Determining Screw Sizes

Inserting Screws

When designing a woodworking project, I've occasionally been asked, "How do you determine the size and length of screw to be used on the project?"

The answer isn't really cut and dried, but I do follow a few guidelines. The idea is to use screws that are long enough and stout enough to hold the two boards together securely, without being so large that it splits the stock receiving the screw, or so long that the tip of the screw pokes through the backside.

Second, the fasteners need to have enough thread into the receiving stock to hold fast. The length of the thread that is inserted into the receiving board is really dependent on what forces will be applied to the boards in question when in use. If the forces will apply lateral pressure, consider using a thicker screw than you might otherwise choose. However, if the forces will want to cause the boards to separate, be sure that ample screw threads are inserted into the receiving board.

In the latter case, I always to try to get at least 1 to 1-1/2 inches of thread into the receiving board. This assumes, of course, that this length of screw won't poke through the opposite side of the board. In the event that you need shorter screws to prevent this problem, you'll need to supplement with an increased quantity of screws.

Additionally, the number and length of screws that are used will depend on the grain orientation of the receiving board. As a general rule, screws needed for attaching two boards across the grain will not need to be as long as when screws are inserted into end grain. When screwing into end grain, I try to get at least two inches of thread into the board.

As a general rule, I tend to use #8 diameter deck-type screws for most tasks. I'll have 1-1/4" screws for basic tasks where strength isn't a huge issue or when attaching two 3/4" thick boards across the grain. I also like to keep some 2-1/2" deck screws for screwing into end grain, plus some beefy 3" screws for attaching two-by stock into end-grained boards, or when a little extra added oomph is needed. Finally, if there will be a lot of sheer strength needed, I may opt for some 1/4" diameter lag screws.

Here's a reference that, while a bit complicated, is useful for determining what size screws should be used. The American Wood Council has posted a Connection Calculator that can be used to determine the connection capacity of certain types of fasteners when used in specific connection types with specific members.

TIP: No matter whether I'm inserting screws into end grain or cross-grained boards, I always try to pre-drill the holes with a special bit that drills a small hole the length of the screw thread as well as a counter-sink that will allow the head to be sunk flush with the surface.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Routers

In this sponsored video from IWF 2008, Craftsman Gallery makes chips fly with the Router Boss. See how, with the adjustment of a single dial, you can make dovetails as tight or loose as you want them.

Router Boss is an exciting and powerful new woodworking platform. It is affordable, yet capable of handling virtually any woodworking joint. Whether you are a woodworking hobbyist or depend upon woodworking for a living, the Router Boss will not disappoint.

One tool, any wood joint. A router is the perfect tool for joinery and it has spurred development of an array of commercially made router joinery jigs and machines for dovetails, mortises, tenons, grooves, laps, box joints, etc. None offer you the flexibility, simple elegance and creative control of a Router Boss. Most router jigs control the cut through templates, fingers and guide bushings that limit the joints you can do, the bits you can use and size of the joint. With Router Boss you work in a creative way that offers control
without being constrained by the tooling. You are not limited in what you can do or the joints you can make.

Router Boss is a complete machine. To get most joinery done you need only a Router Boss, plunge router and bits. We recommend DeWalt 625 if you are buying a new router. For convenience and safety, equip your router with our new XL quick change chuck . Router bits with long shanks, such as our Craftsman Gallery bits , are best with Router Boss.

Our accessories enhance and extend Router Boss capabilities and make woodworking more enjoyable. They provide additional features and work holding capabilities that can save you time and effort. Click on accessories link to view what we offer and select those that meet your needs.

 

Our electronic digital scales provide exact positioning in cutting dovetails, box joint...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Bathroom Vanity Cabinet

Bathroom Vanity Cabinet

One way to improve the look and functionality of a bathroom is with a well-built, attractive bathroom vanity cabinet. While bathroom vanity cabinets can be relatively expensive to buy, they're not at all difficult to build.

In this set of free woodworking plans, we take you step-by-step through the process of building a 36" wide, 24" deep and 32" tall bathroom vanity cabinet. This set of plans covers much of the basics of cabinet building. Once you understand the basics of cabinetry, you'll be able to make many different types of cabinets.

While this may be a bit larger than the average bathroom vanity cabinet, with a large open compartment with two doors above a deep drawer, it can be easily modified to accommodate pretty much any size of bathroom vanity countertop. The doors and drawer front are quite simple, but one could easily add a raised panel drawer front and doors to accentuate the cabinet.

Difficulty Level
Woodworking: ModerateFinishing: Stain and Polyurethane or Paint
Time to Complete
8 Hours
Recommended Tools
Miter Saw or Circular SawTable Saw or Radial Arm Saw with Dado SetRouter with Ogee Bit (or other profile) and Router TableBiscuit Joiner and #10 BiscuitsLarge Clamps
Materials Needed 1 Sheet 3/4" Sanded Birch or Pine Plywood1/4 Sheet 1/2" Sanded Birch or Pine Plywood10' of 1x4 - Pine or Poplar (or optional hardwood)8' of 1x4 - Pine or Poplar (or optional hardwood)10' of 1x6 - Pine or Poplar (or optional hardwood)16' of 1x8 - Pine or Poplar (or optional hardwood)2 - European-style Cabinet Hinges1 - 25' Roll of Adhesive Edging2 - 20" or 22" Drawer Slides3 - Door/Drawer HandlesTape MeasurePencilWoodworker's GlueFinish nailsStain or Paint of color of choicePolyurethane (if stained only)Sandpaper

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Carving

October 03, 2008
by  Glen D. HueyStudy the furniture built prior to the Queen Anne period and you’ll find surface ornamentation is primarily accomplished with mouldings and/or paint. While there are a few examples of carvings on earlier work, it wasn’t until the first third of the 18th century that furniture makers included decorative features on their work such as shells and fans.

Wallace Nutting, in “Furniture Treasury Vol. III” (Macmillan Publishing Co.), separates shells from fans by calling them, “those cheaper modifications which more properly are denominated fans.” From a carving perspective, he was correct – shells are more difficult to produce. But from a purely aesthetic point of view, I think fans, when carved well, rival any shell design in beauty.

As the popularity of fan carvings grew during the 1700s, each region of furniture manufacture developed its own style. Today, we evaluate the carved fan to help identify in which region a piece of furniture was built.

This design was developed from a number of New England pieces, and I have infused my own ideas as well.

As an introduction to fan carving, you might expect a flat design. However, creating an undulating design, a serpentine or an S-shaped surface, involves  only a couple additional steps during the carving process. And the results are worth the extra effort.

Accurate Layout, Better Results
I imagine there are woodworkers who carve exceptionally well who could position themselves in front of a blank of wood and freehand carve a masterpiece fan. I cannot.

The first step in fan layout is placement. This fan is carved into a drawer front. The carving is placed 11/4" above the bottom edge of the drawer front to gain additional shadow lines as the design rolls into the drawer divider below. Mark this distance up from the bottom edge, then use a straightedge and pencil to draw the baseline.
Most fans on period furniture are symmetrical designs. Mark the middle of the drawer front on the previously marked baseline. Use a square to extend a vertical line up the face of the front. The intersection of the two lines is important; a circle and a half circle are drawn from this point. The circle, from which the rays travel outward to the fan’s edge, has a 11/2" diameter, which is a 3/4" radius. Use a compass to complete the full circle.

The size of the circle influences the width of the rays at their smallest or narrowest section. If the circle shrinks in size, the width of the rays at the circle becomes too narrow to carve or distinguish. Your first instinct might be to increase the size of the inner circle, but I must caution you that you need to keep the ratio of the circle and the fan size in mind. Proportions are easy to lose if you’re not careful, and then the carving won’t look pleasing to th...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Particle Board

Take a walk through most furniture stores today and you'll see truckloads of beautifully finished hardwood furniture. Cherry, oak, maple and many other varieties of stock. However, if you take a closer look at any of these pieces, you may notice that it likely isn't made from hardwood at all. Instead, the piece is most likely made from veneered particle board.

Why would furniture companies use a manufactured wood product simulated to look like hardwoods?

Does this mean that you should avoid using particle board in your woodworking projects?

Absolutely not.

As with all manufactured wood products, there is a proper time and place for using particle board products. For instance, white, melamine covered particle board is well-equipped for use in interior tasks such as building closet shelves. The melamine is clean and doesn't require painting, and if affixed properly, will be stable and strong for a long time. I have used melamine coated particle board for numerous shop projects, and it holds up quite well.

Are there any special steps that are required when using particle board?

For starters, a regular screw or nail that is driven directly into particle board will not hold very well. For connecting two pieces of particle board, use adhesives and specially-designed screws for holding particle board.

Second, the veneer or melamine covering on the particle board can chip when cutting with a circular saw. To combat this chipping, try scoring the particle board with a utility knife along the cut line. You might also try covering the cut line with masking tape before making the cut.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Coffee Tables

Most coffee tables are ill-equipped to handle the stresses of modern-day life. Company is coming, and your living room is strewn with books, woodworking catalogs and your spouse’s catalogs. Most coffee tables offer you only a puny shelf to help you tidy up in a hurry. This coffee table does double-duty by giving you a shelf for books and two drawers that are big enough to handle all but the biggest magazines and catalogs. And oh yes, you can serve coffee on it, too.

