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 Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Woodworking Dimensions
 Like any profession, woodworking has a lot of jargon specific to the craft. And no matter how simple the project, I always seem to run smack up against this issue when writing woodworking articles. Case in point: I recently finished building a wall box for the I Can Do That story in our August issue. The project was easy – just a few boards cut to size and nailed together. So I thought writing about it would be easy, too. And for the most part, it was. But, when my story made the first round through the other editors for changes, Senior Editor Bob Lang pointed out that my terminology was a bit off. I wrote, “cut the shelf to the final width.” But, because the grain of the wood in the shelf runs side to side between the two upright pieces, what I was really doing was cutting it to final length. However, to the novice reader (read: me and the target group for the I Can Do That projects), this is confusing. That piece of wood runs across the width of the shelf in the finished project, so if I wrote, “cut it to final length,” I suspect a lot of readers might be scratching their heads and wondering what the heck I meant. Because I didn’t have enough room to go into an explanation in the story, I simply wrote around the problem (a time-honored tradition in journalism). But now I feel guilty about perpetuating my ignorance on unsuspecting readers, so here’s a quick primer I lifted from one of Bob’s books, “ Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture.” “For individual parts, width is always the direction across the wood grain, and length is always the direction with the grain,” writes Bob.  In the photo above, on the top piece you can see the grain running top to bottom...which is the length. The width runs across the long side, from left to right. So, the top piece is 2-1/2" long and 26" wide. The bottom piece, in which the grain runs left to right, is 21" long and 2" wide. The orientation of the parts in the finished piece makes no difference when discussing the individual pieces. Once, however, the pieces are put together, the dimension tags for the individual pieces no longer apply. For example, the long grain of a drawer front (the length, in pieces), runs across the width of a drawer. Oy vey. Then there’s nominal v. actual size when buying lumber. See the ICDT manual for an explanation of that bugbear. And don’t get me started on rebates/rabbets, cramps/clamps, trenches/grooves… — Megan Fitzpatrick
Read other entries by Megan Fitzpatrick
Tuesday, May 22, 2007 8:58:53 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Monday, May 21, 2007
Shop Projects Part 5-Benches on a Budget
Procrastination isn't always a bad thing. When we last looked at my pile of 2 x 4s it was just over a month ago, and the readings from my moisture meter ranged from 10% to 18%. My reason for using this stuff was price – a "precut" (almost 8' long piece) cost $2.38 at our local home center. Good price, but if I tried to work with it in that condition, my finished benches would have twisted as the wood reached equilibrium with our shop environment. Cutting them to rough length and putting stickers in between helped to speed the process. Late last week I was getting consistent readings of 9-10% at the middle and the ends of my boards and decided it was time to proceed.
Without a meter, you're left to guess about how wet the stuff is. One way to judge is by weight; drier pieces are lighter. Wet material will also feel cold and damp to the touch. Comparing new lumber to some that has been around for a year or so will also help you judge. The lumber did twist and cup a bit as it dried, so I ran all the parts over the jointer and through the planer. The finished size is 1-1/4" X 3-1/4". I came up with this process for building benches and stands for tools about 15 years ago when I was setting up a shop from scratch. Every nickel I could save on shop fixtures was another nickel I could spend on power tools or disposable diapers. Here is the same stack of wood after milling.  It's not quite perfect, but much better than it was. I'm making a stand for a small drum sander (which would also work well for a lunchbox planer) and one for our hollow-chisel mortiser, which would also be a good size for a drill press. The system is based on two components – legs and frames.  Each leg is two pieces glued and screwed together to form an "L." This makes each leg much stronger than a single 2 X 4 would be, and the jointed edge of one piece acts against any tendency for the other piece to bow in length. I use 3 #10 x 3" square-drive screws for each leg.  The frames are simply glued and screwed together. This is the top for the sander stand, and I've included a cross-piece in the center. The frames can go either inside the legs or outside the legs.  Here at the top, the frame is outside of the legs. The legs are glued and screwed in both directions with #8 X 1-3/4" screws. In addition to solidly attaching the leg, the structure of the leg reinforces the corner of the frame.  Here are the two (almost) completed stands. In my next blog entry, I'll cut the plywood for the tops and shelves, showing how to break down full sheets of plywood without a table saw. The bottom frame fits within the legs which makes it easy to attach a plywood shelf. Benches like this are quick and easy to build, and very solid. They are great as a home for a benchtop tool, an assembly table or a workbench. — Bob Lang
Read other entries by Robert W. Lang
Monday, May 21, 2007 3:42:53 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, May 17, 2007
New Bosch Table Saw has European Guard System
If you're thinking about purchasing a premium portable table saw, you might want to wait a couple months. We just got advance information about a new line of portable table saws from Bosch Power Tools with features that made us say: "We gotta test that tool."
