COMPLETE PLANS FOR THIS MODULAR STORAGE SYSTEM . . . PLUS A EUROPEAN-STYLE CABINET AND HUTCH SPECIAL REPORT CUTTING DOVETAILS BY HAND, OR WITH Pe Ole | Maan) a3 re - i] Modular Storage System EXCLUSIVE PLANS FOR THIS COMPLETELY FLEXIBLE SYSTEM‘Number 22 uly, 1982. Donald B. Pocchko WOODSMITH (ISSN 0164-4114) is published Dimonthiy (January, Maren, May, July, Sep- ‘amber, November) by Woodsrrith Pubishing Co,,2200 Grand Ave, Des Moines, lowe 50012, WOODSMITH is a reqsiored trademark of the \Weodsrith Publishing Co, "Copyright 1882 by Woodsmith Pubishing Co. Al ighis Reserved, Subseriptione: One yoar (6 iesues) $10, Two years (12 issues) $18, Single copy price, $2.50 (Canada anc Foreian: acd $2 per year) Change OF Address: Pleasebe suroto include bath your old and new address and a mailing lave! fiom a recent issue. Postmaster: Send change of adress noice, Form 9579, lo Wocdsmith Publishing Co.,2200 Grand Ave., Das Noes, lowa 50312, Sawdust ABOUT THIS ISSUE. If you've heen ing this column forthe past few issues, know that I keep coming up with reasons ‘why we didn’t ran an artiele on euitting lap (halE-blind) dovetails. Well, we finally got ivinthisissue. And we managed todo tthe ‘way we originally intended: showing both hand-cut and machine-cut dovetails. Cutting dovetails with a machine (a ronter) certainly eliminates that old-time craftsmanship. But it gets the job done. And Iwas quite content to use the router ‘when it exme time to build the gaggle of ravers needled for the modular storage system (shown on page 12), Yet, Ihave to sddmit something. [really ‘enjoy the hand-work that goes into lap CGovetails when its done the old-fashioned way. Its almost like working on one of those intricate Japanese joints. I can sit bbarkin the shop and saw and tap and chise! tomy heart's content, I's enjoyable work Monttas sronant, Vor those of you who get into the design of projects, the mnedulrstorage syste ints esueoaght ‘to atrike s responsive chord, No, there's nothing particularly faney about it. And if ‘you want to got really cynical, this whole Project js just a banch of boxes stacked on ‘op of one ancther. ‘But what intrigues mo about thi project is the complete flexibility you have after the project is built, The door, drawers and shelves ean all be moved ‘around to sait whatever need (or whim) arises. Al ofthis flosibility is due in part to the design (give Ted a pat on the back) and in | part to the special hardware we used, All of the hardware (except for the rosan in- ferts) for the modular storage aystem ane | for the cabinet/huteh came from The ‘Woodworkers’ Store catalog. Ifyou don’t have this eatalog, i's worth sending for. Send $1 to The Woodworkers Store, 21801 Industrial Blvd., Rogers, Minnesota 65974. ROUTER TABLE. Some of you may have seen aur ad in Workbench magazine for “the complete plans for a Router'Table.” In that ad I mentioned that it’s a six-page Plan Rookiet that includes plans fora full. size floor model ‘Just so you know that oar regular sub- seribers are not missing out on anything, fs the same router table we featured Woodsmith No. 20, And in this issuewe're showing the legs and storage unit we added to make it a floor model, Since we gave the Plan Booklet. six pages, we had more room for more (and larger) drawings. If you'd like this new Plan Booklet, send $1to usand well get it in the mail to you. NEW FACES, The gang here at Wood smith is turning into a thundering herd. Since the last issue, we've added foar new Ken Miner has been associated with Woodemith almost from the heginning — he developed the computer programs we use to process and keep track of every- body's name andl address We've jstundergonea majorexpansion of our computer operation, and Ken has agree to work with us fal-time to keep those machines whisking and clicking. ‘As asidenote, Ive even joined the com- puterage. Instead of pounding keyson the ‘ld typeveiter to write the copy, nov I “key-in” ona word processor, (Datapoint is tho brand ) Isa faney mackine that saves Alot of time. Dave Kreylinghas joined the art team to help Teal with the drawings. Along with gaining an appresiation for the artwork in Woodsnith, Dave is quickly learning the mount of work that goes into each drevt- ing (8 to 4 hours por drawing). Since we typically have about £0 drawings in exch fssue, we needed some help with this work- Ioad, and Dave is anxious to work. ‘Viesie Robinson, Kim Melton andJackle Stroud have all signed on to help with the mail opening, processing and shipping. ‘Ted likes to Say that this whole business comsin ina mailbagand goesontin amal ag. I think Viekie, Kim and Jackie will help Keep those mail bugs moving. THESCHEDULE. This issue of Waodemith will probably be in the mail during the ‘week of August 16th, That's about six ‘weelcs hehind cur intended scherkile, ‘Although I know its frustrating to all of our subseribers, 'yenever wanted to keep {rigid schedule for publishing eaeh issue. ‘That one of the reasons we refer to each issue by the issue Number (this one is Number 22), rather than thedatetheJuly peta) But you're runningabasiness, Don, why don’t you Keep to 2 schedule? When we get behind, there's a tendeney to want to slap together an issue just to rect the schedale, But that's not fui. Ud rather put fll effort into each issue » even i k means well be “late”. To me, its hestor to watch the quality of what goes into Woodemith, rather than to watch the ‘alendar for when it comes out. However, T will guarantee that we'll publish aix issues a year, and well put 100% effort in each Issue, With that in rind, oar next mailing (Woedsmith No 23) shouldbe inthe ma ducing the wesk of ‘October ath, 1882 2 WoopsMiTHTips & Techniques EVENLY SPACED HOLES ‘The article on building the wall shelf i Woodsmith No. 20 reminded me of how ‘many times D've dried holes inthe sides of cabinets only to find that I've spaced them a litle bit differently on one side of the cabinet than the other. The result is shelf that tecters. ‘Now 1 tse a jig for boring holes in eab- {net sides which assures that the shel will sit solidly on all four corners. Even ‘theholesareslightly unequal in spacing up anddown the sides, the shelf wil sit solidly ‘on all four corners because both sides of the cabinet are drilled exactly the same, ‘The jie consists of a pice of plywood, a fence, and a stop-pog. The jig 1 use is 410" wide, 48° long, and is arg’ enough to handle almost any project. “olay out tho ig, draw twolines parallel to one elge of the baseboard, one 5YA) from the edge for a row of "holes for the stop poge. And the ather lin (B) is dravrn 6° from the edge, for aligning the front ge of the fence ‘Tho holes ar laid out carefully alongline ‘A and are spaced the same distance apart the finished holes will be (I use 1” spac- ings). Dill the boes to within about of ‘gol through the baseboard. ‘A 1" wide fence is attached to the Ipasoboard along line B. This leaves akout 2 hyehind the fenes to lamp the base- Board tothe dil press table stop yog is morely a dewel about 4” ag Wil IgA chamer on one ead fuse the eon the rl pres, insert thoston peginto aholo inthe jig that far enough towar one end to aeeommotate moving the workpiece through from the ‘rst hale to the last. "Then hold the work plese ayalnst the feniee and the stop pex. ‘Align the basebcard so thatthespur ofthe Iitis directly over the location of the frst Toran sag aT ene zope ts thenecthos and eprelcon the eee ee | ee aleteere ‘made by skipping holes in the baseboard. ao mao Cees sane | It really works. Corl Hegert Uncaseille, Connecticut | SOLID WOOD CORNERS FOR PLYWOOD | With the limited equipment I have in the | shop, I've always had problems cutting | mitered eomers on plyweod cabinets. It seems that the veneer is always splitting | or the comers don’t meet exactly as plan- ned. Anil beeause ofthe thin veneer on the plywood, you can't even sand them flush, ‘Consequently, I've adopted a corer Joint which is very easy ta eut, easy toghue land has the appearance of a mitered com ner, And it can be sanded to Mt perfectly flush with the plywood eabinet sides. ‘The joint is a half rabbet with solid food corner. First I cut a rabbet in the side that’s only wide enough tooverlap one halfofthe top piece (thisis what Icalla hal? rabbet), ‘Then the cabinet losing any accuracy. The fig itself consists, ftwe 2'x4" pieces of 4” plywood, and two 236” aluminum wall standards. [ started by dadoing two grooves (94" wide and as deep as Vathe thickness of the shelf standard) down the length of the plywood. ‘inexactly thesame position on both pieces. ‘The picee that becomes the top is Mipped over and a %'xi£" dadois cut for the fence. This dado s cut across the width of the plywood, 3"in from the end, and 2 34°x2" ence is then glued into the dado, On the base piece, I attached a %'x1%4" strip to the back edge so that the jgzean be secured with the radial arm sew’s clamp serews. Then the wall standards are ee into the dados on the opposite ve found that the wall standards in the ‘baseboard will slide easily in dados of the top ifall the wooden perts aro given 6 cost of sealer, and then waxed. Myron Jacobsen Winchester, Kentucky ‘SEND IN YOUR IDEAS. Then T cut a small comer stip of solid wximately 4° oversized. This ‘corner and sanded wood apy strip is glued into sh with the plywood surfaes. Jan Pedersen Kamloope, British Columbia RADIAL ARM CUT-OFF JIG ‘Squaring up and/or cutting to length stock that's wider than the reach of the radial ‘arm saw (14°) has always been somewhat cf a problem for me. Even on a table saw, there's just not onough support to cut off ¢ wide table top (30°) with good accuracy. came up with 2 jig for the radial arm saw that ean handle eute up to:80" without Wo mito you to share your woedwecing tie ana tecnques wih etter readers of Wood. smith. We wil pay 2 minimum of$5 for atip, and 510 or mor or apc toaige, Al mle Submited Secorres te property of Woodsih Publishing Co. Upon payment. you give Wood- amity te Hott eo the material ary marror ‘0a ong a3 we wah if your idea inves 8 éraing or shoto to clan do your best ng, noceaeay, welt take anew drawing. oul the project o and photonranh ft. [Any drawings or pci fbitod savot bo rune) ‘Send your ices te: Weagsm ps & Tec signs. 