Heirloom Spice Cabinet— Full-sized features packed TUE em ag Build a towel dispenser Pr Mi ninieny RyWoodsmith April, 2001 Publisher Donald B. Peschke Editor Terry]. Strohman Senior Editor Jon Gark Contrib. Editor Craig Ruegsenger Art Director Todd Lambirth Senior Mlustrators David Kreyling Dirk Ver Steeg Harlan V, Clarke Kara Blessing No, 134 CREATIVE RESOURCES Grates Dt Ta ask» ed Dee Delpres Cs Pid TE cate Se ap Rew ee oe Meme Soe SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS iat Sone \Gephi Desgnar Chee Ghnec 2 Aso lr ol Hess ® Gone Ber Ve ‘Anger = Graphs nea aihez Bes CIRCULATION SAWDUST M: nail boxis usualy prety fall,and the mail I look forward to most are letters from our readers, Best ofall is when they include a photo ortwo of a Woodsmith project they've com- pleted. I'm always impressed by the hhigh level of craftsmanship, and the Duilders are rightfully proud of their ‘work. (You can see some of these pro- Jects at the Woodsmith Readers’ Gallery on our web site, see below) DESIGN MODIFICATIONS. When looking ‘over these photos, I ty to pay special aitention to how the builder modified ‘our design. Very few projects get built ‘actly as they were featured in the magazine. Many times, a different ‘wood was used. Or the size was altered to fita particular cornerin the hhouse. And on occasion, an ambitions ‘woodworker will simply use our pro- ject as an “inspiration” for something that is very much his own. ‘Coming up with design modifica- tions is only natural when you're ‘working on a project, and, if possible, we like to suggest a few of our own. ‘The barrister’s bookcase, on page 6, isa great example ofthis. I's amodu- lar project builtin small sections — Woodsmith Readers’ Gallery Visit other Woodemith subscribers’ workshops, and see photos of 4 the projects they've Gallery on the Woodsmith web site: ‘We want you to be part ofthe Readers’ Gallery!To submit photos of your favorite Woodsmith projects ‘or views of your shop, follow the instructions you'll find atthe gallery, Woodsmith which really lends itself to making modificaions, Depending on how ‘many of each section you choose to make, you can end up with 2 tall bookease or a shorter version. And if you build several rows of bookcases they dont even have to be the same height, as shown on the back cover Another option i a solid wood mised Panel that can be used instead of lass. There ae lots of ways you can ‘ake this project your own. (Please send mea photo when you do.) NeW FACES. While a Tot of people around here contibute ideas for the projects (and their modifications), i's our design group that gets to work out the details, And recently, we've tod scale of ney ices. Cie OM Fitch and Craig Iseke have joined us as project designers, Chris designed the spice cabinet in this issue (oaze 18). And Craig just arrived from Canada, where hehad set up and run woodworking school Wier also looking for another new face to join our editorial team. This is a fulltime position working here in Des Moines. If you'e interested, there's more information on page 35. No. 134Features Barrister's Bookcase They may look like a single unit, but these bookcases ave made up of individual sections that simply stack on top of each other. It's a flexible design that can be modified and configured in a number of ways and can even “grow” with your library. Spice Cabinet . With its moldings and arched frame and panel doors, this little cabinet looks like a piece of fine furniuere situing on your kitchen counter. To maximize the storage space, the front half of the cabi- net is actually a couple of boxes attached to the back of the doors. Choosing & Using Glues - 26 Fp through a fow woodworking catalogs, and you'll "ind more glues available now than ever before. Is there one “all-purpose” ‘adhesive? Or do you need to fill your shelves with different types? We help you get to the bottom of this sticky subject Paper Towel Dispenser .30 Sure this is a great project forthe kitchen, but i will ach oa “build” your woodworking skills as you cut two variations of a through’ mortise and tenon joint. They're not as hard as they sound, and welll wll you through everything you need to know, Departments Tips & Techniques ae Shop Notes tre isc..svate ore SOURCES Terre ce scott closes. One esnen ese No. 134 Woodsmiha From FELLow WooDWORKERS Size fingers to Random Orbit Sander Stand Siitender Thave apalm-grip random the body and suspend the orbit sander that Ilike to. sander so it can “run use in my shop. But when down” without spinning turningthe sanderoff,you off my bench. cantjustsetitdownon the ‘There are just a couple bench. You have to wait of things to keep in mind ‘until the disc stops spin- when building your stand. ing. Finally I decided to First, you'll have to make dosomethingaboutthisli- sure the fingers will ft tle inconvenience. around your particular What I came up with is sander: Plus, you'll want to a simple stand that I built make sure the side of the with serap %" plywood, as jig is tall enough so the you can see in the draw- sander actually hangs ing at let and the photo above the base. Sosanderhongs above. The key isa pair of Roceo R, Ragan fromfinge’s “fingers” that fit around Prine Fradevicl, Maryland Arbor Wrench Modification Band Saw Setup Thavea Deta table sew,and okay, buta simple modifi: With this bend in the Here's. litte trick I use to thewrench that came with cation makesit even better. wrench, I know immedi- set the guide blocks that the saw has hexagonal All you need to do is ately which hole is for guide the band saw blade. holes in each end — one place the wrench in a vise tightening the saw blades. (It also work ifyour saw for tightening the artor nut just beyond the hole for And thelitle offset keeps has bearings.) To get the when securing a the erbor nut (about "or my knuckles away from _rightamount of clearance, 1 blaleand theother so). Nowputasslightbend the teeth of the saw blade. wrap electrical tape around forthe trumions. inthe wrench, as shown in Bob Waters the blade, as shown inthe ‘The wrenchworks the margin photo at let Prilard, Ongon photo below. With the tape between the blocks, they QUICK TIPS can be centered and tight ened easly. (Thisalso works CD Saw Blade Spacers Enlarging Brad Nail “Bits’ forthe bearing that supports ‘What do you do with the those There's an olf trick Ilike to use when the back ofthe blade.) After computersofiwareCDsthatget driling smallholes. Ichucka brad nail __the tape is removed, the senttoyouin themal? After intomy drill 0 use as abit. Mostofthe spacings perfect. throvingawayahalfdozen time thisworks great. Dut Iwas recenly Howry Morce ‘or so, figured out away installing some stall eyehooks, and the Los Angeles, Calforia Tcould put them to good holes I had drilled with the brads were ‘use in my chop. ‘a smidgen too small — the eychooks a . like to hang my saw would twist off when [tried to screw blades on a nail, and the them into hardwood. @ dises make great spacers To create astightly arger bit” [sid & to put between the blades. the brad on my metal bench vise and 4 Theyre justthe right thickness gave itablow with a hammer. This lat- for preventing the teeth of the tened the end ofthe nal jus enaugh to blades from touching each other. ‘make the hole litle bigger. ‘Anna Victoria Rech si Vast Abuguerque, New Mexico Willimsvie, New York Woodsmith No, 134Plumber’s Strap Recently Iwas routing a groove when the fence sipped slichtly leaving me with a groove that was wider than the thickness of the workpiece that was sup- posed to fitinsie it. Thad already put too ‘much work into the piece just to start over, so I decided to glue a shim to the side of the groove, and then rout itagain, But here T ran into a problem. How do you get a clamp into a narrow sroove? The solution was Router Trammel Recently, wien Ineeded to make alarge cirde, [simply turned the edge guide for my hand-held routerintoa trammel, asin Fig. I below. eye guise support ard rods re removed) mp lying on a shelf in my garage: aol of plumbers strap, see the photo in the margin atright. With pair of snips 1 cut the strap into roughly. -long pieces, as shown in Fig 1. Wedd into the groove, these makeshift clamps provided just enough preseure to hold the shim piece in place while the glue dried. Then Toke Gelato ao anid recutthe grovte GiyGerad (Otando, Florda ‘The first thing to dois remove the “fence” of the edge guide, leaving the guide rods and the sup- port they fit into. Then wr hardboerd tramme! —bolted to ‘upport Plywood Ripping Support I generally down sheets of pivivood with my cereular sav. And sie the cutott piece is unsupported, it tends to sag — and some- times even breaks off pre ‘maturely, usually pulling some of the veneer off of the good piece, So to prevent this sag- ‘ging, I came up with a lit tle “helper” as show the photo above, Itsjust a thin strip that sides into the saw Kerf after you begin the cut. ('used 14" No. 134 hardboard.) What keeps the cutoff piece fram sig ging are a couple of cross dowels that fit above and below the plywood. Albert Cesis| Midiibury, Comectiou serewand nut you can make a hard- board arm with a series of centerpoint hoks ¢o. make the drcle cutter adjustable) and bolt it to Centerpoint hot Hoter lea 2" apart ‘Machine siti aaurkee a, dowel — 7 niet slipped inte ‘uw kerk Woodsmith the support (detail '. ‘The neat thing about this attachment is thet i's so easy to adjust. First, measure from the edge of the bitto the centerpoint hole that's closest to the circle radius you're after. (pivot the trammel on a finish nail) Then adjust the support on the guide rods until this hole is the exact dis tance from the bit. Now you're ready to rout yourcirck. Edwcrd lmore Findlay, Hino A Sina pieces of plumber’ strap can be wed os simple wedge clamps inside narrow zrootesevn YO] sy MopULAR BARRISTER’S BOOKCASE It’s easy to make a case for this project — the joinery is straightforward; the assemblies are small, and you can customize it any way you'd like. ust looking at this barrister’s bookcase, it fwould be easy to miss the fact that’s not ‘built like most bookcases, Sure, there are doors that enclose the books, but more importantly, the bookcase int built asin se large unit —it’s modular. And this par- ——— ficular barriste’s bookcase is made up of four different sections: a cap,a base, and two sizes of cases onewithabouta 14" open- ing and slightly shorter 12" version) The nice thing about a modular design is, that it allows for quite a bit of flexibility in the project you end up with. And these sec- tions can be mixed and matched in a vari «ty of ways. (The taller versionin the photo at left includes two tall and two short ‘cases,) Plus, ifat some point you end up ‘with more books than shelf space, you can always build another section or two. (Which is probably why these bookcases ‘were so popular with lawyers, or barris- ters, tobegin with) Of course, these individual sections have to connect securely. And here, instead of ‘coming up with a “high tech” solution, I borrowed a simple cleat system I'd seen on several antiques. Two cleats in the bottom ‘of one section straddle a single leat in the top of the section below it. (See the Side Section View on the next page.) There'sn0 hardware to mess with, And no tricky join ery either. So when it’s time to move the Dookease out of the shop, these small sec tions won't put abig strain on your back. ‘There's one other thing to mention. Before building the bookcase, it's a good idea to decide how many of each section You want to make (including the shorter cases, bases, and caps). That’s because all the sections have identical parts, and you'll find the project will go together quicker (and fittogether better) ifyou can build all the identical parts atthe same time. No. 134cop, asembly ‘Sreidentical on Silsetions Small cases Porter than fargecase see oxen page 10 os oer ailsand. stiles Pea together with orale oints t oe a eo sides ihsnd eoton Se parels Construction Details OVERALL DIMENSONS SHENG 120 CAP 21'H SHORT CASE: 12541 BASE: 8H TALL CASE: 144° SIDE SECTION VIEW Sip sxariby | Bottom cleats = hidden by —~ Plywood bottom z i a 2 » : [eeeieeveets mont “isacer rom one RAN pike oF HE ck ari % Nore: ae Seer Bookcase outwith saseiec— sth morse ‘Aron ranoguy panne alee terlocking cleas create a quic, be assembled in « mauer of seconds. A The doors lft ard slide back into the case. Steel pins ond a dado ar that’s neede fora smooth-slid snsetion so the sections can No. 134 Woodsmith, A Asan option, you can bul a slid tuood panel forthe door asa substi- tute for the glass, see box on page 12.Case Bottom & Sides When building this bookcase, 1 started with the cases. Of course, youll save yourselfsome setup time ifyou can build all the cases (as well asall theidentical pieces fr the base and cap) at the same time. The dimensions listed here are for te tal ease, butthe short caseis essentially he same. (Refer tothe box on page 10 for moreon the small ease) BOTTON ASSEMBLIES. To build the ceases, the place to stat is with the bottom assemblies shown in Fig. 1 ‘They're made up of two cleats with pieces of bullnose edging that wrap around the front and sides. ‘The 8A'-thick bottom eleats (A) are fairy streightiorward. The only thing to do is cut 14" x 44" stub tenons oa their ends (ig. 1a). ‘Thesetenons strengthen the hold Of two pieces of buttom side edging (B) that connect the ceats (Fig. 1). ‘This edging starts out oversized so you can safely cut the grooves that hold the stub tenons on the cleats. When the grooves have been cut, the side edging and the longer bot- tom front edging (C) can be vipped to final width 4’). Then you can miter the front corner of each vide edging piece 30 it’s 12% long. A this point, the cleats and ide edging can be glued together Fig. 2). When doing this, kaep an eye on the front corners, The inside paints ‘Th spread tte —_ofthe edging should line up with the lambing pressice front of the cleat. Also, to get the alg he entire cleats exactly 41/" apart, [used two lmeth of the bor- spacers. (Note that the edging will stick pas the cleat 14" in back.) ‘Now you can miter the font edg- ing so it fits between the side pieces and glue it in place, as shown in Fig 2. tom pone, [used acouple 2x4s on = et = NOTE: eo ot fush wi Cleatin bck Seerig.2 + soTTom sfQTTOM , sorroM ctear Fe se Sra deed gnttinen areas esa Ho arcove, _citontront edging 2) wrrad) 5. purinose, > Seerig: 3 srrad. bulls, Seog? BULLNOSE PROFLE, I haven't forgot ten about the bullnose profile on the -eGging. I wanted to wait until there ‘was a hrger assembly to work with. Now the bullnose can be routed eas- ily with a ¥" roundover bit raised 1h! in the router table (Fig. 2). Note: To guide the bottom assembly, you will need to use the router fence. OTIOM PANEL & EDGING. To create a “solid” bottom for the books to sit on, Ladded a ¥4"-plywood bottom Seephotoat ete SIDE Section view en On, HH | metres ot ae Woodsmith ~@eb6nspanel (D) that spans across the two eats (Fig 4). To Keep it from shite ing when slung tin pace, put to ‘small brads in the back. Then to spread out the pressure, I used 2x4 «aul, se the photo on page 8 To complete the bottom assem- bly, I glued a thin strip of bottom panel edging () tothe front of the bottom panel (Fig. 4b). This strip covers the edge of the plywood and abo aets asa door stop later on. SIDE PANES. At this point, you can begin work on the side panels, as shown in Fig. 5. The final size of these glued-up panels depends on winether youre bling a case with a 14" opening (shown here) or the shorter, 12" version (page 10). The first thing to dois cut a dado toholda steel pin that will guide and support the doors (Fig. Sa). Then a hole is died near the front edge fora seconé steel pin Fig. 5b), (The door will rest on this pin when it’s Sli back nt the case) EDGING. Next, I added pieces of side panel edging (G), as shown in Fig. 5 This edging isn't just decors tive. It also “stops” the dado so the door can't be pulled out from the front. And other than rounding over its edges, the only thing to do to this edging is cut a rabbet so it wraps around the outside edge of the side panels Figs, 6nd 63). ‘ter the edang has been glued to the side panels, the last thing to dois cut a rabbet for the back panel. that willbe added later eg. 50. ASSEMBLY. Now the side panels can be screwed tothe bottom assembly. ‘The plywood bottom helps position the sides, but to keep the assembly square, I built a simple box to act as a form, see Fig. 7. As you work, there are two things to watch out for. Fist, the back edges of these pieces should be flush (Fig. 75). So to make this easi- er to check (and adjust), I assem- bled the case upside down (Fig. 7). Also, you want the edges of the panels tight against the plywood bottom. So after adding screws at the back (to hold it flush) and front, I made sure the joint was tight before adding the other two screws. No. 134 Se a eat de parc nd Sec bacon pegt 10 pater, see detal'e Sees, meenasea Toraleve loess bl Crete org ore bak gue ~ maraledsise ete vo ova firtfort cae,“ NOTE:Back, — Gutetiet Feave a? 5 tongue tom ofcase 7 Sao (on end of stiffener Case Back & Top Cleat There’sno wp 10 these cases — just simple top cleat that inuerlocks with the two bottom cleats inthe case ¥ section abore. —_——_ ‘With the se panels screwed in place, the next pieces to work on are the back and the cleaton top (Fig. 8 ‘ASE BACK. There are actualy two pieces that make up the back ofthe ‘case. a hardwood stiffener and a'/'- plywood panel (Fig. §). The back stiffener (H) is meant to be remov- able so you can add the door to the case later. Is cut to fit between the rabbets in the case sides. To get the stiffener to end up flush with the ate a tongue on each end by cutting asmallrabbet (Fig. 80). Then before screwing the stiffener in place, cut a ‘small groove along the bottom edge tohold the back panel (Fig. 8a). The ¥A!