The new Bosch 4100 series of 10" saws – due out in a couple months – will be the first portable table saws that we know of that have European-style guarding. Bosch is calling it the "Smart Guard System" but around our shop we call this style of guard the only system that makes sense.
Guards on U.S.-style table saws are generally unwieldy and actually encourage you to remove the guard and not put it back on. The European guards work with you and stay out of your way for almost all common operations. We've been working with this style of guard on the Powermatic PM2000 saw and the SawStop cabinet saw, and we cannot wait for it to become the standard in this country.
What's different about this guard? Plenty. First, all the parts of the guard can be removed and attached without tools – and in just a few seconds. The system has a riving knife, which is essentially a splitter that moves up and down with the blade – that means you don't have to pull the splitter off to make joinery cuts, such as when making rabbets or tenons. The blade cover on the Bosch is attached to this assembly and is split into two halves that move independently – this feature will give you maximum blade coverage.
The Bosch guard also includes the anti-kickback pawls on the U.S. guards, though we find these to be of little use (and so do European saws, on which they're not required).
The only thing missing on the Bosch guard that we see on other European saws is an extra dust-collection port on the guard. Because this saw is aimed at high-end jobsite use, that's understandable – dust isn't as big of an issue outside.
But this saw will be a strong contender for woodworkers who need a good saw and don't have any shop space for a full-size unit. I used one of the earlier Bosch portable saws when we were traveling the woodworking show circuit, and I was quite impressed with the power of the tool, the accuracy of the fence and all the other little details that are important to a woodworker.
The saw also sports a digital rip fence on the 4100DG-09 version, which the company is calling SquareLock (the 4100 is the base bodel; the 4100-09 includes a stand). The LCD readout is accurate to 1/64" and even offers metric readouts. Other features: soft-start motor with digital feedback to keep the rpm up under load, 25" rip capacity, an arbor-lock system for one-wrench blade changes.
And price? The 4100DG-09 version with the digital rip fence, 40-tooth carbide blade and cool Gravity Rise stand will retail for $679, according to company officials.
We applaud Bosch for taking the lead on this important safety issue. Once you try a saw with this style of guard on it, you'll wonder why all saws don't have it, and you might (like me) even feel uncomfortable using a saw without one.
— Christopher Schwarz
Read other entries by Christopher Schwarz
Thursday, May 17, 2007 10:46:53 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Behind the Scenes: Leigh Industries
My trip to Leigh Industries, located just outside Vancouver, BC, was to get an up-close look at their new products. I took a cursory look at those in the story “Leigh Dovetail Jigs: New Design, Affordably Priced” and will examine the new jigs more fully in a future “Tool Test” article in Popular Woodworking magazine.
In addition, I was treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the company that’s known for dovetailing jigs.
Let’s begin at the Leigh building and with a bit of company history. It’s been 25 years since founder and CEO Ken Grisley, along with his wife Joan, opened the doors of Leigh Industries. Leigh’s web site has more history for those interested.
With 2003 came a new building, designed with space for a tenant – or room to grow. Ken hopes to expand into the additional space sometime in the future.
