Wood Working !

FIVE HEADSare better than one

Who Wins and Why

Strategies for Smooth Glue-Ups

From new to antique in no time at all

BENCH-TOP PLANERS TESTED

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Spokeshave TUNE-UP

C a n a d i a n

& Home Improvement

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2010issuE #68

W oodworking

iciclescreate wooden

Turn aFRUITPLATTER

8

deVelop YoUr SkillS • tool YoUr SHop • bUild YoUr dreamS

MAN vs. LATHE

ContentS

FEATuREs

2 Editor’s Letter

4 Readers' Letters and Woodworker’s Gallery

5 Product News

6 Community: Durham Woodworking Club 8 instrument Project: Build an electric Guitar: part 214 Wood Finish: Adding Years of patina ... overnight18 Turning Project: turning a Fruit platter37 shop Tested: ridgid Jobmax37 Coming Events

48 Wood Chuckle

DEPARTMENTs

SpokeshavesOnce you learn how to tune a spokeshave and use it properly, it will be a tough tool to put down.

Gluing StrategiesKnowledge, coupled with lots of planning, will go a long way to ensuring smooth glue-ups.

Bench-top planer ComparisonWe sort through the ups and downs of this little shop workhorse.

Sink organizerBring order to one of the most chaotic areas in your home...the space under your sink.

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30

34

38

COVER sTORY

Finer DetailsTake an inside look at how John Glendinning makes a furniture component that was inspired by icicles.

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canadianWoodworking.com

& WC a n a d i a n oodworking

Home ImprovementdeVelop YoUr SkillS • tool YoUr SHop • bUild YoUr dreamS

oCtoBer/novemBer 2010

cover photo by: Andrew Gene

34

2 canadian WoodWorkinG & Home improVement october/november 2010

t’s hard to find time to work wood in the summer. If it’s not the heat and humidity slowing me down, it’s the vacation. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining about warm weather and time off, but I wish it didn’t have to come at the expense of

quality time in my studio. Summer’s great but we have to move on and start building. Autumn is the time of the year to get excited about woodworking and to reacquaint yourself with projects you started many months earlier. More time in the shop is consolation for the sad fact that another summer has come to a close. Well, out with the good, and in with the … great!

Speaking of great, we have a host of articles to tighten your focus and inspire you this fall. In addition to the new Community section we introduced last issue, I’m really excited to launch another regular feature article: Finer Details. In Finer Details you’ll learn how some of the finest craftsmen in the country expand what’s possible when making furniture. This segment will explain how a complex portion of a piece of furniture is made. It really is an inside look at how the best woodworkers do their best work. To start things off with a bang I take a look at how John Glendinning, a Quebec-based studio furniture maker, builds the leg featured on our cover.

In this issue you will also find some great ideas for how to better tackle your glue-ups, how to tune and use a spokeshave and how to organize the area under your kitchen sink. I hope our stories will help coax you back into the shop again. Enjoy yourself.

Rob Brown

editor's letter

PUbLIShERSPaul Fulcher, Linda Fulcher

EdIToRRob Brown

ART dIREcToRJonathan Cresswell-Jones

coNTRIbUToRSAllan Cusworth, Paul Hillacre, Bill Perry, Jim Sinclair, Marty Schlosser, Ryan Shervill, Don Wilkinson, Chris Wong

PREPRESSBonnie Wittek

PRooFREAdERJames Morrison

SUbScRIPTIoNSMaureen Fulcher1-800-204-1773

AdvERTISINg(519)449-2444

cANAdIAN WoodWoRkINg & homE ImPRovEmENT

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please exercise caution when working with any tools or machinery. Follow common safety rules and precautions as outlined in any manuals related to the equipment be-ing used. this publication is sold with the understanding that (1) the authors and editors are not responsible for the results of any actions taken on the basis of informa-tion in this publication, nor for any errors or omissions; and (2) the publisher is not engaged in rendering profes-sional advice/services. the publisher, and the authors and editors, expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person, whether a purchaser of this publication or not, in or respect of anything and of the consequences of anything done omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, whether whole or partial, upon the whole or any part of the contents of this publication. if advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

& WC a n a d i a n oodworking

Home ImprovementdeVelop YoUr SkillS • tool YoUr SHop • bUild YoUr dreamS

Paul FulcherPublisher & Advertising [email protected]

Maureen [email protected]

Bill MacdonaldForum [email protected]

issue #68

[email protected]

I


Thanks for the great garden bench project

I recently completed the elegant garden bench that was featured in your April/May'09 issue. I chose to use Spanish Cedar and fin-ished it with three coats of Behr exterior satin finish. The project was easy to follow, and a pleasure to make. Keep up the good work!

Mark BKanata, ON

Where in the world is Paul Ross?Just a quick note to let you know that we've

settled into our new location in Bloomfield, ON, a wonderful little community in Prince Edward County.

Paul, a past contributor to Canadian Woodworking Magazine, continues to teach woodturning, and along with selling his turned work, he's also offering lathes, tools and turning supplies.

Please let your readers know that if they are in our neighborhood, they are welcome to drop by!

The shop address is: 212 Main Street, Bloomfield, ON K0K 1G0

Lynne RossChaletWoodcraft.com

readers' letters

Shop Storage Fit For a Kingby Gary Zimmel

With cherry plywood carcasses, aspen and birch drawer sides and solid cherry face frames, doors and drawer fronts, this project would be just as beautiful in a kitchen as it is in this woodworking shop. Most people don’t go to this amount of trouble to make their shop storage look this good, but Gary Zimmel, of Stony Plain, Alberta thought it was worth the extra effort. And besides, he says, “It was a labour of love. Every time I go into my shop and look at this corner it gives me a ton of self-satisfaction.”

In fact, the project started off a bit more modestly, but as construction took place over eight months worth of eve-nings and weekends, Zimmel added more and more drawers so he could have easy access to his set of tools. The addition of more drawers added some challenges. “Doing the 12" drawers with half blind dovetails was the most difficult part of the build. There was not a lot of margin for error to have these go together nice and tight,” he recalls.

With the build now behind him, Zimmel has had a chance to look back at his work. “Sometimes a project can get a little out of hand,” he states matter-of-factly. With that many drawers, all dovetailed by hand, I would say he might be right!

– Rob Brown

Show your work to the world! Visit canadianwoodworking.com and join our forum!

Subscription draw Winners

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woodworkers' gallery


Now available from General International is a 17" extended stroke drill press. This new model (75-260 M1) is designed for precision drilling applica-tions in either wood or metal and includes all the basic functions and features found on most standard drill presses. The main difference between this model and others is its lengthened 6" vertical spindle travel.

The cast-iron head of the 75-260 M1 is mounted to a sturdy 3 1/8" steel column and sits on a stable 11 ¾ x 19 5/8" cast-iron base. The large 14 x 14" cast-iron table tilts 45 degrees left or right and can be quickly swivelled away for off-table drilling. It also has four strategically located slots for securing a variety of clamps or jigs to the table. A smooth rack and pinion is used for table height adjustments and all swivel or pivot points are secured with metal locking levers.

The 75-260 M1 features a 1 HP, totally enclosed fan-cooled motor, a heavy duty positive depth stop, a ¾" chuck, a large front-mounted paddle-style stop switch and, for added safety, an adjustable flip-up, see-through chuck guard. The unit is equipped with cast-iron pulleys for smooth, vibration-free operation and by simply changing the belt positions on the pulleys it offers 12 possible speed selections, from 255 to 2750 RPM.

The General International 75-260M1 can be ordered from most General/General International retail distributors. For more information on this and other General products, visit – www.general.ca.

the Stanley Fatmax™ tool Vest has been constructed with comfort, func-tion and durability in mind. it provides fast, convenient access to all your most frequently used tools, yet is comfortable enough to wear all day on the job.

air mesh material enables the vest to breath for com-fort during hot weather. it is one-size-fits-all but is adjustable with wide, adjustable shoulder and side straps that expand for more room when worn over heavier win-ter clothing. light reflective strips trim the vest to provide better visibility after dark.

the Fatmax™ tool Vest has been designed with a wide array of compartments tailored to fit tools of various sizes, as well as with a removable modular tool pouch and hammer holder. it also has semi-detachable tool pockets to fit different working positions. double layer pockets and reinforcements provide additional strength and support for sharp tools and nails. the Vest’s high-quality Velcro webbing belt and fasteners allow for additional hanging tool holders and pouches so you’ll always have the right tool at your fingertips every time. personal storage compartments provide easy access to personal items such as portable media players and mobile phones, while inner concealed pockets hold and secure important documents. i think Stanley has thought about everything when they designed this vest.

the Fatmax™ tool Vest is available at rona Stores across canada & reno-depot strores in Quebec for a suggested retail price of $59.99. For more information visit: www.stanleyhandtools.ca.

product news

maxGetsFat

Prize Winner!denis Vincent is pictured with some of his most recent projects, and his new 20-piece oscillating multi-tool from king. congratulations denis; this will no doubt come in handy for future projects.

General Extends its Reach


community: DurhamP

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: To

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s

By ROB BROWN

The Durham Woodworking Club has been serving woodworking mem-

bers in the Durham region for over 20 years. Initially, Durham

Woodworking Club members struggled with the fact that they

didn’t have a facility but they soon developed a relationship with the

Eastview Boys and Girls Club to mentor their kids’ woodworking pro-

gram. This allowed the Woodworking Club to outfit the shop with tools and machinery and develop a learning pro-gram to educate and challenge their members. The club has around 100 hard-working members who regularly share skills on numerous woodworking topics during meetings.

The club has a well-developed edu-cation program where woodworking experts are invited to educate mem-bers on all aspects of woodworking. Many tool, equipment and material

manufacturers have made presenta-tions, teaching members how to use their products safely and properly. Similarly, many professional woodworkers have introduced members to the skills and techniques they have learned over the years. Some of the topics have included carving, canoe- and boat-building, and studio furniture making. These programs are offered at regular weekly meetings.

The club organizes a number of pro-grams, which the members volunteer their time to assist with: kids’ scroll-saw-ing, teen woodturning, toy building and working with local charities.

Offered to preteens, the kids’ scroll-sawing program provides them with an introduction to woodworking. Experienced woodworkers mentor the youngsters and allow the students to safely progress at their own speed. Woodturning Teens progress from spin-dle turning through pen, bowl and box turning projects. Often this is the only opportunity for kids and teens to learn about the joys of woodworking.

Something the club is particularly

proud of, the ongoing toy-building program, has provided up to 500 toys annually to local charities for Christmas toy drives. Also working with local char-ities, members have provided additional services such as building, modifying and repairing cabinetry and storage units. Furthermore, members’ projects are cov-eted as prizes for charity auctions and fund raising programs. As I said, these are hard-working woodworkers!

The club has an extensive library that includes plans, books and videos. The well-equipped shop is about 700 square feet and has a wide selection of machines for everyone to use. To learn more about the club visit www.dur-hamwoodworkingclub.com. you can also go to www.cana-dianwoodworking.com for a list of other woodworking clubs in Canada.

Sharing Knowledge is Just the Beginning.

Durham Woodworking Club

ROB BROWNrbrown@

canadianwoodworking.com

Christmas Ornament – A Christmas turning by Denis Lalonde

Turned Bowl – Another project by a D.W.C. member

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By PAuL HILLACRE

The neckThe neck blank needs to be 21mm

thick and approximately 4" x 30". The length and width may vary depending on your headstock design. Draw a cen-terline the length of the neck blank. Lay out your neck template, center it and clamp it in place. Drill the index holes 7mm deep with a ¼" brad point drill bit.

With the neck template still in place, trace the neck profile onto the work piece.

Truss rod slotTo rout the truss rod slot, I suggest

building a simple jig to hold the neck in position and guide the router.

Draw a centerline on a 34" x 8" piece of MDF.

On your neck blank, measure out and drill a set of through holes on center,

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In this second of a two-part series, we take a look at how the neck is made, the fret work is completed and, finally, how to apply a finish to this beautiful instrument.

outside of the neck profile. Pins will be used in these holes to center the neck on the jig and hold it in place for rout-ing. Drill a corresponding set of holes on the centerline of the MDF jig.

Measure the width of your router base. Mount two straight rails to the jig, spaced accordingly, so your router will be captured in the space between the two rails. These will guide the router down the center of the neck while you rout the slot. Rails must be at least ¼" thicker than the neck blank.

Measure the length of your truss rod and mark start/stop points for routing on the neck blank. Rout the slot about ¾" longer than the rod, past the nut into the headstock. This will provide a recess for the wrench to adjust the rod. Pin the neck onto the jig so it is secure enough to rout the slot. Set the depth of cut on your router, then rout the slot in two or three passes. Different truss rods will have different dimensions, so size of bit and depth of cut will vary. I rec-ommend using the two-way Hot Rods from Stewart MacDonald for this proj-ect. They are easy to install and allow you complete control over the neck. Follow the installation instructions pro-vided by the manufacturer.

Tuner holesMark your tuner layout on the face

of the headstock. My tuner layout for a three-per-side headstock is as follows. The E string tuners are spaced 1 ¾" apart on center, the next two are 1 ¼" on center, and the top two are 1" apart on center. The distance from the nut to the E string tuners is 1 ¾" to the center of the hole. From there, they are evenly spaced 1 ½" on center, toward the tip of the headstock. Drill tuner holes with a brad point bit 1/64" larger than the post of the tuning key, to allow for wood movement, and for ease of installation and alignment. using a backer board, drill through until only the tip of the bit pokes through. Flip and drill through from the back side of the hole to pre-vent chipping.

