Woodworking | Syzygy Woodworks

July 15, 2021July 15, 2021

Reeded door construction

Since I posted images of the reeded door vanities I built, I’ve received several calls and emails from builders and cabinet makers asking for details on how I built the reeded doors. I thought it might be easier to write a short article detailing the construction to refer to any future queries.

The first step was to joint and plane many 4/4 quarter-sawn white oak. They needed to be 3 1/4″ wide and a length appropriate to the height of the doors. These blanks were then resawn at the bandsaw and to yield two pieces, one 5/16″ thick and the other 1/4″ thick. I grouped the pairs and kept track of them by marking the ends.

I then prepared the 1/4″ MDF blanks that were to be the core of the lamination. They were ripped to 3 1/4″ wide and the same lengths as the QSWO (quarter sawn white oak).

The QSWO and MDF were then laminated together using my vacuum bag.

After the lamination, the blanks were ripped to exactly 3″ wide. This measurement was critical as it corresponded to the width of the molding knife pattern I planned to use later. The blanks were then laid out to form a pleasing pattern taking into account the grain and wood color. This order was then marked on the ends of the blanks. Biscuit slots were then cut on the edges of the blanks to aid in the alignment of the blanks during glue-up. All the biscuit slots were registered from the top of the 5/16″ thick QSWO face, which was the face that would be reeded.

The blanks were then run through my Williams and Hussey molding machine using their reeded casing knife 229-CP. It is 3″ wide with 3/16″ beads. I had prepared some 3″ wide MDF blanks when ripping the laminations to 3″ wide and used these to make sure the blanks were centered exactly to the molding knife to ensure the “hills and valleys” of each blank lined up nicely to the next.

The top layer of the lamination was 5/16″ thick QSWO to allow for the loss of some of that thickness when the blanks were run through the molding machine.

The blanks were then glued together. I took a lot of care to make sure they lined up perfectly and that the resulting panel was flat.

After glue up the panels were cut to the final size and a beaded molding was applied to the edges.

August 21, 2013June 17, 2017

Modification to an Étagère

I received a commission recently from a designer. Her clients had an Étagère which they were not happy with. The piece was too tall for the room in which they had it displayed and so they wanted to know if it was possible to cut it down. I met with them and the designer and we decided that the modification was possible. The goal was to re-size the piece, while making the joints near invisible and also maintain the structural integrity of the piece.

From Wikipedia:

An étagère is a piece of light furniture which was extensively made in France during the latter part of the 18th century. It consists of a series of stages or shelves for the reception of ornaments or other small articles. Like the what-not it was very often corner wise in shape, and the best Louis XVI examples in exotic woods are exceedingly graceful and elegant.

As you can see from the image below the piece was very tall, 88″.

My initial thought was to make a cut below the second lowest shelf and then move the feet to the underside of that shelf. From the standpoint of hiding the joint that would have been the simplest way. However there were a couple of details on the upright just above the bottom shelf which needed to be preserved, so it was decided that each upright needed to be cut in two places, once just below the third lowest shelf and once just below the second lowest shelf. Then the second lowest shelf would be discarded and the lowest shelf moved up one section.

In theory it was a very simple plan. Eight cuts and then glue it back together. In practice it required a lot of thought, problem solving and attention to detail in order to accomplish the cuts and then rejoining the pieces, all while achieving the goal of invisible joints and maintaining the structural integrity of the piece.

Once I got the piece to my workshop, I set it aside for a couple of days while I thought carefully about each step. The photo essay below shows how I went about making the modification.

I opted to make the cuts using a flush cut saw. I could see no way to make the cuts cleanly and safely using a power saw of any sort. While a power saw can make a quick cut, in this situation I just saw to much potential for things to go horribly wrong really quickly. The first step was to tape around each upright piece to support the wood fibers as much as possible during the cut and ensure a clean cut with little to no tear out. I also taped some pieces of Formica to the underside of the shelf so that the saw did not scratch that surface. I needed to make the cut as close as possible to the underside of the shelf in order to maintain the length of the upright piece. The thin kerf of the flush cut saw would also help achieve that goal.

