Half-Inch Shy

How to Eliminate Snipe on Lunchbox Planers

2012-01-26T01:01:00.000-07:00

Snipe's a dirty word. In a class of its own: it has 5 letters!

Way long ago, I wrote about reducing snipe on lunchbox planers, but the planer in this video was all installed in a machine stand so the pictures required some imagination. Tonight, I was replying to someone about how to reduce snipe with a lunchbox planer and realized the planer was in a for-sale pile and available for a last shot at (very very limited) fame!

The popular forum solution to lunchbox snipe is to elevate the two flip-down tables to compensate for the flex that happens in use. That relies on a little black magic if you ask me... you can't guess the weight of the boards you are planning on running through and with an elevated table, the load is variable as the stock progresses through the planer. Either that or I can't figure it out.

My solution consists of two feed tables, but their torsion-box construction and how they are used with the planer on an assembly table is the key. The boxes can also be used in different ways for thin or short stock like box parts or drawer sides.

When I used this system before getting a big industrial planer, I never was concerned with snipe because it just didn't happen even on a set of 12 foot by 1 foot planks I ran through it for a large cabinet on my patio.

If snipe is making you use slightly shorter words to scare neighborhood children, give this a shot; I'm sure you'll like the results.

Some site maintenance... won't be long :)

2012-01-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'll be starting a move of my site to a different hosting company; their plans will better allow me to add features like local "non-Blogger" pages, video hosting for iTunes, and maybe a download section if I ever make something worth downloading! When I originally created the site, I punted and took a blogger recommended host GoDaddy, but I really don't like that company especially in light of the recent SOPA initiatives.

During the migration, projected for just 24 hours, you might experience things that look like the site is down. If for some reason you really want to browse the blog during this window, it is still ultimately hosted by Blogger at HalfInchShy.blogspot.com

Thanks! See you on the other side... during the transition, I need to wrap my head around some compound angle stuff so that should be the first video after the move!

Review of Aqua Coat Grain Filler and Festool Granat Sanding Sheets

2012-01-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, that qualifies as the longest title I've ever written... :)

Charles Neil gave me a can of Aqua Coat clear grain filler when I was in Tucson with him because he had been watching my sculpted Mahogany vanity series and though it would eliminate all the wet sanding. At the time, I had only one panel remaining to wet sand so I didn't use the Aqua Coat fearing the panel would look different than the others.

In this review, I used Aqua Coat on an offcut of the vanity and compare it to an equivalent offcut that was wet sanded. It definitely worked well and at a quarter the labor, possibly less.

While preparing the sample boards, I had a chance to pick up an assortment of Festool Granat hand sanding sheets from Tom Bellemere. Normally it is sold in huge single-grit boxes, but Tom makes assortments by hand. I chose the full assortment. In the video, I compare using the Granat to Mirka hand sanding pads that I've been using for awhile. Both work very well, but I suspect the Granat will last longer. If the Granat sampler I had with the RO-90 is any indication, it will last a long time.

Review of Qwas Speed Dogs

2012-01-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to use a new product called Qwas Speed Dogs from Steve Adams, the maker of Qwas dogs. You already know I like Qwas dogs and Qwas rail dogs for use on my MFT table as they allow accurate placement of stock relative to other parts of the table thanks to the CNCed top. Speed Dogs are a different animal (snicker...): they act like quick hold downs.

I've had them for awhile now, but didn't have a chance to do a review earlier. These are definitely a hit. In the video, I'll show you how they are used in a number of scenarios so you can decide for yourself if they solve a need you have in your work flow. For me, they definitely do and they'll definitely get used in other places, too, like my Moxon vice bench you've seen before (video forthcoming on this modification). Takes it to 11.

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No Comment #1 - Follow-up

2012-01-09T12:00:00.003-07:00

Voilà, the bombe box I made for my mom in the first "No Comment" build. If you didn't watch the video yet, well, sorry, that picture is a spoiler for what was built, but it was a fun video to watch. I thought so, anyway, and the comments were all in line with that.

So the future will see more No Comment builds for smaller projects with the blog posting at least pointing out some techniques you can watch for in the video.

I filmed the video while working on the project; although I say "I just flipped on the camera and worked", there's always a fair amount of time thinking of some angles you want to take and monkeying with the camera and your work pieces to accomplish it. And the lights, good grief, the lights. Three tripods in a shop take a surprising amount of space!! Definitely still impacts your speed on a project. But it's true that I'd finally hit record and go...

That meant a lot of footage on my iMac for processing. Would you believe 10 hours 7 minutes and 15 seconds worth of raw footage coming in at 156 Gb. ...and I didn't import at full resolution! While a totally worthless statistic these days, that would work out to 111,000 floppy disks... which is a stack as tall as a 173-story sky-scraper (with a 4' antennae on the top :)

...all that reduced to 26 minutes.

The original design came from Charles Neil as part of a Lumberjocks challenge. All of us in his guild liked it enough to bug him into interrupting the table series going on in order to do this box. So in December, his guild members got around 6 hours of video. That's nuts! Not complaining :)

I used his guild videos to learn how to make this box; it was the first guild-build of any kind I've built with few modifications. Loved the results. If the techniques in the video are familiar to you, you could likely watch it a time or three to draft up a build plan if you wanted to build your own. If not, the video series that was on the guild is now on a DVD in his store; since the whole Lumberjocks challenge tried to raise money for charity, the sale of this DVD benefits the Wounded Warriors Project charity.

Someone asked me how long the whole build took. It took about 11-12 hours including the filming, which adds significantly. That includes finishing since I did the finish as much as possible along the way. Naturally the "middle-ing" (what I call finishing since it's about the midway point...) takes a fair amount of extended time because you spend 15-20 minutes wiping on a finish then ignoring it for 10 hours. I only counted the 20 minutes.

Another viewer asked about the tool I used for routing out the recess for the hatch pull. That's a Foredom rotary tool and a William Ng router base. Also use his bits since they come with a collar so you can easily set your routing depth and swap between bits and the depth is the same; very nice feature. This is a pretty new tool for me, but I'm loving it. Thing is, I picked that pull because my mom would have a very difficult time with the holders in Charles' version (very bad arthritis). The pull is much easier for her to use, but I got it after I had the panel done. Loved the precision of the tool: the wood behind the pull's bowl-shaped bottom is less than 1/32" thick. It was prefinished plus I had wiped some thinned epoxy on the wood earlier in the process. Actually had to sand the back of the bowl a bit to seat it correctly. A bit of epoxy on that thin wood on the inside reinforces it.

Bob Kloes sold me some fantastic Tiger Maple for the box; the Walnut I had here in the offcut bin :) Just tonight a fellow woodworker came over to see the rest of the wood I got from Bob... the 8/4 bird's eye is amazing and it isn't planed yet! Nice stuff. I have to re-air dry that board cuz of drool. I don't normally find stuff like this around here; maybe in your area, selection is better (bravo for you!)

