There's an App, er; JIG for that!

Getting' Jiggy With It!

     Well, there it is; a workbench with some of the jigs I've spent the past couple of day's making.  Once when Adam and I were working in the shop and we needed sandpaper I pulled out my handy dandy sandpaper sizing jig.  Adam chuckled and said: "you've got a jig for everything!".  And you know, when you've been working with wood as long as I have it's pretty much true.  There's no sense in making a jig for something you do once or twice but if you plan on doing it more often a jig or fixture is the way to go.  That sandpaper jig?, you'd be surprised at how many students had detention with me at school and sized hundreds of sheets of that sandpaper!
     I've mentioned that the prospect of marketing my pistol cases is pretty good, I'll make the final determination when I go to the gun show this weekend.  In the process of doing that I decided to work on box making techniques and make some smaller, easier to sell projects.  Since the parts you work with making boxes are fairly small in size it's important to have ways to handle them in a safe manner.  As a prototype project I'm making a box that's about 4" x 6" and under 3" tall.  Trying to safely work pieces that small around a 10" tablesaw is not the way to go!
     What you see in the picture above, from left to right are:

1. Slot Miter Jig --- used to cut a slot in the corner of a mitered box
2. Large Bench Hook --- used to hold small pieces of material for planing
3. Shooting Board --- used to trim and square small pieces of wood, also made a 45 degree holder for truing up miters
4. Bench Hook --- an old standby that's definitely over built with dovetails!
5. Small Router Table --- clamps into the end vise, uses my small trim router

     I have one more jig in the plans, one to cut a raised panel or lid in this case.  Rather than tilt the blade on the tablesaw it's safer to make a jig that rides on the rip fence and angles the work instead.  That way you don't have to mess around with tilting and and re-adjusting the blade angle.
   
     The first step in the process was to cut the pieces at a 45 degree angle.  This was done with a miter saw, then the pieces were trued up on the shooting board:

Shooting Board -- Truing the Edge

     By setting up the stop block each piece is guaranteed to be the same width. I'm using some quarter sawn White Oak for this prototype.  Not shown is the fixture which holds the material at a 45 degree angle, that cleans up any tear out the miter saw may have left.  After this step, a groove was cut into the inside bottom of each piece on the new router table.  I didn't take a picture of that but I was able to clamp the crevice tool of the shopvac to it and capture most of the sawdust.
     A technique I've always wanted to try is where you use tape to assemble and hold mitered joints tight.  Clamping can be tricky with a small project like this.  The first step was to lay them face down and apply a piece of tape to the backs:

Packaging Tape aka Clamps!

     Next, the whole assembly is flipped over, glue is applied to the inside of the miters, and bottom is inserted into the groove and you simply align and tape it all up.  Know what?  it works!  After time for drying the tape was removed and, voila; you have an assembled box!

Removing Tape from Assembled Box

     As a decorative item the edges will have a slot cut into them.  Then a piece of contrasting wood, Walnut in this case, will be glued into that slot.  This serves as a decorative element and also reinforces the corner.  Miter joints are not the strongest since you're gluing end grain but they rarely fail.  There is a series of picture frames I used to do for Diane's water colors where I used this technique with Maple frames.  These were only an inch thick or so and required just a small fixture to hold them while cutting the slot.
   

Miter Slot Jig

The boxes are bigger than a picture frame so that calls for yet another jig.  If you can picture it, this sled rides on a couple of pieces of Poplar that are cut at a 45 degree angle.  Attached to them are two pieces of 3/4" MDF that forms a trough for the box to sit in.  By setting the rip fence at 3" (just a random number) and using a blade with a flat bottomed cut, as the sled is passed over the blade a nice slot is cut.  The piece of Walnut and the clamp is a simple stop to ensure the same location on all sides.  See the slots already cut on the top of the box?


