Woodworker's Journal August 2021

Rockler Woodworking and Hardware, in conjunction with Woodworker’s Journal, have come up with a way to make building projects easier. For a couple of years now, Rockler has been selling Adirondack and other outdoor furniture plans that include cardboard templates to help make the shaped parts. Builders can use the cardboard templates to create their own MDF or plywood templates or just use the cardboard to trace the needed part shapes. Now Rockler has started to create plans with templates for fine furniture, like the table and chairs shown here. The plans and the templates are sold together. And coming soon, perhaps in the fall, you’ll have the option of ordering these templated plans with the templates custom-made of MDF. It’s another real solution to a real woodworking problem from…

“Weekly” Readers Share Their Latest Projects To help celebrate “National Woodworking Month” last April, Rob Johnstone asked Woodworker’s Journal’s Weekly online newsletter readers to share photos of their recent projects. Nearly 70 of them did. In case you missed the fun, pages 9 through 11 of this issue showcase a sampling of our favorites from that contest. Space doesn’t allow for use to share every entry in print, unfortunately, but you can see them by visiting woodworkersjournal.com and doing a search for “National Woodworking Month projects.” You’ll find a wide range of furniture, cabinetry, miniatures, knickknacks, turned offerings and much more. Thanks to all who shared their fine projects and descriptions! We enjoyed seeing them all.…

BUILDING ON SATISFACTION On occasion, I am reminded that to some folks, the projects we create are objects of wonder. There are people for whom cutting a piece of wood and gluing it together to make something is as out of reach as me dancing in a ballet. (Me in tights is just not going to happen, and everyone is better for it.) Recently I was considering how best to advise someone to get started in woodworking. My goal was to make a project that required a few pieces of dimension lumber from Rockler, a handsaw, a drill/driver and a couple of clamps. The simple little tray project I devised was practical, attractive and super easy to make. I am convinced that almost anyone could build it. But the knowledge required to…

There’s more online at woodworkersjournal.com Check online for more content covering the articles below: Shop Talk (page 16): In-depth report discusses current lumber shortage (PDF) Woodturning (page 18): Ernie Conover turns a tray from board lumber (video) Cloud Lift Chair (page 24): Chris Marshall builds a chair from start to finish (video) Turned Lamp (page 38): Rob Johnstone demonstrates turning a box elder lamp body and wiring it (video) Steam Bent Coat Hooks (page 46): Steam bending primer (video); downloadable coat hook drawing (PDF) What’s in Store (page 62): Featured tools in action (videos) Machining wood creates copious dust, and there’s no way around that fact. How woodworkers deal with wood dust varies significantly. How important do you think dust control is in a woodworking shop? Very important 75.51% Somewhat important 21.47% Not too important 0.9% Not at all important 0.13% What type of…

Perhaps Sanjay Savla is pulling our leg when he guesses that Gary Sima’s April mystery tool is an early “rotary hammer drill.” But for 166 others of you, however, the purpose of this tool is crystal clear, and Elmer W. Palmer of Lolo, Montana, sums it up: It’s a valve seat lapping tool for early automobile valve seats that were built into the engine block or head.” Art Thell, hailing from St. Paul, Minnesota, adds that the angled valve seats became deformed or “burned” through hours of running an engine, “after which they would not seat properly, resulting in blow-by. One would then have to go in for a valve job.” Jeffrey W. Gehm, a retired technical education teacher in Syracuse, New York, says the old flathead or L-head straight six-…

Golf Tee Inlet Plugs The little rubber or plastic caps that cover the air inlet holes on nail guns are easy to lose. It’s important to keep these airways clean, so here’s an economical solution I’ve used for years when the caps go missing: golf tees. Just push the tee in until its tapered head seats in the hole. It will keep dust out of the airway and prolong the life of the nailer’s inner seals. Will Foster Galena, Ohio Tie-downs to the Rescue Recently I built the English Garden Bench featured in the June 2020 issue. I didn’t have long pipe clamps shown in the above photo for pulling the joints closed while the glue dried, so I used a couple of ratcheting strap tie-downs I had on hand instead. They prevented me from…