He also has some special boards so call him to see what else he has; I got some Maple with knot inclusions... not something everybody would want, but I definitely wanted it. Also, for this box, it turns out he has a kit of all the right stock; if doing the cove on the table saw and all the ensuing clean-up turns you off, have Bob run it through his molder for you.

Great project; thanks for putting that together, Charles!

(Extra note: I recently did a blog entry on other uses of the Domino; give it a look again as I've added additional uses like a laptop stand in the shop and using Dominos to hold mirrors in place)

Visual Reminder to Stir

2012-01-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

While finishing a project for Christmas, my quart of Arm-R-Seal Satin stopped having a tight fit. I transferred the finish to a mason jar. It was very well stirred at the time. The next day, exactly 24 hours later, this is what the jar looked like:

Remember that non-gloss finishes have flatteners suspended in solution so they need to be stirred. I knew that, but was surprised at how much separation happened in just 24 hours. Honestly, after just 12 the division of layers was clearly obvious from a distance. So remember to stir!

Now, I'm not sure what happened to the quart container and why the lid was no longer sealing tightly. Might have had something to do with my mallet...

The Season of Taking

2012-01-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

Now that the Season of Giving is more or less over (marked by the end of free shipping at Lee Valley...), we resume our regularly scheduled Season of Taking. d'oh!

After typing that, I did a quick pass to the shop to make sure everything was locked up, again. It's an annoying if healthy paranoia.

Before my day-job company closed between Christmas and New Years, we had a small pizza party and lots of conversation about anything but software. One discussion stuck in my head: our president had his garage broken into and several custom bikes stolen (as in $1,700 wheels custom). How they did it, and I'll discuss that below, is strikingly easy to do. The interesting part is that of the 12 of us there, 4 had this exact same technique used to steal from their garages. I knew of the technique because two of my neighbors were robbed the exact same way.

Likely your garage right now could be raided with this low-tech technique.

For fun, a few photos...

What you see here is my, er, somebody's shop. Someone driving by can easily see there's at least $20 of tools in there. Here's another view:

this is what the would-be thief would see after I close up for the day.

Now that we've seen the obvious, let's list what else these two photos show:

the shop completely fills the two-car bay; there will never be a car in there (even if I get a girlfriend... it's a pre-existing condition!)
the car is parked in front of the one-car bay. It's likely the only car otherwise to use the car in the bay, you have to back out the first car to get at the garaged car. Though the windows on the one-car bay are covered, this reasoning is pretty sound.
the guy might be silly enough to have a garage door opener in the car for when he comes back with another sheet of exotic MDF and doesn't want to have to go through the house to open the door. Someone might find it easier to pop the car door to take the remote, although the tactic I'm gonna describe later is much easier than breaking into a car while owners are home.
windows. The garage door has windows.

Next photo:

this photo tells us:

the car is gone.
as the car is likely the only car, nobody is home.

How does this ultra-easy break-in happen? Someone pushes in one of the middle windows (they are held by metal clips; a baseball bat will make a loud noise when it pushes it open, but the 'glass' won't break; it's Lexan). Nobody needs to crawl in... just reach for this:

Normally there's a pull-cord on the part connecting the door to the top rail. Pop a middle window and you can easily grab the cord, pull, and you've released the door; lift at your convenience. I removed the cord as a minimal deterrent; I routinely pop that release with a long clamp head when I install the red-neck A/C unit under the door.

Once inside the garage, they can close the door and watch through the window. Grab some quick-sale stuff and go. Worse... how many of you lock the door from the garage to the house? I dunno if I have that key anymore!

Normally you can lock the garage door from the outside. Mine could only be locked from outside so it was a major pain to do, plus the "locks" engaged these:

The steel cord went to the lock handle; when you twisted it to unlock the door, it pulled the spring-loaded latch out of the slot in the piece to the right that was attached to the house. Problem is that if the door wasn't exactly lined up with the slot when you locked it, the tab never fell in the hole. Silly. I bet more modern houses have better systems, but a key here is that even if the locking part is better, most still use a steel cord to unlock; if someone pushes in a window, they might be able to use a simple hook to catch the cord, pull up, and unlock the door. Worth considering even if you don't think you have lots of money in the garage; it isn't what you think the garage contents' value is, it's what the thief thinks.

Better deterrents, besides the obvious of keeping a half-starved Anaconda in your garage include:

Replace the door locks with latches and don't connect them to some goofy-ass knob on the outside of the door (i.e., no steel cords). This is what I moved to:

I operate it by hand. Push the rod into the door track to lock, press one of the releases to release the lock. Someone would have to know that I have this latch and would have to stealthily reach from the window to move the bottom release to the side; not an easy trick.

That's one deterrent and it is quick to lock/unlock. I also use a padlock in the track:

Uhm, I lock it usually :) I keep the key very close by so for me to open it from the inside is very convenient. If you have these locks, you don't need the latch I showed you earlier. You also only need these on one of the two tracks for the door.

I also have one of these in the shop:

it's just a webcam connected directly to a computer on the second floor. I haven't yet found something I like yet, but there are many security camera software applications out there. Since the camera is there anyway for when I stream with woodworker friends ("shop at a distance" :) then I may as well have it record all day long. It uses a roll-over buffer so I have the past 24 hours recorded at a slower frame rate to conserve disk space. The monitoring software increases the frame rate when it detects motion. Some applications allow you to set motion thresholds when it will send you a text message; when you get one, you can remotely access the camera with any browser and see what's going on. When I find some software I like, I'll write up a post here with some configuration information.

It also wouldn't be a bad idea to occasionally take the video camera and walk the shop; open all the drawers, pan slowly, save the SD chip somewhere. Makes a claim much easier.

No Comment #1

2012-01-02T19:05:00.001-07:00

For a fun, more visual way to start the New Year, I produced this video while preparing a Christmas present for my mom. I had no time for a regular build video with commentary, technique explanations, and all that, so I thought to make a video of just the "action" parts. This isn't where my project builds are going; this is just a fun interlude until I start the next project.

The idea is that I don't tell you what I'm building, there is no commentary, no captions, nothing! Watch as the build goes along and guess what I'm making or, if you're pretty certain what it is, where the part I'm building at that moment will go.

There are things to pick up on as you watch, though. For example, shaping something with a 1.25" bandsaw blade isn't easy with tight curves, but using the back of the teeth, you can finesse a curve pretty quickly and cleanly so watch for that. Using MagBlocks as stop blocks on the table saw; watch to see how multiple blocks can be used at the same time as multiple stops. Using an RS2e quarter-sheet sander for small parts or leveling across parts.

Happy New Year!

