ARES aS 7 page S. dsmith Teer ON Uid-Up Bench » Garden Lattice Screens « Tile-Top Table <) Vy ae hs Center i mn Plus:. | e — Three Outdoor Projects ° Po Garden-Lattice Screens Tile-Top Table » Fold-Up Bench. |SAWDUST Tile attending awoodworking show SURVEY. While | think these projects afew yearsback, there wasone par- are interesting, Pd really lke to know ticular demonstration I kept coming what you think of them — and the back to. The thing that intrigued me other articles and projects in this about it was that in just a few hours a issue. So if you'd lke to give us so large dining room cabinet had been feedback, please go to www Wood. assembled from stat to finish smith.com and check out our “Wood ‘The seeret had to do with a special mith Readers! Review” survey joinery technique that was used —a Or you can send 2 SASI : Tan pocket screw joint. With this type of Woodsmith Readers Review, August "Gp. YP Dougs ts Tels An Dinar Dee A Flt» joinery, angled holes are riled in one Home Publishing Co., 2200 Grand Sth ee Cn rl eer face ofa workpiece. Then the twomat- Ave., Des Moines 1A 512. and we'll ing pieces are screwed together. It's a__ mail you a copy of the survey to fill fast and easy way to assemble a proj- out and return to us. ect. (For more on this, see page 18.) ‘WEL? WANTED. One last thing. We're Ever since that woodworking show, looking for another project designer T've been kicking around the idea of _ to join the August Home team here in featuring a project (or two) in Wood- Des Moines. This position requires vith that uses this fechnique. But an indepth kiowledge of furniture @) one thing keps nagging at me — the design, woodworking joinery. and holes for the pocket screws. I didn't home construction, Fus, youl need wantto ce the large, elongated holes to be able to create detailed, computer every time Ilooked atthe project. aided shop drawings So we came up with a couple of If this sounds like the perfect pos: pocket hole projects designed to keep tion for you, please contact: Ted the holes out of sight. Be sure to Kralicek, August Home Publishing check out the Sectional Entertain Co, 2200 Grand Ave.,Des Moines, 1A ment Center that begins on page 6 50312. FAX (515) 282-6741. Or you and the Tile-Top Table star can go to our corporate website at page 22.1 think you'll ike what you wwwAugusiHome.com and look ‘see (and what you don't see) under the “Job Openings” section Woodsmith Readers’ Gallery ‘Visit other Woodsmnith subscribers’ worksliops, and see photos of ‘the projects they've uit. t's all online inthe new Readers’ Gallery on the Woodomith web site: _www.Woodsmith.com ‘We want you to be part ofthe Readers’ Gallery! To ‘submit photos of your favorite Woodemith projects or views of your shop, follow the instructions you'll AS ‘ind at the galery. Woodsmith No. 136A Look iD * Conny Features Sectional Entertainment Center Sines rarely fits all, this ato designed as three separate units. You can all vee — whatever you need for your TV and acces 1 you plans for adding open glass doors Pocket Hole Joinery . Looking for a joinery method tha forward? Pocket holes juse may b n this article, we'll et hole jig and give ‘you some clever tips for getting the best results Tile-Top Table .. atone’: Dimensional umber ar bul this p ke tle that's mset in the 6 ‘op of the table provides a durable surface with a dash of color -26 Folding Bench.. d lever design make this olding bench pe Weather: sistant luonber and also make it ideal for the garden. Departments Tips & Techniques @ Shop Notes... Sources . No. 136 ‘WoodsmithRouter Switch When mounting an on/off —toremove the springs that switch to my shop built close the cover by taking router table, wanted one the pins out that hols the that was easy toreachand cover together, see draw- turn off without having to ing, To do this push them take my eye off the bitand out from the inside using workpiece. My design isa a small drill bit combination that works ‘Then using the self very well and is easy to adhesive foam insulation make with available elec. seal that came with the tical hardware. weather cover, placed two: ‘Usea protective weath: small strips on cither side ercoverandareckerstyle ofthe switch ‘switch that works in.an These act as “shock ordinary single electrical absorbers” to prevent the box. To make the two switch from turning off work together, you have when the cover clo Sanding Disc Holder Storage Often sanding disestendto the dises as 2 template curl up when not in use, I Now dril’o' holes. n the find this.a real pain when base, glue in 3Long Act trying to place a PSA disc dowelsto reach through 2 ‘oa my sander and I don't stack of discs and into the get it on straight the first cap. The holes in the cap time.Icame up withasmal should be oversized. The shop jig that helped keep cap puts weight on the them fat. Take two pieces disesto keep them flat You of wood 6" 6" and camp can even add exira weight them together. Then trace to make sure they stay fat. two holes opposite from Henry Prev ‘one another, using one of King Willem, Vira Woodstuith Foam strips Setar ack ahrorben” for cover under its own weight. The foam gives enough tolet the block contact the rocker switch when the cover is pushed firmly. This 'A"-thick 1" x 1" block is attached to the underside of the cover with some double-sided carpet tape. The block is positioned to contact the itch when closed. The tape allows me to move the block if needed to test it. Gluing it wouldn't allow for adjustments. To use the switch 1 lift Plastic pins are replaced after sping removal Plastic weather the cover and turn it on, but to turn off my router, I simply push the eover. Tad Hendy Vu, Arigna Sen Baitors Note: If you are not familiar with basic electrical principles, you should seo the ‘advice of a licensed electri- cian before dving any wiring.Router Crank Handle Adjustment “The fine adjustment knob crank size. Then to make on my plunge router was the crank fit better, | ‘snalland difficultiouse.1 reamed out the splines in replaced mine with awin- the crankwith a %" bit. Part dow crank for easy adjust- of the shaft on my router is ment and better control. lat, the set screw on the I purchased a window — crank locks it in place. crank at mylocalhardware One of the advantages siore. Since they come into the crank is when 1 ‘several sizes, check to see mount the router under a itt matches the shaft on table The handle is easyto your router The shaft on find and adjust iy router usthappened to Mil Schmid be?/’, which isa standard Srna, Galion PVC Dust Collector Attachment Recenily when building my standard'shop vacaumwith saw by tting the table to I made mine to attach ‘own routertableand fence, an inexpensive 2" vacuum 45° forthe fist cut. Then to a shopmade router ound that an ordinary 3" adapter return the table to 90°for fence. Small #4 x 1%/" tol" Pvcreducerwould —Thelarger3"sideofthe thesccond cut. Thisshould screws attached it to the work great as o dust col: reducers mitered at 245° yield a 90° angle to attach fence. The best way to do lector port. Theadvantage in both directions (see Fig toa fence. Itwon't be cert thiswasto drill rough the it connects easily to a 1a). 1 did this at my band tered, but that's alright. fence and into the reducer. George Glaing a 7 2 vacuum Dover, Delaware ence gapter ZA —— iC radicer “Sf ose ABs AA PVC reducer is cut 1 fit the fence and works w V3 Waste SPVC reducer ; condinary shop vaciuans for Perens router dust colection QUICK TIPS BD ee} HAND CLEANER PUTTY LEVELER For years Ive been using a After buyingan after market If you have an original shop tip, we homemade hand cleaner that dado lade insert for my saw, ‘would like to hear from you and con- works. The recipe is ajust I found that it wasn't level sider publishing your tip in one or equal parts of dry powder with the saw table. Without more of our publications. Just write laundry detergentand corm anyway to agjustit, my sok down your tip and mail it to: meal Thedry soap does the tion was to use some small Woodemith, Tips and Techniques, ‘leaning while thecommeal pieces of plumbers’ putty. 2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, ‘adds the abrasiveneeded to First,ball upsome patty and Towa 50312. Please include your nawe, ‘get that stubborn dirt off It putit on the saw insert sup- ‘address, and daytime phone number works similar to a pumice ports Then putthe inset in in case we have any questions. If you soap, butyoucan make itfor place and level it with a would like, FAX i€ to us at 55282-0741 next to nothing. rolling pin or send us an email message at: wood Charles Schuster Steve Becile smith@woodsmith.com, We will pay up eau, Weeonsin Acer Inc to $200 if we publish your tip. No-136 WoodsmithPaes PROJECT SECTIONAL iu ® ENTERTAINMENT CENTER This contemporary project was built with pocket hole jomery a “new” technique that required some clever cover-ups A project is. The top is a large, solid I'm excited about. Th because ‘wood panelthal willholda fry good: this project was but almost exc SindT here's plenty of sively with pocket hole screws, eer Storage space forall of your bom tthe detail on the next page entertainment components, Even the This has been my fit experience bacchas been careful designed to with pocket hele joinery, ana I wank provide room or organiing cables. ed tose what could be bil with Plus, there are also smaller side But sine cabinets that canbe but an set design, | didnt want have any ganpencel dows Gugelg!, matapockatholsinegie aimee Woortsmith No. 136(OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 42°W x 24°D x28°H Speen side cabir nal side cabinet lou on pape 14 ptons! dks for Main esce on page 12 Face frame covers plywood “inieme Satta shelves Or nd cover pocket holes een te robber aut in end panel to creete small Shadow Ine MATERIALS & SUPPLIES A End Panels(2)_ 34ply - 20/ex21%¢ B Upr. End Rails (2) Ux 14-20% © wr End Rails 2) %x3- 20/5 D End Stiles (4) Ux1-27%6 E Case Top/iim. (2) 4 ply. - 22% x 40% F Center Divider (1) %4 ply. = 1914x 21% G Divider Edging (1) x 14-217 H Front/Back Stiles (4) 4x 1%- 27% 1 Upper Front Ral) %4x 145-3872 4 Lower Front Rail (1) Ux3-38%e KK Upper Back Rail (1), GX - Bla L Lower Back Reil(1) 34%6- 38% M Shelf Standards (8) % x 2% - 217% 'N Back Supports (4) %x 1/2- 19/6 © Back Panels (2) 14 ply.