Tabla de contenidos para February 2024 en Woodworker's Journal

No matter how carefully I cut and fit my box joints, if they aren’t clamped thoroughly at glue-up, there’s no guarantee all the pins and slots will be pushed fully together. The key to effective clamping, however, is applying pressure against every pin. That’s where Rockler’s Box Joint Cauls (item GRP25132) are the ideal solution. Their inner surfaces are laid out with alternating pin-and-slot patterns to match whatever common joint I’m making — 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" or 3/4". Thin slots on their rounded outer corners enable pennies to be inserted to keep strap clamps from falling down when they’re tightened. These cauls were super handy to have for assembling both the carcass and drawer of our “Gluing Supplies Caddy” project on page 34. The 1/4" size covers joints up to…

“They call me Geppetto…” our dad jokes to others when he points to the weathered wooden engraved plaque hanging above the workbench in his workshop. Growing up, we believed our dad, William “Bill” Blix, could create and build anything. Now that we’re adults, we know he can! He really is the Geppetto in our lives. Dad took up woodworking as a hobby after watching his father and older brothers build their woodshop projects. He made his first woodworking creation in junior high school back in 1960 — a flying wooden goose with copper wings that still sits perched on the wall of his workshop today. Recently, he took it down to show us the intricate curves of the wood and how difficult a project it was for him as a…

River tables and liveedged furniture are immensely popular, but I’ve been thinking about other interesting ways to use a slab in a more non-traditional way. Slabs can offer spectacular grain patterns and more character than you’ll often find on typical dimension lumber, because they’re frequently sourced from trees that aren’t part of forests that are periodically logged. Since this sturdy bookcase has fairly simply styling, I thought resawing a unique slab might provide a chance to spice up the design with thicker components, showier grain and distressed figure. So I went to a local sawmill and selected a slab of red elm — it’s a species you won’t find at many lumberyards. I think its strong grain pattern, natural defects and warm color look great. The large box joints on…

Touching up or reshaping the primary bevels of chisels or plane irons, then adding a razor-sharp micro-bevel, is easy with Rockler’s Grinding and Honing Jig with Guide (item 53018; $119.99). The jig includes a fully adjustable grinding support base that can be used with most 6" or 8" conventional or lowspeed bench grinders (sold separately). A honing guide fits into a sliding carriage on top of the base and securely holds chisels or plane iron blades from 1/4" to 2⅜" wide. Sliding the honing guide back and forth along the base’s polished linear rods is all it takes to grind the primary bevel. Nylon bushings on the honing guide provide smooth sliding action. Three plastic angle gauges set the system up quickly and easily to grind 20-, 25- or 30-degree bevels.…

Circling the Sun — The Time is Now THE AMAZING GIFT OF A NEW YEAR! It is common to spend some time, as one year turns to the next, considering what has gone before and using it to chart a path forward. This is true even as we get a bit older; the illusion of control evaporates and the irony of our efforts becomes more clear. As singer Jim Morrison once said, “The future is uncertain, but the end is always near.” Prophetic in his case. We occasionally think of time as a gift, which once was surprisingly well summed up by cartoonist Bil Keane: “Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present.” Looking back over last year, it has…

“I just read your latest Weekly editorial about slab projects and wanted to share a picture of a bar table that I did. The slab is monkeypod wood with an oil-rubbed finish. The bases are on lockable wheels to make it easier to move, if needed.”– Dave Bontjes “I like the look of live-edge lumber, but it seems most of the furniture pieces are made using metal legs. I don’t care for that particular look. It also requires minimal woodworking skills. Here’s a photo of one of my live-edge projects.”– Don Rosano “I love the liveedge trend. I believe the use of live edge started with George Nakashima, and I for one am happy to see it come back. I do wonder how long it will last this time.”–David Weber…