Profile Bandsaw the profile about 1/16" over-

size. Press the index pins through the template and into the neck. With the

canadian WoodWorkinG & Home improVement 9 canadianWoodworking.com

template secured to the neck, flush trim the last 1/16" of the material off the neck. I use a ¾" flush trim bit mounted in the router table because I can maintain more control over the neck while machining.

Carving the neckBegin by marking your heel and head-

stock transitions. you can either shape the neck on a belt sander or use a rasp or chisel to shape the heel and headstock transitions and a spoke shave for the shaft. The shaft should be no less than 14–15mm thick at the first fret and about 17–18mm at the 12th fret.

indexing the FingerboardDraw a centerline on a 24" x 6" piece

of MDF. Clamp your neck template to the MDF face down with the nut about ¾" from the end. Drill the index holes through with a ¼" brad point. Next, pin the neck template to the MDF and mark the nut position. The fingerboard will be aligned with the nut edge for indexing. Mount two toggle clamps to hold the fin-gerboard in place for drilling.

For this project, I recommend using a pre-slotted and radiused fingerboard from Stewart MacDonald. Be sure to order a 24 ¾" scale “Gibson-style” fin-gerboard, as all of the measurements given in this article are based on a 24 ¾" scale Les Paul design.

Begin by confirming that at least one edge of your fingerboard is square with the nut edge. If it’s not square, trim the

long edge so it is square. Don’t modify the nut edge in any way – this is a fin-ished end. Once it is square, measure the width of the fingerboard. Draw a line parallel to the centerline of the jig, spaced half the width of the fingerboard from the center. This will be the refer-ence line for centering the fingerboard on the jig.

Because the fingerboard is radiused, it needs to be shimmed until it sits flat, with its face down. Do this by placing an equal number of pieces of masking tape down each edge, on the face of the fingerboard.

To index the fingerboard, start by clamping a piece of MDF to the drill press table. This piece of MDF will allow you to add a referencing pin in the drill presses table surface. Install a ¼" straight cut router bit in the drill press and set the table about 2" from

the bottom of the bit. Because a router bit is made for use at high RPM, you should increase the speed of your drill press, and for good measure, plunge the bit slowly while you’re making the cut. With the table locked in place, drill a hole in the MDF table. Put a ¼" pin in the hole. It should be about 2mm proud of the table. Now you have a referencing pin accurately centered with the bit.

Clamp the fingerboard into the jig, care-fully lining up with the nut edge and center reference lines. Place the jig on the drill press table with the pin in one of the index holes. Set the depth stop for 2mm, then drill both index holes in the fingerboard.

Glue the fingerboard to the neck

Pin the fingerboard to the neck to test fit. Remove the fingerboard and scuff the glue surface with 100g sandpaper.

accuracy is important – Drill index holes with a drill press to be sure they are perpendicular to the surface.

Build a Simple Jig – This jig will guide the router over the centerline of the neck blank to machine the groove that houses the truss rod. Template Trimming – A flush trim bit in the router table will trim the neck to its final shape and size.


Install the truss rod according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Apply glue to the neck (I recommend G2 Epoxy, mixed three parts resin to two parts hardener). Keep the glue ½" away from the nut edge to prevent squeeze out. Pin the fingerboard in place and clamp for 24 hours. When the epoxy is completely dry, bandsaw the excess finger board and sand flush with the neck. Be very careful not to re-size the neck.

Fret position markersFor the side dots, mark the center of

the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th and 21st frets on the glue line. Space the dou-ble dots at the 12th fret equally from the center mark. With a brad point, bit the size of your side dot material drill about 2mm deep. use five-minute epoxy to install the dots. After an hour or so, sand them flush. Top dots are optional.

Scalloping the HeadstockBegin by re-sawing the headstock to

15.5-16mm. It’s important to stop cut-ting when you get to the E-string tuner hole and very carefully back out. Make a short perpendicular cut to remove the waste from the front of the head-stock. use a stationary belt sander to remove the bandsaw marks. The round end of the belt sander will create the scallop. The scallop should come right up to the nut edge. Be careful not to sand too far. There should still be a 3 1/6" flat spot where the nut will sit. use the nut to check periodically while sand-ing. The final thickness of the headstock is 15mm.

Heel angleThe neck must be angled back from

the body about four degrees. use a sta-tionary belt sander to sand this angle into the bottom of the heel.

neck work jigTo level the fingerboard and to level

and dress the frets, you’ll need to build a fixture to hold and support the neck while you work on it. The aluminum pieces pictured can be substituted with hardwood. use ¼-20 bolts for heel and headstock supports. The center support is a pin with a spring under it and a set screw to lock it in position. The neck is locked in with the cam clamp.

Level the fingerboardBe sure that the set screw on the cen-

ter neck support is loose. Place the neck in the jig and tighten the cam clamp. Begin by checking the fingerboard with a straight edge. If necessary, adjust the truss rod to correct any curve in the fin-gerboard. Tighten the set screw on the center neck support.

Mark up the fingerboard with pencil lines. With a 12" radius sanding block and 220g stick-it (Stewart MacDonald), sand until all of the pencil lines have been removed and the fingerboard is true.

Maple fingerboards need to be finished with a lacquer or urethane clear coat before fretting. If left unfinished, maple will quickly become dirty and stained with frequent playing. Darker woods can be left unfinished.

FrettingThe best way to install frets is with an

arbour press. However, many of you will

likely not have one. A bench vise with wooden cauls could be used as a press or you may hammer them in place.

First the fret wire must be bent to the radius of the fingerboard and then cleaned with Acetone, as it’s coated with a thin layer of oil. It will be much easier to radius and clean the entire length of fret wire before cutting it up.

Hold the fret in the slot and gently tap it in at each end. Press the fret until it is entirely seated but not denting the fingerboard. If you don’t have a press, hammer along the length of the fret until it is completely seated. Be sure the neck is firmly supported while hammering or pressing and be careful not to dent the fret or fingerboard while hammering. Trim the fret flush with the fingerboard. Once all the frets have been installed, put three drops of thin cyano down each fret slot end. Do one side, allow the glue to cure for about 10 minutes, then flip the neck over and repeat on the other side. When the glue is set flush up the fret ends on the belt sander at a 30° angle.

Sand the neck from 180g up to 600g. When sanding at 220g, fill the fret slot ends by lightly sanding the edge of the fingerboard until the fret slot ends fill with dust. Apply a small drop of thin cyano to each slot end. Repeat this two or three times until the fret slot ends are completely filled.

Avoid over sanding the heel of the neck. It’s critical that it fits tightly into the pocket to make a good glue joint.

Control Cavity Coveryou will need to make a cover plate

to cover the control cavity. Trace your

Smooth Transition – For looks and comfort, a smooth transition between the heel and headstock is important. You have a choice of hand tools, power tools or a combination.

indexing the Fingerboard – Toggle clamps hold the fingerboard in place for drilling.

re-sawing the Headstock – With a bandsaw remove the waste from the headstock


cover plate recess template onto a piece of matching or contrasting hardwood that has been machined to 0.5mm less than the finished depth of the recess in the body. Bandsaw the cover plate, then sand it to fit on a disc sander. Lay out and drill four or five 1/8" holes for mounting. They should be 3/16" from the edge on center. Countersink them so that the screw heads will be flush when mounted. Finish up by sanding the plate to 400g and finish in the same manner as described for the body and neck.

FinishingFor this article I will be doing a natural

oiled/hand-rubbed polyurethane finish. you may choose to stain or dye the body and do a clear coat if you wish. Before applying any finish, mask off the portion of the heel that will be glued into the neck. Mask off the neck pocket in the body as well.

I recommend a first coat of Tung Oil as a sealer. Apply a generous coat of oil with a foam brush, let it soak for about five minutes then wipe the surface dry with paper towel. If the oil is left too long it becomes too sticky to wipe off, so you may want to wet your cloth with a bit of fresh oil and wipe it clean. Be sure to clean the fingerboard very well (clean maple fingerboards with mineral spirits) making sure there is no finish build-up along the frets.

After the Tung oil has cured for at least 24 hours, follow with six coats of

Lee Valley Gel Finish. This is a two-day process. First, the body and neck need to be scuffed with #0000 steel wool. Apply the Gel Finish with a quartered section of a disposable dishcloth found at most grocery stores. Rub out along the grain until you have removed any streaks. Let cure for at least four hours before re-coating. Apply three coats the first day, then scuff again with #0000 steel wool before applying the last three coats on day two.

Level and re-crown the fretsIf you’re using maple, the fingerboard

needs to be masked off between the frets before levelling can take place. Follow the same set up procedure as for levelling the fingerboard. Once the neck is straight and the neck support is tight, mark the tops of the frets with a black marker. This will help you to see when the frets are perfectly level. With 320g stick-it on the same block you used to level the fingerboard, lightly sand the frets, tak-ing long strokes the length of the neck, until the marker has been removed from the top of the frets. Take as little mate-rial as possible. The frets now have to be

re-crowned. This is done by sanding over them (in line with the neck) with a piece of 400g wrapped around your index and middle finger. use the same technique to soften the ends of the frets. Next, with a piece of 600g and a cork-faced or dense foam block, lightly sand in line with the frets to remove the perpendic-ular 400g scratches. This will make for smooth string bending. Finish by polish-ing the frets with #0000 steel wool.

Smooth and Scallop – With a stationary belt sander smooth the bandsaw marks and scallop the headstock. Be sure not to sand past the nut edge.

Neck Support – To level the fingerboard, and to level and dress the frets, this fixture which supports the neck will be indispensable.

install the Frets – Being careful not to damage the frets or the fingerboard, use a hammer to tap the frets into place.

Fine tune the Frets – After the cyano adhesive has hardened trim the frets and sand them to a 30° angle.


installing the nutNut files are a costly investment but

they work well if you’re planning on mass-producing guitars. Without a nut file you’ll need to get the nut as close to the right height as possible before glu-ing it in. Measure the height of your first fret with callipers or feeler gauges. Sand down the bottom of the nut until the string slots are about 0.005" higher than the first fret. Glue the nut in with medium cyano.

Setting the neckMask off the body around the neck

pocket. Place the neck in the pocket and tape off the neck where it meets the body. Scuff the neck tenon and the pocket with 100g. Be careful not to make the joint too sloppy. you should have, at most, a paper thin gap on each side of the neck. Apply G2 epoxy mixed 3:2 to the pocket and neck. Set the neck into position and clamp with a quick grip or C-clamp (not too tight, about 30 psi). Be sure to protect the neck and body from the clamp to avoid any clamping marks. Clean up the squeeze out with paper towel and methyl hydrate. Wait 20 min-utes, wipe again and remove the masking tape. After an hour, check for further squeeze out and clean up if necessary. Clamp for 24 hours and wait 48 hours before further work.

assemblyBegin by installing the bushings for

the bridge and tailpiece. This is best done with an arbour press or using a steel dowel in the drill press. They can also be seated carefully with a wooden, rubber or plastic faced hammer. Next, install the strap buttons. Now it’s time

for tuners. Begin by placing the two E-string tuners into their holes and fin-ger tighten the nuts. use a straight edge to perfectly align the tuners so their top edges are parallel. Tighten the nuts enough to hold the tuners in place, dou-ble-check they are still aligned, then drill a 1 1/6" pilot hole for the set screws. Mount the rest of the tuners the same way, then install the set screws, check alignment once more and firmly tighten the nuts. Before installing any of the electronics, I recommend shield-ing the control cavity and back side of the cavity cover with adhesive shield-ing foil from Stewart MacDonald. This will eliminate most of the unwanted noise or hum that is associated with electric guitars. Now mount the pots and switches. Mount the jack to the jack plate and hold it in place to mark the screw holes. Drill pilot holes for the jack plate screws. you’ll want to wait until you have the wires soldered to the jack before screwing it on, oth-erwise you won’t be able to access it to solder.

Now you can install the pick-ups, wire the guitar and mount the jack. Excellent wiring diagrams for any configuration can be found online. Next, mount the bridge and tailpiece. use a piece of tape to hold the tailpiece in place while you get the first couple strings on, as it is held in place only by string tension. Finish by installing control knobs and the cavity cover. you may also need to add a string tree to create more downward angle on the strings behind the nut so they won’t pop out of the nut when you bend a string.

Set up and Final adjustments

With an accurate ruler, roughly set the bridge so that the strings are about 1/8" above the frets on the bass side and 1/16" on the treble side. Plug in! Tune the guitar to pitch. Now the truss rod can be set. To do this, fret the D string at the first fret with your left hand and at the 17th fret with your right pinkie fin-ger. Now use your right thumb to tap the string at the 7th fret (if you don’t have the reach for this, use a capo on the 1st fret). There should be a 0.01" gap between the string and the top of the fret. This is called relief. Adjust the truss rod to achieve approx. 0.01" relief. Now the string height can be fine tuned. Measured at the 15th fret, the low E string should be at 1/8" and the high E string should be right on the 1/16" mark. This is fairly low action. you may need to raise it later if there are string buzzes, or you prefer higher action. Next is into-nation. Compare the 12th fret harmonic with the fretted note at the 12th fret. If the harmonic is higher than the fretted note, the string needs to be shortened. If the fretted note is higher than the harmonic, the string needs to be lengthened. Adjust the bridge saddle accord-ingly. Do this for every string. you are now ready to rock your new guitar!

re-crown the Frets – use a sanding block with 400 grit sandpaper to re-crown the frets.

a String Tree May be Necessary – A string tree will create more downward angle on the strings behind the nut. it will prevent the strings from popping out of the nut while playing.

