Woodsmith December/January 2021

My woodworking follows seasonal rhythms. The fall and early winter see me hard at work on gift projects. At the new year, my attention shifts to shop upgrades that I discovered I needed during the holiday rush. From there, I start in on projects for my own home or ones that I just need to make, whether I have a place for them or not. As you can see on the next page, the projects in this issue address each stage. How about you? What patterns or interests have you discovered in your own workshop?…

My woodworking began with my father’s Shopsmith Mark V. Being a creative, left–brain sort, that machine was a gateway to many happy hours. Of the hundreds of projects I have designed and built, the machines are the most fun. I mean, how can you not have fun making a CNC router or a big belt sander? At home, I stay busy with wood carving, metalwork, gardening, never ending maintenance on an old farm all the while keeping company with my dear wife and what feels like our own animal rescue network.…

Shop-Made Knob I think we’re all familiar with the struggle. You’re working on a project, need a knob for a jig, and lo and behold you don’t have one the correct size. To avoid this frustrating problem all together, I have just started to make my own knobs, like you see here. A SERIES OF HOLES. The knobs are easy to make. I make mine out of plywood and start by laying out a series of holes. Then, after spending a few minutes at the drill press drilling the holes, I can cut the knob out and am left with the perfect knob. The best part of all is that they can be made for any size thread, simply by installing a different T-nut. One of the great uses I found for these…

Workbench Mat. Jim VanWiltz of Harlan, IA found that a carpeted floor runner was the perfect workbench mat. The mat provides a cushion to prevent dinging parts and also keeps them in place while he is working with them. Best of all, the floor runners are inexpensive at most big-box stores. Manual Keeper. Richard Leif of Port Hillard, MA got tired of shoving his power tool manuals inside of a shop cabinet. Instead, Richard decided to store them at the machine using a clear expanding portfolio. The portfolio attaches to the side of the machine with double-sided tape and closes to keep the dust out. Handscrew Sander Stand. Jared Huber of Appleton, WI found it frustrating to try and sand small parts with his random orbit sander. The parts tended to be…

Small shops require compact solutions when it comes to working efficiently and accurately. If you have a compact router, that solution is adding the Infinity Tools Portable Router Table System. Here’s what you need to know about the table and accessories. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED. As you should expect with any “power tool,” you’ll need to do a little assembly before you’re up and running. But you won’t find that it takes all that long. The router table cabinet comes disassembled to keep everything nice and compact (photo at left). On the other hand, the router table fence is basically fully assembled. Just add the dust port (shown attached). Assembly is pretty straightforward, but if you need instructions, you’ll have to download them from Infinity’s website. I didn’t find any in the kit that…

Most of the kumiko I make is intended to be hung on the wall as decorative art, but I do sometimes incorporate it into the boxes and furniture I make. When I first began to do this, I would make the box, for example, then make and fit the kumiko to it. But that’s the wrong way to do it, because often you are left planing the kumiko frame down to fit the opening you have. That’s undesirable for a few reasons. First, it weakens the frame. Second, you end up with the outer frame pieces thinner than the interior ones and the infill pieces. The panel begins to look unbalanced. Finally, it’s just plain tedious and difficult to plane the outer frame parts of a kumiko panel. So, I…