2200 Gland Av. Dos Noes, ove 2 WoopsmiraHand-Cut Lap Dovetails CUTTING DOVETAILS THE TRADITIONAL WAY Lap dovetails require more pure hand ‘work than any: Although this: ‘and special template (as deseribed on page 6), if you're building a piece of funiture thathasonly one ortwo drawers, i's prob- ably faster (and a lot more fun) to cut lap dovetails by hand. ‘CONSIDERATIONS. In Woodsmith No. 19 wwe talked about the tools needed to cut “through” dovetails by hand. The same tools are needed for lap (half-blind) dove. tails. Also, all of the considerations men- tioned for laying out a throagh dovetail as fax 2s spasing of the pins and tails is eon- cemed) apply to lap dovetails, However, there is one other considera- tion that applies only to lap dovetails. You can join the drawer’s sides to the front so the sides are flush with the ends of the drawer front (a flush drawer). Or, the raver front ean be lipped (rabbeted) so the sides are set in about 3”, (This sez0nd. version is shown in the photo above.) Although the actual cutting of a lap dovetail is the same in both applications, ‘we're showing thestep-by-step foralipped. raver front. (CUT PIECES TO SIZE. The first step is to cent the drawer front to fit the opaning in the cabinet. Fora lipped drawer front you ‘want to overlap the opening by %', so the drawer front is ent a total of 9 larger in both dimensions. Then eut a "-wide rab- bet on al four edges of the drawer front. LAYING OUT AND CUTTING THE PINS For a ap dovetail, the pins must be cut on the drawer front first. This works out fine Decause the pins require the most hand- ‘work (and thus the most chance for error) BASE LINE. The first step is to mark the base line for the pins. To do this, hold one of the side pieces flush with the rabbet on the drawer front, Fig. 1. Then T use a sharp perell to mark the base line. Al though it's not necessary, Tusually go back snd eat along this line with an X-Acto Inne, Fig. 2, (This Tine helps to position the chisel later.) MARKING THE PINS. Next T mark the layout ofthe pins, Fig. 8, First mark the position of the halfpins on the two outside ‘edges, and follow by marking the position of the full pins, spacing them evenly be- ‘ween the half pins. MARKING THE ANGLES, If the drawer front is not lipped, the eutting angle ean be ‘marked with an adjustable bevel using a angie. However, on a lipped drawer front, the adjustable bevel won't fit. So T tase a template eat from a piece of serap, Fig. 4. ‘To make this template, set the serap on edge ona table saw and make a 1"-deep cut at It. Then fip the piece around and make another ent (akout 1" away from the first one). Finally, clean out the waste between the two eats, ‘THESAW CUTS. ARtormarkingtheangled lines, usea small try square to mark verti- cal lines down to the base line. Then I always mark the waste sections between. the pins to avoid confusion. ‘Now grab the trusty saw (Iuse a Tysak back sei), and start entting down the ines, Fig, 6, Be sure to set the saw so you cut on the waste side ("X"-side) of the line. Tt only takes a few strokes and almost. seems like a waste of time because the saw can only make a partial eut. But it does help when the initial chisel-work bogins (CUT THE BASE LINE. After making the saw cuts, the waste sections are chopped out with a sharp chisel. The best way to do this is to use a backing fence (as shown in Woodsmith No. 19). However, we're showing an alternate method this time. "To define the base line of each waste section, drag the point of the chisel until it falls in 'the knifed line (made in Step 2). Make a light tap straight down, and then carve out a'*V” section infront of the base line, Fig. 6. This small V-section provides ‘shoulder for the chisel when the chopping begins and helps prevent undereutting on. the initial cuts Cuor out waste. Now the real fun bejins. I clamp the drawer front to the edge ofthe workbench and start shopring away, Fig. 7. At first, the saw cuts will define the chipped out waste. But as you get deeper, the saw cuts simply aren't there anymore and things start to look a little ragged, Fig, & 1 just keep chopping until Leach the lip of the drawer front (the rabbet). ‘Then T tuse the chisel like a small hand plane to cearye the bottom level with the lip. Finally, you have to clean up the ragged sides of the pine, Fig. 9. This is sort of a oleate woorlearving operation. Just hold the chisel at an angie and earve in on the ses of the pins (folowing the penci ‘on the top and end of the board). ‘The hardest part of this operation is getting the sideeof the pina amoothand the Corners cleaned out. This can take some time, but i's very pleasant work. CUTTING THE TAILS ‘Once the pins are ent and cleaned up, hold the drawer side against the ends ofthe pins (Pig. 10)and mark thecutlines forthe tails with a sharp pend. ‘No matter how sharp the pencil is, the ppereil line will always be slightly to the ‘de (on the “good” side) of where you want to eut. So, when eutting the tail, I startthecuts about "away (on the waste on *X" side), Pig. 11 CLEAN OUT WASTE, If the pins on the ‘drawer front are narrow and delicate, the ‘corresponding waste sections between the tails will be narrow and delicate. This causes problems, Ifthis waste is narrower than your smallest chisel, you'll have to tum the chisel at an angle to chip out the waste, Fig. 12. ‘Only the miidle waste sections need be chopped out this way. The outside waste sections forthehalepins)areeatofT witha ‘THE Fr. If all has gone well, the sides (tails) ean be tapped onto the drawer front (pins), Tusualy do this with great.care. If the jointis too tight, there isthe danger of splitting the drawer front. ‘After tapping the joint abaut halfway together, L knock it apart and check for black rub marks. A little careful paring witha sharp chisel should ease the joint so it can be tapped together for a good tight (but not too tight) fit DRAWER ROTTOM. One of the advantages of a lap doveiail is that the grooves for the drawer bottom will not show on either the drawer front or the sides. I cut the groove on the drawer front first, co it's positioned just above the halfpin. Then cut the groves in the drawer sides so they align with the drawer front. 4 WoopsmiTHVisates working with « Lined drawer front, cut rabbets to form tip first. Then hold side piece om shoulder of abbot and mark the base line for pins. After marking with pencil, vse an X-Acto knife to cut a small groove Later, hen chopping out waste, this ‘arcove helps position chivel on base line Aye 20 ipetalle bool anit ta used to mark angled lines, moke a template on a table sav. Set blade to 11° to ‘make angled euts, then cleanout waste. Plaze drawer front in vise and se back sau to sto down marked lines, staying on “X” (waste) sideof lines. Itonly tal a fow atroves to complete theve cute. Bele of rer along shader of rubet io mark postion of pins. There should ve a half-pin on outside edges and Fall pins evenly spaced betweon them. 6 essai bess tin stidcchinel into iifedlineand tap straightddown with mallet. Then carefully carve out a small *V" acction in front of bate line. To chop out waste, position chisel in and chop straight down. Then had chisel on end grain (with bevel xp) Continue to chop out waste beticeen ‘pins. When you reach the lip of the raver front, wsechiselasasmail planeto carve cut recess even with lip. and chip out waste with a light tap. After pins are completed. hold side pice againat onde of pine and use sharp peneil to mark the angled tines ox uel a8 the base line for the tail 1 MAKE SAM CUT FROM UNE ll ing ont veaste, nosition ‘iw about Ya" from the marked line. Hold saw atin steep angle until base line ts ‘reached, then level it out to finish cut When sai Lange sections of waste wiltremain in the corners. Toclea this out, hold the chisel at an angle to follow the marked lines, and smooth the sites of the pins, 2 [f the waste sections are too small for Viste arectioct chee, tld cheek ot angle. Chip out waste between tals, and then saw off outtde oo waste sections. WoonsMiTH~ Machine-Cut Dovetails _ “ONLY YOU AND YOUR ROUTER WILL KNOW Ifsomeone walked up to a eabinet-maker 100 years agoand told him there was away tocuthulrblind dovetails with a nackine, he probably would have been delighted. Allofthe time required to cut dovetails by hand, he might reason, could be spent on other (less arduous) tasks, ‘Nowadays, in this world of maehines and robots, we lve a tendeney to rom that old-time hand-work and disdain ‘modern machine wor'e. But romance asi machine-cut (routed) doyeiails do. ha their place, even in a home shop. If you want to build a eabinet that has a lot of drawers, one of the best (most efficent) ways to get the job done is with a router and dovetail