Table of contents for Winter 2014 in Woodworker's Journal

THE ROUTER MARKET IS FLOODED WITH PRODUCT OPTIONS THAT CAN CONFUSE A “NEWBIE.”FEELING LOST? HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR WHAT YOU REALLY NEED. If woodworking has a wonder tool, I’ll say it’s the router. Pages and pages of bit catalogs are dedicated to the many lovely coves, chamfers, ogees and other decorative shapes it can make with the right bits. Need to whip up a bunch of identical parts? A router can follow a template of nearly any shape using a piloted bit or a guide collar attached to the base. It can cut intricate recesses for inlay one day, then muscle through raised panels the next. Want to make dovetails, rabbets, mortises, box joints or dadoes? Here’s a tool that can produce them all. But, how in the world…

YOU CAN CUT MORTISES ACCURATELY WITH A TEMPLATE GUIDE, STRAIGHT BIT AND A SIMPLE SHOP-MADE JIG. There are many ways to make mortises — and just about as many tool options. A plunge router is one of the best choices, because you can accurately control the depth of cut, and the machine delivers clean and precise results. Here’s a simple, dedicated jig you can make quickly for cutting mortises of a specific dimension with your plunge router. Step 1 This mortising jig is dedicated to a specific-size mortise, so laying out your mortised workpiece is the first step in building the jig. Everything follows from the mortise proportions. Mark the length and width of your intended mortise with a square, and extend layout lines a short distance onto the adjacent…

THIS STUNNING HEIRLOOM PROJECT IS SURE TO GET RAVE REVIEWS FROM WOODWORKERS AND NON-WOODWORKERS ALIKE. In any woodworker’s short list of heirloom projects, a secretary desk ranks right up there with grandfather clocks, hope chests and cradles. I’ve been itching to build one for years, and this design, derived loosely from a Journal project featured way back in the 1980s, includes the classic features you’d expect: a flip-down lid with breadboard ends, divided upper case and graceful, tapered legs. For added flair, I built mine from some really striking pommelle sapele lumber, and I joined the desk case pieces with variable-spaced through dovetails. This definitely isn’t a oneweekend project, but it wasn’t too difficult to build — and you can space the dovetails conventionally if you prefer. Just make sure…

THIS LADDERBACK IS A CLASSIC PROJECT THAT WILL TEACH YOU SOME GREAT SKILLS AND GIVE YOU A PLACE TO PONDER THEM. The construction process that you choose as a builder is often constrained not only by the size of your workplace, but also by the tools that you have at your disposal. For this project, we decided to use a 14" band saw in place of a table saw, for those who may not own one yet. Even so, the critical path of woodworking remains the same: harvesting the stock, marking and making the joints and so on. To make this chair, we used solid cherry lumber surfaced to 13.4". There are no metal fasteners used here ... just dowel joints and a form of mortise-and-tenon joinery. The primary machining…

EVEN A COUPLE OF SHOP RATS CAN ENJOY THIS "GENTLEMAN’S GAME," AND HERE WE PROVIDE A CRIBBAGE BOARD PLAN WITH A WOODWORKING TWIST! During those long, cold winters I spent growing up along the shores of Lake Vermilion in the far north of Minnesota, one of the ways that we wiled away the long dark evenings was playing cribbage. Young or old, it made no difference. It is such a popular pastime "up North," that I would not be surprised if it was the primary way most of my friends learned to count and to add. (One of the ways you earn points in cribbage is by combining cards that add up to 15 or 31.) I can still hear someone counting out "that’s 15 for two and a pair…

EVERY BIT CHANGES A ROUTER INTO A DIFFERENT TOOL, MAKING IT THE MOST VERSATILE MACHINE IN TODAY’S SHOPS. HERE’S ONE WOODWORKER’S CHOICE OF 10 ESSENTIAL BITS. It’s a router bit jungle out there. The various profiles alone would account for several score, but considering that each router bit you’ll find comes in a range of diameters, lengths, angles and other variations, the number of available bits increases exponentially — there are literally hundreds. If your routing needs are decorative, you’ll find numerous bits that create attractive edge treatments, moldings, panels, fluting and millwork. Likewise, if you look at your router as an essential joinery tool, you’ll find bits for dovetails, dadoes, rabbets, locking miters, finger joints and more. And if you have some other way to use this tool, consistently…

OUR AUTHOR TAKES YOU STEP-BY-STEP THROUGH THE PROCESS OF ROUTING THROUGH AND HALF-BLIND DOVETAILS. Among the many different joint variations you can cut with your router, dovetails are certainly fair game. Cutting either half-blind or through dovetails will require a jig outfitted with a pair of rigid templates or a set of moveable guide fingers. There are dozens of these commercial jigs from which to choose. Some jigs will cut both styles of dovetails by switching from templates to guide fingers. Other jigs are dedicated to one style of dovetail only. Regardless, you can usually buy a variety of templates or guide fingers to cut dovetails of different sizes and spacings, to suit everything from small drawers and boxes to large chests. Dovetail jigs vary considerably in their features and…

