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BASE MODEL FENCE/RAIL/TABLE MOBILITY OPTIONS ACCESSORIES
TOOL TEST
ARMOR TOOL
DOG CLAMP
D E C EM B E R 2 018 | #243
J MAKE IT IN A WEEKEND
PLUS
J Inside Musicmaker Kits’ Workshop
J How to Banish Fear of Failure
J Tips for the Best Bench Hooks POPULARWOODWORKING.COM
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Build
32 Shoji-Style
Sliding Doors
Vertical grain douglas fir
and a kumiko grid turn these
utilitarian room screens into
much more.
BY ASA CHRISTIANA
40 A Sculpted
Side Table
The graceful lines of this
deceivingly simple table take
shape with a combination
of careful planning and the
help of both machines and
handwork.
BY CLARK KELLOGG
51 Inside the
Complex World
of Jacob Nelson
The owner of Musicmakers
wants to help you make beau-
tiful instruments.
BY SPIKE CARLSEN 32
48 51
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 3
DECEMBER 2018 | VOL. 38, NO.7 POPULARWOODWORKING.COM
Connect
8 From the Editor
A traveling woodworker.
10 Inbox
Do I need sanding sealer?
12 Workshop Tips
Trim plywood edging, fix a
squeaky table saw and hone
12 16 gouges easily.
14 Tool Test
Auto-adjust dog clamps, an
ingenius planing stop and
portable dust filtration.
Craft
16 Design Matters
Making multiples hones
your hands and eyes.
BY GEORGE WALKER
20 26
20 Arts & Mysteries
Embrace the hatchet for
green woodworking.
BY PETER FOLLANSBEE
26 Shop Skills
Make a super useful pair
of bench hooks.
BY ZACHARY DILLINGER
58 Flexner on Finishing
What's really at play in
58 64 formulating finish strippers.
BY BOB FLEXER
Number 243, December 2018. Popular Woodworking Magazine (ISSN 0884-8823,USPS 752-250) is published 7
times a year, February, April, June, August, October, November and December, which may include an occasional 64 End Grain
special, combined or expanded issue that may count as two issues, by F+W Media. Editorial and advertising offices Failure isn’t necessarily
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PRESENTED BY
FROM THE EDITOR
A Traveling
Woodworker
By Andrew Zoellner
I get a lot of satisfaction from making
things. There’s really not much that
compares to starting with raw ma-
terials and ending up with a finished
product. Helping someone else make
something, though, doubles down on Andrew's traveling tool
that ( just ask Jacob Nelson, page 51). case, made from ash
While I’m most comfortable working with frame and panel
in my own shop where I know where sides, in clamps, at
the Popular Wood-
everything is, going to visit a friend’s
working shop.
shop (or garage or remodeling proj-
ect) is just as fun.
Often, passion for woodworking
gets its roots in taking care of a
home. Maybe it’s replacing a piece
of damaged trim, or installing a
new door or refinishing a piece of
furniture. That first taste of a project, to tackle projects, bringing tools ■ ON THE WEB
feeling that sense of tired fulfillment, wherever I went.
is something that never gets old. The same goes for me today, when
Making improvements to your living I make the trek from Minnesota to
space is definitely a worthy endeavor, Ohio to work in the Popular Wood-
and Asa Christiana’s primer on how working shop. I’ll pack some lumber
to build a set of sliding doors is a in my car, on the off chance I have
great start (page 32). time to do a project that needs a
We also know that younger 20" planer and 12" jointer. Even
people are buying homes at a much though the Ohio shop is much better
Reducing the Stress of Glueups
slower pace than previous genera- appointed than anything I have at
By Nancy Hiller
tions, and that often means they’re home, I still bring the tools I can’t
working with whatever space they live without (and now they’re in a
have at the time. I remember doing traveling tool case, page 48).
final sanding and finishing of pieces All this to say, if you haven’t ven-
in my post-college apartment tured out of the shop in a while, give
bedroom during the winter, with a it a try. Working in a new location, on
cardboard box of tools at the a new project and with new people
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHORS
8 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
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The unit isn’t cheap, but the fit and finish is outstand- involves a big square mortise and a recess for the stop to
ing. Perhaps the greatest feature is what you don’t hear. lay flush with the top when it’s not in use. I didn’t want
I couldn’t hear the unit over the air handler of our AC to modify my bench that much, which is why the BT&C
unit in the shop. It’s so quiet that you don’t mind leaving planing stop caught my eye.
it on. The electrostatic filter has a 3,000-hour life, filters The stop itself may look ■ PLANING STOP
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make moving this por- the teeth are scalloped, so as you plane toward them,
table unit much easier. your board is forced toward the bench. Third, the hole
—David Lyell spacing for attaching the dog means you can secure-
ly attach it to the top of a 3/4" dog, which is the way I
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objects. The back isn’t actually flat, Keep the top of the block clean. He reverse my instruction for lefties.)
but slightly dished/cupped, to help made covers for his blocks to stop This does two things; first, it helps
keep the corners from digging into dirt and grit from collecting when stabilize you as you work by keeping
the stock. The handle is about 12"- not in use. People like to put their your feet spread out. And if an errant
14" long. I prefer a curved cutting feet on them. Don’t do it. hatchet blow glances off of the block,
edge —I feel like it slices the wood When hewing at the block, I stand your leg is back out of the way.
20 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
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Arts & Mysteries
1 2
Tilt the workpiece a bit to your The sequence is to score up the line, I often hold the hatchet right
left, and begin hewing at the bottom stock, and hew down it. Flip the up near the head for more control.
of the piece. The first cuts are piece end for end to continue the When hewing sawn wood, you
scoring cuts, designed to break the cuts. This keeps you from hewing need to read the grain very carefully.
wood’s fibers nearly to the depth too near your fingers. One swing of the hatchet can wreak
you’re aiming to remove. Chop One mistake beginners make is to havoc if you read the grain wrong.
repeated cuts upward, about halfway hold the handle with a death-grip. It My work with sawn wood is often
up the workpiece. Try to space the should be loose enough in your hand beveling pine panels for frame-and-
cuts evenly; closer together is better to pivot as you make contact with panel construction. I start with
than farther apart. That consistency the wood. With practice, you learn very shallow, light cuts to see how
is the hardest part, but it'll come to “snap” your wrist as you swing, the wood is running, then adjust
with practice. Try to make them all further accenting the slicing arc the my hewing accordingly. PW
the same depth, too. hatchet describes as it cuts through
Then lean the stock more vertical, the wood. Some of my handles Peter Follansbee has been involved
and drop the hatchet down from are curved to also help this slicing in traditional craft since 1980. Read
above, hewing off the scored chunks. action. I tend to hold the hatchet more from him on green woodworking,
Now you’re on your way. Just keep somewhere near the middle of the period tools and other topics at
doing it until you have enough prac- handle’s length, not down near the pfollansbee.wordpress.com.
tice to hew quickly and efficiently. bottom end. When I get close to my
22 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
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1
1. Crosscut the board to your
desired length, which should be the
working length you want minus 6".
I chose 24" to make an 18" long set
of hooks, as I already have a several
shorter pairs.