The Étagère is an expensive and beautiful piece of furniture, so needless to say the first cut was make with some trepidation. However, once I had started the cut I was committed!

Once each cut was made on the upright I clamped a scrap piece of plywood over the cut to act as a sort of “splint” and hold that section together while I made the subsequent cuts.

The bottom shelf and uprights cut loose and waiting to be reattached. The piece of blue tape was put on the shelf before I started the cuts and marked the front of the piece so that I could maintain the correct orientation when reattaching it to the main section.

The next thing I needed to do was to make a jig. This always makes my wife smile, as she maintains that my day is complete if I get to design and fashion a jig! My plan was to route holes in the upright in order to accept a dowel. The dowel would ensure the structural integrity of the piece once glued together. The holes in the two pieces needed to line up perfectly and my goal in achieving this was to register the jig from the same two surfaces of each upright. The one thing complicating it was the overhang of the shelf, and so I needed to cut a groove in the jig so that it wrapped over the overhanging shelf. I then needed to ensure that the hole in the jig that would guide the router bit was as close to the center of the upright as possible. My hope was that if it was off a tiny bit, then the fact that the jig was referenced off the same two surfaces on each piece would compensate for this and the two uprights would still line up perfectly. This part of the theory, which sounded great in theory, could only be tested in practice, which added a bit of tension to the whole procedure.

The guide hole lined up with the center of the upright piece.

The plunge router ready for action.

The first hole successfully routed in the underside of the upper section.

The router and jig set up on the first of the upright pieces on the lower section.

The first hole successfully routed in the upright of the lower section.

Once all eight holes were drilled I needed to turn my attention to cleaning up the underside of the shelf on the upper section. There was a small section of the upright still remaining. This was due to the thickness of the formica that I had used to protect the underside of the shelf. In order to get rid of this I removed the top plate of my jig and clamped the jig to the upright once again.

I then registered the router bit to the surface of the shelf and used it to clean up the 1/16″ or so of upright remaining.

The resulting surface. Clean and flush with the underside of the shelf.

Lastly I needed to ensure that the cuts on the uprights of the lower section were clean and at a perfect ninety degree angle. If the cuts I had made using the flush cut saw were at a slight angle then it would be impossible to achieve an invisible joint. I also needed to make sure that each upright was exactly the same length so that the piece stood upright. Once again I used my jig without the cover plate. I also used a piece of wood registering from the lowest shelf to the underside of the jig in order to cut each upright to the same length. I set everything up in order to remove the bare minimum of wood and so maintain as much of the length of the upright as possible.

The upright after being routed. Clean edges and a perfect ninety degree cut.

Then it was off to the lathe in order to turn a dowel to the correct diameter out of a piece of straight grained hard maple.

After cutting each dowle to length I cut a couple of thin slots in each one. This was to allow the excess glue in the mortise a place to escape when everything was clamped together.

The dowels in place …

… and the test fit. It looked perfect. I was equal portions of relieved, ecstatic and mildly surprised at this point. The blue tape is in place to protect the surfaces from any residual glue squeeze out during the clamping.

No pictures of the clamping procedure. Anyone who has done a glue up knows that there is no time to grab the camera for a quick snap shot during a glue up. It went smoothly, primarily because I have learnt from bitter experience to always do a test glue up and have all the clamps ready and conveniently positioned long before I open the bottle of glue. I decided to use Titebond Liquid Hide Glue for this. As well as a longer clamp time it also seemed an appropriate glue to use for a fine piece of furniture such as the one I was working on.

The Bessey clamps are such a pleasure to use!

With the glue up complete, I closed the workshop for the night and came back the next morning with great anticipation to see how it had all come together. After removing the clamps and tape I tested each joint and it seemed that the structural integrity of the piece had been maintained. I was also delighted to find that the joints were near invisible. Someone would have to look long and hard in order to see that the piece had been cut down. The image below shows one of the joints.