fixture. DOVETAIL FIXTURES Once youve resigned youre 0 the fut ‘hac achinesat dovetals are not such a temble thing, all you have to do allt thatook to at them, Only four ings are required: router, a oveta ‘bi, a gue. bashing Cemplnt= full and dovotailSxtare. Th Ist fem ne dovetal ature) isthekey tothe hole proces. DDOVEAL FISTURES, The Fixe thet allows ou fo eut lap Ghali) dovetails ‘sit a rter i ints combsbaped tem Plate tat fis on an alominam base. Tho bave has clamping bars to Fold he woke lees in place whe the router is guided in Envloutof the gers” on the topes £9 GUL evenly space dovetals on a drawers Spon ard sides Although those fixtures cut dovetail auite etiiently, they have (wo major dravhace: D theyre expensive Ga to 0), and 2) they take time to eet up. But tehen you taveatlt of drawers to Bie « Aovetal Hxtave i probably worth the tinncy boonies oft long-ron eavings fn Ail dovetail fxtores work about the samns way but inorder to avoid some co Tusn (a repetition), were ani showing the Senrs 1 motel No. 25210 shart tle (Por anevaluntionofthree ther dove tal stues, see page 10.) {UID SING. The onter (and hence the rater bie guded in and ont of the Singers on the comb with the a of guide DuakingGleoclled template gue) Ths is just a metal “collar” or bushing (with an outer dameter of 7c) that mounts tothe plastic base on the bottom of the router. The Sears guile beshing, for example, screws to the plate Dae with hres 6 ROUTER att, As for they come in two sizes concentrating on 4 dovetails in this art cle because the standari template that comes with dovetail fixtures is made fora 4" dovetall Dit, Sinee you've already spent a lot of money on the fixture, you might ac wall empty your pocket and get a carbide- tipped dovetail bit (they're worth the extra money in this ease). LAYING OUT THE CUTS Once you have the tools, there's only one other thing you need — some word. And this wood (the drawer front and sides in thie cate) should bo ext to final size. Since the finished size of the drawer is dictated by the opening inthe eabinet, you Alonithave much choice here—justeut the pieces 10 ft the opening: Also, since the layout for mackine-cut dovetails is dotormined by the dovetail fixture, ou're basally stuck witha stale pattern of 4" dovetails that repeats every. soe Fig. 1 However, there is one consideration to keep in mind. Beeause the davetal ayont. hhasa set azo, the dimensions ofthe cabinet opening should ke planned ahead oftime to easily seeommodate this layant. Tee nee (but not absolutely nocoseary) if the drawer font is sized fora pattern that pits ahalf-pinon the top and bottom edge Gust like the layout for a hand-cut dovetail THE MATERIAL. As for the weod itself, one sdvantage of machine-eut dovetails is that they can be successively et in elther salid woed or plywood. ‘The thickness of these wieces doesn’t matter too much either. The drawer front ani sides can be different thicknesses, (ve a Wéthiok front with ¥-thick sides), or the same thickness (the front and sides are both %" thie However, if you're making several drawers, it very helpful if all similar pieces are exactly the same thickness ‘Thatis, all drawer frontsexactiy thesame, and all sides exactly the same. ‘Once you know the final dimensions for the drawer fronts and sides, you ean go headland cut them to size, However, allo? the initial work will be done on Scrap pieces, which welll get to later. SETTING UP THE ROUTER Before you can start eutting dovetails, the router has to bosot up. In onderto use the Govetail Mxture, 2 7s" outer-diameter mude bushing has to be mounted to the plastic base of the router. Then, the dove- tall bit ean be mounted and adjusted to the proper depth of cut. ‘The Sears instruction sheet (that comes with the dovetail fixture) says to adjust this depth of cut to "%a", But 1" (exactly YW) scoms to work better for me, so T Usually start at a 1" depth of cul, and fine-iine this setting ater. ALIGNMENT: Once the bit is in place, you ‘may find that i's not aligned with (¢en- ‘tered on) the threat of the guide bushing. (This isa problom with Scars routers be- ‘cause the mounting holes for both the bushing: and the plastic base are slightly langer than thoy need to be, which means they can slide off-center.) ‘9 cheek the alignment, unplug the powor cord, and rotate the dovetail bt by hand to make sure it doesn’ serape against the bushing. As you rotate the bit, also cheek the distanes between the inside of the bushing and the edge of the bit for the entire rotation to make sure the bit is Ifthere are problems, adjustments can hemadeby loosening the mounting screws ‘on the plastic base or on the bushing, and moving one or both to get the bushing centered on the bit. SETTING UP THE FIXTURE ‘The router is ready to go, but now you have to set up the dovetail Sxture, There ‘are 0wo options here, The Sxture ean be set up for 1) routing dovetails for a flush ‘drawer (the sides are flush with the edlgos ‘ofthe drawer front), or2) routing dovetails ‘on a rabbeted drawer front (the sides are WoopsMITH‘The only difference between these oper- ations isthe position of the small guidepins located on the top and the front edgeo the dovetail fixture, seo Fig. 4. These pins position the drawer front and side so they're offset the proper amount for either flush or rabbeted drawer, ADJUSTING THE TEMPLATE. Next, the template “comb” is adjusted to position ‘Thisispartly amattor of measurement and partly a matter of experimentation. What Tdoisadjust the template comb so theseat of cach channel (finger) is" from the front edge of the base, see Fig. 8. (On the Sears fixture this is done by turning an ‘adjusting nut in or cut to reposition the template, see Fig. 6) At this point, it would be niee if the fixture were ready to rot perfect dovetail Joints. Butitsnot, Infact, you have todoa Jot of fdiling around before everything: is aligned properly. ALIGNMENT: TRIAL CUTS Getting the dovetail fixture aligned re- quires making 2 trial cut, making an ad- justment, making another trial eut, male. ing another adjustment, ete, ete. ‘Naturally, all of this Should be done on serap wood. Thelength oftheserap doesn't matter too much as long as it fits in the fixture. However, the width and especially thethieknoss shouldbe exactly the same as the good pieces. T mount the scrap pleces in the fixture with a three-step prosodure (refer to Fig. First, the serap piece for the drawer Sie is temporarily mounted (under the setin3’to allowa lipon the drawer front). | Fj Jnobs to hold iti place, At let, you're ready to cut a trial dovetail, ‘THE TRIAL CUTS Alll you want to do with this trial cut is determine if the router bit and the tem- plate comb are positioned eorrectly. And for now, let's assume you're working with Solid wood, and the drawer front is 4" thidk and the drawer side is 4" thick. Place the router fat on the eomb so the bits near (but not touching the far let ‘corner of the drawer side. ‘Tum on the router and push it gently) into the first finger. Continue to follow the fingers in and cut, moving from left to holding bar on thefronfof the fixture), soit san be used to align the drawer front 1 Usually slide this piece against the left sulde pin for the tral evt Next, mount the serap piece for the érawer front under the hoiding bar on op of the fixture also aligning it against the Jef. guide pin), Now push the drawer front Heh upaganscttesie ete, andelamp * Finally, loosen the front bax (that’s hold- ing the drawer side in plaee), and reposi- tion the site piece so the top edge is level ‘with the top face of the drawer front, see Fig. 4. ‘When both picees are in place, mount the template comb in the fixture, (Note: the # spacer that comes with the Sears fixture should be behind the arm of the comb, see Fig, ©). Hold the comb down (Gat) on the drawer front and tighten the ight. Afler you make the last eut on the right side, follow the path in reverse to Clean off any spots you may have missed with the first pass. Before removing the pieces from the fixture, check them over to make eare you've routed each doyetail evenly. There ‘Should be about a 4" lip of wood around ach of the fingers. The one problom I usually run into here is that 1 didn't yo ‘deep enough into one of the fingers. if there's a problem like this, return the router to the template and rout out any excess. ‘When tho template comb is removed, the routed pieces should look somethi ‘ike what's shown in Figure TEST FOR Fin. Once everything looks olay in the fixture, remove the pieces and tap them together. If you're very lucky, tho pioeas will go together perfoetly, If you're like me, you'll have to do some ad- sting to get a good fit. ‘WoopsmiTH(MAKING ADJUSTMENTS ‘After the tial cut is made, you'l probably. be faced with some bad news and some ‘worsenevs. The bad newsis that the joint won't fit just right. And the worse news is that trying to figure out what's wrong can be very confusing. There can de two basie problems with the fit ofa routed dovetailjoint, 1) Thetsils (the part of the joint on the side piece) Bt ‘oo tight or too loose in the sockets in the raver front; oF 2) the side piece goes into the front piece too far or not far enough. ‘And now for the good news. There are only two hase adjustments to solve these problems. ‘100 LOOSE. If the joint is too loose (the pisces kind of wag around when they're ‘put together), the depth ofeatistoo shallow Inerease the depth of eut about Ys" (0 the depth is "mn, and test again, 100 TIGHT If