I

IR TAI

'EASY
TAB'LESAW g
STORAGE
SOLUTI9NS
Pg. 44

PERFECT 4
WITH ONE;

STROPPING FOR A

UNLIN.
'''5 EXTRA

L&mdeyovmgacdaS saw by bu~ld~ng

thls
custom m&cm& IMtha large worksurface,
laads d m ,&st o o l k t m , and a handy
WI,muWrWI,p 1 be able to handle any
prqiect PluP, Ummb an opbonal table for extra

Want a new /oakforyour shop cab~netsand

pm~ects?Withlust a /file trme and some scrap

worWIop

Her - .Duty Workbench

ONLlNt

"",
EXTRA.

This workbench has it all -a rock-solid base.

rout consistent flutes quickly.

One-Bit Jdnevy

Page8

Creating a rail and stile joint doesn?have to

be a lot of work. We'll show you how with a
slot-cutter bit and one fence seffino~

Here's what youneed to know to get the best

results when you use plastic laminate on your
projects, shop jigs, and fixtures.

Looking to get less tearout and smoother cuts

with your jointer? A spiral cutterhead might be
the answer you're looking for:

t'smnO.Whenitcomestomakingshop
pmjeds, I like using MDF (mediumdensity
fibehard). It's flat, durable, and best of all inexpensive. Right now, a full&
sheet goes for
about $20 (or less) at the local home centers. In
this issue,we're featuring two propcts that take
advantage of thisversatile m a w
For startem, check out the workbench in the
photo at left. Here the idea was to design an easytc-build bench that used a minimum of materials
and hardware. Now, with just three sheets of
MDF, some2x6's, and a handful of hardware, you
can build a rocksolid workbench in a weekend
-allfororless$lOOinmaterials.
Ihedfierprriectinhisissuethatmakguseof
MDF is the Table Saw W o r W on page 16. In
this case,we took advantage of another property
ofMDF-i!ssmoothsu*ace.%smakesitgrrat
forpaintingorforuseasasbstratekpplastic
laminate. On page 10,we've even induded some
tips forapplying laminate.
FREE TIPS
spealdng of tips, if you
BYEMAIL
haven't already signed up

&tips, I invite YOU to do

receive a woodworking
but you'll also have the
opportunity to give us your input on what kind
of projerrs and artides you'd like to see.Plus, fmm
time to time,you'llget updatesandsneakon what's appearhgin fuw issues of Sh0pNok.s.

'O

ONLINE ;
EXTRAS 1

-~-~.~-a

Readers

Tips for
Your
Shop

'

Table Saw Fence Tool Caddy

fence cumbination square. I I dr&d

~ ~ B r y a n N e h o n . V * r e n t ~
lSSOaUt EWOM Rwl Huber. Ted W e

fexs mdma3reapass(drawingat light).

E E C U W Ml DIREOMI
mmcnmCatyC
SENm WlSRITMI RogCTfmlad
WlSRI7015 Davd Wlemyn. Peter 1 L a m

CREAllW DIREOMI Ted K r k &

SEllWI I
M
)
mDESIGNERS Ken Munkel,
K e n t M . ChmFitch
mom3
Mike Donovan,

lomDwle
SHOP QIRSIYIEN Steve CuNs. Steve Johnson

EUCmOw MU9 rrwrunAhn Ruhnke

Cralg Ruqlregger,Mark Hayes

Submit Your Tips

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cof@W publishing your tip in one or more of our publiions. Just write
down your tip end mail it to: ShopNotes, Tips for Your Shop, 2200 Grand
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at: s h o p n ~ h o p n o t e a c o m .We will pay up to
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Congratulations to Tom Slatkv of Lena, Wisconsin.

Him tip on building a sandpaper organizer was
selected as winner of the Pom-Cabk router just
liketheone shown atthe right The organizer stores
difkmnt grits of Mbital sandpaper in a way
that keeps them Rat and ready for use.
To find out how y w could win a PorterCable muter check out tha information
abowr.Vourtip just might be a winner
www.ShopNotes.com

tI0wII)llllCWUlt
MR WBKRPllOK3, PSDRESS CHANGES

ORwmONSmONSmORCA

SIDE PIECE

lbedowek6t&hdesdrilled
near the ends of each side. s'tI a
gmdideatomtmdoftbothd
of the side piecea This keeps the
powerdfiumgeningtangledor

Ssimpkhandwlisagmtway
to store a iwg p o w cad. To wind
upthecd,youjust"pedal"the
reel like a bicycle (photo above).
Oncethecordiswrappedup,it
hold a W p e r cord.)