-plywood back (1) gets a ‘small tongue on top that fits ino the groove. Then it’s simply glued and naled in place. (Just be careful not toget glue on the stiffener) TOP GET. The next piece to add is the top cleat (J). It's sized to fit assembly. The only thing youll need to doto this piece is relieve the top edges (Fig. 80). To do this, I used the same setup thatwasused to rout the bullnose profile earlier, refer to Fig. 3on page 8. ‘This cleat needs to be positioned 0 it will interlock with the bottom cleats on the other sections. And to make its installation easier, T cut a Jong spacer (3% wide) and clamped It flush with the Jack of the case back of the case, you'll need to cre- between the cleats in the bottom — before screwing the cleat in place. PLU h 3 ‘Alot ofantique barrister’s bookeases had two case sizes —theonesatthe {op were a little shorter than those fn the bottom. Frankly, I wasn't too. sire what this would involve. Often small change in size-can really affect alot ofdimensions, But not here. To. make shorter version of the case (vith a 12"opening),only a few pieces: ‘change: the side panels and their eda ing, the back, and the door stiles. Other thas tha, the procedure and ‘mensions are identical, ‘Woodsmithely 13% TS 1 ste nore: Glass panel Seer Oe ese seepage AL dia poor (NE wide) brass knob poo (rit wie Door ‘The door on this case isn'tlike most Both are cut J" shorter than the extra setup for the tenons, but the cabinet doors (Fig. 9). To open, it case opening to create a fs" gap on door will end upa bit stronger. swings up and sides into the case. each side of the door (Fig. 9b). TENOMS. Even though o tenon ji So instead of hinges, steel pins guide ‘moRTISES. To cut the bridle joints, 1 was used for the mortises, you'll and support the door. started with the mortises (Fig. 10 _ find it easier to cut the tenons with ‘The joinery for this doors also below). These are actually cut with athe rails lying down (Pig. 12). This ‘unusual. With a fairly narrow frame, tenon jig that holds each stile verti- way, you can sneak up on the final eee eee largeas possible for added strength. _youneed to build tenon jig, turn tothe fit, just set the tenon across the So they're cut across the full width page 16) To center each mortise, I outside face of the sile to see if the ‘of the pieces, as in Fig. a, (This is made two passes across the blade, _ tenon isthe right length) called a “bridle joint”) The nice rotatingthe sie between each pass. __Ater cutting both cheeks of eaci thing is that the joint can be cut (A blade that cuts a flat-bottomed tenon, the door frame can be glued entirely on the table saw. kerfwillgiveyouthe cleanest fit) together. Take it slow here. A bridle CUT TO SIZE. Another nice thing _RABBETS. Before cutting the tenons, joint doesn automatically lock into about the bridle joint is that the Icutarsbbetonll the frame pieces position like a regular mortise and lengths of the door raile (IK) and to hold the glass panel (Fig. 11). tenon, so you'll want to chee that stiles (L) are easy to figure out. Unfortunately, this will require an the frame ends up square. No. 134 Woodsmith nSIDE SECTION VIEW 2 Door (continued) Even though you've got the door frame assembled now, there are stil a few things to do beiore it will be ready to be added to the case. ROUND OVEREDCES. The frst thing to do is relieve a couple of the door’s edges. Otherwise, they'l “atch* on the case as the door is opened and closed. You want to relieve the out- side edge atthe top of each door and the inside edge at the bottom. as in the Side Section View at left. To do this, I routed these edges at the router table, using the setup that created the bullnose profile (a 4" rad. round-over bit raised 4"). AND STIEL PINS. The next task is to add the stee! pins that guide and support the door, see Figs. 18 and 14. Thought a fia, steel rod from local hardware sore and cutitinto ‘Vdong pins with a hack saw. (You'll need four pins foreach case: two for the door andl two for the case.) Drilling the holes for the pins in the ends of the doors might seem a bit tricky (Fig. 1). But they're not very deep — just". (used a piece Of tape as.a quick depth stop.) So as Jong as you work carefully, there shouldn't be any problems. Ater the holes have been drilled, the pins can be glied into the door and case. (I used epoxy to do this.) GUSS & GLASS STOP. Now is a good time to order the glass panels to fit into the rabbets in the frame Fig, 13a). I ordered double-strength lass (about {4 thick), and to make ssure the glass fit comfortably, { had the panels cut 14" less than the opening in both directions. To hold the panelsin place, Tused tips of glass stop (3M), as shown i Fig. 13. These are rather small pieces to work with, but you can make them safely and quick’y on the table saw. (For more on this, see page 17.) Then the strips can be inltered to ft into the rabbet, ‘The glass stop will be nailed into place with small brads, but I waited to do this until after the bookcase vas finished. Then | added the glass ‘and brass knobs. Finally, to install the doors, I removed the bac stiff: ener and slid the pins into the dadoes in the case sides (Fig: 14) ting needs to splay. And when that’s the case, you ‘can substitute an elegant solid wood panel instead of the glass. “The nice thing is the door frames don't needto be built any differently than they do when holding glass ‘panels. That's because after the raised field is cut on the front of the ‘panel, you can cut a rabbet on the ‘back i leave a" “tongue” that fits ‘nfo the rabbet, see drawing at right. Woodsmith, By rabbeting the back of the solid ‘wood pane, the same las top can be used to hold it in place. No. 134Base With the cases complete, its time to buile a base for everything to siton, ‘The base here is like a small table with four legs and rails as shown in Fig, 15. But instead ofa table twp, there's a single cleat that interlocks with the cleats in the case above it 16s. The first things I worked on werethe legs (N). These willendup 184" square, so ifyou can find some 8/4 stock, youll save yourvetalitle time. If not, you'll want to glue a %'- thick piece between two ¥4!-thick pieves, as shown in Fig. 15, (This ‘vay, you won't cut through the jint lines when tapering thelegslater) ‘The first thing to do to the legs is cut the open mortises at the top. (Note: Ite legs were glued up, ay out the mortises carefully, so the joint lines all face the same diree- fion) I cut them at the router table with a 1/" straight bit and a stop block clamped to the fence, as shown in Fig. 16. fd recommend at least two passes for each mortise, and since they're not centered, you'll need to reset the fence for the second mortise (Fig. 16). ‘The next thing to do is cut the tapers on the legs (Fig. 12) All four faces are tapered, and to do this safely on these short pieces, [mae simple led with an L-shaped ferce ig. 17b). To position the fence rieces on the jig, aid outa taper on ne of the leg blanks and set it on the base ofthe jig so the layout line was fish with the edge ofthe base. After tapering each leg, the last thing to do is soften the ediges (and bottom end) with some roundovers, indicated in Fig 15c. nore: Base cleat is identical to ‘ase top cleat Riils. The legs are connected with front and back rails (0) and side ‘rails (P). When sizing these pieces, you want the outside faces of the legs aligned with the edging on the sside panels (not the bottom assem- Diy), as shown in the photo below. Woodsmith ‘The only thing to do to these rails isto cut tenons to fitthe mortises in the legs (ig. 15b). Just keep in mind that you don't need to cut a shoulder on the top ofthese tenons. TOP GEAT. With the tenons cut, the legs and rails can be glued together ‘Then the last piece to adi is 2 base top elect (Q. Its identical to the top cleats on the ‘case and is screwed in place (Fig. 152). The cases are supported by a simple base, interlocking securely with the same cleat system tha “tes” the cases together.A Tomaich te cap to the ease sections below, the same edging is used on its side panels Cap ‘The final section to build is the cap, asyoucanseein the photo. The main purpose of the cap is to give the book- shorter version ofthe book- ‘ease (as shown on the cover), then thissection also serves asashellto set things on. BOTTOM ASSEMBLY. To make the cap look lke an integral part of the bookcase, I used some of the same components that were used for the other sec- tions. So the first thing to do is make @ bottom assembly (if you hhaven't built it already). You can turn to page 8 for this because the construction and the size of the cap bottom assembly ere identical tothe case bottom assembly 10? & SDE PANELS. Next worked on the top assembly, starting with acap top panel (Ui) and the two cap side panels (V), as shown in Fig. 18. The two side panels are short (174 tall) ‘versions ofthe case side panels (F). (Youll even aid the same edging in a minute) The top panel is slightly narrower, But all three panels get the size of the remaining tongue pieces, Bui the edging doesn't cover rabbeted to hold a 14" plywood _unilitfits the dadoes (Fig 18a). just the front of the side panels. It back, as you can see in Fig. 19. GING. Now its time to add edg- also wraps around to cover the top ‘To join the top and side pancls, ing to the side panels (Fig. 21). The elge. The side top edging (W) and the first step is to cut a Y4" dado profile here is identical to the side side jront edging (X) join at the across the sides, as shown in Fig. panel edging (G) on the eases (Fig front corner with a miter. But since 20, Then you can cut arabbet along 18%), so you can refer to page 9 for the top edging runsacross the grain each end of the top, sneaking upon the steps needed to make these of the side panel, I only epplied glue ‘SIDE SECTION VIEW eit 0 Te: ut identica abbot on back ‘edge of side panel (V) ae Tf aux END fence |" view eae]. ‘a‘to the front half so the panel could ‘expand and contract at the beck. ASSEMBLY. Now that the side panels are complete, the top panel can be glued