Construction is simple but sturdy. You build the bottom case that holds the drawers out of plywood and biscuits. Then you screw the solid maple legs onto the case and cover all the plywood edges with moulding and veneer tape. Finally, you screw the top to the legs using figure-eight fasteners and build some quick drawers. And this project won’t cost you a heck of a lot, either. You need about one-third of a sheet of maple plywood (birch will do just fine, too), about four board feet of 8/4 maple and about 10 board feet of 5/4 maple. You’ll also need a little Baltic birch ply and a small amount of 1/4" ply for the drawer bottoms.

Start at the Top
When you’re at the lumberyard, be sure to pick through the racks of soft maple for this project. Soft maple (Acer rubrum) is a little cheaper than hard maple (Acer saccharum) and is more likely to have some curl or other figure. After you plane your maple down to 1" thickness, get ready to glue up your top. I like to cut a few biscuit slots in the mating edges of the top pieces. This doesn’t add to the strength of this long-grain joint, but it sure helps keep your boards in line when gluing up your panels. Clamp up your top and set it aside for the glue to dry.

Simple and Sweet Lower Case

The case that holds the drawers goes together really fast. Cut out the parts you need according to the Schedule of Materials. Then cut the biscuit slots to attach the sides, back and divider between the top and bottom pieces. Take some care when locating the center divider to save yourself a headache when making the drawers. See the step photo on the right for the trick to cutting biscuit slots in the middle of a panel.

Now put glue and biscuits in all the biscuit slots and clamp up the lower case. When the glue is dry, sand the case to 150 grit and turn your attention to the legs. To make attaching the legs to the case easier, go ahead and cut some clearance holes in the case’s sides where the case will be joined to the back legs. This is easier to do from the outside before the legs go on.

Eight Screws and You’ve Got a Table

Here’s how to attach the legs: Mark on the leg where the case should meet the leg. Clamp the leg into place on the lower case and then drill pilot holes and clearance holes for #8 screws (I used a bit that drills both holes simultaneously). The holes s...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Portable Shop Table

If you're like me, you probably can never have enough table or bench top space. My problem is, I don't have a large enough shop for a woodworking table in addition to my workbench, so I need to move machines around in order to work comfortably.

To solve the problem, I built a portable woodworking table. This lightweight table has a 4-foot by 8-foot table top and casters that can be employed when the table needs to be moved, but raised up to allow the table legs to sit securely on the floor. In this manner, the table won't move when you need to work, but can be easily rolled to any spot in the shop. Matter of fact, when the weather's nice, I like to roll mine out the door and work outside.

This is loosely based on a table created by Norm Abram on the New Yankee Workshop, but with some basic improvements. A color-coded CAD drawing accompanies each step, so you can see the details on how to make this useful woodworking project.

Difficulty Level
Woodworking: EasyFinishing: Paint or stain optional
Time to Complete
3-4 Hours
Tools Required
Miter Saw or Circular SawCordless or Corded Power DrillLayout SquareMaterials Needed Ten (10) 2x4 8-feet longFour (4) 1x6 8-feet longOne (1) 4x8 Sheet 1/2-inch CDX PlywoodOne (1) 4x8 Sheet 1/4-inch MasoniteFour (4) 3-inch Spring Door HingesFour (4) 3-inch Door HingesFour (4) 3-inch CastersFour (4) 1-inch closed Eye Hooks (screw-type) Two (2) 6-foot lengths of small nylon rope 2-1/2 inch and 1-1/2 inch Deck ScrewsGlue

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Sideboards

February 01, 2003
by  Warren A. May

It’s unlikely you’ll find the “Kentucky Style” listed in any furniture-design textbook, but it’s real. I’ve spent the last 15 years tracking down examples of this 18th- and 19th-century furniture style to study and incorporate elements of it into my own furniture pieces.

Kentucky furniture is less ornate than the pieces produced in the cities of its day, and this befits its frontier heritage. One of the things that sets Kentucky furniture off from other vernacular forms is the inlay that adorns the drawers and legs. While I’ve seen some examples of the Kentucky style with complex inlay designs, most times the inlay is simple and understated.

The furniture itself is usually made using walnut or cherry, two woods that are common in most parts of the Bluegrass state.

I’ve been building the sideboard design shown here for a number of years, and it has been received enthusiastically by my customers – no matter which side of the Mason-Dixon line they’re from. A three-drawer version also is popular, and it is an easy change should you prefer that arrangement.

This sideboard is built using straightforward joinery and requires only 2"-square material for the legs. In deciding which inlay design to use, I pay careful attention to the wood grain, looking for the perfect flow of grain and contour. Just as with the authentic pieces of Kentucky-style furniture built in the 1700s and 1800s, I let hand-carved knobs and inlaid diamond escutcheons add a special flair.

Begin Construction
If you’re interested in making your own version of this piece, I encourage you to try the inlay details. But if the sideboard itself is what you’re after, I’ve offered the article in two sections. The main article shows you how to make the case, while the side-story explains the inlay work.

Start building the case by first marking the legs for the mortise-and-tenon joints in the face frame. These are the only mortise-and-tenon joints in the piece. The back and sides are held in place on the legs using biscuits.

To mark the mortise and tenon locations, measure down 2" from the top of each leg and mark for the top rail. Then measure another 7" down to define the drawer space and the location of the top of the lower rail. Go ahead and measure another 2-1/2" and 4-1/4" from the drawer space. The 2-1/2" mark is the bottom edge of the mortise, while the 4-1/2" mark defines the starting point of the leg taper where it meets the lower rail. See the illustration for details. The legs themselves taper on the two inside faces to 1" square at the foot. You should cut the taper prior to assembly using either a band saw or table saw.

The mortises are 3/8" x 1-1/2" long x 1/2" deep and positioned so the front frame pieces are flush to the front of the legs. Whe...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Butt Joint

Butt Joints are the most basic method for connecting two pieces of wood, and while it isn't the strongest of joints, it is very useful in some situations. You can learn how to make a butt joint by using proper technique to ensure that your butt joints are as strong as possible.

As shown in the picture, a butt joint is where one piece of stock is butted against another and affixed with glue. The joint is usually strengthened by screws or nails.

The strength of a butt joint comes from the glue in the joint. However, there are two problems with using glue as the only means of holding the connection.

First, when glue is applied to the end grain of a board, it tends to soak into the stock far more than glue applied to the side of the grain. The end grain is the most porous part of the wood, so you may need to apply a bit more glue than normal.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Workbenches

I’ve hauled my grandfather’s workbench across snow-covered Appalachian mountains, down narrow stairwells and into a dirt-floored garage that should have been torn down during the Eisenhower administration. I’ve built a lot of good stuff on that bench, but now it’s time to retire the old horse. For starters, the bench is too low for the way I work. And the top is pockmarked with three different shapes and sizes of dog holes. And during the last few years I’ve become fed up with the tool tray. The only thing it seems designed to hold is enough sawdust for a family of gerbils. So I need a new bench, but there’s no way I’m going to spend $1,200 to $1,400 for a high-quality bench from Hoffman & Hammer or Ulmia.

Enter Bob Key from Georgia. He and his son have been building benches using off-the-rack pine for a few years and have even built a website showing how quick and easy this is to do. I was impressed with their idea. So I spent a week reading every book on benches I could find. I pored over the woodworking catalogs. And after a lot of figuring I came up with a simple plan: Build a bench for less than $175.

Believe it or not, I came in 92 cents under budget and ended up with a bench that is tough, sturdy and darn versatile. I made a few compromises when choosing the hardware to keep the cost down, but I designed the bench so that it can later be upgraded with a nice tail vise. However, I made no compromises in the construction of the top or base. You can dance on this bench.

Let’s Go Shopping

OK friends, it’s time to make your shopping list. First a word about the wood. I priced my lumber from a local Lowe’s. It was tagged as Southern yellow pine, appearance-grade. Unlike a lot of dimensional stock, this stuff is pretty dry and knot-free. Even so, take your time and pick through the store’s pile of 12-foot-long 2 x 8s with care to get the best ones possible. You can hide a few tight knots in the top, but with luck you won’t have to.

Here’s the story on the hardware. The bolts, nuts and washers are used to connect the front rails to the two ends of the bench. Using this hardware, we’ll borrow a technique used by bed makers to build a joint that is stronger than any mortise and tenon. The Bench Dog and Wonder Dog will keep you from having to buy an expensive tail vise. Using these two simple pieces of hardware, you can clamp almost anything to your bench for planing, sanding and chopping. The traditional face vise goes on the front of your bench and is useful for joinery and opening cans of peanut butter.

Preparing Your Lumber

Cut your lumber to length. You’ve probably noticed that your wood has rounded corners and the faces are probably less than glass-smooth. Your first task is to use your jointer and planer to remove those rounded edges an...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Barn Doors

Three Sets of Barn Doors

If you have a shed or a barn, a well-built set of Dutch-style barn doors can provide not only unique functionality, but are quite attractive and very durable. Barn doors are traditionally sheathed with tongue-and-groove stock, but this set of plans takes a little bit of a different approach: using T-111 siding for the sheathing.

These plans are relatively simple to build, provided you have access to a table saw, miter saw, circular saw, a couple of pneumatic nailers and a drill. One could get by without the pneumatic nailers, but they make the job go by much quicker, particularly if you have a few of these doors to build.

One thing you'll definitely need to keep in mind is that these doors are relatively heavy. The plans are designed for a door opening that is 4070 (4-feet wide by 7-feet tall), and the lower half weighs well over 50 pounds, so make sure that the hinges you choose to employ will handle the weight. The bottom half of the door is 4-feet tall, while the upper half is 3-feet tall, so the upper half is definitely lighter, but that's not a lot of concession when you have to hoist it up and in place to position the hinges. While one person can easily build the doors, you'll want a couple of extra sets of hands for positioning them.

