Corner Computer Desk ® Tool Chest * Knife Rack ® Installing a Full Mortise LeWoodsmith February, 1997 Donald B Peschke ‘erty}.Srohman ‘CIRCULATION oe ‘Gea Bates * ScGraphie Designer ChersL-Sinoson ‘CORPORATE SERVICES. Vie Preset of Plnning ond ince Jon Maca Conroe ‘Thanas “sia threo » Sr Aco: Lar EDITOR’S COLUM Ny [= enjoy nosing around the shops of other woodworkers. Especially when theyre filled wit lots of old tools and hardware, I guess that's one of the reasons enjoy visiting Adolph Peschike's shop. (That's him in his shop in the photoatright) The other reason is it’s a great way ‘ocomeup withnew ideas orto revisit old ones. That's exactly what happened the other day as I was poking around in Adolphs shop. I came across an old tool chest. Itwas constructed of solid ‘wood panels and had been built by carpenter to carry histools, Nothing fancy really, just a sturdy chest designed to be used on a daily basis. ‘That tool chest got me thinking about building one of my own. TOOL GEST. The tool ‘on page 20 incorporates several tra- ditional features: Frame and panel construction, a li-out sliding tray, and plenty of storage space fer tools, But we also addled some things that make it unique. First, there's drawer built into the base of the chest. This provides ahandy place to store chisels or other tools thet could be easily damaged, Second, we installed @ special type of fullmortise lock that has a pin in i to help keep the lid aligned. If you'd like to learn more about installing a fullmortise lock, the step- chest shown ‘Woodsmith by-step article begins on page 28. Finally, we “dressed up” the chest by adding heavy-duty brass handles ‘and some flush ring drawer pulls, By the way, if the name Peschke sounds familiar, i's because Aldoph's son (Don) started Woodsmith nine- teen years ago. And the old tool chest I was telling you about — it belonged to Don's grandfather. ut thats enough about the tool chest. There's ako another inter- esting project in this issue, ‘CORNER COMPUTER DESK. When we designed the computer desk (on page 6) we wanted one that would meet the needs of a computer user — mot a traditional writing desk. So wwe designed it to fitin a corner. This way you can have a deep top for a monitor without taking up too much. floor space. And there's a pullout tray for the keyboard, Finally, we used a modular design thatallows you to expand the desk to suit your needs, No.109A LOOK NSIDE __CONTENTS __ Features Corner Computer Desk . Whether you're applying plastic laminate, attaching hardwood edging, or installing knock-down hardware, building tis elegant desk allows you to try a variety of woodworking techniques Desk Extension Wing ... 14 Need more desk space? Build one (or two) matching extension twings to go along with the comer compute desk. The modular design allows you to add a wing at any time. Tool Chest . This raditional chest is designed to hold your favorite hand tools and last along time. It features frame and panel joinery, a lage storage drawer in the base, and solid brass hardware. Full Mortise Lock Ther’s no mystery to installing a full-mortise lock. All it takes is aiittle patience, careful layout, and ovr step-by-step instructions Knife Rack ... Designed to be built in a weekend, this knife rack is a practical ‘way 10 store your knives. And it can be used in two different ‘ways: hueng on a wall or placed flac in a drawer. Departments Tips & Techniques Shop Notes .. Talking Shop Reader's Jig . Sources . Knife Rack page 30 No. 109 WoodsmithFROM FELLOW WOODWORKERS Trs & Board Support Inthe past, Ive used a stand tosuppor the ends of ong beards that were clamped ‘up in my vse, But the stand ‘gotin the way, and it was a hassle to drag itout every time I needed touse it. To sohe this problem, I made a beard support outof scrap piece of 2x, see Fig, 41. Then Lattached it to the Jegof my workbench witha butt hinge. Now, when I need to damp upalong board, ast swing out the board sup- port. When 'm done, itjust foldsbackunder my bench Kevin Hemmingen Wabasha, Minnesa Blok (ut notch tofitover fence) Piston Stop Block Tmade fence for my dil press, and itworked great. But to improve the fence even more, I made a stop block witha “piston” that tightens againstthe fence. My block is made outof two pieces of wood, one of ‘hich i eut away to create an“L’ shape, see drawing. ‘The “piston” isa short Woodsmith picce of dia. dowel that fits into a counterbore diilled in the stop block. To tighten and loosen the piston, I installed a threaded insert into the lock Then Faded a small knob with a/!ia. thread. ed stud, ‘Sue Klawser Ithaca, New York = Hex" \ Face Screw Eye Tool Inserting screw eyes into a project can be hard on your fingers. So I made a screw eye “driver” to do the jb. Its just a piece of dowel with sloceutin one endto fit snugly over the screw exe. Then slip a piece of rubber or plastic tubing orer the end to hold the screw eye in place. Gerald Fron Sager, Wisconsin No. 109Pull-Out Planer Shelf Since I have a small shop, Tetore my benchiop planer ona shelfbelow my bench. But I gottired ofhavingto lift the planer up onto my bench top whenever I ‘wanted to use it So I built a pull-out shelf that fits under my bench, The shelf is nothing more than a piece of piy- ‘wood mounted on a pairof fullexteasion drawer glides. (Makce sure to use glides thet can support the ‘weight of your planer) The drawer glides are mounted to a couple of cleats that are screwed down to the existing bench shelf, see Fig. 1 To give the shelf extra support when its extend- ed, I added a support frame to the end. built the support frame out of 2x4 lumber, see detail‘. (You will need to size the frame tofit your bench and plan- ex) A couple of casters mounted on the bottom of the frame make it easierto roll the shelf out from under the bench, To finish the shelf, I ‘added a handle to the front ofthe support frame. Now all Thave to do is pull the planer out from under my bench when I ‘want to use it. Then rol it back out of the way when Ym finished with it, Richer! Caciotpo Middle Village, New York Quick Tips ‘AIR GUN PLUGS ‘Dustand dirtcan cause the seals ofairpowered tools to wear out quickly. To protect my brad and nail guns from sawdust ‘and debris when theyire not being used, Isimply plug the air inlet holes ‘with golftees David Beale Lomina Beach, CA used to clean my saw blades in an old pizza pan. But the cleaning solvent always sloshed over the sides. Now I use a plastic five-gallon pail. (The kind that drywall jont compeiund comes in) No. 109 ‘The high walls ofthe pail keep the solvent ‘from spilling out. And the lid prevents evapo- ration soll can save the cleaning solvent and use itover again. ‘inistopher Aman Rocester, Now York Bench Dogs Touilt my workbench with 3jadia, holes for round bench dogs. Butinstead of buying bench dogs, [male rine out of short lengths of{"ia, dowel stock. ‘Togivethe bench dogs better grip and prevent : them from falling through tips can be purchased at the dog holes, [added a most haniware stores) rubber “crutch tp” to the Bob Hin fend of ezch dog. (Crutch Serazoga Spring, New Yirk BT ‘Ifyou would like to share an orizinal shotested ti, send itto: Woodsmith, Tips and Techniques, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, lowa 50812, Orifits eas. Jer, FAX it to us at: 515-282-6741, Oruse our E-Mail 75830,2301@compuserve.com. If published, you'll receive $20 to $150, depending. ‘on the published length. Include a brief explanation and sketch or photo. And don't worry, we'llrewrite the tip and redraw theart, ifnecessary. Also, please ‘includea daytime phone number. WoodsmithA onWaeL BUN) sey CORNER COMPUTER DESK A modular design and knock-down hardware allow you to tailor the components of this computer desk to suit your needs. omehow, a computer siting on a traditional writing Meskchas always seemed abit out ofplace tome. Mayte 'sthe contrast between old and new, But I think it also. hhas something todo with size and proportion. Most writ ing desks are