Set the Bridge – some final adjustments will fine-tune the position of the strings.

PAuL [email protected]

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woodfinishing

There’s something about a gracefully aged antique that catches your eye. Then again, maybe it only looks like an antique. Learn how to add decades of character in just a few hours.

By MARTy SCHLOSSER

If you’re like me and are willing to apply a bit of elbow grease and common sense, it’s possible to turn a new piece of furniture you’ve

recently made, or perhaps one you recently purchased, into a faux antique. As long as you’re honest and fess up to the fact, there’s nothing wrong or unscrupulous about it. Come along with me as I add years of patina to a rocking chair I recently came across. using the

techniques I’ll share with you, you’ll be able to give any piece that “aged grace-ful” look. It’s easier than you’d think.

Step 1: assessment. I started by setting the rocking chair

on a plastic tarp, in a well let area of my workshop. After giving the chair a thorough cleaning with a turpentine-dampened rag, I assessed its current condition and made a few notes as I went along about how far back I could realistically have the piece appear and P

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what work that would entail. The near-perfect spindles told me it had been machine-made but I knew I could ‘fix’ that with a bit of judicious chisel work and sanding. The split-wedged tenon joinery it sported was as common a century ago as it is today, so I felt com-fortable leaving that well enough alone. However, there was very little of the natural wear and tear one would expect to see in a 100-plus-year-old chair. No wear marks where the heel of a boot or shoe would have rubbed the front legs and rockers. No evidence of wear in the arms where rings or rough hands had been. No signs of finish being rubbed off where a person’s back or head had rested against the chair. And, last, there was no significant wear marks on the bottom of the runners, nor the back of the crest rail where such a chair could have encoun-tered the floor or wall over the years. In undertaking my assessment, I was also looking for areas where repairs would be needed; broken spindles, legs or rockers, etc. that needed attention. Fortunately for me it was in good condition. My assessment told me that without too much work, I could turn my rocking chair into a century-old piece. That, therefore, was my target.

If your furniture piece is a cupboard, you’ll want to round the front edges and corners and make some wear marks on the bottom of the drawer framing. The same goes for tables and desks; corners will be rounded, feet may show water marks and there will be damage where chairs had been banged against their front edges. In other words, you’re look-ing for natural, day-to-day wear and tear. If it’s not there, then your efforts will need to add it or your faux antique will look like anything but.

Step 2: Upgrading ... Backwards

At this stage, I looked at the chair to see if there were any upgrades needed to have the chair appear 100 years old. For instance, if the crest rail (the top of the chair back) or the seat had been made of laminated materi-als, because that particular technology wasn’t used for such sections of chairs in the era I was targeting, I’d have had to make solid wood replacement parts.

Adding Years of patina...overnight


Adding Age with specialized Finishesthere are a number of finishing products on the market today that will help you age a piece of fur-niture. You can add cracked, dry looking surfaces, colour with obvious high-wear areas or stains that help replicate older colours. Waxine, a canadian company, carries a wide selection of products that will help turn a new piece of furniture into a faux antique in a few hours.

their cracked varnish develops a series of cracks when it dries. crazing paint is another prod-uct that might be of interest when antiquing furniture. the crazing paint is applied after applying the primer coats and it can be tinted to obtain pastel colours. the crazing effect will start 30 minutes after the application of the paint and will continue for several hours. With these two products you can’t control the way in which the effect develops. a product that you have some control over is Waxine’s fish glue. apply it to certain areas of your project before paint and you can control where and how much the cracked effect will occur. in addi-tion to these products they have some paints that can be layered and, when lightly sanded, will produce a worn, aged look. to learn about the different products and how they are applied, go to www.waxine.com. - rob brown

Fortunately for me, solid wood had been used throughout the chair. The joinery, as mentioned above, was more or less that which would have been used long ago. Keep your eye out for knife marks too. As a general rule, the older an antique is the less likely it was made with machinery. If knife marks are obvious, you can remove them by sanding or scraping, then use stain to fine-tune the area. Just be careful with

this technique. you may

not want to sand large areas and have them stick out like a sore thumb.

In the case of other furniture pieces you have and wish to faux antique (a shelving unit with particleboard core veneered shelves), you should swap them out for solid wood shelves. Particleboard wasn’t around a century ago and anyone will be able to tell at a glance that it’s a fake. The same goes for drawer bottoms and backs of cabinets and such pieces; replace those sections using solid wood parts. If your target era is further back than 100 years, you may wish to go to greater efforts. I recall a dresser mirror whose back was made of what appeared to be ¼" thick boards that had been shaped with a hand axe instead of being run through a thickness planer. Do you need to go to such efforts? I guess it depends on how authentic you wish your faux antiquing to be, doesn’t it? Don’t just ignore any hardware on the piece, including screws. Robertson head screws, round-headed finishing nails and euro-style hinges weren’t around 100 years ago, so if they’re found in your piece, replace them with the matching era hardware. Pegs were sometimes used in lieu of nails years ago, so again, you may wish to drill holes and tap some into place.

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Step 3: Repair My initial assessment showed that no

repairs were needed. However, if the fur-niture piece you’re wishing to faux antique needs any, now is the time to tackle them. If pieces need to be glued and you elect to use yellow instead of the hide glue, which most likely would have been employed long ago, ensure you remove all evidence as you go along. Nothing will give your efforts away faster than hardened goops of modern glue about the joints.

Step 4: Focus on the Finish My initial assessment showed me that

my rocking chair had been stained and then varnished. That finish was close enough to that which would have been used 100 years ago, so I simply left well enough alone. However, if you’re try-ing to truly emulate a particular era, you may need to use paint, shellac or an oil finish. If the piece would originally have been stained, stay away from using only one tone of stain. Judiciously using a somewhat darker-toned stain in areas where it would not be rubbed off will look much more realistic than if it is all the same tone. A bit of artistry will go a long way when doing such effects.

Step 5: distressing This is the area where the pros stand

out from the amateurs. Not only does a little go a long way but before you start whacking your piece of furniture with a chain in one hand and a hammer in the other, ask yourself what sort of wear and tear your piece would most likely have been subjected to over its lifetime, then go ahead and emulate it. In the case of

my rocking chair, I used mostly sand-paper and steel wool on select parts of the arms, crest rail and spindles of the arms and chair back. I also took a chisel and misshaped some of those spindles so they’d appear less factory-made and modern. I then took a rasp to the lower inside area of the front legs where they met the rockers and added years of wear and tear before resorting to sandpaper to smooth things out a bit. An awl to add scratches and small holes and a roll-ing pin covered with epoxy then rolled in stones or broken glass are also com-mon ways to add age to a newer piece. Again, don’t go overboard or it will look fake. you can even apply stain to the raw wood so it will not look fresh and new. years of wear will usually result in dirt and stains being left behind and stan-dard wood stain may do the trick. Once I was happy with my distressing efforts, I applied a coat of wax to the entire piece, then polished it with a rag once the wax had hardened. I looked back upon my work and was satisfied that I’d gone far

enough to make it a convincing faux antique, but not overboard.

Step 6: Telling the Tale I burned my mark and affixed a signed

and dated label to the underside of the rocking chair, thus clearly identifying the piece as a faux antique. Anyone from that point onward would be able to tell that it was I, and not Father Time, who had placed a hundred years of wear and tear on the rocking chair. It is highly rec-ommended that you do the same thing yourself to any furniture pieces you elect to faux antique.

I hope that you’ll try your hand at faux antiquing. It’s easy and relatively fast to do. And, hey, it’s a lot of fun.

MARTY sCHLOssERmartysWoodworking.ca

a Few Years Old – Before you add patina, a high-wear area may only have a few scratches and scuff marks.

a Century Old – After hitting the area with sandpaper and applying stain, you’ve started to reverse the hands of time. using some tools to add some wear marks will only add to the look.

remove a layer – sometimes when you remove a layer of finish, you uncover a colour that’s different but complimentary. This helps add to the aging process.

Seeing is Believing – Adding certain high-wear spots is crucial. Whether it’s feet, hands or objects that would have come into contact with the piece over the years, seeing a certain amount of wear is necessary for the overall look to be believable.

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arising from any alleged or actual defect in the Materials or in any way arising from their reproduction by a party other than JKM.

Production Artist: Date: Revision #: SC:5058-RUS-CB-P-022-10-E.indd 1 5/26/10 10:27:14 AM


By ALLAN CuSWORTH

Many turned platters are designed to hold crackers, cookies and other light-weight items. These types

of platters are often made thin and light. The platter in this project is designed to hold fruit. The turning procedure yields a more robust and heavier finished piece since it will need to stand up to a bit more abuse as it sits out on your counter or table. There are almost as many ways to turn a platter as there are woodturners. I cannot say that the procedure described here is the only way but it is the way I turn them. This is a compilation of ideas gleaned from books, Internet research and demonstrations by world-class turners, as well as my own trial and error.

PlanIn my opinion, every project starts with

an idea. This platter is no exception. I

suggest that a sketch or drawing be made of the desired edge and rim profile before putting any tools to wood. This way you have an idea of what you’re trying to achieve. This is an essential step if you are planning to make more than one platter of the same design.

Wood Selection This project will start with a round

blank of dry seasoned wood just a little larger diameter and thickness than the finished platter desired. I have selected a piece of AAA-figured Big Leaf maple, 12 ½" in diameter by 2" thick. Some turners prefer to cut a blank directly from a log so they can optimize the grain configuration. That is a great idea; however, the process contains a lot of details that are beyond the scope of this article so we’ll start with a prepared disk blank. These disks are available at most woodturning supplies outlets or can be purchased online.

Tools and SuppliesPlease note that the chucking dimen-

sions described are for a Teknatool/Nova Supernova® four-jaw chuck. If you are using one from a different manufacturer you will need to check the dimensions required for your chuck.

It is important to work safely when using any woodworking tools and equip-ment. When attempting any of the turning procedures described in this arti-cle, a face shield should always be worn, as well as a dust mask when appropriate. I prefer to use a face shield that supplies fresh air at all times. There are a number of these systems on the market; they are expensive but I feel my lungs are worth it.

Also, remember that a sharp tool is a safe tool, so keep your tools sharp!

A friction-type sander, a sanding pad in an electric drill or an orbital sander can be used to prepare the inside and out-side surfaces for finishing. I prefer to use the hook-and-loop type of sanding disks L

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turning project

Turning a Fruit platterWith proper planning and wood selection, you’re set to turn the perfect platter to present a beautiful, healthy afternoon snack – fruit.


Turning a Fruit platter

that are made for automotive applica-tions since they come in a greater variety of finer grits than woodworking sanding disks. For areas that require hand sanding, I use a cloth-type sanding media that is more flexible than sandpaper.

Finishing materials are a matter of choice. Food safe finishing is a very con-troversial topic. Many woodturners feel that any finish is food-safe after it has completely cured and all the driers have evaporated and the finish is cured. This can take a long time for some materi-als. The basic rule of thumb that I have heard is that when you cannot detect any smell from the finish, it is ready for use. There are many finishes available; for example, Raw or Polymerized Tung Oil, Danish Oil, Beeswax, etc. The choice is yours. The finish I used for this project is Wipe-on Polyurethane.

Basic designThis fruit platter will have an outside

diameter of 12" and a thickness of 1 ¾". The top face of the rim will be 1 ½" wide and will be enhanced with a single bead at its inside edge. I like to make a sketch of the intended rim and edge profile.

The outside/bottom profile will have a modified ogee shape extending from the outside edge of the rim tapered at the base. The outside diameter of the base will be 6". A design rule of thumb is that the base should be approximately one-half the outside diameter of the platter. The inside profile of the “bowl” section will be curved to complement the outside shape.

Steps to Make the Platterlayout: The first step is to decide which

side of the blank will be the top of the platter. It’s a good idea to have the grain direction going the same way that you will

be cutting as much as possible. This can be difficult with highly figured woods but it can somewhat reduce tear-out.

Mounting the Blank: Locate the cen-ter of the top side of the blank; make a dimple and drill a 5/16" diameter x ¾" deep hole on a drill press. If you are using a hand drill, make sure the hole is perpen-dicular to the surface of the blank. Place

the four-jaw chuck, with the 2" (50mm) jaws installed, on the lathe spindle and clamp in the Woodworm® screw. Mount the blank on the Woodworm® screw and make sure it is tightened securely against the face of the chuck jaws. If you do not have a chuck and want to use a faceplate, center it on the face side of the blank and fasten it securely with metal screws. When

edge & rim profile Sketch – sketching out the profile of the platter before you start leaves less room for errors down the road.

