Two-Drawer Bookcase * Sliding Half-Dovetail Joinery * Holiday Lantern * Folding Desk Clock ‘Iwo-Drawer Featuring Siding Half-Dovetail Joinery Build Your Own Holiday Lantern with Original Scroll Saw Patterns is Folding Desk Clock Makes 3 a Great Weekend Project &-Woodsmith HE, tet immer No. 120 December, 1998 Publisher Donald B.Peschke dior Terry}, Strohman Associate Editors Joa Garbison Vincent Ancona Art Director Todd Lambirth Senior Mustrators David Kreyling Dirk Ver Stee Mike Mitte ‘CREATIVE RESOURCES, Conti Dor Te Kes Poe Deer Kea Manel * S-Proet Degen: Kent Wes, Kein Bone * Sep Manager Sears Sip Cina Se esa * Sr ‘ecareper Cal Egan BOOKS Exotic Ea Dvgls Hicks = Diner Steves ‘Senor Graphic Deigner ‘ches Glows "Grape Tater Vs Nigeven tora Ir Josep rin Sutera Se Din Se a Newsies Dt Gents Kes * New tes Nonager Tod B® Prometin Monae us Ard Manager Page Rages © log Mer: Rebecca Ceniaghan° As! Seboriition Nr Joy Keane * Ace Gphe Dos ‘Dinar Sas se +S, np Degur Chen Spe ‘CORPORATE SERVICES ce Pst of Poening and Finance: Jon Macarthy © sumer Rtn Hac » Sot a Ths ers Pate Mary} Sch» Ace Reco Maro etrsePicon Dir: George Clare » Predictive ‘sn Soe Re Elton Po Dogs M ter ‘pens ic STA Chek Nite igi + Now Medes Manage Gordon © Gate + WeStedvt Direct Gene Peder + RAs Risen Roles Ad Aesstons Jala Fish. + Recrptonste Jenne. Johne, Shey! Ribose! Poets Donor Sie 1 Ian ‘hg aie hen Gh WOODSMITH MAIL ORDER pectin incor Bob aus + Mole Mk Matin: 1 Case Some Mei Ea Warder Nahy Jobson « Ber: Lada Joaes«Tecsal Serie Mat Teionde» Cue. Res: Anna Con Tuna ‘Truckenbrod. Nasey Downey, Adam Best, Debord ch » Warehase Syva Carey © Quality Cont Tec FrankJohnso Wwoopsmimi sToRE ‘Monger Davclarsn» Asstt Manag Pl Scher Sales Staff Pt Lowry, Jerome Here, Wendell Soe Ji Barnet, Kay Sah Ten johvon + Oe Manager: Vici Bards Jase Sree fame hing 255 cpap hago Woe Ria Coy: A ol Te wens Ore fen Ser fo, Prntetin USA EDITOR'S COLUMN SAWDUST atthe top of my “to do” list —aHoliday Lantern and a Folding Desk Clock. HouoAy LANTRN. The Holiday Lantern featured on page 18 of this issue takes a different approach to one of my favorite seasonal traditions — putting up lights. This project features scroll sawn panels with different holiday scenes, When you turn on the light, it givesa warm, festive glow to aay room. OWING DESK Gok. The Second gift pro- ject fve been working on is aFolding Desk Clock, which begins on page 28 With figured veneer and solid brass its sure to please anyone bard who receives it But best ofall this time- quire much time less project doesn't to bald. In fact, the entire project can be completed over a weekend. "MO-DRAWER BOOKCASE The feature pro- Ject in this issue — the Two-Drawer single weekend. Besides being filled Withbooks, i’ also lied wth a couple of challenging. woodworking tech niques — pegged mortise and tenons and sliding half dovetaits. Hap wD. We're ooking foranasso- ciate editor to join our staff here at August Home Publishing. The ideal candidate will have both writing and woodworking experienc If you'd like to apply, please senda resume and letter highlighting your experience to Doug Hicks, 2200 Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA 50312. No, 129CONTENTS Features Two-Drawer Bookcase h k helt ring plenty of room for cd bonus, there's a pir of torage space. ‘Two-Drawer Bookcase pace 6 ; everyone who Ripping Tips Holiday Lantern pyge 18 Departments Tips & Techniques ... Shop Notes . Talking Shop ...........- Sources .. sass Folding Desk Clock page 28 Noi WoodsmithFROM FELLOW Ae eta e _ Tips & TECHNIQUES Base ee py) #5 waxzn Pruwoodscrew Frame soppert rely ana at material) oh Corner Clamp ToP view Whenever fm assembling L—_| come Fame ee Ser mitered frames, Ihave a dif Support ipport ‘ie flcwit time holding the epee come fr plese gee ong C . caough fo ing the tax teaers Butinsteal ofbuy- | -T-aeing 4] |] ——|-fo—l Sy a conch one camp, Tdecded s mane | ny com using coupe of | epee pipe clamps, see photo, I simply attached the clamps toa couple of black TIP UPDATE picuiples that Orca In the last issue, we a “T” fitting. Then the NOTE: Pipe fittings feared a tip on wholeassemblyistastened | Bieckiron ise bpenina seers foe sprains Sounitchoah ad. Theta it apie oe fincas Since SAMICK plprond, soe ‘Sete GH Cae TOMEpOE RE Ne seu CREME HE then, socal of 3ou drawing. (notch cutin pisos) Acoupeoflarge ploweswhle theyreinthe base see aving have boned out he onecomerofthepiweed serevs fasten thecamp clamps Laddedfrmesup Chai Die thee eesansde ir provides clemaace for -asooetiyiotietamn. pore ang the eles ad th dlecticl se, Thee- Applying Edging Gluing hardwood edging one side to fit over the edg- toplywood hasnever been ingand plywood see draw one of my favorite tasks. ing. Thishols the edging It's always tricky to keep __ flush with the plywood. the edging from slipping To prevent the blocks whitening down the fom getting glued tothe aps Sotebholthe vores, wae heir @ edging in place, [made face of the blocks before pins ] [So 1 made from %"hick hard wood, (The fence ensures that all the holes are etistant from the edge of the workpiece) “The microadust mech: base, Then a piece threaded rod near one end and a /-20 thee installed, see detail. The block is screwed to the end of the of ied inser anism is simply a block wood with a hole drilled through the Squaring Tip Whenever fin assembling sure across diagonals aa box or carcase ae ergy for square by meas across the diagonals trying to keep the hook of the tape from slipy off the corner of the pro- ject can be tricky To make things easiv ‘cutasmall sot on the? with a rotary tool, see ing. The siot fits over the ‘corner ofthe project, hold ing the tape in place St John’s, New AT Ue Rey Ifyou would like to share an original shoptested tip, send it to: Woodsmth, Tips and Techniques, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50812. Or ifi’s easier, PAX it to us at 515-282-6741. Or use ‘our E-Mail adress: woodsmith@woodsmith.com. Include a brief explanation and sketch ot photo. Ifyou tip is published, youll receive $30 w $150, depending on the published length. And don't ‘worry, welll rewrite the tip and redraw the art, if necessary. Also, please include a daytime phone number so we can contact you if we have any questions regarding your tip No, 120 insert, Finally, I made a small crank and epoxied it tothe end of the rod. To use the jig, simply clamp itto the table of your drill press. Then after driling the first hole, use Shaker Stoppers Tve tried using cork stop- pers on the bottom of salt and pepper shakers, but they have a nasty habit of falling out. So T came up with a better solution. T simply cut out the screw-on cap fromthe side ofa lemonade carton. By creating a large recess on the bottom of the shaker, the screw cap canbe ghued to he bottom Woodsmith the crank to shift the work piece in position for the next hole, Every five turns of the crank advances the workpiece exactly Edger Schuman Poughleepse, New York Chiferd Hicks Brevard, N. CarolinaTWO-DRAWER BOOKCASE This Craftsman-style bookcase seems pretty straightforward, but the shelves hold an interesting woodworking challenge: sliding half dovetails. Woodsmith ings for this project, I liked the design. And I took it to be a relatively simple, ‘SOLID WOOD SHELVES. Take the shelves, for simply cut a dado in the sides and then glue shelves to expand and contract freely, but (tokeepthem flush), Then the back edge of —with enough extra room inside the groove to allow for the wood movement. (Actually are in place to make the assembly easier.) Like the half dovetails, they also strengthen challenge your woodworking skills. No. 120Roundover on Upper back rail rmtehes legs Construction @ Details OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 60"H x 32”W x 12"D Stas fitinto inde ris | St gs Shestsecured ~~ ith Stfront nits @ “i MATERIALS & SUP! A Legs (4) B Upr. Side Rails C Mid, Side Rails D Lr, Side Ra E Slats (8) F Fixed Shehes (4) 6 H ' 4 K L ‘Adj. Shelves (2 Drawer Dividers (2 Drawer Gui Upr. Back Rai lw Back Rails (3) Upr. Back Pane! (1 Q Drawer Sides(4) 2x 6% R Drawer Bottoms (2) Ys S. Drawer Stops (2) T Drawer Catches (2 + (16) #6 x" Fh + @)#8x 1" Fh Woodscrews + A) Media Dov + (@)Nylon Gide Strips + (8) ¥e Shel Pins 1a YxKet odscrews | 124” tong, (2) Drawer Pulls + (@)6d Finish Nails Grooves on back ais ‘over fed shelves ur back panels ft into abbet cut back alk She Back loge Drawer divider 2ttoched wi Siding ul CUTTING DIAGRAM 1°x6I4"-60" Cherry Tivo Bosrds 3.480. Ft Each) A We xGis 7 Maple 3.2559 Fe) ’ ° afele ie x6- 95" Cherry (4.386. Ft) pxala-86° Cher — Joined with Imachineut ovetas No. 120 Woodsmith, rent oe ves restSide Assemblies ‘The two side assemblies don't look out of the ord- nary, see drawing at right. But there's one thing to point out right away. The ral aren’t centered on the thickness ofthe legs, as you cht expect. That's because the sliding dove- tailsrequire that the inside feces of the legs and rails be lush, see detail’ ess. started by cutting: thelegs (A)iofinshed size =) from "thick stock, see drawing in margin, (" x 5944) Then [aid out the ‘mortises forthe rails. ‘The trick here isto lay ‘out the 4A/-wide mortises ‘othe rails willend up fish with the inside fice ofthe legs. (The tenons will be centered on theralls) This means the legs aren'tiden- tical; you should end up ‘with two mirrorel pairs Another thing to note is that there are two short riortisesfor the bottom ral, Lowen. signa, instead ofa single al ong) cone, see margin. I did this to prevent the side walls yore around the mortise from Lower side ail si sed op rom too fragile. Swopieces becom SIDE RALS. When the mor- tises on the legs are complete, the ‘upper, middle and lower side rails @, C, D) that connect the legs can be cut to size from °A-thick stock, see detail'a’ (I glued up cach lower side rail from two pieces) ‘Next, tenons canbe cut on the ends of all the rails to fit the mortises in the legs. These tenons should be cen- tered on the thickness of the rails, but the important thing is that the inside faces of the ralls are ush with the legs ater they're assembled. As for twin tenons on the ends of ‘Woodsmith the lower rail (D), they don't start off any different than the other tenons. Simply cut a single wide tenon frst. “Then lay outthe inside shouldersand remove the waste between the tenons with the rai standing on end, see Fig. 1 Toavoid creating “stepped shoul Se Pai ‘Groove is centered onstoce ie No.120dor, I didn't try to cut right to the shoulders, Instead, I carefully pared GQ] vn to the shoulder with a sharp chisel, see Fig. Ia Finally o hold the stats, I cut a4" groove %Aa!-deep along the inside cediges of each rail, see detail’ atleft and Fig. 2. Later added small filler Strips to these grooves to create mor- tises for the sats, refer to Fig. 3 ‘Now the legs and rails can be dry assembled to check the fit and to measure for the length of the slats that span between the rails. The goal istoend up withthe latsallthe same Teng. Butthis means the middlerail thas to be centered perfectly yours aren't, don't worry. There's a quick vay to solve this problem, see Shop Notes on page 17. SUATS, At this point, the eight slats (©) can be eut to size from }/-thick stock, ee Fig.3,Just remember when ‘cutting them to length to add "2" to the distance between the rails forthe '4"Jong stub tenons on the ends. (My. slats were 1%" x21") s ‘Next, Icut the Jong tenons on Firs, to hold the adjustable shelves _ However, before you apply gle to theslats, see Fig. 3a. Theseeallow the added iter, [drilled twosets of holes therrailtenons frst dry assemble the slats to fit into the grooveson therails, for the 1" shelf pins, see Fig. 4 and side assemblies to make sure they ‘Then to complete the “mortises” in draving on page 8. These holes are will end up perfecty fat. Ths is impor- the rails that hold these tenons, I cilled on the inside face of each leg. tant because of die sliding half dove- sued 14" x filler blocks into the Next, cut a 4"radius on all four tail joinery that will hold the shelves ‘grooves, see Figs. $and 3b. The out- corners of each leg. Iaid out each and side assemblies together. The side blocks are 7A" long: the center radius (see drawing in margin), and latter the sides (and shelves) are, the ones 114" long And to position the then roughed them outwith band easier they willgo together late. blocks accurately, I cut spacers the -sawand sanded them snnooth. ‘ADD PEGS. After the side assemblies same width asthe tenon (1!2") totem ASSEMBLY. Now the legs, rails and were giued together, !used 4" dow- porarly ft in the grooves. When the slatsareready to be assembled. First elsto peg the tenons on the rails, see lue dries, sandthe edgessmocth to Iclamped the slats between the rails, Fig. 5. To do this, I drilled ¥A'-dia make sure the blocks are fish ‘sce Fig.4, ('didn't bother to glue the _holes on the ouside face ofeach leg, COMPLETE LE. The sides are cbout slats sluce they're trapped between using a hand drill. Then I glued a ready tobeassembled, Butfirs here the rails.) Then the legs can be fit short peg in each hole and trimmed are a couple things to do to thelegs. over the tenons on the rails. it fush witha chisel, see Fig. St Holes for Leg secon, rons lamp sts beeen ras Quarter A Trace around a quazer to quickly layout the comers of eee. No. 120 Woodsmith 9helves ‘To connect the side assem- ice with the shelves, Lused ‘siding half dovetails. And now thatthe sides areassembled, ifstimeto tackethe grooves that will capture the dovetails ca the shelves. DOVETAIL GROOVES. The pro- cedure isn't hard to under- ‘sand, I damped ashopmade router guide to each side assembly, see Fig. Band the article on page H. And Irout ed each half dovetail in two asses: First routing the suare top shoulder, see Fig. fa, Then the dovetail on the bottom shoulder, see Fig. 6b. But to get all the grooves rarallel and square to the edges requires some careful ‘work Ilabeled the ie care filly soitwasalwaysoriented the same, And Iahvays kept the router oriented the same too, And finally, to help keep tne grooves the same width, Tused a spacer when adjust- jing the guide to rout the dove- UT RABBET, Alter all the dovetail grooves have been routed, I cut a rabbet on the inside ‘edge to hold the back rails and pan- cis which are added later, see detail ‘Caboveand Fig.7. (Thisalso cleans vp any chipout that occurred when routing the grooves.) SHELVES. With the side assemblies complete, glued upall the panels for tl see page 1 Alsou both the four fixed (F) and two adjustable shelves (G), see drav- ing. (fsa good idea o gine upacou- ple panels extra long. Th can use the cutotfsastestpieces when routing te half dovetails on the ends) HALF DOVETAILS. When the fixed shelvesare cutto finishea size (1156" ADJUSTABLE ‘SHELF sor, eee ‘ca aweans lea gence wa ees Eten ciate x 30%"), you can rout the half dove: tails on the ends, see Fig. 8. Test the setup using one of the cutoffs from the way, you panels. And check it in all of the grooves on the side assemblies — they may not allbe exactly th ‘The goat here's not atight it Youll never get the shelvesinto the grooves, me, be T — scrap piece prevents Chpout Woedsmith Lite | No 120Instead, [sized the tails so they could bbe pushed into the grooves by hand at least half way. Then later when assembling the shelves, [used champs to push them the rest ofthe way. FULL DOVETALS, After the half dove. tails have been routed, the next step istorouta full dovetail dado centered onthe bottom two shelves. These are fora divider assembly that will sepa- rate the two drawers, refer to Fig 11. ‘To rout the dado, used the same router guide used earlier, see Fig. 9. But this time, rout the first pass with al