Tabla de contenidos para April 2024 en Woodworker's Journal

While you may not rip thin strips for shelf edging, kumiko or bent laminations on a regular basis, a simple, sturdy and safe jig certainly comes in handy when the need arises. That’s exactly what Rockler’s Thin Rip Table-saw Jig (item 36833; $39.99) delivers. Made of two beefy sheets of phenolic, the jig slides open or closed to set the thickness of the strips you need to make. Its aluminum miter bar underneath fits standard ⅜" x ¾" table saw or band saw miter slots and locks securely in place with a star knob. Mount the jig to the left of the blade for table saw use, set the thickness of the offcut and then use the saw’s rip fence to support the workpiece to the right of the blade.…

Custom Beehives Last winter, I made a number of Layens Beehives with fun and different exteriors. All have 1½" foam insulation between the inner plywood and the outer wood wall to keep the bees warm in the winter and cool in the summer. I added a front plexiglass window so that you can look inside the hive without any bee veil or protection, as it does not disturb the bees. This is a bit of a different project than normally seen in Woodworker’s Journal. Building them is fun and so is backyard beekeeping! Tony SeitzBillings, Montana Asian-inspired Dresser Offered Good Challenge! I enjoy incorporating curves and beautiful contrasting timbers in my projects. I also enjoy a good challenge, and this project presented several. The curved legs are attached to a…

Rare-earth Magnet Bit Holders I screwed these countersunk rare-earth magnets to the back of the cabinet door where I keep my cordless screwdriver. They hold my most often used screwdriver bits at the ready. The magnets have about a ⅛" projection, which makes grabbing the bits easy. If you adopt this trick for your shop, be sure to gently hand-drive the screws, since rare-earth magnets are brittle. Bruce KiefferEdina, Minnesota Rounding Gouge Heels As part of sharpening a bowl gouge, I have learned that occasionally grinding the heel is very beneficial, especially when turning deeper, smaller bowls. Without the sharper heel, I’m able to turn the gouge to a tighter radius as I’m hollowing out bowl interiors. If I place the gouge between the platform and the sharpening wheel with…

Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) once grew in the coastal plain from southeastern Virginia into southern Florida and west into eastern Texas, as well as in the low mountains of Alabama. This ecosystem had occupied up to 94 million acres, but by 1995 it was reduced to three percent of its native range. This is mostly federal and state lands and a handful of large plantation estates. The longleaf pine ecosystem consisted of continuous open forest with a grass-covered floor that was even more diverse in species than the Amazon rainforests. Frequent fires in its natural habitat developed the longleaf’s system of sporadic seed production. It sprouts but does not begin growth for six to 10 years. During this stage, the seedling is said to be in the “grass” stage because…

Change: Embracing One of Life’s Constants FOR ME, A WHOLE NEW BALLGAME BEGINS. There is a funny time-warp effect with print magazines. This is our March/April issue, but as I write these words, I am getting ready for the 2023 holiday season. And I am also handing the editorial reigns of Woodworker’s Journal over to Chris Marshall — a personality in these pages and in our videos, whom you probably feel you know quite well. I’ve been working on this publication for 26 years, which frankly seems impossible. To say that it has been the best job of my life is an understatement. The people I’ve worked with, the readers I’ve gotten to know and folks in the woodworking industry have all enriched my life, and for that, I am…

“Every year, I buy 15 of the same pen guts and, by selecting wood, acrylic and even deer antler, create 15 very different pens. Even though I prefer bowls, platters and art pieces, pens turn quickly, and you can pop a handful out in an afternoon.”– Rick Smith “I [turn pens] as a way to experience new types of wood species for turning without using, or possibly destroying, larger pieces of stock.”– John Burbank “I was overwhelmed by several friends who wanted this ‘Faith, Hope and Love’ pen in olive wood for gifts! I need a rest, but I was glad to make their wishes a reality.”– Bill Hyde “To answer your question about what makes [pen-turning] fun, it’s the people. I've met some talented people online and in person…

I love pine … its smell, workability, luster; there’s a feel to the wood that’s hard for me to describe. As a kid growing up in far northern Minnesota, we had a huge white pine in the yard, the tallest tree for miles. Until I saw a real redwood, I couldn’t imagine a bigger tree on the planet. It was the first tree I ever hugged, and it wasn’t the last, either. The longleaf pine lumber in this bookcase is a bit different, somewhat like red pine but denser and heavier, with a workability similar to Eastern slope Douglas fir. Not the wood you want to do acanthus carving on, but it’s perfect for furniture if you like simple lines with warm tones, lots of luster and straight grain. I…

A long with dovetails, traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery is among the strongest there is. But where dovetails are perhaps most useful for corner joints, mortise-and-tenon joinery is adaptable to a variety of project components: stile-and-rail, frames, legs and aprons, windows and yes, corners. These joints aren’t always easy to make, in that the mortise and the tenon, created separately and part of the workpieces themselves, must fit perfectly. They’re also a time-consuming process. But loose tenons — sometimes called “floating” or “slip” tenons — offer all the benefits of regular tenons and are usually faster and simpler to make, especially when making a lot of them. And because they’re “loose,” if a mortise is off a bit, size-wise, you can just toss the tenon and cut a new one to fit.…

Reader’s Take on a Wine Cabinet The “Wenge Wine Cabinet” project in the December 2023 issue reminds me of a wine cabinet I made of walnut (shown here). It holds both wine and liquor bottles with a small drawer for bottle stoppers, corkscrews and other supplies. Ed ShallenbergerVia the Internet Woodworking Basics Articles Were Spot-on! Thank you for your excellent series of Wood working Basics tutorials for new woodworkers that ran in four of the 2023 issues. Although a longtime carpenter/woodworker myself, they were perfect to introduce my 8-year-old grandson to woodworking. The projects and articles offered just the right level of complexity and ultimate product quality. We built all the projects in the series, mostly with hand tools, which I believe is the best way for a young newcomer…

Until a few years ago, I thought longleaf pine was just a regional nickname for some sort of “real” pine — you know, like Norway or white pine. (For example, in the South, where longleaf hails from, a “coke” can be Mountain Dew, ginger ale or, heaven forbid … a Pepsi.) Then I hooked up with Tim Knight and Rhett Johnson, two foresters who at the time were located in southern Alabama. While we were engaged in an entirely separate pursuit (quail hunting), they educated me about the long and romantic history of this sovereign species, which (of course) piqued my curiosity about the possibility of using it for fine woodworking. Hardwood or Softwood? When you compare longleaf pine to most of its cousins, it actually has more in common…