A couple of shots of the modified Étagère. This was a pretty challenging project, involving many of the things that are so enjoyable about woodworking. Creative thinking, problem solving, care and attention to detail.

May 31, 2013June 6, 2013

Tissue Box Cover – Part 2

Last week I covered the cutting of the four sides and the top for the tissue box cover. This week I will be showing how I embellished the sides and top with some wood turning.

The first step was to lay the parts out in the order in which they would be assembled.

I then laid out where the opening for the tissues would be and also drew some decorative circles to indicate where the embellishments would go. The center of the 6″ circle falls directly at the intersection of two sides and the top. The center of the 4″ circle falls at the intersection of two sides and the center of the 5″ circle is offset from the intersection of two sides.

The idea is to have the turned embellishments wrap around the sides and top of the assembled box. The layout for the embellishments that fall on two faces is not that critical, however if the embellishment falls on three faces then it is critical that the center of the circle is exactly at the intersection of the three faces, or the embellishments will not flow around all three faces.

I started with the 4″ circle and put double-sided tape on the back of the two faces that it fell on.

I then stuck the two pieces on a 12″ plywood circle which was attached to a face plate. I lined the two pieces up so that the center of the circle was at the intersection of the two pieces.

A couple of notes about the plywood backing. I used two pieces of 3/4″ plywood laminated together and rough cut to 12″ diameter. The double thickness helps to stiffen the piece and reduce vibration and flex at the circumference. The laminated plywood was then screwed to a face plate mounted to the lathe and turned true. It is important to use a face plate with set screws and tighten the set screws to the lathe spindle once the face plate is mounted on the lathe. If you don’t use set screws there is a danger of the plywood continuing to turn after the lathe is shut off, and it will then unscrew itself from the lathe!

Once the pieces are in position I like to apply pressure to the double sided tape for a couple of minutes. I place a scrap piece of wood over the parts and applied pressure with the tail stock. I also applied pressure to the corners of the scrap wood with some clamps. A couple of minutes under pressure makes the double sided tape stick much better.

After removing the clamps, scrap wood and tail stock, I turned the lathe on at a very slow speed and standing off to one side slowly turned up the speed. I let it run for a couple of minutes and then checked to see that the pieces were secure and had not moved. Once I was satisfied they were secure I turned a hemisphere in the center and some further embellishments with a texturing tool and skew.

While turning I kept the speed fairly low, around 1000 rpm.
Don’t skimp on the double sided tape.
Apply pressure to the tape for a couple of minutes to increase the adhesion strength.
Rotate the plywood before turning on the lathe to make sure nothing comes into contact with the tool rest etc.
Keep your hands and fingers behind the tool rest!
Take care removing the parts from the plywood. Slow, gentle and constant pressure will cause the tape to slowly give.

This was the 5″ circle which was offset from the intersection of the two sides. I added a scrap piece of maple to help counter balance the offset weight.

Last, I turned the embellishments that would flow over two sides and the top of the tissue box cover. It was critical that I align the center of this circle with the intersection of the three pieces. I also added a scrap piece of maple in the one corner to counter balance the weight and also to help provide support to the cuts I was making.

I then moved to my scroll saw and cut out the opening in the top for the tissues.

The five parts laid out again.

I laid some clear packing tape across the four sides, flipped them over, applied a thin bead of glue to the four sides, then rolled the parts up into a box …

… and taped it together. The tension created as the tape is stretched when rolling the sides up is more than sufficient clamping pressure for this assembly.

I then applied a thin bead of glue to the four bevels of the top …

… and taped it in place.

The finished tissue box cover.

May 24, 2013June 6, 2013

Tissue Box Cover – Part 1

This week I will be covering the cutting of the four sides and top for the tissue box cover I am making for my wife. The panels are laid out so that the grain will be continuous around the box and the cuts are made on the crosscut sled with the blade set at 45 degrees.

