WOOD Magazine March 2021

My shop-organization philosophy might be best described as “a place for everything, and everything in its place. Eventually.” When I’m in the middle of a project, I tend to just set things down and put them away later. Following a glue-up, it’s not unusual for a cavalcade of clamps to cascade off the bench. (Can someone please come up with clamps that stack nicely?) To make matters worse, I often have two or three unrelated projects going at one time, reducing my available workbench surface to about nil. When that happens, I have to break down and put everything away, whether I’m done with the project or not. The fresh start feels pretty good, actually. One of the things that often disappeared on my benchtop was the remote control for my dust…

HACK PREVENTION Does dust collection make you think of a more phlegmy type of hacking than we discuss in the Dust-collection Hacks article on page 28? This is no time to blow off respiratory issues. So, we’re upping your dust-collection dosage. COUGH SUPPRESSANT Two things Aunt Lucille always said: “Finish your Jell-O salad” and “Cover your mouth when you cough!” Well, we say cover your mouth so you won’t cough. With a respirator, not Jell-O salad. Yuck. woodmagazine.com/jellosalad VICTORY VIA VELOCITY “The secret is velocity and airflow,” was the motto of all-county, long-distance loogie champion and all-American girl, Sarah Ruth. Mind her example to keep your air and mucous membranes blue-ribbon clear with a shop-wide dust-collection strategy. woodmagazine.com/blueribbon BOOGER BUSTERS “Easier getting them in than getting them out,” Pepaw mused around a hankie-wrapped finger. But these HEPA-rated,…

Many Like Jenny Kudos to Jenny Boles (left) for her Scrollsawing Tips and Tricks in issue 271 (November 2020). I have been using a scrollsaw for 20 years and would like to add a couple to her excellent tips. First, scrollsaws generate a lot of dust and can be noisy, so don’t forget your PPE—a dust mask at least, and in some cases hearing protection. Also, spray adhesive can cause patterns to tear or shred; a layer of packing tape on top of the pattern keeps it intact. After removing the pattern, use mineral spirits to clean any adhesive residue off the workpiece. —Don Bruce Suffern, N.Y. I don’t normally write letters to magazines, but just had to thank you for featuring a woman woodworker on the cover of issue 271! As an older woman…

Make your own zero-clearance inserts. woodmagazine.com/zcvideo Q Adding a riving knife to a zero-clearance insert I just got a new tablesaw wth a riving knife, and I need to make some new zero-clearance inserts for it. But this is my first saw with a riving knife, and I don’t know how to allow for that when making the inserts. —Gary Rowe, Woodland Hills, Calif. A A zero-clearance insert is a must-have accessory for making splinter-free cuts on the tablesaw, Gary. Creating the opening for the blade is pretty straightforward. But making the opening for a riving knife is a little more involved. Start by creating the zero-clearance slot for the blade. Lower the blade below the tablesaw top and fit the uncut insert into the opening. (If your blade doesn’t drop low enough to clear…

Four Ways to Clamp on the Curves I build a lot of pieces using live-edge slabs. When joining two pieces to make a wide panel, I orient the live edges to the outside. But this presents a clamping problem during glue-up. There’s no flat surface to apply clamps and I don’t want to damage the fragile edges. So I turn to one of these four solutions to guarantee adequate clamping pressure across the glue joint. The first method, securing clamping blocks near the outer edges of the slabs, leaves no marks. You can clamp the blocks in place as shown. Just make sure the blocks are parallel to one another to prevent the clamps from slipping. For thick slabs where the undersides will be hidden, I use countertop connectors, available at any home…

Standing just 8" proud of the wall, this low-profile cabinet shines light on your treasured collectibles. Battery-powered LEDs make light work of installing illumination, and glass shelves let every item inside bask in the glow. Prepare the Carcase Parts 1 Cut to size the cabinet sides, dividers, top, and bottom (A–D) [Materials List]. From this stock, set aside a scrap piece for use in setting up joinery later. 2 Finish-sand the inside faces of the top and bottom, then lay out the locations of the stopped dovetail slots [Drawings 1, 2]. Build a tablesaw saddle jig to safely support tall workpieces while cutting bevels. woodmagazine.com/ripfencesaddleWatch a video that shows four easy ways to drill shelf-pin holes. woodmagazine.com/shelfpinholes 3 Build the dovetail slot jig [Drawing 3]. Place the jig over the bottom (D), centered on the…