The benefit of that weight is that these doors are stout enough to be used in a horse barn, where the horses like to lean against the door with their necks to try and get to whatever they see outside. When hinged properly, these barn doors will be durable enough to stand up to such abuse and last for years.

Difficulty Level
Woodworking: ModerateFinishing: Paint
Time to Complete
6-8 Hours (woodworking) - 3-4 (finishing)
Recommended Tools
Table SawCircular SawCompound Miter SawCordless Drill or Power DrillRandom Orbital SanderTape MeasurePneumatic staplerPneumatic framing nailerPneumatic finishing nailerPencilCountersink Pilot Hole Drill BitWoodworking ClampsLayout square or framing squareChalk Line
Materials Needed 6 - 2x6 x 6'1 - 4x8 sheet of 3/4" T-111 siding4 - 2x4 x 8'6 - 1x4 x 8'4 - Heavy, barn-style strap hinges1-1/4" treated deck screws2" treated deck screwsHandles and Latches of choice

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Chiseling

Back when I started as an apprentice cabinetmaker, a chisel was something to be beaten with a large hammer. That was before I learned how to properly sharpen and use these tools. Since then it’s become apparent there are three distinct chisel operations that every woodworker should know: paring, light chopping and heavy mortise chopping.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to make these cuts. This article will show you how to use your chisel with the least amount of effort, damage to the chisel and damage to your work.

Before I begin, there are a couple things to mention about safety. One nice thing about chisels is you don’t have to wear hearing protection. But there are safety issues. Wear safety glasses when chopping or mortising, and I mean that. A chisel breaking can send pieces of metal flying, possibly causing an eye injury.

Second, if you have any reservations about using the sharp end of a chisel while paring, consider using a Kevlar protective glove, which is routinely used by carvers. The glove will dull the impact of a slipped chisel and reduce your chance of injury. Finally, never use a chisel that’s pointing toward your body. Always be mindful of the direction a chisel is going and where your hands are. This is the first thing to check before making a cut of any kind. The last thing you want to do on a Sunday afternoon is explain to an emergency room physician how you almost gave yourself a DIY appendectomy while working on Aunt Betty’s blanket chest.

Paring
The one thing that amazes most beginning woodworkers is how seldom you really need to hit the chisel to get it to work right (the exception to this is, of course, mortising). Paring is a process of using the knife edge of a sharp chisel to slice small amounts of wood off. With a little technique and a sharp chisel, you can get into places inaccessible to a plane or knife.

Paring is basically the finest work you can do with a chisel. Some examples of paring include: • Trimming the cheeks of a mortise to fit a tenon that’s too large. • In the absence of a shoulder plane, paring the tenon to fit the mortise. • When you lay out a hinge mortise, after chopping the mortise sides, you basically have to pare the waste out to the edges of the hinge layout. • If the space between dovetails is large enough (i.e. the pins) for a chisel, they can be pared, on their sides, to fit.

Before beginning, make sure your work is secured on your bench or in your vise. This will impart more of the force of your pushing into the work, thereby giving you more control of the cut. Paring requires pushing a chisel while it lies flat on a surface, slicing into the wood grain. This can be either with or across the grain. When you pare, you’re generally not taking off large amounts of wood. Just gently slicing little shavings off.

To pare well, the chisel needs to have a flat face and a sharp edge. See the story at r...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Dadoes on a Short Arbor Saw

Cutting Dadoes

A reader recently wrote to me as he was confronted with a problem: the 10" tabletop table saw he purchased only had a 3/4" long arbor, along with 1/2" of thread for the nut. This isn't a problem when using a single saw blade, but when trying to use a 3/4" stacked dado set, there isn't enough thread to allow the nut to be safely threaded onto the arbor. Is there an extension that can be used to allow the full dado set to be used on this saw?

Unfortunately, many saw manufacturers do not provide a long enough arbor to accommodate a full 3/4" dado set, and I believe this is for a reason. A table saw (or radial arm saw) must have a strong motor to handle a deep cut with a full dado set or the motor will bog down under the load. If the motor's RPMs drop too far, the chance of kickback increases. Because the saw's motor isn't designed to handle this type of load, I believe the engineers intentionally employ a shorter arbor to prevent users from employing the full dado set with both the arbor flange and arbor washer properly installed.

The problems is, the user might be inclined to try and use the dado set without the arbor flange (on the motor side of the blade) or the arbor washer (on the nut side of the blade) to try and employ more chippers in their set. This is a very dangerous decision, as the arbor washer and flange are in place to help stabilize the blade. You should never use your saw without both the arbor washer and arbor flange properly installed. Consult the owner's manual for your saw to learn more.

You should also never install so many chippers that the arbor nut is not fully threaded when tightened. In other words, make sure that the arbor fully extends through the arbor nut. If you cannot see that the end of the arbor extends at least minimally past the arbor nut, then the nut isn't fully installed, and would present a potentially dangerous situation if you were to proceed with the setup. Remove a chipper or two and re-attach the outer dado blade, arbor washer and nut.

Now, with a short-arbor table saw, you may be able to safely use only the two outer blades of the dado set, along with a chipper or two, giving you a 3/8 - 1/2" wide cut. What do you do if your woodworking plans call for a 3/4" dado? Simply align the fence and cut one side of the dado (or rabbet), then adjust the fence and make a second cut to complete the dado. While it takes a bit longer to make the dado, it is less taxing on your saw's motor and much, much safer than using an improperly installed dado blade.

If you're interested in learning more about different table saws, check out reviews on Consumer Search.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Chairs

A Morris chair is a great place to settle in and do lots of things, including reading a book, enjoying a drink, chatting with friends and watching a good rain storm. During at least half of the year in the Midwest these things are nice to do outside, as well as inside, but dragging a white oak mortise-and-tenoned Morris chair onto your deck isn’t the easiest thing. Not one to be put out of a comfortable position, I decided painted pine could work for a Morris chair as well, and so I headed for the home center store.

The chair is made entirely from 1 x 4 and 1 x 6 pine, about $40 worth. The hardest joint on this chair is a butt joint, and if you’ve got a jigsaw, drill and a hammer you can knock one out in a day. With the help of a couple extra tools, my personal best time is under four hours. Your hardest work will be picking through the lumber racks to find the straightest and most knot-free lumber from the store.

The chair is designed to have a cushion, but you don’t have to add one. If you don’t use a cushion, the chair may feel a little deep when you sit in it. Because of this, I’d suggest taking 2" off the lengths for the side rails, arms, seat slats and side cleats. Readjust the spacing of the side slats to fit the shorter seat. My cushions came from a home center store and were modified with a little sewing. You also can check out Summer Living Direct and buy their “Winston cushions” (items # W1917 and W1907).

Start your building by cutting out the pieces to form the front and rear legs. Traditional Morris chairs typically have very stout legs, and I didn’t want to lose that look or stability, so I edge-glued and nailed two pieces together to form a “T.” Face-on or from the side, the sturdy leg is still visible. With the legs formed, the rear (shorter) legs need to have the top end cut at a 5-degree angle from front to back. Remember that the back on these legs is the top of the “T.” A miter box made quick work of this step.

The next step is to get your box of 1-1/4" deck screws (available at McFeely's ) out and attach the lower stretchers to the inside of the legs with the top edge 8" off the floor. With those attached, slip the top stretchers into place, flush with the front leg, and mark and cut the bevel on the rail to allow the arms of the chair to slope back. Then screw these stretchers in place, also on the inside of the legs and then screw the front and rear stretchers in place, above the lower side stretchers. With the side frames complete, cut the pieces for the side slats using the sides themselves to determine the angle to cut on the top of the slats. I spaced them evenly and used a pneumatic brad nailer to attach the slats as they’re more decorative than structural.

The two arms are cut from 37"-long pieces. Measure 4-1/2" in f...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Block Planes

There are few more versatile hand woodworking tools than the block plane. This one tool can be used to shape, flatten, curve, clean up, square or even add chamfers to a piece of stock. For instance, if after assembling some through dovetails you find that the pins are a bit proud, you can easily shave off the extra material with a block plane, saving a lot of sanding time.

The key to properly using a block plane is having a sharp, evenly honed iron (the blade of the block plane). As with any cutting tool, if the blade isn't sharp, the tool won't operate nearly as well, and won't be as safe to operate.

The easiest way to sharpen a block plane iron is on a sharpening stone. Lubricate the stone with a drop or two of oil and, holding the bevel of the iron flat against the stone and then raising the heel slightly, hone the edge evenly until a burr is formed. Then turn the iron over and rub it flat against the stone to remove the burr.

The cutting depth of your block plane can be adjusted by loosening the cap screw (that holds the plane assembly in place) and then turning the depth adjustment screw on the frog. After you reach the appropriate depth (by looking to see how far the edge of the iron extends beneath the base of the plane), adjust the angle of the iron against the base so that it is square and tighten the cap screw.

You should set the depth of cut anywhere between about 1/16" for quick, general-purpose cutting all the way down to about 1/64" for fine touch-up work.

For most woodworkers, a block plane can be held in one hand, with the palm over the rear end of the cap iron and the forefinger on the front section of the plane. However, at times you may wish to keep your dominant hand on the rear and off hand on the front of the plane.

To use the plane, push the plane forward across the edge of the wood, keeping the base of the plane consistent along the path. To avoid arching, begin the cut by placing a little more pressure on the heel of the plane, and end the cut with a little more pressure on the nose. This will help keep the cut flat along the entire path.