The top and sides are first cut slightly oversize. They need to be clearly marked. I have labelled the pieces with chalk, 3 will butt to 3, 4 will butt to 4 etc. As a lot of the work in this project is set up, I deceided to make two tissue box covers at the same time, hence the A label indicating it is the first of two boxes.

The first cut made on each of the side is the vertical or upright joint on the left. This establishes a 45 degree miter cut that runs at right angles to the base of the cover.

The same is done on one of the sides of the top piece.

A stop block is clamped to the fence of the cross cut sled and the vertical right hand joint is cut on each of the side pieces. While the stop block is in this position, cut the other three sides of the top piece. The top is square and it is important that the length of each side of the top be exactly the same as the width of each side.

The stop block is now moved and each side piece is rotated 90 degrees and the horizontal joint cut. This also establishes the height of the tissue box cover.

To test the accuracy of the joints it is a good idea to do a dry run prior to glue up. The four sides are laid out in order against the fence with the show side up. Some tape is stretched across the pieces …

… and the box is rolled up and taped closed.

The top piece is then taped in place. All the joints look good, so I can proceed to the next step which will be embellishing the sides and top with some wood turning. I’ll cover that in the next post.

May 17, 2013May 17, 2013

Quick and Easy Crosscut Sled

I built a crosscut sled many years ago and it has seen a lot of use. However, I have always wanted another crosscut sled set up with the table saw blade tilted to 45 degrees. Although the blade is titled, the principles behind the crosscut sled and its making are exactly the same if the blade were set at 90 degrees. It is a quick and easy project and will provide a jig which you will use in projects over and over again. A very useful addition to your workshop.

The image above shows the materials needed for construction of the crosscut sled.

A sheet of 1/2″ MDF cut to 2′ x 3′.
Two strips of hard maple sized to fit snugly in the miter gauge slots.
A piece of hard maple approximately 1″x 3″ x 12″ for the bridge. This will not really act as a fence, it is solely there to help keep the two halves of the sled together at the front.
A piece of hard maple approximately 1 1/2″ x 2 x 24″ for the fence. It is important that this piece is jointed so that it is perfectly straight.

Set a couple of washers in the miter gauge slots so that the runners are raised slightly above the surface of the table saw. Set the table saw fence at 18″ and lower the blade completely.

Run a thin bead of glue on each runner. Then butt the MDF against the table saw fence and slowly lower it down onto the runners. Using appropriately sized nails, tack the MDF sheet to the runners in a couple of spots.

The MDF sheet can know be lifted up with the runners in place and flipped upside down. Drill, countersink and screw the runners to the sheet from the underside.

Drill and countersink pilot holes for the bridge and the fence. Drill the holes for the fence slightly oversize. Be careful to position these holes so that they are well clear of the table saw blade!

Clamp the fence to the front edge of the sled and attach it with the screws. Also screw the bridge in place at the front of the sled.

Set the table saw blade to 45 degrees. If you are making a regular cross cut sled, then check the blade is at 90 degrees at this point.

Run the sled through the blade and establish a kerf. If you always use the same blade with the sled then this will be a zero clearance kerf supporting the work on the underside and preventing tear out.

The screws on the fence are now loosened slightly and the fence is set so that it is straight and at right angles to the saw kerf. As you can see, my wooden mallet has been well used since I made it.

This was just a test piece from some scrap plywood. It shows how I will be making the tissue box cover. I was pleased with the results. The vertical cuts were all square to the base of the box and all the miter joints fitted together perfectly.

I mentioned in the previous post how I planned on decorating the tissue box cover with some wood turning. The image is a teaser shot showing where I’m going with that.

May 11, 2013May 11, 2013

Continuous Grain on a Box

I’m going to be doing some woodworking on the next couple of posts. My wife asked me to make her a tissue box cover. Considering how understanding and supportive she is of the time I spend in my workshop it is always nice to have the opportunity to make something for her. I plan on making a tissue box cover with mitered joints. I also have an idea to embellish the sides and the tops of the cover with some wood turning.