straight bitto remove mostof the waste, see Fig. a. Then withoutmov: ing the guide, use the dovetail bit to rout the second pass, see Fig. $b. ASSEMBLY. Now the case can be assembled, Isl the shelves into one of the side assemblies and pulled them flush with the front edge using clamps, Then I slid the other side assembly onto the shelves, see Fig. 10.And Ididntuse hue. In sad cach see Fig 10a. Get the nails and fil the holes) DRAWER DIVIDERS & GUIDE. Next, I added the drawer divider tha into the dovetail dado routed earlier, see Fig. 11. Because small narrow pieces are easier to fit in the dado than a single wide panel, I made the assembly out of three parts: two nar- row vertical dividers and a guide that ‘connects them, cut the 3"vide dividers (H) s their lengths matched the between the tivo dadoes (7"), see Figs. 11 and 1a. Then I routed the dovetails on the ends. This is similar to those on the shelves except that here the dovetails are routed on both, faces, And since the pieces are only Nore: Formere on fn procedure, sve page 1 Yr dve- | center | oninside ace | Shaker Sicezesona Sntoshelves Serappiece — spomsbottom roses swe, they can ita Ble tighter. ‘The dividers willbe connected with guid, sol cuta3":wele mortise on the inside edge of each, see Fig. 1a, ‘The quideisa3¥4"-wide piece with tenons that fit the mortises in the dividers. Butnote that the final assem- bly should stop atleast” short ofthe ‘NOTE: ‘Mave fence Unt shel fisgroove i dove: ‘eile dove failbey ‘Slide shelves into one sige back edge ofthe sides so there’s room for the back rails, see Fig 12a, To add the drawer divider assem bly. first glued the frontdividerto the ‘guide and glued the divider into the dadoes, see Fig. 12, Then I glued the ‘back divider onto the guide. But don't glue it into the dadoes) nore: ous dovetail profileonboth faces of each Gider end piper Dae alee eo wa a ® ® 2 —— secono: 4 Frocofrabbet No. 120 Woods ithA To match the rouandover on the legs, the back rails require litle ‘extra shaping Back Rails & Panels “The sliding half dovetails hold the shelves and sides together, but they con't prevent the case from racking. So to do this, Ladded a “solid” back. This includes four back rails and ¥4" plywood panels, see drawing aright. ACK RALS.I didn't need to ada four back rails to the bookcase, But they do more than support the back pan- cls and stiffen the case. They also have grooves that fit over the fixed shelves, see detail'a' And there's plen- ty of room inside for the shelves to expand and contract, see detail [started by cutting the 432"vide upper back rail (J) and the three 3/!-wvide lower back rails (K) to finished length G14"), see drawing. Now there are three things todo to each rail, see detail’ at right First, cut a WA'deep groove along the inside face tit over the shelres. ‘The grooves on the lower rails are centered. The one on the upper rail islocated 1" from the bottom edge. Second, cutarabbet on the enés of each rll to create a "x4" tongue. These tongues will ft into the rab- bets on the back ofthe sides, ‘And inally to hol the back panels, you can cutrabbets on the back inside elges ofthe rails— the bottom edge othe upper rail, the top edge ofthe railon the bottom, and both edges of the rails in the middle Now the lower rails (1) can be attached tothe beck ofthe bookcase, see drawing. Allyou have to do is set the groove infront over the shelfand then serew the rail in place, UPPER RAIL. Because the upper rail connects tothe raunded top corner of the Teg, there's some shaping to do before the rail can be attached to the case, see photo in left margin. Tocreate the rounded shoulder on top, I setthe ral in place and marked the top edge of the leg, see Fig. 13, Then [cut the notch witha hand saw. Next, lrounded over these square shoulders, Fig. 14. To do this, Lused band saw to rough out the "radius before sending them smooth. Then I screwed the rail tothe case. ‘The rai sillsn't done, though. The square efge ofthe tongueneedsto be ober herr b. ee s rounded over to match the radius on the leg, see Fig. 15. But this time, | used a rasp to do the rough sharing. ACK PANEL, Finally, the back panels canbe cut o ft the rabbetsin therails, and sides, see drawing. The upper, middle and lower panels (L, M,N) are all the same width, but their lengths (heights) willbe different. To attach the backs to the case, 1 ‘Simply glued them. Then Ilightiysot- ened all the edges of the bookcase with 220-grit sandpaper. ‘SECOND: Nark and cut Rap Woodsmith No.120Drawers Al that’s left now is to build the two small drawers tat fit the openings at the bottom of the case, see photo above right. [joined my drawers with 1" dovetails, outing them with a dovetail jig. But if you don't have a dovetail jg, youcan usea locking rab- ‘betto join the pieces, see lower photo at right and Shop Notes on page 16. ‘To make thedrawers, I started by ‘measuring the openings in the case. (ine were 614" x 1494".) Then the 5Aahick drawer fronts (0) and ! thick backs (P) can be cut to finished size, see Fig. 16.1 sized them toallow fora 'As" gap around each ede (66 x 14", see Fig. 16b, Note: if you build the drawer with locked rabbets, the dimensions of some ofthe pie willbe slightly different, see pa ‘Next, Icut the four drawer sides (Q)to size from }2"thick stock. The length of these pieces depends onthe depth of the case. I wanted th ers to stop shor Tut my sides 10!6"ong, see Fig. 16 (The drawer ended up 10%" deep, which left a gap at the back.) With the pieces cut to size, the dovetails can be routed. And to hold the ("thick plywood bottom panels, Teuta ''deep groove near the bot- tom edge of the drawer pieces, (Locate the groove so it’s centered ‘on the bottom tall on the sides.) Ater cutting the drawer bottoms (R) to size, the two drawers can be glued together, and pulls can be ‘mounted tothe fronts fthe drawers, see Fig. 16a, (used a Cratsmanestyle ‘ing pull with a diamond-shaped plate. For sources, see page 35.) Though the drawersare built, there aressilla few details to work out. First, to helpthe drawers ride smoothly and prevent them from wearing grooves in the shelf the drawer rides on, I added two nylon guide strips to the bottom of the case, see Figs. 17 and, 17b. (These were Ye"thick) Next, added asim- ple drawer stop (S) to the very back of each case opening so the draw cersstop lush with the front, see Figs. and 17a, And finally,lcuta x14" notch in the back of each drawer and ‘added small turn button catches (T) near the front ofthe case. Thesecatch- ¢e5 prevent the drawers from being pulled all the way out. 11 You don’ need a dovetaljigto buuld the drawers. A locking abet join wil alo work, see page 16. A wx eke cee etn obs Fae ee ing pul Icenteres on ‘rower font for drawer bottom {rough bottom tail x is notch a pRawer stop. extents) FRONT VIEW No, 120 Woodsinithon page 6, our first instinct was glue joints would have failed. ting a full sliding dovetail (one with the profile on both the top and bottom). And to make it as easy as possible to fitthe half dovetails, we came up with away tomake the size ofthe grooves ‘more consistent by using an easy-to- build guide and a guide spacer, see box on the next page. Creating sliding half dovetails is a twosstep process. First, the grooves are routed on the insides of the side assembiies. Then the tails are creat- ed on the ends of the shelves. HALF DOVETAIL GROOVES “To create sliding half dovetails, the first step isto rout the groovesin the ‘case sides that the tails will slide into, Making these grooves also requires a couple steps. First, a groove (or dado) isrouted with a" straight it. ‘Then a second pass is made along the bottom shoulder of this groove, this time using a 1" dovetail bit Before routing however, there are afew things to do. First,on the inside face of one of the side assemblies, lay ‘out the fop shoulder of each