Woodsmith June/July 2021

Some issues develop a theme. And it seems to happen all on its own. This issue had a couple projects get delayed and others moved up in the schedule. As a result, we now have an unofficial “Summer Storage Special Issue.” The three projects — armoire, sewing table, and bathroom organizer cover a gamut of storage needs and styles. In other news, Erich Lage has been promoted to Senior Editor. And Logan Wittmer is taking over as editor at Popular Woodworking. So we have an opening for an assistant editor. I’m looking for one of two kinds of people. First, a passionate woodworker who wants to learn more about the craft and share it with others — even if you don’t have a lot of writing experience. Or second, a skillful…

Danielle Rose Byrd is a wood carver and sculptor who blends traditional and modern methods with ample experimentation and a wide range of tools to create pieces with varying degrees of function and heavy doses of texture. Raised in the western foothills of Maine, she made many creatures, structures, and inventions using found items, sand, plants, sticks, trash, snow, and fabric. In college, she explored music and sound sculpture, and while building a handmade fiddle-ish instrument constructed from burn pile wood found on campus, and began carving scraps into spoons. Find out more on her website, www.daniellerosebyrd.com, or on Instagram @danielle_rose_byrd.…

Circle Routing Jig One of my favorite uses for my router table is to cut circles. It may surprise people, but it’s easily done with the jig you see here. The jig is made of plywood and sized to fit your router table. A piece of aluminum has a series of holes sized to fit a pin. The pin becomes a pivot point for your workpiece. A pair of cleats on the ends of the base keep it from sliding side-to-side. USING THE JIG. To use the jig, position it so the edge of the bit to the center of the pivot pin is the desired radius of your circle, then lock your router fence in place. This acts like a stop. Then, slide the base away from the bit and fit your…

Micro Mesh Grits. Greg Kopp of Norwalk, IA kept losing the grit chart that came with his Micro Mesh sanding pads. Instead of relying on the chart to match the color to the grit, Greg has started to mark the grit with a fine-tipped marker on the edge of the sanding pads. Now, Greg can quickly see what grit the pad is. Strop Cushion. Bill White of Grand Portage, MN often uses hold-downs in his work. However, using a hold down with softer woods can often leave dents in the workpiece. When chopping dovetails, Bill found that his leather strop was the perfect cushion to his holdfast. It keeps the workpeice from getting dented, and also keeps the strop close at hand. That way, while he works, Bill can quickly touch…

In talking with woodworkers, it seems like many build at least one dining table during some point in their woodworking journey. However, the number of woodworkers that build the matching chairs seems relatively small. And I can understand that. You just completed a large project. The last thing you want to do is start four, six, or eight other, slightly smaller, more complex projects. MATT TO THE RESCUE. Luckily, woodworker and You-Tuber Matt Cremona has introduced a line of chair kits that allows you to assemble and finish chairs with little effort. I had heard a lot of hype around Matt’s kits, so I ordered a set of chairs to see what the fuss was about. As you can see in the lower left photo on the previous page, the kit comes…

When Bridge City Tool-works released the original Jointmaker Pro a number of years ago, people were skeptical. But, as the reviews started rolling in, most people stated that it was one of the single most accurate ways to make cuts in wood. As a hand tool nut (this is technically a hand tool, right?), I knew that this was a tool that I needed to try out, and see if it really was worth the price of admission. FAMILIAR FORM. As you can see in the photo above and on the next page, the Jointmaker Pro v2 (JMPv2) will look familiar. If you slap a round blade in there, along with a motor, you’d have a table saw. The sliding table on the JMPv2 looks very much like a cross cut…