Last summer, Russ Fogel and Jake Stilwell from Shaper Origin joined Rob Johnstone at Rockler headquarters to make a mid-century styled clock. It has a padauk body, a resin clock face and 60 (yes 60!) raised rays of wenge and canary wood. The project would have been tremendously difficult to make without their high-tech routing tool. To watch a full-build video of us making the clock, go to Rockler’s YouTube channel (youtu.be/tGe5ZAwn-b4). Russ and Jake helped Rob make the clock and, while doing so, demonstrated not only the remarkable features of the Shaper Origin but also how to properly order the construction steps. Rob had used the Shaper Origin several times before, but he benefited from their expert instruction. “I love the remarkable scope of what Shaper Origin can do,”…

It’s tough to do much woodworking without reaching for a glue bottle and some means of spreading it around or dispensing it into joint parts. Over time, you’ll likely end up with a bottle of nearly every “flavor” of glue out there. I keep five types of PVA glue, hide glue, four viscosities of CA glue and a couple of small bottles of five-minute epoxy. Along with the adhesives, I have all sorts of Rockler silicone glue brushes, including those made for dowel, biscuit and other specific joints. And just recently, I’ve added some new silicone glue bottle caps for joinery to my collection too — they’re brand new from Rockler. All of this stuff has needed organization for some time, and with this gluing supplies caddy, I think I…

Nova has a history of making high-quality lathes and turning accessories. Their new Neptune lathe takes it to the next level by creating a new niche in woodturning between extremely large (and expensive) lathes and the more affordable but limited mid-level lathes. What do you mean by that? I’m glad you asked. DVR in the Driver’s Seat Let’s start with the lathe’s business end — a 1.5hp direct-drive Digital Variable Reluctance (DVR) motor. It’s both powerful and coupled with an advanced control system. Striatech’s Intelligent Direct Drive controls deliver remarkable torque across all speed settings — from 100 to 3,500 rpm. Included in the programming for the motor is a chisel jam detection feature that will stop the machine if something goes awry. Also part of the safety package is…

Vise in a Vise I don’t use my metalworking vise often enough that it earns a permanent spot on my woodworking bench. So I mounted it to a piece of scrap wood and then attached that to a 2x scrap underneath to serve as a cleat. With this arrangement, I can store my vise under the bench, then just clamp it by the cleat to my bench’s large end vise when needed. David DePauwCincinnati, Ohio Notched Blocks Help Clamp Angled Corners Easily When I built a corner table recently with three sides, I needed a way to clamp the apron to each leg on a 45-degree angle. I cut a 45-degree notch in a couple of pieces of 2x4 so that one face of the notch was parallel to the…

Originally cataloged as a sideboard, this #802 Gustav Stickley Server was a wider, two-drawer version. The full-size form was very popular in the early 1900s and has continued to be prized by collectors. Voorhees Craftsman, a purveyor of antique Arts & Crafts-style furniture in Pasadena, found a rare single-drawer version that they dubbed a small server. It might have been a one-off custom order from the Stickley factory in Syracuse, New York, or perhaps a rare uncatalogued form. At any rate, its compact size functions perfectly as a server for a smaller home. It would also make a nice entry table or nightstand. If you’ve built other tables with drawers, this project should be well within your skill set. Preparing Quartersawn Stock Round up some attractive 4/4 quartersawn white oak…

As we’ve explored in a previous Advanced Power Tool Techniques article, a router table can handle a host of woodworking chores — template routing, jointing and cutting mortiseand-tenon joints. Handheld routers, meanwhile, are used most often for the edge-shaping and trimming tasks at which they excel. But when outfitted with jigs or a specialized base plate, a router table’s handheld cousins take on a whole new range of useful abilities that prove once again why the router is the most versatile shop tool. Routing Ellipses, Circles You can cut circular shapes on a band saw if they’re not too large and with a jigsaw if they are. While both techniques are fast, the resulting shapes don’t always turn out perfect since the workpiece is cut by hand without guidance. Circle-cutting…