkthe angle along the outside edgeas you work (inset photo on theopposite page).

Once you have the correct angle,you're done with that support fornow. Carefully remove it from thejig and set it aside. (It'11be hot soset it on a concrete floor or ceramictile to cool.) Repeat the process tomake another matching support.Then, switchto the opposite side ofthe pipe to form the mirror imagebends on the next two supports.

Adding the 90'Bend. The sameprocess applies for the 90o bend atthe top of each support. Here agairtapply slow and steady pressure asyou go. The goal is to make a pairof mirror imagebends. |ustbe sure

L Bending for the Handle. Thesecond bend forms the 90'angle(inset) for the handle at the topend of the support.

the countersunk holes are on thetop outside face of each support asyou make the bend.

Finally, after everything cools,you can polish all the parts. A littleelbow grease and some fine steelwool is all it takes to bring thebrass to a mirror finish. A

\-.

shopbuiltBending Jig NOTE: unrr

g?ACEROLOCK(23/+" x4/+") 9AME

THICKNE99A5 ?I?E

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(7 ' x7 ' )

?I?E(1V2" x12")

NOTE: ALL PARTgMADE FROM5/+" ?LYWOOD

: t l r

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t

Tote your tools in style withthis one-of-a-kind tool box.

There's no denying that the tool tote you see abovelooks great. Wood and brass combine to give it a tra-ditional look and style. And despite what you maythink. it isn't all that difficult to build.

Some basic woodworking takes care of buildingthe main box and two trays. Then, to allow the traysto pivot open and sit flat on the lower box, you'll needto do some metal work. And that's nothing more thancutting and shaping some brass bar stock. You'll findeverything you need to know to complete the tooltote on the next few pages.

L Open & Shut Case. Common brass bar stock isused to create a pivoting mechanism that allows thetrays to swing open for easy access (main photo).


ExplodedView DetailsOVERALL DIMEN9ION9:75la"w x176le"Lx ollAo"H (cLogEo)

9MALL PIANO HIN6E?ROVIDES 50LtO

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OF THE L ID

HANDLE END9ARE RABBETEO TO FIl

6RA55 5U770RT5

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9MALL, OFTEN.U9EDITEM9, WHILE MAIN FOX

TROVIDE? OPEN gTORAOEFOR LARGER ITEMg

HANDLE 5UP?ORT6ARE CONNECTED 9Y

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9RA55 HANDLE\ 9UPPORTgAND

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ORA99 WAgHERgPREYENT 5U??ORT5

AND PIVOT LINKg FROMRUBBING AOAINgT

9IDE9 OF MAIN BOXAND TRAY9

CORNERg OF TRAYg ANDMAIN BOX ARE MITEREP TOWRAP AROUND TOOL TOTE

HARDFOARD9PLINE9 REINFORCEMITERED CORNER9OF TRAY9 AND oOX

CURVED TRAY ENDgARE CREATED FROMTWO PARTg TO EA9E

CON9TRUCTION

CURVED LIDMATCHEg END OF

TRAY FOR A CLEAN,gEAMLE99 LOOK

NOTE: PETAILEDINSTRUCTION9 FOR FENDINOTHE BRA95 HANDLE9U77ORT5 BEGINON ?AGE14

TRAY RE5T9 ONEOAE OF MAIN FOX

IN OPEN POSITION

www.ShopNotes.com t7

two trays &

a BoxThe first step in building the toolbox is to make the main box andthe two trays that rest on top. Thenyou can take on the task of bend-ing the brass bar stock to create thepivoting mechanism.

Building the main box and traysis pretty basic construction, as inFigures 1 and 2. They're simpleassemblies consisting of miteredand splined ends and sides alongwith a plywood bottom. The endsof the trays are shaped to acceptmatching lids (more on this later).

MAKII'IG TIIE MAII{ BtlXThe main box is the simplestassembly to make, so that's whereI started. To keep the box light, yetsturdy, I used %"-thick hardwood.

As detailed in Figure 1, the mainbox is just a pair of identical sidesand ends. So after ripping yourstock to final width, you can tiltyour saw blade to 45o and then useyour miter gauge with anauxiliaryfence and a stop block to miter theends and sides to final length.

Strengthen the Miters. Assem-bling the box with mitered joints

provides a clean look. To reinforce

. F I G U R E

the miters, I added a hardboardspline at each joint.

Installing the splines is a simpletask. All you need to do is cut akerf along the mitered face of eachof the workpieces, as in Figure 1b.Once you have the kerfs cut, youcan cut the splines to size andthen dry fit everything together tocheck the assembly.

9PLINE

Add the Bottom Groove. Thelast step for the sides and ends is to

cut a groove near the bottom edgeto accept the plywood bottom. Theonly thing to be concerned withhere is matching the width of thegroove to the actual thickness ofthe plywood you use (Figure 1a).

Before gluing up the box, you'llneed to cut the bottom to size.

la" x1/a" TAg CUTAT EACH CORNERoF E0xts0T10M

9PLINE(Vo" Hdbd.)

TRAY INNER 5IDE5{3/o', x21/2" - 17")

LON@gPLINE9 ARE

CUT TO 21/2"

TRAYOUTERSIDE

(3/o" x1e/+" '17")

TRAY OOTTOM(1s/o" x165/b" - %" ery.1

NOTE: ePLtNEe ARE1/o" Hdbd.

? r<-I

"/b

ShopNotes No. 102

And to avoid interfering with thesplines, you'll need to knock offthe comers of the bottom. You cansee this clearly in Figure 1. Finally,glue up the mainbox, making sureit's flat and square.

ADDII{G THE IRAYSAt this point, you can tum yourattention to the upper trays. Asyou can see in Figure 2, the traysare constructed similarly to themain box - mitered comers rein-forced with splines. But there are afew differences to point out.

Differences. For starters, thetray ends are sized so the two traysmatch the overall size of the bot-tom. And to allow for the curvedlid, the outer side of the tray is nar-rower than the inner side. Finally,to allow the lid to wrap aroundthe ends, the top outside comerof each end piece is rounded. Tomake building this part easieq, it'smade from two pieces.

Size the Parts. To get started,you're going to repeat a numberof the same steps you did earlier.First, rip the inner and outer sidesto final width along with the lowerend pieces (they match the widthof the outer sides).

Since the upper end piecesare rather small, I made them bystarting with an extra-long blank,as you see illustrated in Figure 3.This makes it easier to completethe miters on the ends along withthe kerfs for the splines.

Trim to Length. Once you haveall the pieces ripped to width,

NOTE: TRAY UPPERENDg ARE MADE FROM,ri iri: FIGURE

ia::*il-

Y

3/o"'THICK 11OCK

miter all the parts to final length.Be sure to miter the ends of theextra-long blank for the upperend pieces while you're at it. Andjust like before, cut the kerfs forthe splines in the mitered ends ofall the workpieces (including theblank for the upper end pieces).

With the kerfs complete, you cancut the grooves for the drawerbot-toms. And finally, cut out a notchin each inner side to make it easyto open the lid with your fingers.

Final Assembly. Assemblingthe trays is a bit different than themain box. The first step is to cutthe tray bottoms to final size andknock off the comers as before.

TRAYUPPER END(3/+" x3c/o")

FlRgn MrrERENDg OF

EXTRA-LON6(9") FLANK

Y2" RADIU9

CUT TRAY U??EREND TO FINAL LENGTH

AND ROUNP CORNER

9ECOND: cur1/a"-wtDEKERF FOR 9PLINE

Then with your splines in hand,glue up each of the trays. But leavethe upper ends off for now.

While the glue dries on the trays,you can cut the upper ends to finallength. The next step is to roundthe ends for the curved lid. Afterluyi.g out each curve, I removedmost of the waste at the band saw.Then to make sure the curves onall the upper ends were identical, Iclamped all the pieces together andsanded them smooth.

Once the upper end pieces areshaped, you can glue them to thetops of the trays. The splines helpposition the upper ends as youclamp them in place.

Materials & HardwareA Sides (2)B Ends (2)C SplineD Bottom (1)E Tray lnner Sides (2)F Tray Outer Sides (2)G Tray Lower Ends (a)H Tray Bottoms (2)I Tray Upper Ends (a)

J Hinge Supports (2)K Tray Tops (2)

www.ShopNotes.com

3/ex 4 - 17Y a x a ' 7 V z

Yax66 Rgh.- 78 Hdbd.7Vax155h -V+Vty .

3 /axLVz -113 /ax134 _ l l

3/a x1t/c - 3%3Yax16s/a -V+ety .

% x % - t %1 x7/a - 17

Tax27 /a - l l

L P lugs (a) UsxVz-YaM Handle Supports (4) VzxlO - 315 BrassN Pivot Links (4) Vzx254 - %o BrassO Hand tes (2 ) 34xVz - l l

. (2)20mm x 780mm Brass Piano Hinges

. (32) #2 x3/a" Fh Brass Woodscrews

. (121#6 xYe" Fh Brass Woodscrews

. (16)#6 x s4" Rh Brass Woodscrews

. (16)#6 Brass Washers

. (2)3/ta" xVz" - 36" Brass Bars

19

curved lids &

HandlesWith the main box and trays com-plete, you're ready to enclose thetop of each tray with a curved lid.Once the lids are in place, you canconnect the trays to the box with aset of brass handle supports, pivotlinks, and hardwood handles.

CURUIiIG THE LIDAs you can see in Figure 4, eachcurved lid is created from twoparts: a flat tray top and a curvedhinge support. These two parts arethen connected by a few splines.Finally, each lid is attached to thetray with a small piano hinge.

Making the Parts. I started onthe lids by cutting the tray tops tofinal size and then sizing the hard-wood blanks for the hinge sup-ports. Each support starts out as a1 "-thick x 7/s" -w ide blank.

Now before shaping the hingesupports, you'll need to cut kerfsin them and the tray tops to acceptthe splines. You can see this illus-trated in Figures 4 and 4a.

rvrn the LidOne of the more striking featuresof the tool box is the curved lidthat wraps around the ends of thetrays. It's created by connecting aflat top to a curved hinge support.

The process for creating thecurve in the hinge support starts atthe router table. Ar/2"-radius covebit makes quick work of shapingthe inside (detail 'a') to match thecurve of the tray end. To get a per-fect fit, I found that I had to do alittle fine-tuning on the ends of thetray with some sandpaper.

After gluing the top and hingesupport togetheq, you can beginremoving the rest of the waste atthe table saw (detail 'b'). Then alittle work with a block plane andsome sandpaper is all it takes tocomplete the final shaping.

HARDWOODTLUO

Shape the Support. After cut-ting the kerfs, you can set the topaside and concentrate on shapingthe hinge supports. The box at thelower left covers everything youneed to know. The key is to use acove bit to remove the waste on

the inside so it matches the curveon the ends of the tray.

The goal is to end up with asmooth transition from the top tothe inside curve of the hinge sup-port, as in Figure 4a.

Three-Part Spline. Once thetwo parts are a good match, you'reready to glue them together andthen shape the outside of the curve.One thing to note is that the splinefor the curved lid consists of threeseparate pieces (Figure 4).

Since the ends of the tray arevisible, I decided to plug the endswith hardwood splines for a bettermatch to the material used for thelid. Along hardboard spline formsthe rest of the connection.

Attach the Lids. All it takes tocomplete each tray is to attach thecurved lids. A long brass pianohinge takes care of that, as illus-trated in Figure 4.

BEIIDII.IG THE BRASSAt this point, you have a pair oftrays that rest perfectly atop themain tool box. The next step is tocormect the trays and main boxtogether so they open and closesmoothly and easily.