between the two side panels, ‘Their back edges should be flush.) ‘Then this cap assembly can be cen- tered overthe bottom assembly and screwed down, as shown in Fig. 22 v BheK & FRONT. All that’s left to add to the cap assembly are the front and back. The %"-thick cup front (®) piece is cut to fit between the two sides (Fig. 23). Its top is flush with the top panel, and belore giu- ing it in place, I softened the top front edge with a 44" roundover. ‘The last piece, the 14" plywood OTE: Front ut to febetween cop sides — cap back (2) is just as easy design. The front half of the case attached wo the doors so every container gets a “front row seat.” Woodsmith cearlyeveryone’s reaction to this proj- fect has been the same — “It looks like a miniature armoire.” And while 1 wukdn't quite bring myselfto call this a pice armoire,” it wouldn't have been, too much ofa stretch. Afterall, even though this project is small enough to sseton top of akitchen counter, it’ fullof some of the same design details (and ‘woodworkingtechniques) that you might find on 2 much larger project. ‘A good example of this s the arched rail on each doot. This feature would Jook right at home on an armoire. Only ‘with a project this size, your job is alot easier. You won't have to cut curved panels to match the rails. The pieces are small enough so. everything (except the ral) can be left square. But my favorite dail is a practical ‘one. The doors on this case area't your typical frame and panel doors. As you can see in the photo below, the front haa of the case is attached to them so they can hold small spice containers. ‘This means no more hunting for the ‘one spice you need. All the containers are right out front in plain view.vena omensions: 1479" x 1354 W x 6"D Construction Details 6x 1% ah woodscrew" MATERIALS A Sides (2) Ie x2e- 11% B Top/Bottom (2) © shelf (1) Ye x2!e- 11% D Back (1) Yey.- 11x 11% E Too Cove (1) F Base Cove (1) G Top Bead (1) H Base Bead (1) HX6- 13% 1 Door Panels(2)% ply.- 44x 976 4 Door Stiles 4) K Door Lwe Ralls) %x 1%4-4%% L Door Upr Rails) Yax 234-414 M Door Case Sides (4) %x2%e- 11% N Decor Case Dividers(8) 46x 2/4 -5% © Retainer Strips (6) 4x 5-5 YWex2o- 11% UxST- 13 Vax 5%- 13% FexSHe- 12 Vax t%a- 1% 3624 71-96" Chore (5 8. Ft) + @) Me x2%°" Wood Wheels +) 6x 114" Rb Woodscrews +) %e"-dia. Rubber Bumpers. CUTTING DIAGRAM + (pr) 114" x Ze! Brass Hinges w/screv ++ (2) 34" x 34" Brass Knobs w/Screws * (1) Brass Hook w/#t4 x 3" Rh Woodscrews ‘ALSO NEEDED: One 12°x 24" place of" phovoed No. 134 Woodsmith 1| Case ‘The odd thing about this case is that itgets bait ntwo halves Youre going to work on nly the back half fornow (Fig. 1). The front half ‘wil be asembledand attached to the doors ater (page 24). ‘This case s simple enough. All the pieces are eat from Sipthick stock (with 2 14" ply- wood back) and are joined with tongues and dadoes. QT 10 Size. After planing some stock to %" thick, you cean begin catting the pieces to size, as shown in Fig. 1. The case sides (A) are ident cal but also cut the ton/ot- tom (B) and shelf (C) allthe same too. The shetf will end up alte nar rover later on, but this way, you'll be able to sneak up on its final fi ADOES & TONGUES. When joining pieces with tongues and dadces, | szeneraly cut the dadoes first. I's @ lot easier to sneak up on the final size of atongue than itisto sneak up onthe size ofa dado. To keep the dasloesin the sides as simple as possible, they're only 14" wide. (Gee the margin drawing at left) This way, they can be cut in @ single pass with a regular blade, as shown in Fig. 2.'To back up these pieces, [added an auxiliary fence to ‘my miter gauge and also used the rip fence asa stop. (You're not cut’ blade and burying it in en auxiliary grooves are cut on the case sides, ting all the way through the pieces, fence. Sneak up on the final depth of top, and bottom but not the shell. so,you don't have to worry about a the rabbetuntilthe tonguetthat'sleft ‘To determine the size of the back waste piece kicking back:) fits the dado perfecty. (D), its best to dry assemble the With the dadoes cut in the case _BAGL. The other piece to take care case and measure the opening, sides, the next stepisto cutarabbet of s the ' plywood back, The first (Remember to allow for the that will leave a 14" tonoue (Fig, 3). thing to dois cut some groaves to grooves) But T should mention ‘This means getting out your dado hold the panel (Fig. 1a). These about the plywood you'll FRONT view ! i+ | | ‘al “ence mE SIDE S 20 ‘Woodsmith No. 134need for this projet. Late, the door panels will need 24" plywood with BW twogood faces, and youcan use this for the back as well. (fyou can't find plywood with two good faces, these small panels are very simple to eneer, but Tl get into that more vhenit’s ime o build the doors) TRIN SHEL. After the case back has been cut to fitinto the grooves, the last thing to dois trim the shelf to ‘width (Fig 1). All you need io dois rip one edge so the piece will it into the case flush with the front edges. ASSIMBLECASE. Now the case can be ‘glued up. This is pretty straight. forward. There are only six pieces to work with, and the back helps keep the assembly square. INOWDING. While the glue is drying, yout can work on the molding for the top and bottom of the case, as sown in Fig. 4 There are two kinds ‘of molding: #'-thick cove molding ‘and 34!thick bead molding. 1 started with the top cove (B) and base cove (F). These pieces can UM ext to ished size ight ave. he top cove is slightly larger) “Then a '4'-rad. cove profile can be routed on the ends and front edges i these pieces (Fig 5). whee sexi ‘The top bead (G) and base bead an woedscren (#0 are thinner than the cove mold- ing pieces, but the procedure is the edges flush and the pieces centered ‘same. Afier cutting them to finished _sideto-side, I pressed them togeth- size, the profileis routed. This time er so the brads would “bite"intothe These bun-style feet arejust wood with aroundover bit Fig. 6). ‘wood. This way, when you've adiled wheels for toys. And to give them ATTACH MOLDING. For both the top the glue, the pieces won't shift more traction, I added a rubber and the base, gluing the two layers under the pressure of tie clamps, bumper to the bottom of each. This ‘ofmolding together and then o the When both the top and base required an extra counterbore, and ccaseis the same. First Iadded small moldings have been glued to the _ working with round parts required brads and then snipped off their case, the last thing to do isadd the some creative solutions, all of which heads (Fig. 4). Now with their back feet atthe botiom (Figs. 4 and 4t), are covered in detail on page 17, ey ce END viEW aa‘The arched profes on the vpper rails may aatract a lot of | aatenion, but the joinery is just basic stub tenon and groove Doors With the case done (or at least half done), | began work on the doors, as ‘shownin the photo atleft. These are are a couple of unusual thingesabout them, For one thing, the upper rail on each doorisarched (whieh helps the small cabinet to look much less boxy’). Plus, ater the front half of the case hasbeen bu, itwill be glued tothe backof these doors, DOOR PANELS. To get siarted, the first thing I did was to get the door ‘panels (1) cut to rough size. (Note that all the dimensions in Fig. 7 are finished sizes.) You need to have a rough panel on hand now because the joinery for the door frames is ‘based on the thickness ofthis panel. ‘As Imentioned earlier, the panel here needs to have two good faces ‘because you'll see the inside face when the doors are opened. I was able to find 14" plywood with two ‘good faces, But you can also apply ‘veneer to one face of a regular piy- wood panel (or both faces of a piewe of $4" hardboard). You can even “dress up” the doors with a figured ‘veneer. as shown in the box atright DOOR FRANES. With the panels on hhand, work can begin on the door frames The first thing to do is figure ut just how big to cut these pieces. Since I wanted '{o" gaps at the top and bottom of the doors, 1 simply ‘measured the case opening and sub- tracted 14 (Fig. 72). But the Yio" sap between the doors is a litle trickier. “To keep the numbers easy, { sized the doors to fit without 2 gap. Then later, the edges of the doors (and cases) will be sanded (or planed) to ‘match the gap a the top and bottom, frame and panel doors joined with AH at SS fora tlb tes eee a LT Ae Durpek RAIL ‘To make the door frames, you'll need some 'f"-thick stock (Fig. 7). ‘Thestiles (J) and lower rails (K) are all ripped 11/" wide, but the upper rails (L) are quite a bit wider 254!) because ofthe arch atthe top, GROoVES. With the pieces cut to size, i's ime to work on the grooves and stub tenons. I started with the grooves, sizing them to hold the door ad tal! Le ia = S en oiowcrean Sescraies ae ga a. ee «eee ley panels, But they should also be con tered perfectly — it'll make the tenons that much easier to cut. So if your panel is exactly 1" thick, youl have to cut the grooves in one pass. (On the other hand, ifthe panel ends up slightly thicker than 14", then you can center the groove automatically by cutting it in two passes, fipping the piece between passes. 