groove, see Fig. 1. Next, o prevent chipoaton the front edge, carpet tape a scrap piece to it, see drawing in margin at left. (On the bookcase, the chipout on the back edge was cleaned up by arabbet that was cut later) STRAIGHT IT. Now you can mount a straight bitin the router and set it to cut a %e'sdeep groove, see Fig. 2a Shop Tip: I routed a couple test grooves on a scrap piece. This came in handy when setting the depth of the dovetail bit ater. At this point, the router guide can bbe clamped to the side so its slot is flush with the layout fine. (Use a square to make sure the guide isn't Re lee ne sep ut ‘on one side assenbly Before rowing the grooves, carpet- tape or clamp a ee | ee font edge of each | St00rer 0, Side asembly to | sembly preven chipou. [Mette fap anc ber om | shoulders: Usa t0 Borner page from leforrignt Woodsmith No, 120andledanddaiblecheckihatvoure EB, 5, — five onberoretadecthe ime), al CH | im When routing this groove, Imade a two passes, GA isa bit much to try toremoveinasingle pass) Soon the [hore use ext || € ! first pass, Teamettaped a pa of "| Bip checking |) = spacersunderthe base oftherouter | "127 SS formas” thei, se igs Zenda, | ee Ae Then [removed the spacers fr the arance second pass. Gince the bitmay not be Ew Sets A The dovetails ar perfect centered on the routerbase size to easy its important to keep the router or HALE TALS slide the shelves allthe way into the in half way. Th ented the same with each pass) With tne grooves routed on the side side assemblies, On the bookcase, clanps push th ‘AMter the gronvesarerouted on one assembles, the next slep isto rout setthe fenceso each shelf would eas- __pieses theres side assembly,transfer their position the matching halftailson the ends of iy slide halfway'into the groove."Then the way. to the other side to make sure the the shelves, Thesame!4" dovetailbit [finished the job with some camps, grooves will algn perfectly, see Fig. isuses, but thistime, used the router see margin drawing at right. 3. Now you can rout the grooves on table with a tall fenceto support the Shop Note:To test the setup Tused the second side assembly just like workpieces, see Fig. a cutoff from one of the shelf panels, you did the first, see Fig. 2 To set up this cut, I first set the And t's good idea to check the test DOVETAIL BIT At this point, I shaped height ofthe bit to match the depth piece in all the grooves to make sure the bottom shoulder of each groove ofthe grooves (4), see Fig.Sa.’Then there are no surprises, by making a single pass with a ‘" I adjusted the router fence to sneak When the test piece fits, the dove- dovetail bit, see Fig. 4. But fist you upon the final size ofthe dovetail. tail profile can be routed on both ends have to shift the router guide so the ‘The trick, ofcourse is getting the of the shelves, see Fig. 5. Then you groove ends up #'-wide, sew Fig. 4a, right ft. You don't want the shelftoo can begin to assemble the shelves (used spacer o do this, see below) loose. Butifit’ too tight, youllnever and case sides, refer to page IL ‘The key to routing the dove- GUIDE SPACER. When it came tail grooves is this simple time tomove the guide forrout- guide. It's made up of two hard- _ ing the half dovetail on the bot- router base and a eof use a simple spacer, see draw- a! ee. see drawing at right. consistent as possible, eerie renal GUIDE, What's important is The spacer should fit ight a. that the space between the inthe ¥#"slotinthe guide. And guide stripsequals the baseof _ there's a 16" rabbet cut on one | ‘Also, you want the outside spacer can be shifted YA" edges ofthestrips parallel with towards the bottomedge ofthe | $26? their inside edges, (This way, side. Geethe drawings below | (uter you can sea square to check for how touse the spacer) i, esrance the position ofthe guide) ‘When the strips have been = BH glued to thehardboard base, TE STEN | | 20t00 ove guide drilled a couple 1'-dia. holes wohay raulder of (— and spacer near the enés to provide clear ee Ea Trouted a ¥#" slot between the rh: clearance holes. Note: Mark Create Spacer. To me the Move Guide. With the spacer Rout Dovetail. Now the dove- your router and guide carefil guide consistently, make a _in place, move the guide and tail bit will automatically rout Woot bthate apt spcrtofn hegute en spacer a fara: you con slong tote ate Cast tesa dite eroserononecipe tarde bono ofbeski nga hatoe tae No. 120 Woodsmith 5A Inaalocking rabbet the drawer side fies Locking Rabbets Nyuudanes makethedrawers for the bookcase shown onpage 6with locking rabbet joints instead ‘There's not mach to a locking rabbetoint.A dado inthe side ofthe drawer fits ‘over a tongue cat on the end of the drawer front, locking the two pieces together, see photo. To firststepistocuta wide make thejoint allyouneed —loton the ends ofthe draw- isa table saw. cr front, see Fig, 1. Thissiot Shop Note: The dimen- ig centered on the thick: sions of the draver sides ness of the workpiece. and back are slightly dif-_Thedepth (height ofthe ferent than the dovetailed slot should match thethicke drawer, see drawin ness of the stock you're To make the joint, the _ using forthe drawer sides. NOTE: Drawer rontis Me thick Drawersiges and back are thik ‘The next step is to trim away part of the drawer frontalong the back o cre- ate a “tongue,” see Fig. 2 Nowall you have t» dois, ceut a dado on the drawer side to fit over the tongue ‘on the front ofthe drawer, see Figs. 3and 4. ‘Tosttach the back ofthe drawer just flip the drawer side around and cut asec- ond dado on the otherend ‘Thencutarabbetoneach end ofthe drawer back to createtonguesthat itinthe dadoesonthedrawersides, seedrawingabove. 1 our | EM FRONT Thick wie Lae | tad inside fomateh tongue ‘on drawer rant DRAWER FRONT DRAWER ‘Se Drilling Holes in Dowels In order to epoxy a todrilla small hole on one rmachine screwintothe end end of each post. But try- ithe posts forthe holiday _ingto drillinto theend of lantern (Gee page 18),thad dowel can be tricky. So made a simple ig ‘This jig consists of noth- ing more than an “L shaped fence maée out of plywood scraps. diagonal cross brace is screwed to the jig to provide vertical support, see drawing. To use the ig, chimp itto the drill press. Then hold the dove against the fence an the brace while dling the hole, see phot. 18 Woodsmith NOTE: semble Jig with glue and {rood ore: weve Neca ‘woodscrew Ppinweed No 1209 Adjusting a Rail When I was making the Jdes of the bookease, I ‘wanted to postion the mide dle side rail directly in between the upper and lower side rails. This way the slats could allbe cut to the same length. ‘But when I dry assem bled the legs and rails, is covered that on one of the sides, the distances be tween the midile rail and the upper ral were sightly (he) Tonger than the dis- tance between the middle railand the loner rail, In order to keep all the slats the same length, | “raised” the middle side rail 0 it was positioned an equal distance between the upper and lower side ra Todo this allyou have 10 do is pare away a small Mortising a Catch Installing the etch on the desk clock shown on page 2Bisn' dificult, but it does require alittle patience and some sharp chisels Thecatch I vse h parts — a spr catch and a stike pl started with the First, I chise short deep martse forthe springloaded catch mech amount of materi from the shoulders of the tenons until the middle rail is cen- tered between the upper and lower rails, see draw ing below and detail ‘a ‘To move the middle rail up, trim the top shoulders, ‘To move it down, trim the bottom shoulders, see drawing at right. ( Tim \ if Baa oy valli Centered } ‘Shop Note: When trim. ‘ming the tenons, keep in ‘mind that you only need to trim off halfthe amount of error. (in my case, Ishaved offabout Yo") lithe ft of the mortise is, a litle loose, don't worry. When the sides areassem- bled, the slats will help cen- terthe middle rail. | ni op [eo ee | eS one | re | stance berween vals 0 Freee Se oa} rail down| | nism, see Fig, 1. The and width of this is sized to mateh Ye mechanism, but the length isa litle more tricky. The mortise has to be Jongg enough to allow forthe nrow of the catch mecha- nism — but no longer. If you make the mortise too lng, there won't be any naterial left for fastening. the escutcheon pins. The second stepistocut a shallow mortise so the inside face of the catch is, flush with the edging, see Fig. 1a. Once thisis done, thecatch can be secured in place with the escutcheon pins provided. To locate the position of the strike plate, insert the stike into the catch. Then lose the clock to lay out the mortise, see Fig. 2. To mortise the strike plate, just make a sinall dimple in the edging to allow for the rivet on the back ofthe plate. Then mor: tise the inside edge of the plate Mush with the edging of the clock so the two halves close properly, see photo in margin. 