HIN6E9U??ORT

HINGE9U??ORT

(1" x7/o" - 17')

b. END ytEw

TILT 9LADE 45"

CVT TO WAgTE5IDE OF

LAYOUT LINE

H I N G E5U?PORl


'l

MEET ATCENTERLINE

oF oox

HANDLE5U??ORT

6Aa" RAOIUO (OOTIOM ONLY)

NOTE: PvorLrNK MUerEE PARALLEL WITH HANDLE

9U77 ORT BEFORE INSTALLI N6BoTroM gCREW

Start with Brass. The key todoing that is a set of pivot linksand handle supports connected toa pair of hardwood handles, as inFigure 7. The shaped handle sup-ports work together with the pivotlinks to swing the trays open forquick and easy access.

The first step in the process ismaking the handle supports andpivot links. With the inJormation inFigures 5 and 6 and the hands-onarticle that starts on page 74,you'Ilbe able to turnbasicbrassbar stockinto a set of matched handles andlinks ready for installation.

Installing the Supports. Withthe handle supports and pivotlinks in hand, the next step is toinstall them on the tool box. (It'seasier to fit the handles once thesupports and links are attached.)

To do this, mark a layout lineacross the ends of the trays, likeyou see in Figure 5. The goal hereis to position the supports so theupper screw holes align with thelayout line. As you do this, be surethe supports are next to each otherand centered, as shown in the EndView at the upper right. I foundthat using a spacer block helpedme keep the supports in position.

Once you have the supports posi-tioned, you can screw them to the

www.ShopNotes.com

tool box. To prevent the supportsfrom rubbing against the sidesof the tool box, I added a smallwasher behind each support.

With the supports installed,adding the links is a simple task.Locate the upper end using thesame layout line as before (Fig-ure 6). As you screw the links inplace at the bottom end, be surethey're parallel to the supports,like you see in the Figure 6 and theEnd View at the upper right. Thisensures each tray will rest levelwhen it's in the open position.

Adding the Handles. At thispoint, there's not much left to doto complete the tool box. All youneed to do is connect the supportswith the pair of hardwood handlesshown in Figure 7.

I started by cutting both handlesto length, matching the lengthof the tool box. Then after notch-ing both ends to fit between the

supports and flush with the topsurface, I shaped the ends untilthey slipped between the sup-ports. After screwing the handlesin place, you can gather up yourtools and store them in swle. A

J

: : , F t G U R f

HANDLE(3/+" x1/2" - 1T')

#6 x6/o"FhwoooScREw

-t4

_ - i

WShopShort Guts

Cor SidingCar siding gets its name from itstraditional use for lining the wallsinside rail cars. You can find carsiding at well-stocked lumberyards, but you can easily makeyour own, as I did for the work-bench shown above (page2[).

Rough Blanks. The first thingyou'll need to do is prepare enoughstock for the job. You'll be makinga series of cuts in an assembly lineprocess, so be sure to have plentyof stock on hand plus some dxtrato use for set up.

Tongue and Groove. The draw-ings at right will step you throughthe process. After ripping the stockto width, use a rip blade to cut agroove centered along one edge.Then switch to a dado blade to cutthe mating tongue along the otheredge as you can see in detail'a.'

Bevel Cuts. The next thing todo is make the bevel cuts alongthe edges. Details'b' and'c' showhow this is done. You'll notice thatthe rip fence is set so that a flat fil-letremains at the edge of thebevel.This flat avoids creating a sharp,fragile point on the grobved edge.

After making the firstpass alongthe edge, flip the workpiece end-for-end. Then make another passon the back side of the workpiece.Do this with all your workpiecesbefore resetting the rip fence to cutthe bevels on the opposite edge.

I

Center Groove. The final step,as shown in detail 'd,' is to cut thecenter V-groove. The goal is to cen-ter the V-groove between the twobeveled edges of the workpiece.This will require two passes withthe rip fence set differently foreach pass. And to create a sharp

inside corner and smooth bevelson the V-groove,I like to use a flat-tooth rip blade.

You only need to cut this V-groove on one side of the work-piece. Since the other side of thecar siding won't show on the finalproject, it can remain flat.

I

NO[E: REPoelloN ?Rfp FENCE TO CUT gEVELg LEAVE 1/p" FLA;f tLr

ON TONGUE 'IDE OF BLANK AT EOGE OF gEVEL


Edge GuideCreating the tenon on each end ofthe workbench top proved some-what of a challenge. The glued-uptop was too large and cumber-some to cut safely and accuratelyon my table saw. Instead,I devisedthe handy router jig you see in thedrawing at right.

The IiS. The jig couldn't bemuch simpler. It's nothing morethan a 7a"-thick hardwood cleatattached to a1/t" hardboard base.

The base attaches to the routerwith screws in place of the stan-dard base. The trick is to positionthe cleat so that the router bit cre-ates the 3/4"-Iongtenon required onthe benchtop. To do this, I madethe baseplate first and mountedit to my router. Then I installed astraight bit for cutting the tenon.

Next, I made the cleat. Usingthe cutting edge of the bit as areference, it was easy to positionthe cleat on the base to create thetenon (detail at right).

Start Straight. The key to accu-rate tenons is to start out withstraight and square ends on yourworkpiece. To square up the endsof the benchtop, you can use astraightedge to guide a router orcircular saw. Once that's done,vou're readv to rout the tenons.

I made a few

shallow passes

with the router. To do this, pressthe cleat tight against the work-piece and rout from left to right.Rout both faces of the benchtop tocenter the tenon and sneak up onthe proper thickness. A

NOTE: nourooTH 5toE5OF TONGUEIN 9EVERAL7499E5

STRAIGHT OIT

cross dowelDrilling GuideDrilling the holes for the cross dowels and draw-bolts in the workbench top (page 24) canbe a trickytask. This simple shop-made guide makes the pro-cess of locating and drilling them easy and accurateso they're properly aligned with each other.

Drilling Guide. As you can see, a cleat registersthe drilling guide on the end of the benchtop andlocates both holes. A 3/4" MDF base allows you toclamp the guide securely as you drill the holes. Whenmaking the guide, it's important that the edges of thebase are square and the cleat is sized accurately. AndI used a drill press to drill the guide holes in thebase and the cleat perfectly square.

To use the guide, place the base on the bottomface of the benchtop. Insert a drill bit throughthe cleat to locate and drill the hole for the draw-bolt (detail 'a'). Then use a Forstner bit to drillthe stopped hole for the cross-dowel. I used apiece of tape to mark the depth to make sureI didn't drill through the top. Finally, removethe guide and drill the hole for the draw-bolt tofinal depth, as shown in detail'b.'

www.ShopNotes.com

TA?EFLAO AC'T9A9 DE?TH GAUGE

N0IE: DRILL HoLEFORCRO9E POWEL

ON FOTTOM FACEOF

NOTE: ugEl/2"-DtA.DRILL FIT TO LOCATE

J I G O N E N D O FFENCHTOP

THIRD: DRILL FINAL DE?THWITHOUT OUIDE

FIR9T: ueEv2" etr ro LocATEHOLE FOR FOLT THEN CLAMPOUIDE IN PLACE AND DRILL11/2"-DEEP HOLE

9ECOND: DRTLL b/+"-DtA.a. Hor-E ron cRogg DowEL

23

Exploded View DetailsOYER,ALL DIMEN9ION9:7 llz"W x 3i61 o" D x 91512" H ( wlt h o ut vl a e h ardw arc)

GO ONLINE TO 5EEHOW TO FUILD TH19OPTIONAL DRAWERSTORAGE UNIT

NOTE; REFERTO9OURCE9ON?AOE51FORHARDWARE UgEDON THE FENCH

5QUARE DOGHOLE5ARE ROUTED U9ING A5HO?-OUILT JtG _-<a/ - '

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DRAWERCAgEgLIDEgINTO

OPENINO IN FENCHOAgE

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T O ? I S G L U E D U ?FROM SOLID STOCK

DRAWERCAgE&DRAWERg MADEWITH TA9LE gAW

JOINERY

CHANNEL INRAIL9 TRAPSsLIDING DOG

FLOCK FORTAIL YI9E

5HO7.MADECRO95DOWELg AND DRAW.BOLT5 gECURE ENDCA?'10 BENCHTOP

9HOULDERVI9E gCREW

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gTRETCHERTENON9 ARE

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TLYWOOO'HELF?ROVIDE9 PLENryOF gTORAGEAREA

3TOUTLEGSENSURE 9TABItITY

& ROCK-90LrDPERFORMANCE

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ADDS AcLA99rC LOOK

CU9TOMMOLDINGANDTRIM

PROFILE MADEIN FOUR EAgY

5TE?5

HARDWOOD EDGINGHIDES?LYWOOD

AND FLEND9 WITHBENCH

Download a 3-D SketchUp modelof the bench and instructions for

building the drawers atShopNobs,com

www.ShopNotes.com

d' END yrEw

F-'r.-l

5/to"-olA.CENTERED

HOLETONftACHTO?

LOWER RAIL

TOP RAIL

NOTE:LEGS ARE

MIRRORIMAAEPAIR9

F!g"rrRE1 0

OEE?

o

II

\

I

I

I.y

TOP RAIL(3/+" x13/+" '32")

Yz"-OlA. HOLEFOR DRAWBOLT

LOWER RAIL(2V2" x3" '29Y2")

NOTE: LE@e AND LowERRAILg ARE ALUED U?

FROM 13/a"'THICK 9TOCK

Y4" DEETCHAMFERAROUND

OOTTOM OFEACH LEG

crggting a solid \'n

FrameA rock-solid workbench requiresa stout frame. And this design fillsthe bill. Four robust legs are tiedtogether with beefy rails to formtwo end frames. Then heavy-dutystretchers connect the frames tocreate the base.

Legs. The drawings on this pageprovide all the details you need toget started. The first thing to do isglue up the legs from L7+"-thickstock and cut them to final size.

F I G U R H

ORILL 5TO??EDHOLEg FOR

CRO55 DOWEL5AT PRILL 7RE9E

s/+"-dia, x 4"5TEEL CRO95

OOWEL

Mortises. Some careful layoutwork will help you create the mor-tises for the rails and stretchers.(The right and left pair are mirrorimages of each other.) A Forstnerbit is great for hogging out thewaste. Then a little hand workwith a chisel will finish them up.

Details. There are a few otherdetails to take care of before youcomplete the legs. First, I cut anotch at the top of each leg for the

top rail. Next,I drilled the holes forthe draw-bolts used to secure thestretchers to the frames. Finally,you can rout a chamfer around thebottom of each leg.

Adding the Rails. The lowerrails tie the legs together andprovide a ledge for the car sidingyou'lladd later. You can glue themup just like the legs. Then, it's asimple matter to cut a tenon oneach end to fit snug in the leg mor-tise. There's also a rabbet along thetop edge. At this point, you canglue the lower rails in place.

The upper rails are glued andscrewed in place to complete theend assemblies. Then you can turnyour attention to the two stretchersthat connect the two assemblies.

Stretchers. The front and backstretchers are joined to the legswith mortise and tenon joints.

Draw-bolts and cross dowels keepthe joint tight (Figurc 2a).

gTRETCHERgTRETCHER(13/+" x5" - 38")

3/o"-16 x 4"9QUARE

HEADF0fr

END YIEW

FRONTvtEw

NOTE: ueE HoLEIN LEO TO OUIDE OITFOR DRILLING INTOgTRETCHER TENON

gTRETCHER

DRILL ANDTA7 OOWELFORs/o"-16THREAD9


v

After cutting the stretchers tosize, the next step is to cut the ten-ons. Then dry-assemble them tothe end frames and drill the holesfor the draw-bolts into the ends ofthe stretcher tenons. (I used a por-table drill.) Remove the stretdrersand step over to the drill press todrill the holes in the bottom edgefor the shop-made cross dowels,as shown in the box at right.

Assembly. Now you're readyto connect the end frames with thestretchers. I clamped the stretdr-ers in place while I worked onfittirg the cross dowels and draw-bolts. Once thebolts are tightened,you're ready to add the car sidingto enclose the base.

Cross DowelsAlength of mild steel rod and atap is all youneed to make yourowncross dowels.