7 —. > ‘a. fej END = ey A © fo) eas & 5 \ i i . r hen) ope ' : aS oo AE os 2 Woosh sowFULL SIZE HALF PATTERN (or upper rails) Ieutthe groove in each upper rail first (Pgs. & and 8a). Because ofthe PY arches that wilbe it ter, these moves are extra deep (174") s0 you | don’t have to cut an arched panel. This way, the panels square upper corners will ft up into the extra- deep grooves, asillustrated in Fig. 7 After the grooves are cut in the ‘upper rails, you can lower the blade | and cut %&-deep grooves in the atiles and lover rails (Fig, 8b). STUB TENONS Allthats left now is to cut stub tenons on the upper and lower rails to fit the grooves in the stiles. I decided to cat esch tenon ccheek in a single pass, using my dado blade buried in an auiliary rip fence, as shown in Fig. 8. To sup- port these short rail pieces, you'll also want to attach an auxiliary fence to your miter gauge, ARGH. The stiles and lower rails ‘can be set aside for now so you can cat the arches in the upper rails. used the halfpattern shown above right (I's fulsize so you can simply Creating the arch is a two-step _0OR PANELS & ASSEMBLY. Now that A "eee or photocopy tat 100%) To process. First the curve needsto be the fame pieces are complete, they make sure the shape of both rails roughed out at the bandsaw, as in can be dry assembled. Tis way, ‘ended up identical, I carpet taped Fig, 11. In other words, dontt try to you cancat the plywood door panels them together, as shown in Fig. 10. cut right tothe line. That's because (1) to fit in their grooves (Fig, 7) Then I drew the curve, working the second stepis to sand upto this Then the door panels and frames from the centerline out tothe edge. Tine using drum sander (Fig. 12). can be glued together. a Te a1 word Aselegantas thisproject to gel flat Not to worry, out where you want to are small enough that | 's,itcan be “dressed up’ Youcanfind exoticveneer position the veneer, you you could easily use yel- evenmoreby addinga fe. thathasalrcadybeenflat can glue it to the door low ghie orhide glue, tured veneer to thedoor ienedand glued toathin panel typically use When the lue has panes. Figured veneers backer; (Forsources,see tact cement for this, died, all thats lefts to | ‘are readily avilable, bul page 35.) This meane using waxed paper to trim i to size. Llike to the irregular grain also there's no prep work — prevent the pieces from use a sharp knife fortis makes tem more prone the veneeris ready to be siicking together prema Sart with a couple light towrinkling and spitting altached tothepanel. __turely, as shown in Fig. 1 scoring passes, then cut amdcintakealotofwork After you've figured below. But these panels the excessvencer away. Don’e think rere Ce Aad (one NZ oling Sanches No.134 Woodsmith E% “piste fetainer strip eittofe ket — Even though the doors are assem- (M) are cut to length to match the the tongues, as shown in Fig. 15. bled, they're not quite ready to be height of the doors. The four case Later, these grooves will hold retain- attached to the case. That's because dividers (1N) that form the top, bot er strips that will keep the spices the second (front) half of the case tom, and shelves of the case equal from falling out of the door case. needs to be bultand then glued tothe the width of the doors, minus %' DOOR CASE ASSEMBLY. The two door for the dado and tongue joinery. ses are ready to be assembled at ‘The procedures you'll use here _DADOIS & TONGUES. The joinery on this point. The important thing is pot are much the same as the ones used the door cases is identical to the that each case is square so much as to make the case earlier. But this case you built earlier. Thefirstthing it matches the door it will be glued time, you'll be building two small todo is cut four f"'wide dadoes on to. Sowhen clamping up the pieces, sections (instead of one), and they'll the case sides (Fig. 14), Then to Isetthe door on theassembly to see need to be sized tomatch the doors. make the 1" tongues that fit into how closely they matched. You'd be lus since these casesare designed _ the dadoes, a rabbet is cut on the surprised how much difference just to hold smaller spice containers, _enils ofthe dividers (Fig. 13a). repositioning a clamp or two can there's an extra shelf in each. GROVES FOR RETAINERS. Before glu make to the final shape ofthe case. ‘GTO SIZE. Like the case in back, ing the case together, youll want to Now the assembled cases can be the door case is built from %A"thick grab three of the dividersand cut 2 glued to the doors, as shown in Fig. stock (Fig. 13). The door ease sides 14" x l{" groove in the same face as 16. (Keep in mind that the grooves - eee, END VIEW ae U 5 ae ae ees : hee ‘RST Cut dadoes #5) i : = eee econee oe intivee divides ony \ 24 Woodsmith, No. 134for the retainer strips should end up on the inside ofthe cabinet, not next tothe door) The trick here is keep- ing the edges aligned as the clamps are applied. The solution is the sane one you used to attach the molding pieces earlier —wire brads with their heads snipped. off However, when applying the glue, be careful not to overdo it Any glue squeeze-out on the inside of the caze will be hard to gct a. fAT DOORS. You may find you need todo alittle sanding to getthe edges ofthe case and door flush. Plus, the | inside edges of the doors need to be sanded to create the ¥4¢" gap between them. (To help keep these edges flat while sanding, lay a strip of adhesive-backed sandpaper down, ‘onyour table sav.) TETAWER STRIPS. Now the case is ready for some retainer strips (O), ‘These strips are cut to fit into the grooves in the case, but you don't need a thickness planer to get them down to 14! thick. It’s actually a lot quicker to cut them with the table saw, as you can see above in the right margin. (Turn to page 17 for ‘more on this procedure.) NOUNT DOORS. After the retainer strips bave been glued into their grooves, the doors are ready to be mounted to the case, as shown in Fig. 18. The first step to doing this is to-cut the mortises for the hinges. Tkept things easy and mortised the hinges in the door cases only Fig. 175). This means there’s just ‘one mortise to cut for each hinge. (t's cutjust short of the full depth of ge barrel, Fig. 17) Another benefit to this s that the mortise can be cut on the table sav, as shown in Fig. 17. But make sure you don't push the case all the way through the blade. You only want to cut the ‘mortises on the outside edge, Before you install the doors, t's a ‘g00d idea to apply a finish. (Ladded @ few coats of a wipe-on finish.) Then the doors can be hung, and the ‘knobs ailded to the inside rails, a5 shown in Figs, 18 and 18b. Finally, to hold the doors closed, installed a mple brass hook, aligning it with the upper rails (Fig. 181). No. 134 Acrombled coor ase ‘wore: fe Aiea Geng ride eget contig aos Cea oi se ig Resiner itt tween neces Brads for A The thin etainer strips can be ‘made safely and easily on the table ae “than fall oe ee NOTE: Hook lines up with Upper rai see detall'a” 2oors sanded tocreate fet gop Woodsmith 1s brats hinge 25FREE Giue Chart you tava har time geting al his rior: tonto sick you can dounload a handy clererce chat fom out Wet sie, Turn page $5 1 tnd oul nore. For maximum bonding strength white ed yellow slues shoul be applied with clamping pressure 26 bag Ul: WOODsMITH SHOP] CHOOSING & USING GLUES When you find a glue that works, you stick with it. But are you using the best glue for each job? ‘woodworking store, I counted twelve different kinds of glues. It ‘made methink back to when [started woodworking and there were about three choices for assembling a joint: hide glue, yellow glue, ora couple of nails. So does anyone really need all these different adhesives? Just like you choose the right wood for a project, you also should pick a elue that fits the needs of the joint. On some jobs you need a glue that dries within seconds, The next time, you may need 10 minutes to get the parts assembled. Some joints have to re ‘There are even joints you may want to take apart later, No one giue does it all so knowing the strengths and characteristics ofeach type will help you chocse the right ge. Yellow & White Glues Probably the most familiar glue to woodworkers, and certainly the one Treach for most ofien, is yellow glue. sinexpensive, eazy touse and cean up, and forms a strong bond. (Ifyou ‘want to impress your friends, youcan refer to yellow glue and its cousin, sist the weather. white glue, by their chemical name polyvinyl acetate or PVA.) PYA glues are water-based. They form abondwhen the water in them isreleased into the air and into the workpieces. Itaiso means thet any squee.out or spills can be cleaned up with water before it hardens (However, { usually wait about 15 minutes until the ziue skins over and then remove it with a chisel.) ince yellow and white glues are water-based, don’t let them freeze, orthe glue will be ruined Inpo0R & oUTDooR. The regular yel Tow glue I use on almost all my fur niture projects is meant only for use indoors. Ifa jeint gets wet or is ‘exposed to extremes in tempers ture, the bond will weaken. However, there isa type of yellow glue that’s weterresistant, This ‘Woodsmith ‘grade ie suitable for most outdoor projects and is labeled as a Type Il adhesive. (On page28, there's more about other types of outdoor glues) No-oRIP. I recently tried a yellow glue that’s thicker so it won'trun or rip as easily as regular glue (see the photo at the top of the next page). I's