18 xcuteneon in nos section Edging oe | Ts face os ae i" Smortised fsa th Surface Pace strike platen catch foley out mortise ‘A There should aneven ep | arama he lock hahes ave closed. No. 120 WoodsmithJ HOLIDAY LANTERN Allit takes is ascroll saw and a light bulb to create some holiday magic. Plus, the removeable panels make it easy to change the scenery. e holiday season o go together. And ic inspiration behind project. We based our design after an okkfashioned lantern But instead of glass sides, we used wood panels with scroll-sawn pat terns, And instead of a wick, we sub- stituted a small light bulb. So when. you turn on the switch, a warm hol itay scene tights up. ‘We had lot of fun coming up with the patterns for the panels of this lantern, In fact, we couldn't decide cnjustone. So we're offering four dit jude, see the patterns on the opposite page ights and d BY always seem ferent scenes so you can be and alsoon page 23. ‘And you don't have to choose just one pattern. Instead, we've ‘designed the lantern so the pant cls are removeable, see inset photo. The panels M into ‘grooves that are cut in the posts and top and bottom of the lantern. This way, you can make as many different designs as you wish ‘and simply switch them whenever you feel like it, REMOVIABLE TOP. Malking the panels interchangeable meant that the top ‘of the lantern had to be removeable We tried a couple of different fancy ideas forfastening the toptothe posts, Woodsiith The top ofthe lantem comes off nels slide out for replacement but in the end the solution we came up with was a simple one We simply epoxied a small thread: ‘stud into the top of each post. The {op fits over the ends of the posts, and four nuts thread onto the suds to hold it in place, Then we “cam couflaged” the nats with some com monly available wood “hub caps, see detail on opposite page No. 120OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 9 6%"W x 6%6"D x 10H Construction Details s~ QO ee wed into “Gndof vost ise tone Light ult /s sembly fisin pate ination \ MATERIALS CUTTING DIAGRAM —_cANDLESTICK PATTERN (is. 200%) A TopiBot 6 st x7" - 18" Maple (.88 Sa. Ft.) . fe =} 8 Posts) Panels (@) D Base Sides (4) %ax 1-6% E Capit) 144-4 SUPPLIES + (4)5A" x3" Birch Hub Caps + (4) 832 Nuts | + (4) 8321" Machine Screws + (@)4Ex1" Fh Woods | | * (1) 1%" x 1%" Round Eall Knob, OD | «(0% "ia, dowe! 74" ong piso Needed: 24°24" shestofie"” | + (1) Light Socket aticbich phood and one ia + (@)Rice Faper Sheets 5" x7" rough) hardwood devel 6"ton) No. 120 Woodsmith 1920 Top, Bottom & Posts Before sitting down at the scroll sa, built the framework of the lantern. Taisis nothing more than thick top and bottom supported by four reund posts, Thenafter the main boty ofthe lantern wascomplete, Leutthe lyood side panels to it TOP & oTTOW. Te top and bottom (A) are both made out of solid "= thick stock. They're cut square, and then a lia. hole is died in each commer, see drawing at right and detail “b! These holes will hold the posts that are added later. ‘The bottom piece also yetsan aldl- tional hole for the bulb assembly that will be added later. This is a Iti, hole, andit’s drilled right inthe cen- ter ofthe workpiece, see drawing. With al the holes drilled, the next step isto rout the bullnose profileon the edges ofthe yieces. Allyou need todo this is a router table and a°%" roundl-over bit, see Figs. 1 and 1a. (Ghop Note: To avoid chipout, out along the end grain edges first.) ‘The last step to complete the top and bottom isto rout narrow grooves inbetween the holes to hold the side panels that are added later. The grooves are '" deep and 4" wide, see drawing and detail'b’ at right To make these grooves, I again used the router fable. But because the router bit is completely covered by the workpiece it’s difficult to tell ‘where to start andstop the groove So clamped a couple of stop blocks to yy routertable fence, see Figs. 2and oe fie ope ropand ropa ote are Teh 24. This way, you wont push the works Tenons cut on the ends of the posts piece too farand rout beyond the hole. _ftnto the holes inthe topand bottom. OsIS. The top and bottom are con- [started by cutting the posts (B) nected by four round posts. These _tolength, see draving above. Since i's are made out of "ia. dowel stock. important that all four posts end up 2 out borlnase ‘on ends fist, a. ‘END VIEW Ye round. PN —over bit ‘Woodsmith No. 120e the same length, [used a stop block on my miter gauge. To cut the ia, tenons on the tends ofthe posts, used aroutertable and astraight bit, simply rotating the ‘workpiece into the bitto cut thetenon allthe way around the dowel, se Figs. and 3a, The trick is to set up the router table fence to establish the shoulder of the tenon and snealup on the height ofthe bit until the tenon fits ssnuginthehole Shop Note: attached a zeroclearance insert to my router table fence when cutting the tenons. ‘GROOWES With the tenons cuton the ‘ends of the posts, the next step is to ‘cuta couple grooves along the kngth ‘of each post to hold the side panels, see drawing on opposite page. Tut these grooves on a table saw, using asaw blade that cutsa standard 'ytavide kerf, see Figs. 4 and tb. To ‘keep the post from rotating 2s the ‘grooves are cut, I macle a couple of ‘square blocks that fit tight over the tenoned ends of each post. see Fig 4a. “The posts will get glued into the holesin the bottom piece. But to make the top removeable (in order 10 change the side panels). Thad to come up with another method for attach ing the top to the posts. THREADED STUES. The sohution | eame ‘up with was tomounta threaded stud inthe top end of each post. (I machine screw with the head for the stud.) This way, the top can be fastened with four small mts. The ‘nuts are epoxied into wood “hub caps” toconceal them, see photo.) Tomount the studs, I drilled ae" hole in the end of each post, using a simple jig to hold the post upright see Figs. 5 and 5a. (For more on this jig, See page 16.) Then I epoxied the stud into the hole, see Fig. 6 Asstmatr, Once the studs are in place, the posts can be glued into the bottom. When doing ths, just make ssure that the grooves inthe posts ine up with the grooves in the botom, (I used a scrap of plywood as aiempo- rary spacer toalign the grooves.) After the ghe is dry, four /" ply- wood panels (C) can be cut to size to fit in the lantern, see drawing at right, Now all that’s left is to make the base and the cap. No, 120 ‘Sip support blocs ‘ver ends of post facut grooves se22e1 machine ‘A. Thread the nut onty the end of a screw to prevent epoxy from. comering the heads while ser ingit into the hub cap ‘WoodsmithA A couple of flexi ble, metal “wings” ‘old the bulb assembly in the lantern base. Base & Cap With the main body of the lantern complete, I began working on the base and the cap hat fis onthe tp, BASE. The base isnothing more than