First, lay out eadr cross dowelalong the rod 0 cut them tol" gth later). Securely .l*pthe rod for marking and drill-ing holes for the 3/e"-16 threads(I used a s/rs"-dia. bit.) Next,.l*p the rod in a machinist'svise for tupping the threads.Light oil helps with this.

Finally, use a hacksaw to cutthe dowels to length and createa shallow slotfor a screwdriveron one end. This slot hulptalign the threadedhole withthedraw-bolt during assembly.

ffi

L Drill,Tap, & Cut. Securelyclamp the rod while drillingand tapping. After cuttingthe cross dowels to length,file all edges smooth.

W

lfiaterials & Harrilware

\-1

ABcDEFGHI

tKLMN

Legs (a)Lower Raits (2)Top Rails (2)Stretchers (2)Car Siding fla)Cove Molding (l)Trim Caps (2)Shelf Cleat (1)shelf (l)Back Cleat (1)bp (l)Rear Rail(l)Inner Rail(1)Left End cap (1)

2Vzx3-322Vzx3 -29V2

T c x t Y 4 - l Z'134x5 -38

Y+x7Ys-24 rgh.TaxtTo-95 rgh.

3/+x2Vr '3t7oYqx'l- 132 rgh.

281/2x36 -t/tPly.tAxll/q- 110 rgh.

1 '4x2654-70lYcx3V2- lO

13Ax3Vz'693/c1%x3Vz- 33Yg

O Ritht End Cap (l)P Filler (1)a Mounting Cleats (2)R Dog Run (l)S Dog Cap (l)T Front Rait(l)U Guides (2)V Rear Half Jaw (1)W InnerJaw Face (1)X OuterJaw Face (t). (14) #8 x2V2" Fh Woodscrews. (10)7a" x 4" Sq Hd Bolts. (10)7a" Washers. (llyl" x 36'steel Rod

l t /ex3Vz-n'1A3 A x % - q

13/cxtYq - Z$Ys114sx3Vz-72rgh.TAox3Vz-72rgh.

1%x3Vz-713/ tx13A- 6

Vex2lVe -12%13/qx6Ye-'l4Ya

1x6/a-1B5/tl

. (14) #8 x11/t" Fh Woodscrews

. (32111/a" Finish Nails

. (16) #8 xlVz" Fh Woodscrews

. (41546" x1V2" Lagscrews

. (3) %e" x 4" Lag Screws

. (315/1s" Washers

. (1) Shoulder Vise Screw

. (l) Large Front Viseo (2)Vise Handles. Fl nq xlvz" Fh Woodscrews. (411/q"-2O Threaded lnsertsc (4lt7o"-29 x'11/2" Hex Bolts. (411/+" Washerso (2) Square Bench Dogs

17+" x9" - 72" DOUOLA9 FIR (5 Ooarde @ I9A, Ft eaahl

l3/+" x4'- 96" DOUGLA9 FtR (5.3 EA,fi.)

3/1" x O'- A4" DOUOLA9 FIR (2 goarde @ 5.5 9d, Ft. each)

AL9O NEEDED: HALF 9HEET OFr/+" ?LWOOD FOR 9HELF

1V+" x 6Vz" - 96.' DOUGLA9 FIR (2 goardo @ O.7 gA, Ft, eaah) 75/+" x O" - 96" DOUGLA9 fR QO.7 gd. fi.,

13/+" x 6Vz" - 96" DOUGLA9 fR (A.7 6A. Fi,)1V4" y,('-72" DOUOLA9 FIR(4.O Od.Ft)

5/4" x 8" - 96" DOUOLAS FIR (2 goarde @ 5.3 Od. Ft, each)

e/4" xA'- 96" OOUGLA9 FIR (5.5 gd.F1".)

1$/+" x4'- 96" DOUGLA9 FIR

www.shopNotes.com 27

closing in the

EaseNow that you've completed the"skeleton" of the bench, it's time toadd the "skin." I used traditionalcar siding to close off the ends andback. Afew pieces of molding andtrim complete the look.

Car Siding. The bulk of thework will be in making the car sid-ing. You can purchase car siding,but it's usually made from pine.I made my own to match the rest

CAR 9IDING(s/+"xV/o" '22Y2")

ALUEMOLDIN@TO RAIL

ONLY

of the project. You can find out allthe details on making car siding inShop Short Cuts on page22.

Closing the Ends. Figure 3shows how the ends of the baseare closed in with the car siding.Start in the center, with a piece oneither side of the centerline. Thenwork your way toward the frontand back. Chances are you'll haveto trim the edge at each end to fit

TRIM CAP(c/+" x2W ' 35/+")

snug to the leg. And you'll haveto slip the piece in from the top toavoid breaking the tongue.

There's one more thing I need tomention. You don't want to gluethe car siding in place. Each pieceshould be able to expand and con-tract on its own with changes inhumidity. I used a couple of finishnails at each end to hold it in place.They'll flex with any movement.

Molding. To provide a finishedlook, a strip of molding runs alongthe bottom edge of the car sidingwhere it meets the lower rail (Fig-ure 3a). A table saw and a core boxbit in your router table are all youneed to make the molding. Thebox on the left shows you how.

With the molding in hand,you simply cut it to length to fitbetween the legs of the bench. Ialways start with an extra-longpiece and shave a little off at a timeuntil I get a seamless fit.

You can glue the molding inplace. |ust be sure to glue it to therail - not the car siding. This way,the car siding can still move freely.

Trim Caps. Next,I added a cou-ple of trim pieces to hide the join-ery at the top of the front legs. Youcan see in Figure 3b that I used thesame profile as the molding. Theprocedure is identical, except that Imade the profile along the end of a

_-.l

y1

FRONTytEw

NI lcARlI lu'l'*ultYl COVE MOLDING

(s/+" x3/+" '26")

@

t{

Custom MoldinAll you need to make the molding and trim pieces forthe workbench is your table saw and a core box bit inyour router table. You'll start with a wide workpiece,create the profile on the edge, and rip it to size.

The drawings (starting at right) step you through theprocess. You'll cut two kerfs to form the fillets of the pro-file. It's best to use a rip blade for smooth, square edges.Then it's off to the router table to rout the cove. Finally,head back to the table saw to rip the molding free.

.l Cut a shallow kerf toI define one fillet of the

molding profile.

) The next fillet cuts tl Rout the cove profile in /l Finally, rip the moldingh are made with the I several shallow passes a free at the table sawworkpiece on edge. at the router table.

C. -....1v:".. . .. TO? VIEW rRrM cAp

END YIEW

l.'' .t ENDyrEw

yo

_+V z *

1,'

28

and sand it smooth.

ShopNotes No. 102

-l

wide blank. This way, all you needto do is rip the two pieces to widthand attach them with glue.

Shelf. To provide easy-accessstorage undemeath, I addeda large, plywood shelf. Cleatsscrewed to the stretchers and sidessupport the shelf from below, asshown in Figure 4. You'll want toposition the cleats so that the topof the plywood is flush with thetop of the stretchers. Then it's asimple matter to cut the plywoodto size and fasten it in place.

Note: You can add drawersunder the bench, as shown in themain photo on page 24. Just goonline to ShopNotes.com to down-load an article for building thethree-drawer case.

Back Panel. I added a back toclose in the bench. Here again, carsiding does the job and matchesthe look of the sides.

Like the shelf you just com-pleted, you'll need cleats to attachthe car siding. But unlike the shelf,I built the frame and attached thecar siding with screws through theback edge of the cleats. Then thewhole panel assembly is set intothe bench base and attached withscrews (Figure 5).

Start by cutting the cleats to fitinside the base. At the drill press,

drill countersunk holes in thetop and bottom cleats. Theseare for the screws that will fastenthe car siding (Figures 5a and b).

After building the frame, /oucan install the car siding like youdid before - by starting in themiddle. As you work toward theends, rip the end pieces to fit flushwith the outside of the frame.

To fasten the panel into the benchbase, a few screws through the sidecleats into the legs do the trick.

Acouple of screws throughthe bottom cleat help keep

everything secure.Final Trim. The last piece

needed to finish the base is themolding along the bottom edge ofthe back panel. It's the same mold-ing you used on the sides and isglued to the stretcher only.

With thebase complete, you cantum to the next page to get startedon putting together the top andadding the vises.

F I G U R E

SHELFCLEAT

(3/+" x1" - 27')

oSHELF

(e/+" x26V2" '36"|

9HELFCLEAT

(5/q" xl" - 36")

#O x1 th" FhwooDScREw

FRONTvtEw

# 6 x l l z " F hwooDScREw OACK CIEAT

(3/+" xlV+" - 17')

NOTE: olurMOLDING TO

gTRETCHER ONLY

COVE MOLDING(3/+" x3/+" - 36")

CAR 5IDIN6(3/4'xVE '1br2")(3 /4 'x1V+" '56" )

9?XE,- ) TO? V\EW

www.ShopNotes.com 29

TO MAKE TONGUE,REFER TO 5HO?9HORTCUT9 ON

?AGE2E

TO?(265/a" x7O")

NOTE: RAILS AREGLUED TO TO? AFTER

END RAILg AREjOMTLETED (FIOURET)

INNER RAIL(512" x 69c/+")

NOfEr ALL PARToMADE FROM 1e/+"'TH ICK 9TOCK

a strong and solid

BehchtopWith a solid base complete, you'reready to build the top. It startswith a thick, glued-up blank. Thena few stout rails and a pair of endcaps frame the top. The top alsofeafures a face vise, a row of dogholes, and a tail vise made from ashoulder screw.

Worksurface. The heart of thisbenchtop starts with gluing up

1%"-thick stock to create a widepanel (Figure 6). After squaring upthe ends and ripping it to width,you'llneed to create a thick tongueon each end. Shop Short Cuts onpage 23 steps you through thisprocess. This tongue will fit intogrooves in the end caps later on.

Rails. With the top ready to go,you can make the rear rail. Figure 6

FRONT YIEW b.

1/z

%l

T-t->l "/4REARRAIL

shows how a short tongue on eachend matches the one on the glued-up panel. The top edge of the railis flush with the top of the panel.Once that work is done, set the railaside for the time being and work ,on the inner rail at the front. \-,

Inner Rail. There's quite a bitgoing on with this front, inner rail.The left end is shaped just like therear rail (to match the tongue onthe panel). The other end mateswith the right end cap and housesthe sliding block for the tail vise.

At the router table, I routed ashallow, stopped channel for thesliding block to ride in. To do this,I set up a stop block on the routertable fence to limit the length ofcut. Start cutting the channel edgeclosest to the fence then move thefence away from the bit with eachpass to widen the channel. Followup with a sharp chisel to clean andsquare up the comers.

Finally, you can cut a verticaltongue on the end of the rail. Thisfits into a dado in the right end cap(Figure 6c). Dry clamp the rear andfront inner rail in place while youwork on the end caps.

End Caps. The left end cap ispretty straightforward, so I startedwith that one. A groove cut alongits length fits over the tongue on

5Vz

Ir a.

c.RIOHTStoEONLY

INNERRAIL

-1"TO? VIEW

ly2_T

Fittin Tail Vise HardwareYou'llneed to do a little work on the right end cap tofit the tail vise hardware (drawings below). The firstthi.g to do is fill in the groove beyond the dado. Thisprovides material for the screws in the vise to grab.

Next, drill a large hole to acconunodate the visescrew boss. Now you can insert the vise hardwareand scribe around the square plate. This gives youguidelines for removing the waste with a chisel.

#14x |Vz" FhwooD9cREw

9CREW9099

CUT TONGUEON END CAP

AFTER MORTIgE

the waste for a flush fit. Thencut the tongue on the end.

) Next, dri l l a large Q Scribe around the viseL clearance hole at I hardware and chisel out

1 Cut a small pieceI of hardwood to fill

in the groove. Glue it inplace and sand it flush.

the drill press for the visehardware.

FILLER


e/+" - DlA.x1"cRo99 00wEL

the top. You can see all the detailsabout the joinery in Figure 7.