(Note: Monday January 9th I'll post a follow-up with more details of this build)

Other Uses for the Domino

2011-12-29T01:54:00.002-07:00

While chatting with someone about the Domino, I realized a brief tour of other uses of the Domino might be interesting. Here goes:

This shelf in my shop currently has three things hanging from it. There used to be a few more jigs there, too.

The top of the shelf has a series of equally spaced Domino mortises...

The underside of the hung items also has mortises. As you can see, the shelf is where I pop an unglued Domino in whichever mortise I need to hang items. For awhile, I also had a moisture meter hung by a Domino since it had a wrist strap I could hook over it. But the Domino isn't just used for stowing things on this shelf. Next to the shelf is a large box that protects the water softener and water filter from clumsy woodworkers. On the top of that, are 3 mortises (left, right, and one about 2/3 more to the right); each has an unglued Domino.

In this photo, you can see that the spray gun stand that was hung on the shelf can be hung from this box when I'm spraying outside the garage; the stand doesn't stand up well on its own with the long tail and whip on the gun so this is really handy.

In this photo, the "ladders" that were on the shelf are now deployed onto the box; they are used to hold panels as they dry with dye or finish (they can be much wider as they cantilever off the frontmost nail). I made this while preparing 10 shelves for a cabinet and it has been very useful. It is also the reason for the "2/3 more to right" Domino so it can handle shorter shelves or drawer parts. As you can see in the picture, the exotic MDF is ready for French polishing :)

Ah, the back junk wall above my bench. That horizontal stick of Oak is there for mounting mini shelves like the shelf for the scrapers (or the clamping squares to its left).

Push the Domino flush to the wall and plunge, which puts the Dominos 10mm from the wall. Use that spacing to make the mortises on the bottom of the shelf and you have a quick way to make a removable shelf; easy to scoot over, too. If you change your mind on a shelf's location, glue the Dominos in place and cut them flush.

I had a laptop in the shop for a long time. I wanted a stand to hold it, but also wanted it removable. I ran across the stand today in a hidden corner of the shop (in the garbage now as you've seen I have a wall-mounted monitor now). Where my monitor is today, there was a horizontal strip of oak like the one for the scraper tray where this laptop holder could be quickly inserted or removed (as it stuck out over the bench a little, I'd often remove it when assembling something tall enough to hit it).

The laptop sat on the incline to make the keyboard more accessible; the oak front sticks up high enough to stop the laptop from sliding down! Notice the two Dominos in the back.

On the back of my "Sysport" drawers, I use a Domino to register in the Systainers' locking slot to keep them in place. I've used this trick on non-Systainers, too, as just a nub that sticks up is enough to keep a box from sliding around, but also easily removed.

If you remember the entry about the Moxon vice, I made a 'jig' mortise with the Domino using its registration pins so I could make mating mortises in jig accessories that attach to the vice. First one I made and love is one for locating a drawer side plumb while cutting dovetails.

Out of the shop, I use a couple Domino tricks as well. My dad made this ceramic bald Eagle long ago. I borrowed it when I first moved in :) That shelf is actually my first woodworking project in hardwood. It is shaped from a tracing of that bird's shadow. Now, I think the shelf needs more shaping, but I like it anyway. It is mounted to the wall with 3 Dominos into the bracket (the bracket itself is screwed into wall bracing):

The two slots to the left are the "middle" size giving a bit of play; the other is elongated: 2 of the "wide" mortises in a row. The shelf attaches by putting one Domino into the elongated slot then sliding the shelf into the other two:

Once inserted, a small screw goes through the top of the bracket to pin the Domino closest the corner. It's rock solid, but easily removed. Note that this shelf doesn't have to hold a lot of weight; 3 Dominos in shear like this would actually be pretty strong, but not enough for a hand-crafted anvil or anything. Also, for the curious, there's a recess in the middle of the shelf that matches the base of the eagle so it can't vibrate off the shelf and also it places the eagle in the correct orientation it was in when the shadow was traced.

As a final example, this built-in cabinet is in my master closet. The mirror in the back is held in place by 5mm Dominos. No, no, I didn't mortise into the mirror :) The Domino holes are set back from the front molding enough to hold the mirror in place; should I ever move, I can pretty easily remove the cabinet and take out the mirror for transport (no mirror mastic!)

Oh, yeah, I use the Domino for joinery, too :)

Utility of a Router Bearing Kit

2011-12-27T01:51:00.001-07:00

I'm finishing up a gift box for my mom's Christmas present. Yes, I know, today is the 27th... anyway, I had to raise a small panel twice with a big honkin' 3.25" coving panel raising bit. Those things generate a healthy amount of respect, I tell you. But me fessing up to being way more frightened of a panel raiser than a rabbetting bit is not the topic of this post, if nonetheless true :)

A reader brought up a valid concern: the photos below were all taken the day after I raised the panel; they are staged photos to show how I used bearings to accomplish the panel and to highlight a caution. Use push pads, stock holders or even a coping sled to keep yourself safe from the bit...

I raised the panel twice with a cove to create a unique shape; this is for the top of her gift. As an aside, get creative with the profiles you have as "stacking" them can make unique profiles you don't see elsewhere; this is especially useful for boxes. In my case, this stacking of a simple cove panel profile mimiks the "linen fold" bit I used for other parts of the box.

To accomplish this profile, I had to change the bearing on the bit to set the inside shoulder distance from the edge. The two bearings right in front of the panel were the keys. I had these bearings in a Slot Cutter Survival Kit from Eagle America. Panel raisers stack their cutters on a shank used for stacking slot cutters, which is why this bearing set was so useful. Note that it wouldn't be useful to replace the bearing on the top of your rabbetting bit as that is a different inside diameter (there are top-bearing kits for that), but that said, I grabbed a few of those bearings as well and converted a rabbetting bit I got in a set to a 3/8" rabbet from 1/2" to compliment the 1/2" I already had. Very useful.

Back to the panel cutter, between the cove profile and the back-cutter was a bearing that would ride on your stock to set the standard profile. That's the bearing I swapped out for these larger diameter bearings. I also left off the backcutter as I didn't want that. The problem, though, with removing the backcutter is that you reveal a section of the shank that isn't threaded... so how can you lock down the cove cutter?

For that, I stacked bearings and a thin shim between them (less wear on the bearings) to get to the threaded part.

The photo shows how, when I had the larger diameter bearing, I had a smaller diameter bearing under it simply as filler. The bearing kit, though, does have a variety of shims; I just opted to use another bearing rather than stack 6 or more shims.