just too stall and shallow for a computer ang all the eauipment that zoes along with it. ‘So when designing this compater desk, we wanted it tobe large enough fora computer. But we didit want fo ‘make it so big that it took over the whole room. The answer came in two parts. First, we designed the desk to fit in a comer. This allovs you to make the desk deep. enough for a computer. But since it sts in a corner, it won't takeup much morespace than an ordinary writing desk. (Of course, the desk can also be placed in the cen terof a larger room, see photo on back cover) ‘NODULAR DsioN. The second thing we did wes design the desk to be modular. You can build just the basie co- ner unit, see draving on opposite page. Or if you need Woodsmith more space, you can expand the esk byaddingan exten- sion wing (ortwo). And because the extension wings can beadded to either end of the desk, you can configure it to conform to your own size and space requirements {DERN MATERIA, To go along with the modern design ofthe computer desk, we used some modern materials aswell. Like plas laminate and MDF (mediumdensiy fiberboard) for the top. And instead of traditional wocd- ‘working jpinery methods, we used knock-down hard- ‘ware to assemble most af the components ofthe desk DesiGH OMONS. We used black olastic laminate, cherry, and cherry plywood to build our desk. The contrast between te warm look ofthe cherry and the black lam- inate gives the deska classy andformalappearance. For a dfferentlook, try changing the combination of wood and laminate. By choosing a different type of wood.and adie ferent colo oflaminate, the desk can be tailored to blend with its surroundings, see box on opposite paze. No. 109™ Construction Details OVERALL DIMENSIONS: Grommet 52" W x 5214°D x30"H, z Pot minate z fit MOF core) Special siding hardware Mona this keyboard oy A Noreen isaned — Relea pan ee ee ‘ees ie are ease Knockdown ‘ting stud ‘The main components ofthis desk are ‘Ralos hewreagies ron cr” Dre for instalation) fete CROSS SECTION harawe0e, Harsooare sing | sve Conmetor ‘pane!Desk Top ‘Whether you're building the entire computer desk orjustthe comer unit, its best to start by building the co ner unit top. Thats because most of the other components of the desk are fastened to it in some way. ‘ORE. The top consists ofa thick MDF core covered with plastic lami- nate. Instead ofrying towrestle with heavy, single sheet of MDF, Imade the top out of three separate core pieces (A, B, and ©), This also solves the problem of trying to cut the inside miters forthe front of the desk, see drawing at right, ‘The two rectangular pieoes can be easily cuton thetable saw, (See draw- ing atrightfor dimensions). Buthen itcamete the tiangularpiece, lused alitle diferent approach. I started with esquare blank, draw- ‘ng a diagonal layout line across two corners. But instead of cutting the pce outon a table saw, lusedatianc- held sabre saw, staying on the waste ‘Side ofthe Tine, see Figs. 1 and Ta, ‘The sabre sawleaves a rough edge, bat this can be easily cleaned up with arouter and a flush-trim bit Just serew the piece down toa fence and tim the edge, see Figs. 2nd 2a, ‘CORE ASSEMBLY. When it comes to glu- ing the core pieces together, there are a couple of things to consider, First, the pieces need to be kept aligned. The soution to this is sim- ple; I used 14" hardboard splines inserted into grooves cut along the edges ofthe core pieces. Tut the grooves for the splines with a router and a slot-cutting bit, see detal‘a above. Andsince spines, vill also be used later to attach ed eat | _ingisthickerthan the see detail ‘a. The tops are attached top core, you'll have _o the sides with 14" x14" tongue and tomake ablock filler (H) to create _groove joints. But the ends are sim- level surface for mounting thecor- ply cut to fit between the sides and ner blocko the top, see drawing. This then glued and screwed in place. spacers simply giuedtothetopcore. As with the corner block, ladded Then the corner block can be acouplebox fillers (L)totheunder- screwed in place side of the top before attaching the CONNECTOR BOXES. In addition to the connector boxes, see drawing above. corner block, a pair of connector These are just glued in place, boxes are mounted to the top, see _APROKS.To conceal the corner block. drawing. These are used to join the and connector boxes, I added 3/"- — Oto 2 thick aprons to the front and back of the desk, see Fig. 6 ‘Aside from theirlengths the only difference between the back aprons (MD and thefront aprons (N)is the roundover on the edges, see Fig. 6c. ‘And the lower corners of the front aprons are lopped offso you don'thit ‘your knees on them, see Fig. 63 ‘The frontapronsare simply glued to the connector boxes and the top, see Fig. 6. But with the back aprons, Lalso drove a couple of screws through the corner block into the aprons, see Fig. 6b. Give aprons to Sonnattor bones Snaitop aig. 10 Ti thick seek” No. 109End Panels With the aprons aided, you can begin work on the two end pan- els that support the ends of the desk, see drawing a right. Like the top, each end panel starts offesa*/thick MDF core (©) C1" x 2614", see Fig. 7. But this time, I laminated both sides with ¥/"-thick plywood. ‘These plywood skins (P) are cut slightly oversize and then ffush-rimmed after they're glued ‘onwith contact cement. The outside fae ofeach panel hhasanartow band ofplasticlaminate at the top to match the top of the deck,see Fig. 7. To positon thislam- inate I drew a layout ineon oneside ‘ofeach panel 244! down from the top. Using contact cement, [glued down ‘an oversize piece of laminate flush ‘with the layout line anid then fst trimmed the other three sides, Newt, [applied some'9/!thick hard- ‘wood edging (Q) to the panel see Fig. 8, This edging is wider than the thickness ofthe panel 1o create an overhang around the outside face, sco detal’b'abow. To atiach the ede ing, Icut grooves in both the panels and the edging, and inserted hard- board splines, see Fig. 7a. DIVIDER sTRPS. After the edging was ‘glued in pace, Ladded wood divider strips (R) to the plasticlaminate on the outside of each panel to create a row of “windows” see Fig. 8 ‘The tric to making these strips is setting them to the correct thickness, ‘They should end up fush with the ccging. But because the horizontal slripsare glued tothe plywood instead ofthe laminate, they need to bea lt: tle thicker than the vertical strips Gluingthe strips downis easy The ‘horizontal strips are glued to the ply- ‘wood, ust belowthe laminate, Then the vertical strips are glued directly onto the laminate, using a “super sue” adhesive, see Fig. 8a. Tused a zrlglue to makeit easier to apply the achesive without getting any excess sae on the plasc laminate, To soften the look ofthe panels, I routed a4" radius on all four cor- ners, see Fig. 8a. Then a 14" roundover is routed on the edges. No. 109 HARDWARE. Next, holes for the com necting hardware and shelf supports ‘can be drilled on the inside face of each panel, see details ‘a’ and ‘b’ above. First are the two 25mm-dia holes for the knock-down fiting cams. ‘Thea, drill adouble row of "dia, holes %'deep for some shelfsupport pins. Note: Ifyou don' intend to build Woodsmith, ing the extension wings, you can omit driling the holes forthe shelf pins. Finally, three threaded inserts are installed atthe top of each panel. To complete the end panels, 1 audded leg levelers tothe bottom of each one, 14" from the sides, see detail‘ above. (Ipainted my leg ke clers blackto match the laminate) uCORNER LEG ‘ed overthe topand bottom edges only ‘Theend panelsalonearenotenough witha le rounst-over bit, see Fig. 10a, tosupport the top. To support the Then added the knock-down fiting back ofthe desk; added a V-shaped studs, sce Fig. 10b. corner leg (S). This leg starts out as 3" x 3" post glued up from 114". KEYBOARD TRAY thick stock, see Fig. 9 ‘The final step in builéing the corner Next, [drilled the holes for the unit is to add the keyboard iray. To