At this point, you can cut theright end cap to size and make thegroove on the inside face. Thenuse the tongue on the inner rail tolocate the dado (Figure 7b).

Fitting the Vise Screw. Nowyou can work on fitting the visescrew and cutting the tongue onthe end. The box on the oppositepage will guide you through this.After that's all done, you need tomove over to the drill press.

Holes for Bolts. Figure Tshowsyou where to drill the throughholes and counterbores in the endcaps for the bolts and washers.Use these holes to mark the boltholes on the ends of the tongueson the top blank. Then turn toShop Short Cuts (page 23) to findout how to finish drilling for thecross dowels and bolts.

Go ahead and fasten the endcaps in place with the draw-boltsand cross dowels. Youmight want to pick upa "l?-potnt" socket(right margin) to avoiddamaging the coun-terbore as you tightenthe bolts. (You couldalso temporarily sub-stitute hex head bolts.)

www.ShopNotes.com

You'll be removing and reinstallingthe end caps a number of times inthe process of fitting all the pieces.

Glue the Rails. At this point,you can glue the rear and inner railto the top. You may have to loosenthe end caps to get the rails seatedproperly then tighten them backup to hold the rails in position.

Don't glue the end caps just yet.You may need to remove themwhen fitting parts for the tail vise.

Mounting Cleats. To finish upthe rest of the top, it's handy tohave it mounted to the base. To dothis, you'll add cleats to the under-side,like you see in Figure 8.

I first positioned the top on thebase. Then I cut the cleats to fit and

l:,. :1' ! , : i : : FIGURE

i'... iit**

FILLER(eEE qox oN

o?705tTE TAGE)

slipped them in place between thetop rail of the base and the bench-top. Drill from underneath the toprail and into the cleat to mark forthe threaded inserts.

After removing the cleat andinstalling the inserts, I reinstalledthe cleats with a few dabs of glueon top to hold them in position.When the glue dries, you can slidethe top to the side a few inches toperrnanently attach the cleat withscrews. Then slide the top back inplace and use bolts with washersto attach the top to the base.

MOUNTING CLEAT

NOTE: REFER ro sHo?gHORTCUTg ON ?AGE23FOR DRILLIN6 HOLEg IN

TO? FORCROgS DOWELSAND DRAW.FOLTg

RIGHT END CAP(13/+" x3lz" - 327/a")

5/o" x 4"9QUARE

HEAO OOIJ

L l2-PointSocket. Ihrsspecial socketmakes it easy totighten square-head bolts.

LEFT END CAP(1e/+" x3lz" - 393/o")

NOTBLOCATE

THREA9EDI N g E R T g I NMOUNTIN6

CLEAT9U9INO

HOLES INTOP RAIL

FRONT ylEW 1r+" Dia. x3/+" DEEP

3/+" Dia. x 1lz" DEEP

NOTE: ueE HoLEe rNEND CAPS TO MARKANP DRILL HOLEg

IN TOP

b. To? wEw RroHr

#O x21/2" Fhwoo?9cREw

'ilf'['f il ilii l i l i l i l ' , l l a

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Efrlr\rf To?

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)t"

10?RAIL

i.i.JI )Trrr

LEG a.

(15/+" x1s/+" - 265/o")

makino room for

Benih DogsNo woodworking bench is com-plete without a reliable means ofclamping a workpiece securely inplace. And the traditional method

of doing so is with a vise and

I Sguare Dogs.Ihese steel andbrass dogs willstand up to anyclamping task.

bench dogs. We chose to usesquare bench dogs in keep-

ing with the classic look ofthe bench (left photo).

The row of dog holesworks in tandem with the

tail vise (right photo). The tailvise incorporates a sliding blockthat holds a single bench dog. Theblock rides in shallow channelsrouted in the two front rails.

Dog Run. To get started, you'llwork on the dog run with its ninedog holes. But how do you makesquare dog holes? The box at thebottom of the next page and Fig-ure 9 show you how this is done.

I started with an extra-longworkpiece (at least 62") planedto thickness and ripped to width.The extra length will be cut off tomake the sliding dog block thatattaches to the tail vise screw.

Lay out the first nine dog holesstarting at the left end of the work-piece. After laying out the locationfor the ninth dog hole, skip somespace and lay out a tenth dog hole.This last dog hole should be cen-tered on a 6" length you'll cut offand use for the sliding dog block.

After the dog holes are routed,you can cut the strip to final lengthand glue it to the inner rail (Fig-ure 9). Then you complete the dogholes by capping them with a thincap. Thke some time to clean outany glue squeezeout in the dogholes that might prevent the dogsfrom fitting into the holes.

Outer Rail. With the nine maindog holes done, you can tum yourattention to the front rail. Com-pleting the outer front rail first willhelp you fine-tune the fit of thesliding dog block. Figure 9 showsyou the joinery you'll need to cuton each end of the rail. A channelon the right end mirrors the oneyou routed on the inner rail earlier.When complete, clamp the rail inplace (without gluing it just yet) so

L Tail Vise. Simple hardwareis all it takes to build a versatile.heavy-duty tail vise.

you can work on making and fit-ting the parts of the tail vise.

Sliding Dog.Using the leftoverpieces cut off of the main dog stripand cap, you'll make the sliding

()VERVIEl/v

FRONT RAIL('11/ta"x7|z" -71")

ourDE \.t ffi VIEW

D o G I I T D o ocA?_ n

._ RUN

(1%e" x7|z" '54Y2")

TO7 VtEW

NOTE:ROUT OUT A

3/+" x15/+" - 14"RECE55TO

MATCHI N N E R R A I L

(5EE FTGURE 6ON ?AGE 30)

ShopNotes No. 102

dog block. This dog hole is rotated180o so thatthe dogwill opposethemain dogs for effective clamping.

After gluing these two piecesand trimming them to length,the guide strips come next. Wide,shallow dadoes in the slidingdog assembly accommodate theguides, as you can see in Figures9a and 9b. Here is where you'lIberemoving and replacing the frontrail to check the fit of the slidingblock. Aim for a smooth fit that'snot too loose yet doesn't bind.Getting a good fit here is impor-tant. Once the front rail is glued inplace, it will be difficult to makeany adjustments.

Vise Hardware. With the slid-ing dogblock complete and fittingnicely, it's time to concentrate onthe vise hardware. Add the hard-ware before you glue the front railin place. Doing this now will makeit easier to mark the location andattach the U-shaped receiver forthe vise screw (Figure 10).

Vise Screw. To properly locatethis small plate, I mounted thevise screw in the end rail. The only

ENDlhvtEw

DOG RUN(11/to" x31/2" ' 6")

GUIDE(g/+" x13/+" - 6")

thi.g to note here is that I replacedthe screws that came with the visehardware with longer screws, asshown in Figure 10. And to matchthe classic styling,I painted all thehardware black.

With the receiver on the visescrew, you can transfer the screwlocations onto the sliding blockand fasten the receiver in place.This task is easier if you removethe block assembly from the rails.

;+'t$fi; FTGURF

$,$#----,ya___,

DOGCA?

DOOCA?

OLUE ENDCA? AT

FRONT FEWINCHE9 ONLY

A'#14x1 lz" Fh

GUIDE WOOO5CREW

DOO RUN ANDCAP ARE CUT

FROM LONG DOGRUN AND CAP

(eEE FTGURE 9)

Then assemble the sliding blockonto the vise screw and dry-clampthe front rail in place. You mayhave to loosen the four screws inthe mounting plate to get the largevise screw to seat properly.

With the vise working smoothly,you can glue the rail and end capsin place. (Only apply glue at thefront few inches of the end caps.)Again, you'll want to be sure toclean up any glue squeezeout.

Routin Do HolesArmed with your router, a mortis-ing bit (with bearing), and this jig,you can rout consistent dog holes.The jig rides along the workpieceand is fastened in place with ascrew. I built the jig from 3/q" Baltrcbirch plywood using the dimen-sions shownbelow.

TO? VIEW NOTE: ecREw9ECUREg JIG

TO RAIL

DRILL ANP COUNTERgINKFOR #O FhWOOD9CREW

To use the jig, fust lay out thelocations for the dog holes. Posi-tion the jig on the layout line andfasten it with a screw.

I used a bearing-guided mortis-ing bit as shown in the side viewdrawing. (Refer to Sources on page51.) You'll get better results if youstart with a shallow cut and routin a couple of passes, moving therouter clockwise.

After routing, you can removethe template and checkthe fit of the bench dog(lower right photo). Thetop of the dog should sitjust below the top edge ofthe workpiece. And therecess should be a littledeeper than the dog'sthickness. This way, thebench dog will slide eas-ily without binding.

I3Y2

ALL PART9 2lz" x 9Vz"- 3/+" ?ly.

www.ShopNotes.com

install ing a

Face ViseInstalling a face vise rounds outthe bench's capabilities as a com-plete woodworking center. Andto do that, I used traditional facevise hardware. Like the tail vise, Ipainted the metal parts of the visehardware black before mountingthem to the benchtop.

Getting Started. If you've neveradded a face vise to a bench before,it might look a little overwhelm-ing at first. I've leamed that if youjust take your time, the end resultis a vise that works smootNy andclamps the workpiece evenly.

The face vise hardware includesa cast iron "carriage." It's carefullymachined to allow the guide rodsto slide smoottrly and the threadedscrew to operate without binding.You'll mount the carriage on theunderside of your benchtop, asshown in Figure 11,.

Note: One thing to watch out foris to not block the first dog holewith the carriage. The rectangu-lar opening in the carriage shouldalign with the dog hole. @ottomview in Figure 13a.) Keep this inmind as you install the vise.

34

F I G U R F

"/16

WA9HER

5/1,6" x 4"LAO 9CREW

Half jaw. The first thi.g to do ismake a rear "half jaw" (Figure 11).This piece, in combination with thebench's front rail, forms the rearjaw of the face vise and sits in frontof the carriage. Its main function inthis case is to hide the carriage.

The three holes in the half jawaccommodate the guide rods andvise screw. I started by cutting thispiece to size and fastening it withlag screws. You'll be marking the

U9ETEMPLATE?ROVIDEDWITH VIgETO LOCATE

HOLEg

locations for the holes then remov-ing it to drill them.

Use the Template. Most facevise hardware includes a papertemplate and detailed instructionsfor using it. The template helpsyou properly locate and size theholes for the guide rods and visescrew usually based on a center-line. You'll use the template forlocating the holes in the half jawand the front vise jaw later on.

a.IN9TALL

REARHALF JAW

FLU9HWITH

EENCH

oAa" x4" tLUl 9lDE ylEW

INNER -JAW FACE

OUTERJAW FACE

( 1 " x 6 1 / 6 " - 1 3 e / a " )

GLUEUT FRONTJAWAEFORE DRILLING

"'1'l n- l i r , u

,,',iXUgE ROUTER

OROEtrT gANDERTO 9HA?E OUTERa.

TO?VIEW

ShopNotes No.

Tup" the template in place whereindicated in the instructions. I useda sharp awl to mark the centersof the three holes on the half jaw.Then just remove the half jaw drillthe holes, and reattach it.

Note: I didn't use the metal sup-port collars that came with thevise. The carriage supplies plentyof support since it sits rightbehindthe half-jaw. So the collars aren'treally needed and this also simpli-fies the installation.

Mounting a Carriage. The nextstep in the process is to attach thecarriage behind the half jaw. Hereis where marking a centerline(based on the template) can reallyhelp you out. The end result is thatthe holes in the half jaw will alignwith those in the carriage.

Front Jaw. With the carriage inplace, you can work on the two-piece front jaw (Figures 12 and 13).To create the traditional shape, Iglued up two pieces. The innerjaw will sit flush with the top andend of the benchtop. The ends ofthe outer jaw are shaped with alarge roundover and create a smallshoulder on the inner jaw,like yousee in Figures 13a and 14.