called molding glue, and it sets up faster than regular glue. Put some on the vertical cheek of a tenon, and it won't run off before you can get itinto the mortise, WHITE GLUE. Yellow glues are just a higher grade of the white gue you find in the school supplies section of many stores. And believe it or not, white glue can be usefulin the shop. On occasion, I'l use white glue because it gives me a longer open time. That means you have more time to assemble pieces before the No. 134aglue starts to set. Its also thinner than yellow glue, soit will flow into hard-toreach crevices, White glue isn’ quite asstrong as yeliow glue, but i's perfect for joints where you need a bit of dexibility after the glue dries. That's why it's a good choice for fastening slats to a canvas backing to make tambours Hide Glue Byer wish you could take ajoint apart alter the ghue had cured? With hide ‘giue, you can, Even though the glue cures to a very strong bond, some steam directed onto ajoint wll usually soften the glue enough to allow you totake the pieces apart. HOT HIDE GLUE. Using tralitional hot hide glue can be a bit messy. First, the dry grains of glue need tobe dis solved in water. Then the mixture Inas to be heated to about 160° ina thermostatically controlled glue pot oor some other device. Heat keeps the glue in this liquid form. LUoUID. While hot hide glue has its place, I don't like to deal with the “cooking” or the messy glue pot. Instead, 1 use ready-mixed liquid hide glue, like you see in the mar- ain, Itcontains the same ingredients as hot hide giue, but itdoesa't need to be heated. An alditive keeps the slue liquid inside its sealed bottle, The additive also gives liquid hide ue a longer open time. So, while ne of the key characteristics of hot hide glue is its quick cure time Gt becomes tacky in less than a minute), I choose liquid hide glue , A unique property of hot hide alue is that it will dissolve old hide glue in ajoint. Then the new and old sues bond together. This makes it perfect for restoring old furniture that was assembled with hide gue. A Molding gue isa thicker eype of yellow glue. It wont drip or ron before you assemble the pars Imagine trying to clamp a piece ofl inatencross.a large panel while the laminate slides around on a Slippery pool of liquid ge. With contact cement, there is no such problem, The instant bond created by con- tact cement means the laminate stays where ifs putas soon as it touches the subsrate. No clamping is needed, Just some firm pressure over the surfece from. arubber rollerto srengthen the bond. ‘A The key toa suecessfl contactcement joint sto apply male coast» each surface wntl ic semains evenly “shiny.” Dull spe mean sha the cemens has soaked in and will naz adhere propery. No, 134 Ogee WOTIPES, There are two types of con- tact cement solventhased and water: based, They're both applied the same ‘way. Use a tietal spreader, a stiftbrstled ‘brush, ora roller to coat beh surfaces to be joined, as shown inthe photo at left. ‘When working with them, the biggest difference between the two types ofcon- tacl cements is the cure time. Solvent- based cements are ready to be joined ‘uch sooner than water-based cements. (The wait fs about 100 15 minutes with solvent-based cements and up ton hour ‘with water-based) ‘With either type, the “ager test” wil Jetyou know when thie cementis ready. When you press your finger on the cement, it wil fel tacky, but won't stick to your finger At that point, the pieces are reaiy tobe pressed together. HEAFHESISUNT, Contact cement has a hrigher resistance to heat than yellow or ‘white glue, so its a perfect choice for sticking plastic laminate on table tops that might have hot dishes set on them. On the other hand, if you use contact ‘cement to fasten veneer to a sibstrate, keep in mind thet it has alower resist ance to water and solvents than yellow ale. Aheavy coat of finish could soak through the veneer and weaken the Woodsmith for its slow cure time. During assembly, liqu adjust parts and clamps for up to 10 minates before the glue starts to “grab.” With the slower cure rate, clamping times are several hours. A Liguid hide gle doesnt require mixing or heating ina glue pot. I's ready to we right out of the bout hide glue lets me bond. So when applying a finish to a ences, [start with thinned, light coats, ‘mons. Mostcontact cements contain vaporsthatare hazardous to your bealth, and some are very flammable. To pro- fect my lungs, I wear a respirator designed for paint mist or organic vpors Teven work outdoors, ifpossible, 0 there is plenty of ventilation. And ‘make sure no open flames are nearby (ike a gas water heater or « furnace). ‘The vaporsare heavier than air, and they can travel down air vents and stairways and collect in lower portions of the hhouse where they might ignite, IMs Soak anil deer cleanser tole arc fel ere fe bershe ofc a water-based contact cement.28 Outdoor Glues Projects that will spend ime outdoors ‘need an adhesive tat can stand up to ‘Water and weather: There are several ues that it the bil. POLYURETHANE GLUE One ofthe newesttypes ofihesives is polyurethane (or“ poly" git, iatro- duced in the US. in the mi¢-199)s. FOAMING. An odd characteristic of poly ues the foam that resultsas it ‘ 2 cures (see photo below). Like rising A With polyurethane glue ight) mist one workpiece with water, then spread breed, this is due to a chemical reac- the glue thinly on the mating piece. The water helps the gle cee tion that releases carbn dioxide This feam is sometimes mistzken is that they cure by reacting RESORCINOL for the xaprfilling quality the glues moisture. $ instead of just squeer For a completely waterproof bond, advertise, But don't the foam fool ing the glue on and clamping the resorcinol isthe glue to use. Bven you Itwil lla gap, but there sittle pieces,1l spray alight mist of water immersedin water for extended pert strength in the bubbled glue. The onto one of the surfaces to be ods, the glue won't dissolve. real gapfiling ability is in the glue joined, then apply the glue to the _Resorcinol is a twopart adhesive that doesn’t foam. And even then, mating piece, as shown in the photo that needs to be mixed before use. It the glue only suppkes strength above. Poly glue willalso react with can irritate your eyes, nose, and across gaps off oF less. the moisture in your skin and will skin, 0 wear a respirator (not just a UST ADD WATER. Something else stick ike, well— glue, Soit’s best to dust mass), gloves, and goggles. thatmakes poly glues bitdifferent wear gloves when apolving it Once it’s mixed, youl have an open USELESS. Sncethe glueexpandsas time of at least 15 minutes. it cures, You only need to apply Assemblies will have wo be camped about oneshird as much as you overnightto allow the gue to set ‘would with a yelow glue. And isa ‘good thing a botle of polyurethane glue goes farther — it costs three to five times as much as yellow glue. The longer working time for polyurethane glue (15-20 minutes) makes it useful when assembling lange or complicated projects. You'l Pat s x EE have plenty of ime to bring parts unique characeristc of polywethane together and get clamps in place. 4 Resoremol provides a uly water- le that it foams.as itreacts with mois- Poly ghieisalsowaterresistant (but proof joint, making it the adhesive ture. The foam: can be removed wiha not. waterproof), so it's a good of choice for boat builders. Use Scraper or chisel aftr the glue has died. choice for outdoor projec. care when mixing and handing CONSTRUCTION ADHESIVE Although it's not a typical choice, caulking gun. I trim the tip ofthe you may wantte considerusingcon- nozzle to give me a bead that’s ‘sruction athesive when assembling about 14" wide. ‘The aihesive is ‘outdoor projects. Forweatherdure- thick (about like toothpaste) and A bility Gand price), its tough to beat will spread out as you clamp two Ive used ton several pieces ofout workpieces together. So keep it ME. door furniture with great results, away from the edges of he. TU8ss, Construction adhesive is Unlike ayellow glue, itisnt nec- , i readily available at hardware essary to spread construction 4 Construction adhesive is a good ‘stores and home centers. Itcomes adhesive. Butifyoudo, use apiece choice for ouudour projects. Ie in a tube and is applied with a ofscrap that you can throw away, elds up wellin wer eondiaoms, ‘Woodsmith No. 134‘Whether tcomesin cans, 2cou: ple of tubes, or a syringe (eee photo), epoxy is atwopart glue system. It consists of aresin and | hardener that need tobe mixed together, and with some epox- ies, youcan vary the open time byuusing a different hardener, Epoxy excels at joining dif. ferent types of materials to teach other. And the bond is very strong, For example, [use it when attaching a bolt or a Instant Glue je It’s called “crazy,” “super” or “instant” glue. They're all names for cyanoacrylate glues. When. you compare per-ounce prices, Spray Adhesive Spray acheswve comes in an aerosol can, like a spray paint. Depending on the brand, the consistency ofthe adhesive nay fall between that of spray paint and arunny whipped cream. The PMY sic carey but the bond isn'tvery strong. USS. In my shop, Luse spay adhesive most offen whes I No. 134 Dlastic knob to a jig. Plus it will ‘bond oily woods (like teak) that other glues cant. MIXING. When a job calls for