-20% x217% P Shelves() ply. - 19x19 Q Shelf Edging (4) Jax 4-19 R Top Spacers 4x 142-180 rah 'S Top Panel (1) ax 24-42 T Door Stiles (4)* %x2-21 U Door Rais (4)* 34x.2- 158% V Glass Stop” 44x 44-140 rch. (1 pkg) #8 x 174" Pocket Hole Screws (6) #8 x 2" Fh Woodscrews + (16) Spoon-stile shetf Supports ++ (9) #8 x 114" Rh Woodscrews. +(9) #8 Flat Washers +(2) Ye" Glass (157% x 17"%e")* +( pha) #2"-long Bracs* +02 br) 2" x 1%" Nicke!Hinges* (2) 96mm Stainiess-Stee! Puls” ++(2) Magnetic Catches & Strikes + Required forthe optional doors No, 136 ‘Woodsmithall is tahes to add an interesting shadow line wo 1a frame and panel assembly. nore: Case assembled Wein ine read Tit pocket hole Case Construction ‘The parts of this entertainment cen ter are fairly typical for case con- ‘Sruction.Ateach end there are frame and pane! assemblies, and these are ‘connected with top and bottom pan- ‘els Then to create the two openings, vertical center divider willbe added. What's unique here is that almost the entre case is built using a pock- et hole jig and screws. The nice thing is that all the pieces are butt jointed together, so there aren't any dailoes, grooves, or other joints to cut On the other hand, I found that this lack of traditional joinery meant that I needed a few “helpers” when it was time to assemble the case. ‘But more on that later. IND PANELS. As with many cases, the first thing to workon are the end assemblies (Fig, 1). But with pocket screws the sequence is a bit differ- ent. Instead of starting with the frames, I cut the 34" plywood end panels (A) to Size first. ‘When frame and panel pieces are the same thickness (as they will be here), i's pretty tough to get them NOTE: Set stile next to sesemtly cane eee Woodsmith, flush al the way around the panel 1 sidestepped the problem by creat ing a shadow line that accents the panel and hides the joint lines, as shown in the margin photo at left ‘This is easy to do — just cut a tiny rabbet around each panel (Fig. 1a). UMLS & STLE. With the rabbets cut con the panels, the rails and stiles can beaded to.reate the frame around the panel (Fig. 1). I started with the upper (B) and lower end raits (C) ‘ince they're cut to length to match ‘the width ofthis panel, When attaching the rails to the panels, the pocket holes could have been drilled in either the panels or the rls. As you can see in Fig. 1,1 drilled them in the rails. This meant thatthe holes in the upper rails were drilled partially into their edges, but this method is better because these hholes will end up neatly hidden by the top and bottom panels later on. [ should also note two things here before going on. One is that while in ‘most situations the locations ofthe pocket holes aren’ critical, Tve included them here because there are so many screws used to build this project (Fig. 1b). This way, youll be sure to avoid driling into a neighboring pocket hole (or screw). No, 136‘The other thing to note has to do with the use of glue. Technically, the screws should provide plenty of holding power. But to play it safe, it ‘would be a good idea to apply glue too, However, you'll want to use the sue sparingly so you don't have @ Iotof excess to clean up ‘To complete the frames, the two end stiles (D) are ready tobe ached Fig. 2). These pieces are sized to extend below the lower rato create short legs. It sounds simple enough, but with the stiles offset, they're not identical — the pieces are actually mirrored images of each other. So to drill the pocket holes in the right place, i's best to lay the stiles next tothe assembly and mark the edges that you'l be driting into, TOP & BOTTOM. Now that the end assemblies are complete, they can be connected with the ease top and bottom (B), as shown Figs. 3 and 4. ‘These 3" plywood panels are ident- cal, and once they've been cut to size, they're ready to be serewed to the end assemblies, I started with the ease top. After Arilling the pocket holes in each end of the panel, is screwed tush with the top edges of the end assemblies. to the ends while you're driving in the screws takes more than two hands. So I mae a couple L-shaped braces to help hold the assembly square while it was being screwed tied to position center dnider together, as shown in Fig. 2. (Here, i's okay to screw into the top face of the pane] — itl get covered with a hardwood top panel later) When attaching the case bottom, youll ned to fip the assembly over, as shown in Fig. 4 The idea here is to position the upper face of this panel even with the top edge ofthe lower end rail, as indicated in Fig. 4a, There's nothing tricky about this. All you need to do is clamp a ‘Woodsmith serap cleat across each end and let the cleat support the panel while you screw it in place. DIVIDER. To divide the ease into two equal openings, the next piece to make is the center divider (P). ‘When cutting this panel to size, note that it won't end up as deep (wide) as the top and bottom panels. As ‘you can see in Fig. 5, itis hush with the front ofthe case and stops a few inches short in back. (This space Will be used to create a litle trough or pocket for the cables) Before the plywood divider can be screwed into the case, it needs a piece of edging (G) to cover the plies inthe front. 1 made this thin ip qdiciy aid wily by: cipriog’a Ijovide strip from an oversized Piece of thick hardwood. ‘The center divider is the only ‘case piece that isn't attached with pocket hole screws. Instead t's sim ply screwed to the top and bottom panels, lush with the front edges (Cig. 5a). But this panel isn’t much ‘easier to hold in place than the top ‘and bottom panels were, soyou may ‘want to clamp some cleats to the case for support — similar to what you did with the bottom panel.NOTE: Face frames ined with pocket seroma spawn ‘detals'e and > ‘NOTE Poston omer rent rll fash with cae bottom pane Face Frames, Shelf Standards, & Backs Now that the main case has been assembled, its time to add a pair of face frames, some shelf standards, and a couple of back panels. FACE FRAMES. I stared with the face: frames that cover the plywood edges Of the case at the front and back ig. 6). Typically, Td just add a face frame to the front of a case, But the back frame here will create a shal- ® ow trough or pocket for the cables. When gluing a face fame to a large case, i'snearlyimpossibleto get the ediges completely fush. So I usually plan to do a little “touch-up.” Most times, Muse my block plane, setting ‘tio take very fine shavings, see draw- ing. Oriftheres a only slight shout der. 1 sand it fush, using a sending 10 “These two face frames aren't iden- tical though. While the stiles (H) fare the same, the lower back rail (L) is wider than the lower front rail (J). And to allow the back pau ‘ls to fit through the opening later ‘on, the upper back rail (K) is nar- rower than the upper front rail (2). Once the face frame pieves are ‘cut to size, they're simply screwed together. This is where pocket hole joinery really shines. These frames are quick and easy to assemble. The only thing to give extra attention to is the position of the lower front rail. ‘You want ito end up Bush with the inate) el oe Front face rae (back view) ro —ap-4 7-8} : top face ofthe case bottom. So I set each stile against the case and marked the position of the bottom panel. These marks can then be used fo postion the lower front rl ‘When the face frames are assem. bed, they're ready to be screwed to the ease (Fig. 7). Don't worry ifthe frames and case don’t end tip per- fectly fusi all the way around. You can always do alte trimming later, as shown in the box at let. SHEL staNDARDS. With the face frames in place, you can make the shelf standards (M) next (Fig. 8). ‘These ‘4'thick pieces have a seriesof holes for holding spoon-style shelf pins. But they do more than just support the shelves, These stan- dards also cover the most visible pocket holes inside the case. ‘The shelf standards.at the front of the case can simply be glued and clamped to the sides and center divider. The standards glued flush with the back of the center divider are also easy enough to install. “The trick i the back standards at the ends — they also need to align with the back of the divider. This is easy to do with a couple of scrap ‘spacers. But then they're inset too {far for clamps to reach them. So to ‘hold them, I cut some