WOOD Magazine December/January 2020-21

Once again, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, when we gather with family and friends to reflect on the past year and look with hope to the new one. Even media outlets get into the game with their year-end reviews and new-year previews. (Shameless plug: Check out our 2021 Innovate Awards on page 46.) Any look back on the dumpster-fire year of 2020 will undoubtedly focus on the negatives. And there’s a cornucopia of crap to spotlight. But—for whatever reason—I’m a glue-bottle-is-half-full kind of guy, believing there are always good stories in the midst of all the bad. For example, about a month after the pandemic hit, we saw a spike in views on our YouTube channel at the time of year when views generally trend downward, as woodworkers transition…

GO BIG OR GO HOME! Did the dovetail-jig workstation on page 58 whet your appetite for more? Well, More is our middle name. That’s right: WOOD More Magazine. It’s an old family name. Only our mom actually calls us that. Usually when she’s angry. MORE DOVETAIL JIGS We review seven—count them, seven!—dovetail jigs at once. Read about our picks before you slap one on your new workstation. woodmagazine.com/moredovetails DOUBLE DOWN ON THE DOVETAILS Two sets of dovetails in the space of one? Double the dovetails; double the fun. woodmagazine.com/doubledovetails BIGGER IS BETTER Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Here’s a technique that eliminates the panel-size limits of your dovetail jig. woodmagazine.com/biggerisbetter GET ’ER DONE FASTER We’re not talking 30-minute dovetails or even 15-minute dovetails. We’re talking about using your dovetail template to plow through a whole set of dovetails…

LVL up to Keep the Lathe-stand Cost Down You built the Rock-solid Lathe Stand in issue 270 (October 2020) from an expensive engineered-wood product called BauBuche. In your defense, you suggested laminating Baltic-birch plywood as an affordable alternative, but there’s another engineered-wood option: laminated-veneer lumber (LVL) beams. Although not as attractive as your options, LVL is cheaper and widely available at lumberyards and home centers. If transport is a problem—the beams can be lengthy—take a battery-powered saw along and cut it to more manageable lengths in the parking lot. —Dan Friderici Bath, Mich. You’ll also notice that the orientation of the plies is different in LVL and BauBuche, Dan, as shown above. So, LVL looks more like plywood, with its plies visible on the ends and edges, where the plies in BauBuche show on its…

Q Creating a four-corner grain match I’ve seen mitered boxes where the grain figure wraps around all four corners of the box, but I’ve never understood how this is done. Can you tell me the secret? —Robert Cook, Thetford, N.H. A Four-corner grain matching (sometimes called continuous grain matching) is one of those techniques that can make you scratch your head, Robert—until that aha! moment when you discover how it’s done. The trick is to resaw a thick blank into two identical, thinner boards. The resawn faces become the outside faces of your box. By removing a minimum of material when miter-cutting the blanks, you preserve the grain wrap around each corner. Watch a video on how to resaw lumber.woodmagazine.com/resaw Start with a blank at least ⅛" thicker than twice the thickness of the finished…

Get Stuck on This Portable Tape Caddy I use a lot of different kinds of tape in my shop, and this handy caddy keeps my tape rolls in one place. The dividers are removable to make it easy to install a new roll. The handle makes the caddy portable, so I can keep it near my work area. I made the tape caddy out of ½" Baltic-birch plywood with ¼"-thick MDF removable tape holders, each with a 3" disc that fits inside the tape roll. Most of the tape I use is 0.93" wide, so I spaced the dadoes 1¼" center-to-center, which also allows for 2" and wider rolls. I attached the tear strip from an empty parchment-paper dispenser, using double-faced tape for easier replacement if the tear strip wears out. —Dennis Volz,…

See a video of the settee being built.woodmagazine.com/setteebuild Bent-laminated arms plus traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery put this Stickley-style mission settee into the first rank of handcrafted furniture. Wood grain represents a key element of the Arts & Crafts look, so select lumber carefully. (We chose quartersawn oak, but cherry also works well.) Lay out parts with an eye toward grain display as well as uniformity of color. Watch a video about attractive grain display.woodmagazine.com/woodgrain Make the Front Legs First 1 Cut the leg staves (A) ¼" wider and 1" longer than shown [Drawing 1, Materials List]. Bevel-rip one edge of each stave to 45°. Then, set the fence to bevel-rip the other edge of each stave to width [Skill Builder]. SKILL BUILDER Finesse the Fence Position Before sawing your carefully selected project stock, bevel-rip one edge of a ¾×2½×12"…