Table of contents for September-October 2013 in Woodworker's Journal

The Way to Woodwork MY PROJECT IS FINALLY DONE! OOPS ... NOW I HAVE TO PUT A FINISH ON IT. Woodworkers ask us more questions about finishing than any other topic, bar none. It’s clearly a subject that needs to be covered from start to, well ... finish. And the good news is that help is on the way —in the form of the latest offering in our The Way to Woodwork DVD series, which is called (appropriately enough) “Step-by-Step to a Perfect Finish.” This time out, we have teamed up with the nation’s foremost finishing expert, Michael Dresdner, and television’s favorite home-improvement expert, JoAnne Liebeler, to create a DVD that will ask and answer all of your most significant finishing questions —AND demonstrate how to get great results every…

What’s This? Steve Hodge of Indiahoma, Oklahoma, found this 13"-long tool in a barn. The blade is “butter knife sharp.” Do you know what it is? Send your answer to stumpers@woodworkersjournal.com or write to “Stumpers,” Woodworker’s Journal, 4365 Willow Drive, Medina, MN 55340 for a chance to win a prize! Regarding the mystery tool submitted by Brian Humbel of Frederick, Maryland, for our June issue, several readers, including Richard Gaudreau of Sanford, Maine, noted that it “has a striking resemblance to a pizza cutter.” Dennis DiRienzo of East Liverpool, Ohio, however, took this reasoning further: “Since your magazine is the Woodworker’s Journal and not the Food Eater’s Journal, I doubt that it is a pizza cutter.” Indeed, Steve Montgomery of Puyallup, Washington, noted, “It looks like a spline tool to…

Dan Martin’s shop has a place for everything —and for everybody. “We have had seven people in here working at a time. Everybody has his own spot he can work at,” Dan said. Those seven people would be members of the Woodworkers of Central Ohio (W.O.C.O.) club, based out of Westerville, Ohio (total membership: around 150). They make things like wooden toys, chair lifts for an arthritis foundation, and, each month, about 200 to 300 unpainted toy items for hospitalized children to paint. When the contingent working in Dan’s shop is ready to put things away, they encounter some other impressive numbers: 98 storage bins, 31 shelf areas and 38 drawers with full-extension drawer slides —all of them labeled. “I like that the drawers and everything are easily accessed,” Dan…

I needed a floor lamp for an old house in Nova Scotia —one that would not wobble on 100-year-old floors. The result is about as simple as you can get —three feet (to accommodate a floor that might be sagging from age) firmly attached to a hexagonal stem with 3/8" dowel pins. And while my lamp is truly simple in every regard, it is also attractive and very useful. Since it’s impractical to drill 48"-long holes, I made the stem in two halves, after cutting a shallow groove down the center of each piece. Ideally, if you have the stock on hand, you should cut a 2"-thick section in half, rout or saw the slot for the wiring, then glue it back together. This makes an almost invisible joint, and…

Bigger sounds good ... unless you have a small shop, in which case do you really need a bigger table saw or planer? A contractor’s or cabinet saw with a 10" blade can handle just about any wood slicing chore you’re apt to throw at it. Ah, but how many times have you had a board or panel that was wider than the capacity of your 12" or 13" portable benchtop planer? If this is a regular occurrence, you might be ready for an upgrade to a larger stationary planer in the 15" to 20" range. It’s true, these cast-iron behemoths are heavier and harder to move, take up more room and are more expensive than even the largest, priciest portable models. And stepping up into the big leagues isn’t…

I’ve often walked up to examine a finish that looked great, only to be dismayed when I ran my fingers over the surface. It simply didn’t feel as good as it looked. There is a solution to that, and it’s both easy and well worthwhile. Make rubbing out the finish your final step. If you regularly do high gloss finishes, you already understand this, but rubbing out a satin finish is just as important, and even more rewarding. That’s because a rubbed satin finish feels even better than a polished gloss one; it has a silky lubricity that adds immensely to the overall allure of a good finish. Before you ask, yes, you can even rub out a thin finish, like French polish or wipe-on polyurethane, but it’s a necessity,…

Feathering and Centering Socket-assisted Speed Clamping Tightening clamps doesn’t have to cause hand strain anymore. Just drill and tap the ends of your wood-handled bar clamps for 5/16" machine bolts and nuts. By adding a nut beneath the bolt head, you can increase the surface area, giving you better purchase with a socket. Now, you can clamp or unclamp with the aid of a drill/driver, socket adapter and socket. I suggest using #5 hardened nuts and bolts for longer life and some thread locker to hold them in alignment. Epoxy the hardware into the tapped holes, and you’re all set for quicker clamping that’s easier on your hands. Lou Kern Oakland, California Plug Fits Tape Side Up Here’s an annoyance about polarized tool plugs: it seems like about half the…

Milo, one of the woods often featured in the show, may be indigenous to Hawaii. It’s also called Pacific rosewood; the scientific name is Thespesia populnea. Island Woods Put on a Show Hawaii’s Woodshow™, sponsored by the Hawai’i Forest Industry Association, has as its goal showcasing Hawai’i-grown wood. Woods that may be featured in pieces submitted for the show include koa, mango, kamani, milo, Norfolk pine, macadamia nut, kiawe and more. Show rules prohibit using imported woods on a project —unless the application is traditional, such as spruce for a guitar top, or it’s used as accent or trim, in which case the imported wood must comprise no more than 10 percent of the piece. In the spirit of the show, the use of certain endangered Hawai’ igrown woods is…