Once again, you'll rely on thetemplate to help you drill the three

OUTERJAW FACE

U5E 5CREW9TROVIDEDwrTH vt9E

HARDWARE

holes after the vise face is gluedup. (You'll have to flip the templateover.) Finally, you can completethe vise by attaching the jaw to therod assembly. Then guide the rodsinto the carriage while turning thescrew until it engages.

Final Details. There's one lastbitof work to do.And that's to routa small chamfer along the edges of

:'isj;'"rr FTGUREr: ' $J , l - - * * ', i , \ i ' jirsii:,.i

I N N E RJAW FACE

€

the benchtop and face vise (Figure14). There's one thing you'll wantto watckr, though. Be careful as yourout the end rails - the bearingcould slip into the bolt holes. Toavoid this problem, I just skippedover those areas. Afterwards, youcan clean up what's left and blendthe chamfers with a shalp blockplane or sanding block.

Once that's done, all you need isa final sanding and a few coats ofoil finish. Finally, there comes thehard part - you need to decidewhere the bench will be located in

your workshop.And if you'd like to add

more storage, check outthe detailed plans for thedrawer assembly shownin the main photo on page24.You'II find the completeplans online at our web siteat ShopNotes.com. With orwithout the drawers, thisbench is sure to provide alifetime of service. A

35

ATTACHJAW BEFORE

|N9TALL|NGytgE !-..INTO CARRIAGE I r

o..R A. 'tl"''

www.ShopNotes.com

Add plenty of storage space with this easy-to-build, slip-in

drawer cabinet.The workbench in ShopNotes No. 102 (page 24) offers a lot of stor-age space on the shelf underneath. To make better use of that space for storing smaller items, you can build the drawer cabinet shown in the photo above.

DRAWER CASEThe drawer cabinet consists of an outer case that slips into the opening under the bench. You’re going to build the case inside out, starting with the drawer frames. The drawer frames connect the

sides and form the openings for the drawers. Figure 1 gives you a starting point for the dimensions, but you may need to make some minor adjustments so the case fi ts your workbench. I made my case about 1⁄8" narrower and shorter than the opening.

Frames. The two side stiles and center stile of each frame are con-nected with front and back rails. I used maple for all of the frame components except for the front rails. For these, I used Douglas fi r to match the bench.

Front & Rear Rails. To start on the frames, I cut the front and rear rails to size. The length of the rails and the 1⁄4"-deep dadoes and rabbets in the case sides will determine the fi nal width of the assembled cabinet. Like I men-tioned earlier, size the rails so that the cabinet will slide easily into the workbench opening (right photo, next page). To fi nish up, cut a cen-tered groove along one edge for the stub tenons on the stiles.

Short Stiles. The only thing special about the side and center stiles is the stub tenon on each end. A dado blade makes quick work of cutting all the tenons. At this point, you can glue up the four frames before adding the center guides.

ShopNotes No. 102 Page 1 of 3 ©2008 August Home Publishing. All rights reserved.

cabinetmaker’sworkbench

Drawers

EDGING(#/4" x #/4" - 18#/8")

CASE SIDE(18#/8" x 25" - #/4" Ply.)

REAR RAIL(#/4" x 3" - 35") STILE

(#/4" x 3" - 20!/2")

CENTER GUIDE(#/4" x 1" - 25")

GUIDE BLOCK(!/2" x #/4" - 3!/2")

FRONT RAIL(#/4" x 3" - 35") CASE BACK

(18#/8" x 36" - #/4" ply.)

DRAWER STOP(#/4" x #/4" - 3")

H

G

F

C

B

A

D

E

C

5&/8

5&/8

#/4 ATTACH CASE BACK WITH GLUE

AFTER DRAWERS AREFITTED AND STOPS

ARE INSTALLED

#8 x 1!/4" FhWOODSCREW

NOTE:DADOESANDRABBETSARE !/4"DEEPANDSIZED TOFIT FRAMES

1 FIGURE

SIDEVIEW

!/4

STOP

REARRAIL

1

!/4

#8 x 1!/4" FhWOODSCREWc.TOP VIEW

GUIDEBLOCK

!/2

!/4

#8 x 1" FhWOODSCREW

b.

!/4

WEBFRAME

FRONTVIEW

#/4

a.

Center Guides. After the glue dries, you can add the center drawer guides. They’re attached with screws (without glue) to the underside of three of the frames, as shown in Figure 1.

Case Sides. With the frames assembled, the case sides come next. The sides have dadoes and rabbets to accept the frames. But before cutting the these, I added hardwood trim along the front edge to hide the plywood.

Assembly. At this point you’re ready to assemble the sides and frames. The key is to keep every-thing square while the glue dries.

I didn’t attach the back panel until later. Leaving it off makes it easier to add the drawer stops after the drawers are in place.

DRAWERSThe three large drawers are iden-tical in size and construction. The sides are joined to the front with a locking rabbet joint and to the back with a tongue and dado joint. Fig-ure 2 gives you the details. You can cut these joints on the table saw. It just takes a few test cuts to get a

perfect fit. The goal is to end up with an even gap at the top and sides of the drawer front. Once all of the basic joinery is done, there are a couple of things left to do.

Grooves & Notches. Cutting a groove for the plywood bottom is pretty simple. Just remember to cut the groove on the inside face of all the drawer parts. And before you can assemble the drawer, you need to cut a notch in the drawer back. Size the notch for a smooth, sliding fit along the cen-ter drawer guide.

Assembly. Finally, you can assemble the drawers, making sure they’re square. While the glue dries, you can cut the stiffen-ers that are glued to the bottom. A little glue and a clamping caul are all you need to attach it.

Guides Block. Like you see in Figure 1, there are small guide blocks fastened at each side of the

DRAWER FRONT(#/4" x 5" - 34#/8")

L

K

J

I

DRAWER SIDE(#/4" x 5" - 25")

DRAWER BACK(#/4" x 5" - 32#/4")

DRAWER BOTTOM(23&/8" x 32!/2" - !/4" Ply.)

KNOB

NOTE: CUT A CENTEREDNOTCH SLIGHTLY LARGER

THAN CENTER GUIDE

52!/4

2

!/2

DRAWERBOTTOM

FRONT VIEW

!/4

a.

TOP VIEW

DRAWERSIDE

1#/16

#/8

!/8!/8#/8 #/8

#/8b.

case. I fastened them with double-sided tape. I start out by making them a little thick. This way, you can sand them down later for a perfect fit of the drawer.

Hardware and Fitting. Add-ing the drawer pulls now makes it easier to fine-tune the drawers for a smooth fit. I used a drilling jig to help locate all of the holes.

Like I said, you may need to sand or plane the guide blocks while fit-ting the drawers. And a little wax on the frames and drawer parts goes a long way to help the large drawers slide easily. Then you can permanently attach the guides.

Now you can add the rear drawer stops to position the drawer fronts flush with the case. Finally, it’s time to attach the case back with glue. After that, simply slide the cabinet into the bench and fasten it in with screws. Then all you’re left with is the task of filling the draw-ers with your tools.

STIFFENER(!/4" x 3" - 23#/8")

DRAWERFRONT

M

NOTE: DRAWER SHOWNUPSIDE DOWN

DRAWERBOTTOM

3 FIGURE

Sliding Case. The drawer case slips into the workbench frame and is secured with screws.

DRAWER FRONT(#/4" x 5" - 34#/8")

L

K

J

I

DRAWER SIDE(#/4" x 5" - 25")

DRAWER BACK(#/4" x 5" - 32#/4")

DRAWER BOTTOM(23&/8" x 32!/2" - !/4" Ply.)

KNOB

NOTE: CUT A CENTEREDNOTCH SLIGHTLY LARGER

THAN CENTER GUIDE

52!/4


A Case Sides (2) 183/8 x 25 - 3/4 Ply.B Edging (2) 3/4 x 3/4 - 183/8

C Front/Rear Rails (8) 3/4 x 3 - 35D Stiles (12) 3/4 x 3 - 201/2

E Center Guides (3) 3/4 x 1 - 25F Guide Blocks (6) 1/2 x 3/4 - 31/2

G Case Back (1) 183/8 x 36 - 3/4 Ply.H Drawer Stops (3) 3/4 x 3/4 - 3

I Drawer Fronts (3) 3/4 x 5 - 343/8

J Drawer Sides (6) 3/4 x 5 - 25K Drawer Backs (3) 3/4 x 5 - 323/4

L Drawer Bottoms (3) 237/8 x 321/2 - 1/4 Ply.M Stiffeners (3) 1/4 x 3 - 233/8

• (6) Drawer Pulls (Lee Valley 02W18.09)

C

C

CC

DD

DD

DD

I I

IE H

B

F F

J JK

L

L

LA A

G

#/4" x 6" - 72" DOUGLAS FIR (4.0 Bd. Ft.)

#/4" x 6!/2" - 96" MAPLE (2 Boards @ 4.3 Bd. Ft. each)

#/4" x 6" - 72" DOUGLAS FIR (4.0 Bd. Ft.)

#/4" x 6!/2" - 72" MAPLE (3.3 Bd. Ft.)

#/4" x 6!/2" - 96" DOUGLAS FIR (3 Boards @ 4.3 Bd. Ft. each)

48" x 96" - !/4" PLYWOOD 48" x 96" - #/4" PLYWOOD

M

M

C

C

CC

#/4" x 6!/2" - 72" DOUGLAS FIR (3.3 Bd. Ft.)

Materials & Hardware

Cutting Diagram

cabinetmaker’sworkbench

Drawers


+,-JJltJ+'!i i@-/J"",J t J)

Create rugged, great-looking tool holders with just a

I

few tools, some scraps of leather, and an afternoon.I've always admired the leathertool rolls many carvers use toprotect their knives and gouges.The idea seemed perfect for otherwoodworking tools as well. ButI always thought working withleather required a lot of special

skills, tools - and sewing.

Blunt-TipNeedle

I(t,.-

a lot simpler than it looks. And ina few hours, you can make a cus-tom tool holder from some small,inexpensive pieces of leather.

Making a tool holder out ofleather has a few advantages.Leather cuts and shapes easily andcan be fastened in several easy-to-master ways: gluing, stitching, andrivets. And the order of "construc-tion" is similar to woodworking.You start by cutting pieces to size,then shape them to fit. Finally, thepieces are joined together.

After taking a look at the essen-tials, you can try your hand at theprojects on page 40, or you candesign one to suit your tools.

Getting Started. With so manydifferent types of leather available,choice can be overwhelming. Ichose split suede because it's thinand flexible. This makes it easy to

stitch togethel, but it's still toughas nails. You can usually find it atcraft and fabric stores or from aleather supply store. (Sources arelisted on page 51.)

tAY0u & slzll{GYou really only need a few thingsto cut leather. The first is a smooth,flat worksurface. I used a plastic,"self-healing" mat, as you can seein the left margin photo .

The second thing is a cuttingtool. I found that a utility knifewith a fresh blade works just fine.

The final item is a straightedge.For this, you can fum to a framingsquare. It's just the right length tohandle the size of pieces you'll beworking with and helps to lay outsquare comers.

Layout. Spread the leather on

vour worksurface and look it over

ShopNotes No. 102

I

\-'

to get the most out of the pieces. Beon the lookout for stains, brands, orholes. K"ep in mind that one piecemay be covered with another, soyou don't always need a piecewith two "petfect" faces.

Don't Move It. Once you havethe location picked out, center iton yonr worksurface, ard markout the pieces with some clmlk.Since the leather can stretch anddistort, you don't want to move itaround while you're cutting. Thiscan result in rounded comers andwavy edges. So it's best to leaveit in place and just reposition thesquare to make the cuts.

You can draw the seams in placewith a pencil. But, most of thetime, I used an auxiliary visecalled a "stitddng pony" to guidethe stitdring (box below). To keepthe pieces frgn"4I glue the partstogetlrer with contact cement.