The bench hook is without ques- then sawed apart, giving you a pair
tion one of the most indispensable with minimal layout. A matched pair,
tools in my wood shop. The force so to speak, of bench hooks is more
of gravity and the force of using the useful than a single hook because
tool up against a solid fence is all they can be used in tandem on longer 2
that it takes to keep the work from pieces. By making it in one piece and
moving. It’s deceptively sophis- then sawing them apart, you ensure 2. Next, plane your reference face
ticated and exceptionally simple that each fence on each hook is in flat, progressing from a coarsely set
to make. It’s a great choice for a exactly the same place relative to the plane all the way through a smooth
first-time hand-tool only project. bench edge. This helps hold the work plane. Mark the face to indicate it’s
They can be as long, as wide and as square and steady without sliding or your reference (I use a large “X”)
decorative as you like, and can be rocking.
made from hardwood scrap. Though many furniture proj-
I can make a pair from rough sawn ects, especially those done entirely
lumber in less than an hour. They’re with hand tools, can easily be done
a natural test of precision hand-tool without four-squared stock, I like to
skills as there’s no room to 'fudge' use shop projects as an opportunity
anything. They’re either straight, flat to practice my precision woodwork-
and square or they aren’t. You’ll ing skills. I’m constructing a large
3
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
notice any deviation while in use. pair of hooks here, with a working
Think of it as a Gottshall block with a length of 18" and a fence thickness
real function; a great way to practice of roughly 3/4", but they can easily 3. Plane one edge straight and
square to the reference face. Check
being accurate while still producing be made in all different sizes for
this with a square and winding sticks
something of value. Yet another ben- different operations and different and mark it as your reference edge.
efit is that it’s made in one piece and sizes of lumber.
26 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
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Shop Skills
4
8
8. Using a square with the fence on
the reference edge, place the bench
hook fence in position at the end of
the base. Pre drill, then glue and nail
the fence into place, making sure to
5 not place any nails near the center
10
of the fence so that rip sawing later
can be done without hitting any nails. 10. The now-separated pair is ready
4-5. Use a marking gauge to estab- Repeat for the other fence, remem- for final clean up and finishing. Feel
lish the width of the board from your bering to flip the board upside down free to apply the finish of your choice
reference edge. Saw and plane as before drilling and nailing so that the (or no finish at all), but avoid any sort
necessary down to the line. fences end up on opposite faces. of wax to prevent part slippage in use.
6
6. Mark the thinnest common
dimension all the way around the
board, with the marking gauge fence 9
riding on the reference face of your
board. Plane the board to the line for
uniform thickness. 9. Once the glue is dry, scribe the
centerline of the bench hook using
a marking gauge from the reference
11
side. Then, start the rip cut with a
backsaw, taking great care to avoid 11. Making dadoes is one of my
any of the nails which hold the fence most common operations for using
in place. If you’re a less than confi- bench hooks, especially on large
dent sawyer, you can start the cut on case sides where it would be incon-
both ends of the piece and simply venient to clamp and unclamp the
connect them with the ripsaw. work to complete multiple grooves.
7 I hope that you take a look at your own shop practices and find a use for the
indomitable bench hook. The simplified construction of this particular style
7. Using a square, mark and cut two of hook makes it a great way to use up some scrap while practicing your
2" fence pieces, one from each end stock preparation skills and boosting your overall accuracy. Focus on
of the baseboard. Using stock from getting everything just right on this project, and you’ll have success
the end of the board provides cross
doing the same with your next furniture piece. PW
grain pieces that will react to season-
al movement in a similar fashion to
the baseboard. Zachary Dillinger is a hand-tool enthusiast in Michigan. He’s the author of With Saw,
Plane and Chisel: Making Historic American Furniture with Hand Tools.
28 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
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Skill Level:
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
Intermediate
Time: 3 days
Cost: $500
Our latest house, a 1970s fixer-upper, Not to worry. Aside from studying
includes an open second level that the doors at the Guild, I consulted
doubles as a master bedroom and other Shoji makers and uncovered a
home office. We love the light-filled number of tips and tricks on my own,
space, but it's hard for someone (my as well as some specialized products
wife) to sleep while someone else that make the process simple and
(me) is tapping away on the keyboard. straightforward. Follow along, and
From the beginning I knew sliding you’ll learn how to craft beautiful
doors would be a great solution, and sliding doors that will make any
kept an eye out for inspiration. I large living space more versatile,
found the answer at my local wood- or close off a closet in style.
working guild.
The Oregon Guild of Woodwork- Wood and Finish
ers rents their workshop space from Morioka made his doors from cherry,
Greenline Fine Woodworking, a but I went with quartersawn fir,
business that once occupied the which is light, strong and grows
entire building. Furnituremaker throughout the Pacific Northwest,
Natsu Morioka, an employee, built where I live and hike. If you choose
two huge, shoji-style sliding doors to do the same, make sure to ask for
to separate the workshop from the CVG fir, which means clear (C) with
office. The beautiful doors now vertical grain (VG), and pick boards
serve to close off the Guild’s library. with tight, straight grain lines. That
Morioka’s flawless gridwork will help keep the doors and grids
muntins (kumiko) are straight out of flat and stable, and look nice with
shoji-screen tradition, but they have the rectilinear design.
a little more heft and strength, with Another way to make the doors
durable translucent plastic where more stable is to stack the boards
the handmade paper (washi) would on thin sticks (stickers) for a few
go. What also caught my attention is weeks in your workshop or house to
how silently and easily the big doors let them finish drying and acclimate
slide on an overhead track concealed to their new environment before
at the top of the opening. I knew milling them to final size, .
right away that my sliding doors I love CVG fir for many reasons.
would be something similar. It’s extremely easy to work with
This isn’t my first foray into the power and hand tools, and it glows
Japanese woodworking style, or warmly under an oil finish. Tradi-
my first attempt at kumiko grids. I tional Japanese woodwork often
recently built a garden gate that in- has no finish at all, but to add a bit
cludes a small, open gridwork and a of protection and luster, I added
lower panel pierced with the shapes a low-key oil finish to the door
Open or closed the doors are love- of falling gingko leaves, which was frames, while leaving the gridwork
ly. They slide easily, sitting open as featured in the May 2018 issue of natural for subtle contrast.
a neat pair and closing to create Fine Homebuilding magazine. I’ve
privacy.Quartersawn ir is used also built Japanese-style furniture Laminated Shoji Paper
throughout the door, including the with traditional sliding doors. I’ve applied handmade washi paper
plywood panel that provides some Big room-divider doors are a to doors before, but this time I want-
sturdiness and protection at the
different deal, however. For starters, ed something stronger. I went with
bottom of the door, and gives the
upper gridwork more pleasing pro-
they mount to your house, which something between traditional paper
portions. Work out the elements isn’t quite as square and straight as and thick plastic: a 0.45mm-thick
of your doors with a scale drawing your furniture. Secondly, they’re laminated product from eshoji.com,
of the front view. The thin, half- large and somewhat heavy, so you an excellent Wisconsin company
lapped gridwork is traditional, need specialized hardware to hang that specializes in imported Japanese
and the laminated paper has them and careful work to fit the thin shoji papers.
