w

Spray finishing
TAU N T O N ’ S
made easy, p. 72

Half-blind dovetails
in half the time
Build a dining table
that’s big on storage
TOOL TEST
Smoothing planes
for every budget
Smart solutions
for door latches
Soup up any
crosscut sled

June 2011 No. 219

U.S. $7.99/ Canada $8.99

www.finewoodworking.com
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W contents
MAY/JUNE 2011 ISSUE 219
■

15
ADJUSTABLE
features
DADO JIG
36 Half-Blind Dovetails in Half the Time
COVER Get the hand-cut look with the speed and consistency
STORY
of machines
BY STEPHEN HAMMER

42 Smoothing Planes
TOOL
TEST It’s the most important hand tool in the shop, and
there are more great choices than ever
BY CHRIS GOCHNOUR

up front 48 Dining Table with Two-Way Drawers

A sleek, sturdy design for a versatile table
6 On the Web BY STEPHEN HAMMER

8 Contributors
54 Case Closed
10 Letters How to use off-the-shelf hardware to close cabinet
doors in style
14 Methods of Work B Y S T E V E L AT TA , G A R R E T T H A C K ,
■ Platform takes guesswork out of AND MICHAEL FORTUNE
compound-angle holes
■ Variable-size dado jig for a router
59 Windsor Rocker Without Special Tools,
20 Tools & Materials Part 2
■ Quality chisels with a sweetheart price Complete the top half of the chair, add the rockers,
■ QuikJig revolutionizes pocket-hole sit back, and relax
joinery BY PETER GALBERT

24 Fundamentals
Soup up your crosscut sled
66 A Chessboard Made Easy
Go with veneer every time
30 Handwork BY CRAIG THIBODEAU

Make a pair of grooving planes

72 Switch to Spraying Water-Based Finishes
20 GREAT CHISELS
A former ‘lacquer head’ gives tips on going green
FOR LESS BY TERI MASASCHI

76 Garry Bennett’s Un-Trestle Table

Unconventional design is a portrait of the man
BY ASA CHRISTIANA

Cover photo: Matt Kenney

 SOUP UP YOUR
CROSSCUT SLED 24 54 DOOR CATCHES
FOR FINE FURNITURE

in the back
82 Readers Gallery

86 Q & A
■ Match dado set to your saw’s power
■ For accurate joints, always mark from
the same face
■ Thinned shellac works better

90 Master Class
How to make thick, light tabletops

98 How They Did It

The back cover explained

Back Cover
Vaulted Veneer

48
42
TABLE WITH
2-WAY DRAWERS

TOOL TEST:
SMOOTHING PLANES

Pp
on the web THIS MONTH ON FineWoodworking.com/extras
Visit our Web site to access free Web tie-ins, available April 7. While you’re there, don’t miss our collection
of free content, including tool reviews, an extensive project gallery, and must-read blogs.

Editor Asa Christiana

Art Director Michael Pekovich

Managing Editor Mark Schofield

Senior Editor Thomas McKenna

Associate Editors Steve Scott

VIDEO: Anissa Kapsales
Shopping Matthew Kenney
for a Smoother Wolodymyr Smishkewych

Find out what to look for Senior Copy/ Elizabeth Healy

and peek behind the scenes Production Editor
of our tool test (pp. 42-47).
Associate Art Directors Kelly J. Dunton
John Tetreault
VIDEO: Administrative Assistant Betsy Engel
Building with Shop Manager William Peck
Garry Bennett
Get in the classroom and watch how Contributing Editors Christian Becksvoort
Bennett constructs his “un-trestle Garrett Hack
table” (pp. 76-81). Roland Johnson
Steve Latta
Michael Fortune

Consulting Editor Jonathan Binzen

Methods of Work Jim Richey

FineWoodworking.com

Web Producers Ed Pirnik

Lisa Morgan

Free eLetter Fine Woodworking: (ISSN: 0361-3453) is published

Get free plans, videos,
and articles
E eLetter
Grooving Plane Giveaway bimonthly, with a special seventh issue in the winter, by
by signing up for our FRE The Taunton Press, Inc., Newtown, CT 06470-5506.
at FineWoodworking.co
m/ Go online for a chance to win a pair
newsletter. Telephone 203-426-8171. Periodicals postage paid at
of Matt Kenney’s shopmade planes
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your fingertips, including 1,400-plus articles and project plans. three years (payable in U.S. funds). Single copy U.S., $7.99.
Single copy Canada, $8.99.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Fine Woodworking,

VIDEO The Taunton Press, Inc., 63 S. Main St., PO Box 5506,
Newtown, CT 06470-5506.
Master the Bandsaw
Canada Post: Return undeliverable Canadian addresses
Turn any bandsaw into a precise slicing to Fine Woodworking, c/o Worldwide Mailers, Inc.,
machine with tips from expert Michael 2835 Kew Drive, Windsor, ON N8T 3B7, or email to
Fortune. Series includes lessons on: mnfa@taunton.com.

 Bandsaw setup Printed in the USA

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 Cutting curves

6 FINE WOODWORKING
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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 7

contributors
A guitar-making course was what spurred
Stephen Hammer (“Dining Table with Two-
Way Drawers” and “Half-Blind Dovetails
Advertising Senior Stephen Giannetti
in Half the Time”) into woodworking. He Vice President sgiannetti@taunton.com
worked for a contractor in New York City Advertising Director Peter Badeau
and later completed the 12-week intensive 203-304-3572
woodworking course at the Center for pbadeau@taunton.com

Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine. Senior National Linda Abbett

Account Manager 203-304-3538
In 2001, he opened a shop in Brooklyn, N.Y., labbett@taunton.com
making high-end furniture and cabinetry.
Associate Account Kimberly Parrilla
After the birth of his two daughters, he and Manager 203-304-3590
his wife moved to Connecticut. kparrilla@taunton.com
The tool you can’t live without? “My computer
Director of Kristen Lacey
CAD program and my great grandfather’s No. 3 Advertising Marketing
Bailey smoothing plane. If I could save only one Senior Marketing Karen Lutjen
tool in my shop, it would be that one. It still has Manager, Advertising
the original laminated blade.”
Member Audit
Bureau of Circulation

Brian Sargent (Master Class) is new to the magazine, but his Senior Consumer Beth Reynolds, ProCirc
Marketing Director
love of woodworking goes back 30 years. He mastered carpentry at
Senior Consumer Melissa Robinson
a technical high school and in the Army Corps of Engineers, worked Marketing Manager
in a few cabinet and furniture-making shops, and then ventured
Senior Manager Robert Harlow
out on his own in 1994. Working solo has allowed him to embrace Web Marketing
his love of natural forms, and his furniture often includes sculptural
Senior Online Michael Stoltz
lines and flowing curves. He is chairman of the New Hampshire Product Manager
Furniture Masters Association.
If you weren’t a woodworker you’d be ... “A National Park ranger.”

Craig Thibodeau (“A Chessboard Made Easy”) recently moved

his shop to an old industrial building with more power, more space, Independent publishers since 1975
and high ceilings, which has allowed him to take on larger and more Founders, Paul & Jan Roman

complex projects. He just began furnishing a new client’s home with President Suzanne Roman
12 freestanding and built-in pieces in maple and cherry, featuring EVP & CFO Timothy Rahr
floral marquetry.
SVP & Chief Paul Spring
Proudest moment as a woodworker? “Watching my kids build Content Officer
things in the shop.” SVP, Creative Susan Edelman
SVP, Advertising Stephen Giannetti
Despite the recession, Chris Gochnour (“Tool Test: Smoothing SVP, Operations Thomas Luxeder
Planes”) had a great year, making a long anticipated move to SVP, Taunton Interactive Jason Revzon
a new woodworking studio two miles from his home. Building VP, Digital Content Anatole Burkin
the shop was a labor of love, but it was not easy. He was
VP, Editorial Development Maria Taylor
forced at times to work in his old garage shop and new space
VP, Single Copy Sales Jay Annis
simultaneously, a logistical problem he hopes never to repeat.
VP & Controller Wayne Reynolds
Fortunately, with his new workshop complete, his family has a
place to park their cars, and all of his tools are in one place. VP, Finance Kathy Worth

The tool you can’t live without? “My trusted Disston #4 backsaw.” VP, Human Resources Carol Marotti
VP, Fulfillment Patricia Williamson

Publishers of magazines, books, videos, and online

We are a reader-written magazine. To Fine Woodworking • Fine Homebuilding
For more information on our contributors,
learn how to propose an article, go to Threads • Fine Gardening • Fine Cooking
go to FineWoodworking.com/authors. www.taunton.com
FineWoodworking.com/submissions.

8 FINE WOODWORKING
Request product information online: Go to finewoodworking.com/marketplace or call 800-719-6906

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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 9

letters Used bandsaw not a bargain
I agree with Roland Johnson (“Used
Machines Can Be a Steal,” FWW #218) that
buying used machines is a great way to

Spotlight
save money and get a heavy-duty machine
you could not otherwise afford; I have
done it myself multiple times with great
success. But I have to take issue with his
ISSUE NO. 218 bandsaw example. This sounds to me
March/April 2011 like exactly what not to do when buying
p. 49 used. For about the same (or even less)
money he could have bought
a new 17-in. machine, with
a bigger, 2-hp motor, a
MORE TIPS FOR THE ULTIMATE FINISH warranty, and modern
features like dust-collection
Michael Pekovich’s article, “Wiping Varnish: The Only Finish You’ll Ever Need,” is the ports, a covered motor
best finishing article you have ever printed. My finishing evolution basically mirrors and blade, a miter gauge
included, etc. What he
his, with one exception. I work mostly with oily woods—rosewoods, ziricote, bocote, bought for $250 turned
and so on—and I’ve learned to prefinish them with dewaxed shellac to seal in into a $925 kit of parts
the natural oils. I’ve also tried this approach on other woods, and now I use it for that he had to source and
everything because it builds the finish significantly faster. assemble himself.
—SETH WALTER,
I rag on two or three coats cut 50/50 with alcohol, and sand lightly between South Windsor, Conn.
them. I can get the sealing done in one hour because shellac dries so fast. By the
way, finishing the interior parts before assembly greatly reduces the pain. Roland Johnson
replies: Restoring this
One other trick I have discovered is to use microfiber cloths cut into patches for
bandsaw was as much about
wiping rags. I fold the rough edges into the center of the pad, and I don’t get any recycling as it was about getting a
of the lint residue that cotton rags leave behind. fantastic bandsaw for a very fair price.
—JERRY FAULRING, Adamstown, Md. I find great joy in taking a derelict piece
of classic machinery and returning
it to its glory. Secondly, cast iron will
The author does not mention the fact that oxygen and Waterlox react very quickly, always be stouter than a welded-sheet-
turning the leftover finish in the can into jelly. Also, you may not pour the Waterlox steel machine, and no one manufactures
back into the can once you have poured it out. In Step 2, he has poured the a cast-iron-frame, 16-in. bandsaw
Waterlox into a plastic container, but that, too, is a no-no. Plastic will not keep out anymore. This saw is an absolute gem:
It’s heavy (around 450 lb. without the
the oxygen. motor and base—even the wheelhouse
—STEVEN HARRIS, Narberth, Pa. doors are cast iron), and it has zero flex
in the upper guide post for great resaw
Michael Pekovich replies: It’s true that Waterlox dries more quickly than other ability, 12 in. of resaw capacity, a true
11⁄ 2-hp double-capacitor motor (U.S.-
wiping varnishes, and a partially filled container will skin over or even turn to jelly. made), and top-notch ceramic guides.
I always pour a small amount of finish into an open plastic container for easy There is a good dust port under the lower
access, but not much more than I think I’ll need. As for the finish in the can, door (I plan to add one under the table),
the manufacturer’s website (waterlox.com) recommends two solutions. The one I and I added a paddle switch for safety.

typically rely on is to transfer the unused portion in the can into a smaller glass More tips for buying used tools
jar, which reduces the amount of oxygen in contact with the finish. Their other Like Roland Johnson says, “Used
recommendation is Bloxygen spray (Bloxygen.com), which replaces the oxygen in Machines Can Be a Steal.” This is
the container with an inert gas. because they were designed by old-
timers working in shops for years. I
wonder if some of the computer-age

10 FINE WOODWORKING
To contact us:
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M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 11
letters continued

designers and product engineers have Correction: Tool chest missing some parts
ever cut a board. “The North Bennet Street Tool Chest” (FWW #216) is a very nice project, but it has
Here are a couple of tips. Johnson two fundamental flaws. For one, the middle partition does not continue all the way
recommends listening to a bearing using back, which would prevent side-to-side movement of the drawers on both sides of
a long screwdriver. There is a better way. it. Also, with no guide strip on the outside of the drawers, they will rub against the
Cut a broomstick 18 in. long. Grasp it inside of the cabinet. This would not be an issue except that the case continues out
around the top with your thumb sticking with a lip, where any wear will be noticeable.
up. Now stick the thumb in your ear. —DAVI D BRAY , Damascus, Md.
I used this method for years in a steel-
Guide strip
rolling mill to check the condition of Middle stile
roller bearings. Also, Johnson struggled
to get his new bandsaw tires onto the
wheels. Heat them in hot water and
they’ll go on much easier.
—MON RO E M E C H L I N G , Steubenville, Ohio

Resharpening a toothed plane blade

Having burned many calories over a
scrub plane, one of my favorite tools, I
was interested in the description of the
Lie-Nielsen toothed iron in Christian
Becksvoort’s article (“One Bench Plane
Can Do It All,” FWW #217). But I was left
wondering what one does to re-tooth
it after a number of sharpenings.
—CH A R L I E M O R R I S O N , Powell
River, B.C., Canada Steve Brown replies: I neglected to mention a simple guide strip that goes between
the two drawers in the top level. It sits on a middle stile of the divider frame below
those drawers. It doesn’t help that we also left that middle stile out of the exploded
drawing. In any case, both are clearly needed for the drawers to function well. Just
mill the strip to the same thickness as the partition, and then, once the divider frames
and partition are glued in place, you can mark the guide strip location and just glue
it onto the top face of the divider stile, being sure to keep it flush with the thickness of
the partition and square to the front edge of the divider. In other words, be sure that
the widths of both drawer spaces are the same in the back as they are in the front. It
really doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.
Christian Becksvoort replies: Don’t As for the drawer sides marring the insides of the case sides over time; it was a
worry, you’ll still burn calories with the conscious choice to keep the scope of the project from getting more involved than it
toothed blade, but it will leave a smoother already is. But on other student projects, we use the very strategy you mention. Thanks
surface than the scrub plane. And you for your interest and for reading the article more carefully than the editors and I did.
will be able to sharpen the bevel for years
to come. The channels between the teeth
extend 3⁄4 in. up the back side of the being held parallel to the wood grain across the grain, which makes it even less
blade. of the pieces being nailed. The article likely to split. When I nail close to the end
mentions that the speed of the air-driven of a board (or nail very thin moldings) I
How to nail without splitting wood nail makes it less likely to split the wood. always try to position the nailer across the
In “Two Nailers You Need” (FWW #217), While that is true, if you hold the nailer grain, and very rarely have any problem
most of the photos showing use of the perpendicular to the wood grain, the with splitting.
finish nailer or brad nailer have the nailer wedge-shaped tip of the nail will be —DAVE MARTIN , St. Paul, Minn.

About your safety

Working wood is inherently dangerous. Using hand or power tools (or elsewhere) until you’re certain they are safe for you. If something
improperly or ignoring standard safety practices can lead to permanent about an operation doesn’t feel right, find another way. We want you
injury or even death. Don’t perform operations you learn about here to enjoy the craft, so please keep safety foremost in your mind.

12 FINE WOODWORKING Drawing: Bob La Pointe

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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 13

methods of work E D I T E D A N D D R AW N B Y J I M R I C H E Y

Miter angle
Bevel angle

Best Tip Platform takes guesswork

out of compound-angle holes
Legs meet seat
Getting ready to build a stool recently, I was having at compound
trouble figuring out a way to drill the compound- angle.
angle holes in the seat for the legs. Thinking about
the process, I spied my compound-miter saw, and it
hit me: I could use the saw to make a platform that
holds the seat at the correct angle for drilling.
Tom Collins was Consult your plans to calculate the two angles for
inspired to start the holes (for this stool, the angles are the same).
woodworking at Set the miter to match the front-to-back angle
Cut compound angle
age 4, when he and the bevel for the side-to-side angle. Trim on each end of 2x4
followed his dad both ends of a short 2x4 at the compound blank. Cut support
around his shop. He angle. Return the saw to its 90° settings and blocks from the
blank.
has developed his then cut off one end of the beveled 2x4 about
woodworking skills 2 in. long. Attach this cutoff along one edge Support
by building furniture, blocks, with
of an MDF base with double-faced tape. By the
double-
working on his way, the compound angle also can be cut using a faced tape
home, and studying miter gauge on the tablesaw. on top
magazines, books, For the second support, temporarily place the
and videos. He says seat flat on the first block and measure how long
his passion for the the second block needs to be to support the other
craft is fueled by his side of the seat. (A larger seat may require more
need to create and supports.) The measurement just needs to be close,
his quest to improve as you can change the position of this block to get
and refine his skills. an exact fit. Now cut the second block and attach
it to the base with another piece of double-faced Square cut ¾-in.-thick MDF,
tape. Finally, mark the hole locations on the seat on bottom. sized to fit drill-
and attach the seat to the blocks—top side up—with press table
more tape.
Using a Forstner bit, drill the first hole on the
1. Drill
low end of the platform. Take light cuts and first hole.
clear chips frequently, especially when you’re
about to break through. Once the first hole
is done, simply rotate the seat 90° to cut the
remaining holes. Be aware that on seats where
the two parts of the compound angle are
not equal, you’ll
only be able
A Reward for the Best Tip to drill two
Send your original tips to Methods of Work, diagonally
Fine Woodworking, PO Box 5506, opposite holes,
Newtown, CT 06470, or email then flip the blocks
fwmow@taunton.com. We pay over and re-attach them
for every tip we publish; the
to drill the last pair
best tip also wins a Lie- 2. Rotate seat
Nielsen low-angle of holes. 90° to drill each
block plane. —TOM COLLINS, successive hole.
Clamp platform to
Chatsworth, Calif. drill-press table.

14 FINE WOODWORKING
Benchtop caddy is great
for sandpaper sharpening Lid, 3 ⁄ 8-in. plywood

I use wet-or-dry abrasive paper on glass

for sharpening. But storing the different
Hardboard strips
components separately was making keep glass in place.
the process inefficient. So I made this
simple caddy that holds four pieces
of glass and grades of abrasive.
I can quickly take the caddy
from storage, place it on the
bench, open the lid, and begin
sharpening.
The 3⁄4-in. MDF base holds the
glass pieces, which fit snugly between Wide cleat acts
thin strips of hardboard screwed and as bench hook.
glued to the base. The strips are thin
enough to give me a fingerhold on the
1⁄4-in.-thick glass, in case I need to remove Base, 3/4-in. MDF

any of the pieces. The hinged plywood lid locks

Latch
in place with a clasp and twist latch. A piece of hardwood
attached to the front of the base serves as a bench hook.
—Carl Johnson , Elmhurst, Ill.

Fixed base clamped

Base pieces,
to workpiece 3 ⁄ 8-in.-thick plywood
Variable-size dado fixture for a router
Here’s an adjustable jig that allows you to rout a dado of
Index marks
any width, even ones that don’t fit standard bit sizes. It
consists of a fixed base and a sliding base that meet at a
10° angle. Each base has a 2-in.-high cleat for clamping.
When building the fixture, first make the sliding base a
little wider at the fence and trim it to size with the first
router cut using the bit you will use as a standard.
To align and cut the dado, first clamp the two
bases together. Place the router bit edge of the
jig directly on the cut line, clamp the fixed
base to the workpiece, and rout the first
pass of the dado. Now remove the cleat
clamps and adjust the sliding base for the
second pass by moving it up or down,
effectively moving the router cut left or right of
the previous setting. After positioning the sliding
base, reclamp across the cleats and make the
second pass.
The concept can be applied to any size jig. In my
Clamp cleats case, the jig was 50 in. long and roughly 18 in. wide.
Fence to guide together. You can place index marks on the clamping cleats
router Sliding base
for future reference.
—ron TanCrEdE, Jacksonville, Fla.