This photo partly shows something I want to point out as a caution when stacking bearings and shims: as I cut this panel, I was constantly making passes and raising the bit a hair (small panel, big bit, hard Maple end-grain...) Imagine the above picture as the bit goes higher. At a point, I'd be riding on the narrow edge of the bearing and it would be easy to get the stock underneath the bearing. If I'm lucky, I maintain control but dig into my stock in ways that glue and sawdust won't fix. A more likely scenario is that it catches the stock and throws it. The hand nearest the starter pin might get hit like a kickback, but the other hand might get carried with the board into the bit. So pay attention to the registration of the bearing on your stock. Without stacking bearings (using the bit "as is"), there would be a back cutter on the top and a bearing sandwiched between them; the case can happen there, too, if you raise the cove cutter (pattern cutter) high enough to get the bearing about the panel.

I point this out because the bazillion cycles of raise-bit-route-panel can get you into inattentive repetition and you might move the bearing up or down off a safe registration on the stock.

I bought that slot cutter survival kit with a slot-cutter set, but I swear I've used it more often to modify other stacked bits than my slot cutters. Highly recommend finding a kit like this and having it on hand. Also recommend a few of the top bearings although usually you can steal one from another bit for a particular operation.

Stuff I learned from The Wood Whisperer

2011-12-23T13:22:00.005-07:00

Worked my way to the first person I learned from: Marc Spagnuolo more commonly known as The Wood Whisperer from his podcast blog site. (He's the goofy one in the picture... well, actually, that's not clear-cut either...)

If you've read my profile, I happened upon his site long ago while bored in a hotel room during a new-hire training trip. I was doing some remodeling job and wanted new ideas. That sparked an interest in learning more to, you know, make my own stuff, save some money :) Actually – perhaps surprisingly – I knew making it yourself cost much more than store-bought stuff, but at least you could make your own goofy ideas come into fruition (or into the fire pit!)

I tore through the videos he had back then; they were very accessible and explained the parts glossed over in TV DIY shows. Good stuff.

As for the title of this posting... the stuff I learned are the fundamentals, but that's what you need to build up to your own "thing". I started on his site when it was pretty young; if you just start there now, you'll have, like, a bazillion videos to get through. More popcorn.

Back in the day, he wasn't so busy so I made him busy with my email questions or chats when he was live streaming from the shop. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, it was before someone stole his Makita SCMS. Yeah, that long ago.

He later started WoodTalkOnline, a lively woodworking forum; I learned a lot posting answers to people's questions; even so far as to go to the shop to try out and verify what I thought would work would in fact work. Tedious, but helps you learn quickly. Just never become part of the "Internet echo" that repeats the same tired nuggets of advice that may or may not have ever been verified.

Thanks, Marc!

Stuff I learned from Frank Klausz

2011-12-21T02:12:00.003-07:00

I'm working in reverse-chronological order still on the list of people I learned from directly. Next up, the Frank! (There can be only one!)

Frank Klausz came to Phoenix to do a seminar and hands-on class; how could you pass that up?

Frank learned as an apprentice in Hungary; learning all hand tools and emphasizing how to use them efficiently. Today, you can sell a product built with hand-tools as a selling point to distinguish it from the others in the market. Back when Frank was an apprentice, everybody built by hand so the successful ones had to be precise and quick.

The seminar class was a slideshow presentation of some of Frank's work through the years and his thoughts on the pieces. Frank's pretty good about letting you know his thoughts. Later there was a long discussion about general woodworking practices along with a Q&A. There were some interesting stories along the way.

The most interesting story to me was about Frank hanging out with is friends during his youth in Hungary. As he put it, when he saw a pregnant lady go by, he thought of side-money for beer. I had to scratch my head on that one for a moment until he explained. Back then, bathtubs for babies were made of wood so he knew she would need a wooden bathtub. This led to an interesting story about making wooden tubs. You see, the tubs were square and the end pieces would be joined to the sides with sliding dovetails or similar mechanical joint. The bottom of the tub would be mechanically attached.

The way the joints were made was very intriguing. The mating sides of a butt joint first had a piece of thick gauge wire placed on them (paint bucket handle, for example) and pounded down to make a long dent in the shape of the wire. Now plane the edge until it is flat; you should have just hit the bottom of the dent. Now assemble. The compressed wood where the dent was will swell and be proud of the rest once wet and acts like a mechanical caulking keeping the joint water-tight.

The box was water-tight once some water swelled the joints. As a testament to that way of building tubs, the water box for his water stones is made that exact same way. Every morning in Frank's Cabinet Shop, they run water into the box until it swells then they use it all day with no leaking.

...and that sharpening box of his. Loved it during the hands-on class so I built something based on it. But since I only spritz the Shaptons with a water bottle, the box never gets any water but the slurry that drips off the stones. Part of why I went with the Shaptons was the spritz-n-go way you can use them without long soaking or lots of water; I can use them on the bench right where I need them with no mess. Regardless, if you have regular water stones, consider making a box like his as it was so convenient to sharpen anywhere... once the box was full of water.

The hands-on class was to make a small jewelry box doing the joinery, shaping, and finish with hand tools. The initial stock was machine jointed, planed, and dimensioned. This let us concentrate on learning hand-cut dovetails. Frank's method is pins-first; though I cut them both ways, I tend to prefer pins-first. What I loved about the class is the focus on efficiency. For Frank, dovetails don't take long. A large part of what makes his dovetails fast is a layout by eye. Once you get used to doing the layout by eye, it's much quicker! You can have the pins cut by the time you pull out your ruler to do the layout. A good place to see this is in the YouTube timed dovetail competitions. Other contenders have their marking gauge and dividers pre-set. Frank shows up, that's his setup :)

Frank has an excellent DVD on dovetailing a drawer. Highly recommend that you get it. While you can tell it was shot last decade, the content is king! What you get is a fast version of the first day of the hands-on class. Pay attention to the comments Frank makes along the way as they are all to promote better efficiency.

The video series I did here on hand-cut dovetails was inspired by Frank's class and his video; it emphasizes doing the layout by eye for all of the types. Worth practicing, definitely (yes, your first couple will, uhm, "look" laid out by eye!)

Thanks, Frank!

The Jointmaker Journal

2011-12-21T02:06:00.001-07:00

Was having a bit of fun in the shop while frantically working on a Christmas gift...

It's just a minute of a tool-mounted camera I tried out; based on the response so far, I think the idea is too out there to include it in future videos. But give it a look if you have a minute to spare :)

Chaos Tamed! (a bit)

2011-12-19T04:23:00.002-07:00

Usually when I complete a project, I spend the next week or so deciding what I want to build next as well as lowering the project-induced chaos in the shop before ramping it up again. The bathroom vanity project definitely punched up the chaos; normally I don't do a big project over summer as it is too hot in there to hang around and, you know, put stuff away. So there was some stuff to put away. As my dad would have said, there was 10 lbs of crap in a 5 lbs bag. Roll up your pant legs...

Part of my chaos problem is that I don't really like to do shop projects. Oh, they are a necessary evil – and sometimes a great excuse to try something different! – but what I do about a tool or "thing" that needs a shop project is I put it on the assembly table to annoy me. Once the assembly table is full of such things, I break down and dedicate a weekend to those shop projects. Last weekend was such a weekend. BTW, any of you do this, too!? Tell me I'm not alone...