the trial eut is too tight (Go tight that the joint can't be tapped to- gether), decrease the depth of ent about Yar (Gothedepth is 4), and test the cut again. If you have enough serap wood (and patience), refine the depth of cut until you're making adjustments of Yo". (This ay seem like nit-picking, but a" makes a lot of difference in this ease.) After making these adjustments, you should be able to tap the joint together with very light taps. DEFTH ADJUSTMENT. Once the joint goes together, the “tails” on the side piece may. fit into the sockets on the front piecetoo far ‘ornot far enough, see Fig. 7, The cause of this problem is that the sockets in the drawer front are either too long or 100 short, And to comrect this, the template: “comb” must be moved in or out. On the Sears fixture this is done by turning; the adjusting nut (located behind the arm of the template comb), see Fig. 6. If this nut is turned in (clockwise), the template comb will be moved hack (toward the back of the fixture), which means the sockeis will be longer, which in turnmeans the side piace will go farther into the front ee. Conversely, if this nut is moved out (counter-clockwise), the template will move forward (toward yon), and the side piece will not go in as far ROUTING THE GOOD PIECES Once the joint goes together properly, you're ready to cut dovetails in the good pieces. These pieces should be eat to finish size, Then its heat to mark the mating corners on each piece, Tjust mark an “L? on the inside face of the leftcorner ofboth the drawer front and the drawer side; and an “R” on the right corner, see Fig. 8. Lalso mark an arrow to indicate which edge willbe the bottom (the edge where the groove for the drawer batiom will he ent.) ‘Then these pisces are mounted in the ‘Axtureinside out, Thats, the inside face of bath pieces will be facing out (facing you). ‘Then the pieses for the left comer of the drawer (marked with an“) are mounted fon the left side of the fixture; and the ces for the right comer are mounted on the right side of the fixture. Also, the hottom, edge of each piece should be againstite respective guide pin, sce Fig. 2, Now it’sjusta matter of cuttingas many drawers asyou need — there should be no need for any adjustments because every. thing was set with the tril cute, ‘After the dvetail joints are eu, you can ceut the groove for the bottom, This groove should be centered on the bottom sockotin the drawer front (see Fig. 9), s0 It doesn't show when the joint is assembled. SPECIAL SITUATIONS All of what's been discussed so far is the typical approach to building a drawer. ‘That Is; Solid wood drawers with = ‘Ye-thieke drawer front are Y-thick sides Howover, there are come situations that change the way you go sbout WORKING WITH PLYWOOD, As mentioned catlier in this article, machino-out dove. tails can be successfully cut in plywood. And it's a pretty good joint... if you ‘accopt the fact that the “taile” on the side piece are prone to a lot of splintering and chip-out, But the biggest problem with plywood i cessive splintering of the fice veneer. Since the face veneer isso thin and fragile, ittonds tosplintor and chip right along the shoulder of the side piece, ‘THICKDRAWERSIDES. The same problem ‘ceurs in solid wood when tho drawer sides are thicker than 4". In this ease a portion of the dravier side sticks out be yond the oxds of the template “fingors” ‘and the rotation of the router bit chips off this excess material instead of making a clean cut. ‘THE SOLUTION. The solution in both cases is the same, Before pushing the router into the fingers of the tomplate, first make a light pass straight across on ‘the face of the side piece. cs oaks FouREy y WoopsMITHa Normally, the router is moved from left to right. But in this case its best to make the first pass in the reverse direction — start at the right and move to the left, see Fig. 10. As this cut is being made, the rotation of the bit actually pushes the router away fromthe workpiece, malcing a very shallow eit — exactly what you want, The shape of the router bit forms a small “V" groove Which establishes a elean shoulder line. ‘Sines you ean’ see what's going on (from a standing position), I kneel down to see under the roater’s base. (Always wear oggies, or botter yet, afill-sizo facemask when doing this — the sawdust will be hurling toward your face.) ‘After thie initial light pass, I usually make another pass (again from right to left) to remove most of the waste on the ‘side piece. Then proceed ssbefore, moving the router in and out of the fingers from left to right. ‘SHALLOW DRAWER SIDES One of the options you have with building ddrawors is to trim the sides so they're an inch or so below the level of the drawer font. (This was done on the drawers for the modular storage units shown on page ‘The best approach in this case is to ‘eit: the drawer front and side separataly. Finst, mount one of the drawer sides, ‘and a piece of scrap wood where the rawer front would normally be. (This serap prevents excessive chipping on the “back? side ofthe cui.) Goahead and cut all the side pieces, Note: Be sure to mount all the “loft” pieces ontheleft side ofthe fixture, and all the rghit lees o the Fgh side of he ixture. ‘Then mount the drawer fronts, How- ever, tostop the router from going into the “unused” portion ofthe front, clamp a stop block to the template comb, sce Fig. 11. ‘Then rout the same number of sockets as there are “ils” in the side piece RABBETED DRAWER FRONT ‘The method for cutting dovetails ins lipped (rabbeted) drawer front ean get con- fusing. We have four dovetail fixtures in the shop. And the instructions for each one siveadifferentexplanation of how to make this joint in a tipped drawer: However, they all agree on one thing: you start by cutting a 3"-wide rabbet on ‘the four edges of the drawer front, The problem with this method is that the rab- bt ereates a gap right behind the dravter side, see Fig. 12 ‘Once the roater bit “breaks throngh’ the side piece, there's a strong likelihood of ig on the “back” face of the the drawor side is mounted "ins really she face that will show on the outside of the drawer.) ANOTHER sIETHOD. To prevent this splintering, we goaboui this wholeprocess backwards’ Briefly... the dovetails are cut first, then the rabbets are cut. Since the drawer front is not ratbeted with this method, itservesas ahacking piece for the drawer side, and this solves a lot of the splintering problems, pl ‘The first stop isto cut the drawer front tosize. Measure the operingin the cabinet to doth dimensions. (This and aad ¥ allows for a ¥ Up on all four edges of the drawor front.) Then subtract ie to allow. for clearance. little larger than necessary. For the initial size, mea ‘sure the height of the cabinet opening, add ‘about 1, and cut the drawer sides to this ‘width, This extra width will be on the top edge of the drawer side, and can be trim- ‘med off later. Using the Sears fixture again, mount the drawer front and side the same way deseribed previously (fora flush drawer), except the guidepin on top ofthe fixture moved to the “B” hole, see Fig. 13, (The arm of the template comb should be in front of the %! spacer.) Now make the first cuts exacily the sameway as onaflush drawer. After these first euts are mado, the side piece ean be removed (it's finished), but do not move the front piece. ‘The sockets on the drawer front need to bbe eut 74" longer (allow for the rabbet). ‘Loosen the Imobs holding the arms of the template comb in placo, and move the" spacersin front of the comb arms, see Pig. 14, Whatall ofthis does, in effect, is move the comb hack 54" so the sockets in the Grawer front can be routed an extra 34" longer, Fig. 15. Ato the drawer front is complete, tap the two pieces together (Pig. 15), and mark lings for the rabbet cuts on the drawer front. Go ahead and ext the abbels, and then trim the top edge of the Arawer sides to fit fush with the shoulders. of the rabbets. You should wind up with a lipped drawer that looks something ike the one shown in Fig. 17. Pomme Ts ise) eMovE oeawes Soe pO Fete Seon eit WoonsmitH,Tools of the Trade DOVETAIL FIXTURES: THE CHOICES, AND OUR OPINIONS ‘When we decided to do the article on cut fatatine (ae, thonght onl be a good opportityte get eoveral stares inthe shop to test them out ‘The four dovetail fictares we bought are ‘ery similar, Bach one cits fp dovetail With a router, and exeh ean be used vith ny bran of router (provid thas 27 uve bushing), Butalter we hada ctance ose each of them fora while, we began to develop | some likes and dislikes, We. quickly Tearned that thee tng became the d Ging factors fer our opinions TEMPLATE aDIUSTMENT, First, we oad atthe method of aljusting the ten plate fr the length? of cut. This ast Then ismadei the dre sido faint the Graver ‘rot 0 far or ot far enous. Both the Searsand Rose itunes have 4 Similac approach: There's en edjisting ful enthe igtures base that canbe ted inor cut to ater the position othe tem Plate and thus how fr the ext goes into Thecrawer tren) Thisnat sess) cogetto ti adjustments can be male quickly, We fave both fixtures a "good rating ‘The Porter Cable stare ral “t ‘on the back of the template comb, This approach is somewhat awkward, and re- ‘quires more fiddling around. ‘The Scars &” model haa no provision for ‘this adjustment; thus a “poor” rating, SWITCHING THE TEMPLATE. The second feature we looked at is the method of SPARS 12", No. 25710 bass different system that uses asetserew | PORTER CABLE , No. 5008 itching the template to out either a lush ting lap dovetails with a router and dove- | or rabbeted drawer front ‘The standard template on three of the fixtures (tho Sears 12", the Soars 8", and Porter Cable) can be easily switched from one funetion to the other. However, all three go about it in different ways. ‘The Sears 12" model uses a 4 spacer to reposition the template for Nush or rab- beted drawor fronts. On the Porter Cable ‘model, the template is mounted toashding arm that moves in and out by loosening holding eerews on the back of the arm ‘There is little difference in ease of ad- Justment between these two systems, so wwe judged thom equally “good. ‘The Sears 8° model uses a metal filler strip on the template to stop the router for a flush drawer. Thie works fair, and was rated As for the Boshe model, the standard templato will only cut 2 fush drawor front. You have to buy a separate template to cul ‘ rabbeted drawer front. KNoRS, After using cach while, we found that an insignificant thing like the knobs made a big difference on the wea and tear on your fingers as you change workpieces The Porter Cable and Sears 8° models, tase wing mute that aro just barely ade- quate purpose; hence the “poor” rating. The Sears 12° model has small plas- tie knobs with deceptively sharp (painful) corners, also a “poor” rating. ‘The Boshe mode! has large *three-wing” plastic knobe which we found very easy to SEARS 8 No. 25760, worl with (and easy on the fingers); a ‘good reting. CHART OF COMPARISON. The chart below compares the enst of each fixtare, and gives our ratings of the features. The last olumn represents our opinion of the i structions that come with the fxtura CONCLUSIONS. Of the dovetail fixtures ‘we vested, our first choice would probably be the Sears 12" model. IfSears would just change those pain-producing knobs, it would be a very good fixture in all ts. ‘The Beshe fixture is also quite good — except it's expensive to begin with, and then you have to buy two different tem- plates for flush and rabbeted drawers ‘The Porter Cable fixture rated in that siddle ground. It works, but the Sears and Boshe have better features. Asfor the Sears & model, t's the cheap- ‘est of the bunch, and may be useful if you plan to use it only occasionally. DRILL FIATURE. One cther fixture we looked at rom the Princeton Tool eataloz) is designed for use with an electric d ‘There are two major drawbacks wi this fixtures 1) its difficult to duplicate eut ‘on several pieces because the set-up depends on pencil lines; and 2) you're sup- ‘posed to use.a 34" drill rated at 3000 RPM (e heavy-duty commercial drill). We tried using a Makita drill (1800 RPM), and have to admit the fixture worked... very slowly, But the dri ‘lone costs $60. All things considered, 1 ‘would go with one of the router fixtures. BOSHE (STANLEY), No. 82913. ‘CHART OF COMPARISON FOR DOVETAIL FIXTURES , ‘Template Switch Frem Bron cou Adjotiment Fluthte tipped —Keob Instr. soon? 31825710 $59.99 12" gced oor for Foster Coble 5008 seras geod peor goed othe gaa $2302" 0 good peer Seon’ 720.5760 $7999 8 ‘oir peer ‘oir Princtton 2564 sess fir fei NA ‘cir PRINCETON No. 2554 10 WoopsMITHShop Notes. SOME TIPS FROM OUR SHO! ‘We decided to uso plywood for both the ‘major projects in this issue. And as it ‘turned out, the decision to use plywood ‘was a mixed blessing, Although there area lotofadvantages to usingplywWoed — no gluing of randomsized pieces of lumber, no planing is required, and the amount of time required for a projects usually reduced — there are also several disadvantages. Plywood has a nasty habit of splintering, iteomesin very. awkward sized sheets, and the exposed edges always present a problem. While we were building the cabine/ hnuteh and the modular storage system for this issue, we came up with few “nicks” to help solve some of these problems, PANEL CUTTING JIG In Woodsmith No. 18, we showed the anel eatting jig we use when we need to eut large workpieces on cur table caw. ‘What prompted us to change its design Was a ragging problem that kept popring ‘up —the runner kopt binding in the miter ‘gauge groove. This caused the jig to ‘jit- ter” as the cut was made, causing a burned” el ‘We changed the design on a new panel cutting jig by adding a second runner that rides along the outside edge of the table saws wing. Thissecond rumerhelps keep the jig lined up with the blade and it also Keeps the first ranner from binding in the miter gauge groove On some table saw models, there are bolts on the ouside edge ofthe wings. To keep the headsof these boits from eatshinge the new runner, we bolted a piece of wood to the outlde edge ofthe wing, counter- bboring to recess the heads of the bol THE MASKING TAPE SOLUTION One of the most annoying problems with plywood is that it splinters along the edge as i's being eut, The most common reae- tion to this problem i to blame the saw blade. Unfortunately, when an open ‘grained wood [lke oa) is used for the face ‘Yeneer of plywood, itwillsplinter @osome extent) no matter what saw blade is used. "The trice we use to eliminate this prob- Jem is simple: we apply masking tape over the layout lines on the plywood. This gives the faco veneer enough support to keep it from being torn out hy the saw blade. ‘Then We eut the plywood in the normal manner ard remove the tape slowly, pull- ing it toward the edge. This method ekimi- nates splintering every time. ROSAN INSERTS. A rosan insert (also ealled a threaded in- sort)isahandy little piece of hardware, ‘and a pain in the neck, These litle gizmos ‘are designed with threads on both the in- side and outeido — so you can uso the ‘outside threads to serew it into hole, and the inside threads to mount a bolt: ‘Tho problom isin trying to ecrew them into the hole, They have serewrriver slots on the “shank” bat because the rosan in- sert is hollow these slots are only on the very outside edges. This means there's an extremely small area of contact between the screwdriver and the slots, ‘Then to add to the problem, resan sorts are made out of brass, which is rel- atively soft, This all adds up to a real cchanee of stripping out the slots before the inserts are completely seated. ‘The procedure I use to mount rosan insortsis two-fold. First Lost the threads with bee's wax (or soap) to reduce the {ricton between the threads and the wood. ‘Theninstead of using the slot inthebody of the insert, I screw a machine bolt all the ‘May into the insert, and use it to screw the insert into the wood. IRON-ON VENEER TAPE Another major problem with using plywood is trying to hide the exposed edges. One of the easiest ways is with iron-on veneor tape. (This was used onthe ‘modular storage system, page 12). Tron-on veneer tapes justa thin piece of veneer about ®%e" wide and has heat activated adhesive on one side. Although there are several different types of iron-on tape available, Edgemate Real Wood edging cold by The Woodwork | e7#” Store) adheres bettor, anc use, than aay other brand we" . APPLICATION. When applying veneer tape, the first step is toeutastrip about 1" longer than is needed. (1 use a pal of old seissors I keep around the shop, and they seem to work just fine.) ‘Toapply the yeneer tape, heat upaniron to the “cotton” setting. Lay the veneer tape on the plywood with one edge of the tape fush with one face of the plywood. ‘Then slowly move theiron down the length of the vencer tapo to “molt” the adhesive. Immediately after passing the iron over the tape, I press it in place with a small pine biosk: This block also absorbs heat to set" the adhesive, MISTAKES. One ofthe nicest things about iron-on yencor tape is that it’s eary to fix tnistakes, All youhave to do is to go over It ‘again with the iron. This softens the athe- sive so that the veneer ean be lied and ‘eposiifoned correctly, “TRIMMING. After the adhesive has cooled (about a minute or 20), the veneer over- hanging one edge of the plywood ean be trimmed flush with a sharp chisel, Hold the chisel co the flat sido isagainst thofce cof the plywood and slowly push it into the is easior to ‘Yeneer tape (cutting with the grain). As Jong as the chisel is held flush against the plywood, it will trim the edge without ‘gouging the plywood or the vereer tape. SQUAREENDS. Thereare times when the ‘veneer tape needs to be cut square on one end to butt against another piece. To do this, use alittle trick that requires noth- ing more than 2 1” chisel ‘Stand the chisel on the veneer tape s0 You can look straight into the flat side of the chisel. You should see 4 reflection of the two outside edges of the veneer tape. ‘The trick is to twist the chisel until the ‘edgos of the tape in the reflection are in a straight line with the edges of the veneer infront ofthe chisel. When both edgeslook like one continuous straight line, the c is positioned to cut a square end, WoonsmiTH uModular Storage System MIX AND MATCH A MILLION WAYS Versatile is the best word to describe this ‘modular storage gystem. Not only ean the. individual units be arranged in any order, Dat the components (the doors, drawers, and shelves) are eompletoly interehange- able between units. Besides just being versatile, the design allows eaeh unit to be made out of a single sheet of 94" plywood, a 4'xd' sheet of 4" plywood, and Some specialty hardware. ‘On page 15 welve shown three cutting: diagrams utilizing the same Basie box, bat With different combinations of the inter uangeable components—drawers, doors, and