handmade paper inside. gridwork array into the expansive The laminated paper has tradition-
opening in the middle of each door. al washi inside, encased in thin
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 33
Shoji-Style Screen Doors
plastic that can be wiped clean and The laminated paper and special- size or number of sliding doors, and
won’t dent or puncture when your ized tape worked like a dream. As for rollers that attach to the top of the
cat gets frisky or the broom falls over. the sliding-door hardware, I struck doors in multiple ways. Automatic
On the other hand, the laminated gold there, too. soft-close is a popular option, but
paper is thin enough that it can be since I planned to install rare-earth
cut with a sharp knife (see page 39), Hang ’Em High magnets at the door edges (3/4 "
meaning I could simply tape it to a As opposed to the traditional slid- cupped magnet sets from LeeValley.
finished grid and slice off the excess, ing doors I’ve installed in furniture, com), I went with the standard slides
as opposed to pre-cutting it perfectly captured in grooves above and (Johnson item no. 100SD), rated
to size. below, these room-sized doors are for doors up to 200 lbs. each. These
Since my doors are meant to be suspended from overhead, riding tracks require a minimum door
viewed from both sides (as opposed on small rollers that move incred- thickness of 13/8", which is what I
to closet doors, for example), there’s ibly smoothly. As for the bottom was shooting for.
gridwork on each side, ensuring that of the doors, all it takes to keep Since my doors will be viewed
the laminated paper won’t get floppy them from swinging fore and aft from both sides, I chose rollers that
in the big openings. There are stiffer are three small tabs mounted at screw to the top edge over the type
products for doors with a grid on just floor level, where the doors always that mount with side plates. I was a
one side. overlap and you’ll never step. I like little concerned about hanging thick
The folks at eshoji.com also know the way our hardwood floors flow doors from four screws, but the folks
a lot about building shoji screens uninterrupted below the doors. at Johnson assured me that the long,
and gave me some excellent tips for It turns out that most good makers coarse screws are load tested well
applying the paper to the grid, using of Shoji-style room dividers mount beyond their stated ratings. After
thin, narrow tape (nitto) designed theirs this way, and I received mul- hanging the doors (see page 39), I
specifically for this job. At 5mm wide tiple recommendations for Johnson have no doubt about the strength
it hides behind 1/4"-thick muntins, Hardware ( jhusa.net), which makes of the system.
and tightly grips both paper (plastic) affordable overhead track systems The Johnson hardware includes
and wood. here in the U.S., with kits for any 1/4" of adjustment up and down
3" Rail
80"
NOTE: Shoji
4" x 2½" x ½" paper is placed
2¾" loose tenons fit between to the
Stile in mortises of two grid panels.
the same size.
at each roller position, making it door opening) and screw in opening, and then size the doors so
easy to align the doors with the the tracks. their stiles overlap at the center.
door opening. Everything about the Next, I tackled the sides of the In keeping with shoji tradition, I
Johnson hardware is clear and easy. door opening. To create a visual put a small panel at the bottom of
What wasn’t so easy was hanging frame around the doors, and give the doors, to add some protection
perfectly square doors in a house them a flat, plumb surface to close down low, break up the big expanse,
that isn’t. against, I added fir boards that run and make the gridwork proportions
from inside the valance down to more pleasing. To size the panel, I
Start with a the floor. Use your level again to used the Golden Ratio, dividing the
Square Opening make sure those are perfectly plumb, known width by 1.618 (there’s an
Unless you have a perfectly square, shimming if necessary, but I’d only online calculator for this) to get
level, and plumb door opening to screw them in place at the top. Once the height. The classic ratio isn’t
work with, you’ll need to create one, you actually hang the doors, you always helpful, but it worked won-
so your doors hang level and hit the can fine-tune the position of those derfully here.
sides of the opening seamlessly. To side boards to line up with how the For the panel, I found nice CVG
start, I knew I needed to hide the two doors actually hang. fir plywood to match the frame. I
door tracks and the hardware gap at This whole part of the job—where went with 1/2"-thick plywood to add
the top of the doors, so that meant the doors meet the house—is tricky, strength and solidity without too
a board on both sides. To give me and requires some careful recon, much weight. I also like the 7/16 "
something to attach those boards including locating and pre-marking shadow lines at the front and back
to, I sized a thick board to the width the studs and joists. of the 1 3/8 ". thick doors. If you
of the two tracks, and screwed it to can’t find the right plywood, you
the ceiling joists above. That let me Standard Door can glue up panels from solid fir
screw the tracks solidly to that board, Construction boards, leaving room in the grooves
through the holes provided. I highly recommend that you draw a for seasonal movement. I also
The trick is to get that thick board front view of the entire opening to balanced weight and strength when
as level as possible, which requires help design the doors and size them sizing the doorframe parts, in various
an accurate level and probably some accurately. Start your drawing by widths between 2 3/4" and 3 1/2".
shimming. Then you attach the va- adding the upper valance and side As for the joinery, it’s just hefty
lance boards flush to the ceiling (or door-frame pieces to the overall mortise-and-tenon, as big as your
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 35
Shoji-Style Screen
frame parts will allow. With so rails are exactly the same length, so kumiko that fit your door opening
much width and thickness to work the opening for the shoji gridwork is precisely.
with, I went with slip tenons and as uniform as possible. Aside from You don’t have to use a classic,
matching mortises, which you can that, you just have to rout a groove understated grid like mine. Feel free
rout quickly with a single jig (see for the plywood panel. to explore the rich shoji tradition
below). This template-routing jig is for yourself, including the stylized
a favorite I learned about long ago Tricks for Gridwork flower patterns that can be inset
when shooting an article by teacher Delicate gridwork of this size is a into rectangular grid spaces to take
and woodworker Gary Rogowski. little intimidating, I’ll admit. For your doors to the next level. I knew
One of the many advantages of one, you have to really nail the I wanted a single divider down the
slip-tenon joinery is it makes it super little half-lap joints to get any glue center of these grids, but worried
easy to create a square door frame, strength, and then you can still about the careful division required
since you don’t have to factor tenons pop joints loose if you don’t handle to keep the spacing uniform between
into the length of the rails. It’s very the finished grids carefully. But a the horizontal pieces. There’s a help-
important to be sure that all of your few slick tricks will deliver perfect ful phenomenon, however:
36 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
How to Cut Flawless
Grid Pieces
Whether your opening is perfect
or not, you can ill it with elegant
gridwork that its it perfectly. The
trick with the vertical spacing is to
pick an even dimension that leaves
a slightly smaller space at the top
4 5
and bottom, where the eye won’t
notice it.
4. Mill a single board for the vertical
strips and another for the horizon-
tals. Plane these 1/2" thick, and trim
the ends to it into the opening.
5. Mill an extra test piece and set
up your dado for a 1/4"-wide cut
that’s a hair over 1/4" in depth (0.255 6 7
to 0.260). Check both dimensions
with a dial caliper.
6. The ends of each board (verticals
and horizontals) get little rabbets.