I rearranged a lot of things, put up 3-4 small shelves, fixed the broken things in the pile, and dug through too many plastic storage boxes that needed coalescing. In fact, the coalescing resulted in this pile of previously full baskets:

What's funny is that things are more accessible now from better placement; when I get something new, usually its home is the first open place I can find. Which explains so many tools in my refrigerator, but enough of that.

The projects included shelves for router "stuff", putting away the extra bases and edge guide for the router that will never leave my table, pulling out a slow wet slow grinder (sic) to the sale pile, and dismantling a pile of Systainers that were on the floor and finding them really decent shelf space. Those damn things multiply when left to their own devices!

One of those baskets became home for piles of sandpaper sheets, another for drill bit packages; so much better!

The result (though I admit, superficially it looks like not much changed):

and:

Oh, the clock? well, it merits a close-up:

A friend from the UK surprised me with a package that included this clock and (drum roll):

a toolie! Those things are crazy unavailable out here so I'm very happy with both! Thanks person-whose-name-I-wont-mention! What's great about the clock, too, is that my old one suddenly started running at a different speed, like it was made for a moon or something.

That inlay? It was something I put together with the Jointmaker Pro and some gouges as a sample. Had some gaps (dammit) because I decided to try inlaying each piece individually so I could take advantage of the gouge's shape to accurately mark the recess. Problem is as a sweep instead of a radius, you have to get the gouge lined up exactly as you did on the wood or you introduce a 'sweep error'. Eh, next time...

I do still have one big shop project to do, but it is mostly done:

I'm awaiting an order of balancing kits for the wheels to kill the vibrations; so much nicer grinding a hollow grind the same day you started!

There is another project to build, especially before the next big party:

these were cast in Perú; I picked them up during my trip last year since we had a lot of fun playing Sapo (the "frog" game) at a local restaurant/pub. Fortunately for me, I took the video camera and detailed the "game console" with audio notes as well; the build instructions are useless.

Now, though I was working hard at reducing the chaos... I added a lil... I have a couple gift projects coming up as well as two projects for myself so I ordered a bunch of wood from Bob Kloes. I went the internet route since local suppliers here charge outrageous prices and "do you the favor" of planing your stock to 13/16" or worse 3/4". Bob normally skip-planes to easier packing and slightly cheaper shipping, but if you want it rough, let him know. That didn't sound right...

This is what I picked up from Bob: (NSFW for woodworkers!)

The boards in front of the Swiss Pear are all from Bob. There's a bunch of Tiger Maple in there as well as this:

8/4 Birdseye Maple... that picture is completely rough: no planing at all yet the birdseye are plainly visible and plainly all over the place! Around here, a common woodworker pastime is to play "find the birdseye" on local birdseye boards. Not with this stuff!

Another special board I got from Bob was this one:

it's a Maple board with bark inclusions. Actually, this picture shows the tiger striping of the Tiger Maple on the boards to either side of this one. The inclusions penetrate the board so if need be, I could resaw it to make more stock; this one was an impulse buy since I was already shipping 3 big boxes.

I've been working on a Christmas present this weekend using some of that lovely stock; this was my first experience buying from Bob (or any internet lumber dealer) and it definitely won't be my last. I've since added Bob's blog to my blog roll, but in particular, look at this entry about what's going to be ready soon. Leave some for me!

I recently blogged about my class with Garrett Hack. It was in a Woodcraft. That's dangerous. Right by the door to the class was a huge load of quartersawn Sycamore. Wide stuff, too! All day long, people would look at it. I looked at it during a break and found this one in the middle:

It's huge! The colors are amazing as are the rays of figure on this quartersawn stock. On the division between the sapwood and the heartwood is a black ink line of spalting; the heartwood is a crazy array of colors:

I have a spare bedroom I'm converting into a reading room/study. Planned on making a 7' long low credenza for media, books, etc. and the multimedia components. The inking on this board goes for 7' and the board is the width I want for the credenza. It'll make a beautiful top! The offcut is a little narrow for a center coffee table, but I may resaw it to bookmatch it into a larger table. Have to design the pieces still, but they should be coming up soon. (Oh, I've said that before).

Okay, after all that wood porn, I feel like a smoke, and I don't like cigarettes!

Festool Rotex 125 and 150 Reviews

2011-12-17T02:11:00.001-07:00

On a forum, I saw a question about the differences between the Festool RO-125 and the RO-150 Rotex sanders. I wanted to post a link to my blog entry about it only to realize that I never made one with the various review videos of those two sanders.
So, if you have followed my blog for the past year, you likely saw these. I'm adding them here for completeness.

The following video reviews of the Rotex sanders are mostly about each individual sander, functionality, speeds, etc. with a little comparison between the two. The fourth video is a comparison directly between the models.

Let me apologize up front for the lighting in the videos; they were among the first 5 I ever did and I had no softboxes (directed diffuse lighting).

Read up after the videos for some additional thoughts...

First up, the RO-125 review and demo:

Next, the RO-150 review:

and separately the demo (I was too new to YouTube to be allowed a longer video at the time :)

And lastly, a video comparing the two models side by side:

Additional thoughts (some of which were eluded to in the videos):

I like the RO-125 because it fits nicely in my hand; I can easily grab the knob top and whirl it around a bit like an ETS-125. It's less aggressive, however, than the RO-150, but I normally don't need to hog off material (for that, the RAS-115 is a beast).

The surface of the RO-150 is 44% larger than that of the RO-125, which is significant if you are sanding/polishing the hull of a boat, less significant if you are sanding face frames. Actually, if you are mostly sanding face frames, the RO-90 is the sander of choice.

Whichever sander you get, be sure to order the hard pad for it. You want that when sanding most anything flat. The semi-soft that comes with the sander will follow minor undulations that you may not care about in the field of a piece, but near the edge, it can "dub" the edge.

If you decide to get the RO-150, I highly recommend the auxiliary handle that attaches to the front of the sander. You are so much better balanced for leaving the pad flat on the surface. With the regular side handle, it's too easy to dip the front or back of the pad and add scratches from the edge of the pad.

For their papers, I like using Rubin paper from P80 to P120. From P180 up, I use Brilliant-2 papers. Now that Granat is available, I'd be tempted to replace Rubin with it as it seems to last longer plus if you work with mixed media, Granat doesn't clog on resins or plastics.

Stuff I learned from Charles Neil

2011-12-15T03:04:00.001-07:00

I'm playing a bit of catch-up :)

Awhile back, I assisted Charles Neil while he taught a series of classes down in Tucson, Arizona. Was a great chance to get to meet him in person as he doesn't make it out this way too often. I say assisted because about all I could lend a hand doing was being the gopher.