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M AY / J u N E 2 0 1 1 15

methods of work continued

Laminated mortise-and-tenon joint Miter outside

edge of post.

Cap
conceals
mortise.

I recently
Laminated
made a bed “Dadoed”
headboard headboard using mortise
post some exotic hardwood.
My design called for the posts
to be 2 in. thick but the wood was
only available in 1-in. thickness. I also
wanted to attach the rails using mortise-
and-tenon joints, but I do not have a mortiser.
To solve both problems, I laminated the posts using the 1-in. stock,
cutting dadoes on the inside of both pieces so that, once glued up, the
two dadoes would form the mortises. Laminated
headboard
But this created another problem: an obvious and visible glue joint post
on the outside edge of the post. So before glue-up, I mitered the
outside edge of each post. Then I glued the post pieces together and
filled the recess along the mitered edge with a triangular-shaped cap.
Once everything was glued up, I had a perfect mortise-and-tenon
joint in a post that looks like a piece of solid 2-in.-thick hardwood.
—DAN ADAMSON, Prince George, B.C., Canada

Quick Tip Lift-lid stick

Magnet
Whenever I need to
set a router bit or a
tablesaw blade to an
exact height, I take
a twist-drill bit with a
diameter equal to the
height I want and lay
it down with the end
of the shank against
the blade as I adjust
the height. When the
Magnetic lid lifter keeps finish off your hands
top of the blade aligns Here is a handy way to lift off and replace the lids of paint
with the shank of the and varnish cans without getting the gooey stuff on your
bit, I’m there. I check fingers. Just glue a small magnet to a stick. I used a small
the alignment by eye magnet from a speaker, but a rare-earth magnet would
and then double check work well, too.
by running a finger After you loosen the lid with a screwdriver, simply
across the blade to the place the magnet-stick on the lid, lift it off, and turn it
drill shank. over when you set it aside.
— J. K A Y E , Phenix, Va. —CHARLIE GARDNER, Mesa, Ariz.

16 FINE WOODWORKING
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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 17

methods of work continued

Tool-stand drawer makes

most of wasted space
In my continuing efforts to
Quick Tip optimize the storage space in
my basement workshop, I came
When I’m using up with the idea of putting a
commercial drawer drawer under the tools I’ve
slides, if I build mounted on splayed-leg stands.
the drawer box too This setup not only provides
narrow, I just shim a handy drawer, but also a
out the drawer useful shelf without using a bit
slides with a piece of extra shop space. The shelf Blocks, screwed
of veneer or veneer case slips between the splayed to drawer box,
tape. It’s simple, lock box in
legs, sits on the stretchers (or place.
quick, and nearly lower on the mobile stand),
undetectable as the and locks in place with blocks
strip is hidden by the screwed into the four corners. I
drawer slide member. used 5⁄ 8-in. melamine to make
—KEN DILLE,
my drawer, but any sheet goods
Austin, Texas
would work fine. My only
purchase was the full-extension
drawer slides.
—SERGE DUCLOS,
Delson, Que., Canada

Storage drawer
rests on
Full-extension stretchers of
slides stand.
Packing tape

Easy-to-remove paper templates

Lots of woodworkers use spray adhesive for attaching
paper templates to wood. The stuff works, but I’ve
always found it a pain to remove the template after
the cut is complete, especially for small or intricate
parts. And the adhesive leaves a nasty residue on the
wood.
Here’s my solution: First, use packing tape to cover
the area where the template will be placed. Now
spray the template with adhesive and attach it to the
workpiece on top of the tape.
When you are done with the cut, peel up the tape
Paper template
attaches over tape along with the paper template. Simple and clean.
with spray adhesive. —JAY SULLIVAN, Washington, N.C.

18 FINE WOODWORKING
finewoodworking.com/marketplace | 800-719-6906 x3028
tools & materials
■ HAND TOOLS

Quality chisels
at a sweetheart price

W
HEN STANLEY STOPPED MAKING To gauge the
Stanley Sweetheart Chisels, 750 Series
ITS 750 SERIES of socket chis- edge retention of the blades,
$220 for a set of eight; $130 for a
els more than 40 years ago, the I put the chisels through a rigorous per-
set of four; $30 to $35 individually;
demand didn’t stop. Revered highlandwoodworking.com formance test on cherry and white oak.
for their quality and price, these chisels Using a mallet, I trimmed the ends of the
have been widely sought-after on the boards. I also drove the tip of the chisel
second-hand tool market for years. Now extra work to flatten. Overall, I gave into the wood repeatedly, simulating the
Stanley has revived the 750 series, offer- the set a B for flatness. One other thing dovetailing process. The edge retention
ing a great tool with a price that’s within you’ll need to do is lightly hammer the of these chisels is very good.
reach. handles into the sockets. Despite the high quality, the tools come
The new 750s are manufactured in What appeals to me most about the at a reasonable price. You can buy them
Sheffield, England, from high-carbon, new 750s is their form. They are shorter individually, but a better value is to pur-
chrome steel (the originals were made than other chisels I own. The short length, chase sets of eight (1⁄ 8 in., 1⁄4 in., 3⁄ 8 in.,
in the United States). They are precisely combined with an easy-to-grip hornbeam 1⁄ 2 in., 5⁄ 8 in., 3⁄4 in., 1 in., and 11⁄4 in.) or

machined with clean and consistent bev- handle, gives you nimble, fingertip con- four (1⁄4 in., 1⁄ 2 in., 3⁄4 in., and 1 in.). The
eled edges, 30° factory-ground bevels, trol over the tool, a plus when you’re sets are sold with a nice suede tool roll.
and reasonably flat backs. chopping and trimming dovetails. When compared with the other chis-
The chisels required a few minutes of The chisels are light, too, making them els I reviewed in 2008 (FWW #200), the
sharpening and flattening before use. perfect for chopping tasks that require Stanleys rank among the best. They are
Most of the blades in the set had very holding the blade with one hand while well made, have great form, and offer
flat backs, but some needed a bit of tapping with the mallet. It’s easy to reg- great value.
ister mallet blows against —Chris Gochnour is a hand-tool expert
the handle. near Salt Lake City, Utah.

■ MEASURING AND MARKING

The high price of perfection

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN MAKING A SLIDING BEVEL is to create a locking
mechanism that holds the blade firmly without interfering with the use of the
tool. On most models, it doesn’t take much to knock the blade off angle, but the
sliding bevels from Vesper Tools of Australia lock tight with a simple twist of a
knurled brass knob. The locking mechanism holds the blade more securely than
any other bevel I’ve used, and it is always out of the way.
In addition, the fit and finish of the tool is flawless. The beefy stainless-steel
blade fits like a glove to the solid or wood-infilled brass body. The solid body is
Vesper Tools Sliding Bevels less expensive, but I prefer the feel and balance of the infilled one.
4-in. sliding bevel: $146 for brass, $200 for wood infill; It’s rare to come across a perfect tool, but Vesper’s sliding bevels come pretty
7-in. sliding bevel: $170 for brass, $242 for wood infill; close. If you can afford one, you won’t be sorry.
10-in. sliding bevel: $283 for wood infill; —Michael Pekovich is FWW’s art director
vespertools.com

20 FINE WOODWORKING Photos: staff

 Set it, and
■ JIGS
forget it. Once

QuikJig revolutionizes you install the

stop collar on

pocket-hole joinery the bit using

the onboard jig,

I
you won’t have
BUILD A LOT OF CABINETS, and I often use pocket holes for the face to do it again.
frames and toe kicks because the joints are plenty strong and are
quick and simple to make. Now Porter-Cable has made the job
even easier with the QuikJig.
Dial in the
The first thing I noticed was the tool’s mass, which adds stability to
hole posi-
this benchtop tool. But the jig’s simple setup and convenient features tions. Set the
make it a real winner. hole spacing
First, installing the stop collar on by rotating the
the drill bit is easy to do us- large knob on
ing an onboard jig. What’s top of the jig.
more, the setup works

QuikJig by
One-shot
Porter-Cable
clamping. The
Model No. 560 rotating clamp
$230; handle both
woodcraft.com locks the stock
and automati-
cally sets the
drilling depth.

for any thickness mate-

rial you need to drill (from
1⁄ 2 in. to 11⁄ 2 in. thick). Screw

spacing is simple to adjust (from 3⁄4 in. to 13⁄ 8 in. on

center) using an easy-to-grip knob on the side.
The clamping mechanisms are very strong and held narrow 3⁄4-in.-wide stock in
place without shifting. An adjustable stop keeps the workpiece aligned and makes
easy work of repeat cuts in material of the same width and thickness. If you are drill-
ing stock that’s wider than the jig, you need to unthread the stop completely and slide
it out of the way, a cumbersome process; I’d prefer some sort of quick release. Aside
from that detail, this beautifully engineered jig is a snap to set up, and after that, light-
ning fast to use. The jig has a removable dust port, which helped prevent chips from
building up and interfering with the job.
Drill, baby,
Drilling pocket holes in a long piece drill. Drill-
held vertically can be awkward, but the ing goes very
QuikJig takes care of that, too. You can quickly, and a
simply flip down the jig and support the handy scale on
workpiece with a standard 2x4. the side tells
Although the price tag on the QuikJig you the screw
length you
may turn away casual pocket joinery us-
need for your
ers, those who rely on pocket screws setup.
will value all that it has to offer.
Long board? No problem. If a piece is too —Mark Edmundson is a furniture maker
unwieldy to drill vertically, flip the jig down and in Sandpoint, Idaho.
put a 2x4 under the workpiece for support.

M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 21
tools & materials continued

■ DUST CONTROL

one company, two ways to capture dust

on the tablesaw From your
router table

I
f you have a benchtoP tablesaw or contractor saw with
no dust port, the Dust Cutter II will help you breathe
Keen Products
easier. Dust Router
The Dust Cutter II is basically a zippered nylon bag that $40; woodcraft.com
attaches to the bottom of a benchtop or contractor tablesaw
with hook-and-loop fasteners. You also could mount it per-
manently through the existing bolt holes in the saw’s base.
Installation took me less than 30 minutes.
The manufacturer mentions three ways to catch dust with
the bag. You can simply let it collect in the bag and empty it
using the zipper, or you can leave the bag unzipped and let
the dust drop into a container placed under the saw. How-
ever, with both of those options, a lot of sawdust simply goes
airborne. The best method is to hook up a dust collector or
shop vacuum to the 21⁄ 2-in.-dia. dust port on the bag. In that
mode, the Dust Cutter II is a great tool to help control dust
No escape. The Dust
on benchtop and contractor tablesaws. Router catches particles
—Tom McKenna is senior editor. above and below the
table.
Keen Products
Dust cutter II
$40;

R
woodcraft.com outeR tables maKe a huge mess. Even if you have
a dust collector hooked up to a port in the fence,
you still get a pile of shavings and dust underneath
the table. Keen Products has come to the rescue with the
Dust Router.
The Dust Router is designed to catch dust above and
below the table, but the genius part happens below. A
soft silicone collection cup that fits around the router col-
let catches any dust particles not picked up from above
(through the fence)and funnels them to the dust collector.
Suction helps. The cup is flexible, so it won’t impede raising and low-
The Dust Cutter II ering the router. It also won’t interfere with bit changes
works best when above the table. However, if you need to reach under the
hooked up to a table with your wrench, the cup will deny access. That
vacuum or dust
means you’ll have to remove the motor from the base for
collector.
bit changes—an inconvenience.
I used a large ogee bit on some pine, white oak, and
poplar, and the Dust Router caught nearly all the dust
being spewed. Only a smattering of chips made it to the
floor and the tabletop. Overall, the tool works great.
The package includes the cup and mounting plate,
T-connector, and all the hoses and hardware you’ll need to
install the system. The Dust Router will work on any router
table, even a simple one made from plywood. If you have
a router lift, however, I’d recommend checking with the
manufacturer about the installation and operation.
—Roland Johnson is a contributing editor.

22 FINE wOODwORKINg
■ MACHINES

New benchtop planer features insert cutters

INSERT-TOOTH TECHNOLOGY IS BECOMING
ALL THE RAGE with planers and jointers. The
small, precisely placed cutters produce a more A fresh edge. The planer features
uniform flat surface than long knives, which two-sided insert cutters made
tend to leave undulations behind. As a bonus, from high-speed steel.
the cutters can be changed quickly and easily.
General International has joined the fray with when planing a shelf to fit a dado.
a new 13-in. benchtop planer that features a The machine also features a
stagger-tooth spiral head with 26 two-sided turret-style thickness stop for stan-
high-speed-steel cutters. The cutterhead dard thicknesses of 1 ⁄8 in., ¼ in., ½ in.,
planes with less noise and lower power de- and ¾ in. A gauge on the front quickly
mand, which means it can take slightly shows how much material you are about
heavier cuts than its straight-knived to plane off, so you can avoid making too
counterparts. heavy a cut.
I put the planer through its paces for A dual-sized dust-collection hookup (2½ in.
about a week, planing hardwoods, softwoods, and 4 in.) matches easily to either a shop vacuum
and figured woods. Overall cut quality is good. But or dedicated dust-collection system, a very con-
there’s a lot more to like about this tool. First, the venient feature. Power is rated at 2 hp and can
cutterhead moves exactly 1 ⁄16 in. with one full turn General International 13-in. Planer be run on a 120-volt circuit. Handles on the sides
of the depth-adjustment crank handle. That allows Model No. 30-005HC M1 make lifting the 59-lb. planer easy.
you to dial in the depth of cut with precision, say, $650; visit general.ca for retailers Overall, this is a solid performer. —R.J.

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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 23

fundamentals
Soup up your
crosscut sled
Fresh Faces and smart stops
make a big diFFerence

B y S t e v e L a t t a

C
rosscutting furniture parts to length seems like an of the way the blade spins, tearout happens on the rear and
easy job, but—as with the entire milling process— bottom faces of the workpiece. So you need to ensure that the
small inaccuracies can lead to complications like blade opening in the sled’s deck and rear fence fits snugly
openings that aren’t square or joints that won’t close. around the blade that you are using. If the blade opening is
Most furniture makers make their critical crosscuts on worn at all, or if you’ve switched to a narrower blade, attach
the tablesaw, using either a miter gauge or a crosscut a rear auxiliary fence made of 3⁄4-in. MDF and a new deck
sled. I showed how to get more from your miter gauge in FWW made of 1⁄ 8-in. or 1⁄4-in. MDF or plywood. I attach and replace
#205, but the best tool for precise crosscuts is the sled. A well- these auxiliary pieces as needed to ensure the best cut. Cut a
made crosscut sled carries the workpiece and controls tearout. It fresh kerf through them and the sled will virtually eliminate
can handle much larger workpieces. And with a variety of stop tearout. But just to be safe, try to position workpieces so that
blocks, it’s also great for producing matching multiple pieces. the most important surface is on top. For example, cut drawer
Once you’ve built a sled (see my version in Rules of Thumb: fronts face up.
“Tablesaw carriage jigs,” FWW #160), you’ll be on your way to
making clean, accurate crosscuts. But there is more to the story. Cutting a single piece to length
When crosscutting a single piece, I follow one of two strategies
How to tame tearout to locate the cut. If the kerf slot on the sled’s auxiliary fence still
For any crosscut you make on the sled, there are a couple of closely fits the blade I’m using, I’ll use the slot as a reference
steps you can take to reduce tearout dramatically. Because point for the cut. After squaring one end of the stock, make a

24 FINE WOODWORkINg Photos: Steve Scott; drawings: John Tetreault

A well-kept sled eliminates tearout
PROBLEM SOLUTION

New deck. Tack in

WORN KERF place a new base
ALLOWS TEAROUT
layer made of ¼-in.
MDF or plywood.

Over time, the blade opening

becomes enlarged, leaving a
gap around the blade. When this
happens, the sled no longer sup-
ports the workpiece next to the
cut. The result is tearout.

Fresh fence. Make

pencil mark the auxiliary fence
from ¾-in. MDF. Just
on the top clamp it on. Making
back edge the fence extra-long
of the workpiece (as shown) isn’t
and line it up with the edge necessary, but it
of the kerf slot. After any crosscut, accommodates a
slide the workpiece away from the blade stop block for longer
before pulling the sled back to you. workpieces.
If the kerf slot is worn, I often make
what I call a “sliding cut.” After squaring
an end, mark the length on the lower
front edge of the stock where the blade The payoff. The zero-
will make first contact. Start the cut to the clearance openings
waste side of the line and make a shallow support the wood fi-
cut with the carbide tooth tips so that you bers where the blade
exits the cut, helping
can just see stock being removed. With
eliminate tearout.
the teeth still in the cut, slide the stock As a bonus, you can
until the cut lines up with your mark; then trust the edge of the
complete the crosscut. kerf when aligning
your cuts.
Cutting multiples: The magic stop block
The idea when cutting multiple pieces to
the same length is just that—making sure
that each piece exactly matches its mates.
Cut that second rail just a fraction of an
inch too short, and your door frame will
not go together squarely. Clamped securely
to your sled’s fence, a stop block holds
the squared end of each workpiece at exactly the same distance
from the blade, ensuring precisely matched parts.
It might seem like any piece of scrap would work as a stop
block, but once again, the details matter. The block should
come from milled stock, with flat faces and square edges
and corners. It should be no taller than the sled’s fence and

M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 25
fundamentals continued

Add a stop block for matching multiples

A bAsic block
for most wor k
Relief cuts at the block’s rear
and bottom edges prevent dust Glue sandpaper to
from building up and throwing back of the block to
off the block’s accuracy. grip sled fence.

A few tips. Mea-

sure from the sled’s
kerf to locate the
stop block, but
elevate the ruler
to avoid the relief
cut under the block
(above). Also, make
sure the block is
square to the sled’s
Front edge of block must deck for accurate
be 90° for accurate cuts on cuts in stock of any
workpieces of various heights.
thickness.

A hinged block wide enough to accommodate a couple of clamps. Make the

for added convenience block thick enough (3⁄4 in. to 1 in.) to provide a solid stopping
surface. Relief cuts at the rear and bottom corners prevent dust
buildup that could throw off a cut’s accuracy.
Also, check that the block’s stopping surface is square to the
sled’s deck. An angled block can give you an inaccurate cut,
especially if you are cutting workpieces of varying thicknesses.
To help make sure that the block stays put, cover the back
with adhesive-backed sandpaper. This helps the block bite into
the sled’s fence and resist sliding. Second, use two clamps to
secure it to the fence. This limits any tendency for the block to
slide or pivot, important when cutting
The author’s large numbers of pieces. Last, remember
favorite. A hinge to gently slide the workpiece into place
lets you swing
against the block. Don’t bang it home or
the lower half out
of the way when
you risk altering the length of the cut.
squaring the first To set the block in the right place,
end of a piece, then use a steel rule if possible (a tape is
drop it into place less accurate) to find the appropriate
for cutting to final distance from the blade’s teeth. When
length. A lip at the you have many workpieces to cut, make
top references
sure you organize them in a way that
against the top
edge of the sled’s
helps you keep track of the work. I
fence, squaring the always stack the workpieces to my right,
block every time. with the squared end away from me. I
re-stack the cut pieces to my right but

26
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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 27

fundamentals continued

A long stop block

for long wor k

Hook-style block. Two

clamps hold this block
farther away than the working stack. You might organize in place. Latta adds a
your work differently. The point is to make your system deep-reach clamp to help
consistent, so you can rely on it. hold the long workpiece
against the sled’s fence.

Special stop blocks: the long and short of it

Sometimes you need to cut a workpiece to a length that is
longer than your sled’s width. This leaves you with no place
to attach a conventional stop block. The solution is a hook A sliding block
type of block designed to extend beyond the sled’s reach. for small pieces
The block, which can be cut on the bandsaw from 1⁄ 2-in. or
The clamped block
3⁄4-in.-thick plywood, is notched at the far end to hook over Before the blade enters
determines the stopping
the cut, move the sliding
the end of the workpiece. block out of the way.
point of the sliding block.
To locate the block, lay out the cut on the workpiece,
align the mark with the kerf, and secure the work
temporarily by clamping it to the sled’s fence. Now set the Desired
stop block in place and use a pair of clamps to hold it fast. width of
workpiece
I use a different type of stop block when doing certain
types of small work—cutting material for bandings, for
example. For this type Drywall screw for fine adjustment.
of work, the block acts
to precisely control the
length of the offcut without
trapping it next to the
spinning blade.
To accomplish this, I use a
stopping jig on the right side
of the blade. This jig lets me
slide a stop block precisely
into place while locating the
workpiece and then slide it
back out of the way before
beginning the cut. With this
jig, I can make multiples of
very thin pieces. □

Contributing editor Steve Latta Cut short pieces safely. This sliding block controls the length of the offcuts, ensuring slices of equal thickness,
teaches woodworking at Thaddeus but allowing them to fall freely away from the blade. Put the sliding block in place, and bump the workpiece
Stevens College in Lancaster, Pa. against it (left). Then pull the block away before making the cut (right).