mitered frame thats screwed tothe ‘tom of the lantern. To make the fourbase sides (D) start by ripping couple of extra long (18") blanks to width (1") and routing a ¥4" cove along one edge, see Figs. 7 and 7a. Next, the pieces can be mitered to length (674"). Before they're glued up however, an arc is laid out along the bottom of eachpiece. Ate cutting the ares out witha band saw, I sand ced the edges smooth on the drill press, using a drum sander. Once the frame is glued up, you can screw it to the bottom of the Jantern using four small screws, see decal Yat right ap. Now a cap (B) can be added tothe top ofthe lantern, see drawing at right Itstarts off as a square, 1" thick blank. Then to ereate a cove around the edge, I used a 1A", core box bit to rout a channel on all four edges ofthe blank, see Fig. 8. This channel is centered on the thickness ofthe piece, see Fig. 8. Next, a bevel sipped on all four edges ofthe blankto create a peaked “rook,” see drawing, To do this sae 1y, drilled a "dia hole inthe cen- terofthe blank andscreweditto aca rier board with a roundhead sere, see Figs and 9a.Inadiltion to secur ing the blank, the srw also allows you to rotate the blank so you can Devel all four sides. To complete the cap, 1 glued a round, hardwood drawer pull tothe top ofthe cap, see detail 2’ above. ( used @ dowel pin to strengthen the joint) Then the cap can be glued to the top. Just make sure to orient the two pieces so the grain is running in the same direction. Finally, | applied a couple coats of ‘llfinish tothe lantern andadded the nore: Base sides arose thick Gopi 1" tek light bulb assembly, see photo in mar- agin. Shop Note: Toallow the panelsto slide freely avoid getting any finishin the grooves of the posts. 0 Woodsmith No. 120It doesn't take years of practice to enjoy scroll sawing. Just a little patience. To make the scroll sw pan- ls for the lantern, the firs step is 0 transfer the pattern to the plywood blanks, A good way to do this is to simply make a photocopy ofthe pat- ‘ern and then mount it to your work- piece with spray adhesive, see Step 1. (oui need to photocopy the patterns at 200%, since they're haltsize) ‘To cut the inside sections of you'll need to drill small. Ci holes for blade access. Then ‘can begin to cut away the waste sec tions, see Step 2, To avoid weaken: ing the plywood panel, cut away the smaller sections first and save larger ones for las. If you find that your seroll saw leaves ragged edges in the plywood, you'll need fo do a little clean up ‘work, A small le should remove or “fuzz,” see Ste Finally to create a warm, I glued a piece of rice paper to the back of each panel, see Step 4, (For sources, see pawe 25.) ste, lia) some sandpaper st of the splinters 1s. To save time in cutting, you ‘ape two panels together ‘A small file or an emery board can be used {0 smooth out any rough edges [eft behind in the panel. This takes a little time but the end result is well worth it Additional Patterns (Enlarge 200%) SNOWY LANE HOLIDAY ORNAMENTS With the pattern in place, dila Ye"-dla. arter hole in each waste area. Then Cut away the waste, following the pattern lines as smoothly as possible, Tim the rice paper to match the size of the panels (or sightly smaller). Then spray the back of the panel with adhesive ‘and press the rice paper in place. TINY TIM’S STOCKING No. 120 WoodsmithRipping on a table saw is almost second nature — until a piece burns or kicks back. Here’s how we safely end up with smooth, clean rip cuts. ‘comes to making crosscuts or cut- Safety Note: ting rabbets, grooves and dadoes. But Weedon't typically no tool will rip boards as quickly, show a blade guard accurately and safely as a table con the table saw so Of course, ripping is so basic that the operaion can be its easy for woodworkers to take for shoun me clearly. granted. But if you've ever ended Buc please, use up with a burned or rough edge or your guard when __ifyou've ever hatl a workpiece sud- ‘ever possible denly kick back, you know that rip ping isn’t automatic. Sometimes, though, i's not obvious exactly how to correct the problem. ADJUSTING THE BLADE & FENCE, Burned eiges, rough cuts, and kickback are all signals that the fence and blade may not be parallel, vA see drawing below. The quickest Bs youl need to de a litle tune up vaytocheck thisoutis tomeasure markone witha permanent marker To align the blade and fenc= to from the saw blade to the fence at so I can keep track of i) If the each other, actually align them both the front and back of the blade. dimensions aren’t the same, the _to the miter gauge slot on the table. (Measure from the same tooth—1 blade and fence aren't parallel, and ‘This way, the table saw is ready for | SS ¢ Chech Blade. To check the blade to the table, fist place ‘a sque inthe miter gauge yor view slot and set it to towch a Wires and push the square to touch blade not the same tooth. If its not (aliclebechons x Check Rip Fence. With ‘NOTE: the blade aligned. able, ur on the rip fence over unuil they re anak nck ec ee slukeneg ce ewe check sourimcre ual fr fence adjustments Woodsmith No. 120both rip cuts wr erosseuts be more friction created and more Because you want to work stexd- To do this, fist | use a combina chance of burning the edges. Iy and smoothly, is important to AY onsmuareio check the le, ee SK HMM. When Komes to pn your ct fr you tum othe the top photo atthe bottom of page technique, there are only a few — saw. Will you need a push block? A 24-Thenwhen the bladeisaligned, “rules” tokeep in mind, see Fig. 1. featherboard? Is the piece long Tadjst the fence, using the same Follow them, and youll greatly enough to require an outfeed sup- technique, see bottom photo. ithe reduce your chance ofkikback and _ port? These and other accessories blade and fence are both paralleto burnt ané rough edges. wall help keep the cut safe and the miter gauge slot, then theyire First, feed the workpiece at a smooth, see the box on page 26 parallel to each other. And you're steady rate Ifyou go to fas, the Finally, when ripping, don’ stand ready to begin ripping. en _eirectiy behind the blade. This BIDES BLADE HAG. The setup [ Feweriet"anasteepertoothangle | way ifthe stock does bind and of the table saw isnt the only kick back, you won't be in the thing that ean create problems path ofthe workpiece, and youl ‘when ripping, Iryour blade dull be less likely to get injured orhas aot pitch buildup, youl ‘When pushing the stock past probably also end up with burned the blade, you also want to Keep and excessively rough edges. pressure towards the fence. One Speaking ofsaw blades, Loften ‘common mistake when using a agetasked ifa combination blade push block is to run it against isgood enough oifa rip blade is the fence. This can allow the better. Frankly, Td say a combi piece to drittaway from the fence nation blade works good enough. A Avip Hade has fewer teeth and a steeper and against the blade, So always see drawing at right. Infact. “h ange st will remove wood faster. center the push block on the willprobablycut smoother edge Wish more teth the combination blade width ofthe piece, see Fig. 1b thanarip blade, What itwon't do cats litle smoother and slower. woop Moventat. There's one isrip the pieces quite as more way you can end up with asa rip blade, (uty imorenes for faces catch Outer face of cath is ‘aarface mounted NOTE: For more Information on ‘mortsing catch seepoge 1 Woodsmith the mechanism of the catch. And in order for the two halves of the clock toclose tightly, you need to mortise the inside face ofthe catch and strike plate dush with the edging of the clock, see Fig. 7. (For more on mor tising the cateh, see page 17) PHOTO FRAME. When it came to make ing the frame for the photo halfofthe clock, Iwas looking fora way to hold the photograph securely, but stillalbw iio be changed easily, see drawing attop of