Block planes are great for cutting end grain. However, it is very easy to tear out the back edge of the grain at the end of the cut, as the blade would tend to catch and tear as you approach the end of your motion.

There are two ways to combat this problem. The first would be to plane from the edge of the board toward the center, then turn the board around and use the same motion in the opposite direction. In this manner, you never approach the far edge of the end grain and avoid this potential problem.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Chests

This article is an excerpt from Glen Huey's Illustrated Guide to Building Period Furniture .

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Then simply follow the steps below to create this heirloom project.

Block-front pieces may be the most sought-after American furniture style today, and the chest is the quintessential design. This sculpted gem from the Chippendale period is a superb example of what American craftsmen could deliver when challenged to move away from the more austere, flat fronts of the Queen Anne tradition.

Most major furniture centers built a version of the block-front chest, but this design was standard in the New England area, around Boston, Massachusetts. Specific features set this piece squarely in that region. The large dovetail that joins the two pieces of the bottom and the blocks that originate in the feet and terminate in the top are but two of these features.

Considered a round-blocked chest of drawers, this Boston beauty is a challenge to build and a triumph when finished. A materials list and PDF illustration can be downloaded HERE .

Step 1 This project begins by making the plywood template for the Drawer Dividers The radius for the Round portion of the piece is set at 15-3/4” The radius for the inside portion is 3/4”. Set up and layout one half of the template.

Step 2 Reset the same radius and draw the second half. Carefully cut and final shape the template.

Step 3 Mill the material for the Drawer Dividers, then use the template to mark the profile. Cut the close to the profile at the band saw, leaving a small amount to trim, position the pieces as shown, and trim to the final shape with a bottom mount bearing pattern bit and your router.

Step 4 Next, use a 1/2 rabbeting bit set for an 1/8 rabbet and place that cut directly into the middle of the Divider.

Step 5 This is an 1/8” corner beading bit to which I have changed the bearing (Increase the bearing size one step!) so that it will cut leaving an eighth inch of material. Set the bit to profile each edge of the Dividers.

Step 6 With the Dividers made we can begin the work on the Case. Lay out and create the pins on the Case Bottom after you have milled it to size

Step 7 After the pins are created, trim an 1/8” off of the pin area as shown. This will allow us to cove the dovetails with a 3/4” molding.

Step 8 Place the Bottom onto the Case Sides, aligning the back edges of the two pieces, and transfer the layout onto the Sides. Remove the waste area creating the tails and fit to joint making any necessary adjustments.

Step 9 Mill the Bottom Front to size and make the large dovetail that is XX” long x 1-1/2” wide, all centered in the piece. Cut the dovetail at the band saw and true up the edges. Next, position this piece to th...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Sanding Tips

Sheet sanders are sometimes considered an ugly step-child of the random orbital sander, namely because they use a repeating pattern to move the sanding pad. However, for many initial sanding tasks, a sheet sander is quite adequate. Additionally, a sheet sander can use a 1/4 or 1/2 sheet of regular sandpaper, making it far more economical than a random orbital sander (which requires specific sanding disks). Learn the advantages of a sheet sander and how to use one on your woodworking projects.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Power Saws

I wonder how many of us are friends with our band saw and consider it one of the most useful and versatile machines in the workshop? My 43-year-old Robinson Cadet is not only my favorite machine, but it is also capable of incredible precision. This may come as a surprise to those who consider that a band saw is a machine for coarse work only.

While considering the content of this article, I came to the conclusion that a good band saw is capable of coarse, medium and fine work, and this ties in nicely with our esteemed editor’s views on handplanes.

Coarse: Break Down Rough Stock
A good-size band saw can rip huge waney-edge planks, quickly disposing of the sapwood and bark. Wide boards often contain the pith at the center of the tree and many exhibit heart shakes. Cutting these planks up the center, into two manageable widths, is not a job for a table saw. The band saw is much friendlier and safer, as the flexibility of its blade will usually cope with the absence of a machined surface to ride on the machine’s table.

My machine has 20"-diameter wheels, so it should not be confused with small hobby benchtop models. I note that the band saw that is featured extensively in James Krenov’s book “The Fine Art Of Cabinetmaking” had 18" wheels. He states that it was capable of ripping 8"-thick hardwood, provided that a sharp, suitable blade was used.

Medium: Cut Then Refine
I do a lot of freehand cutting on my band saw, sawing perhaps 1/64" to a 1/16" away from a pencil line, depending on the circumstances. The small amount of remaining timber can be handplaned or machined quite quickly to achieve the desired result. For example: When using the band saw to make the long shallow triangular jigs that I use for dovetail cutting, the remaining stuff can be edge planed on the jointer with a few light passes.

Fine: Joinery, Veneer, Resawing
I have to confess that my handsawing skills are rather poor because I have not practiced as much as I have with planes and chisels. This is one reason I cut my dovetails on the band saw. The other reason is that my band saw cuts perfectly square every time.

Remarkably, the finish left by the .022"-thick, 3tpi, 5/8" “meat & fish” blade that I use for fine work and veneer cutting is just as good as that left by my best dovetail saw, even in 3/8"-thick hardwood. So from my point of view it is win-win – all the way to a good fit.

If you do small Krenov-style work, band sawing is almost the only way to do the female half of the signature bridle joints. These are so useful at the corners of delicate frames, for paneled backs and small doors.

Similarly, the face cheek of a tenon can be cut in exactly the right place after a few test cuts are made. Tenons are usually cut in multiples, and each and e...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Saw Blades

The secret to proper cuts on the stock in your woodworking projects is to use the right saw blade. Of course, the saw blade that you use should be sharp enough to cut cleanly through the stock without burning or tearing the wood.The two primary types of circular saw blades are the same as the two primary types of traditional hand saws: rip blades and crosscut blades.

A rip blade is designed to cut with the grain of the stock. It has a limited number of very deep teeth, to help clear away the material that is cut. A rip blade will cut with the grain very quickly, but won't leave the cleanest of finishes.

A crosscut blade cuts with kerf using chisels or carbides that alternate between cutting wide left and wide right every other tooth. This can produce a very fine finish on most materials when crosscutting.

There are specialty blades for cutting other materials, such as diamond-tipped blades for cutting masonry, or hardened blades for cutting steel and aluminum.

Specific to woodworking, another common type of specialty blade is the dado blade. The two types of dado blades are "wobble blades", where the blade is adjusted to a particular angle to create a dado, and stacked dado sets. Wobble dado blades can create a considerable amount of vibration, which can be a bit unnerving when in use. Additionally, wobble blades don't leave the cleanest dadoes for your joinery.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Bookcases

Look at projects with a different eye. Find a piece with great design, such as a Stickley No. 79 bookcase, then make adjustments to the construction to better match your skill set.If you’ve perused the pages of our sister publication, Woodworking Magazine, you might have seen this piece in the Spring 2005 issue. We dug through the archives to find a fine bookcase, then did a bit of construction modification to allow the design to better fit the “I Can Do That” column. And that’s something you should be on the lookout for as you read woodworking articles or skim the pages of your favorite catalogs. Find a piece you like and see what changes can be made to match the construction to your skill set and tools.

For this piece, we eliminated the complicated shelf joinery, and we adjusted a few sizes to better accommodate the lumber dimensions found at home centers. But by and large, this bookcase is close to our original project and a great piece to build.

For material, you’ll need an 8' piece of 1 x 10 for the sides and one shelf, and a 1 x 10 x 4' for two shelves, the braces and one toe kick.Crosscut the material to the required length, then rip the braces and toe kick.

Add Design to the Sides
The bookcase sides require the most work, so begin at the handle area. Measure down from the top 11/4", then square a line across the grain. Also, find the top center of the sides then square a line off the top edge that extends just across the first line.

The next layout step is to grab a compass that’s set for a 21/2" radius, position the point of the tool at the intersection of the two lines and mark a half-circle with the flat side parallel with the top edge of the sides. To soften the look, round the sharp corners of the handle area. I used a pair of nickels placed at the corners to establish the radius.

To create the handle opening, use a 13/16" bit to drill holes at each corner (the bit closely matches the diameter of the nickels). With the two difficult-to-cut areas done, use a jigsaw to remove the balance of the waste. Insert the blade through one of the holes then cut on the line from hole to hole. After that’s complete, pivot the saw to cut the half-circle line. Stay close to the line, take your time as you cut and slow the blade speed if possible – a slower blade increases your control as you cut. Then clean up your cuts with a file and sandpaper.

Next, make the cutout at the base. This, too, is a half-circle with a 21/2" radius. Because you can start the cut from the bottom edge of the sides, there’s no need to drill a hole. Use your j...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Wood Turning Basics

Watching an experienced wood turner develop and form an exquisite bowl, spindle or other turning from a block of raw wood can be an inspiring, and in some cases, intimidating sight. But learning the basics of wood turning isn't difficult. After you know how to use your lathe safely, and techniques for using each tool, it becomes a matter of practice. In the following tips, learn wood turning basics so you can develop your wood turning skills.

(

While woodturning technically would fall under the umbrella of woodworking, it is often considered a completely different craft. Many woodturners have little (if any) interest in traditional fine woodworking, as they can come up with hundreds of projects that can be created on a lathe with the proper tools and techniques. In Woodturning 101, you can read and learn all of the basic techniques and safety rules associated with woodturning, in order to develop your woodturning skill level.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Cabinets

Besides a table and chairs, no piece fits the dining room better than this quintessentially American country-style cabinet with storage behind doors and a flat surface for serving food. This project fills both needs perfectly and is a study in simple construction. Build a face frame, attach that frame to a four-panel carcase, then add a top and a few simple details and you’re set to store and serve.