Folded Edge. There's one otherthing you can do with the cemmt.And thafs crreate afoldededge. You can see it on thetop of the drisel pocketson the tool roll. It's a goodway to reate a smooth,durable

"d9". The right

photo above shows youhow ifs done.

CLAMP PONYlOOENCHTOTIflITH CLEAT

NO|E: LocxrEcLEATON REARJAW90 PONYCLEAR9vtsEg,cREwS

CLEAT(s/+" x9" '74')

JAW FACE(1" x15/o" - 6")

:JAW(9/+" x6" -14/o"l

HINOE aLOCR(1" xlVe" - 6")

7Yz" OOOR HINOE

NO{E: TONGHTENJAWg OF PONYUgE 9ENCH VIgE

(NOr9HOWN FOR CLARTTY)

L Cuilng Leather. A ftaming square guides a sharp L Folat€d Eatge. Rub the leather with a piece of metalto crcateutility knife as you cut through the leather.in one pass. a'crcase.'Then glue the mating faces with contad cement.

Sizing each piece of leather isdetennined by how it'll be used.For example, if a piece will be lay-ered and matdred edge to edgewith anothe4 it's a good idea to cutboth pieces a little oversize (about72"). Other pieces can simply becut to the exact size you need.

Make the Cut To make a cut,pr€ss down firmly on the fram-ing square and slice completelythroughthe leatherin one pass (leftphoto above). Then reposition thesquare to make other cuts.

Prepare the Seams. Onceyou have the parts cut, you canlay out the seams for stitching.

building oStitching PonySmall leather projecb arre easily assem-bled with ttand stitdring. To hold thepa$ together and guide the stitchingI made the stitching 'pont'' shown inthe main photo on the opposite page.

The pony is basically a set of aux-iliary jaws for a bench vise. The longjawsbring thepieces up to a comfort-able working height. And bevels onthe top edges of the jaws allow easydearance for stitching as shown inthe drawing at right.

I attached a deat to the rear jaw sott* po.y could be clamped to thebe^"ttop. This way, it won't fall outas you loosen thebendr vise. The finaldetail is the series of evenly spacedlines on the top of the jaws. They selveas a guide for spacing the stitches.


stitching the _

LeatherAt this point, the leather piecesare sized and nearly ready to bestitched. Even though you gluedthe pieces together, what reallyadds strength is the stitching. Allthe stitching is done by hand.And it's surprisingly easy to do.There are a couple of other waysto secure the leather - rivets andgrommets - and I'11 talk moreabout these later.

Before getting into stitching theleather, you need to do one morestep. Unlike sewing fabric, theneedles are only used to pull thethread through the leather; theydon't actually pierce the leather- you'll use an awl for that.

Punching Holes. To do this,place the leather pieces in the

stitching pony with the searnaligned with the top of the jaws, asyou can see in the photo above.

When punching the holes, you'lluse a diamond-shaped awl. Holdthe awl so that one flat of thebladeis resting on the pony. This willcreate a series of angled holes. Theangled holes help guide the threadto create a straight se€un and keepthe leather from tearing.

Thread the Needle. Nowyou'reready to thread the needles andget started stitching. You'll actu-ally use two thick, blunt needles,

L Weaving Stitch. With a needleon each end of the thread, startweaving them back and forththrough the holes in the leather.As you complete each stitch, pullthe thread snug (inset photo).

one on each end of the thread.Threading a needle sounds simpleenough. But when working withleather, there are a few twists, asshown in the box at left.

First, to get the thick threadthrough the needle, flatten theend with your fingers and slip itthrough the eye of the needle. Tokeep the thread from pulling outof the needle as you sew, push theneedle between the strands of thethread and pull the thread tight.Finally, twist the loose end aroundthe working length of the thread.

\-,

THREADINO THE NEEDLE

FIT THREADTHROUGH EYE

OF NEEDLE

/':"-lht

PULL THREADTrcHT AND TWIgT

END AROUNPTHREAD


vThe five-stranded thread, is

heavily waxed for sewing leather.As you pull the thread, the waxmelts a bit to lubricate it, makingit easier to pull. Once in place, thesticky wax acts like a glue andhelps hold the thread secure.

To keep the thread easy to man-age while stitching,I only cut shortlengths (just less than a full armspread). It won't take you long tofigure out how much thread you'llneed for each se€un.

Making Stitches. To start sew-ing, stand at one end of the ponyand thread one needle through thefirst hole until the thread is cen-tered. Theru with a needle in eachhand, cross the needles throughthe next hole. This creates a strong,interlocking stitch. As you com-plete eadr stitch, pull the threadjust until it's snug. If you pull ittoo tight the leather will pucker.

Tloubleshooting. One thingthat can trip you up is if a needleruns between the strands of theopposite thread. This creates asnag and prevents you from putl-ing the stitch tight.

If you catch it tight away, youcan just back the needle out and

continue stitching. Another solu-tion is to cut the crossed threadfree. T1o do this, carefully cut awaysome strands until the thread isfreed up. (You should only need tocut two strands.)

When you reach the end ofa searn, you need to secure thestitching so it doesn't pull out.To do this, reverse directions andback stitch two holes. Then cut thethread flush to the surface.

Long Seanls. The stitchingpony is wide enough to handlemost of the searns in the chisel roll.But a few of the seams are longeq,so you'Il need to shift the leatherin the pony. I prefer to punch theholes and stitdr as I go beforerepositioning the pieces.

Rivets & Grommets. Besidesstitdring, there are some otherfasteners you can add to a leatherproject to secure pieces together- rivets and grommets.

Rivetsworkto keep a se€unfromtearing or loosening at the end. Iused these at the top of the pock-ets in the chisel roll.

Grommets provide reinforce-ment around holes. Theyboth comein two parts. The parts fit together

< RivetingLeather. Fit thestem through thehole and place iton the anvil platePtace the washeiover the stem andtap the pieces \

together with ahammer.

L RivetTools. Therivet setter is sizedto match the rivetstem. The platehas dimples toaccommodateseveral sizesof rivets.

L Anvil & Sefier.The tools you|needfor setting grom-'mets are similar torivet tools, only abit larger to matchthe wider sfems.

through a hole and are then "set"to form a strong connection.

Pilot Holes. The process forinstalling eitherbegins with a pilothole. For the rivets,I drilled a pilothole with a twist bit that's slightlybigger than the stem on the rivet.

Just take it easy on the speedbecause the leather can climb thebit and get tangled.

To drive the rivets togetheq,you'll need a setter and a steelplate. As you drive the pieces, youcan feel them slide together andthenbottom outfor a solid connec-tiort as shown in the photo above.

Grommets are installed in a sim-ilar way. The only real differenceis that the hole is larger. To makethese holes, I used a 7+" chisel tomake a square hole (inset photo atleft). Then you can fit the two partsof the grommet together. Using asetting tool and matching anvil,roll the stem of the grommet tightto the washer (left photo).

By combining these simple tech-niques, you can make a wide vari-ety of projects from leather. For afew ideas, take a look at the toolholders on the next pager. 6

v

A Setting Grommets. You can quickly create an opening for a grom-met with a few chisel cuts (inset photo); Then place the face of thegrommet in the anvil and tap the setting tool to compress the stem.


I

I,JS'IrriJ

I Purchased leather tool holders make it easy to bothprotect and transport edge tools like chisels, scrap-ers, and small planes. The only problem is that thesetool holders are expensive and usually designed toacconunodate a specific set of tools.

The good news is you can easily make your owncustom tool holders. The techniques you'll use aredetailed starting on page 36. In the photo above, youc;rn see how to combine these techniques to make achisel roll, block plane pouch, and scraper wallet. Ofcourse, you can also mix and match those techniquesand these ideas to design your own tool holder.


1IIIII! --',I

I

cHtsEt RottA handy project for just about anywoodworker is a chisel roll. It's themost involved of the three projectsshown, but it's still pretty straight-forward to make.

It has a couple of features thataren't found on traditional rolls.The first is the large upper flap.This helps hold the set of chisels inthe roll when it's tied up.

The other stand-out feature isthe two hanging tabs. These allowyou to hang the roll on the wallabove your bench for easy access(inset photo on the facing page).

This chisel roll holds a set offive chisels. But you can modi$rthe layout and even the size of thepockets to match your tools.

The Process. The roll is madeup of three layers of leather. Theupper layers are glued togetherbefore being trimmed to final size.This assembly can be glued to theback. Then before I started stitch-i.g, I installed the rivets separat-ing the chisel pockets.

Tie Cord. All of the projects aresecured with a simple tie cord. Thecord is made by cutting a narrowstrip of leather and held in slits.

SCRAPER WAttEIAnother easy project is thescraper wallet. This is really just a

F I G U R E

OEVEL

FOLD U??EREDGEOF TO? UNDER 5/s"OEFORE GLUINOTO MIOOLE ?IECE

sandwich of leather pieces thatcreates pockets for the scrapers. Inorder to access each scraper, they'reset in staggered pockets. To cre-ate these, you'll need to assemblethings in the right order (Figure 2).I also left the pieces a little oversizeuntil I finished the stitching. Thisway, I can trim the edges and endperfectly flush for a clean look.

TA99 ALUEDAND FOLDED

TAO ovER

(11a" x 9Vz")

BLI|CK PLA}IE PtlUCHIn Figure 3, you can see that thefinal project-a block plane pouch- is about as easy as it gets. Andit's perfect for protecting the planewhile it's in my toolbox.

The pouch is just a single pieceof leather. It's sewn inside outalong the bottom and one edge toforrnthe pouch, then reversed. A

INgTALL GROMMET IN TABOEFORE gTITCHING TO

MIDDLE AND FACK PIECE

IN9TALL RIVET9AFTER OLUIN@

TOP. MIDDLE, ANDFACK LAYERS

TOOETHER

GLUETOT TOMIDDLE ?IECE

AT 9IDE5AND BOTTOM

ONLY

NOTE: CUTTO? AND MIDDLEPIECEl /2" WIDER AND LONOERTHAN 9HOWN. CUT TO FINAL

gIZE AFTER @LUIN@?IECEETOOETHER

TIE(1/+" x24")

- * T F U R E

9ECOND: erncHgOTIOM OF TOCKETIN UPPER MIDDLE?IECETO LOWER PIECEAND EACK

THIRD: ATTA;HTo??IECETO OTHER ?IECE?

AND COMPLETE 9TITCHINOALONG 5IDE5 AND BOTTOM

jIGURH

NOTE: CUT ALL?IECE5 OVER5IZE

AND TRIM TO FINAL5IZE AFTER gTITCHING

FIR9T: ertrcH60rroM oF ?ocKETIN LOWER MIDDLE ?IECETO OACK

5/o" x 11/+"gEVELwww.ShopNotes.com

TIVO|THETO? PANELANDLOCK IT IN TLACETO ACCE59

YOURTOOL9

FLIP-TOPgTANDALLOWgUgEANDSTORAOEOFTWO

TOOLgIN THE 5?ACEITTAKEgTOgTOREONE

spoce-sovlngTool

StatlonsGet the most out of your

benchtop tools withthese easyto-build

storage ideas.

M*y woodworkers buy bench-top tools for two good reasons -

they're economical and they don'ttake up a lot of room. But eventhough each tool only requires afew square feet of space on a work-bench or cabinet, finding the spaceto use them can be a hassle.

If you add three or four bench-top tools to your shop, it will fillrp i. a hurry. But building a fewtool stands can help orgarize asmall shop and help make betteruse of the these handy tools.

FULL-EXTEN9ION5LIOE9

FRAMEWITH CA9TERg5U??ORTSSHELF

A FLIP.TOP I[|OI STAND

I

NO ROOM ONTOPOFTHEBENCH?TH19 PULL.OUTSHELF9OLVE9THETROgLEMOF9TORIN6ABENCHTOPPLANER

One solution to make a basic toolstand work just a little harder is togive it a flip top, as shown in thedrawings above. \tVhat makes thistool stand different from most oth-ers is that you can mount a tool oneither side of the top.