thin, exible strips and wedged them between the standards while the glue dried, as you can see in Fig.9. Ack SUPPORTS. While the glue on the standards was drying, I cut four 3gahick back supports (N) to fit between the standards at the top ‘and bottom of the case (Fig. 8). And Since they're flush with the back ‘edges of the standards, I used the same spacers and flexible strips when gluing them in place. ‘HACK PANELS. At this point, the 1A” plywood dack prrnets (0) can be cut to finished size to fit inside the case, as shown in Fig. 10. But before gh ing these panels in place, Tcut three aceess slots across the back of each (a, 102). This will make iteasier to feed the cables through when con- necting the components, as well a5 let the ar circulate freely. To make No. 138 wh center aver wt Setig Slow these slots, I first drilled a 1"dia. hole at each end, Then the waste between the holes can be removed ‘with a sabre saw, and the slots can be sanded smooth. ‘The back panels have to be angled to be slid in front of the back face Woodsmith frame (which is why there are two back panels in the first place). And the back face frame also prevents you from being able to nail the pan els in place. But a few serap spacers ‘will apply enough pressure to hold them whilethe glue dries (Fig. 10b). uThe decorative shadow line on the end assemblies is repeated tnder the top peel. This time, it's creaed swith hin spacers 2 NOTE: Make four shelves Shelves & Top ‘The mizin case ofthe entertainment center isjus about complete All thats left is todd some adjustable shelves and a hardwood top with some thin spacers asin Fig. Habove. SHEWVES. The shelves (P) are 3" plywood panels with hardwood edg- ing (Q) added to the front of cach. (For the edging, | ripped a Y4"-wide strip from "thick hardwood) ‘Then to make it easier to organize the cables (and let the air circulate), [used my sabre saw to create a ‘cutout on the back of each shelf and ‘sanded this profile smooth. 46 x Tit «96° Hard Maple (48 Bd. Ft) € — 26" x Tt - 96" Hard Maple (4.8 Bd. F) # z 2Ur x TUS - 96" Hard Maple (4.8 Bd Ft) = NOTE: Shelves are 3° Biywood and reston te" spoon: “tule shelf pins TOP PANEL & SPACERS. Now that the shelves ae in place, the les area to work on is the top of the ease. As voutcan see in Fig. I, there are two layers here: A large panel that rests on alayer of thin spacers, ‘The actual top panel (S) is glued up from */"thick hardwood. And while the gue is drying on this panel, you can begin working on the second layer that's sandwiched between the top and the case (Fig. 11).It’sathin “rame” oftop spacers (R) cut from stock that’s been resawn or planed down to #4" thick CUTTING DIAGRAM 14" = 48" £ 96" Maple Plywood SHELF EDGING Gere) ‘The spacersare mitered to length so they set 14" back from the edges of the case, as shown in Fig. 11a. ‘This creates a thin shadow line simi- lar to te one on the end panels of the case. (See margin photo at left) ‘Also to help support the top panel, I added a spacer atthe center. ‘When the glue is dry. the ease top can be cut to match the case and then serewed in place. I made the shank holes oversized so the top can expand and contract freely. (To find out how I finished the entertain- ‘ment center, turn to page 17.) w ‘ Fe MK" x Tk" - 96" Hard Maple (Two Boards @ 4.8 Bd. Ft. Each) = f He) z zi LA hele z Slit Setenustiral w M i” NOTE: Top spacers (R) and glas stop (V) must be resawn to get banks needed. x | ‘Woodsmith No. 135awe, eae ‘Subsite OPTIONAL Doors If you'd lke to build a pair of inset doors for this entertainment center, ‘youl find they're jut simple frames with glass panels, as shown in Fig. ike the face frames on the case these doors could've been built quickly with pocket hole joiner Plus, you can bay hardwood plugs for making the pocket holes les vis ible. (For sources, see page 35) rane, But I cidn't want the join ‘ery tobe visible at all, so I built the door frames with stub tenons and srooves (Figs, Lad 1a). And when sizing the door stiles (T) and raile (1), Lallowed for as" gap around the two doors, but no gap between them. (This makes the math a bit easier, and the edges of the center NOTE: inivaly, door fore tsp on tee Bote edges et no ‘p9p botaten don ss Bo Bir) SI] tem door bee | Teente tae ‘create an even Ye" gap.) With the stiles and rails cut t0 fi a Size,)Alep grooves need to be cut © on the inside eds of the pieces Al tae (ig. ta) Then you can cat the stub sen Ue a tenonst ft nto these grooves. Afier the frames have been assemn- Ud, theyrereadyfortherabbet that make installation easier, Lcut the Quarterround glass stop (V) will willhold the glass (Fig. 1o). Withthe mortises in the door frames only, as hold the glass in place. (When mak grooves already cul, there's not indicated in Fig. 3a. (The hinges willing these tiny strips, i's best to start ‘much material lefito he removed, so be surface mounted tothe case) To with oversized pieces to be safe.) the rabbet can he routed in a single do this, I used my table saw, attach- ‘Then they’re mitered to length and pass (Fig. 2). But youl sil need to ing a tall aniary fence to the miter nailed to the frame (Fig. 1) ‘sjuare up the corners with achisel. gage to support the frame (Fig.3). MOUNT D0DRS, Now the doors are HINGE MORTSES planned to mount GUASS. At this point, the doors are ready to be mounted to the case. the doors on butt hinges. And io ready for the 'A’ glass panels. With inset doors the goal isto get aneven gap around and between the doors. I ike to concentrate on the ‘gaps around the doors first. Then g the gap between the doors isa simple matter of planing or sand- ing litle off each center stile HARDWARE. When the doors fit well, the last step is to add pulls to the doors and magnetic catches to the inside ofthe case (Figs. Ib and 4). 8 No. 136 ‘Woodsmith BSIDE CABINET This side ick” binetis the perfect “side- o the entertainment center on 6, Since its top panel is flush sides, the cabinet willnestle up tight on either side of the TV eab- inet. And the small drawer and adjustable shelf offer quite a bit of ‘additional space for storage But don't limit this cabinet to being just 2 component of the enter tainment center. When set next to a bed or arm chair, as shown in the photos below, it also makes 2 great little nightstand or end table CONSTRUCTION NOTES. As you might expect, building this cabinet is simi: lar to building the TV cabinet —only this one is even easier because the workpieces are smaller. However, there are some important differ- ences to note, Instead of a vertical ccenter divider, the side cabinet has a horizontal divider that creates a small drawer opening. Plus, back is quite a bit different. It still has face frame, but there's no ply wood back to the cabinet and no pocket for excess cables. ND ASSEMBLES, This small cabinet s out just lke the larger TV unit: by building two end shown in Fig. 1 First, the end panel (A) is cut to size, and the small rab bet that creates the shadow line is ccut,refer to Figs, Land laon page 8 Next, the upper (B) and lower end raits (C) are attached to the Jeri TV cabinet. It's the perfect size for ani 1s good as che from, it can be set cat away Nightstand or end table. This side cabinet doesnt hae be panel with pocket hole screws. ain, [drilled the stepped holes for the screws in the rails (instead of the panel) so they'd end up being hidden later. Then thetwo sfiles (D) ccan be cut to size andl attached 10 the assembly. And as on the larger case before, you want to get pocket holes in the right places, <0, when laying them out, is best to the sills next to the assembly looks an end table (right) And since the bas from the wal Woodsmith CONNECTING PANELS. With the stiles in place, the two end assemblies are ‘complete and can be connected with the 34" plyw (E) panels (Fig. 1). Here's wher the big difference beoween the (wo cabinets begins. Instead of a vertical center divider. these side cabi have a horizontal divider (2) that wil support the drawer The divider is identical to the top and bottom panels except for thing. I drilled 5/'ia. access hol in each corner so Td be able 10 screw the hardwood top panel to the igs. 1b and 4a), And while | was at it, drilled the over sized sha Che") in the top (6). (They're oversized so the hard- wood top will be able to expand and id top (B) and botton cease later on ( hol contract with ¢ When connecting the end assem: blies with the plywood panels, ed with the top and bottom pie To do this, I used braces and ch just as I did before with TV cé refer to Figs. and 4 on page 9. Aaching the divider is the bottom panel. I's positioned by anges in humidity) No. 136a couple of cleats, but these scrap pieces can be cut to match the height of the opening between the top and divider 124"), as shown in Fig. 2. Then with the case flipped upside dowa, the divider and cleats simply rest on the top panel. FACE FRAMES, Now the front and back face frames ready to be added to the case, as shown in Fig. 3. The front face frame establishes the opening for the drawer, while the fone in back merely cleans up the back side so youl be able to set the cabinet out away from a wall, When cutting the face frame pieces to size, the four front and back stiles (F) are identical, as wel asthe lower mils (D. There are two narrow upper front raits (G) that create the drawer opening. And as tor the upper back rail (H), its 6%" ‘wide and covers the entire back of ‘the drawer opening. Assembling the face frames here isn't uch different than those made for the TV cabinet. Both lower rails should end up flush with the bottom panel, a8 shown in Fig. 3a And there's the extra upper front rll that should also be flush with the divider. In both cases, you can set the stiles against the case and mark the loca: tion ofthe plywood panels TOP PANEL & SPACERS, After the face frames had been pocketscrewed to the front and back of the case, the next area | worked on was the top of the cabinet, Like the TV cabinet, there are two layers here. a you canseein Fig. 4. First, I ued up an oversized 34! thick hardwood top panel (K). ‘Then while the glue was drying, I worked on the top spacers (J). Again, these create the shadow ine under the top panel, so you'll nced to plane or resaw some Stock down to %6’ thick for these pieces. Thea they're simply mitered to length so they set back '4" from the outside edge of the cabinet. After the top spacers have been ‘giued in place, the top panel can be cut to finished size and then serewed downto the cabinet. (oul need a long screwdriver to be able to tighten the woodserews.) No. 196 Allpitpostioned ‘ais igo brn te face of pond pare’16 Drawer Now thatthe case forthe side cabinet is complete, the neat thing to work oom is the small drawer that fits into the opening, as shown in Fig. 5. UT TO S28. When sizing the drave er pieces, | eut the frowt and back (L) sa there would be a % gap at the sides and top. The side (M) pieces are resawn or planed down to ‘YP thick and are eat to length so the drawer ends up 14" short of the full depth of the cabinet. (Later a stop will be added so the drawer ends up flush with the front face.) LOCKING RABBET JON. To join the drawer pieces, I used a fairly simple locking rabbetjeint as described in the box below. However, if you own arouter and a dovetailjig, the pieces are sized so that you could join them ‘ith half blind dovetails 20TTOM, Before assembling the Grawer pieces, you'll want to cut a groove near the bottom of cach Piece to hold 2 14" plywood drawer bottom (N), 38 shown in Fig. 52. Once the bottom is eut to size, the drawer can be glued together, and the pall can be alded to the front. GUIDES, KIKER, & STOP. To guide the drawer in and out of the opening, there are a few more pieees to ad. First, 1 glued drawer guides (O) along the sides of the cabinet. These Rs ee a ‘To build the drawers onthe small cab- inet, Iused a locking rabbet joint, see Dhoto. Itarmech stronger tana sit. ‘ple buttor rabbet joint, and itsnot as. difficult as cutting dovetails. 610m stavros: ‘See! puil AOE Frawer Sider ara foo eoriom Ce piy=1ae x 1580) "8" size to put drawer is cut on the front ad be as in Steps 1 and 2. Th tongues simply lock into in cach side piece, sce Step3.: ate sized to stick past the face frame Fig. 5b. (To make it easier to “feed” the drawer into the cabinet, | tapered the froat 1" ofeach guide with sandpaper.) Next, to keep the drawer from tip- ping.as it’s pulled out, glued akick- er (P) under the top of the case ig. 6. Then T added a stop (Q) at the back of the case. You'l want to sneak up on the width of this piece so that when the drawer stops against it, the drawer’s front face willbe flush with the face frame. SHELVES & STANDARDS. For this small cabinet, I saved the shelves for last ig. 7). To support these panels, four shelf standards (R) will need tobe resawn or planed down to %" thick. They're basically the same as the standards in the TV cabinet Gust shorter), as shown in Fig. 7. Finally. you can cut the shelf (S) to Size from °4" plywood Fig. 7) ‘And since this cabinet is open in the back as well as the front, I glued hardwood edging (7) to both the front and back edges of the shel, ‘MATERIALS & SUPPLIES ‘A EndPanels(2) 34 ply. - 14% x 18% B Upper End Rais (2) WXI2- 14 © Lower End Rails (2) x3 14% D End Stiles (4) Mae) 24M E Top/Btm /Divider (3) 3% ply. - 16% x 16% F FrontBack Stiles (4) Ux V%e- 24% G Upper Front Rails (2) Wx We- 1a H Upper Back Rail (1) Ux 6-14 A Front/Back Lower Rails (2) 34x 3- 14% 3. Top Spacers (1) Yax\'p-90.ch. ‘K Top Panel (1) %x 18-18 L Drawer Fronv/Back 2) 4x 3%he- 14% M Drawer Sices (2) Wx3%e- 16% 'N Drawer Bottorn (1). % ply. ~ 13%x 15% © Drawer Guides (2) ax ie - 1615 P Drawer Kicker (1) Vx %- 16% Q Drawer Stop (1) Ux 14% R Shelf Standards (4) 4x 22-13% Shelf (1) ‘ply. 15% x 15% T Shelf Edging?) xa - 15% + (1 pkg) 124" Pocket Hole Sciews ++ (4) #Bx 114" Rh Woodscreves (a) #8 Fat Washers (1) 96mm Stainless-Steel Pull + (@) Spoon-Style Shelf Supports No. 136 iets STANDARD Ce this) ‘Woodsmith igAssen} PROJECT Pocket HOLz JOINERY P| | Drill it, clamp it, and drive it — you'll be impressed at how quickly a pocket hole joint can pull everything together. sn't get much simpler than this — basically just butt joints that are screwed together. But the screws aren't sunk “straight” through the ‘workpieces ike they normally woul be. Instea theyre set ata slight angie (45°). This means the screw enters the face of one piece and “bites” into the exge ofthe mating piece. as indi- cated in the photo below. ENE It docen't take long to see the benefits to this, Since these are butt joints, cutting pieces to length requires almost no math, You don't have to ad or subtract the lengths ‘of any tenons orallow forthe depths of dadoes, grooves, or rabbets. Just ‘measure, mark, and cut. Creating the joint is fast too. That's because there are just {wo steps, Firs you drill the holes. Then you screw the pieces together. The ‘only clamping that may be required is to keep the pieces from shifting while you're driving the screws ‘And if you reinforce the joint with lue, there's no waiting for it to set ‘As soon as the screws are in place, you can move on io the next joint. POCKET HOLE JIG. Sound simple enough? It is. But lke any method A.simplejig, of joinery, you need to have the «special dil bt, right tools on hand in order to work cand a sef-tapping serew work together to create a fast As you can see in the box at right, 18 strong joint. Y there are a number of pocket hole jigs available. But they all do exacily the same thing: guide the drill bit so it will drill an accurate hole exactly 15° into the face of a workpiece, asin Fig. 1. That's all there is toit Note: The jig shown in this issue is the “Rocket” made by Kreg Too! Company. For sources, see page %. RIL Bi. But there's more to pock: et hole joinery than just a jig. You'll also want to have the right drill bit. It makes the job much quicker and the pocket holes more consistent. ‘What's unique about this special bits that it drills two holes at once. ‘The part you see, the oval-shaped ‘counterbore, holds the head of the serew, It's just deep enough to put the head below the face of the work. piece. The second hole is for the Woodsmith shank of the screw to pass throug! Okay, you know what the bit does, but how does it drill both holes at the same time? Simple. The drill itis “stepped” — about 14" of the tipisa smaller diameter than the rest of the bit, as in the right margin photo, | like the bits with square “steps” or shoulders (not the tapered ones). This way, the head of the serew has something solid to stop against, and there's less chance ‘twill try to drive in farther CONSISTENT DEPTH, Of course, the holes have to be drilled at « consis: tent depth in the first place. So you need to have a stop collar for the Aril bit. (Not all come with them.) And to set this collar, you need to know where the hole should sop. 1 ike the bit to stop so the shank hole ends up just short of the edge of the workpiece, as shown in Fig. 1a. Ifyou drill completely through the piece, the wood usually splin- ters, which may prevent the two pieces from fing together tight. No, 136cone pai. When drilling the pocket holes. like to use a corded, dectric drill. It has more power and ‘speed than a cordless drill, which is pretty helpful when drilling, into hardwoods. Plus, you won't have to worry about running down the bat tery with repeated use. WHICH WOREPECE? As far as the Griling goes, that’s about it. Bat there are a couple more things to mention. First, you need to decide which workpiece to drill the pocket in, [like to thnk ofthe screws a3 if they were tenons (or tongues, i'm ‘working with plywood panels). So the piece Pd normally cut the tenon «ns usually the one that gets the pocket holes. Most times, this means the sorew threads are cutting into edge or cross grain (which is uch sironger than ifthe serews were being driven into end grin) However, this isnt an unbreak ablerule, On the entertainment cen ter on page 6, | often drove the screws into the edge ofa plywood panel rather than into the edge sain ofthe frame around it because Tas able to hide the screws better ST0ac TWeRNEs. The other thing to mention is that pocket hole jigs are designed to work primarily with 34" thick stock, as shown in Fig. Ta. In PICKING A POCKET HOLE JIG ‘When you're ready to try pocket hole joinery, you won't have any trouble finding ajg. As you can see inthe photo, there arcatleasta half dozen available, 2nd youl ind them just about everywhere. (See page 35) But when comparing the costs, make sure you know what you're geiting —and what you're not. 46. When choosing a