knock-down fittings. Once these are make ths tray, [started by cutting a dried, the back cornerofthelegcan keyboard panel (V)_o size from’/" be cut avay on the table saw tocre- plywood. Then I glued an oversized ate the “V" shape. piece of laminate to the panel and Togetthecornerlegto match the flush-timmed the edges. profile ofthe end panels, [rounded To complete the panel, ext, Teut cover the comers and edgesoftheleg, 1" x Yi" tongues on all four edges see Figs. Saand 9. Thento complete a router in router table, see theleg,ladded athreadedinsertand Figs. 1! and Ila, The tongues will be aleglevekr, seeFigs.9and 9. _used to attach edging next. ‘The keyboard edging (W) is ‘CONNECTOR PANELS made fom 1°/"-thick stock that has “Theconnector panels serve an impor- been planed to match the thickness tant purpose in the overall design. of the keyboard tray fabout §/ in ‘They join he endpanels with thecor my case). After cutting the pieces to ner leg, bracing the desk to prevent — final siz, the grooves and stub tenons itfrom racking. ‘can be cut on a router table or table ‘There's not much to these con- saw, see Figs. 11 and 11a. nector panels, Each one startsas a Once the edging is glued to the ®/ethick plywood panel (T), see Fig. panel, a ratlus ean be routed on 10.Then the panels are ramed with each corner aswellasa¥A" roundover hardwood edging (U).Lfounditeas- onal the edges, see Figs. 11 and 11a Jest to rip the edging alltle wider Then the keyboard tray an be mount- than the thickness ofthe panels, Then edo the desk with some special hard- after gluing it on, I trimmed it tush ware (ee page 19 for details) Finally, witha router andflush tim bit. the grommet can be installed, see ‘fir trimmingthe edging, [round- n—4MATERIALS Tor A Core Piece (1) YMOF-19 x 47% B Cote Piece (1) 3% MOF-19 x 28% © Core Fiece(1) 3% MOF-21%4 21% D_ End Edging (2) Tx 236-19 E FrontBack Edging (2) 1% x 2%2- 86 (roh.) F Facng Striss(@2) ex 114-24 G ComerBlock(1) -2%4x5-5 H_ Block Filler (1) UxS-5 1 Conn, BoxSides (4) 34x 33%-20 3 Conn. BoxTops (4) ¥4x2%-5 K Conn, BoxEnds ($) %x2%%- 4% L Bor ilers(2) %x5-19 M Back Aprons(2) 4x 3%- 47" N Front Aprons (2) 34x 3%4- 816 “Alsoneeded 2 in, ft of Ye x™4s harcboard splines np Paneis/Conwer Lec ‘© Panel Cores (2), 3h MOF -213h x26% P. Panel Skins (4) Yeoly,- 21% x 26% Q Edging (4) x Wh 50 (ro) R_ Dividers 2) XH -38 (rgh.) S Comer Leg (1) 3x3-28, “Also needed 16 lin. ft of Ys x"Ysharcooard splines ‘Conmecton Paneis/Kersoano Tea T Panels (2) 5K ply. - 46% x 168 U_ Edging () Wx -64 (oh) V_ Keyboard Panel (1) 34 ply. - 4x 24% W Keyboard Edging (2) Se x 1%4- 35 (rgh) SUPPLIES = 7)¥e2010 Thr. incor = 0) Ve Wechors = (@)8Bx1}¢Vloodscens._» 8) Knockdown Fitings += (10)88%2" FhWloodscens *(1) "x2" Rect. Grommet #(2)#8x34'FhWoodscens — » 1) Keyboard Tay Side SOWIE HexBolts 6) Leg Lavelers, e°-! above, Note: The drawer should be positioned sothat it hanes ¥"helow the front edging ofthe top. ‘After the drawer is mounted and adjusted to fit, the false front (U), ccan be added, The false front is just a piece of ("thick cherry stock. Before mounting the front to the drawer, round over the two bottom ‘edges and the inside top edge, see Fig. 5b. (The outside top edge islet square to match the aprons on either side ofthe drawer) Then the false frontis attached to the drawer with a ‘couple of screws from the inside. ATTACHING THE WING. To attach the ‘wing to the desk, simply unbolt the end pane! rom the corner unit (oul have to prop up the end of the desk) and fasten itto the end of the exten- sion wing. Now attach the support panel to the desk. Finally, connect the wing to the support panel. 60 16’ ful -extension Graver gle FALSE ‘Mount drawer FRONT harcare betore attaching fate front ‘Woodsmith No.109Da att By itself, the corner unit (ower right) offers pleaty of ‘space for a computer. But building a couple extension ‘wings givesyou even more possibilities when iteomes, ‘o arranging the components of the desk. The wings are designed so that they can fit on either side of the ‘corner unit (below). Or they can be placed alongside ‘each other to fit against along wall (upper right) ‘be placed side-by-side. eegiitaae, Extension wings can be added to each side of corner unt. Single Corner Unit MATERIALS CUTTING DIAGRAM “Material sted below are for one extension wing pee a a a wens x6" 60" Hardwood (66 bd. fe) 1A Top Core (1) YMor-19 x27 ¢ 8 B End Edging (2) 1x 2%-19 Frt/ok. Edgng(2) 1 x2%4- 31% Teas, D Facing Strios(2). Yax 114-24 E Conn. Box Sides (4) 44x 3%-20 e E iS Y), F Conn. Box Tops (4) x 254-5 G Conn. Boxénds(4) %4x2%- ae aS | H Box illes 2) HxS-19 silat ecehe OL | 1. Back Apron (1) Yox Ph -30% y g | J. Inside Apron (1) Ux3%- Mh a | K Outside Apion (1) ex 34-6 “Also Needed in tof Ya x Me hardkoard spines ix 7-72 Horo 5b ft) ae SupPoRT PANEL/CONNECTOR PANEL L Support Panel (2) Ya ply.- 12 x26% i ‘ MS. Penel Edging (2) ¥x 1%-41 (ron) N Conn. Panei(1) Ya ply. - 1644 x 29 “4x 5)" 36" Hardod (1.4 be. fe) 26° x48" - 4" ywood 0 C. Panel Edging (2) 3% x34 -48 (toh) R S =a Drawen/Sueur Shelf Panel (1) %eply.- 10x30% 9 Shot Edging 1) 34x 14-30% eee Drw. FrvBack (2) Yex De 17% See 5 rw ides 2) Vex 2h -15%% T Drw Bottom (1) Yaply.- 15¥ax17 A Uf, U Drw. False Front (1) 4x 36-18% “yy Yy SUPPLIES 202.6" wood +6) 220|0 Thid. Inserts *Q 48x 1 -Washerhd Screws *c2}ReTHe PaNeodscews. © @) Knock down Fits + (@) #812" FhVioodscrevs * (1)2°-dia Grommet +) Ye Brass Shalt Pins _* (ipr) 16" Drawer Glides S HOMEr IME HecBots ——* 2) Leg Levelers, Patio +) ¥e Washers with eta. shah | No. 109 Woodsmith WwA. To preven chipowe om the top face of atc lainate, Tse a special reverse cc sabre saw blade. (The tezth point dou.) 18 BUNUN UES: 0 SHOP NOTES Installing Computer Grommets. ne thing you have to eon- sider when building a com- pater desk is what to do ‘with all the wires, One solu- tion is fo use grommets. ‘These plastic inserts direct the wires under the desk 0 they're not hanging off the backside, i For the compater desk on page 6, I used two ferent siles of grommes, (Por soutves, see page 35.) ROUND, The easiest grom- ‘metto install is around one, used these on the exten sion wings, drilling the 2"- dia. holes with a hole saw, Clamping Angled Pieces Because of its triangular shape, the computer desk on page 6 required some creative damping solutions. ‘The firstchallenge came when clamping the core pieces together. The trian- gular piece at the front of the desk doesn't have apar- allel edgeto attach a clamp, see Fig. 1below.Solmade aclamping block with a notch cutin to it over the hack corner ofthe desk. ‘The second challenge ‘came when clamping the sce photoabove. (See pae 16 for their location.) RECTANGULAR. On thie cor- ner unit, however, Iused a larger, rectangular grom- met, see Fig, 3. Tolay out the grommet, taped over the area atthe back corner ofthe desk (60 hardwood edging to the back edges. The angled ‘edge in front prevents you ‘from applying clamping pressure along part of the back edge, see Fig. 2. This time, the solutions ‘toscrew ablock tothe front Toul see the layoutlines). ‘Then used a combination square to draw the layout lines, see Fig. 1 Now to create the open- ing, Idriled aole in each corner and cut out the waste witha sabre sav, see Fig. 2and the photo at lft cedige. (The screwholes will becovered by edging lates) This block has two tri gles attached to it, which allow you to apply clamp- ing pressire at two differ- cent placesalong each back edge, see Fig. 2a, PES ea exert” ‘Woodsmit No. 109Tike to be able to hide my Keyboard under my desk ‘when I'm not working at the computer: So [bought sliding hardware for akey board tray and installed it athe frontofthedesk. Gee page 35 for sources) Installing this hardware iseasy todo, There are just ‘wo pieces: a bottom plate and a tray holdee AOTTOMPLATE. I mounted the bottom plate first. I's simply centered under- neath the desk and serewedin place,sce Fig 1 Because the edging on the desk hung below the top core, I set the plate Tool Holders The lid