Your dado set should just be touch-
ing an auxiliary fence attached to
your rip fence. Support the parts
with your miter gauge as they ride
the rip fence as shown.
7. Horizontals need only one dado.
Again the piece rides the rip fence
8 9
and miter gauge. Center this dado
as best you can.
8. Cut the irst dado in the verticals.
Support this cut the same way you
did before.
9. Make a spacer jig. Cut the same
/ " dado in an auxiliary fence for
1 4
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 37
Shoji-Style Screen Doors
13 14
38 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
15 19
16 20
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 39
PROJECT #1825
A Sculpted
Side Table
Lathe and handwork yield
a seamless transition from
turned legs to a flush apron.
By Clark Kellogg
40 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
There used to be a store near my the turned section all the way up together, but I think the results are
shop that sold vintage clothing and the leg? For the life of me, I couldn’t well worth it: a simple (looking, at
(honestly, pretty junky) furniture. figure it out. Or at least I couldn’t least) table with a few nice details
But there was a coffee table in the wrap my head around what it would that lead to versatility. The design
window that always caught my eye. look like. lends itself to plenty of variation —
It wasn’t a particularly nice-look- My friend Roger Deatherage says I could see this table working as a
ing table, but something about the he builds furniture to see what it’ll desk, a large dining table or maybe
flush surfaces and heavy round- look like, and that was certainly as the base for a small cabinet. And
overs between the legs and aprons the case with this table. I built it as although the table shown here is
always got my brain whirling: What a way to see what would happen made out of Kwila (a dark, open-
happens when you turn a spindle leg if I joined a turned spindle leg to a grained wood sometimes used as a
but set it flush to an apron? Do you flush-set apron. substitute for mahogany), almost
have to have a big clunky block like As it turns out, it takes a bit of any relatively straight-grained
a Shaker table? Could you continue fussing to get everything to go wood would work well.
940 mm 325 mm
725mm
744 mm
Leg tapers
down to
32mm.
Radius
NOTE: The radius is
23 mm
referenced off the Mortises are 24mm
outside faces of the leg. wide x 32mm deep
x 1/4"
(Top view)
(Long apron) (Short apron)
Cutlist
No. Item Dimensions Material
JOINERY NOTES
T W L 1. Joinery is identical on both faces
2 Short side 44mm 54mm 940mm Kwila of the leg; mortises on the “Short
2 Long side 44mm 54mm 325mm Kwila apron” face are shifted down 12mm.
4 Legs 48mm 48mm 725mm Kwila
2. Mortises overlap within the leg.
1 Top 20mm 455mm 1070mm Kwila
They do not intersect.
Sculpted Side Table
Although this table utilizes a millimeters. Not to worry! Although them settle for a few weeks (or,
number of different techniques in its you can always convert the mea- sometimes, hours, depending on the
construction (floating tenons, angled surements back to Imperial, I highly deadline, but I’d surely never admit
joinery, turning, carving, shaping recommend picking up a 150mm such a thing in public.) The legs wind
with handplanes), almost any of the ruler (or even better, a 150mm/6" up at 48mm square finished, so it’s
methods shown here can be swapped combination rule) and trying it out. best to start with material milled to
out for something that works better You may like it! It’s whole numbers! a generous 8/4- or even 10/4-thick.
for you in your own shop. The No more adding and subtracting
important thing is to be methodical: fractions until you need to take a Compound Angles on
take your time and work each set of nap under your bench. It’s easy. the Table Saw
parts all the way through a process All of that being said, general Angled joinery can seem daunting at
before moving on to the next step. measurements are still listed in first, but again, not to worry: it isn’t
The point, as always, is to make inches, because that’s how most of fundamentally any different from
something nice; how you get there my tooling is set up at the shop, and joining something “square.” (90˚ is
is up to you. what my brain still defaults to. still an angle, after all.) All it takes is
One more quick note before we get First thing’s first: milling up all a good bevel gauge and a little more
going—you may notice that all the stock. I tend to rough-cut all my care in getting things set up and
of the dimensions are listed in parts 3-4" overlength before letting marked out.
1 2 3
6 7
42 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
8. With all of the angles cut, you
should be able to rough assemble
the table with clamps.
9. Make sure all faces are square
before moving on—especially the
legs. A handplane will make quick
work of anything out of square.
8 9
Mill the legs and aprons to final itself stay parallel.) Cut each leg to Legs & Apron Mortises
thickness (48mm and 44mm, respec- length, cutting each end on the com- I generally use a JDS Multirouter
tively), but don’t mill the aprons to pound 2˚ bevel, being careful to keep for big mortising jobs, or whenever
final width just yet. (I mill them to the angled ends parallel. I’d make a I need to set up to cut a boatload of
be about 75mm before this step.) few test cuts on some scrap pieces the exact same mortise. This table
Mark which faces of each component first, and make note of which way the pretty well falls into the second
will face outwards. I usually try to leg blank needs to rotate when you category: each leg receives 4 floating
use rift- or quartersawn stock, since flip it end-for-end on the miter gauge. tenons, meaning the entire table
the “wash” pattern of flat-sawn This will all make more sense once requires 32 identical mortises.
material can detract from the lines you set things up. I would like to emphasize that this
of the piece. At this point, you should have four is by no means the only way to join
Next, set the blade of your table aprons and four legs that, if clamped these legs to their respective aprons;
saw to cut a 2˚ bevel, and using a together, will resemble the basic out- it’s just the way that makes the most
miter gauge or sliding table, cut the line of the table: splayed legs, heavy sense for me. If you’re more comfort-
aprons to length, positioning the aprons, flat top. Double-check that able using sawn tenons with angled
stock so that the top face of each your leg faces are square, and that shoulders, wonderful! If you’d prefer
blank is slightly shorter than the the apron joints are square across to just screw the things together and
bottom face. (Remember, you want their thickness. Take a few passes be done with it, more power to you.
the legs to splay out!) You should with a plane to square things up if The point is that the joinery itself is
now have two short and two long necessary. If everything has gone not the main event here.
trapezoidal “chunks.” according to plan, you should be I try to arrange my joinery with as
Now, without resetting the blade, ready to move on to laying out few different setups as I can get away
rip the aprons to width along their the joinery. with, without sacrificing strength
top and bottom faces, taking care to
keep their faces parallel. (You should
end up with pieces that are parallelo-
grams in cross-section.) Variations on a Theme
Without resetting the blade, set
One of the joys of woodworking is playing with details
your miter gauge to the exact same
to see how it affects the overall “mood” of a piece. I
2˚ bevel as the blade. This will allow have since made a drop-leaf version (also in Kwila, but
you to cut the compound 2˚ bevel a little more formal), one in milk paint and cherry (less
(meaning an angle running in both formal, but more friendly I think), and finally wenge, with
planes relative to the face of the a checkerboard-pattern veneered top (fancy!). There is
stock) for the tops and bottoms of always room to play around and experiment. Part of the
the legs (and thus insuring that the fun is finding which direction works best for you.
top and bottom planes of the base
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 43
Sculpted Side Table
10 11
10-12. Careful layout is key to 14. The multirouter cuts mortises
making precise mortises. Carry your with a spiral bit, registering the parts
centerline to the face of the apron against a fence.
and then transfer it to the legs.
