The Woodshop Shed

A Length Stop System for a RAS

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If you have a typical RAS, the table is not very wide. On my larger Dewalt GA, it'sonly 16 - 18" on the left side of the blade. It's wider on the right side but that side is unsuitable for a length stop system, at least for short parts, because there's no way to hold the stock with your handwhen the sawhead is pulled out to cut it.I can't add a table extension on this saw because of where it sits in my shop, so I needed a length stop system that can be added only when needed and then removed.

I came up with a simple approach. It uses a piece of 1/2" wide stock on top of which I applied aRto L tape measure. That piece of stock fits into a dado cut into the top of the fence. Friction holds it in place, but it can be slid as needed to align with the edge of the kerf in the fence





A simple wooden block with a thumb screw is locked to the fence for whatever length part is needed. With the fence in its normal position there is about 16 - 18" to the left of the blade. When longer parts need to be cut, the fence is pulled to the left and the tape is slid to the new kerf position.



With this tape I cancut parts up to 36" long. A longer fence and tape could be used for even longer parts. The portion of fence missing to the right of the blade can be replaced with another piece of stock if more support is needed on the right side.

John

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Bevels and Compounds Miters with the RAS Rotary Miter Table

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One of those obvious solutions came to me as I pondered how to cut bevels and compound miters with my rotary mitertable. For those who own a RAS you know that the sawhead pivots to a new cutline at every bevel angle. The rotary miter table works by having the 90 deg cut line in the same plane as the blade. The simple solution is to move the rotary miter table to whatever position the sawblade for any bevel angle you want to cut, and the easy way to do that is to put it on an auxiliary table.



You align the table so that the sawblade leaves a cut right on the centerline of the kerf made at 90 degrees.



Once that is done, clamp or screw the auxiliary table to the main table, as shown in the first photo.

Now you can cut simple bevels at any angle, this one at 45 degrees.



Or you can cut compound angles, again at any angle, this one being 45/45.






A new insert for each combination of angles assures you can use the kerf for alignment of your parts.



Mark and save the inserts for futureuse.



Now I can say it. A RAS makes a compound miter saw look prettypedestrian. With the rotary miter table, you have full cut capacity at any angle or combination of angles.

Now I need a DC system that can handle the range of bevel angles. Always something.

John

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Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinnemaker in New York

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Anybody interested in a wonderful, new condition book: "Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York"?

New condition. I received this as a gift but it's duplicate in my furniture book library. Published by the METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART in 2011. 302 pages. Hardcover.

This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition "Duncan Phyfe:

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Making a Lake St. Helen plaque

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Making a 13in wall hanging featuring Lake St. Helen from Honey Locust and Alumilite resin.


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Dining Table Aprons

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I'm building an 8-foot dining table with pedestals, not four legs. The top will attach to the aprons conventionally with tabletop clips. The apron ends will be miteredat 45 degrees. Because this table won't have legs to attach the aprons to, how do I glue the mitered ends tightly together? I could add an angledbrace across the aprons and attach withpocket screws. That would tie the aprons together, but that wouldn't clampthe ends tightly for glue.
Your replys appreciated. Peter

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The lattice build has begun!!!

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You might remember in a post a few weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to rebuild the lattice above our fence? (Original Lattice picture forreference).

Well it has begun. I'm making it with dadoes vs just stapling 2 piece over each other. Here are my steps:

1) In the 2nd picture (1st pass with router), you can see the jig I made. It took a while to visualize it and build it but once I understood how it is to function, everything fell into place. The 1st pass plows out one edge of my dado.

2) I then remove "template" (not sure why I called that piece "template") and plow out the opposite grove (2nd pass with the router picture). You might notice that my jig is angled down slightly but when I rest it up against the fence, it brings it to parallel with my 5x5 post.

3) I then just clean out the waste between my 2 grooves.

4) I then move the jig down to engage the groove I just made and continue the process. You can see the key on the bottom of my jig in "2nd pass with the router" picture.

5) In "Entire post..." you can see the (aptly name) entire post with all the grooves cut. I then cut the 5x5x 8ft post down to more manageable piece (approx 30" each) and run them through the Unisaw to slice off the completed sections. Since my blade can't reach to 5", I need to flip the pieces end for end to free them.

