Popular Woodworking Editors' Blog

Planemaker Gary Blum introduced a new workbench design for sale here at the International Woodworking Fair. Well, it’s not really fair to call it new. The base design is a couple hundred years old, but Blum has added Baltic Birch plywood, bronze bushings and pipe clamps to make it a thoroughly modern bench.

The bench looks like the English-style workbench immortalized in Peter Nicholson’s “Mechanic’s Companion” of the 19th century. It is essentially a torsion box on top of some stiff legs.

The top of Blum’s ingenious bench is also a torsion box made from 3/4" Baltic birch plywood throughout – the front apron is actually a sandwich of two layers of Baltic birch. Below the torsion box top is a set of red-oak legs and stretchers joined with bolts, which allow the bench to be knocked down. The legs are angled out to give the bench a firm stance.

Weighing in at about 240 pounds, the bench is 24" deep and 6' long, though Gary says he will make the bench 7' or 8' long upon request. The user also can specify the height of the bench.

The most clever aspect of the bench is how Blum incorporated Jorgensen pipe clamps into the design to work as the face vise and the end vise.

In the face-vise position, Blum built a twin-screw vise by placing two pipe clamps in bronze bushings on 18" centers. The clamps press a large removable wooden chop against the front edge of the benchtop. You might be wondering if pipe clamps have enough throw to be useful as a woodworking vise. They don’t. If you need to clamp really thick work, the pipe clamps can be slid out and locked in position to hold thick stock.

Blum put a similar clamping system on the end of the bench, but he also incorporated a dog system into the end vise so you can clamp panels to your benchtop between dogs.

The base model of the bench will cost about $995. Longer versions will cost more.

I got to work with the bench for about 15 minutes today and was very impressed. It is a solid bench, and the torsion box will ensure that the top remains rigid and flat (unless you leave your bench out in the rain).

So for those woodworkers looking for a solid English-style bench, drop Blum a line. It’s a heck of a deal at that price.

— Christopher Schwarz

I think I was in the DeWalt booth when I suddenly felt the tide turn.

One of the company’s product managers was explaining the new guard on the DeWalt jobsite table saw. It was one of the new riving-knife-based guards that all the manufacturers are installing on their machines to comply with new government standards.

“This guard is so easy to use,” the product manager says, “the user won’t have any excuse or reason not to use it.”

And with that he installed all three components of the guard on the saw in less than 17 seconds (I timed him).

When I say the tide turned at that moment, I mean that at that moment I realized how many times I had heard that same speech – and almost those same words – used by other manufacturers as they introduced their new European-style guards during the last 12 months.

Bosch, Delta, Steel City, Grizzly and Jet have all been eager to show off how easy their new guards are to use. Whereas during the last 13 years I’ve covered the industry, usually the guard was discussed like this: “And there is a clear plastic guard.”

Those old guards, which were required by government regulations, were practically useless (as we all know). And they’re rarely used. Heck most people probably couldn’t find their table saw’s guard hiding somewhere in their shop.

But now suddenly a safe saw is a selling point. Wow. That’s a big change. As I began to look around a bit, I realized that many European-style tools are now infiltrating our American shops. Don’t believe me?

In the last three years Festool has gone from being a niche toolmaker to a company that makes the tools that everyone wants to beat. The Festool Domino, a feat of European engineering, is probably the most visible evidence of this. But you also see other clues: DeWalt is introducing two plunging circular saws to compete directly with the Festool TS 55 EQ.

Last year Jet Tools introduced a new European jointer/planer – and this year is introducing another version of that machine with a helical cutterhead. SawStop has always used European guarding on its saws and has successfully used safety as a selling point – and the company just continues to expand.

Even Grizzly Industrial – long a mainstay of Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturing – has been putting down some Teutonic and Italian roots. Parts of some of Grizzly’s sliding table saws come from Germany and Italy. And right now, there are four Grizzly products that are made in Germany, including a sliding table saw and a wet sharpener. Plus the company is introducing more European-style machinery that is designed in Germany but built in China.

So what does this mean for U.S. woodworkers? Good things, for the most part. I’ve seen what Festool is planning on introducing to this country in the coming years, and a lot of it is exciting stuff. Plus, I’ve been in European workshops and can say they are safer and healthier places to work.

But the tools are more expensive (usually because of the quality). And I find that many of their machinery setups are more complex than ours (mostly because they use the guards properly).

So as the DeWalt’s new table saw guard clicked back into place onto the top of the saw I concluded a couple things: American woodworkers are due for some changes in the way we work. But I also bet that as Americans, we’ll find a way to mix the Budweiser with the Beaujolais to suit our tastes.

— Christopher Schwarz

We feel this tool may have more of an impact in the kitchen cabinet area or for those building projects with adjustable shelves. The bits for this joiner are the same bits used in straight-line boring machines; they lock into the tool with set screws and are exactly 32mm or 1-1/4" apart.

Does 32mm sound familiar? That’s why we think kitchen cabinet builders might jump on this tool right away. The 32mm system is a complete European kitchen cabinet concept that’s been in this country for some time.

As for adjustable shelving, this Doweling Joiner is great for installing the 1/4" holes for shelf pins. This tool drills two holes at a time (one if you remove and work with a single drill bit) and uses two retractable pins that are fully adjustable to maintain alignment as the holes are drilled. Like with a biscuit joiner, place the base of the tool against a straight edge to keep the holes in a line.

The Doweling Joiner has a 6.5-amp motor, drills for dowels that are from 3/16" to 1/2" (5mm – 12mm) and is adjustable for depth up to 1-3/8". Look for this tool to sell for $329. We’ve been told the Doweling Joiner will be on the market very shortly. And we also noticed that Triton was showing a similar machine in its booth.