28 FINE WoodWorkINg
 No. 6 150876

No. 5 150875
No. 4 150874
No. 3 150873

V3 Bench Planes
V3: Like our previous WoodRiver® Bench Planes, our version 3 is based
on the reliable Bedrock design and features heavy, stress-relieved ductile
iron castings, fully machined adjustable frogs and A-2 blades, but we
took the opportunity between manufacturing runs to do a critical review
and make a few improvements. We’ve changed the shape of the rear tote
and increased the diameter of the blade adjustment wheel to make ad-
vancing the blade a bit easier. We improved the lateral adjustment lever
and added a traditional style bearing for better control of the blade. We’ve
made numerous changes to the castings that result in better “feedback”
and a solid feel to the user. Working closely with our own manufacturer,
we’ve continued to make improvements in machining, finish and func-
tionality which we feel have yielded hand planes that are meant to be
used and offer an extraordinary value.

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to have helped with their development. Woodcraft hired me to evaluate
and make their planes better. The result is a line of affordable, premium
planes.” – Rob Cosman, Your Hand Tool Coach

HELPING YOU MAKE WOOD WORK®

For A Free Catalog Or To Find Your Local Woodcraft Store,
Visit woodcraft.com Or Call 800-225-1153. 11WW06P
finewoodworking.com/marketplace | 800-719-6906 x3040
handwork

Make a pair of
grooving planes
A FAST, QUIET WAY TO CUT GROOVES
IN SMALL PARTS

B Y M A T T K E N N E Y

START WITH THE BLADES

This plane is built around
the blade, so get that first.
You can make your own
W hen I make a cabinet with small
drawers or a box with trays, I enjoy
the time at my workbench making
and fitting the parts with hand tools and a few
bench jigs (“Make Short Work of Small Parts,”
a simple solution. So I made a pair of grooving
planes with integral fences. A pair is needed
so that you can always cut with the grain. They
plow a perfect groove in about a minute, with
no setup needed. By the way, you can make
from tool steel, as I used FWW #214). Unfortunately, the efficiency and your set larger if you wish, and use it for full-
to do. But after I showed
tranquility of my work were always interrupted size drawers.
my planes to Thomas
when it came time to make grooves for the
Lie-Nielsen, he offered
to make and sell the bottom panels, a task I did at the router table Body is a three-part sandwich
blades. A pair costs or tablesaw. I like using planes, not making them, so I made
$50 (Lie-Nielsen.com). One day it hit me: The grooves I use for these using a simple technique popularized by
Lie-Nielsen sells small tray and drawer bottoms are always the James Krenov. A middle piece, cut in two to
similar blanks in same size and are inset the same distance form the bed, throat and mouth, is laminated
other sizes. You’ll from the edge, so I don’t need a power tool between two sides. (On this plane, the middle
just need to bevel that can cut grooves of various widths or has piece also acts as the skate, controlling the
and heat-treat an adjustable fence. A molding plane that depth of the groove.) Because you cut apart the
these yourself. cuts a groove rather than a profile would be middle piece at the tablesaw, it is easy to get

⁄ in.
18

⁄ in.
38 ⁄ in.
12

Core
Chip clearance
hole, 7⁄ 8 in. dia.
225⁄32 in. 21 ⁄ 8 in.
29 ⁄16 in.
Skate

1 in.

⁄ in.
18
Fence
⁄ in.
38
⁄ in.
18

511 ⁄16 in. 1 in.

30 FINE WOODWORKING Photo (this page) and drawings: Kelly J. Dunton

Start with the sides
Side , 3 ⁄ 8 in. thick Fence side, 1 ⁄ 2 in.
by 21 ⁄ 8 in. tall thick by 29 ⁄16 in. tall

12⁄ in. Rabbet one side. Once you rip the piece to width,
use a router table to create the rabbet that will act
Rip the other side to fit. Kenney lines up the
as the fence.
38⁄ in.
tablesaw fence with the top of the rabbet to get
the exact width of the narrower side, and then
rips that side to size.

Add the core

Cut the core into two
parts. Square up one
end of the core and Bottom of
then set the miter core forms
gauge to the bed angle. plane’s skate.
Cut the bed to length. 21⁄ 4 in.
Cut the throat angle,
and then crosscut the Throat 113°
Bed 57°
throat piece to size.

211⁄ 16 in.
23⁄ 4 in. (or to fit)

Glue the bed to the fence side. Before Set the blade in place to mark the Pencil line and outside edges guide placement. Glue the
tightening down the clamp, let the glue throat opening. Leave enough clearance throat piece in place, eyeballing it and feeling for alignment.
tack up slightly and feel around the for the blade to fit through, plus about
edges for the precise alignment. 1 ⁄ 64 in. for chip clearance.

Photos, except where noted: Anissa Kapsales M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 31

handwork continued

⁄ in.
38

Make and fit the wedge

33 ⁄ 4 in.

Fit the wedge in the partially assembled plane.

Test-fit the wedge. If the angle isn’t quite right, mark
the wedge and tweak the angle to fit using sand-
paper on a flat surface. Test the fit and repeat as
needed to get a tight fit along both the front of the
throat and the blade.

Wedge,
1 ⁄ 8 in. thick
a perfectly formed bed, throat, and mouth.
Mortising and filing are not needed.
I use beech for the sides, but you could
use any hard, stable wood. I start with a 5/4
board about 18 in. long because I make two
planes at once and it is safer milling a longer
board. Resaw the board into two pieces, just
Shape the top of the over 1⁄ 2 in. and 3⁄ 8 in. thick. After jointing
wedge. Mark the shape
the resawn faces, plane the boards to final
and cut it out on the
bandsaw, and sand it to thickness. I rip the thicker, wider board to
a finished smoothness. width, rout a rabbet on the side that will have
It should be about ½ in. the fence, and then rip the other side to width.
below the top of the At this point, I crosscut both pieces twice. This
blade. Kenney adds a breaks apart the two long pieces, leaving me
finger notch. with the four sides of two planes.
Now joint and plane a core piece from any
hard, durable wood, so its thickness is equal
to the blade’s width. At the tablesaw, crosscut
the stock to form the bed and throat pieces.

Fit the wedge and add finishing touches

Start by gluing the bed and throat pieces
to the side with the fence. Line up the top,
back, and front edges with your fingers to
ensure that the bed and throat are at the right
angles. Clamp them in place, taking care
Add the second side. that no glue ends up in the throat. Begin to
After the wedge is
finished, glue on the
second side, again Online Extra
waiting for the glue to Go to FineWoodworking.com/extras
tack slightly and align- for a chance to win a pair of Matt
ing the pieces by feel Kenney’s grooving planes.
before clamping.

32 FINE WOODWORKING
Request product information online: Go to finewoodworking.com/marketplace or call 800-719-6906

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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 33

handwork continued

Finish up

Big hole helps clear shavings. Use a Forstner bit at the drill
press to cut a hole that meets the bed but does not cut into it.
To help the chips reach the hole, saw a slot that lines up with
the mouth.

make the wedge from the same piece of stock

used to make the bed and throat pieces. Cut it
oversize at the bandsaw and tweak the fit with
sandpaper. After fitting the wedge, cut the top. Round over sharp
You’ll cut it to length (at the bottom) after you edges. On the back
finish gluing the body together. Glue on the end of the plane,
where your hand wraps
second side of the plane body.
around it, Kenney uses
After removing the clamps, drill the chip- a 1/2-in.-dia. roundover
clearance hole. It also makes a great finger bit in a router table. A
hold, so chamfer its edges for comfort. I used backer board prevents
a trim router and chamfer bit, but a file or tearout on the end
sandpaper works. Next, round over the edges grain and improves the
of the plane. Now, take a few light shavings plane’s stability as you
guide it past the bit.
off the skate on the side that doesn’t face the
He breaks the rest of
fence so that it won’t bind in the groove. Then the sharp edges with
cut back the bottom tip of the wedge so that sandpaper.
shavings don’t get jammed in the mouth. Cut
it, plane a groove, and repeat until the plane is
clearing shavings without trouble.
I finish the plane with two thin coats of Tried &
True Danish oil, wiping off the excess after each.

Using the plane

There is no learning curve here. Use a sharp
blade, set for a slightly heavier cut than for
a smoothing plane. I work against a planing
stop, holding the workpiece with my hand.
Take the first passes slow and use your lower
fingers to press the fence against the edge of Keep the skate run-
ning smoothly. Use a
the board being grooved. After the groove has
shoulder plane to take
been started, you can speed up. However, you a few light shavings off
should still apply pressure to the fence. • the skate, and don’t
forget to wax the skate
Matt Kenney is an associate editor. before use.

34 FINE wooDworkING
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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 35

Half-Blind Dovetails
in Half the Time
Get the hand-cut look with
the speed and consistency
of machines
B Y S T E P H E N H A M M E R

Bandsawn tails routed pins perfect fit

Zip, zip. A simple jig delivers accurate and uni- No wasted time. The router is much faster Clean up and enjoy. After a few minutes of
form tails every time. You also get narrow pins than a chisel and mallet, and it guarantees paring, the joint goes together without any
and variable spacing. uniform depth. trials or tribulations.

36 FINE WOODWORKING
N o joint says “hand-
made” more than half-
blind dovetails with
delicate pins, so I use them on
drawers as one way to distin-
DOVETA IL LAYOUT IS SIMPLE
Because you’ll be using the bandsaw jig on the following page to cut the tails, you need to lay out the
tails just once.
Mark the length
guish my furniture from the of the tails. Use a
furniture churned out by fac- marking gauge with
tories. However, because tra- a knife-type cutter to
ditional techniques for making scribe all four sides.
Do this on all the
dovetails rely heavily on hand
drawer sides. By the
tools, they can eat up a lot of way, Hammer turned
shop time. Time is something his pin gauge into a
a professional furniture maker knife gauge by filing a
can’t waste, so I developed a bevel on the pins.
method for cutting the joint
with a bandsaw and a router.
It gives me the best of both
worlds. I get the refined look of
a hand-cut joint, but I achieve it
with the speed and consistency
only power tools can offer.
I start by cutting the tails at
the bandsaw, using an incred-
ibly simple jig—it’s really just a
tapered board with a stop—to
hold the drawer side. It slides
against the fence and lets me TIP RABBET
THE SIDES
cut every tail quickly and with FOR EASY
a consistent slope. Then I cut ALIGNMENT
the pins with a handheld rout- Use a dado blade
er and a straight bit, working to cut a shallow
freehand right up to the scribe rabbet on the inside
lines. Only the corners of the face of the drawer
pin sockets are left to clean sides, right up to
up with a chisel, and fitting the scribe line. This
the joint takes only a bit of will make it easy to
paring. Even if you’re not as align the parts when
marking the drawer
worried about time as I am,
front later.
you’ll enjoy perfect joints with
very little fuss.

Cut tails with a bandsaw, so that it cuts right up to, but

not a backsaw not past, the shoulder line.
First, use a marking gauge to There are three reasons for
scribe shoulders on all four the rabbet. First, a clean shoul-
sides. I use a “cutting gauge” der on the inside contributes
with a sharp knife because a to the overall attractiveness
cut shoulder line is one of the of the joint. Second, the rab-
telltale signs of hand-cut dove- bet’s shoulder helps to align
tails. It also is more precise the side to the front when you
than a pencil line and serves transfer the tails. Finally, the
as a guide for your chisel when shoulder also can be used as
you’re paring down to the line. chisel guide when you’re par-
Then cut a shallow rabbet, ing away the last bit of waste
about 1⁄16 in. deep, across the between the tails.
inside faces of the sides, under Next, lay out the spacing for
the tails. I use a dado set in the tails—you only need to do Now lay out the tails. Do it on one drawer side only. You’ll use that piece
my tablesaw, setting the fence this on one of the sides. The to line up the cuts for all of the others.

Photos: Matt Kenney; drawings: John Tetreault M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 37

BANDSAW THE TAILS IN M INUTES
You could cut the tails freehand at the bandsaw, but you’d have to lay out every workpiece and then risk straying from the line. Hammer
uses a tapered jig that rides against the rip fence to ensure perfect cuts on stacks of drawer sides.

MAKE THE BANDSAW JIG tail cuts are made using a jig I use a 1:6 slope for my tails,
that’s guided by a fence. Use which gives them a traditional
the marked board to set the look. Lay out the taper on a
fence, and all the other un- board at least 2 in. or 3 in.
marked boards can be cut us- longer than the drawer sides
ing the same settings. and then cut it at the bandsaw.
The jig that holds and guides Clean it up on the jointer or
the drawer sides is nothing with a handplane, then glue
more than a piece of wood on a stop at the narrow end of
that is straight on one side the board.
and tapered on the other side Before using the jig, adjust
to match the slope of the tails. the bandsaw’s fence to com-
Make sure it is sturdy enough pensate for the blade’s drift.
to be used over and over again. Place the jig against the fence

Taper the jig to match the tails. It should be several inches longer than
the drawer sides.

JIG IS JUST Dovetail jig

A WEDGE
AND A STOP
Joint and plane
a board that’s Taper
several inches matches
longer than the 1:6 slope
drawer sides. Cut of tails.
Joint the taper for a clean edge. It’s fast and accurate. You also could
a taper on one use a handplane.
side that matches
the slope of your
dovetails, and add
a small stop at
the narrow end.
The jig’s straight
edge rides against
the bandsaw’s rip
fence.

Drawer side

Fence

Stop block made Glue on a stop. Put it at the narrow end, which leads into the blade, so
from cutoff
that the jig can handle drawer sides of any length.

38 FINE WOODWORKING
 PUT THE JIG TO WORK
You need to reposition the bandsaw fence only three times to
make all six cuts—on both ends of the drawer side, if desired.

Make the
first cut.

Flip to make
opposite cut.

First position. Set the fence and cut down to the shoulder (left). Flip the
board for a second cut (right). And make the same cuts on your other draw-
er sides before moving the rip fence for the next cut.

and put the marked drawer cut. Put the marked drawer
side in place, making sure side in the jig so that you can
that it is against the stop. Set see your layout lines, adjust
the fence so that the bandsaw the fence, and make the first
blade lines up with the first tail cut on the next tail in. Flip the
cut from the edge of the draw- board and make the next cut.
er side. You’ll make two cuts Continue to adjust the fence
with the fence in this position, and make cuts. At first, you’re Move the fence. Cut one side of
one on each side of the drawer cutting one side of the tails, but the center tail and then flip the
side. Make the first cut, push- when you pass the middle you board for the second cut.
ing the jig and side together. begin to cut the other side of
Then flip over the drawer side the tails.
and make the first cut in from After all of the tails are cut,
its other edge. Now make the remove the waste between
same two cuts on the drawer’s them with a coping saw, leav-
other side. ing about 1 ⁄ 16 in. of waste
If you are doing multiple above the shoulder line. Use
drawers, make the tail cuts on a chisel to pare it away. Pare
every drawer side before ad- first from the outside, start-
Final cuts. Move the rip fence one
justing the fence for the next ing in the scribed shoulder
more time for the last tail cuts.

Clean out the waste with a coping saw. There really is no faster way to
get the job done (left). Leave just about 1 ⁄16 in. for paring. Pare from both
sides, starting on the outside face. On the inside face, you can use the
rabbet’s shoulder to guide the chisel (above).

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 39

POWER TH ROUGH THE PINS W ITH A ROUTER
If there’s one thing machines do better than hand tools, it’s the grunt
MAKE A PLATFORM FOR ROUTING
work, like removing the waste between pins. Not only does a router do
There is no way you could balance a router on the end grain of a
it with ease and efficiency, but it also is very accurate.
board and rout accurately. Make this three-sided jig and clamp it to
the drawer front to create a large surface for the router to ride on. The
Transfer the tails.
back rabbet prevents you from routing into the jig as you move from
Hammer clamps
socket to socket.
the drawer front in
a vise and pushes Back of platform is
the rabbeted under- Blocks support rabbeted for bit clearance.
side against it. The the router.
side doesn’t move
and the transfer
is dead accurate
(right). Mark the
length, too. Taking
it directly from the
drawer side (below) Size the
is more accurate opening so
and easier than that it fits
a range of
using a marking
drawer sides.
gauge.

line and chopping straight the front. Set the gauge directly
down. Don’t worry, there isn’t from the thickness of your tails.
enough waste to force the
chisel into the shoulder. Stop For pins, a router is mightier
before you go all the way than the chisel
through, and finish the job by After you’re done laying out
paring from the other side, us- the pins, you are ready to rout
ing the shoulder of the rabbet away the waste between them,
as a guide. using a 1⁄4-in.-dia. straight bit.
With the waste removed, Make sure the bit is sharp; it
transfer the tails to the drawer will be easier to control. To im-
front. I use a marking knife be- prove the router’s stability as I
cause it’s more accurate than a rout the pins, I clamp a simple
pencil, but I darken the lines jig to the drawer front and then
with a pencil to make them clamp the jig into my shoulder
easier to see. Next, use a mark- vise. Set the bit depth so that it
ing gauge to mark the depth of reaches the shoulder line you Router jig is easy to set up. Use your benchtop to bring the top of the
the pins on the inside face of marked with the gauge earlier. jig level with the drawer front. Then clamp it in place.

40 FINE WOODWORKING
Set the plunge Rout freehand. The jig offers
depth. After zero- enough surface area to keep the
ing out the bit, router stable. Shine some light
place a tail be- into the work area to improve
tween the stop and visibility (left). After a bit of prac-
the turret on the tice, Hammer discovered that he
base for an accu- could rout right up to the layout
rate setting. lines without any trouble (above).
It helps that long grain is easy to
rout.

Tips for clean paring. Pare down the back first. It’s easier to get a straight cut with the workpiece and chisel vertical than with the workpiece horizon-
tal on the bench. On the pin walls, work across the grain (right). Use a chisel wide enough to pare the entire wall in one pass.

Check the fit.

Rout the first socket, cutting as The joint should
close to the layout lines as pos- come together
sible. Rout the remaining sock- without any
ets in the same manner. trouble. But if
it doesn’t, pull
After the waste has been re-
it apart, pare
moved, clean up the sockets carefully, and
with a chisel. Again, because try again.
there is so little waste left, you
can place the chisel right on
the shoulder and pare straight
down. Test the joint’s fit, par-
ing the pins as needed (but
that shouldn’t be much) until
it comes together. □

Stephen Hammer designs and

makes furniture in New Britain, Conn.

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M Ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 41

 TOOL TEST

Smoothing
Planes

It’s the most important

hand tool in the shop, I f there is one handplane that every woodworker should have,
it is the smoothing plane. It is, in essence, a finishing tool,
stepping in where machines and rougher hand tools leave off.
Properly tuned and sharpened, a smoothing plane can leave a
pristine finish on almost any board. Yet it is still compact enough
and there are more to be ideal for general planing jobs like fitting and trimming parts.
Because the smoothing plane is so essential, it’s important that
great choices than ever you purchase the best one you can afford. To help you make
this critical choice, I put 14 smoothing planes ranging in price
from $33 to $350 through their paces, testing both of the com-
B Y C H R I S G O C H N O U R mon styles: bevel-down and bevel-up. First, I judged the overall
condition out of the box. Then I sharpened the blade and put
the plane to work. If needed, I diagnosed and tried to correct any

42 FINE WOODWORKING
A winner for every budget
When it comes to craftsmanship and performance,
you can’t go wrong with any of these five planes.
And there’s one for every budget.
LIE-NIELSEN
NO. 4
$350
CLIFTON NO. 4
$300

The Clifton No. 4 is a finely detailed, superb performer. It handled The Lie-Nielsen No. 4 is a well-crafted tool and a fabulous performer.
every test with ease and elegance, leaving perfect surfaces in its For this review, I chose the cast bronze version over the ductile
wake. It’s a hefty tool, but it’s perfectly balanced. The thick blade iron because the bronze looks great, won’t rust, and adds nice heft
holds an edge well and has a stout, two-part chipbreaker that keeps to the plane. That heft, perfectly balanced, helps the plane power
the blade flat and in full contact with the frog. Blade adjustments are through any cut. It feels smooth and steady in action, with blade
easy and convenient. The only downside is that the back of the blade adjustments that are easy and precise. The back of the blade
needed lapping before putting it to use, a minor inconvenience. arrived perfectly flat.