ofthe tool cheston age 20 is a great place to store small hand saws, To do this, Imade simple tool installing a Keyboard Tray against the edging and screwed itto the core. This gave me plenty of clearance to slide the keyboard tray out past the frontedge ofthe desk. TRAY HOLDER. Next, I placed the tray holder in the grooves on the plate, sld the holder forward, and locked it in “working posi- 2 Te esenere tion.” Then I set the key- Sh heyboara tray board tray [made (see page Sn seer with Sree 12) onthe holder, centered it, and screwed it in plac. Finally, to prevent the ‘way holder from siding out the back, I screwed a rub- berstop into the back ofthe: bottom plate, see Fig. 1. holders fom scrap pieces, the saw in and oat. seephota.Both pieces hold FRONT LOCK. To hold the fg te saw blade, but one has front ofthe blade, Tused a i alurnbuiton soyoucanget blockwithasinglekerfeut | veto mach bane | ‘onone edge, see Fig.1. | ofsewbiade "| BACK BLOCK. Theblock that Iiolds the back ofthe blade is a bit different. To hold the saw parallel to the fd, this blockis thinner. Its out side face lines up with the ‘erfonthe first block, Ps, ithas a small turn bution (and a washer) that “cap- tures” the blade. Flush Ring Drawer Pulls I chose fush ring drawer pall for the tool chest on page 20 because they don't stick out fom the chest and get in the way. But I abo like their traditional look. To installa flush ring pal, the first step isto lay out the positon of the pull on ‘alse front No, 109 the front face ofthe draw- Now,asquarenotch has routed out the mortise with efsfalbe front, ee Fig.1. tobecutio create clearance a straight bit sei to maich Next Idrilleda tia. forthe“hinge” onthe topof the thickness ofthe plate, hole to provide clearance the pull see Fig 2 see Fig, 3. Be sure to say for the pull, see Fig. 1. @ Al that’s let now is to clear of the layout lines), illed thehole through the create the shallow mortise Now, llthat’sieftis some false front, Its inside face for the pate. To do this, 1 final ittng. pared the sides will be covered with the set the pullin place and square with a chisel until ‘drawer front later) ‘raced around it. Then I _ the pull ft, ace photo, chisel fordinge Woodsmith20 With basic joinery and plenty of storage space, this chest is designed to last for generations. WNaedinee Duilt himself, Im ike a kid at Christ- ‘as, After all, most craftsmen gen- rally put a little extra thought and ‘care into their tool chests, And always expect a surprise of somesort —whether is aclever way to hold a tool or just a wel-organized layout. So when I geta chance to look the ‘chest over, Ii and shutihe lid, Open. and close the drawers, Side the tray. “Test the lock. I may even try toliftit tose just how much it weighs. Tadded a removable sliding tray to But that's notall. also take men- keep smaller tools, like my try square talnotes about how is put together. and bleck plane, close at hand. Tinspect the joinery that was used. Then in the base below the main ook: at the profiles of the molding. compzrtment, I included a wide Notice ary unusual orespeciallywell- drawer. This drawer will hold a full made hardware. set of chisel, plus other small tools ‘So as Isat down to design thistool that you want fo keep separate, chest, Ihad alotofideas in the back _Eventhellid on this chesta store ‘of my mind that I'd gleaned from tools. Imade it decp enough to hold other chests I'verun across. hhand saws, see page 19. TOOL STORAGE. Of course, my first RAISED PANELS. Because planned to concernwas'thatthischestbeableto store alot oftoolsin this chest, Iwant- holdalotoftools.SoIstarted witha ed it tobe sturdy, butstill as ight as large, deep tool compartment. Then possible. So I used frame and panel construction, Thisallowed me to use ipY-thick stock without worrying about the chest becoming weak. And the floating panels allow the wood to ‘expand and contract, 80 wood move. ‘mentisn'ta concern, HARDWARE. Even with the hardware, Tried to draw on examples I'd seen in the past. (For sources, see page 85) The flush ring drawer pulls are a nice way of eliminating pulls that stickout in the frontofthe chest. And the lock I chose has a pin that helps alignthe lid with thechest. For more ‘on adding this lock, see page 28.) SUPPLIES CUTTING DIAGRAM +(7) 48x 1%4Fh Woodscrews ea 72* Pain San ed Oak ees + (9) #8x 1" Fh Woodscrews ——— a Tae pet +(3) #8x34 Washerhead Screws 3 45" 96" Quotes fed Ook 2.386 F) =(2) 1a" x 11%" Flush Ring Pulls. eS ee SV | + (1) Adjustable Ball Catch + (pr) 2" x 1" Brass Hinges + (1) FullMortse Chest Lock + (12)#5x%" Fh Brass Woodscrews + (1) 94° Brass Escutcheon +2) 4" Brass Chest Handles + (1). 12*-long Brass Safety Chain +12) #4 3 Brass Rh Woodscrews +2) #6 Brass Washers EY) No.109@ Construction s Details OVERALL DIMENSIONS: : 24 Wx BIH RED iad Terr ——— ty tools close ——— athand Brass ce plate — Frame and pans! Construction afows Solid wood parels to expand and contract mn Songeordnee BETES N Sndother tools Box K Rails (2) YuxPA-24%e UV End Caps) Mex 11h ‘A FrsBk Rails (4) 4x2-20 L Stiles 2) WxIk-B V Ralf (2) x2 -237% B Fr/Bk Stiles a) %x2-8% MeBasePanel(1) Yaply. x8 18% — W'tiles (2) x2 - Bh C EndRais(4)4x2-8 Drawer X Panel (1) Ax8-20 D EndStiles (4) 4x 17%- 8% WN FLUBK. (2) x 2%e- 18% —_-YFr/Bk. Aprons (2) Yex 1% 23% E Fr/Bk Panels (2) 4x4%-19% —O Sides (2) Ax2%-10% 2 EndAprons(2) ex 14-11% om | F End Panels) 4x 4-7 P Btm.(1) Yeply.29%- 18% AALotk Backing (1) %6x 1% - 36 G Btm.Panel(1) x 10%-22% — Q False Front |) 14x2%4- 19% Tray Base R Guices (2) ex 1%-10% BB Tray Supports (2) Yex 14-22% H Fr Apons(2) %x2%-2%6 Stop (1) Bx 19% CC Tray Sides) x 14-11% 1 Bk. Apion ()) 2x 2%- 237% iD DDTay Ends(2) ax 1% - He J End Aprons 2) %x2%-11% —T Fr/Bk. Caps(2) "Yex¥-23% EE Tray Btm.(1) Yarply x 97-10% No 109 Woodsmith atCuse ‘To build the tool chest, the best place to start is. with the case, see draw ingatright. Thenafterthe case is complete, the base and lid sections can be built to fit around it. ‘There's nothing tricky corcomplicated about the case. Four frame and ‘panel assemblies make up the front, back, and ends. And the bottom isjust a solid wood panel. FRONT RAIL RAILS & STILES. To begin on the case, Teutaltherails (A, Qandstiles (B, MOTE D)to finished size for thefront, back, — MuguaPeSe and end frames, see drawing at right. Terence sto (To make the case light but still ‘sturdy, everything is 14"-thick stock.) Next, |worked on thestub tenons and grooves thatjoin the frames, see detail ‘bat right. First, a 44"leep groove is cut along the inside edge ofeach piece. This groove is "o- wide, which leaves a 9c! shoulder on each side, see detail ‘a’. To automati- cally center the grooves, I made two passes fr each piece, flipping the piece between passes, With the grooves cut, next { cut ‘stub tenons on the ends of the rails. ‘These tenons are simply sized to fit into the grooves, see detail ‘b. PANELS, Now withthe rls and stiles built, added f"thick panels. These panels ae fish with the famesinside and out, but there's an 14" gap or “shadow line” running around each panel. This way, when the frames are ‘glued around the panels, the panels vilsill beable toexpandand contact with changes in humidity, To size the front/back and end panels (E, F), dry assemble the frames and sized the panels to fit in the grooves, leaving a '/s" gap along: each edge so the panels will be able tocxpand, see Fg. Land 2, ‘Now, creating the 14"-wide shadow line is easy. I rabbeted around the ‘edges of the panels to form tongues that fit the grooves in the rails and ‘sles. These tongues are just like the stub tenons on the rails only they're ha! long, see Fig. 1a. ASSEMBLY. At this point, the frames canbe assembled, see Fig. 2. Bute rronrsme \ 2. Woodsmith No. 109sure to test each assembly to make sure that it’s flat and square, And ‘remember, the panels need to “float” so they can expand and contract. What didn't want wasforthe pan- ‘lsto drop down and ereate uneven shadow lines along their top edges. So to hold each