The situation does remind me of a joke I saw a while back. Two ladies were talking and the one asked “How is your husbands new woodworking hobby coming along?” The second lady replied, “Great! Can I interest you in a $5000 paper towel holder?”

While not technically a box, as the cover has no bottom, I did want to try and ensure the grain flowed around the sides of the box. Getting the grain to flow across three of the four corners is pretty easy. However to get the grain to flow around all four corners does require an additional step. You need to start out with a piece of wood that is equal in length to the front or back and one of the sides. Further, the board needs to be twice as thick as you need the final sides to be.

Here I have a piece of walnut which I have jointed on one face and edge and then planed. It is about an inch thick.

The next step is to resaw the board in half.

Then each board is cut in half.

I have now reassembled the four boards in the configuration they were before the board was resawn. I’ve also labelled each corner. The next two images show how the box is “opened’ and it should be clear how the grain will flow continuously around the entire box.

Please Note: I am making a square box, which is why I cut each resawn board in half. If you are making a rectangular box you will need to adjust the cuts accordingly. Each resawn board should be crosscut in order to yield the front or back of the box and a side. The diagram below illustrates this.

In closing I want to remind readers that you can have these blog posts delivered to you automatically via email. Just go to https://syzygywoodworks.com/news/ and in the right hand column you will see a box to subscribe to the blog.

April 2, 2013April 2, 2013

Silver solder a bandsaw blade

To my mind, one of the biggest factors in getting a good cut on a bandsaw is a sharp blade. Things like blade tension, blade guide set up etc are all important, but if the blade is not sharp you will have tracking problems, the blade will wander within the cut and you will have to force the wood through the cut. However, at $20 and up for a blade it is always tempting to use the blade long past when it should have been sharpened or replaced.

For years I have thought about the convenience and cost savings of making my own blades up. I always hesitated, worried that it would be difficult or involve expensive welding equipment. Well a couple of months ago, inspired by a Popular Woodworking article by John Wilson, I took the plunge and ordered a Bandsaw Blade Splicing Kit from Lee Valley and 100 foot coil of Lenox Flexback bandsaw blade, and started making my own blades up. I have been surprised at how quick and easy it is. The shop made blades are far cheaper as well, about $8 per blade. My only regret is that I didn’t start doing this years ago.

The image below shows everything that I use to make up the blades.

100 foot coil of bandsaw blade stock.
Bandsaw blade splicing kit including the jib, flux and ribbon silver solder. (Note: this is silver solder, not soft solder that is used for plumbing)
Propane torch.
Gloves.
Toothpick to apply the flux 🙂

First, measure and mark the blade. The blades for my bandsaw need to be 105″. Add about an 1/8″ of an inch to allow for the scarf overlap.

Cut the blade at that mark.

Hold the two ends back to back and touch them to the grinder to square them off. If you are off by a degree or so the fact that the ends were back to back will cancel that out. (This is a similar principle to joint two pieces of lumber at the same time.) You can also use a belt sander to square the ends of the blade and grind the bevel for the scarf joint.

Set the blade in the jig to double check the joints are square when the blade is aligned in a straight line.

Change the grinder platform angle to approximately 25 degrees and grind a bevel on each end. The bevel needs to be about an 1/8″ long. Note, you need to grind the bevel on opposite faces of the blade.

The image and diagram show the beveled edges. The joint is open here to try show the bevel. The joint needs to be closed tight when the flux and solder are applied and the joint is soldered together.

Place some of the flux on each bevel. Cut a piece of the ribbon silver solder the same length as the blade is wide and place it in the joint.

Using the propane torch, heat the blade until the silver solder melts and flows. The blade turns red hot at this point.

Allow the joint to cool. The metal has become hardened and brittle by the heat of the soldering, so it needs to be annealed. Back the torch away from the blade and apply heat for a few seconds, allow the blade to cool for about ten seconds, then back the torch away another inch and apply a couple more seconds heat, repeat this four or five times, drawing the torch back each time.