— Glen D. Huey

Two years ago if I would have mentioned the company Festool, more likely than not, you wouldn’t have known the name. Then the Domino was introduced and the name Festool jumped in popularity. The next year the company delivered two routers, the OF2200 and the MFK 700, along with Kapex, the Festool miter saw, and the company name is now well known throughout woodworking.

Of course Festool is here at the International Woodworking Fair. The main draw in the booth is the Kapex. That saw wasn’t at the big Las Vegas show last year. There wasn’t even a prototype to look at. So, even though we’ve all heard tons of information about this miter saw, this is the first look for many woodworkers.

For those of us covering the happenings at IWF, Festool scheduled appointments that were held outside the booth in a “secret” room. I think the team at Festool had a great idea. With scheduled appointments, the team met with everyone on a one-on-one basis to show us what was waiting in the wings from Festool – what the company planned to bring to the table in the next couple years. And we get to deliver to you that look into the future.

I’ve always heard Festool talk about “the system.” I knew a router or plunge-cut saw with a multi-function table (MFT) wasn’t the system. Today the concept of system came into focus. Festool envisions woodworkers setting up complete shops with Festool tools. That’s what was displayed in the secret room.

The big concept was a Compact Module system. The table for this system attaches to an MFT by way of the v-grooves along all edges. The top of the table, where you change plates in and out, is where the action takes place.

In one module the Festool team set up a router station. Simply mount a router on the bottom of a plate, flip the plate as you place it into the table and turn a normally hand-held tool into a router table. (That’s not a new concept until you add in a number of possible modules and plates, each with different tools). You can use an OF1400 up to and including the super-sized OF2200 routers and the setup comes complete with a fully functioning fence that allows quick-action movement for positioning and then a fine-tune adjustment so you can dial in the cut exactly.

Another module in the display held a Festool TS 55 EQ plunge-cut saw. Again the saw was attached to the plate then inverted and extended through the plate to form a small table saw. Included on this table saw was a fence ready to position and lock as needed, along with a see-through guard system and of course, a riving knife (which is part of the plunge-cut saw). The look and feel was that of a table saw.

What makes both these setups so cool is a sliding table that is positioned directly beside the saw and in front of the router. These sliders fasten to the Compact Module table using v-grooves and are very smooth in operation. Now you have a setup for crosscuts or, if the sliding attachment is used at the router module, you have a great way to mill the ends for rails and much more.

I think we can look for additional modules down the road. One that is in the works, but you might not see due to Underwriters Laboratory hurdles concerning guards, is a plate holding an inverted Festool jigsaw.

Also, Festool gave us a look at a couple new tools, one of which is a vacuum-clamping system. This system has a vacuum built into a systainer and it was as quiet as a church mouse. We could talk in normal volumes and easily hear what was said as the vacuum powered up to hold firm.

Attached to the vacuum is a stand that can be clamped to an MFT or can be held to a smooth tabletop via vacuum action at the base of each pod. At the top of the pods are interchangeable hard rubber-like platforms (four designs in all) that immediately grab most any surface. We watched as a rough-sawn, straight-from-the-sawmill chunk of mahogany was grabbed strong and tight. And with a smooth surface such as a piece of melamine, the hold was incredible. So incredible that using this as a mount for edge routing would be a walk in the park. Also, the platforms can be rotated and pivoted as needed bringing to mind the possibility of holding work while carving or shaping cabriole legs.

Additionally, Festool has two new T-handle drills about to hit the scene. These drills are well-balanced and very comfortable in your hands and there are interchangeable chucks designed for a variety of duties. The first is what Festool labeled a 12 + 3, which is equal to a 10.8-volt drill, and a 15 + 3 that’s equivalent to a 14.4-volt drill. Each drill comes with a lithium-ion battery made of the highest quality (what else would you expect from Festool?) and is backwards compatible with earlier Festool batteries and chargers. Look for these drills to come to market during the second quarter of 2009.

— Glen D. Huey

If you own a 14" band saw, then you know that you have a conundrum on your hands when you set it up.

You could leave it stock, which would allow you to cut material up to 6" thick. Or you could add a “riser block,” which allows you to cut stock up to 12" thick. Many woodworkers add the riser block in case they ever want to resaw veneer material on their machine. But adding a riser block has downsides: The machine is less stable, harder to tune and the longer blades cost more.

General International has developed a new band saw that allows you to have the best of both worlds. It’s a bit of a shock to see it work the first time. In essence, the spine of the band saw is like the post on a drill press. Turn a crank and you can raise the head up so you can resaw thick material with a 102"-long blade. Or crank it the other way so you can enjoy stable cuts with a 93"-long blade.

Changeover takes about two minutes, plus changing the blade on the machine. When we first saw this new saw at the International Woodworking Fair we just shook our heads thinking it was a gimmick. But after a moment of thought, we could see that it was a bright idea. Most woodworkers rarely use their band saw for resawing and would be best served by keeping their machine set low. But when you need to resaw, it’s a simple thing to raise the head and give yourself that extra capacity.

This band saw, which should be available this year, is fully loaded. It has a 1-1/2 hp motor, ball-bearing blade guides, cast-iron wheels, a laser, a rack-and-pinion table-tilt mechanism, rack-and-pinion guide adjustments, a quick-release blade-tensioning mechanism, wheel brush, a tall aluminum fence, two speeds and a nice one-piece base. The price? About $1,400.

— Christopher Schwarz