     Once the slots were completed it was finally time to get back to that wonderfully quiet world of hand tools.  A piece of Walnut was selected that just need a bit of planing to be the correct thickness to fill the slot, it's about an eighth of an inch thick.  That's were the large bench hook and block plane came into play:

Sizing the Miter Keys

     This bench hook has a very thin stop at the end of it which holds the piece while taking a light cut.  I found that it was just as easy to hold the plane and basically pull the piece under it.  Once the thickness was correct each slot was cut at 45 degrees with the other bench hook and a Japanese style saw.  This bench hook has one side with a 45 degree guide (shown) and the opposite side is 90 degrees.  At this point, the splines are in the slots waiting for me to cut and plane them even with the box sides.  That's for tomorrow.




 

Finger Joint Jig -- Final Version?

     I've spent the last two days working on making a permanent, easy to adjust and set up, finger joint jig.  This will used on the tablesaw with an 8" Freud box joint cutter set.  Usually, if you just have one project to do it's no problem screwing a temporary fence to your miter gauge, banging it with a hammer to get the right fit, and cut the joints.  That's always worked in the past but I'm about 75% committed to making a small run of pistol cases and renting a table at a gun show coming to Las Vegas in September.  

      Not sure if I've ever talked about the pistol cases on the blog so here's a link to the website:    http://www.contemporarypistolcases.com/

    These cases will be assembled with box joints or finger joints.  The name of the joint is pretty much interchangeable since the corners have the appearance of interlaced fingers.  This design exposes a lot of face grain for gluing and is incredibly strong.  The trick is to consistently cut them and maintain the spacing.  A thirty-second of an inch one way or the other can make them too tight or too loose.  Before buying the Freud set I would use the dado blades but the width of the cut was apt to change each time depending on the positioning of the blades.  Hopefully, with the Freud cutter set, they will always be either 1/4" or 3/8" without any variation every time it's set up.  Time will tell on that one!
     Here's a shot of the jig I've spent careful time on:

Finger or Box Joint Jig for Tablesaw

     As you can tell, it rides in both miter gauge slots which will keep the cuts square and consistent.  The piece in the front is referred to as the carriage and it "carries" the material being cut.  The piece of MDF directly in line with the blade is a sacrificial piece to prevent blow out on the back side of the piece being cut. The MDF to the right of it is a mistake on my part!  Since the Freud set only cuts 1/4" and 3/8" wide joints I needed to make a carriage for each size.  The 3/8" one is off to the left side.
     The plans for this jig came from ShopNotes Tablesaw issue that I believe, was published in 2007.  The original plan called for using 3/4" plywood as runners in the miter slots with a platform between them that held the carriage.  This worked but I found that the plywood changed in thickness due to weather conditions and one time it would slide freely and the next it would bind.  I chose to re-engineer their design and use the ultra high molecular weight  polyethylene available from suppliers like Lee Valley.  I've used this for many sleds, fixtures, and jigs and love it!  It can be drilled and tapped and is stable and slick.  For this application it was tapped for 1/4" x 20 tpi machine screws.  Here's a better picture of the jig:

Side View of Jig

     The carriage is attached to the sled portion through slotted holes which allow me to adjust it to get the proper fit.  There are a two knobs and fender washers on the backside which tighten the carriage bolts used to keep it all together.  That's some 5/16" thick Walnut I used for the test set-up.
     As far as the pistol cases go, I was commissioned to make six of them a year or so ago for a neighbor.  He is an avid gun collector and used the cases for presentation, storage, and transportation.  Since the case will be built for a specific pistol it's important that I can accomplish that -- obviously!  I had a friend of mine make a tracing of one of his pistols and made this mock up for it:

Alder Pistol Panel

     For the final fitting all that's required is for the pistol owner to first place the pistol in the leather covered, foam recess.  You would then put the strap onto the snap, put a slight bit of pressure down on the pistol and mark the other end of the strap.  Once a pilot hole is drilled at the location the strap can be secured.  Repeat the process for the other strap and you know have an attractive and secure way to transport your pistol.  In time, the foam will conform to the ins and outs of the gun for a perfect, custom fit.
     Next weekend there will be a gun show at the South Point Casino here in Las Vegas and I plan to go and see what it's like.  I've visited a few other gun shows, scouting expeditions if you will, and think there is a market for the serious gun collector for pistol cases like mine.  I'll keep you posted -- wish me luck!