Four-Jaw scroll Chucksa four-jaw chuck has been a main-stay tool for turners for a long time. it’s a fast and generally secure method of fastening a piece of wood to the lathe. However, it has to be used correctly. a chuck can be used either in spigot mode, where the chuck clamps externally around the tenon, or in expansion mode, where the jaws are expanded into a recess that is cut in the blank. Some chuck spigots and recesses require a taper to be cut on the contact surface, while some require a straight-sided surface. each chuck manufacturer specifies the minimum and maxi-mum dimensions and the profile for the spigot tenon or expansion recess for their brand of chucks. the blank must be prepared according to these specifications to hold it safely. if these instructions are not followed, the blank can fly off the lathe caus-ing personal injury, equipment or blank damage or both.

chucks are usually supplied with one or two differ-ent sized sets of jaws, with other sizes available. this fruit platter project requires a 2" jaw set. there are quite a few chucks of different sizes available from the manufacturers listed here.

the Supernova® four jaw chuck is made by teknatool of australia. http://www.teknatool.com/products/chucks/Supernova2/Supernova2_chuck.htm

oneWay manufacturing in Stratford, on make their chucks in canada. www.oneway.ca/chucks/index.htm

Vicmarc machinery ptY ltd in australia also makes a line of excellent chucks. www.vicmarc.com/default.asp?contentid=541

Blank Mounted Between Centers – With the blank mounted on the lathe, bring the tailstock with the live center up to the platter to add support.

20 canadian WoodWorkinG & Home improVement

using a faceplate, I use metal screws rather than wood screws since they have a steep/sharp thread configuration that holds bet-ter. I do not use drywall screws as they are brittle and can snap off.

Bring the tailstock with the live center up for support. It is a good safety prac-tice to keep the tailstock in place as long as possible. you will have to move it back

and forth as you make the cuts.True up the edge and bottom face of the

blank with a sharp ½" bowl gouge. This reduces vibration. Mark the outside diam-eter of the 6" base on the blank using a centering ruler and marking at 3" on each side of center.

use a set of dividers to mark the 2 ¼" outside diameter of the chuck recess at

the center of the bottom surface of the blank. This fits a Supernova® four-jaw chuck with 2" (50 mm) jaws in expansion mode. your dimensions may be different. Make sure that the lathe is running at a slow speed and only the left point of the dividers contacts the wood or you could have a “snappy” surprise.

Shaping the Bottom: Turn the outside diameter of the platter just proud of its finished size using a ½" bowl gouge. Form the 2 ¼" diameter by 3/16" deep chuck-ing recess. This recess does not have to be deep. It is surprising how well a shallow recess will hold the piece provided you take light cuts. I used a Bedan scraper to cut the recess and refine its inside edge with a ¾" skew laying flat on the tool rest. you can use a 3/16" parting tool or any appropriate scraper to make your recess. Make sure there is a small flat area at the outside edge of the bottom of the recess for the tips of the chuck jaws to seat against.

Roughly shape the bottom side of the platter with a ½" bowl gouge. Here’s where your profile drawing becomes useful. Make cuts with the grain of the wood from the center of the blank to the outside edge. Form the 6" diame-ter base. The bottom of the base needs to have a slight concave shape to allow the platter to sit on a surface without rocking. Leave enough wood at the rim area to be able to form the 1 ½" wide rim. you can create a slight undercut for a finger grip in the back side of the rim, which will make the platter easier to pick up. Measure and mark the 1 ¾" overall

october/november 2010

Half Way There – With the bottom side done, the platter is half complete.

refining the Chuck recess inside edge – use a skew to fine tune the size of the recess to fit your chuck.

Marking the Chuck recess – Depending on what size recess your chuck requires, mark the dimension on the bottom of the platter.


height of the platter on the outside edge of the rim. I use two steel rulers to do this; one laying flat across the base and the other measuring across the edge.

Finish turning the bottom side of the platter. you may find it useful to use a cutting and sanding compound, or some beeswax, to soften the grain of the wood. use a 1" side-ground scraper to remove the tool marks if needed. Refine the inside of the recess and decorate as desired; that is, concentric rings, a slight convex dome, etc.

Sand these surfaces starting with a grit size that will remove all the tool marks and progress through the grit sizes to at least 800 so you can end up with a very smooth finish. Note that each grit size in the progression should not be more than 50 percent finer that the previous one or

you will leave scratch marks.The chuck recess will become the inside

of the base and needs to be completed now since it will not be accessible for fur-ther work on the lathe unless you use a vacuum chuck. If you intend to identify or sign the piece, you should do it now so the finish will be applied over it.

apply the finish of your choice: I used Nitro-Cellulose sealer thinned 50/50 with lacquer thinner to seal the surface. I let that dry, then I applied the first of five coats of Wipe-on Polyurethane with the lathe turning at a very low speed (100 rpm). I let each coat dry for about 4–6 hours before applying the next. I used #0000 steel wool to smooth the surface between coats.

After applying the last coat and let-ting it dry, remove the platter from the

Woodworm® screw and set it aside for a day or so to let the finish cure.

Shaping the rim and the inside: Reverse and remount the platter in the chuck using the 2" (50 mm) jaws in expansion mode. Expand the jaws care-fully into the recess. Don’t over-tighten the chuck because you will risk splitting the base ring. Bring the tailstock with the live center up for support for as long as is practical.

True up the face of the platter and final-ize the outside diameter with a ½" bowl gouge. Mark the rim thickness on the edge of the rim and shape it to its fin-ished thickness. This project has a 3/8" thick, plain flat rim with one bead on the inside edge. However, if your design has decorative elements, make sure you leave sufficient material to be able to form

reverse To Complete – Flip the turning over and re-mount with the tailstock in place.

Start with the rim – start with shaping the rim and move towards the center.

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Freud 10" 24 Tooth Sawblade

Reg. $54.95FRE-TKR206

$3495

WOODWORKING SALE & SHOW

Coquitlam • Abbotsford • Campbell River • Kamloops • Kelowna • Langley • Red Deer • Victoria

NEW Edmonton retail location opening in Fall 2010

www.kmstools.com


them. With the lathe stopped, lay out the edge and rim profile according to your sketch. Mark the 1 ½" top width of the rim on the face surface of the platter.

Shape the rim surfaces taking light cuts with sharp tools. Make the top surface of the flat rim with a slight taper towards the cen-ter of the platter. Doing this makes the rim look more horizontal when it is being used. I tried it and it works!

using a ½" bowl gouge with the flute at 90° to the lathe bed, cut a sharp incision to begin the shaping of the inside edge of the rim. This edge will be decorated with a bead later. Taking very light cuts, start shaping the first two inches of the inside “bowl” surface of the platter. Make the cuts from the inside edge of the rim towards the center. As you’re shaping, create an undercut at the rim to make a soft shadow which will give the illusion of depth to the finished platter. I refined the undercut with a ½" side-radius scraper. The center area of the inside will be removed later. This wood mass will provide support when the rim decora-tions are shaped.

If you want to leave the inside edge of the rim plain, it’s a good idea to soften the sharp edge with a little sanding cloth, but leave it crisp. However, I like to create a bead on the inside edge of the rim as a transition element from the surface of the rim to the bowl part of the platter. To do this, I created a special little scraper from a ¼" HSS jobber drill bit. I placed two of the flute points of the drill bit at a 45° angle against the surface of a grind-ing wheel and ground it down until the drill flute formed the shape of a small u-shaped scraper. I glued the drill bit scraper

in a small handle and taped over all but the last ½" of the flutes with a few layers of masking tape. This prevented the sharp flute edges from scoring my tool rest. Some turners fill the flutes with automotive body filler instead of using the tape.

To make the bead I reduced the lathe speed to around 500 RPM and held the scraper at a sharp reverse rake angle sloping down from the inside edge of the tool rest and slowly applied it to the inside edge of the platter rim. I gently rotated the scraper around the lip until a ¼" bead was formed. I refined the lit-tle grooves with a ¾" skew and, voila, a quick bead. Be careful not to advance the scraper too quickly – tear-out or catches can occur. This bead design creates a bead that is flush with the sur-face of the rim and the undercut lip area. This is a good idea, since it will be harder to damage the bead during the platter’s use. I like the look of it too. This procedure works best on hard, close-grained woods. you can create the bead with a purchased beading tool, a detail gouge or a skew but this drill bit scraper works well for me, and for a few dollars you can make a whole set of different sized tools.

Complete the shaping of the inside of the platter with a ½" bowl gouge. Check the thickness of the walls with your thumb and finger and use a set of outside callipers to verify the actual thickness frequently. Make the inside profile a smooth, fair curve that compliments the outside shape. Be careful not to make the area above the recess in the bottom too thin. you can use a 1" side-radius scraper to smooth the surface if you need to.

Sand and finish the inside surface the same way you did the outside earlier. Be careful not to square off the bead, espe-cially if you are using a power sanding system. Remember to sand inside the grooves beside the bead. After applying the finish of your choice, remove the platter from the chuck and let the finish cure.

And there you have it – a fruit platter you can be proud of. Since you signed the bottom before you applied the finish in the recess, it’s ready to use and impress your guests at your next party.

ALLAN [email protected]

Form the Bead – With a modified drill bit, carefully shape the two sides of the bead

a Small Detail – The inclusion of the bead adds a little style to the platter

4 JAW SELF CENTERING

www.oneway.ca [email protected]

Designed and Madein Canada

TALON CHUCK Light weight and small body diameter Excellent choice for smaller lathes Key operation for one handed operation

and solid holding power Two position key support for long life and accuracy Gear teeth precision machined so they won’t skip in use 5 to 1 ratio assures powerful clamping Body Diameter: 3½” Approximate weight: 3.5lbs.

TALON Chuck Part No. 2985TALON Body Only* Part No. 2986Extra Key Part No. 3043

STRONGHOLD CHUCK Heavy weight and large body diameter for larger lathes (16” swing or more) Key operation for one handed operation and solid holding power Two position key support for long life and accuracy Gear teeth precision machined so they won’t skip in use 5 to 1 ratio assures powerful clamping Long key for easier use with Jumbo Jaws Will mount on spindles as large as 1½” in diameter Body Diameter: 4½” Approximate weight: 8lbs.

STRONGHOLD Chuck Part No. 2137STRONGHOLD Body Only* Part No. 3042Extra Key Part No. 3044

*Body only packages do not include the 1½” Woodworm Screw or the #2 Top Jaws. Accessory jawscan be permanently mounted on these chucks making jaw changing a thing of the past.

tuning and Using a


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tuning and Using aSpokeshave

handtoolskills

Once you learn how to tune a spokeshave and use it properly, it will be a tough tool to put down. It’s a flexible tool that works well in many situations and it’s a lot of fun to use … but only when it’s working properly!

By BILL PERRy

eproduction or retransmission.


Ihave a confession to make. I own more spokeshaves than some peo-ple consider normal. And I go both ways. I use them both bevel-up and

bevel-down – for shaping chair spindles, cabriole legs and any manner of curved furniture parts.

This started about 18 years ago when making some Windsor chair spindles. That’s when I discovered that spoke-shaves come in three quality ranges: very good, very bad, and junk.

Now maybe I’m picky but I believe that tools should work well. Of course any new edge tool will need a cleaning, basic set-up and sharpening, but after that it should make some shavings and earn its keep. With the exception of the Veritas spokeshaves and one from Lie-Nielsen in the u.S., all others I looked at failed to perform – miserably. No wonder the spokeshave is an endangered species.

This is too bad because if you start with a decent shave, a bit of work can make it a precision tool. It’s finding a decent shave that’s the problem. One that I bought for this article from my local tools/automotive/camping sup-plies store was labeled a “spokeshaver.” That was my first warning.

Back at my studio, I inspected the tool. The sole had been ground freehand at a few different angles. The flimsy blade was “sharpened” to a saw-tooth edge and, judging by the colour of the steel, had been impulse-hardened instead of tempered. Paint filled in voids in the tool’s casting. Don’t buy it, or even attempt to fix one, if you own one.

After more legwork I found a shave at Busy Bee Tools, which sold for about $20 and was machined well enough

to justify a tune-up. you might also be able to find a used or antique spokeshave in fair shape. If you do, consider yourself lucky, treat it with care and it will be good to you in return.

Spokeshave tune-up – give this neglected tool a new lease on life

Now let’s have a look at this tool and what it takes to make it sing. A spoke-shave is really a small plane. Like other planes, it may have its blade set bevel-up or bevel-down. unlike them, it has han-dles sticking out the sides and a very short sole. This makes it an agile plane that can shape and smooth curved surfaces.

Since bevel-up and bevel-down spoke-shaves behave differently, I’ll deal with them separately, starting with the bevel-down type.

Bevel-down or standard-angle shaves

Like most metal spokeshaves sold today, the one I bought is based on the ubiquitous Stanley No. 151 design. Its blade is installed bevel-down at a 45˚ angle. Versions from Record Tools and several other makers are all but iden-tical. Since it’s so common, it’s the perfect example of how to improve the tool’s performance. These are the steps to follow:

1. replace the bladeThis step is simple. Lee Valley/

Veritas (www.leevalley.com) and Hock Tools (www.hocktools.com) both make

replacement blades to fit the Stanley No. 51 and the Stanley/Record 151 series shaves. (The No. 51 is the same as the 151 but a bit smaller and with-out the adjustment knobs.) All you have to do is hone the blade and install it. you’re already half way to having a new spokeshave.

2. Flatten the spokeshave’s bed andclean up the mouth

you won’t reap the benefits of a pre-mium blade if the casting on which it rests is uneven. That’s just ask-ing for blade vibration and chatter. unfortunately, instead of machining castings flat, many manufacturers just take the rough casting and cover up the bumps with a thick coat of paint. Scrape the paint off. use an old file ground to a sharp edge or another small, sharp object to get into tight spaces. Either way, don’t ever consider reaching for one of your newly honed chisels. With the paint gone, continue scraping the metal in dif-ferent directions until you achieve a flat and evenly cross-hatched surface. This should all but eliminate blade chatter.