epoxy, you usually don’t need ‘much. So I mix the resin and hardener in an old jar lidor the bottom of an empty soft drink cean (See photo). I do this for a ‘couple of reasons, First, clean- ing up cured epoxy is next to impossible. So it's easiest to just throw the lid or can away. the tiny tubes and bottles of cyanoncrylate are the most expensive glues around. But they'reusedin small amounts, 60 the peruse costis low. ‘OLD STORAGE. The shelflite of these glues is rather short Once the container is opened, they only last about six ‘months. So the small contain ers ensure you don't end up westing a lt of glue because it gets old. Here's a tip — to extend the life of an opened need to stick a piece of paper orfabric to some thing (See photo). For ‘example, spray adhe- sive is perfect for attaching patterns to workpieces. The tack of the adhesive is ‘enough to keep the pat- termin place but allows itto be peeled off when the workis dane, APPLYING. Just like @ spray Paint, you can't control exactly where the spray will end up, For this reason, you may need to mask off surrounding areas or spray the workpiece while you hold it inside a cardboard box. Then stick the pieces together before the glue dies, ‘The second rea- son has to do with the way epoxy cures, Asit cures, it begins to warm up. A Epoxy starts as ewo parts that need to be Warming makes mixed tether. The bottom of a soft the epoxy cure drink can makes a disposable mixing cup. laster, which thea generates more heat. Allowing the glue to spread out after it's mixed gives you a longer open time ané Keeps heat from building up. Iflarger amounts bottle, store itin the refigera- tor, Just let it warm up to room temperature before using it. Otherwise it won't bond) USES, One place where super glues excel is filling small ‘racks in turning blanks, I've also found them useful for replacing small pieces that chip off (provided I can find the chip). They can also be used to secure metal parts on aig orto fasten carvings or hardware to project (see photo). Hot Melt Glue Everything I giue isn't meantto stay together permanently. ‘Thatswhyl keepahotmeltglue ‘gun in my “bag of tricks.” STREIGTH. Different strength glue sticks are available, but none of them are strong ‘enough fora permanent bond. For example, as I was designing the spice rack on page 18, I wanted to experi- ‘ment with the positions of the door pulls. A dab of hot melt glue on the back of each one Jet me stick them in place. ‘When I wanted to remove the pulls, they came off easily. EASY CLEANUP, One nice thing about hot melt glue is how eas- ily it cleans up. If you have Some squeeze-out, just let it Weodsmsith of epoxy are mixed in a tall, narrow container (ike a plastic cup), the heat can actually build up enough to melt the ‘cup or even ignite it 4A Instant gue can be wed to hold hinges in pesition tom ovary while you merk mor- tie and screw locations. A sharp tap on an edge ofthe hinge will break he bond. dry for a few seconds, then trim it with @ sharp knife, Dribbles can be scraped off with a fingernail o putty krife, For stubborn chunks, soften the glue with a hair dryer, A Hot melt glee provides a tem- porary bond thats perfec for Jobs such as applying pads the jaws of pipe clamps.WEEKEND Oey PAPER TOWEL DISPENSER Try your hand at something new —a variation of a mortise and tenon joint that you can still see after the project is assembled. often it's needed “right now” tothe litle ods and ends that seem to with double through-mortise and wipe upa spill. But until Lbuilt this collectin the kitchen, tenon joints, And there are two vari project, [wasalways hunting forthe JOINERY. Building the paper towel ations ofthe jint. One set of mortis- roll of towels while the spill spread dispenser can help you sharpen es are regular through mortises. allover the place. Nowthe owelsare your skills without taking a lot of The other sets open on one ede. always right at hand, Plus the draw- time, materials, or space. The two types of mortises are cut differenty,butall you need isa table sav, drill press, and a chisel MOUNTING OFTIONS. This project is j the paper towels above, as shown in a BE the main photo; onone end with the 1A If counter space im shore supply, hang. A You ako have the option of set- towels upright (Fight photo); or if the dspenser undeva cabinet. The ow- tng the dispenser onend ona you dont want to take up any count designed to fit whatever space you The lipped els uill be at your fingertips, and the countertop. Either way, the er space at all, it can be hung under drawers keep itle tems organized drawers wil ft m right side up. acahinet eft photo). have in your kitehe: drawers and the case openings they fit into are square, so the dispenser ‘can be positioned three different ways. It can sit on a countertop with 0 Woodsmith, No. 134Top, Bottom, & Sides ‘The first pieces to make are the ones © that define the size of the dispenser. T glued up panels rom 14tthil ‘stock for the top/bottom (A) and sides (B), as shown in Fig. 1. The top and bottom are cut fo fished size, but leave the sides a bit long. The sides can be set out of the way for the time being while tenons are cut on the top and bottom pieces. ‘TENONS. You'll only need to lay out the tenons on one end of the top (or bottom), as shown in Fig. la, As goull sce aicoent tic aie tenonsare positioned automatcalh [found it easiest to cut the tenons nthe abl ex with a dado Wade like you seein Fig. 2. To do this, use the layout lines on the top to set the postion of the rip fence soit wil act asa stop. Also, it’s a good idea to screw an auxilary fence to the miter gauge to steady the work. pieces and prevent chipout. Heres where you can save some work, The tenons on bath pieces can be cit atthe same time ff you ce ces orc doublesided tape. ‘Now simply put one edge ofthe top acd boom aaian ep foce and use the miter gauge to push them through the bade, as shown in Fig. Then turn the workpieces ‘side for side and make another cut. Kength Nore To Dato ad sides are luedup panels ‘Next, flip the workpieces end for end and repest the process. After removing the waste to the edges, reposition the rip fence and remove the waste between the tenons, 'MORTIES, After the tenons are cut, you can use the top as @ patiern to lay out the mortises in the ends of the side pieces, lke you see in Fig. 3. Laying out the mortises in the middle is a bit trickier. First, you'll need fo draw a line across the side to.mark the top edge of the mortise Fig. 4). Then align the tenons with NOTE: Sides are ext t9 1009 thisline and trace around them, Now that the mortises are laid out, the next step is cutting them. ‘The open mortises are cut on the table sav, the same way the tenons ‘were cut. Themortisesin the center require a different method. Here, I used a Forstrer bit to remove most of the waste, as shown in Fig. 4, ‘Thea a chisel and guile block are used to square up the mortises (Fig. 5). The trickis to sneak up on the final size of the mortises until you get asnug fitwith the tenons, Guide Block sauares Shel towortpiece for cleaningSides {continued} Before you can begin assembly, there's sill some layout and cutting to do on the two sides. Just as I did when marking the tentons on the top and bottom, I aid out the shape on just one side piece, DIVIDER then taped the two workpieces Biynen together This way both can becut — Seseaey © to shape at one time. eae Hock irs, lay out theare along the top edge, as shown in the margin, When you do this, make 2 visible ‘mark at the centerpoint of the arc. Youll need this reference point again later to drilla hole. After the arc is drawn, lay out the angle on each edge, Note that the starting point of the angle aligns with the top edge of the mortise (Fig. 7a) Now the two sides can be cut to shape using the band saw, as you can see in Fig. 7. Stay just outside the line, then sand up to the line. And before separating the pieces, drill hole for the dowel that holds the paper towels, This hole is cen- tered on the centerpoint of the arc that you marked earlier, DIVIDERS The next thing to do is to add the that form the drawer open: 6). The important thing, Mounting the paper towel dispenser under a cabinet frees up ‘counter space. fthisis howyou plan to mount your dispenser, the ‘mounting holes need to be drilled through the bottom before the ‘case is assembled (Seep 1). And access holes need to be drilled through the top so a screwdriver can reach the serews (Step 2). ‘As you can see in Step 2, if your cabinet has alip around the at} battom, youll need to add a spacer block above the dispenser. | Ale iret ic su cay ee Howe devant fr deaners —| eae ees cs en mate bottom: ‘sunk shank | = ES senshi : | i | Swreweriver —, | lee Gee /(OF | _Becesnds ponte Sees | Before assembling the case, drill countersunk mounting holes If the bottom of your cabinet is recessed, you may need on the side faceof the bitom piece ASO, ll acesshotes db tate space boc sbove the dperser. these you rough the top piece to align with the mounting holes won't be able to get the drawers into the case. 2 Woodsmith No. 4hore is thatthe three drawer open: ings end up the same width. ©) _ Peto the viers, Leu dadoes 6n the top and bottom pieces, Since Tused the rip fence as a stop, I alowed for the length ofthe tenors winen setting the fence (Fig. 8). DIVIDERS &BACIS. To determine the length of the dividers (Ci, dry assemble the top, botom, and sides. Now measare between the dadloes and cut the dividers o size Fig. 6). ‘The next step isto cut grooves in the top, bottom, sides, and dividers to accept a plywood back in each drawer opening (Fig. 9). But since 44 plywood is usually ust uncer /" thick, {cut the grooves by making ‘As you can see in Fig. 9a, the first pass on each piece is made with the The case goes together from the rip fence set %4' from the outside inside out. The first thing to dois to, edge oftheblade. (Ifyou look at Fig. glue the dividers into the dadioes in 6,youll see that the dividers need athe case bottom. Next, the three ‘groove on each face.) Then nudge backs are glued into the grooves. the fence toward the blade sightly Then thetopis added to this assem- © wien the groove (Dont worry Sy Fal the ies ie ged ae about the grooves showing on the clamped in place. Lalso glued a plug fends of the sides. The exposed into the exposed groove cn each holes will be pluezed later) side panel (Fig. 10) After the grooves are complete, TOWEL BAR. Before moving on to you can measure for the fucks (D) the drawers, there's one more piece ‘ard cut them to size Fig. 6). needed for the case. That's the towel bar Thisis just aI"ia, dowel ‘ASSEMBLY. witha tenon on each end to keep the Now thatallthe piecesarecut, you're dowel from falling out of the holes in ready to assemble the case. Note: if the sides, To form the tenons, I youplzn onmountingthecompleted decided to use a straight bit inthe dispenser underacabinetyou'lneed router table, s you can see in Fig. todrilla few holes inthe topand bot- 11. This gave me a nice, smooth tom before assembling the case. See tenon with a dean shoulder. the box on the opposite page for The fence should be positioned so, detailsabout doing this. the bit is centered on the dameter ‘Woodsmith two passes over my rip blade on the ‘NOTE: Grooves for backs table saw. (A rip blade will euta fit eee bottomed groove.) END VIEW of the dowel. And a stop block ‘clamped to the fence to the left of the bit sets the tenon's length. The important thing here is that the dis- tance between the shoulders of the tenons ends up just bit less than the measurement between the case ides, This makes it easy to lit the towel bar out to replace the towels, To form the tenon, start the router and place the dowel against the fence, to the right of the bit. Push the dowel into the bit until it hits the stop block. Rotating the dowel will define the shoulder ofthe tenon. Then, run the dowel back and forth across the bitas you roll it to remove the rest of the waste. Now that the case is assembled, ison to the three drawers,nore: Drawer sides and backs are" thick diaver frets are "thik, drawer bottoms are Ws phyawod Drawers ‘The drawer openings are square for a simplereason, This way, no matter how the case sits, the drawers ft right side up, The drawersare iden- tical, so construction goes quickly. FRONTS, The first parts to cut are the Ye"thick drawer fronts (E). Since these are lipped drawers, the fronts are %e' larger than the draw- cer openings, (Fig. 12 shows that my drawer fronts were 31{¢! square) Next, a 14" roundover is routed around each drawer front (Fig. 12a). ‘Then rabbets need to be cut on the back faces to form the lipped edge. 4A The drawers and Because of the roundovers, there drawer openings _ isn’t enough surface forthe bearing are square.No of a rabbet bit to ride against. So I mater how you made these cuts using a straight bit positon the case, in the router table. Note that the the drawers willgorabbets along the sides are wider invigle side up. (Fig, 125) than those along the top and bottom edges (Fig. 123). ‘complete each crawer front, a hole is drilled, and a knob is mount- ed, as you can seein Fig. Ye, SIDES AND BACKS. ‘The ¥/"-thick drawer sides (F) and backs (@) are up next. Alook at Fig, 12 shows that they're the same width, but the drawer sidesare longer. “Tomake iteasiertoreach into the drawers, the sides have a “scooped” profile (Fig. 12c). I made the pro- files identical by stacking the sides together with double-sided tape and thea cutting all the pieces at once. ‘To hold the drawer together, the front an back pieces fit into rabbets the drawer pieces. Take a look at keeps the grooves positioned cor- in the sides, as shown in Fig. 125.1 Fig. 14, and youll see that alow auxe rectly onall the pieces. cut these rabbets on the table saw ilary fence needs to be used when Finally, cut the drawer bottoms ig. 13). Then to accept a 1" ply- cating these grooves. The fence fis (#1) to size. Then glue the drawers wood bottom, Ieut grooves on all _underthe ip ofthe drawer front and together and apply a finish. OY NOTE: Leave aul {eon ples srooves nail drawerpieces CUTTING DIAGRAM MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES A Top/Bottom (2) x7 - 12% 4" ~ 48" Oak (Two Boards @ 1.3359. Ft. Each) B Sides (2) xT - 9% (oh) Dividers (2) WX7 3% D Backs (3) Ya ply. - 344x3% ee ray © Drawer Fronts (3) ax 3th6 - 3I%6 WZ, © drawer Sides (6) lax Be -6I> G Drawer Backs (3) Ux 3ihe - 3746 H raver cottons @) Yavin Sexo | © (1) 1'-dia, Dowel (12%4" ona) (3) Ze"-dia, Wood Drawer Knobs WoodsmithSOURCES ‘Most ofthe hardware and supplies you need to build the projectsin thisissueare available from local haré- ware siores, woodworking stores, home centers, or from the mail order sources, listed at right. To find out ‘exactly what supplies are needed for aproject, check the materiale list included for each project BARRISTERS BOOKCASE ‘The barrister’s bookcase on page 6 features simple design that doesn't need much hardware, ‘The screws and brads can be found ata hardware store, ‘The metal pins can be cut ‘rom a length of steel rod or from 1" ots. Another thing that wil have to be ordered locally is the glass for the doors, Ask your glass shop for Ye! doublestrength glass, STAN. The siain Ichose for the bookcases was General Finishes’ Red Mahogany. But after test ing it, I thought it was tbo red. So I blended three parts of Red Mahogany with one part of General Finishes’ Antique Cherry to reduce the “redness.” SPICE CABINET Although some ofthe hard- ware for the spice cabinet ‘on page 38 can be found MAIL fee aaa We' looking for on eee cs locally, you proba | our eliorial eam, F you're inter- IRCES toisin | Similar project supplies and biywon'tbeablet | ested, sond a cover leter ond | andvare may findeverything. So Seen to Michal Sigel, | be ordered from all the hardware has been assem bled into a kit that youcan order from Woodsmith Project Sp- plies. (See below for infor- mation.) As shown in the phot, the kit includes the ‘wheels, knobs, hinges, rub- berbumpers,a door hook, and the necessary screws. Cabinet Hardware Kit 7134-100 $19.95 VENEER, On page 23, an ‘optional treatment for the door panels uses a mahogany crotch veneer, We used a twoply veneer from Bod Morgan Wood- ‘working Supplies. See the margin for information. PAPER TOWEL DISPENSER Youdon'ineed mich mate- rial atallto build the paper towel dispenser onpage 30. Tfound the 1"ia, oak dowel at a home center: If you can't find an oak dowel locally, check the sources listed at right. The 7A"-dia. knobs T used were also oak to match the rest of the dis- ‘+ Over 100 Woodworking Tips Online ‘Visit Oureaders' Project Photo Gallery + Projct Plano You Can Doveload ‘+ Catalog of Projects Tooks, Jigs & Plans + Forums for Woodworking, Tools & Clasfiels ‘# Linksto Other Woodworking Stes + Orde Woadsnit/ShopNetes Back Issues www.woodsmith.com Woodsmith ‘ve,,Des Moines, | the jollowing 14 50312. Or email it to: ‘companies: | ‘msige’@augusthome.com io angen Weodwerang upplon penser, They're available s02-1502048 from the sourcesat right. Tevaly eer erty Tree Tips cwves sooeie-i908 Finding most ofthe glues wwcherryree mentionedin thearticieon __online.com page 26 isn't difficult. oreweh My itels ‘They're available in home centers, hardware stores, Vey Sees me of the spect ee shes might be ede Misc Tocate. You may need to order from the catalog Reckler Woodworking ‘companies listed at right. ere WALL GHARL A chart that 7™"r ee sums up the types of "Gun tings flues, what kinds of pro ects to use them on, their He characteristics, and more 008881204 is available on our web site Bmas on wondenca, at www.wondsmith.com. Drove lus Hing Click the “Online Bxiras" Dutton to gettothe chart. gna You can also order @ — www:woodcratcom copy through the mil by Bunsond nd ut sending a selfaddressed | Prr sich, Dinos stamped #10envelope to: “isso ‘Woodsmith Glue Chart yooaworkers Supply PO, Box 842 '800.615.292 Des Moines, 1A.50204 _Brasvaud ed nas, Door etches Dow, Gua TELLS. 35A Paper Towel Dispenser. Like a space-saving appliance, ths prot em bemoteed endera cabinet. Butt ull also stoma conatertap — either horzonaly cr vertically, And with hve small drawers, this caldy il prove tbe indispensable, Pans aarton page 30. 4A Barriste’s Bookeuse. These stacking bookcases are designed 0 be customized easy. Build as many sections as you want. and forthe dears, choos las or wood panel. Plans start on page 6 Spice Cabinet. Add some zes to your htchen with the clas looks ofthis countertop cabinet. Tian o page 18 t lars how to build this case, from the deep doors with bul-in storge to the ishing tuches of the maldings and bun feet.