If you've ever watched his videos (YouTube, DVDs, or his guild), you know he has a hundred ways to accomplish the same thing depending on your tooling and mood. I respect that a lot since all too often in woodworking there's a preponderance of "only" ways to accomplish anything. If anything, learning 12 ways to make a certain joint comes in handy when you have to correct something undoubtedly caused by your tape measure being a half inch short. ahem...

The first day was a woodworking show held at the Tucson Woodcraft. Days two and three were the real classes.

Anybody who has watched Charles knows he's a finishing guy; all throughout a build, he's focused on preparing anything he can to simplify and improve the finishing stage. He had a good overview class of various finishes followed by a small spraying workshop complete with Apollo and Earlex spray systems.

On the subject of finishes, one of the excellent take-aways was the use of General Finishes Enduro-Var to stabilize punky spalted Maple. He had a very punky board with large soft pithy areas. A quick coat of Enduro-Var (which dries very quickly) and the pithy part was solid enough to work. He talked about a bowl he turned back home that was nearly falling apart. A soak in Enduro-Var and he was able to finish turning without loads of CA glue. I've used the stuff on a few small shop projects since the class and I can tell you it's tough!

The spraying class was a lot of fun for everybody; most people have questions about certain spray problems or don't have a sprayer yet and want to see how it feels. We had a booth setup where they could spray exotic corrugated cellulose (ahem, cardboard). What was fantastic for the participants was explaining a problem they get and having Charles reset the gun so it produced that problem. It was then easy to make the adjustments right there and try again. I think he's taught this class a time or three.

Another interesting take-away: of the Earlex sprayers, only the 5500 is truly capable of spraying water-based finishes. The others can do it, with difficulty. Any bit of crud in the lines or a thicker finish and you'll likely start having problems that you'll think are your technique (since the day before it shot okay). Worth the extra dollars for the 5500.

Another class was on scooping a seat. There are lots of popular videos that show scooping with an angle grinder and a shaping disc like a Holey Galahad or Kutzall. That's slow and also tricky to get the depth correct everywhere. He uses a technique with a dado blade to do the bulk of the removal and to set a consistent 'bottom' (for your bottom...). The back angle that makes the center of the seat deeper is accomplished with a shim block on the seat blank. Once you have 90% of the waste removed with the dado stack, pull out the Holey Galahad to shape what remains (frankly, I'd use the RAS-115 so I don't look like Fozzi Bear when done... yes, I was the hose-monkey who held the DC hose near the grinder and I looked like that when we were done; it was a hazing incident, I'm certain!!)

He's made a video of this now that you can see here:

Coincidentally, a friend of mine (hi, Brian!) is making a lot of Maloof-inspired chairs right now. I mentioned this class to him and how well it worked so he found the video. From what he said, it was much easier than other methods, faster, and cleaner. Worth a try.

This posting is too serious, so we need a funny story. Day 2 ends and it's time for dinner. Everybody says the Silver Saddle is a great steak house so we decide to let the other gopher lead the way thanks to GPS. To protect the guilty, we'll call this gopher Donald. He types in Silver Saddle and the top two entries are both Silver Saddle. I say it's the second one cuz it's Silver Saddle Grill; Donald punches the first one "oh, it sometimes has duplicate entries". Well, true, both entries were 5.3 miles from Woodcraft. We drive there. We're getting close and it's in a residential neighborhood. Then we're by a used tire yard with hubcaps. Then, there it is, the Silver Saddle... strip club! Awesome! Wait, why is Donald going around apologizing to the other cars? I mean if he needs cash or something...

Meanwhile, back at the Silver Saddle Grill, I'll assure you our waitress was prettier than any at the other place.

One class was on turning flame finials, both concave and convex. There weren't a lot of takers for this class so Donald and I got a long private class on doing them and a lot of other ideas. I had never turned before so this was an interesting start! Donald said I couldn't get into turning because Festool doesn't make a lathe yet. I didn't get the joke...

We did a class on steam bending and had a long discussion after the class. Charles was intrigued with the Mesquite in the store since it isn't a wood you see back in Virginia. The Tucson store was loaded with it. What was intriguing is that nobody had tried bending it, but he's convinced it would bend well given the grain structure. Certainly it would make for a beautiful continuous-back chair if it would bend. It's on my list to try when I make a steaming box; air-dried woods typically bend better than kiln-dried and it's easy to get air-dried Mesquite here.

Funny story part deux: the store got the wrong type of PVC for the steamer so it was melting and collapsing everywhere before the class while pre-heating. Just wanting to make it last through the class, Charles asked for some duct tape and was given a big new roll. His eyes got big and told me, "with a whole roll, I can make a car!" I believe it.

Last class was on cutting compound tenons on the table saw. The jig is featured on his chairmaking DVD as well as the latest "Tables" series in his guild. We built it before class in no time at all. It's both ridiculously simple and ridiculously effective. Clever. You'll see it in use on a project video early next year.

All in all, it was an excellent 3 days of woodworking education. Since I follow his guild and have many of his DVDs, I knew a lot of the content already. The gems above (and the location of the other Silver Saddle) will definitely get used in future projects.

Thanks for the great weekend, Charles!

Stuff I learned from Garrett Hack

2011-12-12T01:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I attended a 2-day seminar with Garrett Hack followed by a 3-day hands-on workshop with him as well. If the name rings a bell, he's an associate editor for Fine Woodworking magazine and a builder of some very very nice furniture. Go visit his personal site for a slideshow of his work. No, no... go now (then come back :)

Chris Wong was out to visit (still...) and attended the 2-day with me. That seminar included a detailed design review of several pieces of furniture including many of Garrett's own creations. The idea was for us as a group to critique the choices made in the pieces, what seems "wrong" to each of us, and how to do it better. Design is often overlooked in these woodworking classes so it was hugely refreshing to spend the better part of a morning looking at fantastic craftsmanship with a critical design eye. My friend Marco hijacked Garrett's laptop and inserted his own demilune table into the slide show; it was a table he made previously in a class Garrett taught. We skipped by it after a laugh; personally, I was going to say that it looked pretty good and that he should have made the other half, too. :)

It is interesting that when Garrett designs furniture, he makes a conscious effort to make it lighter than you think. For example, thin walls on drawers, light woods for drawer bottoms, coopered doors using very light core material skinned and veneered. I found this very interesting since I've never heard someone put the weight of the product as a design goal among the other client-driven constraints.

Garrett is the author of two books on hand planes so naturally this seminar course was going to be heavy of good plane information. Not so much the history of specific planes (I would have fallen asleep...) but rather his personal philosophy of using them.

For example, Garrett uses a lot of low-angle planes. That surprised me since I've often heard people say that low-angle bevel-up planes were beginner planes; personally, I have 6 bevel-up planes on my bench and never thought them to be akin to training wheels. So I was happy to see him confirm my belief that they are not.