opposite page. The solution Tame up with was a simple one— magnets. Four sinall magnets are used to hold both the frame and the photo in place. But more on this lier. venes, The photo frame (C) starts offas a slightly oversize blank made from thick stocc And since Lwant- ed the frame to match the panels of the clock, I glued the same figured veneer to both sides of the frame No, 120blank. (Veneering both sides helps ‘reventthe thin sock from cupping.) (Once the blank is veneered, you ‘can cut the frame to size. It shoul fit into the recessed opening ofthe clock. h enough clearance so it can be ‘easily removed to change the photo. DRILL HOLE. The photo frame has a large hole in the center to reveal a photograph. The edge of this hole is ‘chamfered to match the rest of the lock. Iwasn't too concerned about Ailing the hole, but Iwas. litle ner= vous about routing the chamfer inside the hole on piece this thin and smal. ‘The solution Ieame up with was to use doublesided tape to attach the frame to a larger blank made out of thick MDP. Using a wing cutter again, Imade a hole in the center of the frame, driling all the way through both the workpiece and the NDF blank, see Figs. § Next, with the frame stil attache tothe MDE, Teh the photo opening. se 9a. Chisis that will face removed the frame fr SHADOW LUNES, To complete the frame, I routed rabbets on the o edges to create shadow lines cal to the ones on the panels of lock, see detail's' abov: ‘MAGES, The photo fran lace with four small rare earth mage nets, These magnets are simp ied into holes drilled in the the photo frame, see Figs. ‘Then four small sh inst Oriceness: Ea fmagnet ‘NOTE: Epoxy magnetin hole | No. 120 eacncorer of iphoto fame ‘magnet shadow lines. Both Eades of iphoto frome NOTE: cut inato Fame 334" Square, then sand ges fo i opening Nore: pony folern photo Same ore: bul, f ater photo fare Sin oe i Ce ‘hanter Blank ae - | te li il to grab onto, see detail ‘a’ above. After applying the stain, [wiped on fiNsiiNG, When it came time to fin- ish this project, {decided to give ita oat of tin fora couple reasons, One, wanted to even out thecolor of the solid wood edging and the veneered panels. And two, the stain helps to darken and conceal the exposed MDP edges ofthe shadow lines. phangraph anda piece of clear acetate co match the sizeof the phoo frame. ___ — Woodsmith Trim the three coats of anoil finish. Then once the finish is dry, you can add the dock: movement and figure out which pho- ‘graph to put in the frame. To help, protect the photo from dust and fin- -gerprints, [cut apiece of clear acetate to place between the frame and the jhotograph, see photo below.YOODWORKING TECHNIQUE clock shown on page 28, Idecided touse veneer foracouple ofreasons. For one, it allowed me to make the panels out of MDF, which is much ‘more stable than solid wood. Butasan added benefit, using vencergivesyou wide rangeofoptions whenitcomes tothe look of the clock, see photos below, (And for even more variety,you right wanttoconsideradding aninlay ‘trip, see box on opposite page.) Veneer is nothing more than very thin slices of wood (often only Ys" thick), But when glued down to asub- strate (in this case, the MDF) its dif ficult to tell it apart from solid wood. ‘Although youcan buy peetand-sick veneer thathasan adhesive backing, for this project | chose traditional veneer which sued down with ord- nary woodworking glue or contact aithesives.Thistype of veneerisread- ilyavalablein dozens of wood species a wel as some beautiful, highlysig- tured varieties, seepage 35,or sources. ‘VENEERING you've never done any veneering before, this clock isa good project to art with since is small and you don't ‘have to worry about matching or piec ing sheets of veneer together. Essentially there are three steps:cut- ting the veneer, gluing it down, and Veneering Options Veneers can be a great ay to exper: iment with rare or highly-figured ‘woods that are too expensive or hard to find s solid wood. But even if with commonly avail- able species, you can create a totally differest look for the dock by com- bining a veneer with a contrasting ‘wood for the edging, ee let photo Or, tryusing a figured veneer with a plain edging, see right photo. ‘A. Cherry veneer, walnut edging. ‘lamping it in plac. ‘UTTING. Because veneer is so thin, it splits easily This can make cutting it a bit of a challenge. Even with a sharp blade, i's possible to tear the grain, especially when cutting across the grain To avoid this problem when ‘making the clock, I decided to veneer ‘an oversize panel. Then wien the glue is dry, you can cut the weneered panel to size without any trouble. For the clock, I started with an MDE panel about 5" square. Then T ‘cut my veneer pieces slightly small er (about 4" square). Since the panel wil be trimmed to final size, the veneer doesn’t have to be cut per- fectly square, just close. Ifyou arecutting the veneer forthe dock from a larger sheet, pay atten- tion to the grain and figure pattern YouTl want to select the nicest areas ofthe veneer to use, butyou also want to make sure that the color and grain direction matches for each piece on ‘both panels ofthe clock. “To get a better sense of what the veneer will look like when its fi ished, try wiping it down with min- eral spirits, Then simply move your Bird's-eye maple veneer, maple edging: 2 Woodsmith No. 120Mbrblockaround ontheveneerand Shop Note: Refore finishing cn clock, mark offthe sections you want touse. you might want to wipe t down with GWUING, With the veneer cut to mineral spirits to make sure that rough size, it can be glued to the you've removed all the glue stains. NDF. You have several choices when ANPING. When clamping up ittcomes to selecting an adhesive. veneers, the goal is to apply even “Traditionally, furniture makers have pressure across the entire surface. used hide glue for veneering. Today, With lage projects, tis can be quite contact cement bas become popular. a challenge; one that may require But didnt want io mess around with specialized clamps and presses. But ther one of these for such a small fortunately, i's not dificult at all with | Note agin project. So instead, [decided touse the desk clock, To even out the | enteton| ordinary yellow glue clamping pressure, I simply sand- | clamping ‘ack No matter what kind of glue you wiched the blank between two use, there's one thing to watch out scraps of MDE, see Fig for. Because veneer is so thin, i's In order to prevent the workpiece easy for the glue to actually bleed from sticking to the scraps, I placed through the surface of the veneer, a couple of pieces of wax paper in especially with porous veneers like between, see Fig. 1. Then T used C- mahogany). This can create a prob- s to hold the “sandwich” Jem when it comes time to stain or her After the glue is dry, the the project nels can be squared up and cut to Tominimize this problem liys size, see Fig. 2 to use an excessive amount of g (One final note on finishing. Keep This way, if any ghie does ooze any final sanding to a minimum. It's through the veneer, itcan usually be real easy to sand right through the scraped off with a cabinet scraper. thin veneer layer. 