VERITAS NO. 4 VERITAS LOW-ANGLE WOODRIVER

$200 SMOOTH PLANE NO. 4, V3
$195 $120

The Veritas No. 4 is a finely crafted tool. The Among the bevel-up smoothers, the Veritas The WoodRiver No. 4, V3, felt and performed
machining is accurate, clean, and smooth, was best. I reground the factory-shipped like a first-rate tool with excellent results.
and the blade was lapped perfectly flat, but blade from 25° to 33° to achieve a 45° The machining is clean and accurate, and
I was disappointed with the thin, old-style cutting angle, essentially converting it to a in use, the plane didn’t disappoint. Frog
chipbreaker (see p. 45). To make mouth smoother. Like all bevel-up smoothers, the adjustments are made without removing the
adjustments, the frog is moved forward or blade requires more camber to eliminate blade—a plus—but they are finicky because
backward, with no need to remove the blade. tracks, and getting it right takes finessing. the frog does not travel in a machined slot
Blade adjustments, made with a Norris-style If you add an extra low-angle blade, you can to keep it aligned laterally. It was the one
mechanism, are easy but less convenient have both a smoother and a low-angle plane detail where the plane came up short. Once
and precise than the separate lever and for working end grain. The plane also works the frog is set, however, blade adjustments
knob on the Clifton and Lie-Nielsen above. well on its side, with a shooting board. are smooth and effective.

Photos, except where noted: Kelly J. Dunton; facing page: Thomas McKenna M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 43
 MOUTH A DJ USTMENTS SHOULD BE EASY
How big a shaving you can take depends partly on the mouth opening. On most smoothers in the review, the
opening is set by moving the frog. Others set the opening with an adjustable shoe at the front of the plane.
Adjustments are quicker and easier if you can make them with the blade in the plane.

THESE TWO TYPES MAKE IT SIMPLE

For fine cuts,
open the mouth
1 ⁄ 64 in. to 1 ⁄ 32 in.

INCONVENIENT

Remove the blade. With some planes, like the On the fly. You can’t beat a plane design that allows you to make mouth adjustments with the blade
Kunz Plus No. 4, you have to remove the blade installed. On some bevel-down planes, like the Lie-Nielsen (left), the frog-attachment and adjustment
assembly to access the frog-attachment screws screws are in the back, so you don’t have to remove the blade to access them. Bevel-up planes, and
on top, then move the frog with a screw in back. the bevel-down Stanley Sweetheart, feature an adjustable toe (right), another convenient method.

problems with the tool. Not all of the corners) to eliminate blade tracks (bevel- passes diagonally across the surface. I
planes needed help. ups needed more camber). Bevel up or made the second series with the grain to
down, I honed each blade to an effective clean up the diagonal plane marks. I made
First a sharpening cutting angle of 45°. The ECE Primus was the final series of passes with the grain
A plane must have a razor-sharp blade to the only exception among the bevel-down and with the blade set for a lighter cut.
work well, and it’s a bit much to ask manu- planes, as its blade is bedded at 50°. After that, I judged how the final surface
facturers to ship them that way. So before looked and felt.
use, I honed each blade. I started with Then a torture test Next, I used each plane on the face grain
150-grit sandpaper on a granite block and I used three boards for my tough test: pine, of some figured bubinga to see how it re-
progressed using Japanese waterstones, be- cherry, and white oak, each 11⁄ 2 in. thick sponded to a challenging, dense, and fig-
ginning with 1,000 grit, then 4,000 grit, and by 20 in. wide by 30 in. long. I planed the ured hardwood.
ending with 8,000 grit. And I gave each one face of each panel: pine first, then cherry, The final test was to plane the end grain
my usual subtle camber (slightly relieved then white oak. I made the first series of of the first three panels. I took five passes

Bevel-up or bevel-down?
Up, like a block Down is tra-
plane. Bevel-up ditional. All
planes, like the bevel-down
Veritas low-angle planes have a
smooth plane, are chipbreaker
simple and versa- atop the blade,
tile. However, the which curls
blade must have a chips forward
more pronounced and works to
camber to prevent prevent tearout.
track marks, so
sharpening takes
some practice.

44 FINE WOODWORKING
 TWO WAYS TO ADJUST THE BLADE
Once you have the mouth opening set, you’ll want to adjust the blade for a gossamer-thin shaving that spans the full width.
These depth and lateral adjustments should be simple and precise. Some planes have one mechanism for each adjustment,
while others use one for both.

1. SEPARATE KNOB AND LEVER 2. ALL-IN-ONE ADJUSTER

Twist. On most planes in the review, you set Swing. Once the depth is set, swing a lever be- Twist and swing. A Norris-style adjuster han-
depth of cut by turning a knob located behind hind the blade to make lateral adjustments. dles both types of adjustment. Gochnour finds
the blade. this style less convenient because it’s easy to
ruin one setting while adjusting the other.

on the pine, five passes on the cherry, and

then 25 passes on the white oak, in an ef-
Chipbreakers: Thicker is better
fort to dull the blade. I then took a final, Bevel-up planes don’t have chipbreak-
telling pass on the edge of a white oak ers, but all of the bevel-down planes OLD STYLE
panel to see how well the plane was still do. The chipbreaker’s job is to deflect
cutting. The performance of each plane is shavings up and out of the plane and
noted in the chart on pp. 46-47. support the blade close to the cutting
edge, which helps reduce tearout and
The envelope, please...
dampen vibration. To do these jobs well,
After weeks of testing, I was impressed
the front of the chipbreaker must meet
with the overall performance of these
planes. I’m happy to report that there is no the back of the blade seamlessly.
shortage of high-quality smoothing planes Many of these planes use an old-style NEW STYLE
out there for any budget. chipbreaker made from thin pressed
Among this impressive group, however, steel, which typically requires a good
two planes rose above the rest: The Clif- amount of tuning. In the last decade,
ton No. 4 and the Lie-Nielsen No. 4. They I’ve seen a new style of chipbreaker:
tied for Best Overall. Both are fabulous thicker, machined dead-flat, with a bev-
performers. eled edge at the tip that is easy to fine-
I had a more difficult time choosing Best tune for a perfect fit with the blade.
Value. After much retesting, I whittled the
My favorite in this group is a two-
list down to the WoodRiver No. 4, V3 and TWO-PIECE
piece design (unique to the Clifton).
two from Veritas: the No. 4 and the low-an-
If you sharpen freehand, it is great
gle smooth plane. You couldn’t go wrong
with any of these planes, so the Best Value because you simply lift off the front sec-
is a tie among the three. tion and sharpen away. The design
also doesn’t flex the blade, so in
Chris Gochnour is a furniture maker and hand- theory it stays in full contact with
tool expert near Salt Lake City. the frog, providing maximum support.

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 45

14 smoothers, head to head MODEL/SOURCE
STREET
PRICE
WEIGHT BLADE MATERIAL
A great smoothing plane has precise components that are
well machined. In use, you want the plane to be easy to set
up and adjust, to leave a pristine surface, and to Anant Kamal No. 4 0.117-in.-thick
have a blade that will stand up to rigorous use. $60 4 lb. 2 oz.
highlandwoodworking.com high-carbon steel

Anant Kamal
No. 4
Clifton
No. 4 Clifton No. 4 0.130-in.-thick hand-
$300 4 lb. 7 oz.
toolsforworkingwood.com forged high-carbon steel

ECE Primus 711 0.110-in.-thick

ECE Primus $200 2 lb. 7 oz.
toolsforworkingwood.com chrome/Vanadium
711

Footprint
No. 4 Footprint No. 4 0.080-in.-thick
$55 4 lb.
woodcraft.com high-carbon steel

Groz No. 4 0.075-in.-thick

Groz
$33 3 lb. 4 oz.
rockler.com high-carbon steel
No. 4

Kunz Plus
No. 4 Kunz Plus No. 4 0.135-in.-thick
$200 3 lb. 15 oz.
traditionalwoodworker.com high-carbon steel

Lie-Nielsen
No. 4 Lie-Nielsen No. 4
$350 4 lb. 13 oz. 0.125-in.-thick A2/Cryo
lie-nielsen.com
Lie-Nielsen No.
164 Low-angle
Smoothing Plane
Lie-Nielsen No. 164 Low-
angle Smoothing Plane $265 3 lb. 12 oz. 0.180-in.-thick A2/Cryo
lie-nielsen.com
Stanley
Bailey
No. 4 Stanley Bailey No. 4 0.082-in.-thick
$75 3 lb. 14 oz.
Stanley rockler.com high-carbon steel
Sweetheart
No. 4

Stanley Sweetheart No. 4

$180 4 lb. 14 oz. 0.125-in.-thick A2
rockler.com

Veritas Bevel-Up
Smoother Plane
Veritas Bevel-Up
Smoother Plane $220 4 lb. 14 oz. 0.185-in.-thick A2
Veritas Low-Angle leevalley.com
Smooth Plane

Veritas Low-Angle
Smooth Plane $195 4 lb. 9 oz. 0.120-in.-thick A2
Veritas leevalley.com
No. 4

Wood River
No. 4, V3
Veritas No. 4
$200 4 lb. 11 oz. 0.125-in.-thick A2
leevalley.com

Online Extra Wood River

To learn more about the details that No. 4, V3 $120 5 lb. 0.125-in.-thick A2
make a great plane, watch the video woodcraft.com
at FineWoodworking.com/extras.

46 FINE WOODWORKING
 EDGE CHIP- EASE OF FIT AND OVERALL
COMMENTS
RETENTION BREAKER ADJUSTMENTS FINISH RATING

Depth: Very good Of all the planes under $100, the Anant performed best;
Old style,
Good Lateral: Very good Good Good chipbreaker needed tuning for a better fit
0.115 in. thick
Mouth: Fair with the blade.

Depth: Excellent
Two-piece, Almost ready to go out of the box (blade needed lapping);
Very good Lateral: Excellent Excellent Excellent
0.125 in. thick unique, two-piece chipbreaker was author’s favorite.
Mouth: Very good

Glides easily on its slick lignum vitae sole but light weight
Depth: Excellent
New style, didn’t provide much inertia; most precise vertical adjuster of
Very good Lateral: Fair Very good Very good
0.120 in. thick any plane in the test—-absolutely no backlash; left- and right-
Mouth: Good
hand models available.

Depth: Very good Too much blade deflection and chatter on white oak and
Old style,
NA* Lateral: Very good Poor Poor bubinga panels and on cherry and oak end grain; poor
0.075 in. thick
Mouth: Fair machining and casting.

Depth: Good
Old style, Too much blade deflection and chatter on the bubinga and
NA* Lateral: Very good Fair Fair
0.075 in. thick cherry and white oak end grain.
Mouth: Fair

Depth: Fair Blade adjuster was a weak spot: too much backlash in vertical
New style,
Very good Lateral: Fair Good Good adjustments, and lateral adjustments had to be fine-tuned by
0.095 in. thick
Mouth: Good tapping blade with a hammer.

Depth: Excellent Exceptional quality; needed only to hone the blade to put the
New style,
Excellent Lateral: Excellent Excellent Excellent tool to work; Lie-Nielsen sells higher-angle replacement frogs
0.125 in. thick
Mouth: Very good for this plane.

Bevel-up design; vertical adjuster is integrated into lever

Depth: Excellent
cap, making blade replacement after sharpening more
Excellent None Lateral: Fair Excellent Very good
cumbersome; however, adjuster nut is located in a convenient
Mouth: Excellent
spot; blade requires more camber to eliminate tracks.

Depth: Very good Too much blade deflection and chatter on bubinga panel and
Old style,
NA* Lateral: Very good Fair Fair cherry and white oak end grain; sole needed
0.075 in. thick
Mouth: Fair significant lapping.

Depth: Good
New style, Frog is cast into plane body, a rock-solid design; adjustable
Very good Lateral: Good Very good Very good
0.110 in. thick mouth makes for precise mouth adjustments.
Mouth: Excellent

Bevel-up design; blade is wider (2¼ in.) than others tested

Depth: Very good and quick and easy to remove and replace; has convenient
Excellent None Lateral: Good Excellent Excellent adjustable mouth; set screws on body help hold lateral
Mouth: Excellent adjustments; handled end grain tests the best; blade requires
more camber to eliminate tracks.
Bevel-up design; square sides make plane suitable for use
with a shooting board, versatility the other Veritas bevel-up
Depth: Very good
plane does not have; set screws on body help hold lateral
Excellent None Lateral: Very good Excellent Excellent
adjustments; blade requires more camber to eliminate tracks;
Mouth: Excellent
when removing the blade, the adjustment mechanism sticks to
it and lifts out, a minor nuisance.

Depth: Very good Frog and tote are one piece, a strong design; mouth
Old style,
Excellent Lateral: Very good Excellent Excellent adjustments are easily made without removing the blade; set
0.075 in. thick
Mouth: Very good screws on body help hold lateral adjustments.

Depth: Excellent Machining is clean and accurate; depth and lateral

New style,
Excellent Lateral: Excellent Very good Very good adjustments were great, but mouth adjustments were
0.110 in. thick
Mouth: Good a bit fussy.

*Unable to complete test; see comments.

M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 47
Dining Table DOUBLE-FRONT ED
DRAWERS MAKE
THIS PIECE UNIQ U E

with Two-Way With two drawer fronts,

a center beam, plywood
bottoms, and custom pulls,
Top, ¾ in. thick
by 357⁄ 8 in. wide
by 78¾ in. long

Drawers
these drawers are both
distinctive and durable.

Upper stretchers, ¾ in. thick

by 57⁄ 8 in. wide by 737⁄ 8 in. long

End runner, ¾ in. thick

by 2½ in. wide

Tenon, 5⁄ 16 thick
by 2 in. wide by
1 in. long

Double
stub tenon

A sleek, sturdy
design for a Leg, 17⁄ 8 in. square at top
by 29¾ in. long
versatile table
Center beam, Taper both
¾ in. thick by inside faces
B Y S T E P H E N H A M M E R Groove, 2¾ in. wide, of leg.
¼ in. wide by with stub tenons
¼ in. deep, to fit groove

M
5⁄ 8 in. from
any of my favorite designs began with a challenging bottom edge
request from a client, and that was definitely the case
with this table. The client wanted a dining table that
would double as a worktable with a lot of storage, so I added
double-fronted drawers accessible from either side. That required
a drawer with half-blind dovetails at both ends, and a support
system that could handle the extra stress of deep drawers when
fully loaded. So I designed a table with upper and lower drawer
stretchers that have the vertical dividers mortised in solidly. In ad-
dition, I wanted a clean design that would emphasize the beauty
of the wood, and in this case tie into the eclectic setting that would Drawer front, 7⁄ 8 in.
be its home. I chose walnut because the table would be paired thick by 31⁄ 8 in. wide
by 233⁄ 8 in. long
with a set of walnut Nakashima benches.
The table has the usual parts: legs, stretchers, dividers, runners
and kickers, aprons, and drawers. But because it is built like a Drawer bottom,
½-in.-thick plywood,
torsion box and the drawers have double fronts, the how-to is rabbeted to fit groove Drawer side, ½ in.
more like a cross between a chest of drawers and a basic table. thick by 31⁄ 8 in. wide
Keep track of the joinery and work in the right order and you’ll
have no trouble reproducing this versatile dining table.
To purchase digital plans and
a complete cutlist for this
Mortises, and lots of them, are the key to this construction table and other projects, go to
To begin, I go to my hollow-chisel mortiser and mortise the legs FineWoodworking.com/PlanStore.
and stretchers, about 52 mortises in all. The upper and lower

48 FINE WOODWORKING Photos: Matt Kenney; drawings: Stephen Hammer

 TAPERED EDGES DETAIL
⁄ in.
18
⁄
7 32 in.

12°

12°
Center kicker, ¾ in.
thick by 5 in. wide

Buttons attach
base to top. Drawer front

12°
Vertical dividers,
7⁄ 8 in. thick by

5¾ in. wide by End kicker,

43⁄ 4 in. tall ¾ in. thick by
2½ in. wide 18 ⁄ in.
Divider, 7⁄ 8 in. thick

Apron spacer, Leg

1 in. thick by
1¼ in. wide by
29 in. long

Center runner,
¾ in. thick by
5 in. wide

Tenon, 5⁄ 16 thick
by 1¼ in. wide by
1 in. long
Apron spacer, 1 in.
thick by 1¼ in. wide
Lower by 29 in. long
stretchers,
7⁄ 8 in. thick by
Stub tenon, 3 ⁄ 8 in.
57⁄ 8 in. wide by thick by ¼ in. long
737⁄ 8 in. long
LOWER STRETCHER DETAIL
Apron, ¾ in. thick
by 4¾ in. wide by
Stretchers have 32 in. long
1-in.-wide walnut
edging. ⁄ in.
14
Tenon, 3 ⁄ 8 in. thick
1 in. by 2¾ in. wide by
1½ in. long
⁄ in.
38
21⁄ 8 in.
FRONT Tenon, 3 ⁄ 8 in. thick
SIDE
78¾ in.
¾ in.
717⁄ 8 in. 357⁄ 8 in.

31 ⁄ 8 in. 4¾ in.

233⁄ 8 in. 233⁄ 8 in. 233⁄ 8 in. 29 in.

29¾ in.

13⁄16 in. 13⁄16 in.

M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 49
 M A K E SHORT WORK OF stretchers are mortised through their faces for the vertical dividers
that separate the drawers. Take extra care that all these mortises
M U LT I - TENON JOINTS line up top to bottom, because their alignment is critical or the
The bulk of vertical dividers will be crooked. To do this, I clamp all four pieces
the joinery is Upper stretcher
together and, using my square as a guide, score a line across the
mortise-and-tenon inside edge of the stretchers. Then I transfer those lines across
joints. The most the faces of the stretchers to lay out the exact mortise locations.
challenging ones
Vertical drawer Keep in mind that the legs are designed with a very simple
are the multiple divider double-sided taper that begins at the base of the apron. I cut the
tenons on each
vertical drawer
joinery before tapering the leg, so I can work on it while it is
⁄ -in. shoulders
1 16
still flat and square. I cut the mortises for the lower stretcher and
divider. Here’s how
to tackle them the haunched mortises for the side aprons. The upper stretchers
successfully. connect to the legs with lap dovetails. The socket for the dovetail
is cut later.
Now that the mortises are cut, it’s time to move on to the tenons
VERTICAL DRAWER on the aprons, the drawer runners and kickers, the lower stretch-
DIVIDER TENON LAYOUT ers, and the vertical dividers.
The side aprons have haunched tenons. These tenons are cut
with several passes on the tablesaw with a 1⁄ 2-in. dado set. I lay the
Lower stretcher boards flat on the table and crosscut them, using the fence to set
the tenon length. The tenons on the runners and kickers are cut
using the same method. To keep from interfering with the vertical
⁄ in.
78
¾ in. ¾ in.
drawer divider joinery, the center runners and kickers have two
⁄ in.
12 ⁄ in.
12 ⁄ in.
12 tenons. I remove the waste between the tenons on the tablesaw
15⁄ 16 in.
with the same sled and method I use for the vertical dividers,
below. This isn’t necessary on the end runners and kickers.
The tenons on the lower stretchers aren’t as straightforward.
They are joined with a double stub tenon into the leg and a single
tenon into the lower apron spacer. I cut the stub tenons on the
bandsaw and use the router table and a straight bit to create the
tenon that lands in the spacer. I measure for the mortise in the
lower apron spacer and cut it. Later, when the legs are glued to
the apron, I dry-fit the lower stretcher system to the legs and
apron, setting the apron spacer in place. It automatically registers
itself, which allows me to mark its location and glue it in place.