Start the Cabinet Face First
Prepare the face-frame pieces according to the cut sheet, but add 1/16" to the width of the stiles so they can be trimmed flush to the frame later. This ensures the assembled face frame overhangs the case when following the cut sheet. Locate and lay out the mortise-and-tenon locations on the rails and stiles.

Because a bead wraps around the inside edges of the face frame (it’s not an integral part of the frame) there is no need to leave shoulders on the tenons. In fact, with the center and upper rails being narrow, I like to use the entire width of the rails as a tenon, which adds strength. The mortises are 3/8" wide and 1-1/16" deep.

Cut the mortises into both stiles of the face frame. I use a dedicated mortise machine for this task, but you can also chop them by hand or use the drill press to start the mortises then square and clean out the slots with a chisel. The mortise for the top rail is open on the top edge of the stiles. These are the only mortises for the project.

Next, create the matching tenons on the ends of the rails. I set up a dado stack and hog away the waste material, leaving a snug-fitting tenon. With these tenons, because they are the width of the rails, cut only the face cheeks of each end.

Set the dado stack for a 3/16" deep cut. Set the fence to create a 1"-long tenon, then make passes for each face to form the tenon. The last pass is with the end of the rail tight against the fence. This ensures that all tenons are the same length. And that extra 1/16" of depth in the mortise is just a glue reservoir.

Check the fit of the first tenon and make any necessary small adjustments. Finish the tenons and assemble the face frame. Apply glue in the mortises and on the tenons then add clamps and allow the glue to dry.

Wrapping Up the Frame
The added beading gives the face frame a “pop” and is so simple to make. Start with a piece of stock surfaced on four sides and milled to 3/4" thick. Next, chuck a 1/4" corner-beading bit into the router table. My setup looks different because I position my router horizontally. With the setup in a standard router table you’ll run the stock vertically to form the bead.

Run the profile on both edges of one face of the stock and rip those pieces off at the table saw to a 5/16" width. Then, after running the edges over the jointer to get a cle...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

How to Build Utility Shelves

Utility Shelf

Whether you need them in the garage, laundry room, wood shop, utility room, pool house or wherever else you can imagine, utility shelves are incredibly useful. However, there is a lot more to building a strong and yet aesthetically-pleasing utility shelf than attaching some wood to a couple of shelf standards.

Who says utility shelves have to be ugly?Difficulty Level
Woodworking: EasyFinishing: Paint or Stain (and Polyurethane)
Time to Complete
1-2 Hours
Recommended Tools
Miter SawCircular Saw or Table SawPower DrillPlate Joiner with #10 biscuits
Materials Needed 1 - 1x2 x 8 SPF Lumber1 - 16" x 4' piece of 3/4" sanded (AC) plywoodTape MeasureLevelPencil2 - Metal shelf brackets with screws and anchors (if needed)#8 - 5/8" Wood ScrewsWood FillerWoodworking GluePaint or Stain (and Polyurethane)Sandpaper

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Coloring Wood

So you’ve completed your project and now you want to color it so it matches another object, a color chip or a vision you have in your head. Achieving this match can be one of the most difficult tasks in wood finishing, but before you get into the actual mixing of colors, it helps to understand what’s possible and know the “tools” you have at your disposal.

The Wood

Any color can be matched, but not any wood. You have to pay attention to how the wood or woods you’re finishing compare to the sample you’re trying to match. There are four large categories of woods: softwoods such as pine and fir; tight-grained hardwoods such as maple, birch and cherry; medium-grained hardwoods such as walnut and mahogany; and coarse-grained hardwoods such as oak and ash.

Within each of these categories, you can pretty successfully match any two woods using some combination of bleach and stain. But trying to match woods of two different categories has its limitations because of the large differences in grain and figure. You should take these limitations into account when you’re choosing the wood for your project.

Types of Stain

The basic way to change a wood’s color is to apply stain. In choosing a stain, you need to take into account the four ways in which they differ besides the obvious variances in color.

• Type of colorant: There are two types of colorant used in stains: pigment and dye. Pigment is finely ground natural or synthetic earth. Dye is a chemical that dissolves in a liquid. Everything that settles to the bottom of a container is pigment, and all the color that remains in the liquid after the pigment has settled is dye.

Pigment is better at highlighting grain if the excess is wiped off, and at obscuring the wood if the excess is left in any thickness on the surface. Dye is better at changing the color of wood without muddying it — especially dense woods such as maple. Some stains contain only dye, some contain only pigment, and some contain both.

• Amount of colorant: Stains differ in the ratio of colorant (pigment and dye) to liquid (thinner and binder). The higher the ratio of colorant in the first coat you apply, the darker the stain will make the wood. You can control how dark you color the wood in one application of stain by adding pigment or dye to increase the ratio or by thinning to decrease the ratio.

• Type of binder: Most stains contain a binder, which seals the pigment or dye into the wood or onto its surface. Binders are oil, alkyd, oil/alkyd or water-base finish. The biggest difference among binders is drying time — oil dries slowly, alkyd and water base dry rapidly. But also important is water-base stain’s characteristic of raising wood grain. Some dye stains, usually identified as “non-grain-raising” (or NGR), “water-soluble,” or “alcohol-soluble” don’t contain a binder.

If a stain contains a binder, ever...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Mitered Butt Joints

The butt joint is the most basic woodworking joint, where two pieces of wood are butted together (most often at a right angle to one another), but it isn't the most prettiest of joints, since the end grain of one of the two boards will be visible. When you want a more attractive option, try a mitered butt joint. It won't be any stronger than a standard butt joint, but you won't see the end grain.As in a basic butt joint, the glue is the means for holding the joint. However, because both sides of the glue joint will be on porous end grain, you will likely need to use more woodworking glue than when gluing on side grain.

TIP: Be sure to dry-fit your pieces before applying glue, to ensure a proper fit. For instance, if you're making a picture frame, cut all lengths and angles and cross-check the frame for squareness and make sure that the joints have no gaps before applying glue.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Using a Mortise and Tenon

In furniture making, while carcases and drawers are dovetailed together, tables and chairs have mortise-and-tenon joinery. In this article, I make a through mortise and tenon three different ways. First by hand, second with a hollow-chisel mortiser and table saw, and third with a plunge router and band saw.

In 1991, I had a very nice commission to make about a dozen pieces of Egyptian furniture for the Newark Museum in New Jersey. I had the opportunity to see the real, original ancient pieces and make measured drawings to do the work. The pieces I had to make are more simple ones which are less well known than the spectacular furniture from the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

This stool at left is a copy of a New Kingdom craftsman stool. I made it 2" higher than the original. The Egyptians were squatting before they had stools and the low height of the stool was designed for sitting in this squatting position.

All the stools have through mortise-and-tenon joints with the seat rails meeting above and below one another at the legs. Some of the stretchers are the same way. Some tenons are pegged and some are wedged; the ancient stools were held together by the webbing. I glued mine.

The seats on the stools are also different. Some have a solid, curved seat carved from four planks, others are woven with reed and rush fibers, while still others have holes on the inner edge of the seat rails and are woven with simple double-braided rush webbing that looks like caning. The ends of all the strands are carefully knotted below the holes and hidden from sight. I made a bed in this manner for the museum.

Chop and Saw by Hand
To do mortise-and-tenon joints by hand, you have to do a lot of marking. After stock preparation, you mark the corner of the legs with a scribble to indicate the outside corners. With a square and a sharp pencil, mark the thickness of the seat rail 1/2" below the top of the leg. Flip the leg and mark first under the lower rail’s location. For a through mortise and tenon, transfer these lines to the outside of the legs. Make sure you end up with pairs. Mark the location of the stretchers at the bottom in the same way.

To locate the tenon shoulder from the rail ends, mark the seat rails and stretchers, using the width of your leg as your guide, plus 1/4" (which is how much the tenon sticks out from the leg). Measure the width of your stool and mark your other shoulder.

Set the two cutters of your mortising gauge to the thickness of the chisel, as shown at left, then move your fence so the cutters are centered in the stretchers and mark them.  Do the same with the seat rails. Reset your marking gauge and mark the legs. Make sure you are in the middle. Clamp the leg to your bench and start chopping. Stay away from the pencil line and take 1/8" chips. Keep going deeper and pry out you...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

7 Power Woodworking Tools

Some might expect to see a cordless drill on this list, but when we're talking about basic power woodworking tools, a corded drill is more versatile and powerful. Sure, the cordless is, well, cordless, which makes it more portable, but corded drills are less expensive and can do more than a cordless drill. There are some options to consider when choosing a corded power drill, such as whether you want a 3/8-inch or 1/2-inch chuck, keyed or keyless chuck, straight drill or hammer drill, and so on. Learn all about these options (along with some suggestions on what to look for when shopping) in this article on corded power drills.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Honing Guides

Many sizes and shapes. Here are some of the tools I sharpened (or attempted to sharpen) with the four honing guides. From the left: plane irons for a block plane, spokeshave, bevel-up smoothing plane, bevel-down smoothing plane and shoulder plane. The chisels include: a dovetail, fishtail,
Japanese, bevel-edge, skew and mortising tool.

With the exception of your two hands, there is no such thing as the perfect honing guide for every shape and size of woodworking tool.
Some guides are great for short tools. Some are great for chisels. Others excel at gripping odd-shaped tools. But none of the guides handle all the tools all the time.

During the last decade, I’ve taught a lot of people to sharpen chisels and plane irons, so I’ve gotten to use many of the student’s honing guides. Some of these guides I’ve purchased for our shop at Popular Woodworking. Other guides haven’t impressed me much.

The honing guides in this article are four models that I’ve found to be useful and commonly available. Now, I don’t think you need to buy four honing guides to get your tools sharp. Depending on your work, you might need one or maybe two.

Or, perhaps if your hands are willing, you might not need any of these guides at all.

The Case for Guides
More often than not, I use a honing guide when sharpening. Though I can (and do) sharpen without them, I find them to be brilliant at providing repeatable and quick results. And when I teach sharpening, I like to show students how to use a guide. Many woodworkers sharpen infrequently and have difficulty training their hands to do what they want every single time.

I’m not hostile to hand-sharpening. If you like the process and your results, please don’t change. But I also bristle when hand-sharpeners run down people who use guides. The act of sharpening already causes enough anxiety among woodworkers.

About the Dull Tools
Hand tools come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, so I selected a broad range of shapes that have been both easy and difficult for me to secure in honing guides.

Some of the tools are common and are (usually) easy to secure in guides, such as 2"- and 21/4"-wide plane irons, a 1/2"-wide bevel-edge chisel and a 1"-wide Japanese chisel.

Other tools are tricky because of their shapes, such as a short spokeshave iron, a T-shaped shoulder-plane iron, a fishtail-shaped bench chisel and a skew chisel.

And I threw in one tool, a traditional English mortising chisel by Ray Iles, that gives almost all the honing guides a fit.

About the Guides
Honing guides have, in general, two ways of going about their job of holding the work. Some guides clamp a tool on its sides; the others clamp a tool from above and below.

Neither system is superior in all cases. The side-clamping guides exce...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Kreg Jig K3 Pocket Hole System

Occasionally, a product comes along that does the desired task so well, the product becomes almost synonymous with the task. While there are other tools available for pocket joinery, the one woodworking tool that is commonly associated with this type of joint is the Kreg Jig. Since the company's humble beginnings in the mid-1980s, Kreg's inexpensive and yet highly effective steel, aluminum and plastic jigs have revolutionized the way pocket joints are created.

The Kreg Jig K3 Master System combines benchtop and portable base jigs in one affordable kit, one which we highly recommend.

The Kreg Jig K3 Master Pocket Hole System contains one guide block with three machined aluminum guide holes. This guide block can be used equally well in either the included benchtop base or the portable base. Depending on the width of the head board being used, two or more pocket holes will be drilled.

Once you've determined how many holes you'll need to drill, simply clamp the jig to the board in the proper position for the first hole (the instructions for doing so are dependent on whichever base you choose). Set the depth collar on the special 3/8" step drill bit to the appropriate depth and drill the pocket hole. Repeat the steps with the other holes in the head board and remove the jig.

Align the tail board with the head board in the proper position and clamp the two boards together using the included premium face clamp. (This will help ensure that one of the boards doesn't become displaced when inserting the screws.) Then insert the appropriate size of screw through each of the pocket holes and into the tail board.

While glue isn't necessary to hold the joint after the screws join the head board and tail board, glue is recommended to help strengthen the pocket joint long-term.

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Drills

Compact drill-driver shootout. We test tools from Bosch, Makita, Hitachi, Milwaukee, Craftsman and Ridgid.Drill-drivers have moved through different battery voltages like a NASCAR driver moves through gears at Talladega. Many manufacturers pushed through 18 volts and upward to 24 volts, with a few reaching the 36-volt area. Then the power was downshifted and leveled at 18 volts, and along the way the newest power source was installed much like a new motor on a race car. Pushed aside are Ni-Cad and the other older power supplies to be replaced by the latest and greatest batteries known as Lithium-ion.

As we move forward, drill-driver size has become important. Some consider 18- volt drill-drivers too heavy for non-stop use on the job, but like to have the power when needed. Nobody wants to hoist a heavy drill all day long. As a result, compact drill-drivers stepped into action with their lighter weight and smaller dimensions.

Compact drills are great to use for extended periods of time, but if you have to work in small areas such as inside cabinets, even these tools can feel oversized. To squeeze into tight places and to make the job easy and less burdensome on our arms, wrists and shoulders, 12-volt drill- drivers are back in the spotlight.

These drill-drivers include 1/4" hex- drive tools as well as standard chuck designs. To whittle down the list of candidates for our review, we set parameters that we felt would be the best choice for everyday use. Drill-drivers with 1/4" hex heads are OK for some operations such as driving screws. But for simple drilling tasks, we didn’t want to have to have a dedicated line of tooling (drill bits with 1/4" hex shanks). We decided that two- speed drills that afforded the operator the choice of torque settings, and had conventional chucks in a 3/8" size, were the best bet.

While you might think that this list of requirements is limiting, we found six contenders that met our parameters. The six include the Bosch PS30-2A, Craftsman’s NEXTEC drill-driver, the Hitachi DS10DFL, Makita’s DF330DW (the only 10.8-volt tool in the test), the Milwaukee 2410-22 and Ridgid’s R82008 drill-driver.

About the Tests
For comparison to the larger drill-drivers reviewed in April 2008 (issue #168), we set about to drill holes in 13/4"-thick poplar using 1"-spade bits and to drive 1/4" lag screws that are 11/4" in length into the same thickness of poplar. Each phase was completed beginning with a fully charged battery. For the drilling phase, we set the tool to the highest speed and for the lag-screw portion of the test we selected the lowest speed.

As a simple comparison, the lowest number of holes dri...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

How to Build Cabinets

Finished Utility Cabinet

(c) 2006 Chris Baylor licensed to About.com, Inc.Whether you need kitchen cabinet plans or some utility cabinets for your workshop, the basics of cabinet design remain the same. Cabinets consist of little more than a well-built plywood box, called a carcase, that is then trimmed with doors or wood trim appropriate for the application. The carcase is typically made from 3/4" plywood with dadoes or rabbets to hold some of the shelves and backing.

This project will walk you through building a single utility cabinet, but comments will be added when minor modifications for kitchen cabinetry are appropriate. This cabinet will be 48-inches wide, 24-inches tall (with a center and bottom shelf) and 18-inches deep. You may modify the dimensions to fit your particular installation as necessary.

Difficulty Level
Woodworking: ModerateFinishing: Paint or stain optional
Time to Complete
3-4 Hours per cabinet
Recommended Tools
Miter Saw or Circular SawTable Saw with Dado Set or RouterCordless or Corded Power DrillClaw HammerLayout Square
Materials Needed Two (2) 4x8 Sheet 3/4-inch BC PlywoodOne (1) 4x8 Sheet 1/4-inch PlywoodOne (1) 2x4 8-feet longThree (3) 1x2 8-feet long3 inch and 1-1/2 inch Deck Screws4d Finish NailsTape MeasurePencilWoodworker's Glue

The Finest Woodworking Plans Are Found By Clicking Here.

Shelves

It's rare that bookshelves look as interesting as the objects you display on them. After all, how much can you decorate the edges of your shelves and sides? This unit is unusual because the shelves and sides are beefier than you would normally see, and the two bevel cuts on the front edges give these shelves nice visual interest. Best of all, perhaps, is that this piece is simple and quick to build.

Dividers and Shelves
Start by cutting out the sides and shelves. The 1-1/2"-thick sides are made by gluing two pieces of 3/4"-thick plywood together. The 1-1/4"-thick shelves are made by gluing 3/4"-thick plywood to a 1/2"-thick piece. Note that the finished sides have a 3/4" x 1/4" rabbet for the back that's formed by gluing a narrower piece to a wider one. The adjustable and fixed shelves in the side openings are all the same width. The center shelves are 1/4" wider to account for the lack of a back.

To cut the sides, crosscut a whole sheet of plywood to the length of the sides first, then rip them to width (11" and 11-1/4"). Cut the sides a little wide (1/16"), initially, to give yourself a little room to saw off a square straight edge. This will give you a clean edge for attaching a piece of maple later. Now nail and glue the dividers together, remembering to offset the back edge for the rabbet. Place your nails so the shelves will hide them.

Here's an easy way to cut the shelves. Rip them to width from a full piece of plywood, then nail and glue up a length of shelving. Then crosscut the shelves to length from the long pieces. You can get five 16" shelves out of a 96" rip. For even less work, cut the shelves to length after attaching the edging.

Edges and Angles
The edges for the bookshelves are solid maple. Because the thickness of 3/4" and 1/2" plywood is considered "nominal," you will end up with finished thicknesses about 1/16" less. Rip your edging stock a little wide and attach it with biscuits and glue. With a flush-cut bearing bit in a router, trim the edging flush to the sides and shelves, then clean up your work with a plane or scraper.

The last step is to bevel the edging. The photo shows how I did this on the table saw. Remember that the setup must change for the different width pieces.

Making it a Stand-Up Unit
The next step is to mill stopped grooves in the topmost and bottommost shelves to accept the tapered sliding connectors that attach the sides together. The grooves in the ends of the shelves are 3/4" wide by approximately 3/8" deep, and milled with a dado set on the table saw. It helps to make a practice joint because the depth of the groove is critical to a snug fit using this style of connector.

Installing the Shelves
After cutting the slots in the shelves, lay out and mount the small part of the tapered...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Drawboring

Drawboring is a simple and fundamental skill that will radically transform your joinery. The few extra steps it requires will virtually eliminate gaps in a mortise-and-tenon joint – even if the wood still needs to reach equilibrium with its environment. Plus, drawboring reduces clamping and the need for a perfect fit.Drawboring is one of is one of the simple reasons that so much antique furniture survives today, some of it as sound as the day it was made.

What is drawboring? It’s a technique that greatly strengthens a mortise-and-tenon joint, transforming it from a joint that relies on glue adhesion into a joint that has a permanent and mechanical interlock. In essence, you bore a hole through both walls of your mortise. Then you bore a separate hole through the tenon, but this hole is closer to the shoulder of the tenon. Then you assemble the joint and drive a stout peg through the offset holes. The peg draws the joint tight.

Drawboring offers several advantages compared to a standard glued mortise and tenon:

• The joint will remain tight. A common problem with mortise-and-tenon joints is that the joint can open up and develop an ugly gap at the shoulder. Sometimes this is caused by the wood shrinking as it reaches equilibrium with a new environment (such as your living room with its forced-air heat). Sometimes this gap is caused by simple seasonal expansion and contraction, especially with woods that tend to move a lot,
such as flat-sawn oak. The peg in a drawbored joint keeps the tenon in tension against the mortise during almost any shrinkage.

• The joint can be assembled without clamps. Drawboring is excellent for unusual clamping situations. Driving the peg through the joint closes it and clamps are generally not needed. Chairmakers use drawboring to join odd-shaped pieces at odd angles. It’s also an excellent technique when your clamps aren’t long enough. Or when you don’t have enough clamps. Drawboring also allows you to assemble a project one piece
at a time if need be.

• The joint can be assembled without glue. There is good evidence that drawboring allowed early joiners to assemble their wares without any glue. This is handy today when you’re joining resinous woods (such as teak) that resist modern glues or when you’re assembling joints that will be exposed to the weather, which will allow water to get into them and destroy the adhesive.

• The joint doesn’t have to be perfect. The mechanical interlock of drawboring means that your ...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Veneering

Veneering has been practiced for thousands of years. It’s a way to take some of the world’s most spectacular but unstable woods, cut them to paper-thinness and glue them to a stable foundation. By veneering, you can repeat natural patterns, create intricate borders and inlays, arrange grain direction and create surface designs that would  be impossible to make with solid wood.

Using veneer adds a new dimension to furniture making and offers wonderful opportunities to the woodworker. However, from a technical perspective, there is the problem of attaching this skin securely to a wood substrate. You don’t want a veneered surface to peel, crack or buckle.

From an aesthetic perspective, it allows the maker to design the “look” of his or her creation, almost like a painter working on a canvas. Veneer can change the perception of a piece. A delicate inlay can emphasize a feature: a cuff around a leg visually anchors a piece; bookmatched doors provide symmetry. Veneer can elevate your furniture from simple to sophisticated.

But, some woodworkers shy from using veneer. First, the term “veneer” implies to some people poor quality and shoddy, dishonest craftsmanship. Then, the process itself is so mysterious. Veneer is thin, fragile and prone to breaking apart. The tools and techniques used in veneering seem difficult and strange.

If a woodworker were interested, where would he or she start? What tools would be needed? How large and difficult a project should be attempted? As a teacher, I’m always searching for ways to make woodworking more accessible. A project such as this gentleman’s dressing mirror is a perfect introduction to traditional veneering.

I’ve taught this project class at the college level, and the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop is planning to put it on the schedule soon. (Complete plans for the dressing mirror are available through the school for $40 at philadelphiafurnitureworkshop.com ).

Traditional Hot Glue and Hammer Veneering
There are several ways to apply veneer to a piece. And if you’re serious about veneering, it’s a good idea to become familiar with all of them. I think the best method to learn first is traditional hammer veneering.

Of all the methods, gluing veneer with hot hide glue and pressing it with a hammer can be the most challenging – and the most satisfying. To achieve success takes a generous amount of patience, a delicate but firm touch and a critical eye. Tackling this method on a small but manageable scale will build confidence and develop your skills.

For this project, I used mahogany crotch veneer. This is a rich and shimmering veneer filled with light that often features a feather-like grain pattern down the center. Because the cabinet is small, the feather should also be small, and scaled to the cabinet. Many veneer suppliers have ph...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Staining

For most stains the best application method is to apply a wet coat of stain using a rag, brush, paint pad or spray gun and wipe off the excess before it dries. It’s necessary to point this out because there are TV ads that show brushing stain and leaving it. This procedure leaves colored brush marks, usually obscures the wood, and often leads to the finish chipping or peeling.
Go to any home center and you will probably be offered a choice of four types of stain: oil, varnish, water-based and gel (though the shelf arrangement and labeling of these stains rarely makes this clear).

Go instead to a paint store that caters to the professional painting and finishing trades and you will likely find lacquer stains and NGR (non-grain-raising) dye stains in addition to all or at least some of the stains available at home centers.

Shop at a woodworkers’ store or from a catalog that caters to woodworkers, and to many of the stains already mentioned you can add water-soluble dyes and sometimes alcohol- and oil-soluble dyes.

Instead of buying any of these products to color wood, you could use “natural” stains such as the juice from walnut husks (boiled in water) or berries, or even coffee or tea. Or you could use a chemical such as lye, ammonia or potassium dichromate. (Natural stains fade rapidly; chemicals offer limited colors and are dangerous to use and difficult to control.)

You could also use a shading stain, toner or glaze to stain wood, though each of these is designed to be applied in between coats of finish. (I’m not going to discuss these products, or natural or chemical stains here.)

There are many types of stain. In this regard stains are like saws. (There are also many saws: table, band, jig, scroll, radial-arm, miter, sabre, hand, etc.) Each cuts wood just as all stains color wood.

But it is not likely you would use a table saw to cut a curve or a scroll saw to crosscut 8/4 oak. Each saw performs some cuts better than others; likewise, each type of stain handles and colors in its own unique way. To have full control of the coloring process, you need to understand how stains differ and what each does best.

Oil Stain
Oil stains are the most widely available and are the type most people think of when they think of stain. These are the easiest to use because the linseed oil base or “binder” (sometimes a mixture of linseed oil and varnish) allows plenty of time to remove the excess before the stain dries – even on large p...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Holdfasts

September 01, 2005
by  Robert W. LangWe love nothing more than to completely tear apart a tool, project or technique to figure out exactly how it works. Most of the time our efforts are rewarded with enlightenment, but in the case of holdfasts, we’re still a bit in the dark. It seems that making and using a holdfast has as much in common with art or religion as science.

Before the era of metal vises, woodworkers secured work to benches (horizontally and vertically) with holdfasts. Until the 1920s these were so common that if you saw a workbench, you would likely see a holdfast. Little was written about them because they were so common. To explain holdfasts would be akin to explaining shoes. But they eventually fell out of general use as manufacturers added mechanical gizmos to benches such as tail vises and bench dogs.
And as we found out, that’s a real shame.

Using a holdfast for the first time can be an epiphany. A good holdfast drops in a hole in your bench, and with a few light taps secures a workpiece solidly to the bench. As the holdfast’s pad hits your work, the shaft wedges itself in the hole and against your work.

It is one of the quickest, most secure and efficient methods of holding something down, whether you work with hand tools or power tools. A good pair of holdfasts is like having an extra set of super-strong hands. They can be set in a fraction of the time it takes to secure a clamp or tighten a vise, and their use soon becomes second nature. A light rap on the back of the shaft releases the holdfast’s grip on the work.

Not as Simple as it Seems
As simple as the idea is, the execution and engineering involved in making a good holdfast are complex. The angle of the holdfast’s shaft as it sits in the benchtop, as well as the angle between the pad and shaft are key elements. The size of the shaft, the diameter of the hole and the thickness of the benchtop affect these angles. We found that holdfasts with an angle of about 83° between the shaft and pad functioned best.

The type of metal used, and how it is made are also crucial. We found a difference in performance between mass-produced holdfasts (such as the broken one shown above) and those that were hand-forged (the unbroken one above). We tested them side by side, and found only one mass-produced holdfast we could recommend, and that recommendation comes with reservations.

For our tests we prepared samples of workbench tops using yellow pine and hard maple with various-sized holes between 11/16" and 1" to represent different types of benches. With these workbench samples secured in a vise, we tried each holdfast to see how easily and how securely it would seat. We tried securing pieces of varyin...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Lathing

Practice at the grinder will pay off at the lathe. (Note that my hands are covering the toolrest.) Although my hands are close to the wheel, there is no danger as there is no pressure towards the wheel.

Many years ago, I was cooking with a friend who was home visiting his parents during a college break. He struggled with a dull knife until he finally threw it down on the cutting board in disgust and declared, "There's a $2,000 stove in this house and not one sharp knife!"

In cooking or in woodworking, keen edges trump just about everything else in importance. You may have a $5,000 lathe with all the bells and whistles, but without sharp tools it's just a big piece of metal. Obviously every woodworker, whatever type of work he or she is doing, needs to use sharp tools. What isn't always so clear is how to get them that way — or even how to recognize a dull or sharp edge in the first place. This is especially true of turning tools, because there are so many different shapes and sizes. Figuring out how to sharpen all of those can be a little confusing. But understanding a few basic principles will definitely help.

Sharpening is a skill; as with any other skill, learning it will require practice. This may seem obvious, but it's easy to forget. It's certainly not as much fun to practice sharpening as actual turning; no lovely shavings pouring off the piece and so on. There is just — well, the grind of grinding. But time invested here will pay off exponentially at the lathe.

Understand that sharpening is really nothing but dressing the tool's bevel. When you think about the edge instead of the bevel, the tendency (albeit unconscious) is to raise the handle of the tool in order to get that edge to appear more quickly. You can't grind an edge; but produce a good, clean bevel and you will have a good edge. You can see when that edge arrives by watching for the sparks dancing across the edge or shooting down the top of the tool. Don't try to hurry it.

Don't worry too much about the exact angles of the bevels. It's more important to develop an understanding of how the tool should work, and when and why you might want a longer or a shorter bevel, than it is to produce a precise, predetermined angle. If the tool is working well, simply try to reproduce that angle.

Let the grinder do the work. Pushing the tool into the wheel won't take the metal off any faster; it will only overheat the tool and wheel. Just enough pressure to keep the wheel cutting is all that's required.

Dress the wheel frequently to keep it flat and clean (more on this later).

Make sure you're comfortable at the grinder; you'll be less inclined to rush it. Be sure you have good light, and that the working area is at an appropriate height. I'm 5'2" tall, and most shops I've been in have the grinder mounted too low even for my comfort. The base of mine is 40" from the floor; get yours u...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Bending Wood

In my mind, there are three classifications of woodworking techniques. There are many that I classify as “useful,” a smaller number that I think of as “indispensable,” and then a very few that represent a true breakthrough in woodworking technology. Bending wood is one of the latter.

The ability to alter the grain direction as our imagination dictates while preserving the strength inherent in a straight piece of wood allows us to create the elegant beauty of a continuous-arm Windsor chair and the inspiring sweep of a vaulted ceiling. We first explored our world in sailing ships with bent wood hulls, then left it in airplanes with bent wood wings. Our world would be much less beautiful and much less exciting without this simple woodworking technique.

I’m currently engaged in a woodworking project designed to create a little excitement, and bending wood is at the very heart of it. I’m part of a group of historians and aviators who are recreating the six experimental airplanes of the Wright brothers, beginning with their model glider of 1899 and ending with the 1905 Wright Flyer 3, the first practical airplane. The frames of these primitive aircraft are a collection of bent wood parts — ribs, wing ends, braces and skids — ingeniously arranged to catch the wind and lift a man into the air.

True Geniuses Prefer Cold Bending

When most of us hear the words “bending wood,” we think of steam bending. The wood is heated briefly in low-pressure steam to soften the lignin (a glue-like protein that holds the cellulose fibers together). While the wood is still hot, it’s clamped into a bending form. The cellulose fibers telescope to conform to the curve, and the lignin cools to hold them in place. Or almost. In actual practice, the fibers never quite conform, and when you remove the wood from the bending form, there is a great deal of springback — the wood loses some of its curve. If the wood is not attached to the other parts in the project so as to hold the curve, it may continue to relax and it will spring back even more. This problem plagued the Wright brothers while they were doing their glider experiments — they calculated precise curves for the ribs to fly as efficiently as possible, only to have the ribs relax and lose a good deal of curvature before they could get their gliders in the air.

To solve this problem, they eventually abandoned steam bending for an early form of cold bending. They arranged the parts of the ribs for their Flyers in a bending form, then nailed them together with brads. They could not use glue — the adhesives 100 years ago were not weatherproof. A good rain and the wings would have come apart.

Fortunately, we have a much larger and more reliable selection of adhesives to choose from than the Wrights. We decided to make the bent w...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Joiners

When it comes to joinery, you have two basic kinds. On one hand you have the traditional, strong and time-consuming joints (think dovetails). On the other hand, you have the joints that are fast to make but are frowned upon by purists (think biscuits or pocket screws).

With the release of the Festool Domino DF 500 Q system, those old rules have just been chucked into the dumpster. The Domino is a hand-held tool that cuts perfect mortises in your work. A little glue and a loose tenon (which resembles a domino) completes the joint. In my 14 years of working wood, it is the fastest, easiest and most accurate way to cut this traditional joint that I have ever used (and I’ve used them all).

The Domino is as swift as a biscuit joiner but makes joints as strong as you could ever want. The trick is the machine’s bit and how it moves when the tool is on. The bit (which is available in  5, 6, 8 and 10mm diameters) spins at 25,500 rpm and moves left to right as it plunges into the work. A single four-second plunge creates a mortise that is perfectly sized for one of the beech Dominos, which come in five sizes at press time.

Loose-tenon joinery is nothing new, but what is different about the Domino DF 500 Q is that you can do such a traditional and strong joint with little (or no) marking on the work. And you can work anywhere on a board and at any angle. Plus, because the Domino is hand-held, you can take the tool to the work (always my preference) rather than moving large workpieces over a tiny cutter in a table saw or router table. Plus you can put a mortise in places no biscuit joiner can go, such as into the end of a 1"-wide rail.

To make a joint, you place your two workpieces against one another and draw a single line across the joint at the location where you want the mortises to go. Set the tool to make a mortise of  the desired depth and width (it’s easy, just a dial and a switch). Then you line up the tool’s cursor with your pencil line, turn on the tool and make a plunge cut.

You can even skip some marking chores by using the tool’s built-in retractable pins. These allow you to bore mortises at a fixed distance from the ends of boards that are wider than 2-1/2" wide without marking (Read more about the Domino on our blog).

All told, if you have ever used a biscuit joiner you will be immedi...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Step Stools

Shaker-inspired step stool. Don’t let the panel glue-up scare you. This step stool (useful in just about any room of the house) is easy to build, using pocket screws as clamps and to add strength.Inspired by a typical Shaker step stool, this version employs pocket screws to join both the side panels and the supports. To cut down on the number of rip cuts, I used three pieces of 1x6 dimensional lumber to form the side panels (1x6 actually measures 3/4" x 5-1/2"), so this version also ends up a bit deeper than a traditional Shaker stool – and thus a little sturdier and beefier looking.

First, use your miter saw to cut the 1x6 pieces to length for the side panels. You’ll need two each at 20-1/4", 13-1/4" and 6-1/4".

Now, clamp one of the 20-1/4" pieces flat to your bench (face side down), and drill holes for two pocket screws along the edge that will meet the middle piece. Place one hole 2" from the bottom edge, the other at 11". Repeat with the second 20-1/4" piece. Now drill each 13-1/4" piece along the edges that will meet the short pieces. Locate one hole 3" from the bottom edge, the other at 5-1/4".

Next, it’s time to glue up the side panels, and this is where the pocket screws come in handy – especially if you’re short on clamps. Run a bead of wood glue along the edge of one of the 6-1/4" pieces, then line up that piece and a 13-1/4" piece flush across the bottom, and flat across the panel, then clamp across the two. Drive screws into the pockets to join the two pieces together. Now that the screws are in place, you can unclamp and move on to joining the 20-1/4" to the 13-1/4" piece. Do the same with the other side panel.

Once your glue is dry, lay the panel screwside up flat on your bench, and mark the center point across the bottom edge (it should be at 8-1/4"). Now, using an offcut as the base for the compass point, measure 2" down from the center point, place the compass point there, and draw the arc. Use a jigsaw to cut out the arc (you’ll be cutting away the two bottom screws), then clean up the cut using a rasp and sandpaper.

Use a miter saw to cut the three step supports and back brace to 15-3/4" out of 1x2 (which actually measures 3/4" x 1-1/2"). Clamp each piece flat and drill one pocket hole into the center at eit...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Varnishing

Of all finishes available, none offers as much protection and durability with as little difficulty in application as wiping varnish.

With wiping varnish you can achieve a run-free, brush-mark-free, air-bubble-free and almost dust-free finish, which after several coats is very protective against moisture penetration, and resistant to scratches, heat and solvents. And you can do this with no more effort than wiping or brushing on the finish, and either leaving it, or wiping off some or all of the excess.

No other finish offers all of these great qualities. The only finish that competes is gel varnish, but it's messy to apply, and it can't be built up as fast on the wood without leaving brush marks. Wiping varnish is arguably the single best finish for most amateur woodworking projects.

Wiping varnish is simply common oil-based varnish (any type, including alkyd varnish, polyurethane varnish or spar varnish) that is thinned enough with mineral spirits (paint thinner) so it is easy to wipe on wood. You can easily make your own.

The name, which I created in 1990, and which has been adopted by most writers and teachers of wood finishing, makes sense because the purpose of thinning is to make the varnish easy to wipe.

You may already be using wiping varnish and not realize it because it isn't sold under that name (maybe because that would give away the simplicity of the finish). It's sold under many different brand names, and few indicate what the finish really is.

This is the problem with wiping varnish and the reason it isn't widely recognized as one of the best finishes for anyone not using a spray gun. Manufacturers obscure the true nature of the finish by their misleading, and sometimes outright deceptive, product labeling. They want you to think they are selling you something different and special.

In this article I will tell you about varnish, how wiping varnish came to be, how to make and identify wiping varnish and how to apply wiping varnish. I will also explain how wiping varnish differs from oil, and mixtures of oil and varnish. (See "Testing for Oil: Does It Get Hard?" on page 74.)

Each of these finishes is a type of varnish. You can thin any one of them with mineral spirits to make a wiping varnish. The wiping varnish will have the characteristics of the varnish you use.

Varnish is a very common finish that is appreciated for its terrific moisture, scratch, heat and solvent resistance. No matter how new you are to woodworking, you have probably used some type of varnish or oil-based paint, which is varnish with pigment added.

One way to identify varnish is by the thinner and clean-up solvent listed on the container. This is mineral spirits, which is usually identified by its more all-inclusive name, "petroleum distillate." The only other finishes that thin and clean up with mineral spirits are o...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here