To improve the bed one step fur-ther, you can resurface it using either epoxy or auto-body compound (Bondo). Apply a thin, even coating to the spoke-shave’s bed. Wax the back of the blade so it doesn’t stick, then lay it onto the new bed of epoxy or compound and assemble the shave. Extend the blade far enough that the bevel doesn’t leave a ridge in the epoxy. Then apply gentle pressure using the center cap screw – just

Bad Sole – Partly concave, partly convex and rough all over. it looks like the sole of this shave was ground freehand. if you don’t buy it then you won’t have to fix it.

painted Bed – The small dark spots to either side of the cap screw and around the mouth are the only points where

the blade makes contact with the body. The paint needs to be removed and the bed scraped flat.


enough to flatten the epoxy and hold everything together while it cures.

3. Smooth the sole and clean up themouth.

A spokeshave’s sole needs to be flat and level, just like a handplane’s. High-quality shaves come with a properly machined sole. A sole that has been ground flat and smooth by the man-ufacturer just requires a bit of final smoothing. Smooth the sole using emery paper on glass, working from 120 through 400 grit. It won’t take long – it’s a small sole. Round-sole spoke-shaves can also be smoothed this way, using a strip of emery paper without the glass. Clean up irregularities around the shave’s mouth with a fine file and then use emery paper to remove sharp edges.

4. Smooth and refine the cap ironA spokeshave’s cap iron should be per-

fectly flat, just like the bed. What you can expect to find, however, is a rough sand casting. This needs to be ground flat.

Hone the bottom of the cap iron using either a diamond stone or emery paper on glass until it mates perfectly with the blade. Refine its curve down to a sharp edge contacting the blade across its entire width. This prevents shavings from jamming underneath. Now polish the cap iron’s surface and it will perform just like a bench plane’s chipbreaker.

5. Hone the bladeMany people still believe that a new

blade is sharp and ready to go. It isn’t.Plane blades, chisels, carving tools

and the like come to you with edges that range from almost sharp to really dull. Even premium blades come sharp,

but still not as sharp as they need to be. Hone the back and micro-bevel of a pre-mium blade on an 8,000-grit waterstone. Finish on a leather strop charged with honing compound.

That’s for a premium blade. The blade from a cheap spokeshave will need the Full Monty. Just replace it.

Low-angle SpokeshavesLow-angle spokeshaves have their

blades set bevel up like low-angle planes, with an effective cutting angle of between 20–35˚. Like low-angle planes, they’re the tool to use on end grain, yet are equally proficient making delicate shavings in seasoned wood or heavy cuts in green wood. This makes them

a favorite of chairmakers for shaping spindles and with the blade set to take a heavier cut on one side than the other it’s almost like having two tools in one.

Antique low-angle shaves were difficult to sharpen since their blades were forged with two upturned tangs that held the blade in place with a friction fit. Modern shaves have removable threaded posts held in position with thumbscrews or wheels. This makes for more precise blade adjust-ment while simplifying sharpening.

Scraping the Bed – An old file ground square makes a pseudo-engineer’s scraper to clean up the spokeshave’s bed. Remove the paint then work across all contact areas with a cross-hatch pattern until the entire work surface is level and smooth.

epoxy to the rescue – To level the spokeshave’s bed, apply a thin layer of epoxy or auto-body compound to it. Level this by placing the (waxed) blade onto the compound and then gently tightening the cap screw onto the blade to apply even pressure. Any squeeze-out can be removed with a file and sharp knife.

Spokeshaves with concave blades for use on chair spindles or paddles are tuned the same way as bevel-down shaves except for sharpening the con-cave edge of the blade. You will need some slip stones or a round object of the correct diameter to wrap a piece of very fine abrasive paper around so you can hone the bevel edge of a concave blade.

— rob brown

sharpening A Concave spokeshave


One design exception is the Veritas® Low-Angle Spokeshave made of cast aluminum. This shave has a flat blade without tangs, making sharpening a breeze.

Lee Valley also offers a kit to make wooden low-angle shaves for about half the price of buying one. It includes an A2 blade, brass wear strip to fit in front of the blade, a tap to cut threads, and all hardware and instructions needed to build a fine quality shave with precision depth adjustment.

Using a spokeshave properly

Spokeshaves – whether standard-angle or low-angle – can be pushed or pulled. The Stanley 151’s design lends itself much more to pulling than push-ing, however, and this has unfortunately shaped how generations of amateur woodworkers have used the tool.

Their technique is to set the blade for

an impossibly heavy cut, grasp both han-dles as if they were handlebars on a bike, and then use a pull stroke to muscle off a shaving so thick that it jams solid in the tool’s throat. After clearing the jam, the technique shifts to a series of short, hack-ing pull strokes to force the blade through the wood. It’s pretty ugly; an axe has more finesse.

Contrast that with a woodworker using a well-tuned shave properly: the blade is scalpel-sharp and is set to take a thin shaving. The spokeshave is held between the thumbs and fingers in a light grip. It is pushed or pulled, dictated by the grain direction and the most com-fortable working position.

Paying attention to the grain direction means that on a concave surface you’ll want to shave “downhill” with the grain – in other words, you’ll start at eitherend of the concave shape and will shave downwards toward the middle. On a convex surface, you’ll start at the middle

and work toward the ends – again so that you’re cutting “downhill.”

The round handles on the Veritas and Lie-Nielsen shaves make them comfort-able to work with using either a push or pull stroke. As mentioned, the Stanley 151 design used by most standard-angle shaves favors the pull stroke. you can use a push stroke but the ergonomics feel a bit odd.

When pushing the shave, place your thumbs on its back behind the blade’s tangs with a low-angle shave or behind and below the blade with a standard-angle shave. Place your middle fingers on the front of the shave in front of your thumbs. This provides your grip. you’re effectively pinching the tool between mid-dle fingers and thumbs. The power comes from your thumbs with control provided by your fingers. your index fingers should rest on the shave’s body just inside your middle fingers. Push down on the shave with them to control chatter.

Decent Sole – This spokeshave’s sole has been ground flat and smooth by the manufacturer. A quick polishing with fine emery paper is all that’s needed.

Flattening the Cap iron – To ensure good contact between the cap iron and blade, lap the cap iron flat using emery paper on glass. A coarse diamond stone also works well.

a Clean Mouth is important – use a fine file to clean up any nicks or rough edges once the spokeshave’s sole is flattened and smoothed.

Don't Waste Your Time – This is what passes for a blade in some shaves: a flimsy wafer of cheap steel with a serrated edge that was impulse hardened instead of being tempered. straight to the trash.

Wood Shave and Blade – Threaded posts have made blade adjustment much more precise. The brass strip inset in front of the blade prevents wear to the body, something to which wooden shaves are prone.


A pull cut is similar. your middle fingers on the back of the shave now provide the force while the thumbs help control direction. Pressure from the index fingers helps control chatter. Note that whether you’re using a push or pull cut, you use fin-gers and thumbs to hold the shave. you don’t wrap both hands around the handles and put your back into it.

Spokeshaves are prone to chatter because of their short sole. Skewing the tool helps minimize chatter by reducing the blade’s effective cutting angle, which in turn reduces resis-tance. In fact, a sharp low-angle shave will take shavings of end grain from a Windsor chair seat. Not chips – long, con-tinuous shavings.

Perhaps more important, skewing the spokeshave increases the length of the sole in contact with the wood which helps to fair curves from very gentle (spokeshave skewed to lengthen sole contact) to very tight (spokeshave at right angles to work). Stay aware of the grain direction. If the grain reverses, the shave – especially a low-angle one – will lift and tear out the wood fibres. There’s another good reason to use a light touch.

you’ll get a feel for a spokeshave a lot faster by using one than by reading about it. your fingers and thumbs will provide all the feedback you need.

Just remember a few things:• A well-tuned spokeshave is a precision tool.• It’s okay to buy a spokeshave that will take a bit of work to

tune up, but don’t buy a piece of junk. It will never work well. you will always hate it.

• No matter how good the tool, you still have to sharpenthe blade.

• Practice. Whether it’s golf or woodworking, practice iseverything.

If you’re not using spokeshaves in your shop, it’s worth giv-ing them a try. And if you’ve relegated one to the bottom of the toolbox because it never worked, maybe some of the tune-up tips here will help bring it back to life.

The spokeshave is my “go-to” tool for any number of jobs, whether it’s shaping chair spin-dles or putting a shimmering finish on curved components. The proof is in my tool rack: 14 spokeshaves, and the number keeps on growing.

Forrest sets the standard for excellence with these new top-quality blades:

• Woodworker II 48-Tooth Blade for general-purpose applications. Features a 20º face hook, a 25º bevel, and sharp points for clean cross-grain slicing and quiet, smooth cutting.

• “Signature Line” Chop Master for quiet, precise cutting and less splinter-ing. Features 90 teeth, a -5º hook to control the feed rate, and re-designed angles with 10” or 12” diameters and 5/8” or 1” center holes.

• 2-Piece & 4-Piece Finger JointSets with reversible, interlocking 8” blades. Ideal for rabbets and grooves. Blades have 24 teeth and standard 5/8” bore. Reversible for 3/16” and 5/16” cuts or 1/4” and 3/8” cuts.

• Thin Kerf Dados for clean cutting of 3/16” to 1/4” grooves in thin plywood and man-made materials. Available in two-piece and three-piece sets for table or radial arm saws.

Our blades are U.S.A-manufactured and have a 30-day, money-back guarantee. Custom sizes available. Order from Forrest dealers or retailers, by going online, or by calling us directly.

www.ForrestBlades.com 1-800-733-7111 (In NJ, call 973-473-5236) © 2010 Forrest Manufacturing Code CW

BiLL PERRYwmperry.ca

push Stroke – A proper grip for a push stroke is a little awkward with a No. 151-style shave. it’s easy enough to use a thumbs-and-middle-fingers grip with the index fingers pressing down to prevent chatter, but the ring and little fingers are left out in the breeze due to the sweep of the handles. it’s something you get used to.

pull Stroke – When the shave is pulled, grip its body with your thumbs behind and middle fingers in front, and index fingers pressing down. Your middle fingers provide the pulling power while your index fingers prevent blade chatter.


finerdetails

Learn the secrets to making this unique part.

By ROB BROWN

If you’re like me, the first thing that came to mind when you saw this leg was “How was that made? Was it turned? Was it carved entirely with hand tools? Maybe it was made with a CNC machine?” John Glendinning,

a studio furniture maker from Montreal, designed this leg for use on a small hall table but started incorporating it into other pieces as well. He was inspired by the asymmetrical form of large, hanging icicles, yet the task of developing it into a strong, beautiful furniture component was a tricky one. The process uses the lathe and hand tools – not to mention a healthy dose of careful planning – to produce this intricate component. Like everything else in woodworking, there’s a process to be followed, and after learning a few secrets it doesn’t seem impossible. Let’s take a detailed look at how Glendinning made this leg. The process might surprise you.

Start by breaking out two halves of the leg. Whether re-sawing from one thick piece or from two thinner pieces, they

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should be at least four or five inches longer than the finished part so that there is enough material to hold the leg with as you are working it. Each part, when face-glued together, needs to be at least as wide and as thick as the largest diameter of the finished leg. During material selection and machining, the grain orientation is of primary consideration. To best conceal the glue lines use material that’s as close to flat cut as possible. This ensures the glue lines are camouflaged within the straight edge grain.

Machine a groove centered on the inside surface of each half. This groove will accept two 1" long dowel plugs on either end

grain Orientation is Critical – in order to hide the glue lines, make sure to use flat-cut stock. During glue-up the groove will accept two 1" long waxed dowel plugs in either end to keep the blank aligned. They can be removed once the glue has cured.

random lengths and angles – Draw a taper line (red, in photo) on the stock to assist you with turning the overall shape of the leg on the lathe. With a mitre saw, cut the segments with compound angles. Random lengths work best.

3-D Clamping – To reassemble the segments, use long cauls and lots of clamps. Apply pressure in every direction. Layers of contrasting veneer are glued between each segment for visual effect. The multi-layer sandwich of glued segments gets stacked onto a long, permanent dowel.

Inspired by Icicles

canadianWoodworking.com canadian WoodWorkinG & Home improVement 29

for alignment of the two halves during assembly. When the leg is reassembled later a permanent full-length dowel is inserted into this groove to assist with locating the seg-ments and to add strength to the structure. During the first assembly, wax the 1" long dowel plugs and leave enough of a stub outside the blank to grip with pliers. Remove the dowels once the glue has cured.

With the blank squared up, draw a line on one sur-face representing the overall taper you want to have on the leg. This line will guide you as you turn the blank to a round form. It will also help you keep track of the segments once they are cut to length. Cut random com-pound angled sections with a miter saw, rotating the blank between cuts. While making these cuts, con-sider how the angled segments will look when they are reassembled. Alternating different length and angles of segments helps to achieve an interesting overall composition.

With the blank divided into a group of segments, it’s now time to glue it back together in the order they were cut. During glue-up, a piece of veneer of contrasting

colour is glued between each segment for visual inter-est. Cut the veneer slightly undersize and drill a hole in the center with a brad point bit so the long dowel will fit through the center of the blank. These pieces of veneer will also help keep the shaping process a bit more orga-nized, as you’ll be removing material between the edges of these pieces of veneer. Apply glue to the segments and veneers slices; then, in order, slide everything onto the long length of dowel. use a number of straight cauls to keep the faces of the segments aligned, and a clamp to apply pressure to either end of the blank. Be sure to use paper between the cauls and the blank so the cauls can be removed when everything is dry.