6) I then bring the "slab" to my older TS and cut the widths of each piece, In fact, in the "Entire post..." picture you can see the fence setup for that piece.

7) "Rough Assembly" shows how the pieces are going together.

(sometimes I cheat. In "Entire post" you'll see a 2pieces of playing cards that I use along the way to make sure the keystays 90 degrees to the edge of the posts. It hasn't been an issue so far in that my grooves are fitting as you cansee in "Rough assembly"


Oh, BTW, remember the board I made "Assembly jig"that I spent the better part of a weekend making to help with the alignment of my slats? Well, I won't be using it as the pieces automatically fit together @ 90 degrees without the need for a jig. Oh well, there's 2 days in the shop I'll never get back....)

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Help with Famowood Original Wood Filler

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Can someone give me an idea of what the consistency of Famowood should be? I have some that has dried out and is quite stiff. I have to fill some deep holes (3/8 to 1/2 inch). I have added acetone to it to make it easier to spread, but think it should probably be a lot thinner than I have it now. Any idea what the fresh, new consistency is? Like glazing compound/putty? like peanut butter? even thinner and sort of "sloppy"?

The project is utilitarian with cobbled together parts, so I would like to use the old Famowood (and use it as a learning experience).

Besides filling most of the holes with the regular consistency Famo, does it make sense to use a thin slurry to smooth out the final surface?

I'm relatively new to using fillers, so I would appreciate any suggestions from your experiences.

-W2W

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Slab Flattening Jig- Build or Buy

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Thoughts on buying the jig below. I know, Vevor, right? How bad can it be? OK, maybe I don't want to know theanswer to that. I know othersmake good ones for $600-ish. I also know there are dozens/ hundreds of build your own videos out there. I know myself well enough that I will never spend more than $200 to buy one so those are out. I also know it's unlikely that I'll ever get enough round-to-its saved up to build my own in the foreseeable future. Primary use would be to flatten my workbench top and get rid of some battle scars. 20+ years old and it's due. Secondary, I'd like to have a dedicated jig to flatten the occasional live edge/ wide slab I come across. I'm getting into sawmilling so I see having some nice slabs to flatten down the road. If this thing isn't a total piece of junk I think it's got everything I need (for now) and nothing I don't and the price is worth it to me if it makes the job easier. Thoughts?

And I briefly considered hand planing my bench, but it's laminated beech with zero thoughts given to grain direction when I glued it up. Soit's pretty gnarly. I think I would make it worse flattening by hand. I also have some pretty deep dings (~3/16") that I'd like to take out while I'm at it.

I think I'd spend at least this making my own out of 80/20 or similar and like I alluded above, my shop time is limited these days so I'm really leaning heavily towarda pre-made jig.


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Miniture Chests for Grandkids

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I finished these justin time for Christmas for 2 new Grandkids born in December. I used some clear 12x1 pine shelving boards that I had on hand collecting dust. The tops are white oak.The plans were in the book "Furniture in theSouthern Style" by Bob Lang and Glen Huey.


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Redemption

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You may remember my slice of humble pie posting a few weeks ago, where, because of an error I made creating the drawing, and not making a story stick,I built some doors that were too narrow for the opening. Well, after digesting that for a few days I proposed a "fix", or to build new doors. The fix was to add a piece of stock between the doors, attached to one door. The drawing looked like this, except the new piece would have grooves in it just like the door panels.




I didn't hear anything from the customer for over a week, so I contacted her to get her reaction. She said she might be OK with it, but said she wanted to use a piece of rosewood for contrast. OK, if you can find a piece of rosewood veneer, I'll use that. Another week passed so I contacted her again. This time she said she just didn't like the whole idea and would like to have new doors. OK, I'll do that.

But I'm pig headed at times, so I decided to build the center pieces and take the reworked doors to her and tell her to live with them for a couple of weeks. If she still hated them, I'd make new ones. Today was the day, and here's what they look like.



The center panels areattached to the right doors. There is a 3/8" groove on both edges of the panel to match the 3/8" horizontal gap between the two sets of doors.



There is an astragal let into a rabbett onthe back of the left door that fits into a rabbett in the right door to cover the gap between the doors.






She didn't say much when I was there, but later I got a text apologizing for not paying me (I didn't expect her to today.) and that the doors were growing on her. I take that as a good sign.