panel in postion, I pita spot of glue at the center of the tongues on the ends of the panel, see Fig. 2a, (This way, itcan still expand ‘out) Then during assembly, I used Ye\thick hardboard spacers to cen- terthe panein the frame, see Fig. 2b. ‘anne, With the frame and panels sued up, feut a rabbet on the ends ofthe front and back frame assem- biies to hold the end frames, see Fig. ‘8, Thisrabbet creates a strongercor- ner and also hides mostof the front and back panels on the ends, leaving only 1¢"thick tongues, see Fig. 3a. ‘GROOYES. Next, uta groove near the top edge of the front and back assemblies see Figs 4 anda, These 4g! 16" grooves will hold supports With the bottom cat to size, the around the case with miter joints, And fora tray that’s added later. next tepistocitarabbeton the bot- ifthe case isnt square, geting your Now, there's one more groove to om edges ofthe panel. Thisformsa__miters to fit tight will be quite a bit cut before the assemblies are com- tongue that fits the grooves in the more work than itneeds tobe. plete, and this one is cut on allfour case, see Fig. Sa. Again, you wantthe When the case has been glued frames. ItsaA"x1/! groove tohold paneltobe ableto expand, butihere’s together, there's just one thing leftio thebottom panel,see Figs. 4ané 4b, no need for a shadowline here, so 1 do, Rout a stopped chaméer along BOTTOM. At thispoint, I glued up a onlyallowed aor Ye" gap between each corner, stopping it 1"from the 'Wthick panel for the bottom (G), _thebottom shoulder oftherabbetand top and bottom of the case, see Fig. see Fig, 5. To fnd its overall size, I the sides ofthe case, see Fig.5a. 6. (To do this, youl want 1 lay the dry assembled the case and mea __ASEASSEMBLI.Nowthecasecanbe case onits side.) sured the inside dimensions Gnchid- dry assembledto check the fiofthe _‘Theimpertant thing here isto get ing the grooves).Like the pane's in bottompanelThisisalko agood time the depth ofthe chamfer setcorrect. the frames there should bea'Ae"gap to check the squareness of the case. ‘The bit should cut right tothe joint along each edge ofthe bottom panel Thisis especially important because line between the front/back and end togiveitroom to expand,sce Fig 5a. the base and lid aprons are fitted assemblies, see Fig. 6a. groove fort ‘roore forty support on frontback | ‘aktmbls one fcBase With the case completed, I began work on the base that itsits on. This ‘base does more than just support the case; it also holds a wide storage drawer for chise's and other tools ‘There are two parts to the base, ‘see drawing at right. First, there’s a mitered apron built to fit around the case. Then there's a frame and panel assembly added under the apron. APRONS. To build the base, I started with the mitered aprons. The front, back, and end aprons (H, I, J) are all cut from 14" stock and are ripped 2h" wide, see detail'a’. Istarted with four extrelong blanks: two 14" long blanks for the ends and two 26" long ones for the front and back pieces. Bven though the two front aprons each end up 2%4c¢" long, {still started. with a 26" long blank. After the pieces are cut to finished length, the waste piece leftover can be set aside for the -drawer’s false front. After the aprons are roughed out, Trabbeted their top edges to wrap around the bottom edge of the case, ‘see detail ‘a’. Then I routed a cham- fer on the front corner ofcach. (There ‘should be a 1{¢" shoulder left oa the top of each apron blank.) Now the aprons can be mitered to final size. To do this, I flipped thecase_ upside down and used itasa form to “wrap” the apron around. But with just a S4s"wide rabbet, the pieces -won'tstand by themselves. So lused acorner block tohelp hold the pieces in place, see photo below. ‘Now the aprons can be assembled. Here again, I used a corner block. Be sure to trim off the corner so it isn't glued to the aprons.) But don't silue the aprons to the case — just 4 Clamping blocks hold the comers square when testing the ters and gluing the aprons together. apply glue tothe mitered edges. Then remove the assembly from the case once everything is clamped up. BASEFRAME. To complete the base, 1 added frame and panel see drawing: ‘This frame overhangsthe aprons 7a! ‘on each side, and its built much like the frame and panels on the case. But there are some important differences, Firsi,foradded strength used" thick stock. Second, the widths ofthe piecesare different. Therails (K) are 25)! wide so the ointline matchesthe Jointlineinthe caseabove. Thesstiles (Dare 314" so they will be wide enough for the drawer toreston. ‘And finaly to strengthen the frame, used a 4A" plywood panel (M1) to ticitall together, see detail’b! ‘ter the base frame was glued up, routed" chamfer onthe top and bottom edges and screwed the bese to the apron, sce Figs. 7 and 7a. But because the apron can flex some, I clamped it around the case before screwing the base frame in place. No. 109Drawer Before ataching the base to the case, Thuilt the drawer, see drawing aright. ‘This way when it was time to fi the drawer, Thad access from the top, {instead ofjust the front. DRAWER. To build the drawer, I began by uttingthe front, back (N) and sides (O) tosize from 4" siock, see Fig. 8 Isizedthese pieces sothat when the drawer was built, there ‘would be a '4e" gap at the top and sides of the drawer opering in front. And I also left a "space in back of the drawer fora stop. ‘With the pieces cutto size, Leut 4? dadoes on the sides and mating ‘tongues on the front and back pieces, see Fig. 82, Then [cut agroovenear the bottom of each piece forthe 1. thick plywood bottom, see Fig. 8b. ‘After te plywood bottom (P) has been cut to fit in the grooves, the drawer can be glted together. FALSE FRONT, Now, [began work on thefalse front (Q),usingthe blank Jett over from the frontaprons, [B refer to drawing at left First, I ‘ut the blank to fitthe opening sothere was gapateach end, see Fig. & (Mine was 19/0" long.) Next, the abhet on to ofthe false front needs to becutalitledeeper so itwon'thitthe case when the drawer is shut, see Fig. 8b. (I sized the rab- bet so the shoulder matched the height ofthe drawer) Allthat’s left now to complete the ing above. Then I added two drawer —thanjust stop the drawer: [also added fase frontistocuttherecessesforthe _ guides (R). These are cut to fil the aballeatch o the sop and drawer so flush ringdrawer pulls, see therhoto gaps between the drawer and the the drawer wouldn'stide open when below right and the step-by-step sides ofthe base and are screwed in the chestisbeing carried, see Fig.9. instructions on page 19. place, see detals‘a'and in drawing. At this paint, the base can be ghied GUIDES. With the false front com- STOP. Next, screwed a 1A" x V4" tothe case.To do ths, lapalied glue plete, Isetthe drawerinthebaseand stop (S) to the base behind the to therabbetsin the hase and simply screwed the falsefronttot, see draw- drawer, sce drawing This does more set the case on top ofthe base. A The recess for ths pull ets cut before the false front is atached 10 the drawer, see page 19. No, 109 Woodsmith 25lid & Tray ‘The design of the id isa Tot ike the ‘ase. It has a mitered apron and a ffame and panelassembly, see éraw- ing, And ike the base, the lid extends ‘beyond the ease just abit CA). So to support the li, first I added cap molding the top edge ofthe case ‘AP MODDING. The caps (F, U) are 4g! x 94" molding strips, see draw ing and detail'b! Since these pieces are small, I started with oversize blanks. Then afer cutting: Ys rab- betand a4! chamfer on one edge, I ripped the capsio the correct thick- (OY retding ct ness (width), see margin photo, (Or nk Now the capscan bemiteredtofit See margin photo lush with the inside edges of the ‘Then they're simply el worked on the ld, starting with the tom toague would fit into the groove case seddrawing and detail aright." on each side. Then to added next, see Fig. 11. Then all thas place. capture the panel in the frame, Tout _leftistorouta 1A’ chamfer around the LUD