Upper stretchers get dovetails

While the lower stretchers have mortises and tenons, the upper
stretchers are connected to the leg and apron spacer with dove-
tails. This makes assembly much easier. I use a simple jig to estab-
Mortises first. Mark the upper and lower stretchers for the location of
the vertical drawer dividers, and then cut these through-mortises with a lish the sides of the tails on the bandsaw, and then I cope out the
hollow-chisel mortiser, using a backer board to prevent blowout.

Graze the tenon cheeks. Before cutting the ten- Mortises locate tenons. Use the A simple sled. Hammer uses a very basic sled to
ons, skim 1 ⁄16 in. of material from the tenon cheeks mortises on the stretchers to locate hold the vertical dividers as he removes the waste
with a dado set. This gives a clean edge where the and mark the tenons on the vertical between tenons. He works carefully to his layout
tenons end. dividers. lines without using a stop, test-fitting as he goes.

50 FINE WOODWORKING
 WA I T T O DO THE
U P P E R S TRETCHERS
Unlike the lower stretchers, the upper stretchers
get dovetailed into the legs and apron spacers.
The quirk in the process is this: Because the
dovetail sockets go partially into the apron
spacers, they can’t be laid out and cut until
after the legs are glued to the aprons.
Dovetail the stretcher and lay out the
Upper sockets. Saw and chop the dovetails and
stretcher clean to the line with a chisel (above). Dry-
fit the apron spacers into the apron/leg
assembly and mark the dovetail locations
in the leg and spacer (right).
Remove the spac-
ers to notch them.
Using the tablesaw
Dry-fit the
spacer to mark
sled again, this time
for dovetails. with an angled fence,
Hammer makes
the cuts to form the
sides of the dovetail
sockets. Then he runs
the spacers through
the same dado setup
but on a 90° sled to
remove any waste in
UPPER STRETCHER DOVETAIL LAYOUT the center.

⁄ in.
14
⁄ in.
12

1 in.

1 in. 1:6 slope ⁄ in.

1 2 1 in.

waste and clean up with a chisel. These

structural dovetails are never seen, so ap-
pearance is not critical (see “Half-Blind
Dovetails in Half the Time,” pp. 36-41). Create the sock-
With all the leg joinery completed, I now feel comfortable cut- ets in the legs.
ting the tapers in the legs. With only four legs to do, I mark the Hammer clamps
taper on the legs, cut it freehand on the bandsaw, and then clean the leg-and-apron
assembly into his
it up on the jointer, making sure to register one side against the
end vise with the
fence to keep the taper square. Later, after the legs are glued to top of the leg flush
the aprons, I’ll mark and cut the dovetail socket in the top of the with the top of the
leg post, using a plunge router freehand. Then I clean it up with bench (above).
chisels. With the router
base sitting on the
How to simplify a complex glue-up bench, he routs
close to the layout
Because there are so many parts in the drawer system, this glue- line, then cleans
up is more complicated than the average table glue-up. But you to the line with a
can break it into manageable stages: the leg/apron assembly, and chisel (right).
then the stretcher assembly. Before glue-up, do a final sanding
and finishing of the table parts. I use a finely set smoothing plane
to remove mill marks, followed by a random-orbit sander up to
P320-grit sandpaper. Then I apply Tried & True Original Wood
Finish to all the parts. I can always sand more after assembly,

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 51

M A N AGE THE GLUE-UP
I N S TAGES
This is a little
trickier than your
average table glue-
up, so it’s best to
take it in steps. The
legs are already
glued to the aprons,
so you’ll need to
glue in the apron
spacers, make
two frames of the
stretchers, runners
and kickers, and
then piece it all
together. Glue in the spacers. Clamp the apron spac- Create two frames. The two lower stretchers are connected by the
ers into the leg-to-apron assembly. drawer runners. The two upper stretchers are connected by the kickers.

but this step saves time, gives a nicer finish, and helps a lot with Put it all together—Next, glue the vertical drawer dividers
glue cleanup. into the lower stretcher frame. You have to make sure they stay
Attach the aprons to the legs—Gluing the apron to the front straight as they are drying, so you can use a slow-dry glue such
and back legs is straightforward, and the mortises dictate the as Titebond Extend and work on gluing the upper stretcher as-
alignment of the parts. The side aprons have upper and lower sembly right away, or you can take the pressure off the glue-up
spacers glued to them that allow the drawers to clear the legs, and simply dry-fit the top in place until the dividers are dry.
which are thicker than the aprons. However, I do not attach and The final steps happen all at once. Glue the lower stretcher as-
cut the joinery in these spacers until the legs are glued to the sembly into the leg/apron assemblies, and drop the top stretcher
aprons. It is easier to cut the joinery when they are separated from assembly into place over the dovetail sockets and drawer divider
the apron, but I need the leg/apron assembly together to mark tenons. It is critical that you check all the parts for square. Mea-
the exact location of the joinery on the spacers. With the joinery suring the diagonals works well for this. Here you also can just
done, the spacers can be glued in place. dry-fit the top in place while the bottom stretcher dries, and then
Two sets of stretcher frames, upper and lower—This is where add the top.
things get a little complicated (but just a little). I glue up the front
and back lower stretchers with the drawer runners as one frame, Quick and easy drawer construction, even with two fronts
then the front and back upper stretchers with the drawer kickers With the base assembled, it is time to focus on the drawers. I
as a second frame. combine power tools and handwork to create consistent dovetails
efficiently while keeping a hand-cut appearance (see “Half-Blind

MAKE HANDSOME HANDLES

TOP 31⁄ 2 in.

⁄
7 16 in.

⁄ in.
14
53⁄ 8 in.

18⁄ in.
FRONT SIDE
⁄ in.
1 32

shoulder

⁄
3 16 in.
⁄
5 16 in. C/L
¼ in. ⁄
7 16 in. ¼ in.

52
 Drop the verti-
cal dividers in
place and top
it off. With the
vertical dividers
glued into the
lower stretchers,
you can dry-fit the
top stretcher as-
sembly until the
vertical dividers
are set, and then
glue the top as-
sembly in place.
Or use glue with a
longer open time
Add the lower frame to the legs. One long clamp and do it all at
on each side is enough to pull it all together. once.

Dovetails in Half the Time,” pp. 36-41). I use quartersawn white by side using biscuits for alignment. After cutting the top to final
oak for the drawer sides. Its hardness lets the drawer slide easily size, I shaped the edge with a 12° bevel that matches the bevel
and with little wear. It also contrasts with the walnut to show off on the stretchers. Wooden buttons secure the top to the frame.
the dovetails. Custom walnut handles are the finishing touch. By To finish the top, I use a finely set smoothing plane to take out
the way, I didn’t use a catch to register these drawers, but if you all the milling marks, and then sand it up to P320 grit. I then ap-
are interested in bullet catches, see p. 56. ply several coats of Tried & True Original Wood Finish wiped on
and rubbed off by hand. Even though all parts were pre-finished,
Top it off I go over the entire piece again with a final few coats. □
With the base complete, you can make the top. I made mine from
a series of boards picked for grain appearance and glued up side Stephen Hammer designs and makes custom furniture in New Britain, Conn.

Rip tricks. The first two rip cuts form the tenon (left). Leaving the angled cheek cut
for last lets the handle stock fall away from the blade (right).

A few cross-
cuts. Multiple
crosscut passes
waste away ma-
terial to create
the tenons.
Then raise and
angle the blade
to cut the han- Final shape. Using the tenons to secure the handles in a
dles to length. vise, do the shaping with a block plane.

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M Ay / J u n E 2 0 1 1 53

 Case Closed How to use off-the-shelf hardware
to close cabinet doors in style

B rowse through the clunky catches offered in some catalogs and it would be easy to
conclude that a shopmade catch is the only tasteful way to keep a cabinet door closed.
After all, the goal is a catch that will hold a door securely closed but be unobtrusive.
But some commercial catches are simple and discrete enough to be at home in fine furni-
ture. In this article, three of our contributing editors show you their techniques for making
elegant use of different commercial catches. We’ll also show you how to make a simple catch
using hidden rare-earth magnets.

54 FINE WOODWORKING Photo, bottom left: Courtesy of MIchael Fortune

 Double-ball catch: Adjustable power where it’s needed
B Y S T E V E L A T T A

Tension-spring
adjustment
A mong all the contemporary catches I’ve seen, I like the double-ball variety for its versatil-
ity, appearance, and ease of installation. And, like the bullet catch, you can even install
them when the cabinet back is already in place.
In general, it’s good to place the catch close to where the door pull is located, but because
these catches have the ability to pull a door into a frame or against a stop, you can place them
selectively to alleviate a slight twist in the door caused by a poor glue-up or wood movement.
Place them at the top, bottom, or along the edge—wherever the pressure is needed. I typi-
Ball cally use them on inset doors, but they’ve performed well for my students on overlay doors,
too. They are relatively attractive as far as hardware goes and, being brass, can be easily
antiqued or polished. They are easy to install and easy to adjust. You can adjust the tension
spring and, if need be, reshape the tear-drop portion for a smoother feel. The cost is minimal
and they are readily available. A note of caution, however: I’ve seen the quality of many
Catch
of these units decline over the years. I like the versions from Lee Valley and Whitechapel.
Teardrop
Steve Latta is a contributing editor.
INSET THE CATCH

Measure the door. To ensure that the door Mark the case. Use the setting on your square Mount the catch. After securing the top of
will close flush to the cabinet, use a combina- to transfer the inset depth for the catch and the catch with a screw, use the square to align
tion square to measure from the front of the mark the top hole’s location for drilling. Paint- the bottom and then mark the second hole for
door to the edge of the catch’s mounting plate. er’s tape helps make the mark more visible. drilling.

A STICKY TRICK

Apply double-stick tape. Latta has a simple Put the mating pieces together. Set the tear- Close the door firmly, then open it. The
tool for finding the exact location of the mating drop into the catch and then loosen the tension double-stick tape will adhere to the door, plac-
teardrop: double-stick tape. spring so the teardrop will release easily. ing the teardrop in the perfect location for
mounting.

Photos, except where noted: Steve Scott; facing page, bottom right, and drawings: John Tetreault M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 55
 Bullet catch: Discrete and supportive
B Y G A R R E T T H A C K

Keeper I like a catch that holds a door shut and is quiet, gentle, and not obvious. A little bullet catch
does all of that, plus, when located at the bottom of the door, keeps it from sagging. These
catches hold best if the gap around the door is small, roughly 1⁄16 in.
A bullet catch has two parts: The “bullet” is a compact brass cylinder with a spring-loaded
ball bearing at one end. On nicer catches, like those from Brusso or Horton Brasses, the mat-
ing “keeper” piece is a shorter cylinder with a slightly convex end that’s indented across the
center to capture the ball bearing.
A good place for the catch is centered both on the door’s thickness and on the width of the
outer stile. It’s possible to mount the bullet on the underside of the door, but most of the time I
put it in the bottom rail of the case, with the keeper in the door, where any wear will be hidden.

Bullet Spring-loaded Garrett Hack is a contributing editor.

ball bearing

Drill the hole. Close the door

Mark the hole loca-
1 4 to mark the loca-
tion with an awl to tion. A strip of
help seat the brad- masking tape on
point bit and locate the strike area will
a pre-drilled guide make the pencil
block. The block lead visible.
helps keep the bit
vertical and pre-
vents tearout. Mark
the hole depth on
the bit with a piece
of painter’s tape.

Set the bullet 2

in place. First,
double-check the Where the pencil
hole’s depth (Hack 5
line stops, drill
uses the sliding your hole. Dimple
end of a dial cali- the spot with an
per); the cylinder awl to receive the
can be difficult to drill bit. Use the
remove. A few taps same pre-drilled
with a hammer guide block as you
and wooden block did for the bullet,
should help seat and again double-
the ball so that its check the depth of
collar is flush with the hole.
the case.

Layout trick is Install the catch.

on the ball. Cover
3 6 The indentation
the ball with pencil should run side to
lead to help mark side, to trap the
its location on the ball in the center
bottom of the door. of the catch. The
rim should be flush
with the bottom of
the door. If you’ve
drilled too deep, pry
or tap the keeper
loose and shim it
with tape.

56 FINE WOODWORKING
 Rare-earth magnet: Blend it into the woodwork
B Y M I C H A E L F O R T U N E

T o create a simple but effective catch, I like to mount a rare-earth magnet in a piece of
wood shaped to reflect the overall lines of the cabinet or a detail such as the handles.
The block is typically from 4 in. to 8 in. long, and I attach it with #6 round-head screws
Striker plate and slightly oversize holes, so there is a degree of adjustability. Two deep counterbores
hide the screw heads. Major woodworking suppliers like Rockler, Woodcraft, and Wood-
worker’s Supply sell the magnets and hardware: a metal cup that securely cradles the magnet
so it doesn’t pull out, and a striker plate that screws into the door.
I often use darker contrasting woods in my furniture, so I’ll
use a block of wood in the same species or even ebonize
it. When I do this, I also color all of the magnet hardware
black with Brass Black metal finish, available at Amazon
Wood block .com and sporting-goods stores. Sand the surface lightly
first to prepare it for the coloring treatment.
Metal cup
with magnet
Michael Fortune is a contributing editor.

Attach the block. Fortune mounts the block

Drill the holes before shaping the block. Shape the block. Use double-stick tape to at- under a shelf or the top (the cabinet is flipped
Use a Forstner bit to drill a recess for the mag- tach an extension block that lets you cut and here), slightly behind the edge to accommo-
net and its mounting cup. sand the block safely. date the striker plate.

The magnet sits in a cup. The metal cup is No glue needed. The magnet seats itself in Attach the striker. Reference marks trans-
sold with the magnet and is held in place with the cup, and it stays put. ferred from the case help locate the striker
a flathead screw. plate, which consists of a steel screw and a
small washer.

Photos, this page and p. 58, except where noted: Matt Kenney M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 57
 Touch latch: Replaces door handles
B Y M I C H A E L F O R T U N E
Spring-loaded
magnetic catch

W hen a cabinet’s design would be compromised by

surface-mounted handles, I use a commercial touch
latch. The latch uses a spring-mounted magnetic catch that
releases when the door is pushed inward slightly, so no door
handles are required.
These latches—available as single or double units at Woodcraft, Riche-
lieu Hardware, and other cabinetry suppliers—are made of plastic and, while
they work well, they’re a little too ugly to leave in plain sight. I fix this by fashion-
ing an elegant cover for the latch, made from solid stock that harmonizes with the cabinet.
This cover rail typically matches the length of the rail or shelf to which its attached. Installing Cover
rail
it is a matter of mounting the latch and accurately locating the openings in the custom cover.
Striker plate
Michael Fortune is a contributing editor.

Cut away the Let the plungers

front and rear
1 4 through. Fortune
faces. After mill- uses a Forstner bit
ing the solid-wood to drill clearance
block that will holes through the
house the latch, front face for the
Fortune rips a thin two latch plungers.
strip—a little less Insert a wooden
than 1 ⁄8 in. thick— block into the cav-
from each edge. ity to prevent blow-
out during drilling
and when squaring
up the holes with a
Create a home
for the latch. Use
2 chisel.

repeated tablesaw
cuts to excavate a
cavity to house the
Attach the latch.
latch mechanism. 5 Mount the latch on
the underside of a
cabinet rail or shelf.
Set the catch back
from the rail’s edge
to make room for
the striker plate.
Hide the hole. With 3
the cavity created,
glue the front and rear
edge strips back into
place. This encloses Install the cover
6 rail. The clearance
the hollowed-out
opening. holes should fit over
the latch plungers,
with the plunger
faces slightly proud.
Countersunk screws
hold the cover rail
in place. A striker
plate is mounted
on each door using
reference marks
transferred from
the case.

Photos, this page, bottom right; p. 57, bottom center;

58 FINE WOODWORKING and all product shots: John Tetreault
 Windsor Rocker
Without Special Tools Part 2
CONTINUED
FROM FWW #218

THE PROGRESS SO FAR

PARTS IN THE WORKS
Complete the top half In Part 1,
we steam-
of the chair, add the rockers, bent the
back posts,

sit back, and relax the spindles,

and the crest
rail. These
parts remain
B Y P E T E R G A L B E R T rough-turned or
shaped, but the
back-post tenons

Y ou are halfway through the construction of this have been finish-

beautiful rocking chair, which combines Windsor- turned and fitted
to the seat.
chair joinery with contemporary design. After all the
hard work shaping and steam-
bending the parts, drilling
and sculpting the seat, and
completing the leg joinery, the
squat, four-legged stool you have at this
point in the project may not seem worth the
effort. But most of the hard work is behind
you, and what lies ahead is the fun part. ASSEMBLED PARTS
Also in Part 1, we
Join the arms to the seat and back posts
sculpted the seat, then
The two frames formed by the seat, arms, arm
drilled and reamed the
posts, and back posts form a very strong tapered holes in it. We
connection between the chair’s seat and also turned the legs and
back. Finish shaping the lower half of the stretchers, cut slots for
back posts with a spokeshave, but leave the the rockers, and then
top portion until after you have chopped the glued and wedged the
mortises for the crest rail. Mark the location legs into the seat.
of the arm’s mortise on each back post.
Select dry stock with matching grain for
the arms. Transfer the pattern to the
top and inside of each rectangular arm
blank. Extend the center line down
both ends of the arm and scribe a hori- PARTS TO BE MADE
zontal line 5⁄ 8 in. from the top face all The only major parts still
the way around the blank to create to be made are the two
centers for turning. This is offset turn- arms, made from blanks
ing, so make sure that the piece doesn’t strike the tool rest. Turn with matching grain, and
the tenon until the line on the inside of the curve nearly vanishes. the rockers, which are cut
Dry-fit the arm and back post—Cut a test block roughly match- from quartersawn stock.
ing the length and thickness of the arm and drill a 1⁄ 2-in.-dia. hole

M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 59
 Make and fit the arms at 62° for the arm post. Ream the test block until the underside of
the block is aligned with the baseline of the arm tenon on the arm
post. The reamer used for the seat mortises may not fit this smaller
hole, but a plumber’s 6° reamer used to de-burr pipes (available
at hardware stores) works fine. Now see if the other end of the
test block centers on the location of the mortise in the back post.
If you’re close, you can tweak the angle when you drill the arm. If
not, make another test block and try again.
Drill the mortise at 62° (or whatever angle worked on the test
block), using the centerline as a sightline. Cut away a section of
the underside of the arm down to the layout line on either side of
the arm-post hole. This will enable you to ream the hole until the
bottom of the arm just touches the arm post’s baseline. Ream both
arms at the same time to ensure matching angles. Once both arms
are seated, note the actual height of the mortises on the back posts.
The mortises in the back posts directly face the arm posts. To
find this point, place a large rubber band around the back post
at the height of the mortise and stretch it across to the point you
1. ROUGH THEM OUT FIRST reamed down on the arm post. Measure halfway across the gap at
the back post end of the rubber band to find the center, and check
Rough-turn the the alignment by visually centering the arm post on the back post.
tenon. Bandsaw To find the correct angle of the mortise in the back post, use the
the top profile for same block with a 85° angle cut on one end. Set the block on
each arm, mount it the arm and mark the angle on the outside of each back post.
on the lathe using Place the roughed-out arm tenons into the top of the shopmade
the center points at
kiln (see plans in Part 1) and let them dry for at least 24 hours.
each end, then mark
the centerline of the Drill the mortise in the same way you drilled the mortises in the
tenon (above). Turn legs, using the V block holder and keeping the line marked on the
the tenon (right) until posts parallel to the benchtop with the mortise location pointing
the line drawn on the straight up. Drill the mortise with a 7⁄ 8-in. to 3⁄ 8-in. stepped bit
inside almost disap- (morriswoodtool.com/Counterbores) until the shoulder is about
pears. 1⁄ 8 in. below the surface of the post. It’s important to note that

the obtuse, or larger of the two angles, is toward the top of the

2. DRILL THE ARM-POST MORTISE

Check the angle. The

mortise in the arm
needs to be angled so
that the arm tenon is
at the correct height
on the back post. Start
with a test block drilled
at 62°. Adjust the
angle from there.

Drill the arm-post

mortise. In the same
way that you drilled the
leg mortises in Part 1,
drill into the arm for
the arm post with the
bevel gauge set to the
test-block angle.

Ream to fit. Bandsaw down to the layout line on the underside of the arm
so you can see when the arm post is home. That way, when you ream the
mortise, you can be sure that the arm will enter the post at the right spot.