As a side note, I used:[font="Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Blum Compact Clip Soft-Close 5/8" Overlay, 2-Piece Screw-On[/font]hinges from WoodWorker's Hardware. They are the only compact faceframe soft close hinges I've found with the clip-onfeature and 3-way adjustability. The clip-on feature made installation so much easier, especially when I had to take them down and then reinstall them. Very nice hinges and features.

John

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? about multiple M&T glue-ups

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Think ladderback chair with curved uprights,three curved back pieces, a 1X2 seat support, and a bottom rung. That's 10 M&T joints (20 glue applications)that need to be glued up at the same time. The dry fit went together (finally) but it took these old hands quite a while, and I'm concerned about getting it all together without glue drying up or getting it all over me and everything else - despite usingTitebond III with a decent set time. Given the configuration,I do not think just doing one side at a time is feasible unless the second side follows immediately.

I'm thinking about applying glue to the tenons first, especially the end grain that normally needs two coats anyway, then the mortices. This might mean that some ofthe tenons could bepartially dry before completing all the joints. Do you think this is will not compromise the strength of the joints? Any other ideas?

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A New RAS Miter Table

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I developed a pretty sophisticated miter table for my RAS a year or so ago, so you can cut miters at any angle w/o having to pivot the saw arm. When the arm stays locked at 90 degrees it never loses accuracy.Several folks here expressed an interest in buying one. Turns out, that unit is very time consuming and expensive to produce, so I haven't gone forward with it. After I got my new Dewalt GA, I thought about developing a miter table that was simpler and easier and less costly to produce. After some design work and testing, I have a unit that I think folks with a RAS might find useful.



There is a fine adjust bracket at the front so that you can adjust the angle to well less than 1/4 degree.



The table is about 32 x 17" and will fit on most any RAS. Here it is on my 925.



And on my GWI.



The table indexes onto the dowel pin. The fine adjust bracket is installed at the front of the table. I used two screws, but threaded inserts also could be used, which is what I used for the lock knob. It's set off the C/L so there's no danger of running the blade into it.



Alignment is very simple. Just align the mark at 90 degrees with the kerf. Do a test cut. If the angle is off, move the fine adjust bracket left or right. Make a new test cut. When the cut is a perfect 90 degrees, it's all set. All other angles should be perfect. I checked the cuts at 45 degrees left and right and they were spot on without fine tuning.


A benefit of this miter table is that it provides support to the cutoff piece, both the fence and table. It's simple to install and simple to use,probably easier to use than a miter saw. Additionally, it's relatively small, so it's easily stored when not needed. The fence is screwed on from the bottom, so it's easy to replace it as needed.

I'll put an ad down in the Swap and Sell section for anyone who might want to buy one.

John

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Anyone have a jig for making wide half laps?

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Hi,

I'm rebuilding the lattice that sits on top of our fence. The original just had the slats stapled where they meet and many of them have failed. The 2nd picture shows the assembly jig I made. You'll note that some of the squares have been removed in order to make is easy for the slat pieces to fit. (In retrospect, I probably didn't need a square at every intersection point...oh well...I had some time on Saturday with nothing to do).


The 3rd picture shows my TS jig to cut the wide dadoes. The problem is that I can't make a dado the width of the slats (IIRC, they're about 1 7/16" wide). I seem to recall there's some sort of half-lapjig that allows the key to be slid over once you make the 1st cut to accommodate the entire width of the slat, but I can't seem to find it. The front fence slides to the right somehow??(Did the Woodsmith Shop do an episode where they made one?)

I realize it'll be a lot of bending over the TS to make my cuts. I think I've got 4 8 feet sections and 2 smaller sections to make. Ouch.

Also I'd rather got the TS route vs the router route as I think the TS will be more accurate, once I get the jig dialed in.

Got any plans/sites that show how to build one?

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Redwood carving

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Wow

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A little fun holiday project

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Some years ago I made a couple of these for family, and recently got requests for other friends and family for some more Sort of a parody on the "We Three Kings" Christmas theme - three guys on a rare 3-humped camel following a star. From what I read, the "Magi" were not actually kings but philosophers and curious wise-guys of the sort likely akin to present-day "nerds". Also, apparently the trek Eastward after noticinganodd confluence of stars occurred from two to four years after the Bethlehembirth but the early Christians adopted the taleto reinforce the"King of Kings" idea.