Then when you want to switchtools, all you have to do is flip the

< PULL.OUI PTAI{ER SHETF

top 180'. Locking knobs in eachcomer secure the top in place.

A set of locking casters addsmobility to this stand, making iteven more versatile. This way, youcan place it right where you need itwhen it's in use. And when you'redone using the tool, just roll it asideto open up some floor space.

Not every shop has the space toadd another tool station, like theflip-top unit above. But if you stillneed an easy way to store heavytools like a thickness plane4, con-sider a pull-out shell as shown inthe drawing at left.

This shelf allows you to stowa tool beneath your workbench,which lets you use the top of thebench as a handy staging area forworkpieces. And, best of all, you

don't have to mess around withhoistingheavy tools up to or downoff the workbench.

The shelf is just a piece of 3/+" ply-wood mounted on a pair of full-extension drawer slides. (Make

sure the slides will support the fullweight of your tool). A hardwoodframe with a pair of fixed casterson one end of the shelf providesextra support and lets you easilypull the tool shelf into place.

ShopNotes No. 102

MIIBITE STA}ID >

I've built several basic stands formy benchtop tools over the years.They're a great way to keep myworkbench clear. The problem is,now they're stationary. To makethe stands mobile, all it takes aretwo simple add-on handles and apair of casters, as illustrated in thedrawing at right.

The first step in modifying a toolstand is to shorten the rear legsand attach fixed casters. Then, bolta pair of pivoting wood handles tothe sides of the stand, as you cansee in the detail drawing.

The handles can be loweredwhen not in use. When you needto move the stand, the handles canbe locked in the upright position.

ROLLgTAND

< BEI{CHTIIP Tt|tl|. STA}IB

Not every benchtop tool is usedevery day. But it's still handy tohave a dedicated place to use andstore them. This compact tool standfills both needs. It provides botha convenient worksurface and aplace to organize your tools.

The stand is just an open boxwith space to hold several toolsmounted to shelves. You can sizethe removable shelves to suit eachof your tools. When you need touse a tool, just pull it out and placeit on top. A "pil:." securely locksthe shelf and the tool in place.

Largertools (like ascrollsaw) canbe mounted to a single shelf. But insome cases, a smaller tool (like abenchtop grinder) can be placed ona shelf that's only half the depth ofthe stand. This way, you can storetwo tools in one spot.

You can build this stand out ofany type of sheet stock, but I rec-ommend using 3/q" MDF.It's rea-sonably priced and heavy enoughto absorb vibration and preventthe stand from "walking" aroundthe shop when a tool is it use. A

43

NOTE: LrFruPoNHANDLEg TO TILT AND

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CAgTERS

TOOLaA9E9FITINTOTOPAND LOCK

INTOPLACE

ORGANIZEYOURFENCHTOPTOOL5OY

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www.ShopNotes.com

get morefrom your

Rlp Fencei'Followthese simple

steps to improve yourtable saws performance.

One part of my table saw I takefor granted all too often is the ripfence. I just expect it to be dead-onaccurate day in and day out.

To get the best results from yoursaw, it pays to periodically takesome time to grve the rip fence aquick "checkup." After that, youcan make some handy rip fenceadd-ons to help you get even morefrom this essential component.

IHREE GHEGKSThe rip fence on your table sawis a simple, stout piece of equip-ment. So it isn't likely to get out

of alignment easily. But even so,there are a few things you shouldcheck whether your saw is old ornew. And in less than an hour youcan take care of those things usingonly common shop tools.

Before getting started, be sureyour saw blade is set parallel tothe miter gauge slots in your saw.Then you can use the slot as a ref-erence edge for other sefups andbe assured of reliable results.

Parallel. The fust test is to makesure the fence is parallel to the

blade (and miter gauge slots). Ifthe fence angles into the blade, itcan cause blade marks, burning, orlead to kickback.

The photo above shows howto do this. Hold a combinationsquare in the miter gauge slot andslide the rip fence up to the bladeof the square. Now as you movethe square along the slot, the bladeshould stay in contact with thefence. The fence shouldn't forcethe square away from the edge ofthe slot or show agap.

If the fence isn't parallel, take alook at your owner's manual forinstructions on how to correct thisproblem. Usually, it's just a matterof adjusting a few set screws.

A Second Opinion. I've talkedwith woodworkers who say thefence should angle away fromthe blade slightly. Th"y say thishelps prevent a workpiece frompinching the back of the blade. Intheory, it sounds like a good idea.:But I prefer to let a splitter preventpinching and set the rip fence for aperfectly parallel cut.

Square to Fence. The next thingto do is see if the face of the fence issquare to the table (far left photo).Use a square to check the fenceat several points along its length.

trI

A ts it Square? Check the fenceface in several places to see that it'ssquare to the saw table.


A face that isn't square can causeslight variations in width when rip-ping thick and thin stock.

If the fence is a one-piece metalassembly, there's really only onethi.g to do to remedy the situa-tion. And that's to add an auxil-iary fence and use tape or shims tomake sure it's square to the table.

For a rip fence with removablefaces, you can use masking tape orshims to square it up.

Is It Straight? The final testis to see if the face of the fence isstraight along its length. Bumps ordips in the face can make a work-piece drift away from or into theblade. To check this, I use a longmetal rulet, as shown in the lowerright photo on the facing page.

The easiest solution to a warpedface is to replace it (if possible). Or,as I mentioned before, simply attachan auxiliary face to your existing ripfence. (More on this later.)

If you do this, it's a good ideato run through the other two teststo make sure the new face hasn'tcaused any other problems.

Auxiliary Face. A plywoodface lets you"bury"a dadoblade to cut perted rabbets.Low-profile clam ps stayout of your way.

THREE ADD.IINSWith your rip fence tuned up,you're well on your way to mak-ing smooth, accurate cuts. Butdon't stop there. The accessoriesshown on this page can help yourrip fence tackle some new tasks.

Rabbeting Fence. \iVhen usinga dado blade to cut rabbets, Iclamp an auxiliary fence to the ripfence and "bury" the blade (photoabove). This makes setting theexact width of the rabbet abreeze.The trouble is ordinary clamps can

get in the way ofthe workpiece.

The solution is touse a new adjust-able clamp fromRockler (right mar-gin). A round legat one end fits intoa hole drilled intothe top edge of thefence. This keeps

the clamps out of the way andmakes attaching the face to thefence quick and easy.

Thll Fence. Supportirg u wideworkpiece on edge can be tricky.That's why I made the tall fenceshown in the lower left photo. Theface is glued to a back piece that'sidentical to the rabbeting fence.

Thin Stock Fence. The finaladd-on comes in handy forcutting plastic laminateand other thin materi-als. On some fences. L Fence Clamp.thin stock can slip under ttf The adiustablethe fence and get wedged.

-\$ leg fits into a hole

thin stock can slip under '\

The adiustablethe fence and get wedged.

-\t) leg fits into a h'

The hardboard lip on the bot- in the edge of thetom of this face creates a square, fence face. And ithard comer to keep the workpiece won't interferemoving smoothly. with a cut.

After taking these steps, you'llquickly notice cleaneq, more accu-rate rip cuts. And by adding somenewcapabilities to your saw, you'llfind it's time well spent. A

-

45

7 .sf""4f''

Gear *f.JF:

GalculatoTI

{\-/

To download a freedecimal/f raction

conversion chart go toShopNoh.com

> Project Help. TheMaster Pro addsfeatures includinga handy boardfootage option.

shop

Working with fractions is a factof life in the shop. Now I don'tmind doing math, but adding *dsubtracting fractions can makemy head spin and lead to errors.What's worse, trying to use a cal-culator that only understands dec-imals is a hassle. Fortunately, thereare calculators to help you guaran-tee your math and measurementsare dead-on accurate. (Refer toSources on page 51.)

Working in Inches. If you lookat the photos on these two pages,you'll see some calculators thatlet you input whole and fractionalinch dimensions. And the resultsare displayed in feet and inches,too. For example, when I need toadd the length of two fu"-long stubtenons to a frame rail that's 12r3/ra"long, these calculators make it aneasy, infuitive task.

Easy to Use. Calculated Indus-tries has a variefy of models thatare handy for all sorts of shop andhome tasks. Their Measure MasterPro shown in the left photo belowis one example. But I find theirbasic Home ProiectCalc (model

8510, main photo) just

fine for most shopmath tasks.

Their calculators include "Feet,""Inch," and other special keys forentering fractions. You can seehow some of these keys work onthe next page. Once you get theh*g of it, enterirg u.y shop mea-surement becomes second nature.

Common Fractions. The lnch-Mate+ calculator by Sonin uses adifferent approach for enteringfractions, as shown in the rightphoto below It has four specifickeys for entering fractional inchesbased on the denominator.

This feature does save a fewkeystrokes. But the downside isit's a little harder to get used to

and the fractions are limited

jt

to sixteenths. And the answers arerounded to the nearest %0" or con-verted to decimal feet, not incheslike you'd expect.

Metric. If you work in metricunits, you can find calculators thatunderstand meters or millime-ters and convert them to feet andinches. A couple of these calcula-tors are shown in the box at thebottom of the opposite page.

No Excuse. After using oneof these calculators in the shop, Icouldn't do without it. You cankeep one in your apron pocket.And with the cost in the 82540

rEu:rge, it won't break thebank, either. A

q)-^i ,g eas'e'-itt e'-''e'

$- f fractions

ShopNotes No. 102

Features

@@@@@

ElrrrFNTEPFF,@TEFlt

If you just wanted to enter 8115/ro" in inches, here'show you would do it:-

EIIIEilIIHINIIUAs you can see, the way you enter feet, inches, and

fractions is intuitive. Then once you've entered thevalue, you can perform any calculation on it you need.You can even have the results displayed to the near-estTu" if you wish. Add one to your shop and yo-u'llappreciate the extra help available at your fingertips.

@@ssFmlD@@gz@@w@9gw@rya9ry@ry8@@@EE

Hinged cover c/osesto keep out dust andprevent scratches

Display can showfeet, inches, fractions,decimal inches,ormetric measurements

Fraction bar makesentering any type offraction an easy task

Enter or convertto meters with theMeter key

Pertorm calculations onany value with standardcalculator keys

Project keys calculateareas and material

requirements

Yard, Feet, and lnch keysare used for entering orconverting dimensions

Powertd Convert keyconverts between

metric and imperialdimensions and

accesses secondaryfunctions on other keys

"Q',r, ,' i ; .. . . t . I :

At first glance, you might be ovent'helmed by all ofthe buttons on a shop calculator. But it only takes aIittle time to leam each function.

Feet, Inches, Fractions. The calculators made byCalculated Industries (like the one shown above) makedoing math in the shop abreeze. For example, to enterthe value shown in the display in the photo above,here are the keystrokes you need:

rEgisEdrrrzrrr

using & convedingMetric UnitsIf your shop math involves metric units, CalculatedIndustries and FastCap offer a solution. These calcula-tors handily convert your fractional inches to metricunits (millimeters or meters) and vice-versa.

The ProjectCalc PIus MX (model 8528, shown atright) by Calculated lndustries follows in the long lineof project-based calculators. Like their other calcula-tors, it includes feafures for calculating materials andareas for a number of typical home projects.

The Conaertor Pro by FastCap (far tigh$ doesn'thave all the bells and whistles, but it's easy to use.You can't enter feet dimensions, but it works great forfractional inches and millimeter calculations.

www.ShopNotes.com

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Reference Guide

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W

Shop

plate joiner

GheckupGetting the best resultsstarts before you even

turn the tool on.

Grab it and go. That's the wayI think of my plate joiner. It just

seeru like one of those tools youexpect to work right out of theborno matter what.

The trouble is this kind of unin-tentional neglect can lead to a toolthat doesn't work as well as itshould. And, like any tool, it willshorten its life.

So it's a good idea to give yourplate joiner a quick tune-up on aregular basis. Following the sim-ple steps I outlined here is a goodway to keep your joiner runninglike new. And it only takes a shorttime to complete the task.

