Also Insite:December, 2001 e ce SAWDUST O: thing that has always that willendure overtime. impressed me about woodwork: In this spirit, I would ike to share crs is their willingness to share. with you a letter from the publisher Whetheritbeatiporatechnique orjst and founder of Woodsmith. lending a helping hand, you can rely ‘on woodworkers to help. And fm proud “Ta that Woodsmith has played a part in alesse as eer aren onic tae sharing information and project ideas Payday for Charity Aid for September 11, 2001 All of us at Woodsmith offer our thoughts and prayers to those who lost loved ones and friends in the September 11th tragedy. And tothe heroes who continue the work of rescue, rebuilding, and protecting us, During the past few weeks, as we have tried to turn our attention back to our jobs, we also began thinking of ways ‘we could help those in need. As a way to extend a helping hand, our company, August Home Publishing, is making, a contribution to charities in an amount equal to our payroll for September 11, 2001. In addition, individuals on the Woodsmith staff and the rest ofthe company are voluntarily contributing all or part ofthat day's pay. It’s our sincere hope that this contribution helps those who have suffered so much and aids in the vital work of rebuilding our hopes and dreams forthe future. And Tadd my prayers that God may guide our efforts to work for a better ‘world of peace and harmony. Donald B. Peschike, Publisher ‘Wl Ss fear Maran, Mats ray | Racket Joc Kinet Ofer Vik Ear ise petty ee.EUR NSS: CONTENTS Features Formal Hall Table ... This elegant project offers plenty of woods long tap around the drawers, and sold walnut construct Roll-Around Storage Cart...............18 A unique open design makes this more than just a utility cart. The contrast between the cherry and maple pieces makes it a handsome addition to any room. And lo 7 beading closely — those cherry pieces on the sides are actually the drawer runners. -26 Table Saw Tune-up should ny special ol. Bracket Wall Shelf. ee Go Two shelves. Tivo different styles. But both versions are buile with the same basic procedures. And it’s easy to make either shelf what- oft the space on your wall Roll-Around Storage Cart pu 18, ever length you need Dado Jig adado, An stopped dadoes. Or remove the edge for routing dadoes alll the way across a panel. Departments Tips & Techniques....... Shop Notes....... ‘ Sources No. 138 Woodsmith 3e ¢ A spring adds pres- sure, while the roller lets the work- piece glide by FREE Online Tips Htyoud the even more woodwork ing tps, the solu- tion Is simple. Just ists at ou web steand sign Up to receive a free tip via emall everyweek werent con Roller Featherboard ‘When using vertical raised panels bits in the router table, the stock is held on ceige. Kyou try to steady the workpiece with a regular featherboard, it only puts pressure along the bottom. came up with afeather- board that applies pres- sure to more of the panel, Ifyou look at the drawing, below, you can see that i's simply an L-shaped fence with a pair of appliance ‘casters aitached to it A set ‘of medium-weight springs viet ‘ter rte, Bee en BB Indicators One thing that I've found frustrating is marking the locations for dowels when suing two boards together. ‘Theholesin one board have toalign perfectly with those inthe otherboard, Here'sa Auick and accurate way to accomplish that Allyouneed to dois tape BBs to the edge of one presses the casters against the workpiece. These cast cers let the stock glide east Iy past the bit while keep- ing it pressed firmly to the router table fence. ‘The base and fence of the featherboard are made from medium density fiberboard (MDF). I drilled the holes for the studs slightly larger than the rather short, I also coun- stud diameter, This allows _terbored the holes as seen the caster to move in and in detail'a, ‘out easily, And since the The last thing to do is to studs on my casters were put the springs and casters in place before the base and fence are glued and screwed together. RobResher Micon City, Indiana ter Fh ‘board (Fig. 1). Then clamp the boards together as if they were being glued up. ‘The BBs will leave a “dimple” in the edge of each piece (Fig. 2). This ives you a matched pair of ‘marks to position your bit when you drill for dowels, James Buse St. Chas, Misc Woodsmith SECTION VIEW 1885 wil feave ‘implein each board i No. 138Locking Dowels for Dadoes Arecent projectformy shop After assembling each about cutting them to per- called for quite afew draw- drawer, a couple of holes fect length. Just trim them ers Iwantedajointthatwas are drilled on each joint flush with a chisel after easytomakeand wouklao line, as shown in Fig. 1. they're glued in Fig. 1a). stand up toheavy use. ‘This allowsa short dowel Since most small drill T decided to cut dadoes to be glued into the hole bits are short, repeat the in the drawer fronts to fora “locking” pin process on the top of the accept the sides. While The size of the dowels joint (Fig. 2). The dowel is joint is quick and easy are determined by the doesn't have to go all the not very strong. thickness of the drawer way through — it will just = ss Soto“beefitup,"Taddeda material, With ‘thick look like it did. 4A. Dao joins can be reinforced with pair of dowels that lock stock, I used a ¥A'dia. Mary Rosen dowels, which alo produces a cach joint ikea key. dowel. And don't worry Venice, Fide unique “locking” oie. Prt doe into both top nd bottom of {all awers Vacuum Your Glue On several occasions I've I place the nozzle below had to repair cracks andthe crack and turn on the |, Yacuyrpul checks in wood and furn- vacuum, as shown in the eroce ture. The biggestproblemis drawing at right. Then as tryingto getthegiue spread glue is added on the top, ‘throughoutthe crack. it’s slowly sucked all the Tvettied blowing glue in way through the crack. with compressed air, but Once the glue comes that tends to get messy. So out the other sce, all that's instead, use my shop vac lefts to clamp the board. ‘uum to pad the glue into Mack Palen the area. Richland, Washing QUICK TIPS A quick alternative to tack cloths are Pledge Grabs. ‘This disposable cloth wil help pick up any fine dustleft over from light sanding between a sealer and finish coats. It also helps to show rough and unsanded areas. ‘Trying to peel and start the ‘The cloths catch and leave edge of a rol of tape can be small white fibers on the frustrating. To avoid this, unsanded surfaces of a stick a bread bag lock under rough finish coat. the end before pttingit away. Terry Thomas Jerry Kyst Shepherd, Rentcky Keko, Waskingon No. 138,FORMAL HALL TABLE Don't let the understated elegance and exquisite details fool you. The techniques for building this small table are pretty straightforward. | here's an understated elegance to this smal table, and ‘not hard to see where it comes from. The tapered legs and scrollsawn brackets give the table a light, ful appearance. Small strips of bead molding highlight the drawers and the bottom edges ofthe aprons. And the darkewalnut adds to the “rich,” formal look ofthe project. The nice thing is that none of these details are diff cult to “pull off.” The long, gradual tapers on the legs. were cut with a shopmade jg, The scrollsawn brackets are small, fairly simple curves with only one “inside” cut to make. (The hall table also looks fine without these Woodsmith corner brackets, as shown in the A Youd inset photo at right) And the different pieces ‘of bead molding are simply routed with round-over bits. Finally, if you can't find any walnut locally always build the table out of cherry or mahog: only plywood you'll need is" maple.) These woods are ormal furniture, and their subtle grain won't detract from the overall elegance of the table. handsome-looking hall table. often used No. 138Construction ae Detail ee e OVERALL DIMENSIONS: Fr joined A B0°Wx 18°D x 28"H —Winstub tenon 85 Ralls notched — {ot oround legs NOTE: Table built out fal and at alt Inuded onpage 15 Drawer into, Seer shaders eee pgeunecraey "a maple pio th shopmade iper_~” MATERIALS & SUPPLIES A Legs (4) Vex We-27% © Lg, Drawer Fr/Bk.(2) Vex 32-13% B Rear Apron(1) x 5le-27% P Drawer Sides (6) ax 3/- 14%4 € Side Aprons(2) 34x 5Ye- 15! Q Sm. Dwr. Btms. 2) 4 ply - 374 14% D Fr/Bk. Ralls (4) 44x2%-275% RK Lg. Dw. Btm. (1) phy - 13%4x 18% E Cross Rails(8) %4X2%4-12% S$ Sm. Dwr False fr. (2) %4x 314-4 F Center Panel (1) “api. 13%4x 12% T Lg. Dwr. False Fr.(1) 44x 314- 13% G Side Panels (2) 4p. -3%6ex12% U DrawerBead ——%6x 7-80 In.in. H Vertical Panels (4) 44x35%-14 —V_ Drawer Stops (3), YK -2 1 Vertical Edging (4) %4x2%-3% WDrawerCatches(3) 4x - 1% J Table Bead 94x 1%-104 in in. + (8) #8.x 114" Fh Woodscrews DK Drawer Runners (6) 4x 6-154 + () 8x 1H" Fh Woodscrews L Top Pane! (1) ax 18-30 + (12) #17 x 56" Wie Brads A Afier the table is nearly complete, small M Brackets (6) 46x3-T gh. + (3)2” Ball Pulls strips of bead molding are notched fit into IN Sm, Drawer Fr/Bk. (8) %2x3%-4% + (6)8-32 x 114" Machine Screws the dadoes in the legs. Then the comer brackets are cut out and nailed in place. No. 138 Woodsmith 7me Legs & Aprons Tues Tram a stock ne cma npr shop-built ee Bets ® Foot taper eiton band Say see box ‘etow cs. With the stock To cut tapers on all four faces of a leg, you need an adjustable taper jig. To see mine, tan to page 17. ‘This project started with achallenge Trun into frequently with tables. The legs require 8/4 walnut (1°A" thick), while the aprons are 4/4 stock (/" thick). This means I have to work a little harder to find boards that match, in color and grain. Usually though, itonly takes few extra minutes when, going through the stacks, and the icked out, ‘you'll want to start with the legs (A), as shown in Fig. 1 above. They're planed and ripped down to 136" square and then cut to final length. ‘After cutting the legs to size, the next thing to do is cut the mortises for the aprons (Figs. 1b and 1c).1 laid them out carefully on each leg by standing them on end in their proper orientation. I also drilled them a litle deeper (!4e") than 1 planned on cutting the tenons (/") ‘wallow for excess glue. Next, I cut '4"-deep dadoes for the beading that will wrap around the table after it's assembled, as shown in Figs. 1 and 1b, Where extra effort is sure worth it. and then doublechecked the layout Pe TT Ne at ‘To create the tapersat the bottom ofthe legs, you won't need a special jig. As you can see in Steps 1 and2, a band saw (or even a hand, ‘saw) and a sharp block plane will do the trick. Before cutting the taper, you'll need to lay it out on the end of the leg (see Fig. 1a above). And don't try to cut right to the lay- ‘out lines (Step 1). Stay to the waste side so ‘you can clean up the tapers with a plane. When cleaning up the tapers (Step 2), you'll want to keep an eye on your layout lines. But even so, youl still need to sand the faces to geta straight edge between the sradual tapers and foot tapers. before, the mortises were cut on the ‘After laying out the two tapers on ‘one face of the leg, rough out the tapers with the band saw. Then rotate ‘the leg and repeat for the other tapers Woodsmith ‘Keeping an eye on the layout lines. (on the faces and ends of the legs, ‘lean up the tapers with a block plane. Finally sand the faces as needed. No, 138inside faces, these dadoes need to be cut across the onside faces. And Qos te sien petty with each other, I used a stop block clamped to an auxiliary miter gauge fence to postion the legs as they ‘were pushed across the dado blade. Now that the dadoes are cut, the legs are ready to be tapered. There are two tapers here: along, gradual taper and short taper that creates @ “oot” profile near the bottom. The gradual taper starts 34" below the dadoes. And to taper al four sides ofthe leg, youl need an aajustabe taper jig, see the photo in the left margin. One setting works for two adjacent faces, but then to take care ofthe last two tapers, the workpiece needs to be repositioned. For more on thisjg, turn to page 17. When the gradual tapers have been cut and sanded smooth, the short tapers on the bottoms of the legs can be cut. Ths time, though, instead of a taper jig, you'll use a band saw and a block plane, as shown in the box below lef. @D sows. 0 tis point the tegs are complete and you can work on the three aprons, as shown in Fig. 2. As I mentioned earlier, the rear (B) and side aprons (C) are cut to size from $4"2hick stock. But the critical thing here isthe width (height) of the aprons. They need to come ddown fush with the shoulder of the dadoes (Gi4"), as in Fig. 2b. Otherwise, you'll run into problems when adding the beading later. With the aprons cut to size, tenons can be cut on the ends to fit the leg mortises (Figs. 2a and 2b). No. 138 SIDE APRON abbets for web rome ‘There are a number of ways to do this, but again, the important thing, i that the aprons end up flush with the dadoes on the legs. ‘The last step for the aprons is to rabbet their inside edges, as in Fig. 3 below. These rabbets will hold some web frames later, so the width, of the rabbets should equal the thickness of your stock exactly. ‘Woodsmith AsstmBty. Now the legs and aprons are ready to be glued together. ‘You notice in the photo below that 1 clamped a scrap spacer between the two front legs. This spacer is simply there to help keep the assembly square. But it wouldn't be ‘bad idea to leave itin place for sup- port while you begin work on the web frames that fit into the rabbets ‘A To keep the sides square while gluing up the table, simply cut asevap spacer and clamp ic becween the from legs.~ _-Gountersunk shank holes forvertical givers 2H 24] Nore: aia are brated Panes are 1 piwood Web Frames & Vertical Dividers thelegsand apronsassembled, (and the cross rails that connect rate cut, I used my rip fence as a it's time to ereate the drawer open- them) to match the height of the stop, sneaking up on the fit ings. The frst thing to do is make a _rabbets in the aprons perfectly. As for the depth ofthese notches, pair of frames, as shown in Fig. 4. The frontand back rails are cut tothe fist thing to note is that they're (These are identical except thatthe length to fit between the rabbets in not the same for the front and back lower frame has dust panels) Then the side aprons. Then they need to rails. I raised the saw blade so the four vertical dividers can be built be notched to wrap around the legs, _ notch in the front rail would postion fit between the frames (Fig.8). which I didin multiple passes on the the rail" from the front face ofthe FRONT & BACK RAIL. The first frame table saw, as shown in Fig. 5. Jeg Figs.4 and 5a). The notch in the pieces to work on are the front and The key dimension here is the back railis sized to fit into the rabbet back rails (D), as in Fig. 4. The shouldertoshoulder fit between the in the rear apron (Figs. 5b and 5c). lower rails here will have the strips legs (Fig. 5e). there are any gaps ROSS RAILS. When I was satisfied ‘of bead glued to them later, so you at these points, they'll be fairly with the fit of the front and back want the thickness of these rails noticeable, So to get a clean, accu- rails, I clamped the rails in position 10 Woodsmith No. 138in the table and measured between them to find the shoulder-to-shoul- der dimensions of the eight cross rails (B), asin Fig. 4. But when cute ting these pieces to size, remember to add 4" for the 34!"long stub tenon that will be cut on each end, FRAME JOINERY, The frames are held together with stub tenon and groove joinery, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, ‘The grooves are sized to hold a piece of 14" plywood (for the dust panels in the lower frame), and they're cut in all four ofthe front and back rails. But to capture the panels, you'll also want to cut the grooves fon the lower cross rails (one edge of the outside rails and both edges of With the grooves cut, the stub tenons can be cut on the cross rails (Fig. 4a). Here, the important thing is that the shouldertoshoulder dimensions match the opening you ‘measured earlier. (Again, the goal is for the front rail to set back 5" from the front face ofthe leg.) DUST PANES, Next, Idry assembled the lower frame and cut a center panel (F) and two side panels (G) to size from '/(" plywood. Then before ghiing the frames together, I drilled mounting holes in the rails, as you can see in the left margin detail. All four get countersunk holes for attaching the two center vertical dividers (Fig. 8). The upper rails also have countersunk holes for attaching the top panel. But you won't be able to get a screwdriver to the screws unless you drill access holes in the lower rails. Postion Siar, ASSEMBLY. All that's left for these frames is to glue them together. ‘Then when the glue has dried, the frames ean be added to the table. VERTICAL DIVIDERS. Now that the frames are in place, the four vertical dividers can be added, as shown in Fig. 8 Each divider is a two-piece assembly: a vertical panel (H) and a breadboard vertical edging (1). ‘These pieces will end up as tall as the drawer opening, but for now, i's good idea to cut them oversized. Each panel isoined to the edging with a stub tenon and groove joint, as in Figs. 8 and 8a. This is just ike the procedure for the frames, but this time, you can cut the grooves NOTE: Pane! and edin nd esing ‘NOTE: Cut centered e.9n Front and back and ower cross ras (and tenons) exactly ¥" wide since < there's no plywood panel to hold Now the vertical edging can be ‘lued to the panel, and when the f sue is dry, the assembly can be cut to inal size. The height of the verti cal dividers should match the height ofthe openings. And they should be cut to length so they end up flush with the front rails Fig. 8). ASSUMBLY. To add these dividers to the table, the outside two can be Te make web ley ‘glued to the legs (Fig. 8). The inside sods Wea tealaai two need to be screwed in place, but a you've already drilled the shank Tite woes nas China marker, holes for these. Still, I found that scrap spacers helped position them while I was screwing them n2 Bead & Top Panel ‘There are only afew parts eft to add to the table before you can begin on the drawers, as you can see in Fig. 9 built the bead molding and the