jig, there is really just one essential: hard- ‘ened guides. (Most jigs do have them, but notall) And I found the positioning stop on the end of the Kreg *Rocket” and some of the other jigs to be help. As far as being able to adjust the width other words, when the jig is aligned with the edge of the workpiece, the screw will come out roughly cen- tered on the thickness ofthe stock. However, the jig also can also be used to join 1'f"-thick Ctwo-y") stock and "thick stock (Figs. 1b and Ie). But you'll have to adjust the bitisas important as the right ig. liked bits with square shoulders (stead of tapered). Plus youl need astop collar fr the bit. OTHER ITIMS. Resifes these two Woodsmith position of the jig on the piece and reset the depth collar. There can be « bil of trial and error here, and to check the setup, just run a screw through a test piece to see where it exits (and how far). Note: The Arey fig shown here has an extra spacer for 14p"thick stock, items, you'll also need a long power driver and some special screws. (More on all this begin- ning on page 20.) Plus, Kreg sells a face clamp that’s pretty handy. J A Like ewo dil is in one, the bit used for pockec holes aris the counter- bore and shank hole in ome quick step. The stop colar ensues consistent resultsAssembly As soon as the holes have b drilled, you're halfway to a strong pocket hole joint. The second step is to screw the workpieces together. Thisis just about as easy asit sounds, but again, there are some important differences from the way you're used toworking with wooskscre SHUFTAPPING SCREWS. The first big Aifferen used. Instead of rey screws, pocket hole selftepping screws, as you can in the margin drawing below. These have an auger point, which allows them to drive into the mating work piece witout spiting the wood. Because these serewsare selftap- ping, you'll want to match the threads on the serews with the type so a coarsethreaded screw is more used were square drive) You ean re using. But don't aggressive and drives in noticeably get by with a 3long driver (and worry. The big decision is whether faster. However, with softer woods, anyway, it’s a good idea to have one tochoose fine or coarse threads. like cedar, you need to watch that on hand when you need to get inw a Generally, the finethreaded — youdon'tdrive the serews in too fr. tight corner), but you'll find that a Thisisa eal possibilty —evenwith 6"long driver is much easier to ‘oak, maple, and cherry. The the square shoulder ofthe counter workwith,[tletsyou drive the pock- threads have a shallow bore and the panhead on the screw. et screws in athe shallow 15° angle pitch so the screw ‘DRILL WITH CLUTCH. The way fo pre-and still have enough clearance for = \ derives in a it vent driving the screws in too far i the chuck ofthe dail ))}) slower than the to use a drill with a clutch, (This ASSEMBLY. When you're ready to 7 LJ) comsethireated time, Luse a cordless drill) You can screw the two pieces together, the vy r: screws tend to. play with the setting, but with soft. important thing is to make sure WE Spare wea This. way, these woods. is goingto betairlylight. they're not going to shift during none serews will be less Tf you don’t have a drill with a assembly. Remember, the shank likelyto break when being clutch, you might want to drive the hole isa smaller diameter than the & Pocket hole screws driven into a hard piece of maple. screws in most of the way and then threads of the screw, and it’s not is the se PockeT HOLE ‘SCREWS Fine thread ordwood) aren't your typical (The shank of the screw is also finish them with a screwdriver. drilled completely through the first ‘woodworking thicker for this same reason) LONG DRIVER. Besicos a drill with a piece. So the two pieces will want to screws. They're Breaking screwsisalittieless ofa clutch, you will also need a long pull apart slightly as the threads of panheadl-eype concern for softwoodsand plywood, driver. (The pocket hole serews I the screw start to engage the m screws that have selftapping threads and on auger pot. ‘With pocket hole joinery, the key to agoodassembly sto keep the pieces from shifting while the screws are being driven. For face frames and other flat assemblies, [came up with is plywood platform, > ‘Two short fences position the workpieces 20° to each other, and 10 ‘help keep the pieces from shifting while the screws are being driven, I placed strips of adhesive-backed ‘sandpaper across the base. 20 ‘Woodsmith No. 136a ee . ing piece, especially with the more aggressive, coarsethreaded screws, ‘The screws will pull the joint back tight, but sometimes, the pieces will ‘have shifted slighty so that there's a ‘small shoulder between them. ‘There area couple of ways to pre vent the workpieces from shifting. Kreg offers a face clamp that has large, flat dise welded to one of the pads, refer to the main photo oa page 18. (For a lst of sources, see page 35). This disc is positioned across the outside faces othe work: pieces to hold them flush. This doesn’t actually Keep them from separating. Instead, it prevents the faces from shifting out of alignment, and in my experience, the screws always pulled the two pieces back tight with no shoulder. ‘The other way to hold the work, pieces is simply to clamp them lke ‘you typically would if they were being assembled by some other method — only you won't need to leave the clamps on. Or for flat assemblies, like face frames, you can use the assembly platform Shown in the box on page 20. GLUE. By the way, whether or not you add glue'to the ointis upto you. Even though the pocket screws are plenty strong, I generally think it's ‘200d idea. Just go light on the glue so there's not alot of clean up. ‘ASSEMBLY TIPS ‘That's essentially all there is to ‘assembling a pocket hole joint. But nnotall assemblies are quite so straight- forward. There are plenty of situa- tions when you could use alittle hep positioning a workpiece. However; its really jst a matter of geting used to anew method of assembly withadif- weer ge Beas ferent set of challenges than traci- tional gluing and clamping. And the solution isustally as easy as adding, ‘ascrap spacer or cleat. DRAWER RAs. Take & face frame with a drawer opening, for instance. ‘Once the outside frame is assem bled, Hike to cut a scrap piece to match the height of the drawer opening, as you can sce in Fig. 1. ‘This spacer makes positioning the Aérawer rail quick and accurate — “especially if you're building more than one face frame. OFfSET SHOULDERS, Another time a spacer comes in handy is when you don’t want the faces to end up flush. ‘When building a table base, usual ly like to set the aprons back from the outside faces of the legs, as in ig. 2. To create this shoulder with pocket hole joinery, all you need to 4 is slip a small spacer under the piece you want offset, ‘ASE CONSTRUCTION. Other times, you'll need to make cleats and cor- ner braces, a8 I did on the entertain- ‘ment center. (Refer to Figs. 3 and 4 ‘on page 9.) However, since there are no rabbets or dadoes to position the workpieces, you have to be dou- ‘iy sure they're square and aligned properly before you ad the screws, Allin al, Fd have to say that pock- et hole joinery is pretty impressive. Its fast and strong, and there are lots of times when that’s exactly what I need. It won't replace tradi tional joinery in my shop, but the jig {sa g00d tool to have on hand.fetnen sue) S041 TweTor TABLE e How do you build a sturdy outdoor table without any tricky mortise and tenon joinery? Using pocket screws makes it quick and easy. loors. But after seeing the dazens ‘of colors finishes, and textures avail- able at the home center, I thought it ‘would be perfect fora small, outdoor table Pd been planning. The tile will take whatever the elements (or a drinking glass) can dish out. bbe surprised by how quickly this table comes together. ‘The secret is that its made up of a half-dozen frames put together with pocket screws. Four frames form the base, and two more surround and support the ceramic tile BASE The first set of frames to make are the ones that form the bas SMES. I started by making the stiles (the longer pieces of each frame). ‘There are four narrow stiles (A) and four wide stiles (B), as shown in Fig. 1. When the bas assembled, the edge of a narrow ‘ile will it into a rabbet in a wide Sle, as shown in Fig. 1a. This way, the stiles all look the same width. MATERIALS, SUPP! A Narrow Sties (@) 4412-16 B Wide Stiles (4) ¥4x2%- 16% © Raik @) Ura 10% D Cleats 2) 5x 4-137 E Slats (5) Yx2- 13% F Molded Rails(2) 44x 3%- 10% G Molded Sties 2) %4x3%- 16% H Top Rails (2) Ux3-11% 1 Top Stiles (2) Ux3-17% J. Spacers (4) ox iie-11% *» G6) 86x 176" Coarse Thr. Pocket Screws + (18) 114" Deck Scrows + (1) 12% x 12° Ceremic Tile After cutting the stiies to size, you ‘can cut the taper at the bottom of by a couple of rails. If you look at Seach one, ‘The last thing to doto the st to rout chamfers on the edges wit the tapers, and also along the bot- end. (There's more about pocket tom edges, lke you see in Fig. 1b. AALS, Each pair of stiles is joined shown in Fig. 1b. Fig. 1 again, you can see that the nails (C) are identical in size, with two pocket holes drilled near each hole joinery on page 18) 44 x5)" 72" B75.60. Fe) Ea Boeke ie eed Renee eae, 7564) Woodsmith No. 136The differences between the top ‘and bottom rails are that the top rails have two more pocket holes. Thes d later to secure the top of the table. Also, the bottom rails have chamfers on all the edges, while the top edges of the top rails remain square, as shown in Fig. 1b. ‘(Square edges provide a broader ‘surface for attaching the table top.) “The pocket screws make it quick and exsy to fasten the rails to the just make sure each assem- Lly has two stiles of the same width. RABRETS. After the frames are screwed together, the wide stiles get a rabbet cut along the edge, as shown in Fig. la. | did this with a dado blade, but it also can be done with a regular blade. Details about doing thisare on page 25. ASSEMBLY. When dry assembling the ouble keepi shown in the photo at right, Once the base is assembled, yout ‘ean hide the Joint lines with a little chamiering trick illustrated in Fig. 2a. Simply adjust the height of the Dit unt it just touches the joint line UAT. The shelf in the bottom of the table isa just a series of slats. To ‘supportthem, Teuttwo cleats (D) to fit inside the base (Fig. 25). Ifyou look at Fig. 2c, you'll see that later, slats are serewed to the cleats. So I drilled the shank holes and countersinks for the hamfers on ‘ang ede ofa NOTE: Frames anembled rth fect e" coare ‘hresd pocket nagnow ‘sme ® elore scembling frames Soe dotah OTE: cutrabbers Invwice ses coy now, before the cleats are glued in place. FinalW, the cleats are glued to the base so the slats (added next) will st fush with the top of the rails. SLATS. Now yout can move on to the slats (Fig. 2). Aiter the slats (B) are cet to size and chamfered, they can bbe screwed to the cleats. To center the slats in the base, I secured the middle one first, then spaced the remaining slats #/)" apart (Fig. 20). ‘alse it forouh Jontieve KS Top edge of ‘op docznot get ‘Samierea Accouple of squar ing forms cu from scrap plywood help keep the base square while the band clams are tightened. Use an exeerive grade glue ae © SECTION VIEW 225 1a? deck screw 13h [NOTE:Pesition ceats so sas are fash with tops of ras WoodsrnithTable Top ‘The top of the table consists of two frames that support and surround the ceramic file, plas some spacers that the tie wil rest on OLDED FRAME, The frst frame to makeis the lower, molded frame. The molded rails (P) have two pocket holes drilled towards each end and a shank hole fora serew centered on their width andlength as you can see inFig.3. The molded stiles (@) each get three shank holes. Afier assembling the molded frame with pocket stews, routacove around the bottom edge (Fig. 3b). With that completed, you can set the ‘molded frame aside for now and move on to the top frame. ‘TOP FRAME. The exact lengths of the ‘rails and stiles for the top frame will depend on the size of your tile, What youwantto end upwith sa Ys gap between each edge af the tile and the top frame. To accomplish this, just measure the width ofthe tie. Then add '4" to this measurement to find the length of the top rails (H). The top stiles (1) should be 6" longer than the rails. (This accounts for the com- bined width ofthe rails) Before assembling the frame with pocket screws, routa chamfer around both faces of each piece (Fig. 3). ‘Once both frames have been assembled with pocket screws, they can be glued and screwed to each other. As you can seein Fig, 3a, Lused deck srews fr this. The two tings to keep an eye on here are that ‘ours fame Z moipeo ryske “Sra NOTE: 20th frames Ssscribled with pocketserews Assemble frame, then rout cove, the molded frame iscentered on the Fig. 4a. For this reason, they have io top frame and that the joints are off- be planed or resawn to thickness. set. This strengthens the assembly. Then they're glued to the molded (Look at Fig. 3to see what Imean.) frame Fig. 4). ‘Then center the frames on the base and screw them in place using complete at this point. Before fasten- thetwopocket holes ineach ofthe top ing the tile in place, I wiped on two rails ofthe table base. coats of an outdoor cil to provide a SPACERS. The spacers (J) support weather-esistant finish. Then all that the tile and lift it lush with the remains is to fasten the tile in place, top frame, 2s shown in as shown in the photo below. A To secure the ceramic the, puea dot of slicome adhesive toward cach end of each spacer, ten press the ile firmly ino place Woodsmith No. 136suo 00 ES): SHopP NOTES _ Shop-Made Bracket Thebench on page 26 fold with the ofhardwareientoneyoull PREPARE BAR fnd.atasioce, buti’s easy The first thing ‘0 make with a to do Mex ake ba short piece dy. After minum bar stock cutting it 0 kengt h end to guid: the bar at lin smoothed the edges and rou ing above. Th ‘ for the carriage bolts aws, as in be drilled near the ends. Photo 1 below. clamp slightly past 9 drawing on page 27. And TWIST RAR Before twist- Next, seeure a clamp to bacause the aluninur w wnt to the bar even with the next spring back slighty, dont worry. To create this ing the bar, youl Custom Fit Seat Support When cutting theseat sup- angle ofthe long leg to th porter ench capa al you need theback: Teg when it's assem e compass to match the sap and run it against the xtra. Suppo! in detail ‘a’ below. just set the It's easy to be slightly off edge of the leg. Then you toleavea with these curved pieces. can sand the end of the a So to transfer the exact support to the line.Wissen Hawise FOLDING BENCH You'll be impressed by how sturdy and comfortable this bench is Fold it up, and you'll be sierprised by its light weight and portability. And asa suffering through whatever the weather dishes out. But this bench was made to be light, yet sturdy. With just a uick pull onthe handle in the back of the seat, the bench folds up, so you can easily pick it up and move it (sec inset photo). And when the bench is folded, t's easier to store when the season is over WEATHER RESISTANT MATERIALS, Even though the bench can be folded and stored out of the weather, it’ likely it will sill spend considerable time outdoors, So it makes sense to use materials that will hold up. That's why T cedar for my be ular “tworby” and “or ‘h, (Allthe pieces are cut from reg by” dimensional lumber.) Plus cedar isa light wood, That reduces the weight of the bench, making it easier to carry, also chose hardware that would endure the weather The fasteners are all stainless steel. (See the bax o 31 for more about working with stainless steel hardware.) AMSA. A project lke this needs an outdoor finish, so I used an exterior penetrating oil. And to keep the finish fresh and the wood protected, I plan to wipe on an aed tional eoat each spri ben I get the bench out. % Woodsmith Whether you want to move oud his bench is easy to fold One of the great things about bench is how easily it can be adapte the buck of the seat an lif become 2 design of the ifyou'dliketo learn more shout thisoption (and get a set ofmeasured shop drawings fori), see the Ontine Extras, box on the opposite page for detail No.136Construction @ Details NOTE:Al pieces (OVERALL DIMENSIONS: seefee at 40"W x 224 °D x 36/5" (NOTE: Fullsize patterns SLAT Orcurved part are ‘Sraable. See Oreine Extras box below wosner berween mo ort provides dearonce “Undercari supports sea Ut oe Sats for seat and back Bre all the same ize MOTE: Al narcare con be {url at mrt hardare ores \ | Thee ae kts mint te of extras. for [ener the bench on ve of fg proves oe our. wouske Sororbe estoy L You can owrchase ‘huksee postion \ patter. Flu you'l find a set of measured diawings that Corner this bench plan into matching folding chat Just ‘900 wawwwacdsmh com, MATERIALS, SUPPLIES, & CUTTING DIAGRAM {A Seat Supports (2) B Slats (12) Wa x3-14%6 xD 40 © Short Seat Supts. (2)%4x 2% 11% (rah) D Long Seat Supts. (2) Hux 2-33 E Long Legs(2) 18x6-41% PERLE EEO EET F shorten @) Vina 20% LE EES 14t« Wsr-96" Cedar 75 Ba. FL) + (70) #8 ».114" Fh Stns. Steel Screws: + (4) %° x34" Sins. Stee! Carriage Bolts + @) %° x272" Sin's, Stee! Carriage Bolts + (@) 3%" Stainless Steel Hex Nuts 10) %" Stainless Stee! Flat Washers A) Ye" x 1" « 24" Aluminum BarTo square the sea assembly, place a framing square cagainsc the seat slatand the seae support before driving the second screw in each slat Seat ‘There are just two assemblies to the bench — the seat and the legs. 1 ‘started by building the seat. ‘To make the seat comfortable, the supports below it have a gentle curve, Getting two identi- cally curved pieces can be ‘tough — unless you do what I did and make a template first. Tike to use 4" hardboard or plywood for templates. It's easi- er to fine-tune a shape on thin- ner (and cheaper) material ‘before transferring the shape to each workpiece. (Full-size pat- terns of several pieces are avail- able, See page 35 for details.) SEAT SUPPORTS. The first template to make is for the seat supports (A), ‘see the pattern below. In addition to. laying out the shape of the support, a good idea to lay out the loca- tions of the bolt holes while the tem- plate still has straight edges to measure from. Then cut the tem- plate to rough shape on the band saw and sand up othe layout ines. And finally, dill ut the holes. With the template completed, use it to lay out the shape and hole loca- tions on two seat support blanks. ‘Then, as you can see in Fig. 2, the supports are brought to shape the same way as the template. (On thicker pieces like this, a drum ‘sander in the drill press makes the ‘sanding go more quickly) Then the holes can be drilled, and the edges. ‘cased with 4 roundovers. ‘SUTS. The slats for the seat are the. next pieces to work on. The slats (B) are made by cutting 1x6s toa finished length of 40", as shown in Fig. 1. Then these pieces are ripped extn There are just a couple more details to take care of with the slats ‘The first is to cuta hand-hold in one of the slats, like you see in Fig. 1a After that’s done, you can soften the ‘edges of the hand-hold with %" ARDWARE. Before you start assem bling the seat, there's something to consider about the hardware. Regular woodscrews aren't meant to be out in the weather and will begin to rust in short order. Plus, to width (Fig. 1b). roundoverson the top and bottom. with cedar, the iron in regular ‘SEAT SUPPORT PATTERN Poo tet | No, 136screws will react with the wood atnbie stort causing unattractive black streaks and fong ae ‘around the screw. To avcid this, 1 Sipe ey, ‘used stainless steel screws that can under seat slats and be found at most home centers. er (The box on page 31 has more infor: ‘mation about this) Assenatr, Assembling the seat is straightforward. Its just screwed together. The trick is getting the slats spaced evenly To do this, Has tened the front and back seat a's in place frst, with their ends dush with the outside edges of the seat sup- Se rear ports. Note that the back slat over- 9p petton #4 hangs the end ofthe support by Ys! Seat geen (Fig. 1b). Just use one serew in each end of each slat for now. That way ‘you can square the assembly, as shown in the photo on the opposite page before driving a second screw. Now all you have to do is space the three remaining stats evenly between the iront and back slats. ‘UAT SUPPORTS. Ifyou look at Fig 3. you can see that a rectangular assembly is added below the scat to strengthen it. The first pieces, to make are iwo shorter versions of the seat supporis, Again, I made a template. But this time, there's only ‘one curved edge, and you'll be able to-use the seat support template to ‘draw this curve, a8 you can see in the pattern below, Wuppor ax guice After you cut and sand the short | forSaw when curing seat supports (C) to shape, rout "°° roundovers on the bottom edges only, Note that the short supports and endscan berounded over. Then between the edge of the handhold don't need any bok cles. the short seat support pieces are and the front edge of the back slat, “The short seat supports are fas- screwed hetween them Tike you see in Fig. 3b. Finally, screw tened between a couple of long seat Once the assembly is screwed the slasto all four seat suppor's. supports (D) that run under the together, it can be fastened under _NOTEH. As Fig. 4 shows, the last front and back seat sls After the the seat assembly, centered on its thing to do isto cuta beveled notch long supports are cut to size, as length, One thing to watch for here in the rear slat. Ths lets the seat ft shown in Fig. 9, the bottom edges is thatthe long support in back sits around the legsthat are added later. NOTE: Long and Short scat iupports free nid cron Position ong seat su pees Between paranoid sna ei he frontorat ie A ns FASE Cut eolate ahem ‘SHORT SEAT SUPPORT PATTERN goerwn I Leos aappor enpate om {rant edge and z ipyogeane or te - al ‘FOURTH: Rp fran edge ITH: lay ou se 35" appt and Reorcomner andeat square = 17x01" te. 7 ‘Template to fine size : an No. 135 Woodsmith aLong Legs & Back Now that the seat isassembled, you ‘can begin work on the back of the ‘bench. This consists ofa halfdozen sats attached totwo pieces that also ‘serve as the bench’s long legs. LONG UGS. The first pieces to make are the long legs (E). Just lke the ‘seat supports, [started by making a template from hardboard. The pat- tern for the long leas is shown below. (Make sure you lay out the locations of the bolt holes too.) ‘Then after cutting and sanding the template to shape, use it to lay out the outline ofthe legs on 28 stock. Before cutting the legs to shape, I ‘ook the bianks to the drill press to drill the 94"ia, holes. [found it’s ‘easier to hold them in place against the dril press fence while the legs sail have straight edges. petite eed aC Once the holes are drilled, you See eet ‘ean cut the long legs to shape and round over the edges. SUIS. Six identical sats fe the two long legs together. I'you take alook at Fig. 5, you can see that five of || NOTE | oa these Sats make upthe backrest of | #362" | waar é thebench. The sith satis fastened | °° toward the bottom of the long legs to serveasastretcher, After these pieces are cut to size and the edges are rounded over, * you're ready to startassembling the ‘back. Positioning the slats for the back restis@ lot like positioning the seat slats, First, attach the top and If you'll look at Fig. 5b, you can bottom slats to the long legs. (The see that the position ofthe stretcher top slatis fush with the ends of the slat (the one toward the bottom of legs.) Again, just use one screw in the legs) is determined by measur- each end until you get the assembly ing up from the bottom of the leg. square. Then, as you did with the Once you've made your layout seal, space the threeremaining slats marks, go ahead and screw the slat evenly between the other 1wo. to the front edges of the legs. NOTE: rout ¥" coundovers Oral edges of eos aed slots eye carriage bolt a Cut slat 0 length to J itis woth Sarde faces of hort lege SHORT LEGS ‘There are only three more pieces to make for the bench. By now, the ‘Process used to make a template and ‘shape the short lags (F) should be femliar. (The pattern for the short legs is atthe bottom of the opposite age) Aterdriing the holes. cuting: ‘LONG LEG PATTERN 14 — ee a 1 square =17 x1" Weodsmith No. 136and sanding the short legsto shape, and rounding over the edges, you're ready to assemble the bench, Assent. The secret to making the beach fold isa set of stiles steel carriage bolts that serve as pivots. ‘The fire thing to do isto bolt the short legs tothe long legs, lke you see in Fig. 5. A washer between the pieces provides clearance so the legs won't bind when the bench is folded up (Fig. 5a). Note: To prevent the nuts from coming loose, apply thread-lock adhesive to all bolts. Once that’s done, a slat can be cut to length so that it runs to the out side faces ofthe short legs. You can see this in Fig. 5b. Remember to rout roundovers on all the &dges before screwing the slat tothe legs. Ifyou take alook at Fig. 6, you sce that the next sep isto bot the seat assembly to the short lexs. Again, ‘washer is used between the pieces to provide clearance (Fig. 6a). AUWHINUM BRACKET, At tispoint, the bench looks almost done — except that it wont stand up. That's where the real Key to this folding bench comes in. As you can sce in Fig. 7, a metal bracket is added to te the seat assembly to the long le. ‘The bracket starts out as a length of thick fat aluminum bar, Youl notice however, that it doesnt stay flat — there's a twist at each end, ‘This keeps the bracket irom hitting the back slats when the bench is folded. The twist is easy to form with a bar clamp and a vise. Details about doing this are on page 25. ‘Once the brackets are twisted to shape, they're bolted in place with washers. Nylon spacers help to align the parts and provide clear- ‘ance, as ilusrated in Fig, 7. After getting the bracket in place, [found that the seat didn't rest tight- EE rcrgseery, upngh then attach ‘eat asemoyy ane ee! Seca! | eon, LA ariege bott | E ly against the long leg, The problem ‘was that the angie at the end of each ‘seat support didn’ quite match the slope of the leg. Il show you how! The big advantage to using fixed this on page 25. stainless steel hardwareis that ‘All that’s left i 10 sand the bench it won't rust like regular zine- and apply 2 finish. Lused an outdoor coated hardware. One thing to oil. To keep the bench in top shape, be aware ofthough is that starr Til apply airesh coat each ycar. 9 _lessstel screws aren'tquiteas strong as regular woodscrews. When youre working with softer wood (ike the cedar used for the bench), this shouldn't pose a problem. Bat if you choose a harder ‘wood, you can avoid breaking screws by drilling properly sized plot and shank holes. A The bracket that ties the seat to the long leg stats as 6 flat bar (top) ‘Afeer ding holes and rounding the edges (center), the bars ested co shape (bottom), Allche details are con page 25. 3Aas oND} Haw) TICE SCREENS e ls fait at the local home center make this versatile outdoor project a snap to make in a weekend. i ad materi rn A aitractive, and can be builtin a alsouse pressurestreated lumber dt onal lumber and premade lt tice pa be found at most Thebasic de frame anda float mer yards.Each ing panel, similar wa door. A simple frame, but you on and groove joins th hem together anil stiles. The joints -y fence for your with screws proof ad willbe reinforced Jong with a weather lattice screens are also portable. 