THIS DOVETAILED PUZZLE BOX IS CHALLENGING TO MAKE AND FUN TO SOLVE! This small puzzle box doesn’t eat up a lot of material, it’s fun and a little challenging to make but won’t keep you in the shop for weeks, and it will appeal to anyone who tries to open it. It’s symmetrical, with interlocking dovetail slides and keys. The sides are alike, as are the ends and the top and bottom. Which is really the top? How do you get it open? The answer may not be immediately obvious. For now, don’t try to solve it. Think about getting it made. You’ll only need a couple feet of stock, depending on board width. So rummage through your stashes of scraps too good to toss. Joint and plane all the…

DOVETAIL KEYS ARE EASY TO MAKE WITH THIS SCRAP-MADE JIG. Dovetail keys add strength and beauty to an otherwise ordinary mitered corner. To make this handy jig, simply follow the three-step process shown at right. After the jig is constructed, determine where to set the fence on your router table in order to put the keyways exactly where you want them. But before you chuck your dovetail bit in the router, use a 1/4" straight bit to plow a groove in the jig (to remove waste material). Switch to your dovetail bit and remove the remaining material. Slide the jig along your router table fence to form perfect dovetail keyways. Form two identical rectangles from 1/2" plywood or MDF. The blanks must be perfectly square. Glue and clamp the blanks…

Q When I try to cut a mortise at 3/8" or 1/2" x 1/2" or more deep, I burn and ruin my bit. I have tried different speeds but no luck. I am using a Bosch router with a Kreg lift. What is my problem? I would appreciate any help that you can give me. A A bit dulls prematurely when it overheats, often because the cut is too heavy, the feed rate is too slow, or the bit "dwells" in an enclosed cut (like a mortise). Reducing the bit rpm is a good tactic, but it isn’t enough to offset a hesitant feed or a demanding cut. I’m inclined to think that doing the job on the router table is problematic. In my experience, you have to tip the…

ARE CLAMP-IN, TEMPLATE-STYLE JIGS THE ONLY WAY TO ROUT DOVETAILS? NO. HERE ARE FIVE UNIQUE ALTERNATIVES. Generally, there are two approaches to making dovetails: using hand tools or a “clamp-in” style template jig and a router. The second approach has plenty of fans, and there’s a glut of router jig systems available on the market. Personally, I’ve had my struggles with some of them (readjusting bit depth, tweaking template offsets and fiddling around until finally arriving at the right combination for a satisfactory joint). There are, however, other less typical styles of router dovetail jigs available. I’ve seen most of them demonstrated at trade shows. Watching someone who’s made hundreds of dovetails with their jig move effortlessly through the routine, though, isn’t the same as setting one of these units…

YOU DON’T NEED A DADO BLADE TO MAKE TONGUE-AND-GROOVE JOINTS... JUSTA ROUTER TABLE AND A FEW COMMON BITS. Tongue-and-groove (T&G) joints form sturdy, interlocking connections with lots of glue surface area for all sorts of woodworking applications: cabinet door joints, self-aligning shelf edging, web or face frames and even carcass assembly. There are DIY applications for this joint too, such as V-groove wainscot or wood flooring. Cutting the narrow centered groove and the corresponding tongue to fit into it doesn’t take a dado blade and table saw. You can do it all at the router table quite easily with three different cutter approaches. Here’s how. STRAIGHT BIT AND RABBETING BIT Step 1: Generally speaking, it’s easier to cut the groove of a T&G joint first, then mill the tongue to…

TALK ABOUT COOL — WHEN YOU PULL THE DRAWER OPEN ON THIS LITTLE BOX, THE TAMBOUR TOP ROLLS BACK — A DEFINITE ATTENTION-GETTER! This box has a little surprise that gives it “wow” factor: When you open the drawer, the top of the box retracts like a mini roll-top desk. The top is a tambour, with a series of narrow slats glued to a flexible canvas backing. The tambour slides in a curving track in the sides of the box. When you pull the drawer open, the tambour automatically opens, revealing a shelf inside. The box is sized to be useful as a jewelry box, a case for storing watches, sunglasses, etc., or as a desktop caddy to keep pens, erasers and other office supplies organized. Forming the Sides and…

THIS CLASSIC MAHOGANY AND BRASS TRAY AND FOLDING STAND WILL COME IN HANDY THE NEXT TIME GUESTS COME CALLING. I ast year, Rob Johnstone cut _ the tray portion of this project out on a CNC Shark machine. But, I don’t have that technology, so he asked me to build the same tray and a folding stand to go with it using standard woodworking machines. And, as you’ll see, that is quite easily done with several templates and a router table. The matching aspects, hinge mortises and many curves of this project are much easier to manage with guided router bits than lots of exacting band sawing and drum sanding. So, gather up some nice clear mahogany, and let’s get started. Making Wing Templates There are two approaches to creating…

ROUTING IS SUCH A WOODWORKING MAINSTAY THAT WE RECEIVE CLEVER TRICKS ABOUT IT EVERY YEAR FROM READERS. HERE ARE A FEW TO TRY. From Bullets to Bit Storage Plastic gun cartridge divider trays make excellent router bit holders. One reader uses them both to store his bits and to keep similar bit styles or sets together. He says .45 caliber holders are perfect for storing l/2"-shank bits; .38 caliber carriers are just right for 3/8" shanks, and either .17 or .22 caliber sizes work well for holding 1/4" bits. You can often find them free of charge at a gun club, gun supplies store or at a shooting range. Adjustable Router Trammel This adjustable trammel jig is simple to make from a couple lengths of 5/16"-diameter steel rod found at…