60 FINE WOODWORKING Photos: Mark Schofield; drawings: Bob La Pointe

 THE TWO-STEP MORTISE
A two-step mortise is much stronger than a Back post
single-diameter joint. If the whole joint were
7⁄ 8 in. dia., this would weaken the back post. If

the whole joint were 3 ⁄ 8 in. dia., the arm post

would be weak where it enters the post, the
most likely point of failure.
Mortise, 7⁄ 8 in. dia.
by 1 ⁄ 8 in. deep
Arm

3. DRILL THE POST AND SHAPE THE A R M

Wedge
Lay out the back-post mortise. Place the same board used to lay out
the leg stretchers onto the arm and trace a line on a piece of tape on the ⁄ -in.-dia. tenon extends
38

back post. through the back post.

Drill the mortise.

Angle the post until
the line you just
drew is parallel to
the benchtop. Using
the angled board
and a mirror, drill
a stepped mortise
through the post
with two brad-point
bits.

At arm’s length.
With the stepped
mortise drilled,
measure from the
bottom of the wide
part of the mortise
to the midpoint of
the arm post.

Two-step tenon.
Mark the location
where the tenon
steps down and
then turn it on the
lathe. A shopmade
gauge aids accu-
racy.

Shave your arms.

Mark the centerline
of the arm. With the
joinery complete,
sculpt the arms
using a drawknife,
spokeshave, files,
Four-way glue up. The back post, arm post, and arm need to be glued
and sandpaper.
and wedged all at one time. Use a clamp to ensure the stepped arm-to-
back-post joint fully closes.

M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 61
 Add the crest rail and shape the spindles

Fit the crest rail to the chair. With the back posts glued in, clamp the crest rail to them in line with the mortises. Slide the rail back and forth to find
the best fit and then mark out the tenons (left). The scalloped ends of the crest rail transition into tenons that enter the back posts (right). Because the
posts need to be splayed later when inserting the crest rail, having a tenon that fits tight on four sides is awkward. So leave a slight gap above the tenon.

chair. This mortise also can be drilled with the combination of

a 7⁄ 8-in.-dia. Forstner bit for the shoulder and a 3⁄ 8-in.-dia. brad-
point bit for the mortise, as long as the tip on the brad-point is
Start on the long enough to correctly center in the dimple left by the Forstner.
spindles. Use a Place the back post in the seat and measure the distance be-
template to lay out tween where the arm-post tenon exits the arm and the shoulder
and then bandsaw of the rear-post mortise. Use this distance to mark the shoulder
the profiles on the
on the arm’s super-dry tenon. Finish-turn the shoulder and tenon.
bottom of each
spindle. Then use
Shaping the arms and the back posts—Bandsaw the side
a spokeshave profile on each arm, then tape the waste back on and cut the top
to create round profile. Draw a midpoint line around the sides of the arm to give a
tenons. reference point for shaping. I shape the arms with drawknives and

Point of contact. Number and dry-fit the

spindles into the seat. Draw an oval (above)
across all the spindles where the sitter’s back
will make contact (have someone sit on it to
lay out the oval). Narrow the spindles above
and below the oval and smooth the fronts and
backs using a drawknife (right), a spokeshave,
and a scraper.

62 FINE WOODWORKING
 Drill the crest
rail. For stability,
Finish off the top clamp the crest rail
to the angled bend-
of the rocker ing form. Drill each
angled hole for the
spindles, starting
nearer to the back
of the rail to avoid
breaking through
the tapered front.

Back support.
Dry-fit the spindles,
then bend a thin
strip of wood
against their wid-
est part. Alter the
angle of individual
spindles until you
get a smooth, flow-
ing curve.
Space the spindles. Because the spindles splay outward from the cen-
ter, mark the location and angle where they enter the crest rail. Mark the loca-
tion. Place mask-
ing tape on the top
spokeshaves while holding them in a shave horse, but you also and base of the
can secure the arm in a vise or with clamps. While the tops of the spindles to show
the correct depth
arms will be sanded smooth, I leave clean spokeshave facets on of each tenon. Then
the underside for the sitter to discover. mark the orienta-
While the tops of the back posts still have flat sides, cut the mor- tion of each spindle
tises near the top for the crest rail. Now you can round the rear of so that you keep
each back post and start to taper the tops. Leave a 1⁄4-in.-wide flat the flowing curve
section on each top, as it helps to rest the chair on these points after glue-up.
when assembling the rockers.
To dry-fit the arm/posts as-
sembly, place the arm post in
the seat and slide the back post
onto the arm while dropping
the arm and back post into po-
sition. To disassemble the joint,
twist the arm post in the seat,
and lift up the back post and
arm. If all the joints look good,
go ahead and glue both assem-
blies, adding wedges to each
joint. I use a clamp to draw the
arm all the way into the joint.
All together now. Glue the
Shape and fit the crest rail spindles into the seat, glue in one
and the spindles end of the crest rail, then glue the
Once the crest rail has been spindles into the rail (left). Then
set in the final form and has splay the back posts and glue in
spent a couple of days in the the other end of the crest rail.
Install a small wedge (above) to
kiln, you can begin shaping it
close the gap above each tenon,
and making the tenons. Clamp and trim it flush later.
the crest rail across the front of
the back posts in line with the
mortises. If there is any twist or
misalignment, shave the crest

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 63

 ROCKERS
Bandsaw along dotted line. Rocker is trimmed
later to match the front and rear leg locations. Rocker blanks, ½ in.
thick by 5 in. wide by
35½ in. long
2¼ in. 2½ in. wide
at front
3 in. wide 1½ in.

3¼ in. 4 in.

14 in.
2 in.

until it sits flat against the back posts. Mark the back of the rail
Ready to rock where it meets the outside of the posts to get the location and
angle of the tenons. Even though the crest mortises don’t go all the
way through, the extra length is easily taken up by the flexibility
How splayed are the legs? Use a bevel gauge to discover the angle of of the posts, and the extra splay looks good in the final piece.
the rocker slots versus the ground. If the front and back legs on the same Lay out the cove and recessed area on each end. Bandsaw the
side have different angles, average the readings. cove and then use a drawknife and spokeshave to remove the
bulk of the recessed area. Leave the tenon parts a little thick and
scrape them to final thickness when smoothing the crest. Cut the
tenons about 1⁄16 in. shorter than the mortises to ease installation.
It is now time to work on the spindles. Lay out and then bandsaw
the recesses on the bottom ends, then shave the tenons round.
Once all of the spindles are dry-fitted into the seat, number the
Bevel the rockers.
sequence and then draw an oval on them that roughly encloses
Set the bandsaw ta-
ble at the angle of where the sitter’s back will make the most contact. Shave from
the rocker slots and these marks to the ends and facet the edges. Then shave, scrape,
bevel the bottom and sand the fronts and backs. Dry-fit the crest rail and mark
edge of each rock- the spindles where they intercept it. Cut the spindles to length
er. Bandsaw the top including 7⁄ 8 in. for the top tenons, and then finish shaping them.
edge square.

A rocker that rolls. Use a pair of straightedges to align the rockers and Measure the gap and deepen the slots. Discover which rocker is far-
set them at the correct depth in each slot. thest from the bottom of the slot and measure the distance (left). Mark
this distance on either side of the other three legs, remove the rockers,
and then chop down to the line (right) to bring all four slots level.

64 FINE WOODWORKING
 The spindles splay out from the center, so they require angled over and see how it feels to sit in. If the rocker
mortises in the crest rail. Evenly space the spindles and then mark needs to rock back more, simply tap the rock-
their angle in the back of the crest rail. To keep the crest rail verti- ers out of the front slots. Once you’re happy,
cal and stable, clamp it to the final bending form and use the mir- mark where the rockers enter the legs. Remove
ror technique (see Part 1) to drill each hole at the required angle. the wedges, measure the largest gap between
To orient the spindles in their holes, hold a thin strip of wood the rocker and the bottom of the
along the curve at the mid-back region to make sure that they mortise, scribe the distance on all
align smoothly where the greatest body contact and weight will sides of the other legs, and pare
be. Mark this alignment on masking tape attached to the bottom to the line. Once the joints are set,
of the spindles and the chair seat. shape the rest of the rocker tops,
Glue the spindles into the seat and let them dry. Then, in quick bevel the ends of the legs, and
succession, glue them into the crest rail, glue one end of the crest then glue and peg the rockers.
rail into a back post, and finally spread the back posts to seat the
other end of the crest rail. Glue a wedge into the gap above each A fumed finish
crest-rail tenon and peg the crest-rail-to-back-post joints. Before applying a finish,
fine-tune the shape.
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing I fume the chair with
Balancing the rockers for the smoothest motion is vital to the janitorial-strength ammonia (see
success of the chair. Being pulled too far back or pitched forward “Fumed finish made easy,” FWW
will leave the sitter struggling to stay in the chair. #211), followed by four coats of an
To purchase
The bottom of each rocker is beveled to match the splay of the oil/varnish mix. □ digital plans and
legs. Measure the rocker slots with a bevel gauge and then tilt the a complete cutlist
bandsaw table to this angle. Lay out one rocker using the design Peter Galbert makes Windsor chairs for this chair and
other projects, go to
provided and then cut it on the bandsaw, beveling just the bottom in upstate New York. FineWoodworking
curve. Fair the curve using coarse sandpaper on a curved block .com/PlanStore.
of wood and plane or scrape the sides until it slides into the slots.
Trace this rocker onto the other blank and repeat the process.
Turn the chair upside down and line up the front of each rocker
with the front legs. Use winding sticks to see if the rockers are
in the same plane. They almost never are, so tap a rocker out of
the slot until they are in plane. Tap a wedge in from both ends
of the gap, tape the rockers to the chair legs, then turn the chair

Final details. Bevel the

A smooth transition. Now you can dry-fit the rockers and fair the curves ends of the legs, then
on the top edge so that they terminate at the legs. glue in the rockers and
peg the joints.

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 65

A Chessboard Made Easy
Go with veneer every time
B Y C R A I G T H I B O D E A U

TWO WAYS
TO USE I T
Chessboard or chess
table? Add solid-wood
edging for a simple chess-
board that can be stowed
away, or incorporate the
veneered panel into a table
design of your choosing,
like Thibodeau’s Art-Deco-
style game table at right.

66 FINE WOODWORKING Photo, this page (bottom right): Craig Thibodeau

A t some point in your woodworking life, you’ll
probably make a chessboard. The classic par-
quet pattern adds fun and function to an or-
dinary table. And a stand-alone chessboard makes a
great gift.
A SHORT LIST
OF SUPPLIES
VENEER

If you haven’t worked with veneer, you may be Standard commercial veneers
work great for this project.
tempted to make your game board from thick squares
For the 2-in. grid you see at SQUARES
of solid wood. Don’t. You’ll have to contend both with
left, you’ll need two pieces
wood movement and weak end-grain joints. Veneer of contrasting veneer,
is much easier to cut accurately, and is easy to apply each about 10½ in. wide
to a stable MDF substrate. Also, veneer is available by 18½ in. long. If need
in hundreds of beautiful species and grain patterns. be, you can cut the strips
By the way, the following technique works for other from a narrower stack of
parquetry patterns, too, such as diamonds. matching veneer. For a
Standard chessboard squares range from 2 in. to more decorative pattern,
21⁄ 2 in. square, but you can size the squares try alternating the grain BACK
to fit the chess pieces you have direction of one color. Use
an even darker wood for
on hand.
the banding at the edges, EDGING
and don’t forget to veneer the
Veneer taping 101 back to prevent the panel from
Because of the V-groove that a warping. Any species will do there.
knife or veneer saw leaves be-
hind, it’s important to keep track TAPE
of your “glue face” and “show face,”
For initial assembly, you’ll need
as they are called. When cutting the veneer, blue masking tape. It has some
keep the glue face on top, which guarantees that stretch to it, so when you pull
the lower edges of all of your cuts meet cleanly on the on it as you apply it, it draws
opposite show face. And generally, as you assemble the pieces together tightly. It
any veneer pattern, you bring the pieces together by also peels off easily. Moisture-
using blue masking tape on the glue face, and then activated veneer tape goes on
thin moisture-activated veneer tape goes on the show next and stays on until the veneer
face. When the veneer tape is dry, you peel off the is applied. I prefer the wide, thin
masking tape and you are ready to apply the veneer variety (34-gram, 50 mm veneer
tape; from veneersystems.com),
to a substrate.
which covers more ground and is
easier to remove after your panel
Simple jig ensures accuracy is done and dry.
Start by making a straight block of hardwood or
plywood roughly 3⁄4 in. thick by 20 in. long. Rip it
VENEER SAW
precisely 2 in. wide, and stick coarse sandpaper to the
bottom to help keep it in place. This will be the guide You can use a razor knife
you use to cut the strips of veneer into equal squares, or a sharp veneer saw
to do the cutting, but I
so make sure the sides of the jig are truly straight
greatly prefer the veneer
and parallel.
saw because it cuts
When cutting with the veneer saw (a single-bevel quickly, and doesn’t tend
marking knife or razor also works), make sure the to follow the grain of the
blade stays 90° to the cutting guide so you will have veneer and wander off
square edges on the strips. If you decide to use a the cut line. Veneer saws
more delicate veneer for your squares, such as burl or are inexpensive, but they
heavily figured woods, it may be necessary to cover require a quick tuneup
the face of the veneer with a layer of veneer tape to (see photos, right) with a
prevent chips and breakage along the cut line. Cut a fine file. It only takes a few
sample strip or two to check. minutes, and then you are
ready to make perfect cuts.
Using your guide, cut one straight edge on each
piece of veneer. Start with a light pass just
to create a path for the blade, and then bear Online Extra Quick tuneup. First, sharpen the teeth with a fine
file (left), following the angles already estab-
down a bit more on the next few strokes To watch a video on
lished. Then bevel the outside edge (right)
sharpening a veneer saw, go to
until the waste veneer falls away cleanly. FineWoodworking.com/extras. to bring each tooth to a sharp point.
Next, align one edge of the guide with the Last, knock the burr off the back.

Photos, except where noted: staff

From strips to stripes to squares
precise strips
cut edge of the veneer and cut the first 2-in. strip.
Straightedge doubles
Repeat this process, using the straightedge as the siz-
as a template. Make
a plywood guide exactly
ing guide, until you have four dark strips and five
as wide as your desired light strips or five dark and four light—it doesn’t re-
squares, and use it to ally matter. Ensure that all of the strips have clean
guide a sharp veneer edges free of tearout and chips, and replace any dam-
saw. Glue sandpaper aged strips.
on the bottom to keep
the guide from slipping.
Strips become squares
For each new strip, line
up the guide with the
Now use blue masking tape to create an array of al-
edge you just cut, and ternating strips, applying the tape on the glue face,
simply saw along the where you did your cutting. Start by just taping across
opposite side. the joints every 2 in. or so, and then run long pieces
of tape along the joints.

Tape the strips together. Use blue tape to pull the

strips together tightly (above) and then tape each
seam (right). Alternate four of one color with five of
the other; it doesn’t matter which.

The next step is to square off one end of the veneer

sheet. This is critical, so use an accurate square to line
up your guide. Now use the guide to crosscut 2-in.-
wide strips from the veneer sheet until you have eight
equal strips of alternating squares.
All of the strips now need to be flipped over to
the show face so you can see the veneer and align
the squares when taping. Just flip one strip at a
time end for end so they stay in order and the grain
remains aligned. Now slide every other strip down
one square to create the chessboard pattern. Use
Burnish for a better more blue tape to join the strips one at a time, be-
bond. Here’s a tip for ing careful to align the intersections of the squares.
both blue tape and
Use enough tape to hold the joints together but don’t
veneer tape: Burnish
them with a brass-
run tape along the entire joint at this time. Peel away
bristle brush after ap- the overhanging squares that remain outside the
plying, and they will playing surface and you have your chessboard pat-
hold much better. tern. These blue tape strips on your show face are

68 FINE woodwoRkINg
 the chessboard emerges
Crosscut the strips. Use the guide again, setting up the first
cut with a framing square.

Blue tape for assembly. Keep the strips in order as you

create the chessboard pattern. Work on the show face, which
allows you to see the alignment clearly. Just a few pieces of
tape are fine here, and then flip to the glue face and put blue
tape both across the seams and along them.

for alignment only, so your taping is far from over. It

goes quickly, though.

Whole lotta taping

To get the veneer tape where it belongs, you need to
flip the pattern over again and cover the other side
with blue tape, pulling it across the joints first and then
putting long strips along the joints.
Now flip it over once more and remove the small
amount of blue tape from the show face. Then apply
moist veneer tape to this face one long strip at a time,
making sure the strips overlap slightly and cover the
entire chessboard. When all the wet strips are in place
and burnished, place the entire veneer assembly under
a piece of MDF or plywood for a few hours. Other-
wise the wet tape will distort the veneer and pull the
squares apart as it dries.
After the tape has dried, trim off any overhanging
pieces with a razor knife, and remove all of the re-
maining blue tape from the glue face. Veneer tape locks
in the pattern. Peel
Tips for a handsome border off the small pieces
of blue tape from the
A nice way to create a transition between solid-wood
show face. Then veneer-
edging and chessboard squares is to add a decora- tape the entire surface
tive veneer banding, in a color that contrasts with (above), overlapping
both chessboard colors and the edging. Black is an the pieces slightly and
easy choice, but any contrasting veneer will create a trimming away the
transition. excess. Draw the tape
Before you add any decorative banding, it is likely across a wet sponge
to dampen it. After the
that the outside edges of the chessboard pattern will
veneer tape has dried,
need to be straightened slightly. Line up the straight- remove the blue tape
edge with each side of the pattern and trim just enough from the opposite face
veneer to clean up any misalignment of the squares. (left).
Now, using your guide, slice four 1⁄4-in.-wide strips

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M Ay / J u N e 2 0 1 1 69

Finishing touches
Add mitered bAnding
of banding veneer. Flip the pattern over so the veneer
tape is facing up and lay a strip of blue tape around
the perimeter leaving about half overhanging. Flip the
sheet again and begin sticking the banding strips onto
the tape, pressing the banding strips up against the
chessboard to create tight joints. Allow the banding
strips to overlap each other at the corners.
Now you miter the corners simply by aligning
the cutting guide at 45° on each corner and cutting
through both pieces of banding with a razor knife.
Remove the excess pieces, and then press the mitered
corner together, pulling it tight with a piece of blue
tape across the joint if necessary. Once the corners are
finished, do the whole tape dance again. Apply blue
tape to the joints between the banding and the chess-
board pattern. Flip it over and remove the blue tape
from the veneer-tape side. Check for tight miter joints,
and veneer tape all along the banding line, and then
Blue tape again. Put stick the whole thing under that piece of MDF again.
a strip around each
edge of the show face, Now turn it into a real chessboard
leaving about half of Cut your MDF substrate as close as possible to the size
the tape overhanging. of the veneer pattern but not smaller, and join and cut
Then flip the pattern
a backer veneer too. Normal yellow glue works fine,
over.
and the panel is small enough that you can use clamps
to do the pressing, as opposed to a vacuum bag. Scuff-
sand the MDF on both sides to help with adhesion.
Use MDF or particleboard cauls for the glue-up, a
layer of thin cardboard to spread the pressure, and thin
plastic sheeting to resist the glue. You’ll need plenty
of clamps, and either some deep-reach versions or
Place the banding.
Pull it tight to the edges
bowed cauls to get pressure in the center of the panel.
of the pattern as you Apply an even layer of glue, and then carefully place
press it down, and sim- your veneer (tape side up) on the substrate and press it
ply overlap the ends. all over to help secure it. Then quickly tape it in place

Cutting guide strikes

again. Line up your
cutting guide with the
corners of the overlap,
and use a sharp knife
to cut through both lay-
ers (right). Remove the
waste pieces, and you
should have a perfect
miter (far right). Do the
blue-tape dance again
to get veneer tape on
the show face and you
are ready to lay up the
panel.

