WOOD Magazine December/January 2019-20

Over the past 20 years, Christmas-gift giving in our house has evolved from the toys and electronics of their youth to things our now-adult children can use for their own homes. As they get older and wiser, Colby and Katie also seem to appreciate more the work that goes into any handmade project, as well as the beauty of well-chosen materials. In their elementary-school years, I could have made for them the “Pegs and Jokers” game in this issue out of spray-painted pine and golf tees, and they would have enjoyed it. But with now grown-up tastes, I’m certain they would “oooh” and “aaah” over the curly maple figure in the game boards on page 52. Last Christmas, I made a set of these game boards for each of them, using…

C’mon! Everyone’s Doing It! You know what they say: Peer pressure makes diamonds. Or something like that. Anyway, tens of thousands of woodworkers can’t be wrong! Follow their lead and check out the most popular articles at woodmagazine.com. #1 Make Cabinets the Easy Way And the winner is…cabinetmaking. This article shrinks the intimidation factor of a large project down to piddling proportions. woodmagazine.com/easycabinets #2 Four Steps to a Perfect Poly Finish If you’re tired of sloppy results from the old slap-and-slather, this article shows you how to take your polyurethane finish to the next level. woodmagazine.com/perfectpoly #3 Eight Strong End-to-end Joints For every apprentice who’s been sent off to find the board stretcher. Show the foreman this article and tell him to Google it himself next time. woodmagazine.com/endtoend #4 Working With Natural-edge Slabs We show you how to pick…

Half-track Adds to a Full Set I have built all of the Mil-spec toys you guys have published over the years (woodmagazine.com/milspectoys), and my grandson loves them all. Inspired by those projects, I designed an M5 half-track and a 75mm tow-behind gun, shown above. Please keep up all the great projects. I have been a subscriber since the first issue and look forward to each and every new issue. —Harry Parfitt, Jr. Philadelphia What the “Next 35" List Missed I liked Dave Campbell’s wish list for future woodworkers (“The Next 35”) in issue 263 (October 2019). Please add to the list a dust collector that compresses dust into pellets or cakes to use in a furnace to heat my shop! Shouldn’t be hard to do, right? —Michael Gaule New Orleans I was amused by many of the items…

Q Infested Wood Really Bugs Me I recently noticed small mounds of wood dust surrounding surface holes in a pile of air-dried lumber, telltale signs that insects have staked their claim. What can I do to get rid of the bugs and salvage the wood? —Scott Hartung, Kennewick, Wash. A You have three options to put the kibosh on those invaders, Scott. If you do nothing, the bugs will continue to bore holes and leave debris for years to come. Option 1: Discard or burn the wood. That may seem like a waste, but after you consider the time/expense of the next two options, it might be your best choice. Just don’t bring the wood into your home, where the bugs could spread to your trim, cabinets, and furniture! Option 2: Kill the bugs with…

Safely Cut Small Pieces on Your Mitersaw Mitersaw hold-downs keep your hand well away from the blade while holding the workpiece rock-steady for smooth cuts. But for pieces too short to reach the hold-down, I came up with this simple jig for securing pieces as short as ½". Build your own using ¼" MDF for everything except the ¼" plywood back. Make the bottom piece wide enough that your saw never cuts completely through it. Note that smaller jig pieces which the workpiece rests against are sacrificial scraps that provide a zero-clearance base and fence. Hold the jig to the saw, using a clamp or the machine’s hold-down. You can purchase a hold-down for the workpiece from a number of sources. I purchased a mini version from Rockler (item 45692, rockler.com). —Fred Nowak, Liberty,…

Edge-banded plywood panels, biscuits, and a handful of pocket screws make these sturdy and attractive workstations easy to build. Both projects share similarly constructed, though differently sized, pedestals and tabletops. The sewing-station pedestals have drawers, while the cutting-table pedestals have shelves. And though the steps that follow apply to both projects and the pedestals share many of the same part letters, you’ll find separate materials lists because of the varying sizes for parts with the same letters. Should you wish to build only the cutting table, check out “Create the cutting table” on page 30 to learn how that project differs from the sewing station. Let’s Start With Two Pedestals for the Sewing Station 1 Cut the side, bottom, and back panels (A–C) to the lengths and ½" wider than listed [Sewing…