If the blade breaks during use, then have a look at where it broke. If it breaks at the joint, then insufficient flux or heat was applied during the soldering process. If it breaks within a coupe inches of the joint, then the blade was not annealed properly. If it breaks somewhere else, then the problem was not with the soldering of the joint.

Once the blade has cooled the joint needs to be filed smooth. Both sides of the blade and the back edge of the blade need to be filed and the surplus flux and metal removed.

The finished joint. One final note, check the orientation of the blade before you put it on the bandsaw. You may need to twist the blade inside out to get it orientated correctly. It needs to be orientated with the teeth facing toward you and pointing down.

March 24, 2013March 24, 2013

Panther Chainsaw Mill

I have been wanting to get some form of portable mill for a long time now. Portable mills can be divided into two categories, bandsaw mills and chainsaw mills. After much research, I finally settled on a chainsaw mill. My reasons for this were as follows:

Cost. An entry-level chainsaw mill costs a couple hundred dollars (not including the chainsaw), while an entry-level bandsaw mill costs a couple thousand.
Portability. The chainsaw mill is obviously considerably smaller than a bandsaw mill and so has the edge on portability.
Width of cut. Achieving a wider cut with a chainsaw mill is simply a matter of putting on a longer bar, assuming you have the power head to run it. A wider cut with a bandsaw mill starts to mean a much bigger and more expensive mill.
Waste. While the waste due to the kerf of a chainsaw is considerably more than that of a bandsaw, this was not really a major factor for me. I don’t plan on milling a huge amount of wood and I am milling the wood for my personal use, not for resale. Also the vast majority of the wood I will be milling will be reclaimed wood and won’t cost me anything so a little bit wasted due to the thicker kerf is not a big deal.
Ease of use. The bandsaw mill requires a whole lot less effort to use. Again, due to the limited amount of milling I will be doing, breaking a sweat with the chainsaw mill occasionally is not going to be a big deal.

Having decided on a chainsaw mill I needed to decide on which model/brand. Taking into account many of the reasons above I decided to get an Alaskan Chainsaw style mill. I was all set to purchase one of the original Granberg Alaskan Chainsaw Mills when I came across the Panther Chainsaw Mill. Looking through the website and searching for reviews of the mill I liked what I saw and placed my order for the Panther Mill II, along with a 6′ slabbing rail and an auxiliary oiler.

I knew that the mill was made by a small outfit, a guy based here in Florida on the other side of the state. I also read that delivery was not always quickest as the mills were made to order. I was in no hurry so that didn’t bother me. My mill actually took just over a month to arrive. I called about the order two weeks after it was placed and received an apology that he had some health issues. Another call two weeks later and I was told the mill was in production and would be shipped shortly. A couple of days later it arrived. It would have been nice to have received an email about the delay but at the end of the day it wasn’t that big of an issue.

The following are my first impressions of the mill. Actually they are also my first impressions of milling in general. This is a totally new area to me. I have done a lot of research into it, but today was the first time I’ve seen any sort of mill in real life. So bear that in mind while reading, I’m just getting started with this!

Opening the box, I saw the contents had been well packaged and it was obvious from the outset that the mill had been built well and by someone who cared about what he was doing. Just lying in the box it looked rock solid. No buyers remorse at all, I was very pleased with what I saw.

As well as the obligatory warning page, a couple of pages of assembly and use instructions had been included. They were well written and it seemed like I wouldn’t have much problem putting the mill together. It would have been nice to have had a couple more detail shots, but between the pictures and written instructions it was easy enough to figure out.

The first step was to attach the skid bar to the main body and bar clamp/height adjuster. The later came in two halves and each had already been assembled.

Next I needed to attach the push bar to the main body.

Finally I could loosen the bar clamps and slide the chainsaw into place.

Here are a couple of detail shots of the bar clamps at the tip of the bar and near the power head.

Two big bolts, one on each side of the main body, allow for the height adjustment. I initially set the assembly for an 8/4 cut.