70 FINE wOODwORkINg
mount the pattern on a panel

Veneer both sides. Get your clamps, cauls, glue, and other materials together, and Lock it down quickly. Wrap a few pieces of tape around
start with the backside veneer when making the sandwich. Put glue on the substrate the bottom and top veneers to keep them from curling or
only, using a roller or a finely notched spreader to control the amount. sliding around.

smart sandwich
MDF or particleboard caul

Thin cardboard

Plastic
sheeting

Veneer
pattern

Substrate

Backer
veneer
You don’t need a vacuum bag. A vacuum bag is easier, but clamps and cauls will
work, too. If you come up short on clamps, add extra cauls to distribute the pressure.

with several pieces of blue tape wrapped from the clean up the edges
backer veneer over the top of the chessboard veneer.
After the panel is dry, remove the veneer tape. Wet
the surface with a sponge, allow the tape to soften,
then peel and scrape it off. You’ll also need to clean
up the edges of the panel before gluing on solid-wood
edging. I find it easiest to sand one edge flat with a
hard block and some 60-grit paper, before placing that
flat reference edge against the fence of a crosscut sled
on the tablesaw. Trim 1⁄16 in. off each of the four edges,
or whatever it takes to get the miters of the veneer
edging to line up perfectly at the corners.
Then fit and glue mitered pieces of solid wood to
the edges, just as you would with any veneered or
Use a crosscut sled. Start by
plywood tabletop.
scraping and sanding the squeeze-
Chessboards are beautiful and functional, and look out off one edge (above), and put
great in a variety of tables. □ that edge against the fence on your
crosscut sled. You might need to
Craig Thibodeau is a furniture maker in San Diego. add a shim to align this first cut.

Drawing: Kelly J. Dunton M AY / J u n e 2 0 1 1 71

 Switch to Spraying
Water-Based Finishes
A former ‘lacquer head’ gives tips on going green
B Y T E R I M A S A S C H I

T he first time I used a water-based finish, I promised it

would be my last. In the late 1980s and 1990s, companies
launched a mass of water-based finishes and used the
consumer as the testing lab. I wasn’t alone in finding the new
finishes too difficult, too finicky, and too unpredictable.
Twenty years later, the air-quality laws are more stringent than
ever and the end is approaching fast for many solvent-based
finishes. The good news is that during this period, the formulators
of water-based finishes have been busy. As a hardened “lacquer
head,” I never thought you’d hear me say this, but when it comes
to water-based finishes, I like what I have used recently.
Switching to water-based finishes has been a relief: No more
headache or solvent hangover at the end of a long day, and far less
use of flammable solvents. However, the transition has not been
easy, in part because solvent lacquer and water-based lacquer are
as alike chemically as chalk and cheese (see “Lacquer: What’s in a
name?” on the next page). Therefore, fellow lacquer heads have
to forget much of what they know and in some ways become
novice sprayers again. However steep the learning curve,
it is well worth the climb. And for newcomers to spray-

72 FINE WOODWORKING
G E ARING U P

CHOOSE YOUR GUN CLEAR

CAREFULLY THE AIR
Water-based finishes will Water-based finishes
corrode an aluminum are very sensitive to
cup. Instead, make contamination. Use a
sure the cup and the filter to remove mois-
gun’s fluid passages ture and oil coming
are either stainless from the compres-
steel or plastic. 3M’s sor. This combined
PPS system of plastic regulator/filter costs
cups with disposable $145 at homestead-
liners works well (far finishingproducts
right). .com.
ALUMINUM STAINLESS STEEL PLASTIC

ing, here is your chance to finally achieve professional-looking NO TACK CLOTH,

finishes without the need for an explosion-proof spray booth. PLEASE
Use a damp cotton
The right tools and conditions are critical or microfiber cloth to
One thing that hasn’t changed is that water-based finishes remain wipe away sanding
generally fussier than solvent-based ones. Your spray gun needs dust. A sticky tack
cloth can leave resi-
to have either stainless-steel or plastic fluid passages because
due that will repel
water-based finishes corrode aluminum quickly. water-based finishes.
Everything must be clean, clean, clean! Keep the surface
contaminant-free, the gun dedicated to water-based finishes, the
air source (if compressor driven) filtered to remove moisture and
oil, and the spray gun’s cup clean (a disposable lining is best).
I have sprayed solvent-based finish as low as 45°F and gotten
away with it, but water-based finishes are more temperature sensi-
tive. The safe range is about 60° to 80°F. over the contaminants first.
One thing you don’t have to worry about is compatibility with On most woods it isn’t nec-
no-load sandpaper, which has stearates to prevent the paper from essary to pre-raise the grain
gumming up. Stearates used to leave a waxy coating that fouled up before spraying a water-based
water-based finishes, but modern stearates don’t have this problem. finish, but you should on gnarly or figured wood.
Anyone who has refinished old furniture is familiar with “fish
eye,” the shallow craters in the finish caused by contaminants, in How to warm up the color
particular silicone. You can add a fish-eye destroyer to solvent- One of the main differences between solvent- and water-based
based finishes but not to water-based ones, so if you are working finishes is the latter’s cold appearance and inability to warm the
on antique furniture, be prepared to use shellac as a sealer coat wood. If you are finishing maple, birch, ash, or any white wood,

Not your dad’s lacquer

For 80 years, nitrocellulose lacquer has been the benchmark against which all other
finishes are found wanting. Each coat melts into the previous one, creating a single
film of finish no matter how many coats are applied. This creates the dimensional and
reflective sheen that allows you to look down into the beauty of the wood.
Trying to associate their new finishes with the industry standard, manufacturers
started calling many water-based formulations lacquer. However, the ingredients of
the two have nothing in common. Water-based lacquers usually consist of a glycol
solvent, an acrylic resin, a glycol ether, and various leveling agents, defoamers, and
other performance enhancers. This is not your father’s lacquer but it will, most likely,
be yours.
— T. M .

Photos: Mark Schofield M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 73

S E CRETS OF SUCCESS

FILTER FIRST
Before spraying,
pour the finish
through a fine-
mesh paint filter
to remove any
contaminants that
could block the
gun.

TIP 2 WAYS TO WARM UP

THE COLOR
Seal first with
tinted shellac.
If you don’t like
the cool look of
a water-based
finish on some water-based can be perfect. On cherry, walnut, mahogany, or fig-
darker woods, ured woods (including maple), it isn’t. You can solve the problem
warm up the
by tinting the coating with an amber dye to mimic the tone of
wood by applying
dewaxed shel- solvent lacquers and oil-based products. But water-based finishes
lac tinted with a have a milky appearance at first, making it hard to judge the tone.
dye concentrate A better approach is to coat the bare wood with dewaxed shel-
(homesteadfinish lac. You can tint light-colored shellac such as beige or blond, or
ingproducts.com) use darker grades such as orange or garnet. This eliminates any
as a sealer. need to pre-raise the grain. Also, if you wipe on a coat of oil to
enhance a wood’s figure, apply a coat of dewaxed shellac before
Or tint the fin- using a water-based finish.
ish. You can tint
the finish with
Big pluses: Faster build, fewer fumes
one or more dye
concentrates If the preparations for spraying water-based finishes are more
(woodworker elaborate than for their solvent siblings, the actual spraying is
.com). If you use easier. Unlike solvent-based lacquers, which tend to be sticky
water-soluble and syrupy, water-based coatings spray thin and wet but have
dye powders, mix excellent “cling,” which means fewer sags and runs. They dry in
the dye in some about the same amount of time as solvent-based ones—30 to 45
warm water be-
minutes. With any type of finish, the number of coats is subjective.
fore adding it.
However, because the solids content of water-based finishes is
generally higher than for solvent-based ones, you will be pleas-
antly surprised after only the second coat. This faster build offsets
the fact that water-based finishes cost 20% to 30% more.
Use a small setup for the gun, such as Accuspray’s 0.043-in. needle
and a No. 5 aircap. You could use a No. 7 aircap for a large surface.
After prolonged spraying, crusted coating may build up on your

74 FINE WOODWORKING
 NO FANCY SAND
BOOTH NEEDED BETWEEN
If you don’t have a COATS
purpose-built spray With a quick-drying,
booth like this one, water-based finish
build a simple knock- in a clean environ-
down one. An exhaust ment, you shouldn’t
fan draws air through need to sand away
the filters, pulling dust nibs between
away overspray. coats. However, if
you let the finish
dry for longer than
the time specified
on the can, you
must sand the
surface to give the
next coat a me-
chanical bond.

Online Extra
To learn how to make a simple spray booth,
go to FineWoodworking.com/extras.

spray gun. I apply a thin film of Vaseline on the horns of the air
cap first, so I can flick off the buildup later with my fingernail.
Water-based finishes are safer—The moment when solvent
finishes are the most dangerous is not when spraying them—you’re
wearing a respirator and the fan is drawing off the fumes—but
when they have just dried. You’ve removed your respirator and
are scuff-sanding the surface. The fan has been shut off, but all the
solvents are lifting off the surface and hanging heavy in the air. This
is incredibly lethal exposure. Water-based products give off gas, too,
but are far less toxic. The gas has a smell similar to mild ammonia.

Rubbing out and cleaning up

Most water-based materials contain a blend of resins such as acryl-
ics and urethanes that offers durability and clarity, and you can
BROWN BAG: A PRO’S SECRET WEAPON
often get a perfect finish off the gun, particularly for a satin sheen.
However, if you want a polished-out surface, don’t assume that You can use brown shopping-bag paper to smooth and polish
these coatings are going to behave like solvent lacquer. Succes- the last coat of a satin or semi-gloss water-based finish.
sive coats do not melt completely into the previous layer. In this
way, water-based finishes are more like solvent-based varnishes solvent-based finishes: A minimum of 200 hours is preferable.
or polyurethanes in that the finish builds in layers rather than When you are done spraying, flush and clean the gun with water
melting into a single film. Consequently, there is a higher risk of and ammonia, and then flush it with alcohol or lacquer thinner
“witness lines” when you polish through one coat into another. (you can’t escape flammable solvents entirely).
The solution is to apply two or three coats and then completely Go ahead and use the new generation of water-based finishes.
flatten the surface. This will create numerous white witness lines, Just don’t try them at the last moment! It is much less stressful to
but they will disappear when the next couple of coats are applied. use test samples, and get a feel for these products first. □
You can then polish the last coat with less risk of burning through
the layers. Cure time for a successful rubout is the same as for Teri Masaschi is a professional finisher who lives near Albuquerque, N.M.

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 75

 Garry Bennett’s
Un-Trestle Table
Unconventional design is a portrait of the man
B y A s A C h r i s t i A n A

76 FINE woodworkING
 G arry Bennett has a few complaints. One
is people using his middle name, Knox,
which stuck somehow despite his best ef-
forts. Another is people who know him only for his
“Nail Cabinet,” a fine case piece with a nail driven
into it, which appeared on the back cover of FWW
#24 and drew a small avalanche of letters, both pro
and con. All I could get
out of him on the sub-
ject was, “I planned to
make a precious thing
less precious.”
But what he seems
most concerned about
is the shrinking num-
bers of fellow studio
furniture makers, those
who attempt to make
art and work purely on
spec. “My kind of guys
are dying off,” he says.
To understand how
Bennett has avoided
commissions and been
left alone to follow his muse, you have to know
his story. Trained at California College of Arts and
Crafts from 1958 to 1962, he worked as a sculptor,
painter, and jewelry maker through the ’60s and
’70s. In 1967, he created a small line of “roach clips”
on a whim, and sent samples to “head shops” (re-
member those?) around the country, trusting owners
to return the proceeds or unsold product. Within
weeks, he had a pile of cash and a stack of orders.
Sometime later, he began to stamp out peace signs
in his 70-man shop in Oakland, Calif. As the first
business to mass-produce each of these hippie es-
sentials, he made a lot of money. So when he turned
his attention to furniture in the mid-’70s, Bennett
had some advantages: a big nest egg, art training,
metalworking skills, and plenty of space to work in.
From the beginning, Bennett’s funky, mixed-media

Photo, this page (table): Garry Chilluffo M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 77

 Top, 3⁄ 4 in. thick

Stretcher
(box beam)
TABLETOP: HOW TO
MAKE THIN STRONG
Bennett was dead-set on
the thin tabletop, so he Rail/batten
had to figure out how to
make it strong. He uses
breadboards to stiffen it
laterally, and reinforces it
along its length with long,
two-ply rails that pass
through the tops of the
trestles.

Large dowel,
21 ⁄ 8 in. dia. by Shoulders
4 in. long

MORE INGENIOUS JOINERY

The thin top poses
another challenge:
attaching the Trestle crosspiece
base. Bennett
solved that by Breadboard end
gluing a dovetailed cleat
to the top of each trestle, and
then nestling a row of blocks
against the cleat, waxing the
mating surfaces and gluing the
blocks directly to the tabletop.
This allows the tabletop to be slid Dovetailed Block glued and
off the base. cleat nailed to underside Stretcher end
of table

1 square = 1 in.

863⁄ 4 in. 37 in.

Trestle foot

OVERALL MEASUREMENTS
Bennett works by feel, dry-fitting the base to see
30 in. exactly how far apart the trestle should go and how
big to cut the tabletop. But he never compromises
function, and always designs the table for eight
people: at least 7 ft. long, with the trestles roughly
475⁄ 8 in.
4 ft. apart, leaving a comfortable overhang for a sitter
291⁄ 2 in. at each end. The width is between 30 and 38 in.

78 FINE WOODWORKING Drawings: John Hartman; photos (facing page and p 77, right): Kelly J. Dunton
Checkered
insert CHALLENGES ARE JUST OPPORTUNITIES
Bennett wanted a thin top, to focus attention on the base, but that choice created
a number of construction challenges. He overcame each one, and also found
innovative and eye-catching ways to handle the joinery below.

T-nut

Washer
UNIQUE WEDGE SYSTEM A rare occasion
Bennett holds in his huge wedges
with a large dowel. Without the Aside from his shows at galleries
Bolt removable dowel, it would be and museums, it is rare to find
impossible to get the wedge into
Breadboard position. The dowel also means Bennett outside his beloved
ends Dovetailed cleat he doesn’t have to create an Oakland, let alone teaching a
is cut after it is angled mortise for the wedge.
attached. class. But he has made a few
Glue blocks
exceptions over the years, each
T-spacer time to build a trestle table for
charity.
The most recent of these
events happened in 2008,
at Marc Adams School of
Woodworking, where he recruited
some of the school’s skilled
regulars to help him build another
Trestle Wedge, example of his versatile table.
stretcher 13⁄ 4 in. thick
“[The project] is conducive to a lot
of people working on it, because

Trestle post covers,

⁄ in. thick
14

it’s big,” he says.

Associate art director Kelly
Dunton and I spent a week with
Bennett in Indiana, taking notes
Trestle post,
for this article and shooting video
13⁄ 4 in. thick
Tapered dado to document Garry’s generous,
forms mortise
when two halves down-to-earth presence, and the
of foot are glued heartfelt spirit of the
together.
event. —A.C.
BUILT-UP JOINERY
Trestle foot,
Rather than cut curved shoulders and a long
tenon on the fat trestle posts, Bennett just 3 in. thick
completed
Online Extra
glues on thin outer pieces, fitting them first to For a free video of our wonderful week
the curved feet, and then using a bearing-guided building this table with Garry Bennett, go
bit to cut the mortise in the post. The shoulders to FineWoodworking.com/extras.
on the stretcher are added on, too, and the
stretcher’s box-like anatomy makes it easy to
extend two sides for the wedge joinery.

M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 79
 Audacious lines. “Checkerboard Trestle
Table” (1985) has especially beautiful
curves, and an eye-catching stretcher.

Bennett’s changeaBl e ta B le
Garry Bennett built many versions of his trestle table in
the 1980s, in materials ranging from wood to steel and
aluminum, and together they offer a window into the
furniture maker’s fearlessness and imagination. They
also show how an artist, once he or she finds a fruitful
design, shakes it and works it over until every possibility
has tumbled out.
Bennett came to furniture making via art school,
as opposed to traditional woodworkers like James
Krenov and Tage Frid, who entered through a classic
apprenticeship. “Some people rely on technique too
much,” Bennett said. “It doesn’t always look good, but,
jeez, it’s well put together.” As for the future of fine
furniture, he made one prediction: “It ain’t gonna be all
wood.”

Fun with joinery. The trestle joinery system is very

versatile, as seen in this desk, table, and bench
(from left to right). Bennett is as comfortable work-
ing metal and glass as he is wood, and he treats
each material with equal thoughtfulness.

80 FINE woodworkINg Photos, this page: greg Benson (top); Nicolay Zurek (bottom)
 “The way I work, I don’T T h I nk a loT,” Be nne TT saId.
“I wor k preTTy emoTIonally: ‘ThaT looks good, do IT.’”

pieces were a big hit—a rare thing in the studio- Other than sketching curves directly onto his work-
furniture world. For 20 years, everything sold out. At pieces, Bennett uses no drawings as he builds: “I have
76, you can still find him in his studio every day, an idea in my head, and just start working it.” His focus
creating usable art, lubricating his muse with gin, and always is lines and shapes, as opposed to wood or
entertaining his artist friends. joinery. “I view all my work as line. When I’m working
on a piece, I’m looking at it dead-end for line [from
Bennett’s best piece? the end], dead-on for line [from the front] and three-
Bennett’s creativity extends from jewelry, where he quarter view [at an angle].”
made his start, to lighting and furniture in an ever-
changing parade of materials and modes. But his Follow in his footsteps
trestle table hews closest to “fine” woodworking, and I spent the better part of a week with Bennett in In-
it is the piece he has repeated most often. It is also the diana, at both benches and bars, and it was one of
one project he has taught at workshops. the highlights of my career with Fine Woodworking.
With an art-school background, like fellow studio While Bennett admitted it is much harder these days
furniture pioneers Wendell Castle and Judy McKie, to sell artistic furniture made on spec, I left inspired
Bennett came at the trestle form the same way he to follow his lead, to trust my own intuition for both
came at the craft of woodworking, by ignoring its rules design and construction. As a hobbyist, with no pres-
and standing it on its head. He traded in the usual sure to make money from my work, I have no excuses.
thick top for a paper-thin one, setting it on a cartoon- In that spirit, Bennett is sharing his table design with
ishly massive base. The result is an artist’s playground, you (see pp. 78-79), to inspire you to ignore the rules
with curves and joinery that invite interpretation. “The and dare you to create art. □
way I work, I don’t think a lot,” Bennett said. “I work
pretty emotionally: ‘That looks good, do it.’ ” Asa Christiana is the editor.

Photos, this page: Nicolay Zurek (left); M. Lee Fatherree (right) M Ay / J u N e 2 0 1 1 81

readers gallery
B A R B A R A S H E LTO N
Victoria, B.C., Canada

James Krenov’s work was the inspiration for this boxwood

and sycamore cabinet on a kwila stand (101/2 in. deep by
181 ⁄8 in. wide by 521 ⁄8 in. tall). The marquetry is sycamore
leaves and seeds, made
with sycamore wood,
and the handmade silver
pulls mimic the seeds as
well. Shelton designed
the pulls in collaboration
with jeweler Erin Dolman,
who made them. The
finish is shellac. Photos:
Ingeborg s uzanne
( c a bI net); mIchal
o Pa lsk I (P ulls)

M I C H E L C H A R BO N N E A U
Saint-Denis-Sur-Richelieu, Que., Canada

Charbonneau’s solid-birch cabinet is 18 in. deep by

32 in. wide by 36 in. tall. He says that the most time-
consuming aspects of building the piece were carving
the many rosettes and finishing it using aniline dye,
gel stain, and a hand-rubbed varnish.

82 FINE woodworkINg
 C.L. PHILLIPS
New London, Conn.

This Art Nouveau bed (67 in. wide by 85 in.

long by 56 in. tall) is based on a design from
the period by A. Landry, but Phillips modified
it by using lighter woods (Swiss pear and
bird’s-eye maple instead of the walnut and
ash in the original) and adding carved
foliage and calla lilies. The finish is shellac.

A DA M W E B B
Whitianga, New Zealand

Webb wanted to convey a feeling of

lightness and warmth in this contemporary
take on a Shaker hall table. The table is
141/2 in. deep by 59 in. wide by 34 in. tall.
The cherry is finished with Danish oil; the
maple with Briwax only.
Photo: Daniel allen

JOHN LEE
Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland

This chest of drawers, made of European white

oak, is part of Lee’s series of sculptural furniture
that combines dramatic curves and texturing. After
he built the shaped cabinet, he added the flutes
and sandblasted the wood to enhance the grain.
The drawers open with a push-front mechanism.
Finished with lacquer, the chest is 283/4 in. deep by
841/4 in. wide by 361/4 in. tall.
Photo: Rolan D Pasc hoff

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 83

readers gallery continued

MICHAEL DISANO
Fairfax Station, Va.