FRAME. With the cap in place, I grooveon the panes igessothebot- top edge ofthe frame, see Fig 12. Un APRON. With the frame and panel. ‘A To create the cap frame. Therrails (V)andstiles (W) re cutin the rails and stiles, see Fig. 10b. complete, I added an apron below itto roldingsafely,1 sz sotherameisfush with thecap, Before gluing the frame around the _ make the lidalitle deeper, see Fig. 13. sabbeted and see Fig. 1)and detail‘ above. And like panel (he panel shouldn't be glued), Adeeper id povidesclearance for tools chamfered one the rameonthe tase, thisframeisbuilt routeda chamier around the top edge stored in the sliding tray (and can be edge of awide from 3"hickestock. ofthe panel, see detail’ above. to store hand saws, see page 19). Hank and then ‘The panel here is also%/" thick and When the glue is dry, cut z rabbet Except for the fact that the lid’s ‘ipped the molding stands proud ofthe frame, seedeuil's,aroundthebotiom edge oftheralsand aprons (¥, Z) are only 1%" wide, wo finished size. —_Teutthe panel Q) to overlap the frame stiles to hold the "hick apron that’s Sze panelto overlap frome ie? ‘on each se NOTE size frame hash wth oncae 3) ign and pane! P thick ee: pan eel 26 Wooddsmit No. 109aprons onthe base, see Fig. 13. even used the same clamping block, refer to the photo on page 24 SuIDING TRAY. With the ld compl built a sliding tray next, see Fig. 4. 1 sized it Ye! narrower than the ease ‘opening and built it with the same ‘tongue and groovejoint I used on the drawer. But this tne, the grooves for thebottom willbe exposed on the ends, 0 youl ned to pug them. Thay SUPPORT. OF course, the tray needs something inside the case to support it So [added the tray sup- ports (BB) next, se Fig. ld. Like the cap melding on the case, the supports are cutfrom an extra wide blank (/' thick). rst, Irebbeted one eigeto create atonguethatfitiniothe | nore ‘grooves cutin the case’s front and back culronh exo assemblies see Fig Me.ThenTripped | wie bionk the supports from the blank See ‘After the supports are cut to final length, I glued them in place and sof toaddthelock. Thelockl choseliasan chestcan be sanded and finshed. But ened the edges with sandpaper. alignment pn to keep the lid and case _ it's best to remove the pulls and lock HanDwaRt. With hesliding ray com- aligned, ButI didn’t want this pin near firs. Lused Benjamin Moores Golden plete, mounted thei tothe ase with the top onthe case where could bang Oak stain the chest and then wiped 2x 1" brass hinges, mortising the _toolonit. So mortised the lock into on a couple coats ofan oil fish, hinge into both the id and thecase,see the lid, which requiresa‘"'thicklock When thetinish is dry, replace the details’y'and'c'inrawingbelow.This backing AA) oa theinsideedgeofthe _pulls and lock. Then you can add a requires some careful work because id apron, see drawing. For more on handleat each end and a chain inside thelid andthe case should end up sh. mounting the loxk, see ae 28, to support the lid, see drawing and Withthelid mounted, thelaststepis _FINSH& HARDWARE. Atthis point, the detail‘a’ below. KN 86 washer faxweRh oy troodscren end 121009 bras safey— Nore: foro ercvare ey before sppiying nish a ‘Gol ches chest halle No. 109 Woodsmith nAi vssinoicte tool cheston page20, spent quite abit oftime lookingatlocks. And the one fended up using does more then just secure the lid —ithas a pin that helps keep the lid and case aligned, Of course, I cidn't want this steel alignmeat pn near the top ofthe case ‘where I could bang a too oni, $0 1 ‘mounted the loin thetid. That way, ‘when the lid was opened, this pin ‘would be up and out ofthe way. LOCK MECHANISM 1M admit that drilling into a nearly completed projectean be abitnerve- racking. But the task is prety straight- forward —a pair of mortises iscut in the lid forthe lock, and another pair is cut inthe case for the catch plate. ‘The trick is getting the two parts to line up, and careful layout is the key. LAY OUT LOCK. The first thing to do is lay othe lock mectanism, see Step 1Llesnot centered sidetoside, you might expect. What you want cen- tered is the key hole that's drilled on the front of the chestlater (Step 8). So to position the lock correctly now, it’s the key pin that needs to be centered. With the lock positioned sideto- side, next I laid it out on the thick- ness ofthe lid, Most times, a lock is justeentered, butpothere— the ek andl catch plate wouldn't aign. That's because the workpieces are different thicknesses and fush onlyalong their front edges, see drawingin margin. “To get around this, first added a First, draw acenterine on the li. Then center the keypin andmark the sides of the lock body. the lay aut lines. Then glue the piece to the inside face of the lid. ay out the front edge and the centerline of the leck plate and body. A eas a a ae a feces meet a: the dil press, dil the mortise. wD) sure the plate tines up with the y ©) shalow mortise forthe lock pate. ‘Then square up the sides with a chisel. outline). Then draw around the plate, Then square up the corners. 8 Woodsmih No. 109backing piece inside the apron, see Step 2. Then instead of laying outthe loci mechanism frst, I marked the front edge of the lock plate with a combination square, see Step 3. (This wil also be used later to lay out the catch plate, see step 11.) Now, laying outthe center ofthe lockbody isjust a matter of drawing a second line. ‘RIL MoRTSES. With the lock body Jaid out, the mortise can be drilled and squared up, see Step4. But don't bother trying to get ughtit. In act, found ithelpfulte have alittle “play.” sol could make sure the lock plate lined up with the layout line when tracing around it,see Step 5. ‘When the lock plate was mortised into the lid Gtep 6), Idriled acouple clearance holes for the “dimples? on the bottom side ofthe plate, see Step 7. These cimplesare created by the countersunk screw holesin the plate spp ScUTCHEON. Now it'stime tocre- ate the key hole, see Step 8. Ladded a small brass escutcheon so the key ‘wouldn't wear onthe hole, Just keep in mind that the farger hole should ‘eon top when thelidisrightside up. ‘When drilling the holes, [prevent- ‘ed chipout by inserting a backing piece into the lock mortise, see Step 8. Then toget theescutcheon tofit, simply filed it to shape, see Step9. ‘CATCH PLATE ‘Adding the catch plate is similar to mounting the lock. To get the catch plete to line up with the lek, fst the hole for the alignment pin is centered side-to-side, see Step 11. (On this lock, the alignment pin is in line with the key pin, refer to Step 8a) Then the front edge ofthe plate can be laid out with the combination square. PLATE MoRTse. Next I drew arcundl the plate and cut its mortise, see Steps and 12. Just make sure the open- ings in the catch plate line up with the pin and hook on the lock. (It’s casy to getthe plate turned around) QEARANCE HOLS, Now with the plate ‘set in place, the dearance holes can be traced, see Step 13. I drilled one “mortise” for both the pin and hook, ‘see Step 4, Then final, I drilled holes for the dimples and screwed the catch plate tothe ease. No. 109 \ rag Since there are “cimples” under the screw holes, | drilled clear- Mark the positon of the key pin (on the id. Then trace around the ‘escutcheon and dri plot holes. ance holes to get the plate to ft flush tine cut Now using a chisl and smal file shape the two holes until the escutcheon fits, see tp in margin. A. To fil any sight aps, press the excuteheon out with a screwdriver. 