Garrett also sharpens all his blades to a 25º bevel and gets excellent results. For me, I have difficulty with small surface tearout on Maple with that arrangement, but since he's an obviously successful believer in the 25º at all times, I tried some scrap hard Maple being particular about closing up the throat. Worked great! With a 45º blade (57º attack), I always got great results on Maple, but talk about a hard push. With a more meticulous throat setting, though, I got a polished result.

Speaking of polish, Garrett pointed out that if you get your surface to a clean polish off the hand plane, you can read a magazine in the reflection... and he's right! That's a new goal of mine when planing a final surface. Another goal is to watch my lateral adjustment more carefully; d'oh! got busted for that a few times :)

Chris was staying at my place during this part of his vacation so after class, we'd spend the whole evening until 3 am in the shop. One evening, we took home a gnarly piece of Mesquite because it seemed to defy hand planing. The specific test was to use a new Woodriver #5 plane on it. Chris is going to post a detailed review of the whole event likely after Christmas so watch his blog for that. I flipped the board and planed the back side to a nice polished finish with a Veritas low-angle jack with a 25º bevel (training wheels removed :)

An interesting benefit of planing that Garrett pointed out was that a planed surface doesn't raise the grain when you wet it; he demonstrated with a planed board where he scraped a small section in the middle. Only the scraped section had raised grain from the water. That's very interesting and will alter my way of working with flat stock since I usually use water-based finishes.

Garret uses stringing in a number of his pieces using a scratch stock. As simple as a scratch stock is, it is often overlooked for router bits. A scratch stock is a piece of metal ground to a scraper profile you want; mount it in a handle with a fence and scratch the profile you want. For thin stringing lines, this is perfect; it also works well for custom edge profiles. There is no sharpening involved other than making sure the profiled section is polished to 90º like a scraper is before applying a hook (scratch stock are hook-less scrapers).

In this photo, the scratch stock I made in the class is to the right in a chunk of Mahogany. The tool to the left in the back is a Veritas beading tool and is basically a fancy scratch stock. The blade in my scratch stock is a piece of a bandsaw blade for a bandsaw mill; you could easily cut up old handsaw blades or even a scraper. The block of Mahogany acts as a fence and the thumb screw holds the blade in place. You run the fence along the edge of your project to scratch in the profile.

In this top view, you can better see the profiles. My scratch stock is scratching a fine line for a stringing inlay whereas the Veritas tool has a scratch stock that will make a flute. We didn't use the Veritas tool in the class; the point was to show how easy it is to make your own profile. The Veritas tool, however, comes with a number of nicely ground profiles that you could buy without the handle if you want to pop it into a block of wood to try it out.

There was a long section on inlays, both of the stringing type and in inlaying motifs. It is tedious work at times, but a little inlay goes a long way.

Garrett discussed bent laminations including all the details of resquaring up what comes out of the clamps. One of my next projects involves a few bent laminations so this section was of particular interest. Normally when I think of a bending form, I think of MDF, but he prefers to use construction lumber and with good reason. For him, it is free as he lives on a large farm, but also you can more easily fare it with hand tools than something like MDF.

When dealing with bent laminations, you're creating shapes that aren't flat. They still need joinery so we did a section on compound tenons and how to dovetail a drawer with a bowed front. That was a very interesting section that I haven't yet practiced so I may glue up a bowed drawer front and try it out.

The course finished off with coopering.

This summary of the 5-day course doesn't scratch the surface of what was covered in the class or in conversations with Garrett. As he explained, this course was a summary course of other classes he teaches that are 5-days long on just one section. Even so, getting direction from a master to get started in some new areas is energizing.

He also happens to be a easy-going guy; if you get a chance, take a course - any course - with him. Thanks, Garrett!

Sculpted Mahogany Vanity - Wet Sanding and Installation!

2011-12-01T02:04:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought I forgot about it, I finished and installed the vanity :)

When I left off on the last episode, it was time for finishing. I've always called it "middle-ing" because in the scheme of things, you're at about the midway point on a project when you start the finish so it takes time. Lots of boring time :)

This episode is much longer than the normal episodes since it didn't seem like the 'phases' of the episode merited being on their own. That said, make a bucket of popcorn! I'd actually like to know your opinions on longer episodes. I'd previously try to keep a podcast on a single step of the process (dimensioning, drawer runners, shaping, etc.) which made them nice digestible 15-minute episodes. Are 30-minute episodes something that works for you or do you fall asleep and do a face-plant on the keyboard?

Anyway, back to the episode... in this episode, I start with wet sanding the surfaces. If you haven't tried wet sanding a solvent-based finish like Seal-A-Cell, you're missing out especially on medium grain woods. You'll still have that "close to the wood" look, but the feel is glass smooth. I wanted the sculpting and smoothness to invite people to feel the surfaces and so far, it has worked very very well.

Next is a bit of work on the top segment hopefully giving you ideas on how to cut out a drawer front from a piece in-situ. With the sculpting, I didn't have the option of ripping a narrow slice off the top and gluing it back in order to cross-cut out the drawer front. Nor did I really have that option before sculpting.

Lastly, the install. You never realize how small your bathroom is until you have a tripod in there :) I go over how the panels are attached and how the whole thing is attached to the wall. The colors don't come through well at all on the video for lack of decent lighting so my apologies. The granite looks fantastic on the top; it was a real slice from Hungary instead of the manufactured stuff that seems so common these days.

By now the popcorn is ready... cue it up! And thanks for the patience getting through all these episodes!

To my email subscribers: surprisingly enough, Blogger's subscriber emails don't include the embedded video for you. I say it is surprising since Google owns both Blogger and YouTube :) That said, you don't see anything above this paragraph and need to visit my blog for the video link. I think I have a solution for this problem and will try it out over the next couple videos. Sorry 'bout that.

And it's done! wahoo! Banners fly; people cheer. :)

Mastering Woodworking with Charles Neil - Nice Price

2011-11-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

I've blogged about Charles Neil's "Mastering Woodworking" class in the past. Well worth it even if you have zero inclination to make the particular projects as he shows a bunch of great tricks to make things easier and safer. Add to that showing you a hundred ways to do accomplish the same thing with a variety of common tools and you have a winner.

He's having a special right now until November 30th where you can sign up for half price. For about $15 a month, you'll get 3+ hours of great stuff. The sign up is on his usual storefront; no coupons, special links, or secret handshakes necessary. If you get on now, you'll get access to the current series on tables and the forthcoming episodes to make boxes like these:

The upcoming grandfather's clock has my intrigue. Always loved those.

Recent Whirlwind Woodworking Weekend in LA

2011-11-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I organized a "Whirlwind Woodworking Weekend" in Los Angeles with friends including Chris Wong of FlairWoodworks who was down from Vancouver for a visit.