shelves. Although these three eutting diagrams are yory efficient, they definitely do not represent the only combinations. If more than one unit is being made, the cutting. diagrams ean be adapted to fit the com- ination you wan ‘There's one otherthing [should mention at the start, To eliminate the nagging problem of plywood splintering, we used the router table (shown in Woodemrihi No. 20) to cut the “joints” for these units. So, you might consider building the router {able to help with this project ‘THE BASIC BOX ‘The basic box consists of six pieees: the the top and bottom (B), and the (C). These six pieces are cut imately 23's of a 4x8 sheet of 230" plywood. So, the frst step is to eat the plywood into three pieces: 2544 long, 85” long, and 4534 long #8 shown in the Cutting Dia- grams, These measurements are rough dimensions, providing about "leeway on ‘each piece. ‘After the three pieces are cut, set aside ‘he 354 pec fr the components) ul the basie hox is built. The remaining two pieces are rough cut into six pancls {f-wide, Then two ofthese panels (one that's 25/4" long for the center divider, and one that's 35" long for the shelves) are {rimmed to inal with, 15/0 wie, "The other four panels are trimmed to 15i2'wide for the aides (A) and the tepand bottom (B). To keep things stralght, follow the eutting diagram and label all of the pieces right after they're at ‘Now all Sx pieces are cut to their {she lengths using a panel ig on the table save (gee Shop Notes, pag 11). Cut the top and bottom sections 3416" long, amd the ‘enter divider andl both sides 2476 long. CENTERDIVIDER. Since the interchange ality ofthe drawers and doors relies on the inside measurements ofeach sdeoi the hos being exactly the same, the contor civider must be perfectly centered on the top znd bottom pieces. ‘The way [made sure that the dato for the center divider was exactly centered ‘was tocnt it with a router and asimplejig, | see Fig, 2. This fence is just a pioco of plywood cat to length soit guides the base ‘of the reuter down the center of the work- piece, It works great... if its exsetly ‘entered on the workpiece. To make sure it is centered, 1 clamped the fence on one end of the workpiece and made a cut that just barely entered the back edge of the plywood, ‘Then I moved the fence to the opposite end of the work plece and checked to see ifthe location of the bit was exactly on the first eut. The fence may have to be adjusted until the dado is dead center on the workpiece, ‘THE CORNER JOINT. The joint used to connect the sides with the top and hottom ik a rabbeted tongueldado, see Detail Ain Fig. 1 To make this joint, rout the dado on tho top and bottom pieces first. Usinga "bit, I set the fence on the router table 4" fom the elossst edge of the bit and the depth of the eat at %", (This 4" measurement allows for 2 %' over-hang on the ends of tho top and bottom pieces.) | After the router table is set up, cut th dado on both ends of the top and bottom pieces. Note: This eut should be on the Same side as the dado for the center divider. ‘TIP TONGUES, To cut the tongue on the side pleces, set the fence %° from the ‘farthest edge othe bit. This set-up willeut ‘arabbet, whieh in tum leaves the tongue you want. I had to make several trial euis (using serap) until the tongue fit properly inthe dado, ‘When the router table Is adjusted, ext | tongues onboth ends of each side piece (A), (Note: the rabbot is eut on the “outside” of the side piece. , to cut the tongue on the center adjust the depth of eut ‘of the bit (but don't move the ferce). This ‘tongue is formed by eutting a double rab- ‘bet 60 the tongue is eentored on tho thick ness ofthe plywood, see Detail Bin Fig. 1, (Yeu shouldn't move the fence for this cut because the shoulders of the rabbets onthe center divider must line up with the shoul- ders on the side pieces.) RABBETS FOR BACK. At this point, the only thing left to do is eut the rabbets for the 4" plywood back. Once again I used a 'Y? straight bit on the router table. ‘Figure 8 shows how the rabbet for the plywood back is stopped at the dadoes at ‘both ends of the top and battom piocos. 2 WoopsMITH ee | eh se| This double stopped rabhet is really fairly | [Weune t= poepesmioN DAROTO | casy t eut on the router table by marking Buon i owtmnane MY sian and “stop” lines on the fence ‘To make these cuts, sida the workpiece oN | sideways into the bit, using the ‘start line 6 i: asa referonce pont fostartthecat. Then |] ],,2P ent the rabbet down the length thework- 1 pices, moving from right to left. As you approach the stop” mark, feed the work: piece very slowly. As tho bit begins to Ireakcinto the dado, iL have atendency to | Jump forwara and cut tof. A These double-stoppedl rabbets are only cutenthe back edges of he tap and bottom = Ly pieces (B). The rabbets on the sides (A) | | royete éeurgeo Ju] 38 don't have to be stopped, see Fig. 3 enon sock ASSENDLY. Now the six pieces of the ‘abinetean be dry-elamped to check for Mt, Sate renee % scrap plywood exactly to the inside "a theunit. Asyou glue the anit together, use the plywood insert to keep the cabinet | [ROuRED TIARAS] | [roves square as the clamps are tightened. DRILLING TEMPLATE. After the cabinet is assembled, the next step is to make a drilling tempiate to drill the holes for the shelf supports and the drawer runners. er vou ono rane ah Manton eooe "To male ths template, usd the pes ccplrweo thats the cabin tae E was camped together. First, T lad ott +4 : the position ofthe Holes onthe template, ‘i and marked the top and front edges on PN | both sos, seo Fig. 4. Then T used 2 Port- align attachment on a hand drill to dil the 4 holes. ‘When the template is complete, clamp i, tooneofthe inside faces ofthe cabinet, and use a Portalign to drill the 4"deep holes. ‘Then move the template tothe otherinside face, and eventually to both faces of the center divider. As the template is re- located, always Keep the top of the tem- plate at the top ofthe cabinet, and the front ofthe template lined up with the front edge of the esbinet. THE BASE, Now it's time to retaiove the 8596" plece of plywood that was set aside, Rip two 2/-wide pieces for the base, and cut them to length, see Fig. After the pleces are eit to size, the wae — comers are joned with arabbeted tongue! | | omator ck conan S dado joint. Then the bases assembled and : set aside until after the shelves, draw and doors are eut, which should produce ‘some serap for the comer blocks. VENEER TAPE, Thereare only two things left to do to the basic box and the hase First, apply veneer tape toall the exposed exiges on the front and sides of the box, and. the front edges of the base, (For more information on applying veneer tape, see ‘Shop Notes on page 11.) Wie ‘eehew Yo noTIOM OF CABINET AUG WITH BACK EOGE OF CABINET My | The last step is to cut 2 piece of ve ; plywood for the back, and tack it into place. (The back is cut from a 4x4 sheet of Ca 7 Ye niywoal The et-orerserepiausel or | | Sa oe Narre sl oe WoopsMiTH 1B“rorreo encore ron orawen our | ewe se ober oFcaanet DRAWERS ARE ficesseD ‘THE OPTIONS ‘Now it’s decision time, The units are de- signed so that either the drawers, doors, ‘or shelves will workcin any position, and in any combination. The Cutting Diagrams sshow three possible combinations that can be eut from the plywood that remainsafter ‘building the basic box. ‘THE SHELYES. The shelves (D) are the ‘easiest of tho three components to make, Tn fact, other than cutting them to size 10 {it the eabinet, all that needs to be done is to apply veneer tape to the ront edge of each shelf, Then the shelves are mounted im the cabinet with small “paddle” shaped supports that ft in the 7" holes RECESSED DOORS. The rezessed doors ‘are about us simple to make as the shelves thanks to a nifty little hinge called a pivot hinge. What really makes this hinge so special is that it only requires a %ie" hole drilled in the cabinet (which translates into ‘no mortises). A plastic socket (that comes with the hinge) fits intothis Sie" hole. Normally, the shoulder on this socket provides a ¥" clearance s0 the door doesnt rub on the ‘eabinet. But in the event that the unit is reutranged so a door is replaced with ‘drawers, I had to make a small change in the way this hinge is mounted, ‘Togettheplastic socket out ofthe way, I hnad to recess it na counterbore and add a small washer, see Fig. 7 ‘Now, the doors (E) can be cut to size, allowing for twice the total thickness ofthe ‘washer, the pivot halfofthe hinge, andthe ‘veneer tape. ‘After the doors have been cut, apply ‘yorear tape to all four edges. Then screw the stationary half of the hinge to the back ‘ofthe door (see Fig. 7), and push the pivot- inghalfof the hinge into the plastic socket. ‘THE DRAWERS ‘We laid out tho euts forthe drawer fonts 0 there would be a continuous grain pat tera from one to the next, see Cutting Disgram. Then, sinso we were making several drawers, we decided t use a rou ter fixture to cut lap dovetails to join the rawr fronts to the sides However, there is oe precaution when raking these euts, The drawer sides are about %" less in width than the drawer fronts. So, when cutting the lap dovetals (Gee page 6), be sure to use a stop on the dovetail fctine se only 8 sockets are ext on the cramer front (F) tomatch the 6pinsin ‘the drawer sides (G), see Fig. 6. DRAWER BOTTOM AND BACK. After the lap dovetails are cut, go ahead and cut the groove for the drawer bottom so it's cen- {ered on the hottom