Turn the blank to its final tapered shape, using your taper line as a guideline. Add pencil lines to the spinning turning to represent the far left and right boundary of each veneer section. use a gouge to remove some of the material between these pencil lines – just make sure not to remove any of the veneer. While the leg blank is on the lathe, turn a tenon on its end so it can be attached to the underside of a table.

Fine-tune the areas between the veneer pieces with a series of hand and power tools – spokeshaves, chisels, die grinders, rasps, whatever you feel most comfortable with to produce the contours required.

A final hand-sanding with a hard but flexible rubber sanding pad to ensure consistent contours is necessary. Be sure to have the apex of the point directly over the veneer edge. It will provide a more precise, powerful-look-ing detail.

To see more of John's work, go to www.johnglendinning.ca.

Final Sanding – With some sandpaper and a hard but flexible pad, sand the surfaces of the segments. Be sure to keep the veneer as the apex of the shape.

rough Turn then lay Out – Roughly turn the blank to a taper, following the taper line. Next, mark dark pencil lines at the extremes of each section of veneer, and remove the material between these lines on the lathe. You can start to see the contrast with the solid segments – (cherry, in this photo) and the veneer (maple).

Work to the Veneer – With an assortment of hand and power tools work to the edge of the veneer, removing wood from the segments, leaving a smooth, contoured surface. ignore the pencil lines at this stage.

ROB [email protected]

skillbuilder

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Glue-ups don’t have to be nerve-wracking experiences. Some basic material and adhesive knowledge, coupled with lots of planning, will go a long way to ensuring smooth gluing.

By CHRIS WONG

Glue-ups used to be the most stressful part of woodwork-ing for me. With large, unwieldy parts falling and

knocking others over, long and heavy clamps, glue everywhere and the rush to get it all together before the glue sets, the pressure of a glue-up is no surprise. But that has all changed. My glue-ups are now quiet, organized, efficient and even relaxed. What changed? you could say experience but what it really boils down to is preparation. That means know-ing how everything goes together, what adhesive to use, how best to hold it in

place while the glue hardens and how to do it all in an organized, timely fashion.

Preparation is ParamountThe first step in a successful glue-up

takes place well before the glue bottle is opened. you need to know that the parts fit together properly (not necessar-ily snugly). If you use one of the many water-based glues, remember that moisture causes wood to swell, so that sweet fit you had when you did your dry run (which is always, always a good idea) may well be too tight once the glue is applied.

In addition to knowing the compo-nents fit together, you also need to know how they go together – both the correct

orientation and in which sequence. To help with the orientation of parts you can label them – either by writing directly on a surface that will not be vis-ible or applying a piece of masking tape to the part and writing on it.

you should be able to get a pretty good idea of how well the glue-up will go during the dry run. Put the assembly together without glue using a stopwatch to time how long it takes while working at a comfortable pace. When the assem-bly is complete, compare the time on your stopwatch to the open time of the glue you’re using. Hopefully you have at least 30 percent of the time left over to allow for the glue to be applied and any

Gluing Strategies



complications to be worked out with-out getting flustered. If you don’t think you’ll have enough time, you have a few options: break the assembly into two or more sub-assemblies, choose a glue with a longer open time or enlist a helper.

Another benefit of the dry run is that it highlights what clamps, cauls and other miscellaneous items you need close by in order for the glue-up to be successful. Any time spent searching for stuff once you’ve started applying glue is wasted time. And this is not the situa-tion to be wasting time.

Time is one challenge presented with the introduction of glue; alignment is another. Most glues are quite slippery and parts can slip out of alignment eas-ily. The best way to prevent this is to incorporate interlocking joinery into the design, such as dowels, dadoes, dove-tails and so on. An added bonus of using joinery is that the assembly will bet-ter hold itself together while you add clamps. A simpler way to ensure align-ment is to nail or screw parts in place, either with or without glue and clamps. your choice to use glue is dependent on how much strength is required. As a gen-eral rule, if you use glue, you should use clamps of some sort. Rubbed joints are the exception.

Proper Glue applicationMost woodworkers spread glue with

their fingers. Others use brushes, rollers, plastic glue spreaders, or scraps of wood. What I use depends on the type of glue I’m using and the size of area being cov-ered. For hot hide glue, I use an acid

swab with shortened bristles (just push them back into the handle until about ¾" of bristles remain exposed) for both mixing and applying. For epoxy, I use a plastic glue spreader. I scrape off most of the epoxy after the job is done, then after it hardens on the spreader, I flex the spreader to crack off the film of glue. For applying PVA glue to wide areas, I use a cheap paint roller or an even cheaper scrap of wood. I use the scrap of wood like a squeegee and by varying the pressure exerted, I can control the amount of glue left on the surface. But for most “normal” situations I use my index finger.

They say “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” and that’s cer-tainly true with gluing. you know how hard it is to clean PVA glue that has found its way into an inside corner and dried. The worst part is any little bit you miss will be glaringly obvious once a fin-ish is applied. To control squeeze-out, you need to know how much glue to use and where to apply it. I apply a thin coat of glue to both mating surfaces. How much exactly? Enough to cover the sur-face completely but not so much that you can’t see the wood grain through the layer of glue. When edge-gluing boards you want the squeeze out to be visible along the entire joint but long runs of glue indi-cated you applied too much. Aside from waste, extra glue running down a surface may find its way into corners and perma-nently stain the wood. To avoid having to clean up squeeze-out, mask off the areas around the joint during dry-fitting so that excess glue ends up on the masking tape

rather than stuck to your project. If some glue does get onto your project, I prefer to allow it to firm up before scraping or chis-eling it off. A great alternative (especially when building boxes which can have lim-ited access) is to mask off the areas that will be glued and apply the finish before assembly.

Long-grain gluing surfaces are the

even, But Not Thick – You need ‘just enough’ glue – an even layer on both surfaces that allows you to still see the grain underneath

perfect Beads – The perfect amount of glue leaves small beads of glue. Any less and you’ll have a weak joint. Any more and you’ll have a mess and potential finishing problems.

preparation Complete – Take the time to gather all the clamps, glue, cauls, etc. that are required before you apply the first bead of glue.

an Ounce of prevention – sometimes it’s possible to tape off areas next to the joint, so the glue squeeze-out will end up on the tape, not the wood surface.


best, and that’s why finger joints are one of the strongest glued joints. End grain, on the other hand, is not a good gluing sur-face, making miter and butt joints among the weakest glued joints. If you need to glue end grain, be aware that it has a tendency to wick up glue, resulting in a glue-starved, weak joint. The solution here is to apply a coat of glue,

called size, let it soak in for a few minutes, then apply more to areas that look dry right before it goes together – just like applying an oil finish where you first flood the surface, then apply more to areas that have absorbed all the finish. Just keep in mind, glue sizing ensures as strong of an end grain glue joint as possible but it’s still considerably weaker than a long-grain joint.

Clamps Hold the Joint TightThe purpose of clamping is to hold parts properly aligned

and in good contact with each other while the glue cures. Bar clamps in their many various forms are the most used clamps in my shop and they get the call when I’m clamping something with parallel or near-parallel surfaces. I also employ a num-ber of other clamps for special situations: handscrews for odd angles, corner clamps for precisely aligning square corners, usually for pre-assembly work, band clamps, rubber bands and shrink wrap for contoured work, packing or masking tape for light-duty and hard to clamp applications, pinch dogs for coo-pered work and custom forms with wedges for odd-shapes.

Size Matters – Apply a light coat of glue, called size, to the end grain surface of a joint.

Clamps and Cauls, Working in unison – Many bar clamps are used to apply even pressure to the panel while the glue dries.

Work With gravity – Rest clamps on a surface so manipulating and adjusting them is a little easier, especially with heavier bar and pipe clamps.

i keep a collection of smallish cauls on hand for use during the many glue-ups that take place in my shop. they range in size from small, thin strips of wood to larger scraps cut from big offcuts. they’re often straight but it’s handy to have some curved or angled mini cauls around for weird situations. For a glue-up i will either cut a custom caul or reach for a selection of these mini cauls. they protect the work piece from the jaws of the clamps, support larger clamps or apply even pressure across a glue line. Sometimes i just use a stack of mini cauls to keep the work piece raised off the bench so i can position a few bar clamps underneath the panel. next time you’re going to throw away a larger off-cut, chop it up into a num-ber of smaller pieces that you can use as mini cauls. – rob brown

shelf of Cauls

Custom Cauls – Often a special caul is needed and it’s nice to have a selection on hand to choose from. An assortment of sizes, shapes and thicknesses are helpful to have beside your glue-up area. (Photo by Rob Brown)


Different types of clamps have different strengths and weaknesses and it’s impor-tant to recognize that. Parallel bar clamps have broad faces that remain parallel and distribute pressure more evenly than most clamps, making them really useful for assembling cabinets. They are, how-ever, heavy and awkward, which presents a challenge in positioning and handling them. Whenever possible, I try to rest either a clamping face or the bar on a horizontal surface to support the weight, slipping scraps of wood between the bar and the work piece to avoid marks. If the large assembly does not need a really strong clamp to pull it together, I use lightweight aluminum bar clamps. They are easy to position and still have a decent amount of clamping power.

When gluing up panels, clamps should be alternated top and bottom so as not to induce any cupping to the panel. I’ve found that even parallel bar clamps have this tendency as long as the panel is right next to the bar. I used to struggle to get clamps underneath, so I built myself a set of I-beams to raise the work piece off the workbench. Their broad surfaces make it easy to support two mating parts. It also makes them very stable. Invariably, they end up being used as cauls as well.

Cauls Have Many JobsI use cauls in nearly every glue-up,

for a number of different reasons. Cauls are sometimes used for one specific rea-son, and sometimes they’re called on to do a number of jobs at the same time. They can be thick or thin, long or short, straight or curved and can be made of almost any material.

One of the primary functions of a caul is to distribute clamping pressure over a given area without the use of lots of clamps. I have a well-sized collec-tion of clamps, but even if I had all the clamps in the world, it’s often difficult logistically to use a lot of clamps during a single glue-up. Plus the weight of the clamps themselves can become an issue. For example, if you’re laminating thin-ner stock, the sheer weight of the clamps can put a curve in the lamination if it’s not properly supported. The solution, to a certain degree of course, is to use more cauls and fewer clamps. Remember that you still need enough clamps to apply ample pressure to hold the work piece together.

Cauls also help to keep a panel flat during a glue-up. By placing cauls across the glue line and clamping them flat, the likelihood of a panel staying flat dur-ing a glue-up increases drastically. Cauls for this use need to be strong enough to resist flexing under loads.

Another important benefit of using a caul is to protect the edge of the work piece you’re gluing up. Clamps apply a lot of pressure and many woods (especially softer woods) will be easily damaged by a normal clamping situ-ation. Cauls that will only protect the work piece don’t often have to be overly thick or strong.

A final, often overlooked function of a caul is to allow clamping on irregular shaped work pieces. Sometimes cauls need to be shaped or cut to mate with the part. Curved or angled surfaces are the most common situations where this is the case.

When keeping a panel flat during glue-up, I’ve found that ¾" thick cauls are good because they stand up on their own and distribute pressure well with-out being too bulky. For cauls less than 12" long, I use 2" wide stock. For larger glue-ups like tabletops, I would use cauls an inch longer than the width of the assembly and 3" or wider to increase the rigidity. For longer cauls, a slight con-vex shape helps distribute pressure to the hard-to-reach middle area. It’s a good idea to apply some sort of finish, wax, or packing tape to the cauls to prevent the caul from sticking to the work piece. This is especially true when gluing up softwoods. I’ve found when you remove the cauls, they can sometimes take a chunk of the work piece off.

in ClosingGlue-ups don’t have to be daunting.

you shouldn’t dread them because you’re afraid of what might go wrong. Instead, anticipate and prepare for tricky and complicated situations beforehand. Work your way through the process first with-out glue and identify where you might have troubles. Then look for ways to cor-rect those issues. In a way, a glue-up is like orchestrating a symphony – every part has to work together to ensure per-fect harmony. So with good preparation and sound techniques, assembly can be as fun as the rest of wood-working. And that’s the way it should be.

More Cauls = Fewer Clamps – Get in the habit of using cauls to spread the clamping pressure of fewer clamps so you don't end up with too many clamps on a glue-up.

Crushing Strength – A caul will help protect the edge of a work piece from the strength clamps provide.

Not everything is Standard – When you aren’t dealing with parallel, even sides you may have to make a custom caul. (Photo by Rob Brown)

CHRis [email protected]


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By ROB BROWN

Let’s face facts; unless you’re a woodworker who special-izes in hand tools or you have more time than you know

what to do with, you’ll need a planer to take the hard work out of a com-mon shop task – dressing lumber. Even if you purchase pre-dressed lumber, it’s rarely going to be straight and flat by the time you get your hands on it. In addition to dressing lumber to fin-ished thickness, with a planer you can do a number of other fancy things like

create tapers, joint wide boards and machine chamfers.

It used to be that owning a planer meant clearing a large area of your valu-able shop floor space to make room for a hulking beast of metal. These were fantastic machines (I’ve seen them so enormous that car tires were used for infeed and outfeed rollers) but they were far too large and expensive for a hobby woodworker with typical space and monetary restraints. Enter the bench top thickness planer. These little guys have been around for some time but today there are so many choices that

you need to do some research to find out which one is best for the work you do. Most have enough power and capac-ity to plane almost anything you want to shove through them. Their smaller motors don’t like to be overloaded, so a few extra passes at a lighter depth set-ting may be required in some situations. They also have the extra advantage of being easy to move around or even store out of the way until needed.