Enter the Leigh headquarters and you’re treated to furniture created by Jeff Greenup, using the Leigh jigs (shown above). The work represents the earliest dovetail jigs, to the patented Isoloc joints, and the FMT that produces mortise-and-tenon joints of all kinds. Some projects were built as the jig was developed or released to woodworkers. Inspiration is more than abundant and you realize the extensive joinery that is completed using their jigs.
The office area is the company home for Ken as well as his sons. Matt Grisley is the president and general manager, and Steve Grisley is the production and purchasing manager. The business wasn’t intended to be a family operation, said Matt. It just happened that way. After a few years in other endeavors, Matt came to work for the business with the caveat that if any antipathy developed, he’d move on. Ken had witnessed family squabbles between members of a family business while in England and wanted no part of that. But that hasn't happened. Later, Steve joined the business and took over the duties that dovetailed nicely with his past job experience.
All totaled, there are 15 employees who keep the cogs turning at Leigh, as well as a few seasonal employees. (The slow season is summertime, when most woodworkers have too much going on to get into the shop.)
Move through the rear doors and you’re into the business end of Leigh. The light manufacturing, assembly, warehousing and shipping is completed in the back portion of the building.
Extruded aluminum for the jig bodies is brought in and cut to length before it receives light milling and is shipped out to receive a special finish. Recently, Leigh Industries brought in a Haas VF4 to do the milling in-house, but the machines primary job is making templates. Parts that were once contracted out are now closely watched to assure the quality that’s inherent in Leigh jigs.
 Here, Steve is showing an FMT unit in production. When the bodies and other parts return, the assembly of the jigs begins. At various stations, parts are attached to the base, fingers are added to the dovetail template, router bits are boxed and added to the kits, then the jigs themselves are slid into the boxes, ready for shipment.
– Glen D. Huey
Read other entries by Glen D. Huey
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2:12:43 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tool Test - Wenzloff & Sons Saws
From June 2006 Popular Woodworking
Wenzloff & Sons Backsaws Make the Cut
The hand-tool crowd lives and dies by the hand saw. But even for the rest of us, no matter how many electrons we consume in our shops (and I consume my fair share) we all need a couple decent hand saws for the all-too-common tricky cut.
Now we have one more choice when selecting the right saw. Veteran cabinetmaker Mike Wenzloff of Forest Grove, Ore., has recently taken up custom sawmaking as his primary business and his early offerings are excellent. Thanks to his long career as a professional woodworker, Wenzloff’s backsaws are exceptionally functional and a joy to use – the wood, split brass nuts and brass back are expertly finished to a high degree.
I test drove two of his adaptations of the now-vanished Disston No. 9 backsaw – one saw was filed with rip teeth and the other with crosscut teeth. The saws are surprisingly large (201⁄2" long) and heavy (11⁄2 pounds) – both attributes are assets to cutting fast and true. The saws are hand-sharpened and track a line quite well.
The crosscut saw had 14 points per inch; the rip saw had 11 ppi. If you need something different, just ask. Wenzloff makes this saw in a variety of lengths and with 9 to 15 ppi. There also are a variety of wood species you can choose for the handle.
And if the price of the No. 9 is too much, Wenzloff also sells the saw as a nearly finished kit for $110 – you essentially finish shaping the handle and fit it to the blade.In addition to the No. 9 saw, Wenzloff also makes pure custom saws and a halfback saw – a smallish panel saw with a short brass back. Wenzloff was tweaking the handle of that saw at press time; we’ll give you an update on that saw and its performance in a future issue.
The Wenzloff saws rank up there with other premium makers, including Lie-Nielsen, Adria and Gramercy Tools. And, as a bonus, you can get your saw easily customized to your liking. I think you’ll be as impressed with these saws as I was.
— Christopher Schwarz
More information on these saws from Wenzloff & Sons
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007 11:34:03 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tool Test - Grizzly G0459 Drum Sander
From June 2006 Popular Woodworking
Grizzly’s Baby Drum Sander Rocks
Early in my career I was spoiled forever by a 42"-wide, three-head wide-belt sander. I can’t keep from comparing other sanders to that, and this new drum sander from Grizzly isn’t that kind of machine. But it is, without a doubt, the best value in a thicknessing sander suitable for small-shop use that I have seen. Many small-scale sanders use lightweight materials and leave one end of the machine open to gain width capacity. Grizzly has taken a different approach – keep it simple and solid. It has some limitations in capacity and precision, but considering performance and price, this is the machine I want in my shop.