Mortise & Tenon -- Hybrid Tutorial

     The project I was working on for my wife was a fairly straight forward frame for a bulletin board she needed in her studio.  For bulletin boards I like to use those 3/4" thick styrofoam sheets you can buy at the local big box store.  They're also great for packing materials but that's another story.  So, what we have is 5/4 Poplar for an approximate 30" square board.  Adding a dowel to go across the bottom for ribbons she uses in her doll crafting plus pegs to hang scissors, french curves, and other pattern making devices she likes to have closes at hand.
     There would be any number of ways to construct this frame but I'm really partial to the tried and true mortise and tenon.  Yes, biscuits would work quicker, Kreg pocket hole joinery is another option, and now Festool has come out with their Domino machine but I'll stick to traditional work.  I'll go through my process and explain why I'm calling it a hybrid.
     First off, in our local woodworking group I'm known as one of the hand tool guys.  My philosophy though is to let machines I have perform the grunt work, similar to what an apprentice would do in a woodshop.  After running the material through the planer to make sure each piece is the same thickness I'll cut the pieces to rough length.  Next would be jointing an edge with a #7 Stanley and ripping each piece to the required width.  Once that's accomplished I use a hollow chisel mortiser to cut the mortises.

Cutting the Haunched Mortise

     As you can see there are stops set up so once that's done on one piece the other is guaranteed to be the same.  I used to cut mortises completely by hand but when I had a commission that needed about 24 of them I figured it was time to open my wallet!
     The next logical step is to cut the shoulders, this is done on the table saw using a sled and of course, another stop block.

Cutting Shoulders

     In this case I clamped a one inch spacer to the rip fence and used that as a stop block to assure the same distance for each.  Since this will be a haunched tenon I cut both of the faces and one edge.  I use an old Delta tenoning jig and make a shallow trial cut first.  Usually I'd have some scrape material to do trial cuts but this is all the Poplar I had!

Tenoning Jig

     After making a shallow cut, the sides are cut off with a dovetail saw and bench hook:

Trial Cut to Fit Tenon

     This is then checked to see how it fits the mortise:

Checking Tenon Fit

 
     Any adjustment can be made to the tenoning jig, I prefer to leave them very slightly oversized and then use a rabbet block plane from Lie-Nielsen to get that perfect fit.

Trimming Tenon Cheeks 

     Through the years I've tried many ways to trim tenons and this is by far, the best method for me.  Chisels and shoulder planes have been tried in the past but for me, the plane allows me to get an even trim on the tenon.  It's wide enough to cover most tenons in one pass and there's enough surface area to make that cut even.  Shoulder planes are narrow and just didn't fit my style.  Notice a good old fashioned bench hook -- went a little crazy with that and used it as an excuse to practice my dovetails.
     Once the tenons fit that way I'd like them to all that's left is to cut the haunch:

Final Step

     Since the haunch location could be slightly different on each mortise (eye-balled to the line) it's important to lay them out by transferring the  measurements from the exact mortise it will be joined to.  As a rule, I'll stamp a letter on each tenon face and mortise with metal working stamps.  Naturally this is put in an area where it won't be seen once the parts are together and it really helps when it's time to glue up.  The final step is to use a chisel to put a slight chamfer on the ends of the tenon.
     So there you have it, what I call my Hybrid Method.  In our woodworking group we've had discussions on using power tools versus hand work.  Many of the members take the position that if the cabinet and furniture makers of old had access to table saws, jointer, planers, etc. they would have surely used them and I'd tend to agree with that position.  Personally, when I first started taking on part time jobs while I was a teacher all I had were the hand tools. If a jobs came up that required a lot of mortises I bought the mortiser,  when I had a lot of book matched panels to make I upgraded the bandsaw, and so on.
     There's a balance all of us woodworkers need to find where we're comfortable doing the work we do.  I strongly favor hand cut dovetails, planed surfaces, hand beaded details, and oil finishes rubbed in by hand.  Once the grunt work is done there's nothing quite as satisfying to me than to finish the project with the quiet work of hand tools.  You know, ask a group of five woodworkers how to do a certain aspect of woodworking and you're liable to get five different  answers!