A couple of technical specifications. I am a running a Stihl MS066 power head with a 32″ bar. I got it used on eBay from a guy in Canada. The mill is the Panther Mill II 42″, so I have the option of putting a longer bar on the chainsaw at some point in the future. The chain is a regular chain, not a ripping chain. I may be mistaken, but I did read that all a ripping chain does is provide a smoother cut. I’m not sure if it puts less stress on the chainsaw. As a lot of the wood I’ll be milling will end up on the lathe, I’m not really concerned about getting as smooth a cut as possible.

Now that it was fully assembled and all the bolts double checked it was time to head outside and put it to the test. I had been saving a log of maple for this occasion, it had probably been in my shop for about four to six months. The first step was to screw the slabbing rail to the log. This was going to provide a level and straight platform to register the first cut from.

Here are some action shots of the first cut in progress. I got a bit caught up in the moment and totally forgot to put my hearing protection on! Just left the headphones lying off to the side, my bad. Unfortunately I also miscalculated by about a quarter-inch the depth of the screws fixing the slabbing rail to the log. This after specifically reading in the instructions to watch out for this. Lesson learned. The chain was dulled by the brief contact with the screws as I realized my mistake and definitely made the cut a lot more work than it needed to be.

In spite of my rookie mistakes, the cut came out really well, and removing the slabbing rail revealed a smooth surface in the spalted maple. Here in Florida the challenge is often how to get the wood not to spalt!

Having removed the slabbing rail, the smooth freshly cut surface now provides a platform to register the next cut from. All subsequent cuts are now registered from the previous cut. I did realize to that I needed to adjust the height before the second cut as the depth had increased due to the slabbing rail not being used. Here are some action shots of the second cut.

The instructions had warned of a big grin after cutting your first slab. They were right!

All in all I’m really pleased with my purchase. I plan on using it to mill wood but for my woodturning, platters, bowl blanks, hollow form blanks and wall hangings, as well as my woodworking goal of making natural edge slab tables. I think it will work very well for what I intend to use it for.

September 30, 2010

Cutting a Partial Sphere Safely

Putting the final touches on an install that I did recently, I had to cut some bun feet to size. The tile floor had been installed after the vanity cabinets, and the bun feet were now to tall to fit under the cabinet, about 3/8″ of an inch needed to be cut from the top of the feet.

The bun feet were not a complete sphere as they had a flat section. While I was able to put this flat section on the bed of my miter saw, the rounded section of the sphere was up against the fence. The potential for the piece to rotate as I cut it was high. As well as ruining an expensive fixture it could have caused a dangerous kickback. As expensive as the bun feet were, my fingers are worth more, so I needed to figure out a way to hold the bun feet so that the cut could be performed on my miter saw accurately and safely.

A couple of pieces of scrap wood screwed together made a jig which allowed just that. The bun foot is secured to the jig by a 1 1/2″ screw through the jig and into the base of the foot as well as an additional screw through the base of the jig and into the flat section of the bun foot These areas would be against the tile floor and the toe kick so the holes formed by the screw would be hidden after installation. The screws, as with the screws used to assemble the jig, would also be out of the way of the cut so the blade wouldn’t be damaged.

As you can see in the image below the bun foot is now held securely and square to the base and fence of the miter saw. There is no danger of the bun foot moving or rotating in any direction or axis. The jig also allows me plenty of room to hold it with my fingers far from the spinning blade.

The cut complete.

The bun foot installed.

Typically a miter saw, table saw and band saw are used to cut objects that sit flat on the bed and have a square edge that will ride against the fence. However, with the use of simple but effective jigs it is possible to cut round and irregular shaped objects. When designing the jig keep these points in mind:

The jig must be large enough to allow you to hold/guide it and keep your hands/fingers away from the blade.
The jig must hold the workpiece securely so there is no possibility of rotation or movement while performing the cut.
Any fasteners used to assemble the jig or hold the workpiece, screws, nails, clamps etc, need to be positioned so that the blade is not cutting into them.

Above all, if there is any doubt in your mind at all about the safety of the cut, then don’t make it. There is no cut that is worth bleeding over!