0 ‘can be pressed into its hole, and the lock can bescrewed in place. VD eisai nak pg Now dt te more fore fs frontedge on the case. Then Catch plate and square up the center the alignment pin hole and corners. Then dil dearance holes for trace around the plate the "dimples" under the catch plate. brit hole ferdliole 1S ae mortise and trace the open tise and holes for dimples. ings for the alignment pin and hook Then screw the catch plate into place. ‘Woodsmith 29WEEKEND saxo) cert KNIFE RACK This tack protects your knives and keeps them close at hand — without using up any counter space. -onesdon't come cheap, so you want to take good care ‘ofthem. And since they get used a lot, they should be within easy reach, You also wantthem to stay sharp as long as possible, so wherever they end up, the blades should eee Te seen woodworking chisels hung on the wall behind abench, just within arm's reach. And I've also seen them stored ina separate drawer where they're protected from other toals (as they are on the tool chest on page 20). for kitchen knives. It's designed so you can hang it on ‘can be kept close at hand without taking up any counter ‘space. And they're protected from the can opener and ‘The reason this rack works in these out-of-the-way ‘burying the knives in a block of wood where you have to pall them straight out, this rackallows you to pull (or lift) the knife away from the rack. DIVIDERS. To begin work on the rack, I started with the dividers (A), cuting 1i{e!thick hard maple into oversize blanks (2/4"x 11"), referto Fig. 1. Note: This knife rack isdesigned to hold knives with blades up to 2" wide and 10" long, Mine holds sixknives, but customizing itis easy —all you need is one more divider than the number of Iknives you plan to holdin it, With the divider blanks roughed out, the next thing 1 dil was to taper them sightly along the frontedge, see Fig. 1. This reduces the weight of the rack a lite, but it ao makes the dividers look a ittle more graceful. NOTE: Taper jig mace from PSE sack w When placed inside a drawer, this block wil pro- ‘ect your knives rom other tenis 30 Woodsmith No. 109a ‘To taper the dividers, 1 table saw and a shop-mate jig, see the drawing on page 30 and Fig. 1 ‘The thing to keep in mind is that you want the top of each divider to fend up wide enough to hold your ‘widest knife. (It should beat least 4" wider) I wanted the rack to be able to hold a 2wide knife, so when set- ting the rip fence on the table saw, 1 maie sure the dividers tapered to 24/8 at the top, see Fig. 1a ‘With thetapers ut on the dividers, thenext steps tocut a If-deep rab- bet in each divider, see Fig. 2. This, creates a recess tohold the lip pieces that are added later To cut the rabbets, I used a dado Diade on the table saw with an auxit iary fence to back up the cut. Gust make sureit’s Jong enough to extend past the blade to reduce the chance ‘of hipout) Because thiscut doesn't g0all the way through the divider, 1 ‘was able touse therip fenceasastop. This way, all the rabbets are exactly thesame length @/"), see Fig. 2a UP PiEcES,Once the rabbets arecut, worked on the lip (B) pieces, see ‘drawing inmarginat right. They help the knives side in place. But the lip pieces are pretty small No. 109 to work with safely. So did most of the work on a single, thick blank oversized in both width and length 2x 124, see Fig. 3. Then later, [out the individual pieces from the blank like slicing bread froma loaf. ‘The fist thing to doto the blank is outa 45° chamfer along one edge of the blank with the bit set toleave a" shoulder, see Figs. 3 and 3a, Next, the blank can be ripped to final width, see Figs. 4 and 4a. The ‘important thinghere isthat the inside face ofthe ip blank matches the width of the rabbets cut earlier in the dividers @/’), refer to Fig. 2a ‘To complete he lip blank, Trouted past cut Tips to size Woodsmith asecond chamfer onthe comer oppo- site the first, see Fig. 5. Here, I want- ed the shoulder left by the chamfer to match the depth of the rabbet in the viders (4), see Fi Atthis point, the lip pieces can be sliced from the blank to match the thickness ofthe dividers (1'/i¢"), see Fig. 5. Then they can be glued in place The ip pieces are small enough that instead of messing with clames, Tjust held each piece until the glue set. Finally, to make it as easy as pos- sible to slide the knives in place, 1 routed a '/;s" chamfer around the front and top edges of each divider, up see Fig. 6 and margin drawing ate. A lank for me lip pieces ‘Blank for _ Size to match lipplees, Merapbet fertop and fron edge 3132 With the dividers complete, Ladded a back, top, and base, see drawing below. BACK. The bask (C) is just a 14" ‘panel, see Fig 7 started with this panel a litle wide and long (@" x 16%/"). This war, I could trim itafter the dividers had been aided. ‘Which bringsup alight problem. How doyou glue seven dividers to a panel so they all end up parallel — with even spaces between them to hold the knife blades? My solution ‘vas to clamp the dividers together with 91! spacers between them and then glue themto the back pane! as asingle unit, see Fig. 7. ‘Also, iclamped a temporaryblock: '%/" down from the top. Then with something to butt the assembly ‘against, glued dhe dividers ush with ‘one edge of the back panel. ‘With the dividers glued to the back. panel, I rimmed the assembly to final Iength (16%4") and width, see Fig. 7a. (My rack ended up 87s" wide) TOP. Now, abeveled top (D) can be ‘edded. Like the lips on the dividers, ithelps hold the knivesin place. To make the top, I giued two 3/"- thick pieces together and ripped them. 4" thick, Then Icutthem to length to match the with of the rack As") nce divers Srein place and beveled one edge, see Fig. 8 Neat, [rounded over the top front edge, see Fig. 9. And after screwing the top (D) tothe back, rounded the top ecige ofthe back, see Fig. 10. BASi. To cover the ends of the dividers, Tadded a/"thick base (E), OTE: cut ste tovmetch seth ofrace Woodsmith To position aces, camnp block 536" ‘own from top eoge seeFig. 10.[t stands /4! proud ofthe dividers. (Mine was 1°4" wide) Then after rounding over three edges, the bases glued and screwed to the rack. Finally, [wiped on a couple coats of an ol finish and screwed the rack to the wall, see drawing at let. No. 109COMMENTS & QUESTIONS ‘TALKING SHOP Contact Cement Ive heard quite afew hor- ror stories from wood workers about thetirsttime they tried using contact cement. They typically involve having to rip off a whole shest of plestic lam- inate or expensive veneer that was set down crooked. Despite these mishaps, using contact cement does not have to be a terrifying experience. As long as you keep a few points in mind HOW IT WORKS. If you've never used contact cement, there are a couple things you should know about this adhesive. Contact cement works by sticking to itse'f, So it has to be applied to both surfaces being joined. And like the name implies, contact cement bonds on contact. Once the two adhesive-costed sur- faces touch each other, you'll havea bearof a time trying to get them apart without ruining one or both of them, So it’s important not to rush the process. ‘SING CONTACT CENENT, The first thing to consider when using contact cement is No. 109 satety,seebox below right. After taking the neces sary safety precautions the next step is to apply the adhesive tothe workpieces. To do this, use a dispos able brush or roller because contact cement is difficult to clean out of a brush, see box below. Whetheryou use a brush orarolleyit'simportant io lay the contact cement don with only one or two strokes. That's because if you continue to brush over the same area, the contact cement starts sticking to itself and balls wp. WO CONS. The first coat of contact ement will sock othe surface ofthe work pieces, so I usually apply two coats. Just make sure xyou let the first coat dry beiore applving the second one, Otherwise youl have a hard time spreeding the second coat on smoothly ‘The most common mis take is joining the two pieces together before the second coat has dried. Check the contact cement byfeel. It should be slight ly tacky, but it shouldn't sick to your fingers. (twill also look dull) JOINING THE PIECES. Joining: the two pieces s the critical part ofthe operation, espe- cially with a large project like the computer desk, In order to position the laminate over the desk, I placed several narrow tips of wood between the two pieces, see photo above. Then after position- ing the laminate, I