15. I cut tenon stock with a 1/4"
13. I’ve found mortises like these, roundover bit in the router table.
perpendicular to the grain, perfectly You could also use a block plane
adequate for a table like this. to rough out the shape. 12
13 14 15
or the piece’s overall design. To that The nice things about using identical will always insure that the mortises
end, I prefer to work off of center- “overlapping” mortises is that you can are perpendicular to the joint face.
lines while I’m cutting mortises cut everything—leg and apron If you don’t have a Multirouter, this
for floating tenons. I find it a little motives alike–in one setup. And, procedure could be replicated with
easier to lay out my centerlines on while traditional woodworking a spindle mortiser, a hollow-chisel
the aprons first, then transfer them knowledge will tell you that you mortiser, or, with some ingenuity, a
over to the legs. Set up a small fence should never, ever run mortises mortising box and handheld router.
on the mortiser, set up your stops for perpendicular to the grain (glue sur- Once the mortises are cut, mill
a 1/4" end mill bit, and you’re ready faces on end grain and all that), up some tenon stock. I like to make
to go. I have found these joints to be more mine out of offcuts from the piece
Traditionally, the problem of than strong enough for what’s itself. Mill two or three lengths of
two aprons joining into a leg is required of this little table. scrap to the exact dimensions of your
solved by some combination of So with your work piece refer- mortises (dial calipers reading in
hunched, shouldered tenons and enced on the outside face and your thousandths helps for this), then run
doubled, shortened tenons. These centerlines aligned with the fence, everything over a 1/4" roundover bit
work fine, except that even with rout the mortises vertically. The face in a router table. (Or use a few heavy
straight/90˚ joinery, it requires a of the joint should be pressed against passes with a block plane.) Finally,
significant amount of setup. Add in the fence—don’t worry about the cut the tenons to length, making
the compound angles, and now you angle of the joint itself, since sure to cut them a few millimeters
have at least twice that many setups. referencing directly off the fence short of the total depth of the two
44 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
combined mortises. At this point I ing. Next, scribe a line around the
16-17. The center of your leg is
like to dry-fit everything up, and if bottom edge of the leg-apron joint offset—the inal top and bottom
necessary, I’ll “tune” some of the face, and wrap a couple of pieces of diameters of the leg are tangent to
joint faces with a few light passes masking tape around it. The tape is the two outside faces. Carry the
with a low-angle plane. a warning: you don’t want to turn centerline down both of the
down your joinery! Finally, before outside faces.
Shaping on the Lathe heading to the lathe I like to remove 18. Remove as much waste from
On to the fun part—shaping! But as much material as I can with a the leg as you can before putting
first, more layout. Use a combination drawknife. I find a few minutes spent it on the lathe. A drawknife makes
square and circle template (or com- on the shave horse can save a lot of quick work of it.
pass) to draw centerlines and circles time (and frustration) on the lathe.
19-21. Start with the cove cuts
at the top and bottom of each leg. Just don’t get too carried away—you near the top of the leg.
Note that the circles (46mm in diam- don’t want to remove any of the
eter up top, 32mm in diameter at the actual spindle inside the leg blank. 22. Rough out the rest of the leg,
foot) run tangent to the two outside Set up the leg on the lathe between getting as close as you can to the
inal shape of the leg before taking it
faces of the leg. They aren’t centered! centers, with the top of the leg at
off the lathe.
Use a long straightedge to connect the headstock. Be sure to center the
the two “crosshair” lines along the blank on the center points of the cir- 23. You know you’re getting close
length of the leg—you’ll use those cles you drew—not the center points when your roughing cuts start to get
lines as references while you’re turn- of the blank. The blank will seem close to your centerlines.
16 17 22
18
19 20 21 23
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 45
Sculpted Side Table
as a whole will end up looking much
crisper as a result.
On to Handwork
With all four legs roughed out, it’s
time to head back to the bench.
Knock down the outside corner at
the top of the leg with a block plane,
then, with a No.7 jointer plane,
“joint” the outward-facing quadrant
24 25 of the leg. You’ll end up planing
in a slight “fan” pattern. (Imagine
planing a section of an inverted cone:
24. Use a jointer plane to fair the The base widens toward the top, but
outside corner into the adjacent lat the lines running along the surface
faces, paying close attention to the are actually straight.) Pay attention
top layout circle.
to your layout circles, and gradually
25. Reine the inside corner with fair the outside corner into a quar-
small planes and a spokeshave. ter-round section, which should then
26. With the shaping inished, in turn “flow” into the two adjacent,
head back to the lathe and sand flat faces. With the outside corner
the tapers to #400 grit. finished, work your way around
26 the inside of the leg, using a com-
bination of small bench planes and
offset and wobbly at first, but that’s to get the leg into a rough spindle spokeshaves. You won’t be able to
by design: Any cylinder you turn will shape. shape closer than an inch or so to the
“automatically” become a perfectly I know all of this sounds fussy, inside cove; don’t worry about that
tapered spindle. but it’s worth taking the time to be part for now.
I like to start with the cove-cuts methodical here, and getting fairly Once the shaping is finished, take
just underneath the joinery block, so close to the finished shape of the leg the legs back to the lathe, and sand
I know I’m working away from the before taking it off the lathe. You’ll everything down to #400 grit. You
section I know I don’t want to cut have a much easier time shaping may need to make a few trips back to
into. Use a fingernail gouge with the things down the road, and the piece the bench to scrape or spokeshave
cannel facing down the length of the
leg. Then, starting just below the
joint line, cut into the blank, then
quickly roll the tool 90˚ toward the
ceiling. (Think of a snowboarder
landing inside a halfpipe.) This
should create a small cove on the
inside corner of the leg. Work down
until the reference lines are just
about gone.
Next, switch to a roughing gouge,
and, working in 10" sections, turn the
blank down until the long reference
lines from earlier are just barely 27
visible, just as you did with the cove.
(The “rings” left from the roughing 27. Do a dry it and rehearsal of the
gouge should just about touch them.) glue up. Make sure all faces are lush.
If you have laid out your center Plane down any trouble spots before
points correctly, you should end up glue up.
with a gently tapering cylinder. Don’t 28. There's enough lat on the leg
worry about making the leg smooth that no cauls are needed. Just be
at this point, or even altogether mindful of the tightness of your joints.
straight. At this stage, the idea is just 28
46 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
down any troublesome grain or
extra-large facets from planing.
Assembly
It’s always worth doing one final
dry-fit before glueup. Double-check
that your joint faces are still good,
and make sure you didn’t undercut 33
the apron by turning the leg down
too far. If necessary, plane down any 31 31. With the top glued up, saw
surfaces that aren’t quite flush with the corners into a 40 mm round. A
an adjoining face. It’s much easier to template helps with layout.
do all of this stuff now, instead once 32. Add the 2° bevel to the top's
everything is glued together. edge with a spokeshave or plane.