Disano built this cherry and poplar chest of drawers from plans by
Carlyle Lynch (1909-1989). Lynch, a woodworker and teacher of
woodworking, was known for creating detailed plans of outstanding
pieces of 18th and 19th century American furniture. The chest,
finished with Danish oil, is 20 in. deep by 39 in. wide by 62 in. tall.
Lynch credits Thomas Elfe (mid 18th century) as the original maker.
See Lynch’s own article on building this chest in FWW #81.

A N N E T T E KO EH N E N
Warmenhuizen, Netherlands

Koehnen built this chair from European ash

during her second year at the College of
the Redwoods. She wanted to learn chair
design and also used this chair to learn
bent-lamination and complicated joinery.
Finished with Liberon Finishing Oil, the
chair is 37 in. deep by 33 in. wide by
39 in. tall. PHOTO: JOHN BI RCHARD

JE R RY C O U S I N S
Weaverville, Calif.

Cousins had long wanted to build a curved-top chest

with the lower panels inlaid with tulips, when he
stumbled on the perfect piece of claro walnut for the
top. He then knew he needed a different wood for the
panels, one that would showcase the marquetry but not
clash with the swirly walnut grain. He chose straight-
grained afromosia. Finished with shellac, lacquer, and
wax, the chest is 16 in. deep by 40 in. wide by 25 in.
tall. PHOTO: DIANA SHEEN

84 FINE WOODWORKING
 DESIGN SPOTLIGHT

TIMOTHY COLEMAN
Shelburne, Mass.

Coleman began creating stamped furniture years

ago after moving his shop into a space formerly
occupied by the Greenfield Steel Stamp Works.
Unlimited potential. Between
He found discarded steel stamps all over his new
wood choices and stamp com-
space, and began playing with them on wood to binations, the possibilities for
add detail and texture. For this bird’s-eye maple unique patterns are endless.
and pear piece (3 in. deep by 24 in.
wide by 32 in. tall), Coleman found a
leather punch in an antiques store and
sharpened it before putting it to work.
This mirror is one of six, all from different
woods with different patterns on the
inner frames. The finish is shellac.

Simple how-to: Hit the stamp with a

hammer. Coleman tries to be as sponta-
neous as he can and works with a mini-
mal amount of layout lines.

RICHARD CHILL COTT

Ruskin, Fla.

Japanese gardens and tatami mats were

the inspiration for Chill Cott’s mahogany
table (60 in. square by 30 in. tall).
The tabletop layout reflects the
rules for arrangement and size
of tatami. These mats are always twice as long
as they are wide, and according to tradition, can
be laid out auspiciously or inauspiciously. To
avoid an inauspicious layout that is said to bring
bad fortune, the mats should not be placed in a
grid pattern, and there should be no point where
the corners of four mats touch. The finish is
lacquer. The tiny tree was made by Chris Stiles,
using manzanita branches, and Chill Cott found
it in a gallery.

www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 85

Q&A
Match dado set to your
saw’s power
Expand your
Q: I am planning to buy a dado set. joinery with an
Should I get a 6-in. or an 8-in. set? 8-in. dado set.
—ROBERT CARSON, Seth Janofsky
(top) uses a
Boston, Mass. sled to cut box
joints for a tansu
A: I SPOKE WITH SOME OF OUR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS as well as with cabinet. Because
experts at Amana, Forrest, and Freud. Here is what I learned. First, of the sled base’s
thickness and
check your saw’s owner’s manual. If it specifies a 6-in. dado set, then
the length of the
use that. However, if your saw can take either size dado set, but has box joint, only an
an underpowered motor like those in smaller benchtop models, then 8-in. dado set can
choose a smaller dado set: It takes less power than an 8-in. set to handle this task.
The same size set
make the same cut. On a 3-hp cabinet saw, definitely go for an 8-in.
is also needed
dado set. The increased cutting capacity allows you to make a wider for deep bridle
variety of joints, like bridle joints deeper than 11⁄ 8 in. (the capacity of and lap joints
a 6-in. dado set), and to use a sled to guide workpieces. (bottom).
—Vlad Smishkewych is an associate editor.

Set stringing deep to increase glue surface

Q: I am making a A: NARROW STRINGING LOOKS BEST, so it is
Federal-style table typically made from commercial veneer: Strips
with stringing on are cut, turned on edge, and glued into the
the legs. What size groove, which is only about 1⁄40 in. wide. To
should the stringing increase the glue surface, make the groove
be, and how deep about 1⁄16 in. deep.
should I make the Cut a strip of veneer 3⁄ 32 in. wide, turn it
groove? 90°, and glue it into the groove. If you cut the
—ROSE MAXWELL , stringing any wider, you’ll have trouble pressing
Bloomington, Ind. it into the groove. If it’s any narrower, it might
not stick out above the groove after it’s pressed
in. After the glue is dry, plane or scrape it flush
to the leg.
For more detail, see my article “Stringing and
Banding Made Easy,” in FWW #166.
—Dan Faia is the head of the Cabinet
and Furniture Making Program at
3 ⁄ 32 in. North Bennet Street School.

⁄
1 16 in. MAKE STRINGING
DEEPER THAN IT IS WIDE
⁄
1 40 in. Stringing is made from very thin
veneer. Strengthen the glue bond by
using a groove that is 1 ⁄16 in. deep.
Scrape it flush. A sharp scraper brings the excess banding
flush to the surface and leaves a crisp finish.

86 Photos: staff; drawings: Kelly J. Dunton

For accurate joints, always
mark from the same face Mark the face. Using a lumber crayon, make a reference mark to keep
the parts in order and facing the same way. Then start your layout by
scribing the tenon shoulders.
Q: I’m learning A: YOU DON’T NEED A TWO-
to cut mortise- CUTTER MORTISING GAUGE to lay
and-tenon joints out this joint. Just mark the
by hand, but I only two sides of the mortise and
have a marking tenon one at a time, and be
gauge with one sure to lay out all the lines
cutter. How can I using the same face of your
use it to lay out the parts as a reference. That way,
joint accurately? the joints will align perfectly
—ISMAEL SALAZAR, even if your stock thickness
Schaumberg, Ill. varies slightly. Although it
might seem intuitive to set
your marks from each side to
ensure a centered tenon, it
is more accurate to mark all Scribe the first side on all parts. Set the gauge and mark the first side
lines from the same face. of the mortises (left), then move to the first side of the tenons (right).
First, mark the front face of
each piece using a lumber
crayon. Next, set the marking
gauge for one side of the mor-
tise and mark all of the mor-
tises. Keep the same setting on
the gauge and mark the sides
and top of the tenons. Then
reset the gauge for the other
side of the mortise—the dis-
tance between the two gauge
lines should be a hair wider
than one of your chisels. Now
mark the second line on all of
the mortises and tenons. Then mark the second side. Still using the marked face as a reference,
—Garrett Hack is a set the gauge to the other side of the mortise and mark all of them (left),
contributing editor. then mark the other side of the tenons (right).

M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 1 87
Q&A continued

A trouble-free shellac
Thinned shellac works better finish. Dilute a 3-lb. cut
of shellac with an equal
part of denatured alco-
Q: I make small A: DON’T GIVE UP ON IT YET. I used to have hol. Apply it with a cot-
boxes and finish that same problem, but then I learned ton pad. After the first
them with shellac. I a simple and quick way to apply shel- coat dries, wet-sand it
pad on the coats and lac that is perfect for boxes. The key with P600-grit paper
using mineral spirits as
sand between them. is to use a very thin cut of shellac. I
the lubricant. Pad on a
However, the finish start with a 3-lb. cut and mix it 50-50 second coat of shellac,
always gets thick and with denatured alcohol. Thinning it has let it dry, then buff it
unattractive. Before I two advantages. It doesn’t build up as with 0000 steel wool.
give up on shellac, do quickly and it dries much faster, so it’s Finally, apply a thin coat
you have any tips for easy to get even coats without streak- of wax and polish it with
a better finish? ing. And in less than 30 minutes you a soft cloth.
—JEFF CARMICHAEL, can apply both coats of shellac, as well
Corvallis, Ore. as wax, to a small box.
—Matt Kenney is an associate editor.

Great for small boxes. Thinned

shellac goes on without streaks
and dries in just a few minutes.

Quick fix for a sagging jointer

Q: The infeed table A: THE FACT THAT THE TABLE IS SAGGING tells
on my jointer is me your machine has dovetailed ways
sagging. I’ve lost the with gibs. When the screws holding the
manual and don’t gibs in place work loose, the table sags.
know how to fix it. To fix it, raise the table until it is level
Would you please with the high point of the blades’ arc.
explain how? Loosen the locknuts on all of the gib
—DAN HEINZ, screws and back out the screws about
Normal, Ill. a quarter turn. (Take care with the top
one: Loosen it too much, and the gib
Jointer could fall out.) The upper section of the
table
dovetail is most responsible for prevent-
ing sag, so adjust the top gib screw first.
Gib
Tighten it until the table’s height is hard
Gib screw to adjust and then back the screw off so
that the table moves smoothly. Secure
the screw’s locknut. Adjust the remain- Tighten the travel. Loosen the lock-
ing screws in the same way. The top nuts first. Then slightly back out all of
the gib screws, but keep the top one
two screws should fit tightest against
Locknut tight enough to hold the gib in place.
the gib. When you are done, the table Next, starting at the top, tighten the gib
Jointer should feel tight, but move smoothly. screws. Then back them off slightly, so
base —John White is the former shop the table moves smoothly. Last, secure
manager at Fine Woodworking. them with the locknuts.

88 FINE WOODWORKING
Ten-cent solution
for hollow-chisel woes
Q: I’ve just A: By the sound of it, your auger bit
purchased and set must have little or no room to turn
up a hollow-chisel within the hollow chisel. The bit is
mortiser. However, fatter at its tip and needs to stick out
when I turn the from the end of the chisel a little. To
machine on, it makes set this clearance properly, I use the
a screeching noise “dime trick”: Simply install the chisel 1 2
and then when I cut with a dime between the chisel and
Set it, raise
a mortise, the chips mortiser and tighten it in place. Then, 3 it, and square
clog the chisel and using a scrap as a pad, push the bit
it. First, set the
burn. What am I doing up until it is seated against the chisel hollow chisel
wrong? and tighten it. Finally, loosen the chis- at the correct
—Arthur LAney, el and push it up as far as it goes—the clearance using
Pittsburgh, Pa. space where the dime used to be will a dime. Then
create the necessary clearance. While raise the auger
you’re at it, put a square against the bit up firmly into
the chisel and
fence to ensure that the chisel is prop-
tighten it. Finally,
erly aligned. reset the chisel
—Michael Pekovich is Fine by raising it fully
Woodworking’s art director. and simultane-
ously squaring it
to the mortiser
fence.

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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 89

master class
How to make thick,
light tabletops
TORSION-BOX DESIGN WORKS
FOR ANY SIZE TABLE
A PEEK INSIDE
B Y B R I A N L . S A R G E N T Outer veneer

F
Top skin,
Solid-wood frame,
¼-in.-thick MDF
2 in. thick
rom conference tables to coffee tables, many
contemporary designs use thick tops—2 in., 3 in.,
even 4 in. thick. However, making these from solid
wood presents problems. They are tremendously
heavy, and they require a lot of expensive wood and
labor to flatten them.
The solution is the torsion box. With it, you can make thick
tops that are flat, stable, strong, and fairly lightweight. I’m not
talking about the old way of making torsion boxes, where
you build a solid wood frame and fill it with a latticework
of crosspieces. I’m talking about a relatively modern take,
with the labor-intensive latticework core replaced with resin- Middle MDF layer,
¾-in.-thick cardboard
impregnated cardboard that resembles a honeycomb. The stuff ½ in. thick
honeycomb
is easy to cut, easy to use, and very lightweight, but you do
need a vacuum bag. Bottom skin,
¼-in.-thick MDF
The honeycomb helps create a perfect substrate for my
favorite veneers. You often see it used in large pieces, like

Prep the parts

Cut all the interior pieces for a snug
fit inside a mitered frame. The top
and bottom MDF skins are cut a hair
oversize and trimmed flush later.

Frame it. The honeycomb core requires a supporting frame made of Fill it. The cardboard honeycomb is easy to cut
solid wood. with a utility knife and straightedge.

90 FINE WOODWORKING Photos: Thomas McKenna: drawings: John Tetreault

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M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 91
master class continued

Stack it
and bag it
To reduce the stress of assembling the parts,
Sargent mixes Unibond 800 to get an open
time of at least 45 minutes.
1 Get rolling. Place the bot-
tom MDF skin on a melamine
caul, then apply Unibond 800
2 Lay on the frame. Place the frame on the
bottom skin. The frame should sit about
¼ in. inside the skin edges. Both top and
to the interior of the skin. bottom skins will be trimmed flush later.

conference tables, but you can use it to make a top of any size which gives me an open time of about 35 to 45 minutes (with
or any thickness. Once you’ve used this honeycomb core, you’ll a shop temperature close to 70°F). The entire assembly is glued
never build a latticework torsion box again. together in a vacuum bag.
The photos on these pages show you how to build a 21⁄ 2-in.-
What is this stuff? thick top, but the process is the same no matter what thickness
Resin-impregnated honeycomb sheets are available from top you are making.
Vacuum Pressing Systems (vacupress.com) in 2-ft. by 4-ft. sizes
and in 1⁄ 2-in., 3⁄4-in., and 1-in. thicknesses ($12, $17, and $20, Make a cardboard sandwich, then put it in a bag
respectively). First, you need to build a solid-wood frame the same thickness
The honeycomb is placed within a solid-wood frame and as the core materials. Darryl Keil, owner of Vacuum Pressing
glued between two MDF skins. The honeycomb sheets can be Systems, says a good rule of thumb is to make the frame about
glued using any woodworking glue, but I use Unibond 800 as wide as it is thick. The frame should be made from a stable
(vacupress.com), a two-part urea-formaldehyde resin. Unibond species, such as poplar or quartersawn mahogany (used here)
gives me plenty of open time, and it experiences very little to minimize wood movement. I miter the frame to avoid having
creep and shrinkage, which makes for extremely stable tops. to glue edge veneer over end grain.
For this application, I use a 4-to-1 ratio of resin to powder, Once the frame is glued up, cut the top and bottom skins

5 Last layer of honeycomb. Apply glue to

the top of the middle MDF panel and then
add the top layer of honeycomb. Press it
6 The topper. After rolling the glue onto
the bottom of the top skin, place it on
top of the frame and core. Adjust it for an
7 Last caul. Once the top skin is
on, add the top melamine caul.

down flush with the top of the frame. even overhang.

92 FINE WOODWORKING
 3 First layer of honeycomb. Place the
first layer of honeycomb inside the
frame. Press it firmly against the bot-
4 MDF is next. After rolling glue onto
the bottom of the middle MDF panel,
lower it into the frame. Press it down
tom skin and snug it into the corners. so it sits flat.

about 1⁄4 in. larger than the frame. Making the skins oversize panel (making sure to get glue into the corners), add the next
makes assembly less fussy. They’ll be trimmed flush before the layer of honeycomb, and glue and install the top MDF skin.
veneer is applied. Now put on the top caul and use masking tape on all four
Now cut the layers of honeycomb and the middle panel of corners to hold the sandwich together.
MDF to fit inside the frame. The honeycomb can be cut with Slide the assembly into the vacuum bag, seal it up, and lower
a utility knife and a straightedge. I tend to cut it a bit oversize the vacuum pressure to 15 hg. If you have a pump that can’t
and compress the material to fit inside the frame. Once all the be adjusted, simply unscrew the filler jar in the line, releasing
parts are cut, dry-assemble the top to make sure everything air until the gauge reads 15 hg. Leave the assembly in the bag,
is fitting well. I use a 1⁄ 2-in.-thick melamine caul on the top under pressure, for at least five hours. When you remove the
and bottom to help spread clamping pressure and protect the assembly from the press, stand it up on edge or place it on
assembly’s top and edges from dings. For efficiency, assemble stickers for 12 hours so that air can circulate around it. This way
the parts on top of the bottom caul. it will dry evenly and stay flat. After flush-trimming the top and
Start with the bottom panel, using a foam roller to apply an bottom skins, you’re ready to apply the veneer.
even coat. Put the frame in place and then the first layer of Have fun with your designs and this process. □
honeycomb. Next, roll glue onto one side of the middle MDF
panel and put it inside the frame. Apply glue to the top of that Brian L. Sargent makes furniture in New Hampshire.

8 In the bag. Use masking tape to hold

the top and bottom cauls in position
(inset), then slide the sandwich into the
9 Trim the edges. After the assembly
dries, trim the top and bottom skins
flush with the wood frame. You now
vacuum bag. have a perfect substrate for veneer.

M Ay / J u N e 2 0 1 1 93
 WOODWORKERS MART
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94 FINE woodworkINg
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AWFS Woodworking Fair p. 99 EZ Mortising Co. 3041 p. 95 Lignomat 3026 p. 35

Adria Toolworks, Inc. 3027 p. 95 Epilog Laser 3063 p. 35 Northwest Woodworking Studio 3033 p. 94
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www.fi newoodwor k i n g.com M ay / J u n e 2 0 1 1 97

 how they did it
Inside a tapered lamination
B Y A N I S S A K A P S A L E S
TAPERED LAYERS ENHANCE THE SHAPE

L
A core of tapered bending plywood combines strength with a graceful look.

ured by the dramatic look

and technical challenges
of curves, Enrico König
(see the back cover) nearly
always incorporates a deep
bend in his furniture. The trick to
pulling it off without sacrificing strength is to
use laminations: The strength comes from the
many layers and the rigid gluelines (urea resin
glue or epoxy) between them. To avoid the arc
looking clunky, he tapers it, and to do that without
cutting through the plies, he tapers each one before
laminating. König uses a tapering sled he saw in
FWW #14 (“Tapered Lamination” by Jere Osgood;
available at FineWoodworking.com/extras), in
conjunction with a drum sander. Core is multiple layers of 3 ⁄ 8-in.- Outer layers are 1 ⁄ 8-in.-thick
thick bending plywood tapered bending plywood covered
to 3 ⁄16 in. at the ends. by veneer.

1 2 3

Simple sled. König uses a shopmade sled and a drum sander (1) to taper the layers of bending ply. He uses a
strong form with plywood ribs inside layers of bending ply glued and nailed on (2). He presses all the layers at
once (3), including the veneer, using 1 ⁄8-in. vinyl-coated MDF cauls. Brads in the waste areas keep it all aligned.

4 5 6 7

Crosscut first, then trace, cut, and finish. Before cutting the sides of the lamination, he cuts its beveled ends.
He does this on the tablesaw with a jig that holds the piece upright (4). For the curved sides, König uses a router
on a pivoting arm to create a template, and then traces the curves onto the workpiece (5). Then he uses a jigsaw
to cut away the waste (6). Last, he routs the edges clean with a top-bearing bit and the same template (7).

98 FINE WOODWORKING Photos: Goran Basiric (top), Enrico König; drawings: John Tetreault
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Vaulted Veneer

W
hen he started making furniture in the
1990s, Enrico König says he was “a bit
of a solid-wood snob. I figured veneered
work was inferior.” With a background in car-
pentry and a lucrative seasonal job running
a tree-planting crew in his native Brit-
ish Columbia, König taught himself
woodworking in the winters.
His tastes ran to Arts and
Crafts furni-

ture and traditional solid-wood joinery. But when

he had the idea for a table with an arched base,
he began exploring bent-lamination and veneering
with increasing excitement. Using a vacuum bag to
glue up thin sheets of bending plywood, he found he
could create a range of arched forms that were both
strong and striking. He made tapered arches by send-
ing individual sheets of bending ply through a drum
sander on a sloped fixture. He loved the new shapes
he was making and also loved the ability veneer gave
him to play with grain patterns. These days, making
furniture full time in his Vancouver shop, he admits,
“I’ve officially become a veneer enthusiast.”
—Jonathan Binzen

Photos: Goran Basiric

How They Did It Turn to p. 98 to see how König pulls off the tricky Pro Portfolio For an audio slide show featuring more of König’s curved
tapered laminations used in his table. work, go to FineWoodworking.com/extras.