Although some machines are built more solidly than others, planer basics are all the same. A planer provides a flat surface that will support the underside

PLanERSBEnCH-TOP

toolcomparison

Bells and whistles often make it hard to see what tool will perform the basic tasks being asked of it. Sort through what is and what isn’t important when buying a bench-top planer.

Manufaturer Model # Price Finished Overall impressionSurface

delta 22-590 599 Good Chip removal works best with dust collectordewalt DW735 699 Good Knives dulled quickly, but otherwise a very solid machinedeWalt DW734 499 Good Knives dulled quickly, but otherwise a solid machineGeneral 30-005HC M1 669 – –King C-426C 249 Fair Good value in a basic planerMakita 2012NB 599 Good A smooth running machinePorter Cable PC305TP 299 Good Very good value in a basic planerRidgid R4330 499 Good Overall a very impressive machineSteel City 40200H 689 Fair Only downfall is the surface it leaves


of the work piece while the board is being machined. Infeed and outfeed rollers grip the work piece, holding it down while pulling it across this bottom surface. While this is taking place the cutterhead is spinning above the work piece removing material from the top surface of the board, ensuring both faces are parallel and smooth.

Start with the BasicsAll of the machines tested have a 6" max.

depth of cut. It’s a rare situation to need to plane a piece of lumber that thick, but it’s nice to have the option if the situation presents itself. The width of cut is also fairly standard-ized, ranging from 12" to 13". Wider is always nicer, but that alone shouldn’t heavily influence your decision regarding what machine to buy. The amount of material to be removed is set by the user by adjusting the height of the cutterhead. While planing a piece of wood narrower than 6" the gen-eral rule is you can remove 1/16" per pass. If you’re planing widths of over 6", removing only 1/32" is recommended. you should make some adjust-ments for planing hard or soft woods. In general, it’s a good idea to remove less material than more; you’ll end up with a better surface and it will be easier on the machine. These machines all had very similar size motors, so power differentiation will rarely be an issue.

The difference is in the details Where these machines start to differentiate

themselves is in the details. Most of the machines have features that make them easier and more enjoyable to use than their predecessors. The features that you go for are going to depend on the work you do … and sometimes the amount of money in your bank account. Let’s look at the considerations.

Dust extraction is an important aspect of woodworking. Although the chips that a planer makes are less likely to work their way into your respiratory system, there is still a health danger if you don’t protect yourself. Extracting as much dust as possible directly off the machine is a good place to start. Some machines make it a bit easier to remove the chips and keep your shop floor and air clean. All of the machines, except for the King, Porter Cable and the Makita, have dust collector ports. Even without the dust hose hooked up, all of the machines eject the shavings satis-factorily. The only machine that lags a bit in ejecting the shavings is the Delta, but with a dust collector it works just fine. Surprisingly, because of the fan-assisted chip ejection, the DeWalt 735 threw shavings well over 10' during the comparison. Although this is a lit-tle bit of overkill, it’s better than not clearing the chips properly.

It’s very rare to take a plank directly from the planer and apply a finish without sanding its surface. Nevertheless, an important aspect of planing is to have as smooth of a surface as possible once the task is complete. With a smooth surface you will spend less time sanding. Every one of these planers was brand new out of the box and most performed admirably, leaving an impeccable finish.

delta 22-590$599

deWalt735$699

Makita 2012nB$599

deWalt 734$499

General 30-005HC M1$669

King C-426C$249


The exceptions were the King and, surprisingly, the Steel City, the only planer with a helical cutterhead. Both machines left a couple of very small ridges and a less than perfect surface. Nothing that couldn’t be smoothed with some extra sanding but that’s one of the things we’re trying to avoid.

While using all the different machines, it quickly occurred to me that weight may be a factor in selecting a bench top planer. If you plan on hauling one of these machines with you on a daily basis, consider how much you will be lifting.

The only unit with adjustable feed speed was the DeWalt 735. This is a nice feature if you want to be extra sure the fin-ished surface will end up as smooth and chip-free as possible. you can do most of your thicknessing at the faster speed, then, for the last pass, slow the feed rate down to get as smooth a surface as possible.

Also consider the knives that each planer uses. They will be what are cutting the surface. All of these machines have revers-ible knives, so once the first edge is dull you can flip them over and use them a second time without having to sharpen them. The Steel City helical head has indexable knives, which can be turned four times, and generally speaking a helical head helps machine a smooth surface with less chipping, especially with figured wood.

Red HerringsSnipe often occurs on the leading and trailing couple inches

of the top surface. It’s not the end of the world but it can be slightly problematic from time to time. While the workpiece is only being held down by one infeed or outfeed roller, there is a tendency to remove a little extra material – about 1/32" to 1/16". To combat snipe, the DeWalt 734, Delta 22-590 and the Steel City 40200H have a user-activated mechanism to lock the cut-terhead in place. These all work fairly well but I don’t believe this should be a strong factor in choosing a machine. The little bit of snipe that occurs very rarely adversely effects a work-piece, as it can be sanded out or is lost when a workpiece is cut to length.

Another feature you will find on many machines, and one I don’t think is overly important, is a depth-of-cut stop. The theory behind this feature is that by setting the indicator to a

ROB [email protected]

Ridgid R4330$499

Steel City 40200H$689

Porter Cable PC305TP$299

specific thickness you can return to that dimension repeat-edly to plane other boards to the exact same thickness. using this feature often results in tilting the cutterhead on a slight angle, and planing that angle into the workpiece, or obtaining a slightly different thickness. Even if the feature did work per-fectly, I think it should be overlooked for more important ones.

Which One Should You Buy?The DeWalt 735 was ahead of all the other units until I fac-

tored in the knife quality and how few passes it took to start seeing ridge marks on a freshly planed surface. I think this is unacceptable. I also thought the noise level of the DeWalt was quite high. Also, plan on using a dust collector with this unit to harness the hurricane of chips that spray out the back end. If DeWalt can get the knife issue straightened out – a represen-tative from DeWalt said by early 2011 all their new machines will come equipped with new knives – their planer will eas-ily be the top of the class, but until then I would lean towards to Ridgid R4330. Its overall solid performance was impres-sive. After hundreds of linear feet of Cedar, a tough species on blades, the Ridgid R4330 still performed like new. Chip ejec-tion without a dust collector worked well and it also worked well with a dust collection hose hooked up. It has most of the important bells and whistles, if you plan on using them. On top of all this, the ability to sign up for lifetime service agree-ment with Ridgid makes the purchase even easier to stomach.

If you’re an occasional planer user and can’t justify spend-ing much money, I would go with the Porter Cable PC305TP. It seemed like it was built well and just quietly (relatively speaking) got the job done. The King C-426C came in right behind the Porter Cable, offering a decent planer at a very reasonable price.

General is going to be offering a new 13" bench-top planer, similar in size and style to the other machines included here. Though it wasn’t available for me to test with the rest of the group, it will be available to the public in November 2010.


When the new Jobmax from rigid arrived at my shop i opened the boxes, checked the

contents and had one of those “why didn’t i think of that?” moments. the Jobmax is a 12V cordless motor that accepts different heads, depending on the task at hand. the available tool heads include a multi-tool, right-angle drill, right-angle impact driver, a 3/8" drive ratchet and a power hammer.

the multi-tool head allows you to do all of the jobs that these tools are known for, from undercutting doorsills to removing paint and sanding … and plenty in between. the Jobmax comes with a sanding head and two blades, as well as an adapter collar that allows the tool to accept attachments from other manufacturers such as bosch and dremel.

the right-angle drill and right-angle impact driver are just the ticket when it comes to jobs in tight spaces, such as installing drawer slides inside a cabi-net or drilling for wires between studs. the tool has ample power to turn even large boring bits and the impact driver will sink 4"

screws without a problem. the ratchet attachment makes

quick work of nut-and-bolt-oriented tasks. i used mine to assemble some bolt-together shelving for the shop before using it to repair my lawn mower. While it doesn’t have the torque of its air-powered cousin, it’s extremely handy to have close by, especially in situations where

there just isn’t room to swing a tradi-tional ratchet’s handle.

the power hammer is a very neat tool. it uses a hardened steel head to drive nails with just a pull of the trigger. i’ve used the hammer to attach electri-cal boxes between studs and to drive the joist hanger nails for a new deck; both are situations where swinging a hammer is difficult at best. all in all a great attachment, but it could use a stronger magnet to hold nails in place.

overall, i am very impressed with this little tool, and it has definitely earned a place in my diY arsenal. now i just have to tell the folks at ridgid that they won’t be getting it back! For more woodworking events:

www.canadianWoodworking.comList your club and event FREE.

Coming EventsThe Woodstock

WoodshowOctober 1, 2, 3

Woodstock FairgroundsWoodstock, on

www.woodstockwood-show.ca

Tools of the TradesOctober 3

pickering recreation complex

1867 Valley Farm rd.pickering, on

The Woodworking Tools and

renovation ShowOctober 15, 16, 17cloverdale exhibition

cloverdale, bcwww.toolShows.ca

KMS Tools Woodworking Sale

and ShowOctober 14, 15, 16, 17kmS tools & equipment

110 Woolridge St.coquitlam, bckmstools.com/

Busy Bee Tent Sale CalgarY

October 21, 22, 23busy bee tools

2611 Hopewell place n.e.calgary, ab

www.busybeetools.com


renovation ShowOctober 22, 23, 24

calgary Stampedebig Four building

calgary, ab

October 29, 30, 31northlands park, Hall c

edmonton, ab

www.toolshows.ca

The Ottawa Woodworking Show

October 29, 30, 31aberdeen pavilionlansdowne park

ottawa, onwww.woodshows.com

Busy Bee Tent Sale eDMONTON

October 28, 29, 30busy bee tools

18520-111 avenue n.W.edmonton, ab


Busy Bee Tent Sale SaSKaTOON

november 4, 5, 6busy bee tools

3533 idlwyld dr. n.Saskatoon, Sk



renovation Shownovember 5, 6, 7

prairieland parkSaskatoon, Sk

www.toolshows.ca

The Moncton Woodworking Shownovember 12, 13, 14

moncton coliseumagrena complex

moncton, nbwww.woodshows.com


renovation Shownovember 12, 13, 14red river exhibition park

Winnipeg, mbwww.toolshows.ca

shoptested

ridgid JobMaxby ryan Shervill

With five interchangeable tool heads, this tool takes the term “multi-tool” to a whole new level.

RYAN sHERViLL [email protected]

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38 canadian WoodWorkinG & Home improVement october/november 201038 canadian WoodWorkinG & Home improVement october/november 2010

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By JIM SINCLAIR

designing the PieceFor this project you will have to

adapt the design to fit your own needs and the space you have available. The choice of wood will depend upon your kitchen circumstances. Even the fin-ish may vary, for example if you want to match a particular paint colour. As well, the installation details will vary

depending upon what type of drawer slides you select.

The first step in creating your design is to remove everything from under your sink as you create an inventory of what gets kept there. With everything out from under the sink it is time to prepare an accurate drawing of the space available, including any obstacles in the way and anything (like shutoff valves) that must remain accessible. Once your drawing is

Bringing order to the under-sink chaos in your kitchen is a project that will exercise your creativity and provide you with a lasting functional improvement in your kitchen.

complete, it’s probably a good idea to put everything back under the sink. This isn’t a one-afternoon project.

For my design I went with two pull-out structures. The pull-out structures pro-vide easy access to all the items stored on them, much like drawers provide easier access to items in lower cabinets than shelves. The first is a 13 ½" by 21 ¾" structure located on the left-hand side of the cabinet. It accommodates three 13 ½" by 7 ¼" trays. The trays fit into a set of rabbets and dados that are cut in the top of the base. The trays are all the same size so that they can be arranged on the pull-out structure in any order and they were designed to be large enough to hold the largest boxes found under our sink. A pair of small open-ended boxes that fit crossways within the trays completes the

homeproject

OrgaNiZerUnder Sink


first structure. The small boxes can be placed in any location in any tray, again providing flexibility in organizing con-tent. The first small box has 4 ½" high sides. These relatively high sides accom-modate a number of cleaning brushes stored vertically. The second small box has 2 ½" high sides and is for keep-ing together some small items we use for maintaining a fish tank. By keep-ing these small supplies in a removable box they can all be conveniently taken out, used and then returned to storage under the sink. you can add additional small boxes to your design to add places for additional groups of small items at the cost of reducing the space for larger objects.

The second pull-out structure is 8 5/8" by 11" located in the middle of the cabi-net in front of the main plumbing. It accommodates a single set of six sloped shelves that attach to rabbets in the base similar to the trays. The shelf struc-ture is removable from the base in order to allow easy access to the under-sink plumbing. The shelves are sloped at 50° to secure the contents on the shelves and to make seeing the contents of all the shelves easy from above.

I considered putting a small set of fixed shelves on the right-hand side of the cabinet for infrequently used items, but it turned out that everything we had under the sink fit nicely in the first two pull-out structures with lots of room to spare.

Material SelectionI chose to make the visible portions

of the organizer out of white oak to match our existing kitchen cabinetry.