 It won’t sand a wide tabletop or a wide assembled door, but it can sand the parts before you put things together. I’d rather put together good parts than risk making more work with an unpredictable machine. I found no sniping or variation across the width from the pieces I sanded with the G0459. It was hard to hit a precise thickness due to the flexibility in the hook-and-loop abrasives, but this flexibility eliminates many of the problems found in rigid drums. It’s a trade-off I’m willing to make.
Setup was minimal; I needed only to attach the crank handle and dust port. The drum and drive motors had plenty of power and changing the abrasives was simple and painless. The conveyor belt is the same rubber found on industrial machines, and the gear-driven four-post height adjustment operated smoothly.
The pluses outweigh the minuses, but it isn’t a perfect machine. I’d move the speed control to the same side as the other controls, and change the knob that holds the lid down. If the hood were extended down, the dust collection would be improved, and the requirement to tape the ends of the abrasive rolls doesn’t seem right. I can easily live with these shortcomings to gain the performance, ease of use and predictability of this machine.
— Robert Lang
More information on the drum sander from Grizzly
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007 11:13:52 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tool Test - Quick Stop LP Drill Press Table
From June 2006 Popular Woodworking
Dead-on accuracy from a drill press table isn’t necessary for woodworkers. But it sure is nice to be able to hold your work securely, and have a fence that guides the work with convenient stops for repeated cuts. Drill-press manufacturers haven’t bothered to provide such an animal with their machines, so it’s up to us to add it after the fact.
Aftermarket drill press tables either go too far or not far enough. The Quick-Stop LP from Woodpeckers is just about right. Priced at $129 (which is a little higher than we’d prefer, but acceptable) you get a good-sized table with four T-track inserts (two with scales). The tracks support the included two hold-downs (nice, convenient and solid) and a just-right fence.
The fence is a good length for woodworking needs and isn’t so tall that it interferes with the drill press chuck or handles. While the fence provides the necessary height for most drill press activities, there are applications where a taller fence would be advantageous, such as mortising. In those instances an auxilliary fence can be added. The fence is easily adjusted to the left or right with quick-release cam locks and from front to back with knurled knobs. But my favorite features are the two 1"-wide flip stops – there when you need them, and out of the way easily when you don’t.
Every woodworking drill press should come from the manufacturer complete with a table like this. But until that happens, it’s nice to know that the Woodpeckers Quick-Stop table is there for us.
— David Thiel
More information on the drill press table from Woodpeckers
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007 11:00:46 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tool Test - Ridgid R2930 Router
From June 2006 Popular Woodworking
A Bright Addition to the Category
This is the first true router to bear the Ridgid name. A trim router was introduced about one year ago, but this is the one we’ve been waiting for. And for a first router this dual-base model, well … shines! First off, this router performs well. The 12-amp motor with electronic feedback provides plenty of power. I tested edge profiles and 3⁄4"- x 1⁄2"-deep groove cuts in a single pass in white oak with no problems. The motor’s soft start provides a pleasant and safe experience, and the noise level isn’t unpleasant, either.
Both bases have clear baseplates that provide a good view of the work. Even better, a pair of L.E.D. lights mounted to the motor wash the work area in illumination. Though the motor has a collet lock, Ridgid also included two wrenches. I appreciate this little extra as I find uses for both methods during different routing operations. The plunge base was smooth during use, but I thought the plunge lock flipped too far to the center of the router, making it a reach for my hands to grab while I was holding on to the handles. I appreciated the addition of a dust-collection-attachment accessory for the plunge base, but with shorter bits the hole in the accessory was too small to allow the collet to reach far enough to make the cut. The depth adjustment was decent, but nothing special. I’d still like to see a micro adjust that works on one of these two-base plunge router kits.