The weekend started with a Behind the Velvet Ropes tour of the Gamble House Friday morning, a tour of the Getty Museum in the afternoon, Details of Joinery tour of the Gamble House Saturday morning, the Huntington Library's grounds and Sam Maloof exhibit in the afternoon, a tour of Sam Maloof's home Sunday, and a private tour of Sam Maloof's shop Monday before returning home. You can see why it was called a whirlwind tour :)

By the way, this is why the final sculpted Mahogany vanity video is behind schedule :)

I was going to gather photos from people and post them here, but the others have been posting them with fantastic dialog and story on the forum where this idea was hatched. That said, go give the thread a read over on talkFestool. More photos and links will continue to dribble in over this week.

The photographers were pretty good. And pretty good at being stealthy. There might be some shots you won't see elsewhere over there. For example, this was my favorite piece of art at the Maloof house. The docent couldn't confirm it, but I've seen hand sculptures like this where they were done from molds made from the person himself. Looks better in person when you don't need to be sneaky:

Hose Hanger for your Festool Boom Arm

2011-11-13T18:47:00.001-07:00

I know I've documented this in the past, but it was likely on a forum. A friend just wrote me asking for details so here we go :)

If you have the boom arm, you know it's fantastic keeping the hose off the ground, telegraphing over tools or curious dogs, and keeping the hose off your shoulder (what I used before the boom arm). Problem is when you aren't using the hose, it hangs there like an elephant's trunk.

My $3 solution is a drill holder for pegboard (note that I got mine from a local big box, but that link is for reference if the pictures aren't clear). Click the image below to see it full size to see what I mean. I attached it to the boom arm with 4 ties, 2 crisscrossing each peg hook. Ridiculously easy to install; I straddled one of the hose holders so it wouldn't slide down.

The benefit is that I can place the hose there quickly. In fact, I usually throw it there.

Note that I have a D-36 hose on the boom arm. The 'throw' trick works best with the D-27 as it is considerably more flexible (kinda miss it actually). I use a D-36 because it works so much better with routers.

Extra-Wide Domino Mortises

2011-11-12T02:22:00.001-07:00

The Domino XL DF-700 ("Domizilla" is easier to say...) is out in Europe, on the way here, but doesn't prevent us from making nearly 2 ³/₈" wide (58mm) mortises with its tiny cousin the DF-500.

In this video, I'll show you how to create your own loose tenon ('Domino') stock from project scrap and plunge repeatable oversized mortises.

Why would you want oversized Domino mortises? Many joints benefit from a larger mortise; best example is an apron-to-leg joint on a table. Sure you could plunge 2-3 regular Domino mortises, but this technique gives you another option.

The video references a printable guide I put together to help calculate the size of an extra-wide mortise given a bit size and which offset cursor hair (the lines to either side of the center cursor) you use. Here is a direct link to the PDF you can save and print at home: Printable Extra-Wide Domino Mortise Guide.

While this technique may seem more complicated than it is worth, I've certainly used it many times; using the Domino to plow a larger mortise is so much faster even with glancing at this chart than is pulling out your router, finding the upspiral bit and calibrating the edge guide. Give it a go on some scrap like I did in the demo and you'll find it pretty easy.

Review of Domiplate Accessory for Festool Domino

2011-10-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ron Wenner made an interesting accessory for the Festool Domino called the Domiplate. It acts like a fence attached to the bottom of the Domino giving you two offsets: one for 1/2" nominal sheet goods and another for 3/4" nominal sheet goods.

While you could use the flip-down fence in these situations, the Domiplate is rigid and won't drift plus they are pre-calibrated.

If you are making a lot of boxes of sheet goods (cabinet lowers or uppers) or are a production cabinet shop, you'll find great utility in a Domiplate that eliminates errors that can occur with the flip-down fence with multiple people setting it.

In this video, I'll introduce the plate, show what you need to use it (a couple bolts you need and likely already have) plus some demos.

To contact Ron with more questions or to place an order, write him directly at RonWenner@GMail.com.

Shell Inlay: A presentation by Marco Cecala

2011-10-30T00:38:00.000-07:00

Marco Cecala, a local woodworking friend, recently did a presentation for the Arizona Association of Fine Woodworking on shell inlay. I got the presentation on video knowing it will be interesting to a lot of you!

Marco's a great presenter, which is why this video won't seem like it's 45 minutes long! So get a big bucket of popcorn and a sheet for some notes. You're going to love it. Personally, it was difficult to edit because I would get wrapped up in the presentation and forget I was supposed to be scrutinizing the video cuts! Oh, and speaking of video, I'm getting a better tripod... sorry for some jerky motion... and also, next time I'll get there early enough to secure a third-row spot for better recording!

As for taking notes, I'll save you the trouble of making a list of tools you'd need to try this out. Look below the video for a list along with some suggested places to get them.

Tools and Supplies
Here's a list of the tools and supplies mentioned in the presentation:

Mother of Pearl and Abalone from LuthierSupply.com
Low-viscosity cyanoacrylate glue for sticking patterns to shell and gluing down inlays.
Fretsaw from KnewConcepts.com. Shown was the Titanium model, but the Aluminum model is just as nice.
2/0 scroll saw blades from Paul Schurch.
Scratch awl; I got mine from lathemade; is fully hardened and tempered
Barrette needle file from Rio Grande.
Parallel soft-jaw pliers from Rio Grande.
Foredom 5240 wood carving kit from William Ng School of Woodworking
Router base for Foredom from William Ng School of Woodworking
Inlay router bits with collar from William Ng School of Woodworking
Aquarium pump or compressed air connection for router base
Duco cement available at hardware stores; used to transfer shell shape to wood
Optivisor - I think you should find it locally and buy the one you try on and like. I tried Marco's and found that for me to focus, I needed to get too close with the standard 2x Optivisor. Other magnifications may work better. In my case, I'd drift closer to the fretsaw and bang my head on it :) Yes, everybody else found that funny.

Marco uses a gravers' handle on the barrette file; it's basically a bulb handle with a flat that is aligned with the flat blade of the file. I sent some handle-less files to Jim Coons who I met at WIA'11 and who makes the awls at lathemade. He's assembling the file on a gravers' handle for me turned out of some nice red palm. If his handles on a barrette file interest you, just contact him since he'll know what you're talking about.

Calibrating the Festool Domino Cursor

2011-10-26T00:38:00.000-07:00

The cursor hairs on the Festool Domino are a user-calibrated part of the Domino fence. While the bottom of the Domino has a factory calibrated center line, you need to transcribe that line to the cursor hairs for accuracy when doing "pencil line" mortises.

This video shows you a quick way to do it on a new fence I received for my Domino.

So get your Domino, a T-10, some blue tape, and two chunks of scrap wood (maybe popcorn, too!) and let's calibrate that beast.