Materials ListPart Qty T W L Material

Tray structure

base 1 ¾ 13 21 ¼ Baltic Birch Plywood

side skirts 2 ¼ 1 ¼ 21 ¾ White Oak

front and back skirts 2 ¼ 1 ¼ 13 ½ White Oak

base supports 2 ¾ 2 ¾ 20 ¾ Baltic Birch Plywood

base support face 2 ¼ 7/8 2 7/8 White Oak

Trays

tray sides 6 3/8 2 ½ 7 ¼ White Oak

tray fronts & backs 6 3/8 2 ½ 13 ½ White Oak

tray bottoms 3 ¼ 6 ¾ 13 White Oak

short Box

sides 2 3/8 2 ½ 3 ½ White Oak

front and back 2 3/8 2 ½ 6 ½ White Oak

bottom 1 ¼ 3 6 White Oak

Tall Box

sides 2 3/8 4 ½ 4 ¾ White Oak

front and back 2 3/8 4 ½ 6 ½ White Oak

bottom 1 ¼ 4 ¼ 6 White Oak

shelf structure

base 1 ¾ 8 1/8 10 ½ Baltic Birch Plywood

side skirts 2 ¼ 1 ¼ 11 White Oak

front and back skirts 2 ¼ 1 ¼ 8 5/8 White Oak

base supports 2 ¾ 2 ¾ 10 Baltic Birch Plywood

base support face 2 ¼ 7/8 2 7/8 White Oak

ends 2 5/8 8 ¾ 12 White Oak

sides 2 5/8 2 ¾ 9 ¾ White Oak

center 1 5/8 9 ¾ 11 5/8 White Oak

shelves 6 ¼ 5 5/16 10 ¼ White Oak


The structural parts of the pull-outs I made out of 18mm Baltic birch plywood, for its strength and stability. Although not entirely accurate, for consistency with the rest of the measurements in this article I will refer to this as ¾" ply-wood from now on. A skirt of white oak around the outside edges of the pullout bases hides the plywood edges and pro-vides a convenient handle for pulling out the structures. An alternative to solid wood would be to use plywood for the entire unit.

Basic PreparationCut the two base pieces to size on the table saw. Next, cut

the dados and rabbets. The dados and rabbets in the base pieces can be cut on the table saw with only minor adjustments between cutting the dados and the rabbets. Start by installing the dado blade set to the appropriate width for the dados, in this case ¾". I used a shop-made zero clearance insert since neither of the inserts that come with my table saw are wide enough to accommodate a ¾" dado setup. Next, set the blades to the proper height, in this case ¼". Set the rip fence and make the two dado cuts on the tray base. Now attach a sac-rificial fence to the rip fence and position the fence to expose 1/8" of dado blade. Now cut the rabbets around both the base pieces. use a shoulder plane to clean up any inconsistencies at the corners of the rabbets and dados before moving on to attaching the skirts to the base pieces.

Cut the sides and bottoms of all the trays and boxes to fin-ished size. For the two end pieces and the center piece of the shelf structure you will most likely need to glue up a pair of boards to get sufficient width. Once these three panels have

easy Dovetails – A dovetail jig makes quick work of repetitive dovetailing.

a pencil Mark – use a pencil to mark start and stop lines for routing the grooves for the tray bottoms.

angled grooves Made easy – Clamp the work piece and the fence in place when routing the angled shelf grooves.

Transferring will result in Fewer Mistakes – use the first completed end piece to layout the second end piece.

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been glued up, cut all the parts for the shelf structure to finished size. For the shelf structure, cut the rabbets at the bottom of the two end pieces and the two side pieces. On one of the end pieces layout the angled shelf grooves. Clamp the work piece and a fence in place to rout each groove.

Once the first end piece has been fully routed, clamp it together with the other end piece, inside faces together and transfer the exact start locations of the six shelf grooves to the second end piece, lay out the rest of the grooves, and then rout the grooves in it.

JoineryThe base supports are held to the cabi-

net bottom with a set of round-headed wood screws. To prepare the supports, set the fence on your drill press so that the holes will be drilled in the center of the plywood boards. Drill several evenly spaced clearance holes completely through the width of the base supports. I used five for each of the longer base supports and three for each of the shorter base supports. Leave the fence in place and switch to a forstner bit. Counter-bore each clearance hole deep enough that the screw will protrude beyond the bottom of the base sup-port approximately the thickness of the cabinet bottom into which you will be attaching the base support.

The trays and boxes are all constructed

using similar techniques. The sides are joined together with through dovetails. The bottoms float in stopped ¼" grooves cut ¼" up from the bottom edge of the sides. I used a dovetail jig to cut the dovetails with a router.

The stopped grooves were cut on a router table. Mount a ¼" spiral bit and raise it 3/16" above the surface of the router table. Position a solid fence ¼" away from the bit. Mark start and stop lines on the solid fence to show where to position the pieces. Lower each piece on to the bit keeping the leading edge of the piece even with the start line. Push the piece through until the trailing edge reaches the stop line, then back the piece off a bit and lift it up clear of the bit. And with a cut like this, move the work piece from right to left so the rotation of the router bit will keep the work piece tight to the fence, as opposed to pushing it away from the fence.

The shelf structure is held together with ¼" dowels. A pair of evenly spaced dowels at the end of each side piece should do the trick and six evenly spaced dowels along each end of the center piece to hold it to the ends. Drill one dowel hole then insert a dowel center in the hole to mark the location of the mat-ing hole. The shelves themselves simply slide into the grooves in the end pieces without any need for glue.

Some custom modifications will most likely need to be done to the base struc-tures in order to make them work with

Only Do What You Have To – The drawer slides i used run through the notch and hook to the base through the 5/16" drilled hole. The drawer slides you use will likely be different, so plan accordingly.

Fancy Hardware – some drawer slides work different than others. For my installation the drawer slide clip needed to be mounted on the underside of the pull-out base.

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the particular drawer slides you choose to use. Because I used Blum Tandem Plus drawer slides, I needed to cut a pair of slots in the back skirt in order to allow the drawer slides to pass through the skirt at the back. As well I needed to drill a pair of holes in the back skirt in order to provide a place for the drawer slides to hook into the base structure at the back.

At the front of the base structures I needed to glue a pair of plywood blocks to the under side of the base to attach the drawer slide clips.

Once all the joinery has been done, but before assembly, it is time to do the sur-face preparation for all of the pieces. For all the ¼" pieces that are going to fit into ¼" slots or grooves, surface preparation time is the time to smooth them down so that once they are finished they will still be slightly less than ¼" and will fit easily into the ¼" slots or grooves.

Pre-finishing assemblyFor this project’s glue-up, I suggest

using waterproof glue. Even without major accidents, water will get under the sink from such things as rubber gloves, wet towels and minor splashes. There is no point in tempting fate with your glue choice. Glue the skirts on to the base pieces one at a time. Position them so they protrude slightly above the surface of the adjacent rabbet. Once the glue has dried and the clamps have been removed, use a shoulder plane to smooth the skirt piece even with the rabbet before gluing on the next skirt. This gives a nice level extended rabbet and avoids any difficulty with tear-out at the skirt miters.

Glue the base support face pieces on to the front of each base support so that they

extend beyond the base support in all four directions. Once the glue has dried and the clamps have been removed, use a block plane to trim the face piece even with the rest of the base support.

When gluing the shelf structure together, a small amount of glue on the dowels and in the dowel holes is all that’s needed. The glued dowels will pro-vide all the strength you need for these joints. Clamp the joints together and check that everything is square. Once the glue is dry and the clamps removed, use a block plane to even out any minor inconsistencies at the top and bottom of the structure. you may also need a shoulder plane and a chisel to even up the rabbets at the bottom.

FinishingFor floating construction like the trays

and boxes, I prefer to finish the parts

before assembly. This avoids any prob-lems with finish build-up in corners and the floating panel moving later and exposing an unfinished surface. A little

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bit of masking tape on the inside edges of the dovetail joints will protect the glue surface and discourage you from splash-ing the finish into the rest of the joint surfaces. As well, the shelves should be finished before they are put into the shelf structure. All the remaining parts for this project can easily be finished after they are assembled.

Final assemblyuse a small brush (an old artist’s brush

or toothbrush will do) to put a light coating of glue on all the mating por-tions of the dovetails. Be careful to keep the glue out of the grooves. Put the two pin boards together with one of the tail boards and then slide the bottom into place in the grooves. Finally, put the remaining tail board in place and push everything together. Check to make sure everything is square; if not, adjust with a bit of diagonal clamping pressure and then clamp the joints and wait for the glue to set.

The six shelf pieces should just slide into place between the end pieces. If you find they are slightly too long in either

dimension, a quick pass or two with a plane should fix that. Just remember not to plane the finished front edge.

installationuse a horizontal spacer board to posi-

tion the first base support parallel to the cabinet side and sufficiently clear of the door and any hinge mechanism that may be present. A spring clamp works well to establish a consistent depth from the front of the cabinet. Mark each of the screw locations. I used a long screw as a center punch, putting it into each of the predrilled holes and tapping it with a hammer. Move things out of the way and drill pilot holes in the base of the cabinet. Put the spacer board, spring clamp and base support back in place and attach the base support using the appropriately sized screws.

After installing the first base support, use a second spacer board to position the second base support parallel to the first. Again, use a spring clamp to establish the depth from the front of the cabinet.

When drilling pilot holes, a sim-ple shop-made stop block with a hole

drilled through the middle can be slipped over the drill bit to give you holes of consistent depth. you can fine tune the depth by modifying the dis-tance the drill bit protrudes from the chuck when you’re tightening the drill bit in the chuck.

use a vertical spacer board to posi-tion the slide at the appropriate height next to the base support. Check the slide to see if it is level; if not, shim between the slide and the spacer board until the slide is level. Drill pilot holes in the base support and attach the slide with screws.

With the base supports attached to the cabinet and the drawer slides attached to the base supports, it’s time to attach the pull-out bases. Once the pull-out bases are attached, drop the trays, small boxes and the shelf structure in place. Now all you have left to do is put everything back under the sink using your new organizers.

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woodchuckle

When I left you last issue I was hiding out in my shop, more afraid of facing my wife than I

was of facing my lathe. As the tempera-tures dropped into the deep-freeze of a yukon November night, so did my fear of Kelly, and I bravely ventured back to the house. Besides, I figured that after three hours spent in the frigid shop she would assume I had been playing with my new toy. In reality, all we had been doing was getting better acquainted. We seemed to have reached a partial under-standing regarding how it was or wasn’t going to maim or kill me and I was get-ting quite familiar, almost comfortable, with all its parts. I could now slide the tail stock back and forth with aplomb and lock it down with a casual flick of my wrist. I could push the start and stop buttons with equal disregard and during one cold induced mad-minute, when sev-eral of my neurons had closed down, I even contemplated plugging the thing in. Luckily, I had quickly come to my senses before something terrible happened.

At one point I even spun the wheel thingy on the back end of the headstock and was absolutely thrilled to see it turn like a well-oiled machine. Which, come to think of it, was really all it was.

yessirree! That was some lathe. Too bad I didn’t have a clue how to oper-ate it. Or the nerve, really. As I sat in my comfy chair, all snuggled up beside the roaring woodstove, I delved into the large box of books I purchased along with my new tool collection. Buried

deep within that storehouse of esoteric woodworking knowledge I discovered a video tape by some Australian fel-low who, as I recalled from my days as a part-time father, also sang popu-lar children’s songs. Raffee or Rafter or something like that. Maybe Raffan! Doesn’t matter. It seemed like a strange mix of professions to me but who was I to talk. The tape was labelled “Super-Duper Extremely Advanced Woodturning Techniques,” Or something like that. It also had a disclaimer written in blood across the bottom: “Don’t even think about looking at this tape until you have been suc-cessfully turning since at least childhood and are now a minimum of 55 years old.”

I gleefully tore the cellophane off and popped it into the machine, sat back and waited for the woodturning police to come crashing through my skylight. Nothing happened, so I turned the TV on and watched enraptured as the man on the tape happily turned ugly knobby pieces of tree into salad bowls of incred-ible beauty. After watching the first 15 minutes I was filled with such enthusi-asm; I just knew I could easily do the same thing.

Maybe not quite as well as the guy on the tape – at least not the first bowl

– but certainly by the second. I flickedoff the TV and rushed outside to the shop, slowing to grab a handy chunk of firewood from the woodpile as I rushed past. I jammed the piece of wood onto the shiny, spinny thing and confidently threw the switch. I watched in horror as the wood chunk wobbled around faster and faster until it finally tore loose at an extremely high speed in the general direction of my head and departed the shop via the wall. I never did find that piece of wood.

It was obvious that I might have missed a crucial step somewhere so I trudged back to the house.

Maybe I should start smaller and work my way up, I thought.

Maybe I should read the books I had purchased for just that purpose.

Maybe, just maybe, I should consider taking lessons!

When I stopped laughing I settled down, grabbed the first of many wood-turning books and began the long process of learn-ing how to properly and safely use a lathe.

Illu

stra

tion

by:

Mik

e D

el R

izzo

learning to WoodworkThe lathe – part 2

don [email protected]

By DON WILKINSON

Time spent on a project is more than the pride you have in your accomplishments, it’s about building relationships. For more than 100 years the Home family has been helping Canadians with all of their building project needs. More than 1000 stores from coast to coast to coast carry an exceptional selection of tools and more than 450 stores also carry lumber, building materials and building project plans to ensure your success every step of the way.

. . .and a whole lot more.

Wood Working !

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