Walnut Shelf Installed

Walnut Shelf Installed

     I was hoping that my client would come through with getting me a picture of the shelf installed in the custom home they're working on and here it is!  Not sure how they will finish it, my option would be oil and at least 3 coats of my hand rubbed top coats but with a philosophy of time = money that probably won't happen.  I just hope he was pulling my leg when he said they may stain it black :-/.  A couple of coats of lacquer would be a possible option.  Not sure what will be done to finish off the edges by the wall but if possible I'll see if I can get a picture of the completed project as well.

Spokeshave + Cabinet Scraper = Ready for Pick Up

Ready for Pick Up

     Here is the finished shelf waiting for the client to pick it up.  From what I understand this will be installed on a curved wall that will be covered with those long, thin glass tiles.  The ones that remind me of ledge stone you might find on a fireplace or exterior wall but on a much smaller and glitzier scale.  I was told they would take a picture of the installation so I can have it for my portfolio.
     As I talked about in my last blog, the edges needed to be cleaned up and finished since the router bit wasn't long enough to cover the entire thickness.  Here's what it looked like:

Edge and Spokeshaves

     The thing that makes a cut edge appear so much better than one that has been abraded by sandpaper is the clarity.  I guess in political speak that would be "transparency!"  The upper portion of the edge is where the router bit didn't reach.  Notice how much clearer the left side is compared to the right; that's been cut with the spokeshave.  Primarily I used the black, Stanley #151 except on the concave sections of the back that required the bronze, Lie-Nielsen with the radiused sole.  This picture shows the quality of the cut better:

Outer Edge

When it comes to hand tools like spokeshaves and scrapers there's a difference of opinion on whether they should be pushed or pulled.  For me, it really depends on the project and grain direction of the wood.  In this case, pushing the spokeshave seemed the best.  It's easy to spot the difference in the grain color that indicates where it's been cut and which area is still low.  With a large, free-form curve like this you have to let your eye and fingers tell you when it's a fair curve.  Luckily the grain direction was easy to read and there were only two small knots that gave me some difficulty.


     Once the edges were done it was time to work on the faces.  The client wanted to keep a sharp edge on the piece but personally, I hope he cuts it ever so slightly.  Even though I've scraped the board I'm guessing they'll hit it with some sandpaper before the finish the piece.  I started out with a cabinet scraper:

Cabinet Scraper

     This is a tool I always push.  You can see the shavings that are curling out that indicates a well defined burr.  On this tool I use a blade that's been ground at 45 degrees and then add a burr for cutting.  That allows a pretty aggressive cut which was needed to remove the glue and level the surface when the two pieces were laminated together.  Before beginning this step, the board looked like this:

Chatter Marks from the Planer

 
     I tried to capture this but not sure how well it shows.  The chalked in arrow which was my triangular marks for laminating the piece, almost point to an area of those visible chatter marks.  They're caused by the planer as the board is surfaced.  I didn't run this board through my planer but even it, with a helix head, leaves a bit of chatter marks.  I wanted to give them as good of a surface as possible so once the board was done with the cabinet scraper I went to the card scraper for the finish:

Card Scraper

    These will put a blister on your fingers real quick!  I always pull these, to me pushing feels awkward.  Although I've purchased a holder for this from Veritas (upper left on bench) I haven't been able to master that yet -- guess I'm destined to have burned finger tips when it comes to using a card scraper.  I do need to work on my technique with that because I'm giving a demonstration to the Sin City Woodworkers group in June on sharpening and using card and cabinet scrapers.
     Well, now that this is done I can get back to work on the bulletin board for Diane.  Pretty straight forward project with mortise and tenoned construction and a rack to hold ribbons she needs for her Rag Dolls Rising work so I'll blog that as it goes.

No More Noise !!