pulled the sticks at one by one, starting at the center: To make sure the two surfaces are tightly bond- ed, go over them with a roller. Theroller allows me toconcentratea lot of pres- sure on asmall area. But if you don't have a roller, you can use a ham- mer and a block of wood, Just movethe blodkaround the surface of the top, tap- ping on itto press the to pieces together. Most contact cements con: tain vapors that are highly. flammable and potentially hharmaful to your health. So take safety precautions seriously. ‘To siart with, I only use contact cement ‘outdoors or in a wellventilated area. And Inever use itin the presence of an open flame (ike a gas ‘ater heater or furnace, for instance). Since the vapors are heavier than air, make sure they don't trav- el down air vents and collect at a lower level of the hhouse (like a basement) where they might ignite. Finally. to protect myself from the vapors, wear a respirator. Most respirators designed for paint mist or organic vapors also provide protection against ‘contact cement vapors. Cama ey Like any job, it helps to heave the righttools when working with con- tact cement. To start with, you'll needa disposable metal container to hold the cement. (The solvents in contact cement will dissolve most plasticcontainers,) For small projects, 1 use foam brushes for applying the contact ‘cement. (Disposable bristlebrush- Woodsmith es tend to fall apart) But for large surfaces like the computer desk, I use a disposable 3" trim roller. ‘Then to rollout the air bubbles, 1 use a“J-roller,” see photo. Finally, [always keep acan of contact cement thinner on hand for clean up. It can also be used (if you're careful) to separate the two pileces in case of a mishap. 33READER'S F catherboardsare greatforholding stock against the fence of a saw, jinter,orroutertable topreventkick- back Andajig sentinbyJames Clark: ‘of Dayton, Ohioallows you to make {featherboards quickly and easily ‘Thejigridesin the miter gauge slot ofyour table saw, holding the feath- cerboard blank atan angle. This allows you to cut a series of kerfs to create the “fingers” ofthe featherboard. ‘TG. There’snot much to bulking the jig. Just start by cutting a base, runner, index key, and fence to fin- ished size, see drawing below. KERFS. There are two kerfs in the ‘ase ofthe jig; one for the index key ‘and one for the saw blade. The spac. ing between these kerfs (4") deter- mines the width of the “fingers” Set your rip fence 8" way from the blade and cut a 2Jong kerf for the index key, see Fig. 1. After gluing the index key into the kerf, move the fence ancther ¥/* away from theblade fyou've buit an origina jigand wish to seeitfeatured. ¢ PB your ideato Woodsmith, Reader's Fig, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312. ‘If we publish it, we'll send you $100 and a full set of Woodsmith back issues, with binders. Include a ‘sketch (or photo) of your jg, explain how i's used, and include daytime phone number. 34 and cut the second kerf, see Fig. 2 Nov, without moving the rip fence, slue the runner to the bottom of the base, making sure the base is tight against the fence, see Fig. 3. This wll ensure that the ker! in the jig wil always line up with the blade. Once the glue has set up, secure the runner with some screws, Then attach the fence ata 3)°angle to com- plete the jie, see drawing and Fig. 4. Woodsmith USING THEJIG. To make a feather- board, simply bevel the ends of your blank at 30% Then clamp astop block toyourrip fence tocontrolthelength ‘ofthe featherboard fingers, see photo. With one side of the blank placed against the index key, cutakerf. Now justcontinue cutting kerts along the ‘edge ofthe blanks, lacing each newly- ‘cut kerf over the index key before ‘outing thenext ore, see photo. No. 109SOURCES Woodsmith Project Supplies offers hardware kits and supplies for some of the projects shown in this issue. Supplies for these projects are also available at your local hardware store or through the mail order sources atright. ‘COMPUTER DESK Ifyoute building the com- pater desk on page 6, you have the option of adding one or more extension ‘wings to the ends ofthe cor ner unit, So Woodsmith Project Suppliesiscurrenity ‘offering two separate hard- ‘ware kits. One for the main corner desk. And another foreach extension wing. These kts include the knock down tings legev- cers, grommets, and fall extension drawer slides (or the wing onl), plusall the serewe and threaded inserts you'll need. (They ddontinchde thekeyboard tray hardware, see below.) 7109-100 Computer Desk Hardware $1995 7109-200 Desk Extension Wing Hardware $2495 No, 109 Sliding hardware for key- ‘beard trays (and ether com- puterrelaed hardware) are available at local computer stores or atthe sources list ced at right. Prices for the ‘keyboard hardware range from $30to over $100. {LAMINATE TRIM BT. To tim the laminate on the desk, I used a special trim bitin ‘my router. It doesn't havea Dearing and is only 44" in diameter, so I could trim rightinto the inside corners on the front of the desk, ‘These bits are available from the sources at right. TOOL CHEST When selecting the hard- ‘ware for the tool chest on page 20, lfound there was quite a difference between the quality of some of the pieces of hardware, For instance, there are several flush ring drawer pulls available, The ones I chose areheavy brass with square corners that have slightly tapered edges (which makes them easier to install. And the hinge for the pull is accurately machined and lifts easily. Also, the heavy-duty han- dies havea stop built in so the handle won't pinch your fingers against the case. The hardware for this chest is expensive. But it was the highest quality we ceuld find and we felt this tool chest deserved it. In fact, we even included a1" x2" brass name plate you can have engraved. 7109-300 To0! Chest Hardware $99.95, Note: This oF similar hardware is available from the sourcesatrigh, though you may need to find the brass chain local 1ock. The lock we used on the tool chest features asteel pin that helps keep the lid and case aligned. ‘The lock is included in the hardware kit (see above), but you can also order it fiom the sources at right NEW BOOK Last issue, I mentioned a new book featuring bock- ‘case and shelf plans. Now, the second book in “The ‘Woodsmith Collection” Woodsmith onoeR erty SOURCES PFS Similar project supplies and eee ay be ordered from the following companies: ps soos. available. Classic Cabinets ‘Tool chest hardware, contains ten of the best cab- Keyboord tray, inet projects ever featured Laminate bit inWoodemath, From al Colkdortcabineticcoret Wooden Ser Gnu ales, | coer ee: there's a project to meet ‘Tool chesthariiear, everyone's needs. Coampter desk hardseare, In the Woodsmith tradi- Laminate bit tion, each project is pre- sented with step-by-step Woodworker Store instructions, cutting dia- 800-279-4441 grams, technique sections, Th ohalhardean, and detailed illustrations. Kayo ay, There are over 500 in this. Computed harurs, ‘96 page book.) Lamiat it Classic Cabinets, as well as the first book in the Woodworker's Supply series, Bookcases and 800-645-9202 Shelves, can be ordered at —_Keycantmy, aspecialintroductory price. Laminaeb, Rawrsect 2005-200 Classic Cabinets sav savas Book 317.95 2005-100 Bookcases & Shelves Book. $17.95 35< Computer Desk. This computer desk looks great siting in the middle of a tom. Bua it's als designed tofit nicely in a comer ‘Complete plans for the desk begin on page 6 Y Pull-out Drawers. Full-extension drawers on each side of the desk procide ‘convenient storage for pens, pencils, and other desk items. < Tool Chest. Specially designed, heavy brass har dies allow you to get a good grip on this frame and pane! wol chest. And the handy drawer inthe base fea- tures unique, flush ring pulls. See age 20 for plans. Knife Rack. > | This rack holds your Ienives securely in place. And it car be mounted to a wall or used ina drawer. Step-by-step instructions begin on page 30.