socket of the drewer front, see Fig. 6. Then cut the drawer back (H) to size (see Fig. 8) and join it to the ‘sides with a rabbeted tonguo/dado joint. WoopsmiTH‘THE GROOVES. Finally, a groove must be cut in the draver sides to accept. the ‘drawer guides. This groove is 34" wide, 96" tioned on the drawer sides 's contored 2” from the bottom we Pig. & The easiest way to cut this groove is on the router table, using a stop block to stop the groove just short of the dovetail ping, see Fig. 8. After cutting a 4° plywood bottom (1), the drawers ean be glued up. Then th step 5S to apply veneer tape to the top edges of the drawer's front and sides, ‘THE DRAWER GUIDE SYSTEM 'vementioned how all the components are interchangeable, but the flexibility of the drawer guides is really the sliekest part. ‘The drawer guides are held in piace with 1 small bolt that serews into « threaded (rosan) insert, If you want to change the position ofthe drawer, all you have todos ‘unserew the bolt and move therasan insert to the new position CUTTING THE GUIDES, To make the muides 0), start by rounding over the ond fa piece of hardwood that's about 15° long and 5° wide. (used the router table and a rounding over bit to do this.) The individual guides are then sliced off so ‘they're about %" thicker than the depth ofthe groove in the drawer-sides, and then they've trimmed te fit the width of the groove. ‘To determine the length of the guide, javt it in the groove in the drawor sie and mark where the guide meets the back eXgeo!thedrawer sides. Then cut it tothis Tongth, the drawer guides, eoanterhore a shallow hole forawasher, and thon drilla "pilot hole for the #832 bolt that serews Into the rosan insert, see Fig. 10 MATERIALS LIST ‘verall Dimensions 2m 345W x 151 1A Box Sides (2) x 1s 2074" 3 Box ToplBatiom (2) 34’ x 15157-9414" © Carter Divider (1) 4 x 1814" 2474 D Shelves éx13%4°= 1974" E Doors Me x 15-2374" F Drawer Front 1876-8 © Drawer Sides Drawer Beck 1 rower Bottom We nas? 14 1 Drawer Guide cur Tor K Base FeniBack (2) %4' x 3914"= 216" Baws Sides (2) aera IM. Box Back (1) 394" = 2074" ‘This He’ hole inthe drawer guide is large enough 20 there's some “play” around the +#8-82 bolt. When the guides are atiached tothe eabinet, they can be adjusted up or down eo the drawers are evenly epaced, see Fig, 9 FINISHING. We finished these units with Watso Danish Oil beeause it produces a nice natural finish and doesn’: clog the holes in the cabinet. ‘THE HARDWARE | Allof the hardware for the units eame from two sources: The Woodworkers! Store, 801 Industrial Blvd. Rogers, MN and Woodcraft Supply Corp., 313 Woburn, MA, 01888, From The Woottworkers Store: Foreach drawer and each door: (1) Qak Wire Sty Pull, Stock # D5620, door: (1) pr. Pivot Hinge for ‘Woodlen Doors, Stack # D5600, $1.95 pr. (1) Roller Catch, Stock # D4800, §.60@ For each self (4) Shelf Supports, ¥# pins, Stock # D9154, $.12@ Poreach unit: (6) rolls Edgemate Wood Edging, $2.60 per 8" roll From Woodemt Supply: For each drawer: (4) %" Outside Diameter Threaded Inserts, Stock #I2KAL-FT, $4. Toppa 25 inserts .05@ ‘NOTE FACH UNIT REQUIRES ONE SHFET "OAK PWOOD CUTTING DIAGRAM 4+ onawers 6 shuves 1000R, 2 DRAWERS, 9 sHtvES 200088 4 sHeves tv wD 1 ror cc | = 5 = © | ~ ®. ® © Jololo) 2. i oes | fe || 2 [58 | £_\e\elelelala © a | ae | 5 palais |. | i a Res BS ome || BR laa S| eS | | , oF | | 6 ® ® = @ | « || Soe eon = _ ee oct | i ate a a | | | WoopsmiTH 15Router Table NOW IT CAN STAND ALONE ‘When wwe built the bench-top router table (hovn in Woodsmith No. 20), I thoughtit Would be a helpful little addition to the shop. I was wrong. This router table has. become almost indispensible. In fact, we've used it on almost every project wwolve built for the last three issues. Okay, I'l stop the sales pitch. But T ‘wanted to mention all of this for a reason, Oneetherauter table wasin operstion fora while, we found that we were usingit more (and for longer periods) than a router by itself, “This could present a problem. Most of the small (jow-horsepower/iow amperage) routers on the market today won't hold up, to this kind of constant (prolonged) use. ‘With that in mind, we've been testing. cout several routers to see how they per form. The three we lke the most are: Sear Craftsman 1 Hp. No. 31 ‘the Rock- well7.5 Amp, No. 6751, and the Makita& Amp, No, 360LB. ‘Mest ofthe time we use the Sears router especially if we're working on some- thing that requires frequent changing of bits, This particular Sears router is rela~ tively new, and it has one very good fea- tare, There's a lock/unlock switch that holds the collet in piace when you want to change bits, This means you only need one ‘wrench (and one hand) to tighten the collet nut, That's a great help, espevially when. the router is mounted under the table where it’s a little awkward to get to. ‘This Sears router works fine most of the time, but when we know wo're going to be giving the router table « good work-out, ‘eusually switch tothe Rockwell (whichis, now called Porter Cable) or the Makita Both of these are commercial-duty ma- chines, built to hold up during prolonged THE BOTIOM LINE. All of that counde great, Don, But what ifT can’: afford the | Inxury of having three ar four routers in my chop? T suppose it gets down to how much you plan to use the router (and the router table), 1 personally would buy the Soars router (when it’s on sale), Although it’s ‘made with 2 lot of plastic, it’s a good deal for the money, and it docs what it's sup ing, Lyvould seriously considerinvecting in either the Rockwell or the Makita router, As you mightexpect, both of these routers area tad on the oxpencivo sido, but they're worth it in the long run, PROBLEMS, Enough talk about rowters. Now, back to the router table. After wo eatured the plans for tive bencl-top router clarification on how the fence is mounted in tho guide slots, Figure 1, below, should give a better pigtare of how the fence is mounted. The ‘original design calls for cutting the table top 21" deep (from front to back), while the support arms are only 19" long, Since the aupport srms are mounted flush to tho ‘back edge of the table, this leaves a2" gap onthe frontedge. The reason forthis gaps toallow enough room for the earriage bolt and the plywood washer that hold the fence in rlice. ‘The fence is mounted to the table with 2-long carriage bolts, wing nuts, and “shop-made” %" plywood washers, These plywood washers are eat to size tofit inthe [groove in the support arms. Then they're Dressed over the square shoulders on the head of the carriage bolt: Since there's no way to get a wrench Inside the grooves (to hold the bolt when its tightened), the plywood washer serves this purpose. The washer binds (twists against the sides of the groove) to stop the bolt from twisting as the wing mut is tightened, DIRECTION OF FEED Once you start using the router table, there's one thing that seems to ease some ‘confusion (especially far mo): the diroc- tion of feed. There are three general rules, that help me keep things straight (refer to Fig. 2) 1) Ifthe cut is being made on the neor side of the bit (the side ofthe bit elosest to yout), feed the workpiece from right to loft, fas shown in 2a and 2d. 2) Ifthe cutis being made in the middle ‘ofa workspioce, the direction of food is also from right to left, as shown in 2b. table, we received same letters asking for 8) However, ifthe eut is being made on GUE ‘must ‘iREcTON <=> sUane shower oF sour HL7™" pewoo? SLi wear woroect fp canine noir - | wh ot mL > HOLE IN CENTER J 16 WoonsMiTHthe jar side ofthe bit (so thebit is between {You and the eut), the direction of feed is irom left to right, as shown in 20. LEGS AND storacE Alter building the bench-top version, wo quickly discovered that we wanted to make this router table a permanent mem= ber ofthe shop. So we added seme logs and storage cabinet for bitsand attachments. THE LeGS. The les units consist of three pieces: two uprights and a pedestal, Theso three pieces ean be cut from one 2x4, 8° long (So you need two 2x4s, one for each side. {started by cutting the legs to a length £36". However, the length of the legs ean (enh be shee 20 pou rovtae Be fits yow. One way to judge the right height ist Sanat beth has oat as ‘were pushing a board slong the top of the fable, Hold that psition, and with your third hand measure the distance to the floor. This shouldbe the height thas right for you. Once you've determined the table height, sibtract 1" for the thicknose of the top), and cut the legs to this length. Then eat halé-lap joints at the top and bottom of ‘each lez, see Fig. 4 Note: The original design of the bencl- toprotiter table has a cross brace underthe tabletop which will hein the way when you. fry to mount the legs, ‘Trim about 1° off ‘each end of this braee so there's enoagh room to get the legs fastened to the sup- ort arms. ‘THE PEDESTALS. After cutting the legs, Uusethestock that remains to mak tho two, pedostale, First, eut notches in these ped- estals tomate withthehalt-laps inthe legs, ‘Then se x 14" lag sorews to fasten the Jogsto the pedestals and the suppor: arms, (Gf your shop floor is uneven, it helps to tack small "plywood pads at both onds of tho pedestals.) ‘STORAGE CABINET. ‘To store ronter bits and attachments, I built a simple plywood box tofit between the legs. Note: this box also helps stabilize the legs. If you dont Want to build the storage box, vou should Add eroee braces to tie the legs together to prevent “racking. The pieces for