I make a lot of reproductions of 19th-century items from the Civil War years, and if there’s any common thread in my research of originals it’s that most were items from civilian life that had been “drafted” into military use. This is especially true of good-looking, professionally made and mass-produced camp furniture. The Officer’s Camp Chair project from the August 2012 issue of Woodworker’s Journal is a good example, but literally speaking it wasn’t designed or manufactured specifically for camp use. It was among the many furniture items kept in the home for temporary use to accommodate guests or to take outdoors for picnics and other activities. Once the war broke out, though, military officers were quick to learn that these folding, easy-to-stow and -carry pieces of furniture were perfect…

Turning and sharpening go hand in hand. For most turners, that means frequent round trips from the lathe to the bench grinder and back again to touch up those ever-dulling edges —at least until recently. A little over a year ago, Teknatool turned the midi-lathe world on its ear when it unveiled the NOVA™ Comet II Midi. It’s the first small lathe with a spindle that accepts a grinder attachment. Their reason was simple: put sharpening convenience closer than ever before, right where the action is —on the lathe. Brilliant! In case you’re unfamiliar with this newish model (retail price of about $529.99), it comes well-equipped. The Comet II sports a cast-iron headstock, bed and tailstock for rugged durability and vibration dampening. It offers enough capacity over bed for turning…

Contact Information DeWALT 800-433-9258 Dremel 800-437-3635 General International 888-949-1161 IRWIN 800-464-7946 Kreg 800-447-8638 Laguna 800-234-1976 Rockler 800-279-4441 UGL 800-845-5227 The Dremel® Moto-Saw™ converts from a stationary scroll saw to a handheld portable coping saw with the touch of a button. A clamp base attaches tables, benches and surfaces of various size. The saw weighs 2.4 pounds, with an extra-long, 9-foot cord for easy mobility. An included dust port adapter attaches most household vacuum cleaners to the Moto-Saw, to maintain a workspace with a clean line of sight. The quiet, high-speed motor has variable speed, ranging from 1,500 to 2,250 strokes per minute. Included in the kit are four different saw blades, which will cut wood, laminate, plastic and thin metal. A storage case is also included. The Dremel Moto-Saw kit…

THIS ISSUE’S EXPERTS Sandor Nagyszalanczy is a writer/photographer of several woodworking books and a frequent contributor to Woodworker’s Journal. Richard Schubert is a reader from Walnut Creek, Ohio. Ernie Conover is the woodturning columnist for Woodworker’s Journal and author of The Lathe Book. Q I have a benchtop table saw and have always cut on the right side of the fence (i.e., the opposite side of how I see other users depicted in photos, etc.). I am right-handed, so it seems natural to cut this way, and I theorize it is safer should the cutoff or the workpiece itself be thrown back at me as less of my body is “in the line of fire.” Am I missing something? David Long Lexington, Kentucky A Far be it from me to…

A frequent series of questions at the end of any of my classes or lectures concerns setting up a turning shop. Turning is a special branch of the woodworking tree, which requires unique skills and equipment. With that in mind, here are some thoughts (and a quick outline) dealing with what a person needs in terms of the space and tools to become an effective turner. Space and Tools Needed Not a lot of space is needed for a turning shop. As little as 8’ by 8’ will do. Into this 64 square feet you need to fit the basic essentials of a lathe, grinder and buffer —the latter being to sharpen your tools. I do not want to get into what lathe you should buy, because that is a…

A first reaction to using stairway balusters as furniture legs is probably surprise, but there’s really nothing incorrect about doing so if you’re concerned about being true to 19th-century designs. Lathe-turned table legs and stairway balusters are, except for length, nearly identical in most cases. But what about style? Well, as long as you don’t use balusters in a style that’s obviously more modern - like Mission or Contemporary ¨C it’s not an issue. The manufacturer calls the style of the balusters I chose for this project “Biltmore,” but after speaking with them I learned the name has nothing to do with the famous Biltmore Estate in North Carolina (built in 1895), nor is the baluster a re-creation of anything from the estate. (Find purchasing information below.) If these legs…

Most woodworkers use carbon steel saw blades on their band saws. They come in a wide range of widths, tooth configurations and even quality. Carbon steel blades are not excessively expensive, especially in the 931/2" and 105" sizes that fit the ubiquitous 14" band saws that have become a true shop favorite over the years. On the other hand, carbide-tipped band saw blades are not common. This, despite the fact that they have been on the market for a number of years now. I wanted to know why this is the case, and why they have not taken over the category as happened in the realm of circular saw blades. Ask the Experts Even though I have been woodworking for decades, I had never personally used a carbide band saw…

If you appreciated the style of our first Small Shop Journal project this year —an Arts & Crafts Bookcase that appeared in the January issue —then you’re going to like this Veneer Paneled Blanket Chest. It would be an ideal companion piece for that bookcase. But there’s even more to love here if you’re ready to learn a new technique or you enjoy dabbling with the latest hardware. This chest gives you a chance to tackle iron-applied veneering and create a hidden lower drawer that opens and closes automatically with some nifty undermount slides. Sound like fun? Then let’s make some sawdust! Veneering Made Easy with Roller and Iron Veneering has the reputation of being difficult to learn, and requiring a bulky veneer press, lots of clamps or an expensive…