I use slow-set West Systems epoxy Trust your eye – look for a proile
for long, complicated glueups like that responds to the splay of the leg.
this one. Don’t drive yourself crazy 33. Once the table is completely
with elaborate clamping cauls: you inished, attach the top and enjoy!
should still have just enough of a flat 32
on each leg to apply pressure directly
through the joint face. Clean up any the remaining material on the leg un- folded sandpaper. Finally, plane and
squeeze out with denatured alcohol til the “spindle” portion comes just sand the aprons flush to the legs, and
and let everything cure overnight. about flush with the undersides of break any hard edges with one or two
the aprons. Use a #7 or #8 x 10mm swipes of #320-grit paper.
Final Shaping gouge to take a series of passes
The last phase of shaping the table around the underside of the leg. Take Making the Top
base is done largely with carving care not to remove material from the For all the work that has gone into
gouges and rasps. Clamp the base bottom face of the apron, or from the base, the top is relatively straight-
upside down to the bench, and, the “spindle” itself—you should forward. It’s comprised of three
working one corner at a time, carve end up with a nice transition cove 150mm-wide slip-matched planks,
between the apron and the leg. milled to 20mm thick. Once the top
Fine-tune the cove with rasps (I is glued up, bandsaw the corners
use a Auriou 7"/13-grain, followed by into 40mm-radius quarter-rounds. (I
a 6"/15-grain) and #150-grit paper. used a masonite template to trace
(Anything coarser makes it just the curve, but a compass would work
about impossible to get the scratches just as well—just be sure not to poke
out.) Carefully fair the cove into the any holes in the top!) Spokeshave
turned-and-planed segment: imagine or plane a matching 2˚ bevel into
29 the spindle “growing” out of the the edge of the top. I find this is best
top section of the leg. Avoid lumps, done by eye—you’re mostly looking
or rounding everything into mush. for a profile that responds to the
Remember that all of the transition splay of the legs, and a square profile
takes shape on the leg itself, not the tends to look a little lifeless on a
apron. Any little bumps between the piece like this.
apron and the cove can usually be Plane or sand the top up to #400-
faired out with a #1 or #2 short- grit, then break the edges as before.
bend gouge. Finally, finish everything with a
With the underside cove com- couple coats of oil. (I particularly like
pleted, use a rasp to shape the two Liberon Finishing Oil, which is a rel-
30 coves on the outside faces of the legs. atively thin tung oil-based product.)
Although they aren’t “true” quar- Once the finish is cured, attach the
ter-rounds, they should extend from top with tabs or buttons, and
29-30. The inal shaping at the top
the corner of the joinery block to declare victory. Enjoy! PW
of the legs is done with rasps and
gouges. Go slowly and methodically
roughly tangent to the long refer-
to blend the leg into the apron. ence lines from earlier. Sand out Clark Kellogg is a furniture maker based
any scratches with a small piece of in Houston, Texas.
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 47
PROJECT #1826
Skill Level:
Intermediate
Time: 2 days
Cost: $75
It’s referenced by the seminal wood- tool kit. Typically, when we’re out lid —you’ll have an inch or so of
working writer Charles Hayward a and about woodworking, there’s depth to hang saws and other tools
few times, and that’s where we first an assumption of things we don’t here, too. Once you’ve determined
discovered it. The ideal size for this need to bring: most power tools, your final dimensions it’s time to
toolbox is about 6" deep, 16" tall and screwdrivers, sandpaper and other trim your top, bottom and ends to
about 27" long, but increasing or things that are commonly found in size and cut some dovetails.
48 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
A Traveler’s Tool Case
SIDE PROFILE
2"
11¼" 1
60°
4¾"
6"
2
1. Lay out and cut your dovetails.
Because we’re basically assembling
the whole box irst and then cutting
it apart, you’ll want to make sure
your cut line goes through a tail, and
you’ll want that pair of tails to be a bit
larger than the rest.
16"
2. The front and back panels of the
case are rabbeted into the sides.
We used the router table and a 1/4"
bearing-guided rabbeting bit to do
FRONT PROFILE this. Rout both sides to inal depth
(the thickness of your plywood),
then square up the corners with a
chisel.
27"
■ ONLINE EXTRA
Cutlist Learn how to
No. Item Dimensions (inches) Material Comments
cut dovetails.
T W L popularwoodworking.com/dovetails
1 Top 3⁄4 6 27 Maple
1 Bottom 3⁄4 6 27 Maple
2 Sides 3⁄4 6 16 Maple
1 Front Panel 1⁄4 151⁄2 261⁄2 Plywood Leave oversize*
1 Back Panel 1⁄4 151⁄2 261⁄2 Plywood Leave oversize*
*It’s easiest to cut your plywood to size after you’ve rabbeted the front and back of the case.
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 49
A Traveler’s Tool Case
5
3. You’ve built a beautiful box, and
3 4 now it’s time to cut it apart. We
roughed out most of the cuts on the
table saw, then inished it off with
a hand saw. Make the angled lid
cut irst, then the two mating cuts,
followed by the top edge cut.
4. Once your lid is cut from the box,
clean up the cut edges. The goal is
to have the edges perfectly mate
with the lid when closed, to keep
out dust and debris and have a
nice, even reveal.
5. Fitting out the inside of the box is
where the fun really begins. This sim-
6 7 ple chisel holder is just sized so the
tang of the chisel its in the groove.
6. The interior dividers (made from
3/8" plywood) were cut to it outside
50 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
This expert luthier chases his
passion and inspires DIYers.
By Spike Carlsen
Unlike most luthiers, the one sitting er town of Stillwater, Minnesota. “I presence in the stringed instrument
across the table isn’t content to wound up in the luthier world by ac- field. The opportunity to practice
simply make beautiful looking cident,” he explains. “I was working his newly learned skills in a small
and sounding instruments. No. in multi-media productions, and was company setting held great appeal
He needs to dream up and build tired of sitting at a computer all day. and so he packed his toolbox.
beautiful instruments no one’s ever I asked a local technical college to He discovered many of the wood-
seen or heard. He needs to resur- send me information about all their workers had cabinetmaking back-
rect beautiful 16th-century instru- programs and they randomly sent grounds; a skill set that came with
ments and bring them into the 21st me a huge packet about the luthier a different perspective on building.
century. He needs to wed amazingly program. I was a guitar player, I liked Working with them provided an
figured woods with carbon fiber to working with my hands, so ...” He opportunity for Nelson to learn
make delightfully light instruments. attributes his craftsmanship leanings about production work and differ-
On top of all this, he often needs to to his grandfather who was “always ent ways things could go together.
make these instruments in kit form building something” and had Nelson His initial focus was on guitars, but
so people halfway around the world cutting out and carving pipestone he was also assigned the challenge
can make their own instruments. as a kid. of designing a “suitcase bass;” aptly
Welcome to the beautifully complex By the time he’d completed the named because of its suitcase size
world of Jacob Nelson. one-year program in 2000, Music- and shape, and the neck that could
maker Kits—a company started by be unbolted and stowed for porta-
An Accidental Journey Jerry Brown in 1978, the year Nelson bility. The instrument never took
I’m visiting the 39-year-old Nelson in was born—had posted a job opening. off, but it gave Nelson the chops to
his shop nestled in the back corner of They sold kits for everything from tackle his next challenge, this one
an industrial park near the quaint riv- hammocks to clocks, but had a large a succes, the Voyageur Harp; a mid-
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 51
Jacob Nelson
size, performance-quality instru- day it’s more than half. Nelson’s not
ment that can “easily fit in the back sure what’s caused the shift; perhaps
seat of a sedan.” people wanting to build things of a
Nelson continued to work in more digital nature. Another shift
various capacities at the company involves what’s going out the door.
for the next 15 years, then pur- Today about half their production
chased the company when owner, involves harps of various sizes and
Jerry Brown, decided to step back. styles.