1 the 72" tll made some stakes out of aluminum requires a groave down the middle angle that allowed the screens(o be of the inside edge (Fig. 1a). The set upin the back yard or in the gur- with of this groove depends on the den, The hinges also made them lattice you've purchased. Since easy to disassemble, move around, thickness can vary, I oversized the A stiles (A). Each stile or Store away for the winte groove for my Tmade the screens out of “wo- wide a red cedar and a 4x8 the assembly sheet of ceilar lattice. Cea excel isan I found the easiest mutdoor wood because of method to make this cut is on t Woodsmith No. 136table saw with a dad blade, Set the fence to cut the groove just off cen fer ofthe sie ke in Fig. a. After ‘running the workpiece through the saw, turn it around and run it through again to produce & cen: tered groove In order to make the 72Mong stiles « little easier and safer to handle through the sav, used a featherboard to help keep them under control Fig 2. FILLER STRIPS. The grooves at the top and bottom of the stiles are plugged (Fig. 1a) with filer strips (D, B). They will align te rails dur ing assembly later. I cut them the same size as the groove and glued them in place. The decorative miter on the top ofthe stiles was made with two 45° angles (Fig. 1a). BAUS. With the afles complete, I turned my attention tothe rails The supper rail (B) isc from 2x8 stock. andthe lower rail (C) isa 2x6. Afer cutting the rails to length, grooves are cutin them to match the ones in the stiles (Fig. TENONS. With the dado blade still set up in my table saw, I turned my attention to making the tenons. I attached an ansliary fence tothe rip fence and one to my miter gauge. ig. 3). Postion the rip fence for a 472" Jong tenon, Then withthe railon its side, raise the blade until it’s just level with the bottom ede of the ‘groove, like you See in Fig. a. Test the tenon in the groove and adjust the setup ifneeded. “Toad some more attractive detail to the frames, the upper ral gets an arcalongits top edge. The arc peaks at 7" in the middle and 5'//' on the ‘ends (see plan view below righ. “To lay out the line, Tused a thin fexsble stp of wood bent tothe shape No. 136 (NOTE: ais and shies ero Fewo-by" stock details froasteuts ofthe are. Then I traced the line with. ce the first rail is com ‘one hand while the other hand held = a template. the flexible wooden stick. The final step for the upper railis, The are ean be cut on the band to cut the 1/a" shoulder on the top saw or with z hand-held jig saw. [try edgeofthe tenon (shown on the band to stay on the waste side of the line. saw in the photoin the margin). Ora. Then goback after and sand down to hand saw will also work: Woodsmith A Afier roughing cout the ane at the band saw. ‘you can complete the enum by curing its upper sheslerLattice Panels Now that the frames have been made, turned my attention to-cutting the lat- tice panel (F), as shown in Fig. 4. ‘Cutting the flimsy panel can be tricky, so I used a pair of sawhorses: and some 2s for support Fig. ).1 ‘set the depth of the blade on my cir- cular saw for a %'deep cut. There are two things to be aware of here, the first being the staples. As you can see in Fig. 4a, Lmarked my cut lines to avoid cutting into them. ‘Second, take alittle more care when cutting. The uneven surface of the lemme | lattice can be tricky. An exterior grale glue isthe best ge eae ‘FWSH. Since | wanted the lattice to choice for the joints. I didn’t use any end up a different color than the glue in the grooves, only on the frame, | took the time to apply finish tenons. The lattice should ft snug, to the frames: and lattice panels much like a panel ina door. before assembly. Iused an exterior. ‘The screws I used are designed Tipe eh he quality stain for the frames and a _forlandscaping and other large tim- clear sealer for the latice. ber projects. They might not be A Since its easy 09 available everywhere, so take alook ‘cut and won't nest, ASSEMBLY ‘on page 35 for sources. ‘aiuminon angle Now with everything ready, itwas HINGES. The hinge hardware I twas used for the _time to put it ll together. The filler chose isa very simple rustic pin and stakes that anchor strips now act as stop blocks for the eyelet. ‘The wrought iron rustic the screens, rails during assembly. Idry-fitted and hardware goes well with this out clamped the fame iogether so Leould door project. Its simplicity makes it sil some pilot Holes into the sles. easy to disassemble the panels for Byen though the wood is soft, pilot storage, And it also allows for hholes keep the long screws lined up. _adldingon more screens later. SO SIL & 2X <3 | KS C5 SoS | BSS XS SQ a) The hinges need to be offset from ‘one another. The eyelet part of the ‘set needs to be about 16" above te pin (Fig. 5b). This is so all of the screens will sit level STAKS, Since my original plan was to use these screens in the garden. I found that I needed a way of keep- ing them anchored to the ground. I tused some 1" x 114" aluminum *L? stock found at the hardware store. Ieut mine sbout 24" long and drilled some mounting holes near the top (see left margin). Tp allow these “stakes” to drive into the ‘zround more easily. cut the ends 10 ‘point with « hack saw. ‘Thammered these stakes into the ‘ground with about 10 inches stick- ing above ground. This gave me enough area to screw them to the bottom ofthe stiles. Note. I placed them on the back side ofthe stiles to keep them out of sight Toalgn, pin ana eyelet must be oftetSOURCES GARDEN LATTICE SCREENS “The hardware forthe garden latice screens (page 32) was purchased at 2 local home center. However, the landscaping screwsare aso available from McFeely’s (sce ist). Andifyou can't find the exact hinges, a large, ‘oosepin hinge can be substituted. FOLDING BENCH To build the folding bench, all the hardware you need should be aval: able at hardware stores and home ceaters. (Refer to the Materials list ‘on page 27.) For sources of stainless 2005-883, steel fasteners, see the listat right. FULL-SIZE PATTERNS. Full-size pat- terns ofall the curved pieces of the bench are available as an Ondine Extra at: www.Woodsmith.com. For only $4.95, you can download sever: al “tiled” pages that can be aligned to form the full-size patterns. Plus, you'll receive free shop drawings for the folding chair shown at right Fullsize patterns (and the chair drawings) are also available from Woadsmith Project Supplies. FullSize Folding Bench Patterns ing bench (se lf, and youll also receive free draw- $7.95 ppd. TILE-TOP TABLE Like the folding bench, the hardware for the tile-top table should also be available through a local home center. (if you can’t find the pocket hole screws locally, see the list at right) these drawin our website (www Woodsmith com) and dick on the “Online Extras” button where you can download or $4.95, ‘The drawings are also available from Woodemith Project Supplies. POCKET HOLE JOINERY Pocket hole fgsare fairly common, so you shouldn't have any trouble find ing sourees (see ist). The Kreg Tool Conipany isone of the leading mas ufacturers ofthese jigs, and you can If you would lke to build a larger Four-Tile Table Drawings order directly from them or through version ofthe tke-top table, you can 8005-884 87.95 ppd. several other sources listed at right, purchase shop drawings for the Kreg includes their “large pad” fourtile table, shown below. Visit ENTERTAINMENT CENTER = face ciamp with most of the jigs they Selectingthe hardware fortheenter- sell. But you can also buy them sep- tainment center was a particular chab Jenge — contemporary hardware isnt asreadily available as traditional brass hardware. Because ofthis, the nickel hhinges were ordered from Horton Brasses, while the rest of the hard- ware (including the stainless steel pulls) was ordered from Lee Valley, see the mailorder sources at right. arately, and you might want to look into one if you decide to invest heav- iy ina pocket hole “system.” Kreg is also the only manufacturer of plugs, and they have both hardwood plugs and plastic caps available. Kreg also offers several different types of screws. But any panhead, selétapping screw should work. IN Esa el ely ‘To order a hardware kit from Woodsmith Project ‘Supplies, please use our Toll Free order ine, see below. ‘Its open Monday through Friday, rom 8AM 1PM Central Time. Be‘ore calling, please have your VISA, ‘MasterCard, or Discover card ready. ‘f you want to mall in your order, call the number ‘below for more information concerning shipping ‘charges as well as any applicable sales tax. 1-800-444-7527 ‘When ordering plese wse Key W136 Note: Prices subject to change after October 2001. No.136 MAIL ORDER SOURCES Similar project supplies and te ordered from the following companies: Hort tases 8007849127 wo: horton tress com ‘Sati Wied ingen reg Too! Company 800-447-8638 seamsheeools Pocket io Ari sero, py, Lee Valley 200.871.8158 wemkevaley com Soils ed pula arta (eet ng MeFealys s00-443-7097 vwvamefels.com Laolaepng oe octet len et bia, een & pa, Fae lame Stans ed fens Rocke Wondering woo2re-4sar ww roedercomn tt ba ere pg, Paceclaers mewn com palace iba soees ph. + Orne Ba” Pan, Pterms, & More Over 100 Woodworking Tips Online Online Cestomer Service Visit Our Readers Project Photo Gallery CClideon Subscriber Services ot '* Project Plans You Can Download eee * Gang of Pret it, Tica Jen Pans | hem + Forums fr Woodwckng, Tels Cusdnés | * Qageer ni ames ++ Links to Other Woodworking Sites ‘oP ror til +* Order Woodsmith/ShopNotes Back Issues Renee you sibigion oT esi you've nized one www.woodsmith.com | faiwityr preteen waet et Woodsith 6ae Look FINAL DETAILS