The fixed base comes with a useful centering cone. The base is set up for use in a router table and includes a through-the-base adjustment mechanism. One upgrade might be to have indicator marks on the wrench and the base to gauge the changes in bit height in a router table. This feature is offered when using the router freehand. The quick bypass on the depth adjustment is nice, allowing fast adjustments with or without the fine-adjust mechanism in play.
The Ridgid R2930 is a good addition to the dual-base router category. It’s priced competitively and with the added bonus of work lights, it stands apart from the crowd.
— David Thiel
More information on this tool from Ridgid
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007 10:46:20 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Antique Barn Finish Update and Ideas
 The Antique Barn Finish in our current issue (June 2007) had to have caught your eye if you’re jazzed by the antique-painted furniture look. I know I’m ready to give this technique a try on my next painted project. If you haven’t read the article it’s posted in its entirety on our web site (click here).
I perused the article again and set out to find a heat gun similar to what author Troy Sexton suggested. I ran into trouble and you may have been stymied as well. The only heat guns I could find were rated to 1,000º or slightly higher. Troy recommended a 1,500º, but said you can do the job with the cooler 1,000º gun.
I grabbed the phone and dialed his number. (The same holds true for you, too. If you have a question or comment, grab the phone and call us.)
Here’s the scoop on the heat gun. The 1,500 figure is the watt listing of the gun. The temperature is 1,000º. A secret he didn’t share in the article, but that I managed to wrangle out of him, is to cover the intake area on your gun to make sure you’re achieving that hottest temperature.
Next, if you work through the steps with the 1,000º heat gun and find that the blistering is too light, here are a couple tricks to help. First, make sure you’re using a solvent-based lacquer. Water-based isn’t the best choice. And, you don’t need to spray. Try a brush-on lacquer and build a heavy coat. The thicker the coat, the easier it is to blister the paint layer. In addition, gloss lacquer may work better than a flattened product such as a satin finish.
 Second, timing is key. Troy allows the lacquer to dry just enough to apply the paint coat. You don’t want to smear or drag the lacquer as you add the next layer of paint, but the quicker you get the paint layer in place and dry, and begin blistering with the heat gun, the better the end results.
The final caveat I can offer is to try this technique on scrap pieces before beginning on your project. It’s always better to work out the kinks versus ruining, or least compromising, your furniture.
If you give this antique barn finish a try let us know your results by leaving a comment. – Glen D. Huey
Read other entries by Glen D. Huey
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 9:59:12 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Milwaukee Router Kit Delayed
 In any business timing is everything. We see this firsthand in our June 2007 issue of Popular Woodworking magazine. The article that reinforces this well-known business adage is the “Two-Base Router Kits.”
We’ve selected the Milwaukee 5616-24 kit as the Editor’s Choice. As might be expected, many woodworkers have taken our advice and decided to purchase the kit. However, the Milwaukee 5616-24 is nowhere to be found. It’s not at your local woodworking store, at Amazon.com nor available at the so-called “Big Box” stores. Reason being – Milwaukee has yet to release this kit.
The kit we tested is indeed the router kit that will be available; it just hasn’t been given the final approval from the folks at Milwaukee. So, here’s the skinny. If pushed for a release date, and we did push, the company suggested a date of late June. I might give them and extra week or two to feel confident. It is coming and it’s exactly how and what we said it was.
Bottom line. If I needed a router immediately I would buy the Milwaukee 5616-20, which is the fixed base, 2-1/4 horsepower model with the body grip design. Then, I’d pick up the plunge base when it’s available. (We’re assured it will be sold separately when released.)
That’ll cost you about $20 more in the long run because the plunge base will be offered at $99. Add that to the $170 price of the 5616-20’s and your assembled kit ends up with a final cost of $269. The 5616-24 has a suggested price of $249.
If I needed a plunge base right away or didn’t want to part with the extra $20, I’d go for one of the other two-base router kits that scored well in our review. There are a number to select from.
– Glen D. Huey
Read other entries by Glen D. Huey
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:08:02 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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