(Brown continues to “fiddle around” The orchestra of instruments they
three days a week at the shop.) offer includes a half-dozen floor
Today the company focuses solely harps, lap harps, ukuleles, mando-
on stringed instruments. It consists lins, guitars and banjos as well as a
of a handful of employees divided line of folk and Old-World instru-
between the front-of-the-shop staff , ments including the three-stringed
including Nelson’s wife, Stephanie Strumbly, a hognose psaltery, a lyre
who handles sales, shipping and and a hurdy-gurdy. Nelson chuckles
customer relations, and the back-of- and says of the hurdy-gurdy, “In
the-shop luthiers who craft finished the wrong hands it can sound like a
stringed instruments and kits. roomful of cats.” Prices range from
Nelson seamlessly moves from one $150 for a Strumbly kit to $5,500 Nelson and founder, Jerry Brown,
take a stroll down memory lane
area to another, but naturally grav- for a finished Jolie Hybrid harp. For
as they leaf through one of three
itates to the workshop and the task those truly adventurous, wanting scrapbooks packed with newspa-
he loves most: making sawdust. to build their own instrument from per clippings and testimonals
scratch, Musicmakers offers down- from happy customers.
Harps to Hurdy-Gurdy loadable blueprints, instructions
Ten years ago only about one-third and hardware kits for more than a
of the instruments that went out the dozen instruments. sell a finished instrument than it is
front door were in finished form; to- “In ways, it’s easier to build and to develop, cut out and ship a kit,”
Nelson explains. “You need to craft
the laminated curved parts of a kit
instrument just right so they don’t
spring back and lose their shape
between the time they leave the
mold and the time the customer
begins assembling.”
In the catalog, each kit is coded
according to the assembly difficulty
level. For example, the Kantele, a
10-string instrument from Finland,
is rated at 2 hammers (“Good for
building your woodworking confi-
dence.”). The hurdy-gurdy is rated
as 5 hammers (“Contains a few
memorable moments.”)
Nelson likes to tread where
Above: Nelson demonstrates the
no luthier has tread before. He’s
bending jig he developed to create
all the curved parts for his Dakota developed a line of uniquely shaped
line of ukuleles and mandolins. He “Dakota” mandolins and ukuleles.
uses special veneer glue, with less The distinctive shape evolved not
creep, when laminating layers. only out of the desire to produce
magnificent looking and sounding
Left: Nelson takes a peek at a few
Dakota instruments in progress. instruments, but also out of a desire
A single mold creates the convex to simplify kit production. A single
and concave parts for four different bending jig is used to make all the
instruments. parts. Each part has the same curve,
but length and orientation of the
52 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
pieces differ. “It eliminates the need
for a dozen different bending jigs,”
Nelson explains.
Nelson takes pride in provid-
ing crystal-clear instructions for
assembling instruments and actually
enjoys handling calls from customers.
“Most people get the instrument built
correctly,” he explains. “The most
common place they screw up is in
the sanding and finishing.” Some kit
builders are musicians that want to
try their hand at crafting their own
instrument, others are woodworkers
and regular folks that want to make
an instrument for themselves or as a
gift. “Musicians that make their own
instruments have more of an emo-
tional attachment to them,” Nelson
explains. “And they know how to
Above: Carbon iber–like wood– fix something if it goes wrong.” As
comes in a variety of thicknesses a teacher at heart, Nelson provides
and grain patterns. Nelson equates a lot of useful information on the
the highly igured carbon iber company website. There's an online
lining the back of this harp with tuner, a fret calculator, chord charts,
curly maple. “Other stuff is more a string gauge table, videos and infor-
like pine,” he explains.
mation on instrument building.
Right and below: It’s all in the Nelson and crew pay close
family. Cheyenne, Nelson’s attention to what customers want.
daughter, built her own harp, Their most popular instrument, the
including experimenting with dyes. Reverie Harp, of which they sell
Based on the results, Nelson now
hundreds a year, was developed in
offers colored versions of harps.
conjunction with a musical therapist
in Australia working with hospice
patients. The harps have a soothing
sound, are easy to hold and easy to
play. A dog can lick the strings of
the harp and create a comforting
melody. He’s just finished develop-
ing the Lynda Lyre in conjunction
with the founder of an international
harp therapy training program.
But listening to the pleas of those
playing larger floor harps has pre-
sented him with the biggest
challenge of all.
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 53
The Clamps of a Luthier
Most of the instruments made at Musicmakers are held together with few, if any, screws or
nails. Some have bolts reinforcing joints that need to withstand great stress, but for the most
part glue does the job. And for glue to do its job, clamps of every size, shape, race, color and
creed are required: Bar, spring, cam, block, C, handscrew—you name it. Sometimes it even
takes a nonclamp to do a job no other clamp can do. “We have been known to use shrink wrap
or short sections of metal I beam in a pinch,” explains Nelson. Here are a few clamps—both
ordinary and extraordinary—you’ll find in the shop:
D E F
ies, vacuum bags and jigs and came ing the weight of their Jolie Hybrid a decorative band.
up with a technique for integrating harp, formerly weighing 22 pounds, Nelson explains how designing
carbon fiber into the harp post, neck down to 13 pounds. The African and building any acoustical in-
and sound box. “The holy grail of ribbon mahogany used for the in- strument requires a fine blend of
harp building is to build an instru- strument adds to the magnificence. acoustics, mathematics, physics,
16
ment weighing less than 15 pounds The carbon fiber is difficult to aesthetics and, of course, woodwork-
that still produces a rich full sound detect in the finished instrument. ing prowess. The strings of a harp, for
and can withstand the intense string In some places it’s encased in wood example, exert 1,500 pounds of pres-
pressure,” he explains. Nelson and and in others places the thin black sure across the instrument. Thus, the
crew found that holy grail by reduc- line of carbon fiber masquerades as soundboard must be strong, yet res-
54 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
Top: Nelson’s shop loosely adheres
to a “lean manufacturing” process.
The work board is broken down
into “COOL” and “HOT” projects.
Orders spike when new catalogs
are shipped and during tax time.
Bottom left: Nelson uses this
simple jig made of plywood and
drywall screws to mark the posi-
tions of the tuning pegs in one of
his harp necks.
Bottom right: Once the perfect
instrument part is made, there’s no
reason to reinvent the wheel each
time it’s made. You make a jig to
immortalize it.