     Those of you that know my method of working will understand the title of this post.  My philosophy towards the craft is to let the power equipment do the "grunt work" and then, when that phase of work is  complete, switch over to the quieter process of letting my hands and tools do the finish work.  This project is no different.
     Once the glue had cured over-night the pattern was traced onto the Walnut.  I used the bandsaw to get that roughed out.  That was interesting, although I have a pretty large table on the bandsaw maneuvering a 6' long piece of 8/4 Walnut around and sawing to the line was challenging.  This is where the stackable torsion boxes came into play.  By stacking them together they match the hight of the bandsaw table.  Then, with Diane supporting the cut off piece the shape was cut out.
     Routing, ah yes, let's see now; eye protection -- check; ear protection -- check; dust protection -- check.  Okay, I'm ready to do this now:

Ready for Pattern Routing

     The plan is to shape the inside edge first, somewhat of a trial to see how the OSB (oriented strand board) would work as a pattern for the router.  Once the inside pattern matched the template I would re-attach it, line it up exactly to the routed curve, and then proceed to cut the outside curve on the bandsaw.

Two Passes on the Template

     Here you can see how pattern routing works.  There is a bit in the router that has a bearing mounted above the cutter.  This bearing follows the template to trim the piece below it and make it a copy.  Only problem here is that the Walnut is about 1 3/4" thick and then add the 1/2" thickness of the OSB template you'll need a really long bit to cut the entire part.  Don't have one of those and figure why make that investment, a spokeshave will cut cleaner and give a much better finish.
     Along the way I learned why not to use OSB for a template.  It is full of voids which I didn't realize on the back of the shelf but became evident on the front.  Because of the voids the bearing would go into the template a bit which gave me some discrepancies as I routed.  Soon as I saw that I knew it was time to stop and repair the edge.

Template Repair

     I used some putty to build up and reinforce the voided areas.  Once it was dry the areas were sanded smooth to give the bearing a better surface to ride on.  The material I prefer to make patterns from is MDF (medium density fiberboard)  which cuts, files, and sands easily.  Another advantage is that it's very smooth so the router can glide over it easily, OSB has a rough surface that the router base would catch on.  Basically, MDF is a higher grade of particle board that has no grain direction and, most important of all, no voids.  When you do this operation, and your bit isn't long enough to cut the entire thickness, it's done in small passes.  Because the spinning bit can tear the wood out as the grain direction changes it's best to take very light cuts.  Once you're down a quarter of an or so it's best to remove the template and use the area previously cut as your guide.
     Now that all of the noisy machine work is complete it's time to refine the edge with spokeshaves and a block plane.  That's on tap for tomorrow.

New Commission

     Today, as I was starting on a project for Diane I got a commission for an elliptical shaped, hanging shelf.  This should be an interesting project and since it's a paying one I'm sure Diane won't mind if I put her bulletin board on the back burner, so to speak.  This is a job for a custom house and what makes it nice is I didn't have to go and select the material which is 8/4 Walnut.  Here's the material that was delivered to me along with a template made of OSB material:

25 1/2 Board Feet of Walnut

     What you're looking at is about 25.5 board feet of Walnut.  At the price of it these days I better not make a wrong cut or this job will cost me!  I'm hoping that they will let me keep the "scrap" which would make some nice boxes or even a lid panel for a pistol case.  From what I understand, this will be suspended on a curved wall which will be covered with glass tile.  I should be able to get a picture of it once the piece is installed and finished.










     The first step was to figure out the best way to utilize these two pieces to make the required shelf.  I thought it was pretty nice the way the grain matched up but then when I removed the template found a big knot!  After some more trial and error and establishing an even edge I was able to make this configuration:

Edges Jointed, Ready for Glue

     This is where an independent, custom shop like mine can take the time to select exactly how we think the piece will look the best.  You can make out the chalk outline of the shelf, notice the center of the shelf is pretty much the center of the swirl pattern of the Walnut.  This is a small detail that many people won't pick up on but they'll realize it's pleasing to the eye even if they don't know why.  I used my old Stanley jointer plane to prepare the edges for assembly.  My glue of choice for this type of work is Gorilla Glue.  It allows me a pretty good open time and has never failed me yet -- let's keep it that way.
     One of the pieces was laminated around 6pm with the clamps I like to use that create a flat panel.  Around 9pm or so I'll replace them with regular bar clamps and attach the other end.  Once they're set overnight they'll be good to go in the morning.  It'll be a pretty heavy piece of wood to run on the bandsaw.