Cutting Board

Cut the Tongues

Add some chippers to set the width of your stacked dado blade to 1/2", and lower the blade height on your table saw to 1/4". Move your fence to 4-1/2" away from the blade and run boards 1 & 2 through the blade on both sides to create the tongues that will fit in the corresponding grooves in boards 2 & 3.

TIP: For the best fit, set your dado blade to just less than 1/4" height and cut the tongue, then try to dry fit it into the groove. You might need to raise the blade a hair and run it through the saw again, but this will procedure ensure a tight fitting tongue-and-groove joint.

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Pattern Cutting

Sure, I have a router and a handful of pattern-cutting bits. But many times when I need to make duplicates of an odd-shaped part, I turn to my table saw instead.

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With a shamefully simple jig (it’s two pieces of wood) clamped to my saw’s fence, I can cut patterns all day long. I think it’s faster than pattern cutting with my router for several reasons.

First, when roughing out the shape of the blank on my band saw, I don’t need to cut real close to my line like I do when pattern routing. I only have to get within 1-1/2" of the line instead of within 1/16" to 1/8".

Second, there’s less clamping involved with this table-saw method. Normally I screw or nail my template to the side of the part that won’t show (the underside of a shelf, for example) and go. I can do this with pattern routing, too, but I’ll still need to clamp everything to my bench, make part of the cut, readjust the clamps and then finish the cut. When I use the table saw, I screw it and cut it.

Build the Jig
The jig should take five minutes to build. It is simply two narrow strips of 3/4"-thick wood nailed and glued on one long edge into an “L” shape. One of the strips of wood should be as long as your table saw’s fence. Its width depends on how thick your project’s stock is. For cutting patterns in 3/4" stock, rip this board to 1-5/8" wide. The second one should be 1-3/4" wide and about 6" shorter than the first board. Nail and glue these two boards together using the drawing as a guide.

Set Up Your Jig and Use It
Install a quality combination blade in your saw. Clamp the jig to your fence with the jig flush to the table. Slide the table saw’s fence over so the jig overhangs the blade and raise the blade until it almost touches the jig.

Using a square, line up the edg...

The Best Woodworking Plans Are Found Here

Pattern Cutting

Sure, I have a router and a handful of pattern-cutting bits. But many times when I need to make duplicates of an odd-shaped part, I turn to my table saw instead.

With a shamefully simple jig (it’s two pieces of wood) clamped to my saw’s fence, I can cut patterns all day long. I think it’s faster than pattern cutting with my router for several reasons.

First, when roughing out the shape of the blank on my band saw, I don’t need to cut real close to my line like I do when pattern routing. I only have to get within 1-1/2" of the line instead of within 1/16" to 1/8".

Second, there’s less clamping involved with this table-saw method. Normally I screw or nail my template to the side of the part that won’t show (the underside of a shelf, for example) and go. I can do this with pattern routing, too, but I’ll still need to clamp everything to my bench, make part of the cut, readjust the clamps and then finish the cut. When I use the table saw, I screw it and cut it.

Build the Jig
The jig should take five minutes to build. It is simply two narrow strips of 3/4"-thick wood nailed and glued on one long edge into an “L” shape. One of the strips of wood should be as long as your table saw’s fence. Its width depends on how thick your project’s stock is. For cutting patterns in 3/4" stock, rip this board to 1-5/8" wide. The second one should be 1-3/4" wide and about 6" shorter than the first board. Nail and glue these two boards together using the drawing as a guide.

Set Up Your Jig and Use It
Install a quality combination blade in your saw. Clamp the jig to your fence with the jig flush to the table. Slide the table saw’s fence over so the jig overhangs the blade and raise the blade until it almost touches the jig.

Using a square, line up the edg...

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Clockwork end-grain cutting board

This was the second end-grain board that I have made. Like my first this was also given as a gift this Christmas.

The woods used were maple, cherry, beech, purpleheart and anigre (Bolivian? walnut). The board is 11” x 15” x 0.9” with a 3/8” roundover on the edges. The finish is mineral oil. Flattening was done by router on my router planing jig (shown with my previous board in it).

Surfacing was done via belt sander followed by final smoothing with card scrapers.

I was hoping for more contrast between the beech and the cherry, although there is more contrast between those two on this board than on my previous end-grain board. I was also hoping for more distinction between the purpleheart and the anigre, but they blended together.

I used the cutting board design freeware again and you can see the board that I was attempting to make in the 6th pic. The fifth pic is the dry fit before glue-up to show the changes in the wood once the oil soaks in. The 3rd and the 4th pics are to show how much of a difference the lighting can make in the appearance of the board (the 4th pic was without flash and some retouching via photo editing software).

The board design makes me think of the gears on a clock or in an engine, the way that the beech strips are almost meshing with each other – hence the title.

As always, I am more than happy to listen to comments and critiques.

-- A bad craftsmen blames his cheap #$%ing tools

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