I could not find the somewhat larger "people" used before so settled for smaller ones from Hobby Lobby, whichmay be better suited to the concept of "wee three kings" anyway. I had enough SYP to make two and the others are from common white pine. Made 6.

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How to guard the holes in the Martin House from issue 231 Woodsmith

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Hi,

I built the Martin House a few years ago. Well....I should call it thesparrows, wrens and chickadees house. Nary a martin in site. Oh well.


But I also looked out this AM and saw a squirrel....bastages!!....go in 1 of the holes. How would you prevent this?


I was thinking about looking around for SS washers that have an ID that'll fit the birds, but not the rats that can get through. McMasterCarr maybe?? (of course I'll check the Cornell School of Ornithology to get the correct ID beforehand). Since the individual doors are curved somewhat, do they make large size washers that are slightly curved?


Anyone else built it? If so, how are you keeping the bastages out??



(It does look much better in real life...the snap of a .jpg file seems to wash out some of the colors)

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Looking for lock for Gerstner Chest.

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I have two different sized Gerstner Tool Chests, both missing the front panel that holds in the drawers for transportation, and folds under when in use. Neither is these chests will be overly valuable when done. One was vinyl covered (needs new covering) the second was also missing a drawer. Point is I don't want to spend "big bucks" on locks. Gerstner has original ones for $75.00, which is too rich for me.

The front panels are 1/2" thick, and there isn't much room behind them. I am looking for lower cost locks "similar" to the one pictured. (that is not a Gerstner). It should be kind of a dead bolt style that mortises into the panel. I've looked on Amazon, and Van Dykes, and haven't found the right one. I only need close, not perfect.
Got any ideas? Maybe a sliding latch?

Thanks


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joinery advice

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I posted this design quite a while ago (probably more than a year ago) and got a lot of good advice that I implemented. I am now finally in the process of building it. I am wondering what would bethe best mechanism for joining the head board and foot boardpanel assemblies tothe legs/posts.

I built John Teneyck's horizontal router mortiser and am thinking that loose tenons is my best option, but wondering if I am overlooking something that might be better.

The wood is cherry. The legs/posts are 3/4" boards glued into a 3 1/2" square usinga lock miter bit. I have machined the leg/post boards but have not glued them up yet so I can still add something to the inside of the postif needed(like maybeathreaded insert or something).

I do not own a Domino.

If I did loose tenons would 1/4" (easiest) be enough or should I go 3/8" (requires an additional set up step and extra pass or buya new 3/8" bit). Also would you only put loose tenons in the top and bottom rail, or would you put a couple in the outside stiles of the panel assembly?

How would you attach the panel assembly to the posts? Thanks in advance for the advice.


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edited with new picture for clarification

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Ridgid Bandsaw - new motor?

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I have the Ridgid[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]BS14002. It has only 6 inches of resaw capacity. I was thinking of a mod or two the increase it.[/font]
[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]First, add a riser.[/font]
[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Second, upgrade to a carbide resaw blade[/font]
[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Three (here is the real question), upgrade the motor. The existing motor is 3/4 horse. Can I get a bigger, stronger, more powerful one?[/font]
[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Will it make a difference? If so, where would I look to find a new motor.[/font]

[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Any input is appreciated.[/font]

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A Slice of Humble Pie Today

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I built four doors for a lady's kitchen "pantry" cabinet. I went there and measured, came home, drew it up on SketchUp and then made the doors. White oak with Osmo Polyox finish. The kerfs in thefloating panels were done on my CNC.



I did the install this afternoon. I had made a story pole for all the vertical elements, so I used it to mark and drill for the faceframe hinges. The doors clipped on perfectly. I got the two doors on one side installed, then began on the other side. I got the top door mounted and swung it closed to admire my work - to find a 3" gap between them! What the ...... OK, no fix for this except to make new ones. Not a good day.

After I got home, I looked at my SketchUp drawing and see that I somehow used the actual inside dimension between the face frames as the outside dimension for my drawing. That'll do it. Next time, I will make a horizontal story pole, as I normally do.

Anyone need some 15-1/2" wide doors?

John

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