September 29, 2010

Lock-Rabbet Drawer Joint

A lock-rabbet joint, while not as strong as a dovetail joint, is still a strong, attractive and relatively easy joint to make. It is ideally suited for drawers. It can be made on either a table saw or router table.

As with much power tool woodworking, the time is in the set up. Once the set up is done, repeating the cut for any number of drawers is a quick process.

The first step is to mill your lumber. The picture below shows the pieces for one drawer box. The sides are 1/2″ thick maple, the front and back are 3/4″ maple. The length of the drawer front and back pieces is the same as the finished dimension of the drawer. The lengths of the drawer side pieces is half an inch less than the finished dimension of the drawer. As always, I have also prepared a couple of 1/2″ and 3/4″ scrap pieces to use for test cuts during the set up. It’s also a good idea to mark the outside face of each piece with chalk to avoid confusion.

With a 1/4″ dado blade in the table saw, cut a 1/4″ x 1/4″ groove down the side of each piece 1/4″ from the edge of the piece. This is the groove that will accept the drawer bottom, which is 1/4″ thick sheet material. Cutting the groove now gives you another visual aid as to which side is the inside of the drawer as well as which edge is the top and bottom.

Using one of the drawer sides as a gauge block, raise the 1/4″ dado blade to 1/2″ high. This is a rough adjustment and the blade height will be fine tuned in the next step.

The next step can be made by using a tall auxiliary table saw fence or with a tenoning jig as shown in the picture below. Using a scrap piece of wood and the blade at 1/2″ height, make a cut.

To confirm the blade is at the correct height, butt one of the drawer sides into the groove just cut. The drawer side should fit flush with the edge of the scrap piece, as in the picture below. If the drawer side is proud of the edge of the scrap piece, then the cut needs to be deeper and the blade should be raised. If the edge of the scrap piece is proud of the drawer side, then the cut is to deep and the blade should be lowered.

Now that the height of the blade is set, the distance from the tenoning jig to the blade needs to be set to 1/4″. I like to use a brass set up gauge for this.

With the outside face towards the tenoning jig, cut a 1/2″ x 1/4″ groove in the end of each side of the front and back pieces of the drawer.

Using either an auxillary fence on the table saw, or a piece of wood held with a fence clamp as shown, slide the table saw fence so that the piece of wood just touches the blade.

Lower the blade to 3/8″ of an inch.

With the outside face of the piece up, crosscut each end of the front and back pieces of the drawer.

The front and back pieces of the drawer are now complete.

Still using either a scrap piece of wood held by a fence clamp, set the height of the blade to 1/4″ and the distance of the blade from the scrap piece of wood to 1/4″. Then make a crosscut in one of the 1/2″ thick pieces of wood you prepared.

The astute among you will notice that I made a large block of wood to use as my “mini auxillary fence”. The one in the previous image did not reach all the way down to the table saw bed and made some set ups difficult.

The really astute among you will also notice that the position of the “mini auxiliary fence” in the shot below is far from ideal. Somewhere in the midst of making the new auxiliary fence, performing the cross-cut and then staging everything for the photo I had the auxiliary fence in the wrong position. My bad. Once the distance between the fence and the blade is established, the auxiliary fence should be moved back behind the blade, where it can perform it’s function as a stop block but not run the risk of binding the piece as you perform the cross cut.

This image shows the correct position of the auxiliary fence/stop block relative to the blade while performing a cross cut.

Proceeding on, the image below shows the results of the test cut. The piece is sitting proud of the edge of the drawer front by a smidgen. To correct this the blade needs to be raised by a corresponding smidgen.

The correct fit after raising the blade is shown below.

Once the correct fit is established, the cross cut is made on each end of both drawer sides with the outside of each drawer side facing up.

All that needs to be done is to perform a dry assembly of the drawer, establish the size of the drawer bottom, cut it and then a dry assembly of the drawer with the bottom in place.

When gluing the drawer together, checking the diagonals match is an easy way to ensure that the box is square. I find the square check for tape measures really convenient for this.

Category: Woodworking