this box are eut from 2 x 4! chect of 34" plywood, see Pig, 8, The Jengeh of the top and bottom pieces will probably have to be altered (irom the di ‘mensions showa) to fit your router table, ‘Measure the distance between the legs (at the top), and eut the top and bottom pieces for the box to that measurement, Next, cutthesides to size, andjoin them tothe top and bottom with a simple abet Joint, see detail in Fig. 3, ‘The last step is to cut two doors and PBount them with butt hinges. ‘Then, the ox is holted to the legs with carriage bolts, (FOURS nase On “Tor AND BoTTCH: ‘curs oiacean Ut bawepbe {Lae eos (our mtcis) av cnanren PEDESTAL (2 PIECES) pa ‘ano waster BUTT NCES LUSELAG scntws To FASTEN Leos To surromT Rs ao sexe ‘AND WASHER LUNoex reDesrats Woopsmirit 7European Cabinet & Hutch _ A CONTEMPORARY VERSION OF A CLASSIC CABINET 1 feel right at home with this cabinet, [guess it's beeause the ‘designeombines all the things T like best. In fact, “combina ton" is sort ofthe ey word for this project because it in- corporates several different (yet compatible) design fea- tures un a full range of wood ‘working techniques. For example, there are glass doors on the huteh, while the base cabinet has paneled doors using woven eane, The shelves In the huteh are stationary | (they're set into dadoes), while the chelf in the baso cabinet is moveable. And this whole pra} ect is built with a combina- tion ofoake-vencor plywood and solid oak, Yet all of these design fea- tures seom comfortable with one another. And granted, there’s a lot of work involved, but, building this cabinet really the best combination of all: it’s both fun and challenging. ‘THE BASE CABINET 1 started construction on the base cabinet by cutting the sides (A) and the bottom (C) out of a sheet of % oak plywood, see Cutting Diagram. ‘THE DADOES. Onee the sidos (A) are cut, the next step is to ceut three daddoes (see Fig. 1)to Join the two web frames and the plywood bottom. Since these sides are plywood, youl get the cleanest ait with a router. (I used the router table to eut these da- does. But you ean achieve the same thing by clamping a temporary fence to.each piece to guide a hand-held router.) ‘The top dadois 1’ wide, 14" deop, and is centered %' down from the top elge, see Fig. 3, The next dado is cut soit’ centered {69 below the top one. (This 6%" measure tment is the distance between the center of the top dado and the center of the second dado. Taus, there should be 6” between jv0 dadoes.) Finally, there's a Ys" x 4 dado on the bottom, centered 24" from the bottom edge. After this bottom dado is cut, two grooves are cut to intersect with it. These ‘grooves are for the base boards, end are centered 4° from the front and back edges, see Figs. 1 and 5, ‘The last step ie to drill a series of Ws" holes in each side (A) for the adjustable shelf brackets, see Fig. 1. I drilled these holes %" deep, using a Portalign attach- ment on a dni (being very careful not 10 rill all the way through the side piece). ‘THE WEB FRAMES Next the two web frames at the top of the cabinetare built, Normally web framesaro constructed of solid wood using mortise ‘and tenon joints, But I had Some" plywood left over, sol ‘used it instead of solid wood, ‘Then to make the joinery a little easier (and much faster), Tused a modified version of a mortise and tenon, Istarted by cutting a total of four rails (F) 2 wide and 31” Tong from some of the plywood Scrap, see Fig,2. Then Teutthe four end stiles (P) 2" wide and 11%" long, and two middie stiles (G) 4° wide and 11% Tong. Alll that’s required to join these pieces is a groove in the (long pieces) and a “stub” tenon (which is just a simple tongue) ontheends ofthestiles (hort pieces). (Note: the mensions given for the stiles fnelude the amount nevessary for the stub tenons.) Allten of these pieces havea Ye x Ye groove ent down the ‘center of the inside edge. This ‘groove serves two purposes. Gn the top web frame, the _groove is sort of a replacement for mortises. The same is true (on the second web frame, ex tpt the grcove also serves to Inold the plywood dust panclsin the frame. ‘After these grooves are cut, the rails are complete. Next ‘you have to cut stub tenons on the ends of the stiles. STUB TENONS. All six stiles have a 4" long stub tenon eat at both ends to fit in the ‘grooves. Cutting these tenons is simply a matter of eatting two rabbets (one on the top face and one on the bottom face) at both ends of the stiles. What's loft is a stub tenon (or a tongue) that fits in the grooves. Before assembling the two web frames, ‘eat a notch exactly in the center of each of the rails (B), see Fig. 4. (Phis notch is Hsien the vere esi tet lator. THE PANELS. Dry-assemble both web frames at this point, and get the measure ments for the 4" plywoed dust. panels for the second frame (the one below the ravers). Onee these dust panels are cat, cry-assemble this frame once again to test the ft. 1s WoopsMITHeee ASSEMBLY. Now go ahead and glue-up the two frames, After he glue is dry, both, frames should be exaetly the same size. If | reyre net ten the large ore down to the sane size as the smaller one. ‘Then ent the "plywood bottom (C) to match the dimensions of the two web frames, (Also cut notch centerel on the front and back edges of the plywood bot- tom to mateh the notches im the frames.) ‘THEETONGUES. Now the two Web frames and the plywood bottom need tongues on the ends to mate with tho dadocs in tho cabinet sides, Once again, cut two rabbets (one on each face) at both ends of these three piceos, This should leave a tongue that fits in dhe dadoes in the side pieces T used the router table to et these tongues. Butne matter what too you Use, Jus best to make all the eats at the same time. Since the two web frames and plywood bottom are trimmed te the same sze to begin wich, Ifthe rabbets (ongues) are all cut the same, you'l be stire the measurement from tho shoulder of ono rabbet to the shoulder of the other rabbet fs the same on all three pieces, ‘THE DIVIDER STILES. The last step i to cut two solié wood divider stiles () forthe front and back ofthe cabinet. Helf-laps are cat in those stiles to mate with the notches that were eat In the web frames and the vlywood bottom. However. the halflap @ | thoulato cut so the face ofthe eile seks ‘ut about Ya" to allow for te thickness of the veneer tape that will headed to the front edge ofthe rails seo Fig. 4. Tu base BOARDS, The as step isto cut tywo base boards. As shown in Figure 5, theco boards are trimmed 20 they're 141 short of te bottomdado (to leave oom for the plywood baton) Now yaulre reedy tole up the cabinet Thi requires a lok of camps (used eight pipe clamps in all.) The Aividor stiles should be putin place to hold the frames sieady while tightening the amps, but I didi actually glue them in Until lato Now the base cabinet is complete, except for the plywood top. Bt before ‘adding the top, I went to work on the OTe: Als an sues ARE CUT ROM PWOCD WoopsmirH, 19THE HUTCH ‘As with the base eabinet, the sides of the hutch are cut to size rst. Then dadoes are ctit for the huteh’s top and bottom (J) and the two shelves (K), see Fig. 6. (Once ‘again, all the measurements shown aro to the center of the dadoes.) CUTTING THE DADOES. ‘The daloes atthe topand bottom edge ofthe sides (I) are eut all the way through (from front to back), ‘whichis relatively easy todo on the router table, or with a router equipped with an edge guide. ‘However, the dadnes forthe shelvesare stopped "from the front edge, see Fig. 9. ‘Tpensure that the dadoesline up perfectly on both sides, T clamped the two sides together — back edge to back edge. ‘Then I clamped a fence across both of themto guide the router. With this method Thad to plinge the router to start the ex from the let edge, and then stop tt #2 from the right edge ‘THE TOP, BOTTOM AND SHELVES. Next, the plywood top and bottom G), and the two plywood shelves (K) are eu to size, ‘The length of these pieces should be exactly the same as the web frame and the piywoed bottom on the base cabinet. This, ‘way youl be cortain the hutch is the camo ‘Width as the base cabinet. (In fac, these pieces can be eut at the same time.) Then the double rabbets can be eat to form ‘tongues to fit the dadoes. RARRETS FOR RACK. The last step on the top, bottom, and the cides i to eut x rrabbets are cut on the back edge for the plywood back, see Pig. 11. The only dit ficult part is cutting the rabbets on the sidesbecause they must be stopped at both tends when they interseet with the dadoes. ‘TONGUE FOR BULLNOSE, Tho last step on theshelves (K) is to cut tworabbets—this time on the front edge of the shelves —to form tongues for the bullnose molding, see Fig. 9. DIVIDER STILE. Before assembling the hhateh, cut notchesin the top and bottom) forthedivider stile. Then go aheadand cat thisstile(N)to length. Alsocat half-lapsto fit the notches, and dadoes to fit the ‘tongues on the shelves, see Figs. Sand 10. DOOR AND DRAWER FRAMES ‘The hutch and the tase cabinet have ‘mitered frame doors, and the drawers have mitered frame false fronts, see Fig. 12, All of these frames are built he same vay — with a mitersspline joint. (See Weodamith No, 21 for eoraplete step-by- step on cutting this joint.) Although the Joinery for these frames ix easy, getting them to fit exactly right can be a little nerve-racking. Thuilt exch of these framos so they were Just a seant Ys" larger than needed. Once the pleces for the frames are mitered to 20 WoopsmiTH