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 55
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Advertiser’s Index
Page # Card # Web Address Page # Card # Web Address
working. Methylene chloride fumes was done with flammable solvents The success of this stripper led
are heavier than air, so doing this or by scraping off the coating. The Barr to start a company that still
increases exposure significantly over scraping was done with pieces of exists today, W.M. Barr & Company.
what might have built up in the room. glass, not with the modern steel The brand name you might asso-
Methylene chloride metabolizes to card scrapers we use today. The ciate most with this company is
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58 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
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Flexner on Finishing
Consumer
Advocacy Groups
The consumer advocacy groups
seem to be led by Safer Chemicals
Healthy Families, which claims to
be a coalition of 450 organizations
comprising 11 million members.
Apparently, they wrote letters to
the chain stores asking them to stop
selling strippers containing methy-
lene chloride or NMP and that was
enough to be successful with these
three big retail chains. I guess the Above: To test for shellac or lac-
chains reasoned that these strippers quer, dab some alcohol or lacquer
weren’t big enough profit makers to thinner on the finish. Alcohol will
be willing to upset a large number of remove shellac, which was widely
their customers. used before the 1920s, and lacquer
Sherwin-Williams issued the fol- thinner will remove lacquer, which
lowing statement: “Our customers was widely used since the 1920s.
are our #1 priority at Sherwin- Right: It’s easy to strip a shellac
Williams, so we’re eliminating finish using alcohol, which, so
methylene chloride paint strippers far, isn’t being regulated. Lacquer
from our stores. We have several thinner is being regulated in some
effective alternatives available to parts of the country, however,
serve your project needs.” and is being formulated with large
amounts of VOC-exempt acetone,
Sherwin-Williams doesn’t carry
which evaporates rapidly.
strippers based on NMP.
I’d assume that Lowe’s and Home
Depot would say something similar.
My Opinion Very old furniture and woodwork statistics, but I have had direct
These stores carry all sorts of were typically finished with either experience. A number of years ago
dangerous stuff. I’ll just point to shellac or lacquer, which don’t one of my furniture restoration
one: ladders. Three hundred people require the strongest strippers to clients hired a painter to strip the
a year are killed in falls from ladders. remove. But over the last several paint from the wood trim and pan-
164,000 go to emergency rooms. decades professional refinishing eling in several rooms of a very nice
Remember that only 1.5 people die a shops have increasingly replaced house. After applying the flammable
year from acute exposure to methy- these finishes with high-perfor- stripper to a section of one room,
lene chloride. And though every life mance catalyzed lacquers and the painter flipped on a light switch,
is valuable, these figures undercut varnishes because of their increased which sparked and started a fire that
the reasoning. durability. These finishes are also couldn’t be extinguished before half
If Sherwin-Williams were really common on newer furniture and the house had been destroyed.
making my needs their #1 priority, woodwork. What to do? Until the EPA acts
they’d let me choose what to use, So, when these coatings start further, methylene chloride and
maybe with an instruction to not deteriorating, as all do, and need NMP strippers should continue to
use for stripping bathtubs. (Some to be replaced, the only available be available at independent paint
suppliers are doing that now.) products that’ll remove them may stores. They’re not likely to bow to
Contrary to their claim, there be lye, (which is destructive to the the pressure from these advocacy
aren’t any equivalent alternatives. wood and joints and dangerous to groups. PW
As I’ve pointed out previously, all work with), flammable strippers and
are either highly flammable, or they sandpaper, which is destructive to Bob Flexner is the author of Flexner on
are weak and contain a lot of water. patina and wood decoration, such as Finishing, Wood Finishing 101 and
Leaving these strippers on the wood carvings, fretwork and turnings. Understanding Wood Finishing.
for the time it takes them to work Concerning flammability, this
can lift veneer. is a real issue. I haven’t found any
60 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
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ADVANCED
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$
²(GZDUG6:D\QH1-
“Whatever you do, don’t mess this projects waiting for me, so I decided
up. Don’t mess this up. Don’t mess to glue up the sawbench. And you
this up.” These were the thoughts know something? It’s one of the best
hurtling through my mind as I decisions I’ve made in the workshop,
drilled and reamed the mortises for because it taught me not to be afraid
my first “chair-like” project—a pair of failure. We all want to produce
of staked saw benches. I’m sure that our very best work, and no one likes
everyone has felt the same during to be reminded of the times when
the critical stage of a build–the fear something didn’t go to plan. But
that the hard work on a project is sometimes accepting a significant
about to be undone in one swift error and continuing work can be
misjudged moment. beneficial for a number of reasons.
This story starts, as many wood- Firstly, we all know people who
working anecdotes do, with a tool scrap a component as soon as it
acquisition. In this case, it was a isn’t perfect. In fact, we’ve all been
Disston D8 ripsaw made in 1900; that person. But the problem with
my first really good handsaw. As a being that person is that by always
luthier I’d not had much need for starting over you never actually get
full-sized handsaws, but as I start- to make anything, and your skill
ed making more furniture I needed set progresses at a slower rate than
a pair of good handsaws and some if you kept building. Secondly, a
solid sawbenches to saw at. Settling well-designed and executed project
on the staked sawbenches from will be functional. But how far
Chris Schwarz’s The Anarchist’s De- can you test a form before it fails?
sign Book, I figured that the staked Knowing where to find the bound-
construction would be a useful ary between what works and what
introduction to building chairs doesn’t takes experience and
and other legged pieces. some mistakes.
Now, if you’re used to flat work, or Although the leg angles of my
lutherie, the compound angles need- first sawbench were askew, once
ed for chairmaking are enough to assembled, the bench was perfectly
give you a fit of the vapours. Drilling stable and useable, even if no one
the leg mortises through the bench would ever say it was good looking. break down more rough boards than
top went smoothly enough, but Shop projects are perfect for this I can count. It’s been a finishing
reaming the mortises for the conical risk taking. Often they use cheaper platform, an assembly table where
tenon, without inadvertently chang- material than the fine furniture you I sit to eat my lunch, and at times,
ing the leg angle, was a terrifying have planned for the house, and a stool for guitar playing. At my
prospect. So there I was, holding my if it all goes terribly wrong no one daughter’s second birthday party we
breath, gingerly rotating the brace need know but you. So, yes, aspire even fetched it out of the shop to
and cautioning myself against any to create your very best work every use as extra seating. It might not be
slight body movements that might time you step up to the workbench, the prettiest thing I’ve made, but it
impact on the angle. Predictably, the but don’t be afraid of failure, and serves me well nearly every day I’m
leg mortises were noticeably skew- don’t be too hasty to consign mis- in the workshop. And you can’t ask
PHOTO BY THE AUTHOR
whiff, like Bambi walking on ice. takes to the burn pile —they might for more than that. PW
I had two choices: scrap the still have a use.
benchtop and start again, or press And that sawbench? Despite its Kieran Binnie is a furniture maker and
on with an ungainly (but probably cattywampus legs it’s served me woodworking writer. See more of his
useable) sawbench. I had other well for several years. I’ve used it to work at overthewireless.com.
64 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING