Shaker-style Rocker * Footstool * Weaving with Shaker Tape ¢ Birdhouse * Stave Construction Pe CRTC Ee ene selena) Make your own knock- down router table | Build a classicSittin Mer Cue Dito Sete “© pt Degas Ce ee ‘CORPORATE SERVICES, Vie Priest of Pang om Finance: Jen Nacaly « Compal Rotinttatchinon» Seat Lat Tar Aue, Pule Mary Sze Acts Reel Mago PeinsePnducion Dir Gorge Cheb » Prdutin feos i Bees {eer Pepin on Tor nk sgh Nt Nee Monee Contre cabje * eo St yncor Gene scey © Neto Aletta Cots WOODSMITH MAIL ORDER Creioe Dietor Rob Rar Nosriah Ng Nee * Gotan fk ns rose Sap: any Jinn» finer: Cada lenes efeua: Sere fey. Mantel” Opt Tane A “Eas So “TemirrTraceenbrod, Nancy Dobra Ben Debra» Mace Sp ‘Carey * Guy Con! Tea; frank Jotnson Jin, Barnet, Kathy Sith, John. johisen ° Offee ‘asager:Vew Bovants ees ercas emesis Beer rasan = SESE Printed USA, SAWDUST Os ae ‘tions of antique furniture?” The answer a ‘styles of furniture for inspiration, But ‘no, we seldom copy any particular piece os eas a ee and a woven fabric seat it reminds me of the old-fashioned Shaker ene Sa doesn't have any tricky steambent parts or long, turned spindles. The idea was. to make the chair entirely of straight ae as ae oe els. But, it was dif ficult finding dew- els large enough and straight enough for the legs of the rocker. And it can be tricky drilling holes accurately in round stock. oe eae pieces of stock? Then we could use a Targe round-over bit in the router table eo But there’s more to designing a rocker than simply making the parts. It also has to “feel right.” So to make eee ee os Woodsmith Itwast'tanything fancy. Most ofthe parts were cut from 2x’s and quickly glued and screwed together. And to getateelfor weaving the seat and back- rest (something nobody here hed done before). we used some inexpensive nylon webbing. AAs you can see in this photo, the results weren't exactly pretty. But being able to sit in "the prototype made it easy to determine what changes needed tobemade—awider seat, longer rockers, and lowerarms, Footstool. If you prefer something on a smaller scale, the Shaker Footstool on age 16 features many of the same tech: niques. And it can be ‘built overa weekend Infact we buil: two: one to match the maple rocker and another in cherry. SOMETHING NEW I've always felt you can never have too mucin information when itcomes time to build project. So we've decided to offer something new. For a limited time, we're offering copies of the “blueprint style” drawing that wo use to build the projects down in the shop. Ifyoue interested in pur- chasing these shop-drawings, see page 35 for more information, No. 117 ©A LOOK INSIDE Shaker-style Rocker...................0... 6 A hand-woven seat and round mortise and tenon joints are two of the details in our version of a classic Shaker rocker. Working with Dowels.. 14 Whether you're creating your own ace trying to get a perfect fiteing terion on the end, you'll get ic right the first time with these step-by-step tips from our shop. Shaker Footstool ... ‘ 16 Here's a great chance to try the same techniques we used on the rocker. Just make (or buy) « few dowels, purchase some cotton tape and set aside a weekend to make this handy stool. Weaving a Seat .. ..18 (Our step-by-step instructions rake ‘you through tenia of weaving with couion webbing. In no time at all, you'll be putting the finishing touches on a rocking chair or footstool. Birdhouse.......... ae ee Here's a birdhowse with a new “angie” — eight of them in fact. Ove octagonal house design has room for up wo four bird families. And the unique design makes it easy wo “add-on” another level. Stave Construction . 372 Building a project with eight sides doesn’t require a Ph.D. in geor- etry. A table saw, alittle patience, and a few simple tips will help you nl up with perfecting jomes. Departments Tips & Techniques . Shop Notes Reader's Jig . Sources No.117 WoodsmrithFROM Fi Woopwor Cl Protectors Tye tried using those litle plastic chisel protectors on ‘my chisels, but they alvays seem oflloff So decided tomakemy ownprotectars ‘out of wood. The tapered design of my protectors allows the chisel blade to wedge snugly into the ‘opening s0 the protector won't fal off. Each protector is made up of a wedge that is sanc- wiched between two 16" thick faces, see drawing below. (Using con trasting woods makes the chisel protectors a litle ‘more interesting to look at) To make the wedge, simply trace Woodsmith the profile of your chisel blade along the edge of a long blank. (The blank should be at least as thick as your chisel blade, see detail ‘a.) Then cut the taper on a band saw and ad or plane the surface oth and fat. fo ereate the chisel open ing, place the chisel on top of the wedge and trace aroundit, Then cut out the waste on a band saw and glue the wedgein between the twa face pieces. After trimming all three layers so they are flush, round over the sharp edges ofthe protector by sanding them lightly. Then you can apply a finish. John Byen Saint Michal, Minresout ‘GROSS SECTION Taper center section tomatch protie of hie Bade Finishing Shelves Finishing shaves can bea time-consuming task. The problem is that once you've applied the finish to or ‘side of the shelf, you have to wait for it to dry before turning the shelf over to fin- ish theater side While working on apo: Jeetvithalatot selves. 1 caneup wit a tines (a cere ene ey a a) Lena ot protector on seat chee the back edge ofthe shelf to actas temporary “fect” see drawing This way, I could stand the shelfup while applying finich to oth sides. Once the finish is dry, I simply removed the feet. And the screw holes arent visible since they are on the back edge of the shelf Dal Egen Renton, Washigu No. 117Mitered Biscuit Joints 1 recently bought a detail biscuitjoiner (one that uses, “mini” biscuits). The joiner and biscuits work fine for smal projects. But when ‘wanted to use them to make some picture frames, I found it difficult to cut biscuit slots on the ‘ends of the mitered frame pieces. So I decided to make a simple fig to hold the workpieces. ‘Thebase of thejigis just «picce of medium density fiberboard (MDF. Askiding right angle fence is attached to the top of the base, see drawing, By moving the fence in or out, you can accommo- date workpieces of various sizes. A couple of carriage bolts and wing nuts lodkthe fence in position. At the front of the base, I mounted a couple of ‘guide blocks to “corral” the biscuit jointer. These blocks help to center the joiner on the mitered end of the workpiece. To use the jig, simply place the joiner in the eor- ral, Then but the mitered, ‘end of the workpiece up to the joiner, holding fight against the fence of the jig while cutting the slot, see photo and detail To change the height of the slot, simply insert a Wrehics hardboard spac, | er plate under the bis- cuit joiner and between the guide blocks. Robere McMiurty Mil Valley, Calera ‘Whenever | need to mix up a small amount of ‘bwo-part epoxy for a pro- Ject, Tuse one of those Title yellow sticky pads ‘asa “paletic” just mix up the epoxy ‘Hf your tip is ‘depending on the published length, And dont worry, well rewrite the tip and redraw the art, if necessary. Also, please include a daytime phone number so we ean contact you if we have any questions regarding your tip. No. 117 BT ey ‘Ifyou would like to share an original shoptesied ip, send it to: Woodsmith, Tips and Technicues, 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa $0312, Or if t's easier, FAX it to us at: 515:282-6741. Or use ‘our EMail addrese: woodsmith@wodsmith.com, Jnchide a brief explanation and sketch or photo. ‘on top of the pad. After Tmdone (and when the ‘epoxy has hardened.) 1 simply tear off the top sheet and throwitaway, Gary Dale Kenering, Osi Tuble Saw Storage ‘Tho trouble with the metal standsthat eome with most contractor's saws is they don't have any place for accessories. But rather than build an elaborate storage cabinet, found another solution. I simply used a piece of thick pegboard. fastened the pegboard Woadsmith ase asx20") Guide block Cesta) dimersions te match “jour biscuit joiner tothe beltsthat are used to attach the extension wings to the top of the table saw. ‘The pegboard hangs helow thetableand providesaper fect place for storing wrenches, blades, and ‘New Alenia, emrsloaniayoevaal lg PROJECT SHAKER-STYLE ROCKER We designed a traditional-looking rocking chair and built it with a few non-traditional woodworking techniques. Woodsmith ined Shaker rocker: But while we borrowed some ofthe lean lines and graceful curves ofthe Shaker “classic,” there are some significant changes we made to the design ofthis rocker. For one thing, Shaker rockers included legs that were tapered and often given a slight berd Butyou don'tneed a athe orasteambox to build this char: The legs and the rails that connect them are made from simple, straight dowels that are 1704.1 and %4 in diameter. But where do youfind 118-l. dowels —espe- cially ones over 42" Jong? Tlhadit we had a hard time finding sources for dowels this size ourselves. hus, we were concerned that they would not be truly stright and round. But the solutions sim pl. Youcanmake the dowels yourself. Allittzkes isa roster table and afew roundover bits. The technique is straightlorward. And because you npick your own stock, youhaveabetter chance of ending up with dowels that are straight and perfecily round. (We've included a separate arti cl on working with dowels, sce page 1.) ‘There was even an unexpected beneiit technique. The chair requires two sets of holes slong each leg. And hecause the seat is tapered frontto back, these holesaren't 30° to each other Working with store-bought dowels would have required a special holding jig. But with our method, the holes could be drilled in the square blanks before they were “turned” into dowels. Of courso,Thaven't even mentioned the woven seat yet. This is another common feature on Shaker rockers. And here we pretty much stuck to tradition — except for the material that was used for the stufing between the two layers of cotion webbing, (We decided to use a I"foam pad instead of what the Shakers used — horse hair) But other than that, the technique is the samé, refer to the article thet begins on page 18 No. 117Construction etails 2, ‘OVERALL DIMENS! , veel nx reaming SS ONS one er, {Saket e0 ti neg areata | No lITFront & Back Legs ‘Tobni the rocker, Ibegan ith the four legs, see drawing above right. It seems a bit odd to start off with square blanks when the legs are ‘going to end up as dowels — but that’s exctly how tis project begins. ‘ir 10S. Firstcutfour leg blanks 1iAlx 1A), see margin drawings. ‘Then the back (A) and front legs (B) can be cut to rough lenath — 1 sized mine an exira 3 longer tan the finished length of the legs, 1 OUT BLANKS. The nest steps 10 carefull lay out the blanks, see draw ings in margin, First, [measured up 21P) from the end of each blank to ‘mark what will he the bottom edge ‘Then measuring from this mark, 1 Teid out the top end of each lex. ‘rounding over feces, see Fo? ‘TOP SECTION VIEW. ‘a we Notes for—/ rockers cored ontaceoficgs Next, youucan mark the pestion of the holes for the rails. This sounds easy enough, but here area couple things to keepin mind, For onething, you dont outthe front orback) legs exactly the same — they're mirror images of each other, see drawing anddetail‘n'abeve. Also, note thatthe dimensions for the sie rail holes on the front and back legs are not the same, as you might expect, see margin. The holes inthe back legs are 1" closer tothe bottom end. Later, when therockers arealded, this offset willhel tip the chair back ata comioctable angle. ‘The last things to lay out are the notches for therockers, see drawing, I drewthem onboth faces ofthelegs Ghoach lag lank tohelpme keep things oriented. DRUL HOLES. With the legs aid out, thenext step isto rilthcholes. First I dtlled the XP holes forthe eiderails onallfour legs. Just keep inmind that there are two hole sizes. The upper side rail holes are "sia, see above. ‘The lower railsrecuire %4"