Disassemble. The first step inthe tune-up process is to inspectthe parb. That means removing theblade cove[, blade, and the auxil-iaryfence (depending on the make

and model). Here you can look forbroker! missing, or loose parb.

Clean It Out. With the toolopened up, you also have goodaccess to clean out all the nooksand crannies. You'll be surprisedat how much stuff builds up andcollects inside the joiner.

I like to start with a few blastsof compressed ait, as shown inthe left photo below. This usuallyremoves most of the loose saw-dust and debris from the outsideand inside of the machine.

Next, I use a few ordinaryhousehold supplies to dig out the

L Tough Spots. A paper clipcomes in handyfor picking outpacked-in chips around thearbor and other tight places.

stubborn, built-up grime. A littledenatured alcohol softens thetough residue so it comes outeasier with an old tooth brush orpaper clip, as shown in the middleand right photos below.

It's a good idea to take yourtime to do a thorough cleaning.You want to be sure to removeanything that might interfere withthe smooth operation of the tool.

That takes care of the big stuff.A quick *ipe down with a cottonball or rag moistened with alcoholwill finish the cleaning process.

Blade. The next item on the listis theblade. Because a platejoiner is only used in shortbursts, the blade will last asurprisingly long time. Soit's easy to forget about it.But it's a good idea to take

I a look at it once in a whileto see how it's holding up.

Over time, pitch andglue residue can build upon the teeth. And like atable saw blade, this causesthe blade to run hotter anddull quicket as you can seein the upper left photo onthe opposite page.

You can scrub off thebuildup with a brush and

ShopNotes No. 102

*--

MuSs"rH

I

L BlowtheDustQut.Com- L lnside Job. Use an oldpressed air makes quick toothbrush to remove built-upwork of removing most of gunk in the blade compart-the dust and debris ment and dust port.

48

J

some denafured alcohol or a com-mercial blade cleaner.

Once the blade is clean, check tomake sure the teeth are sharp andfree from chips. If the edges arerounded or any tips are chipped ormissing, it's time for a new blade.

Put It Together. At last, you canstart reassembling the plate joiner.As you do, pay attention to theblade orientation. It's easy to get itinstalled backr,vards.

The final step is to do a quickcheck of the slot depth adjusterand the fence settings. The boxbelow shows you how it's done.

Preflight Checklist. With thejoiner set, you're ready to put itback to use. And here I want toleave you with a few tips.

The first thing is to make slrethe slot size matches the biscuityou plan to use. Keep in mind youmay need to change the blade to

finstuning the\.-. Sgfti ngs

I Examine the Blade. Removepitch and grime so the bladecuts smoothly. Replace the bladeif the teeth are chipped or dull.

cut slots for the small face frame-size (FF) biscuits.

Then take a look at the fence. Setthe fence to cut slots right whereyou want rather than where it waspositioned the last time you usedyour plate joiner.

f Srflp the Bag. Long, cuily shavings can chokethe dust port and bag. lnstead, connec.t a shopvacuum to the dust port. The suction provides anadded boost to keep it clear.

Finally, dust and.hipt can inter-fere with how the tool works. Takea look at the upper right photo forEu:r easy solution.

Now you can be confident you'llget consistent cuts every time youieach for your plate joiner. A

'

Following the steps in the article above will get yourplate joiner looking like new. But there are a coupleother items to check to make sure it worlcs like new,too. On most joiners this involves the fence and thedepth settings for the biscuit slots.

Fence. The first thing to check is to make sure thefront fence face is set parallel to the blade. If it isn't,the joiner will cut angled slots and you can end upwith misaligned parts. Usually, you c€u:r remedy thesituation by adjusting a set screw (or two), as shownin the upper left photo. It's a good idea to check yourowner's manual for specific instructions.

Other items to look at are the height and anglegauge for the fence (upper right photo). On some join-ers, they can be adjusted. While I don't rely on thesefor precision measurements, it does come in handyfor quickly setting the slot location.

Slot Depth. The final task is to check the setting forthe slot depth (lower left photo). What you're lookingfor is a slot that's slightly deeper than half the widthof a biscuit. This allows the joint to close up tight andit provides some space for excess glue.

The middle photos at right show an easy way tocheck the slot depth. I aim for a slot that's aboutl/rs"wider than the biscuit. To make any adjustnents, youcan loosen the stop nut and fine-tune the plunge rod,as you can see in the lower right photo.

www.ShopNotes.com

A Sguare the Fence. A set screwon this joiner controls the fenceposition. Adjust the screw so thefence is square to the face.

> Check Depth. Fita biscuit into a test

slot and mark theedge. Then flip it end

for end and make asecond mark. They.

should overlap.

> Adjust thePlunge Rod. The

threaded plunge rodand stop nut can beadjusted to fine-tune

the depth of cut.

L HeightGauge. After making anyadjustments, fine-tune the positionof the height and angle scales toget an accurate cut.

49

quections from

Our ReadersThe tires on my band saw are old and

worn. l'd like to replace them, but

l'zte nezter done this before. What's

thebest way to do this?Aaron Schoenhopf

Lanc as t er, P ennsvla anin

The tires on a band saw cushionthe blade and keep it tracking in a

straight path. But over time, theycanbecome brittle and cracked, orthe blade may wear grooves intothe face of the tire (photo above).This can lead to poor trackingand performance. But fortunately,replacing the tires on a band sawis a relatively easy task.

I Stretch theTire. Use a clamp to anchor the tirewhile you stretch it over the wheel. A wood dowel willhelp you to slip the tire over the ilm of the wheel.

No More Glue. Years'ago, itwas necessary to glue the tires to

the wheels with a rubber adhesive.The adhesive held the tire in placeand prevented it from slipping offthe wheel while the saw was inuse. Applyi.g the adhesive andinstalling the tires on these oldersaws can be a messy job.

Today, most band saws aredesigned with flanges on the outeredges of the wheel that create achannel to hold the tire in place.Replacing the tire is simply a mat-ter of removing the old tire and

stretching the new one over therim of the wheel. It's similar tochanging the tire on a bicycle.

Remove the Old Tire. Withthe wheel removed from the bandsaw the first step is to take offthe old tire. To do this, slip a flat-bladed screwdriver undemeaththe tire and work it over the rimof the wheel. (Be careful not todamage the wheel while you'redoing this.) After you have the oldtire off, clean out any sawdust ordebris that may have built up inthe channel of the wheel.

Install the New Tire. Install-ing the new tire is just a matter of

stretching it over the wheel andmaking sure it seats into the chan-nel. But there are a couple of tricks

that will help make this go easier.To make the new tire a little

more pliable, try soaking it in hotwater before installing it on thewheel. This will make the tire alittle easier to stretch.

Stretching the tire over thewheel almost requires a thirdhand. I've found that it worksbest to use a clamp to hold thetire to the wheel at one spot. Then

use your hands to pull the tireover the rim. A hardwood dowelmakes it easier to stretch the lastfew inches of the tire over the rim

of the wheel (drawing at left.)Smooth it Out. To even out anY

lumps in the tire from overstretch-ing it in one spot, place the dowelbetween the tire and thewheel and

run it around the circumference ofthewheel a coupleof times. Finally,run your fingers along both edgesof the tire to make sure it's fullyseated in the channel.

After replacing the tire on theother wheel, all you have to do ismount the wheels back on your

saw and you're ready to go. A

-1

replcrcing oBand $aw Tlre

I

POWEL TO gTRETCHTIRE OVER WHEEL


Sounces ITIAIlORDER

SOU RC ES

J

Most of the materials and suppliesyou'll need for the projects areavailable at hardware stores orhome centers. For specific productsor hard-to-find items, take a look atthe sources below. You'll find eachpart number listed by the companyname. See the right.margin forcontact information. A

HAGKSAWS @. rz)Most well-stocked hardware storeswill hqve heavy-duty, high-tensionhacksaw frames and high-qualityblades. If you have difficulty find-ing the frames, MSC lndustrinl Sup-ply md Reid Supply Company havea wide variety to choose from. Acouple of models are listed below.

. MSC Industrial SupplyHigh-Tension Frame . . .96039854

o Reid Supply CompanyHigh-TensionFrame . . 5T5-67818

o Weeks DishibutorsSpiral (360') Hack Saw Blade

TAGKTE B(lX T00t T0TE @.16)For the brass bar stock used tomake the pivot mechanism, youmay want to order two lengths of36" each. This way, you'llhave a lit-tle extra on hand in case you needit. Alloy 360, free-cutting brass iswhat you'll need to look for.

' Speedy Metals3/15" x1/2" BrAss. . . . 60f.188x.5-36

. Lee ValleyBrass Piano Hinge 00D52.20

I finished the tote with a few coatsof a wipe-on oil finish and pastewax before filling it with my tools.

WORI$ENEH @. zq)o Lee Valley

Large Front Vise. .. . . . . 70G08.02Shoulder Vise Screw. . . .70G01.51Square Bench Dogs.. . . .05G02.01

o Reid SupplySquare-HeadT-Bolts . . . . . TB-115

o Speedy Metals3/q"-dia. Steel Rod 18r.75-36

. Carbide.comMortising Bit . .. . . . AMA-45561,

. Woodsmith StoreMort is ingBit . . . . .271700Large Front Vise . . 611055

A few coats of an oil finish are allyou need to complete the bench.

LEAIIIER SUPPIIES @. s6)Whenyou purchase leatheq, you'rebuying a random cut piece fromthe supplier. Split-suede leather issold by the square foot, and is gen-erally sold inpieces 12 to 15 squarefeet in size.

. Thndy Leather FactoryLeqther (Econorny Suede). . . .9827Brown Nyltex Thread. . 56450-102StitchingNeedles , 1195-00Awl Set 3209-00Grommets E Setter Kit . .3633-00Brass Riaets . 1273-77RiaetSetter ..8100-00

BIP FEI,|8E @. qt)

I like to make accessories for a ripfence out of Baltic birch plywood.It's stable and flat - requirementsfor getting the best results withshop-built accessories.

. RocklerUniaersal Fence Clamps . . . 31373

. Woodsmith StoreUniaersal Fence Clamps . .456562

SH0P GALGULAT0RS (p. ee)Most woodworking supplierscany shop calculators. You canalso order them from Calculatedlndustries or Calculator Source. TheConuertor Pro fuom FastCap wasordered from Mike's Tools. You canalso get t}ite Corutertor Pro from theWoodsmith Store.

Woodsmith Store800-444-7527

Rockler800-279-4441

rockler.com

Calculated Industries800-854-8075calculated.com

Calculator Sourcecalculatorsource.com

Carbide.com888-70r-9278

Lee Valley800-87r-8158leevalley.com

Mike's Tools714-558-8360mikestools.com

MSC Industrial Supply800-645-7270mscdireclcom

Reid Supply Company800-253-O421reidsupply.com

Speedy Metals866-938-6061

speedymetals.com

Tandy kather Factory800-433-3201

tandyleatherfactory. com

Weeks Distributors800-547-9353

durafix.com

ShopNotes BindersKeep your issues organized!

As you build your ShopNotes ltbrary, here's a way to keep yourissues organized. Each binder features durable vinyl covers andeasy-to-read perforated number tags. Snap tirgs with a quick-open lever make it easy to insert and remove issues. And there'san extra pocket inside for storing notes. Each binder holds a fullyear (6 issues) of the new expanded ShopNotes.

Visit yvnrnru.Shoplllotes,com to orderthese binders, or call 1l-8{0|!-tl/l/|-lintn.

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ShopNotes Binder

51

..: .*t

,"lS\\-\

i\

l i . \ i

r l'ii

These leather toolholders are a greatway to protect edgetools. Detailed plans

) ''irrir...

;.1.{i$trii

are shown on page 40.

ShopNotes #102 - Cabinetmaker's Workbench

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Transcript of ShopNotes #102 - Cabinetmaker's Workbench