69 Inadeltion to veneer, another way to dress willbe determined by the inlay strpyou're upyour clockis to add adecorative inlay using) Then miter the inlay strips to strip, ee photo. Inlay strips are made up length and careiully glue them into the ‘of many tiny pieces of wood of varying rabbets, see Step 2. shades, usually onganized intoa geomet- To hold the strips in place, I wrapped ric pattern. (See page 35 for sources) _several rubber bands around the panel. To apply the inlay, Sart by routing a Then after the ghee is dry, you can use a shallow rabbet around the edge of the cabinet scraper to gently scrape the inlay panel, see Step 1. (The sizeoftherabbet flush with the surface, see Step 3. a EE 7 a eee aes a | = Veneer | Zero-dearacee insert «Serpe nly us th norkpice tightly tess thay oO —— |} Inley A lay srs [ieeateatecin st spieitentittenaynis Qeaamneninans — wey thepanel‘or theinlay Thedeoth lm ard gle thern into the rabbets. wD sandingit. hedyesusedininlays sizes and of the rabbet should be slightly less Rubber bands can be used to hold createcolored sewdustiwhensonded design. than the thickness of the inlay, their inplace wile the glue ies. which can cog the pores ofthe wood. No. 120 Woodsmith 38Tall project tke this chimney eup- board ee especially ome racking Mortise and tenon face frames can help prevent his, 34 COMMENTS & QUESTIONS "TALKING SHOP Face Frame Construction @: I'm planning to build the Chimney Cupboard from issue #116, ot Lave ‘aquestion concerning the face frames on both the ‘upper and lower cabinets Why bother to construct the face frames with mor tise and tenon joints when they're just glued to the front ofthe cabinet? It seems to me that it would be quicker to just ‘nail the stiles tothe front Of the case (or better yet, pin them with dowels) ‘and then. eut the rails to fit in between, Cabinetmakers have been using face frame construction for centuries, In essence, it consists of osing in the font of a cabinet by attaching a frame and then adding doors or drawers FRAMES FOR LOOKS. Today, face frames are sill used in abundance on kitehen cabinets. Most builtin itchen cabinetsare really nothing more than large boxes, often made of par- ticle board or plywood, with a solid wood face frame. The face frame con- ceals the plywood or par- ticle board edges of the "pax ancl creates the open- ings for doors or drawers, FRAMES FOR STRENGTH, With a project like the chimney cupboard on the other Jhand, the face frame serves an important structural pur- pose as well. Unlike a built in cabinet that is securely fastened to the wal, a free- standing piece of furniture relies upon the face frame to prevent it from racking, ‘The face frame acts as a cross brace, stiffening the “box” of the cabinet and hebingiit stand upto pres- sure exerted against the sides or from the top. In order to do this, the {ace frame needs io be as rigid as possible. This is where the mortise and ‘tenon joints come into play. Mortise and tenon joints lock the rails and stiles of the face frame together, see drawing above. ‘The shoulders of the tenons prevent the rails from twisting, thereby holding the frame square. ‘When the face frame is attached to the front ofthe cabinet, this strength is transferred to carcase, locking it in place and keeping it from racking. Without the mortise and tenon joints, there's noth- ing to hold the rails and stiles square. The face frame is held together only by the nails or dowels that attach it to the cabinet ‘Thismeans that if the cab- inet racks, the face frame ‘ill wist out of shape right along with it, see Fig. 1 DEERING FRAMES FAT. Aside from preventing racking, there's another reason to use mortise and tenon joints to make face frames. Ithasto do with keeping the frame flat and even, ince the face frame is attached to the front ofthe cabinet only around the edges, there's nothing to prevent the pieces from ‘cupping, see Fig. 2. Inaddi- tion, overtime the action of ‘opening and closing the door can knock the rails and stiles out of alignment, “Mortise and tenonspre- ‘vent the rails and stiles rom twisting, thereby keeping the pleces flat and in the same plane, 1 o row view ue @ Weak pie soe view on fee Be te a Butt joints oT Siete a ser oo Batoer l Zi gered foe aS edgeof | ates Woodsmith No.120® SOURCES Woodsmith Project Supplies is eur- rently offering hardware kits for some of the projects featured in this ‘issue, Similar supples for these pro- jects are also available at local wood- ‘working stores or the mail order sources listed at right. 720-100 HOLIDAY LANTERN ‘Tomake the holiday lantern on page 18, you'll need quite avariety of sup thes plies: asocket/light switch and plug, birch specialty wood parts, rice paper, Balic birch plywood panels, plus = Jhandful of screws and nuts, So Wood smith Project Supplies has decided to put together a hardware kit that inchides everything needed to built thelantern, except or the solid wood oon page Holiday Lantern This hit cludes al the hardware youl nec to bua che holiday lantern. All you need to supply is the solid wood forthe top and hase it ae as) ‘Toorder hardware kits or shop drawings from Wood: mith Project Supplies, please use our Tol Free order line, see below. Its open Monday through Friday, from. ‘8AM to 5 PM Central Time. Before calling, please ‘have your VISA, MasterCard, or Discover Card ready. If you would like to mail in your order, call the _number below for more information concerning ship- ping charges as well as any applicable sales tax. 1-800-444-7527 ‘When ederng, plese wse Key W120, Note: Prices subject to change after February 1999. No.120 pieces for the top and bottom of the lantern, see left photo below. (This kitalsoinclades fullsize patterns for all four pane! designs.) * Holiday Lantern Hardware Kit Note: Ifyou wish to get your own supplies the socket/light switeh and, specialty wood parts can be found at some local woodworking stores or ourcesat right. And to find the rice paper, you'll need to visit alocal art store ora good craft store, FOLDING CLOCK A hardware kit for the folding clock Sis currently avaiable from Woodsmith Project Supplies, see right photo below. This includes all Folding Desk Clock. This kit includes a press-in quartz movement, 54" heavy brass hinges, a spring catch, fur small magnets and the screws thehardware you'lIneed for building the clock. Besides the wood, MDF, veneer, and inlay, al you will need provide are the batteries for the clock CN’ cell) and asmall piece of acetate to protect the photo, Speaking of hardware, I should mention a couple things about the hhardwave in this kiThe magnets we used to hold the photo frame aren't ‘your refrigerator-veriety magnets. We used rare earth magnets. And though only ¥4" in diameter, they're really surprisingly strong, since this project will get a lose examination any time a person ‘wants a closer look at the photo, we picked the very best hinges we could find, They're heawy, solid brass hinges with a bright, smooth finish, * Desk Clock Hardware Kit 7110-200 VENEERS & INLAY, Ifyou wish to dress uupyour elock with veneers and inky you may be able to find them at a local woodworking store. Or you can check out the sources listed at right S19. BOOKCASE Besides screws, all you need for the bookcase are drawer pulls shelfpirs, and nylon glide strips. We purchased working, see the listing at right. 1 Wood Net wow on re west ‘© Over 100 Woodworking Tips Online ‘© Project Plans YouCan Download ‘¢ Forums for Woodworking, Tools & Classifieds ‘© Catalog of Project Kits, Tools & Jigs ‘ Power Tool Reviews ¢ Links to Other Woodworking Sites ‘© Woodsmith/ShopNotes Back Issue Index Point your browser to: hitp://www.woodsmith.com Dien select the “WoodNet” option fom the menu Woodsmith MAIL ORDER SOURCES Similar project supplies and hardware may be ordered from the follnbing ‘companies: Bob Mayan Woodworking Supplies 00-88:1963 Lanter hada Constaotine's 800.223.8087 se Valley 800.871.8158 Meisel Hardware ‘8004419870 Precision Movements "a00.52-2004 Rockler Woodworking (Woodworkers! Store) ‘sooz7ete4i= —— A. Holiday Lanter. Take oer pck fo foe diferent sels Scenes for this unique holiday project. A flip ofa switchs all takes to ight” the later and creawe a warm glow, Plans begin om page 18. grey, A. Folding Desk Clock. Sold brass hardwane accents the figured teneer used io make this handsome desk clock end picture frame. Step-by-step instnctions stato page 28. i A ‘A Two-Drawer Bookcase. Thisstacly, slid cherry b uditional pegged mortise-and- teron construction. Ta to age 6 fo plans.