support to wrap the cad around, dowel is fhrsh with the side)
the dowetsactas hmdkS to make it
After
the dowels to the
easytodupthecad.
side, I slipped a short length of wc

RetracZaMe Chuck Key

I'm always misphdng the chuck
keytomydriU~SoIfasoened
it to a n9mdabk kqr drain that's
attachedtothecdumnofthedrill
press (photoat right).
The key chain is held in place
w i a~hose damp. And it's amnededtothechuclrkey~ashort
dowel to give you more herage,
Ahokdrilledinoneendofthe
ddameptsthehandleofthe
chuckkey.(Iusedepoxytohold
it in place.) Afta saewirrg an eye
hookintheoppdteend,youcan

pipeovereahone.'Ihepipespins
M y on the handles which makes
iteasytowindupthecord@mtthe
pipes %6"s"shorterthanthehmdkS.)
Nexftop~~ntthepieQsof

I
EachtimeIehimgedmdpaperon
my random d i a l sander,it meant
searrhinptofindtheri&disk.And
whenI foundone, it was oftenbent
a led up. So I built the sandpaper m&anizershown at righa
The otgpnks lets me s k m

ALIGNMENT

lt~w

It takes up very little space and

keepsthethedisksoat
Tobuildtheorganizeqcuth
raadpktesfrom3/r"~.'Ihen
use a hand saw to cut an alignment locating the Y$-dia. ttuough holes
mark on the edge of each.plate.
in each plate that accept the alignNext, d d %"-dia. holes in the ment dowels. As you can see m
top plate CTop View below). You the drawing at left, there are three
can then use it as a template for in each plate. F i i y dri W-dia.
holes in the plates for each of the
dowels to slide thmugh
To use the opnker, place sandpaperonthebottomplate.Next,line
upthesawkerfontheedgeofthe
secold phte with the bottom plate
and stide the second plate wer the
dowels.Then continue to add sandpaper and plates until it's W.
Tom SIntky

Lma,Wlsmnsrn

se your slot-cutting bit to make

stub tenon and groove joints.
ple doors with
usuauy turn to

It only takes a little set-up time

The Right Width. One of the
to cut the grooves ( i i photo things that can keep you from
above).And a simple, " s y - W d getting a good fit wth a plywood
stub muter sled helps you form the stub panel is the h c h e s s can vary.
a tenom, as you can see in the main
. photo above. Here's what youneed more o h than no
to h o w to get some extra use out
of that slot-cutting bit in your collike you aee in he photo below.
lection of muter bits.
slightly nanuwer than the
ness of my plywood. This 1
~ R E m o o v E sneakup on a tight fit. For
Ifinditeasiertomakethe wth Y4" plywood, I11 use
groove first then size the cuts a %$'-wide slot
stubtenomto fit. But there
are a couple of d\allenges
with m t i n g a groove
'
for a @. ?he first challenge is getting a snug fit
Thepaneloftenendsup
too loose or too light in the groove. Next, adjust the fence
gIoow.*mrrrMw the muter table to set the depth
is getting the groove entend on the workpiece.
lhegoodnewsiswiththe about setting the depth
A F . . . . . .. . . . . . . .
right setup, an ordinary
and grooves are easy to set up on your
router table using a slot-cu#ing bit.

MTSE15
N A R W R

m 5s
DEPTH OF
GltOOK

locationofthefence.Iliketomake
the grwves about
deep.
Rout Gmoves First Once everything is set up, you can make some
test &. Then, you can ve?ify the
depth of the groove is what you
want and is nmghly c e n W on
the~oftheworlcpiece.
N&,IUflipthethetgtendfor-end and make another pass.
This automatically centers the
grooveonthethicknessofthepiece,
a s i n E i 1 . Now youcancheck
the fit of the panel. You may need
to tweak the height of the bit and
make some more test cuts until you
get a good fit. Then mut a groove
onalltherailsandstiles.

fence for the depth of the groove.

Thismeans youcanomcentrateon
sizing the stub tenons.
Adjust Bit Height To do this,
youcanusethegroovemaworkpiece as a set-up gauge. I adjusted
theheightofthebitsothatthetop
ofthecuttingedgewasjustshyof
theshoulderofthegmove,asyou
canseemFigure2
Use a Sled To form the tenon,
you1 be muting the end grain
But one of the pmblems with
mutingendgrainisthelikelihood
of tearout That's why I like to
backupthecutwithaxuutersled
(see box below). Amther benefit
isitahhelpsholdthewmkpiece
squaretothe fare.
h w PIf you look at the

bottomtwodrawhgsontheright,
youllseethatImakethedleekSof
the tenon m two passes per side.

That's because the slot-wing

bitisn'twideenoughtofonnthe
cheeksof the kmomm one pass.
Ihefirstpass is a light cut made
with the worlprioce "elevated" on
a%
", hardboaFd platform (Figwe
3). Next, flip the workpiece and
q e a t the cut on the other side.
Now,mtate the sled 180" and make
a second pass on each side with
the w o r k p i i mting on the muter
table, as shown in F i p 4.
One you get the hang of it, it
Now that you have the p v e s
doesn't
take much time at a l l to
cut, you can set up to cut the stub
make
stub
tenons and grooves.
tenonsonthemilstofitwhat'snice
Plus,
you've
found anothe~use for
is you've akady debmnkd the
that
s
l
o
t
c
u bit
~ 8
length of the tenon by setting the

Routing Stub Tenons:

Applying an attractive,durable surtacl ;nit

that difficult. A few tips make it even easier.

save some mollPy atd a

p
p
$
Y

depedingrnthelookyou~
youcanalsolaminatetheedgea A B w m
bnrhrt.. use
Todothis,~'Uwantto~with
less 6wpnsive
theedges@gw2).lhisway,the
backer laminate
lminateonthefopwill~~~lapthe
on the back side
edges after !xbmhg, leaving a less
to help prevent
m l e ioint line @mue3). Plus,
less~toEB~chrnthe*
I
A -Glue.
Foi best adhesion, A Jdolhr. Use a mller over the
apply two coats of contact cement entire surface to apply pressure
to the laminate and the substrate. and eliminate air pockets.
Right Size. It's a good idea to
cut the laminate a bit larger than
thef4ubshte(about%"-wonall
sides). llis way, it's easier to glue

downandyoucantrimitflush
with a muter later.

wme
AftacuHingthelaminatetosize,it's
readytobe@uedtothesub@te.
Wood glue works he, but if you'm
@uinglaq3edreers,Ifindomtact
canatworksbestToenswethe
shun@ bond, I apply two coals
toboththebackofthelaminateand
the SUtBtrate, leiting each coat dry
bef0re"sticldng"thelaminatetothe
f4ubshte (photoabove).
Youllneedtobecarehlatthis

point,sinceonceyouputthekminate and &ate

together, you

Tmmm

TlledythingfeItistotrimthe
edges A muter or laminate!xhmer
withacdkb@pdflushtrimbit
c a n ' t r m v e t h e a I u s e 0 l d ~ works well. But I like to use a bwblinds (main photo on oppdie eled bit to get a little ''mftw'' edge
ksyoudothis,you?Ineedto
page)tokeepthelaminatefrom
makingoonbrtlha\sta&gatone besuretokeepfirebearingofthe
e d , I r e w n r o l h e ~ c n e b y o n e bitde;m.Gluecanbuildupwhile
mutingandfreeTeupthebar@
whileprrssingthelaminateFinaNy,weaJ-der,likeyousee caue.ingittospinahgwiththebit
inthephobaLlom,overthethesu Thiscanscratchthelaminate,like
T h i s a p p I p s ~ a n d l E m o ~ e 8youseeinthephobatright
a i r ~ i c u a ~ Another
~ . way to dean up the
Onethinpyoullneedtocorder edgesistouseafine-cutflatfile.
i s o n c e y o u g l u e t h e ~ t e t o o ~You can find these files at most
&, that side of the w o r m home centers or laminate retailers.
wiubelessafleaedbyhutnidity Just be sure to file into the laminate
than the otkr side. This can cause as shownin the photo below. Don't
pull the file along the edge or you
thewm~tomnp.
S o i f t h e s l l b 6 h a ~ i s t h i n o r may chip the laminate.
That's ~ts'tI just that easy to add
can'tbedtoantnderhling
skudue, you may want to apply a smaoth, durable surface to any
~ t e t o b o t h s i d e a I f t h e f a c e jigor&ttm.Onceyoutryit
e
to use it
i s l ' t ~ t o b e v i s i b l e , y o u c a n look for m o ~ ways

A Filing Edges. Downward and

outward strokes of a flat mill file
makesmooth edges

A -ng

-.

TO
prevent scoring
of the laminate,
check the bear~ng
of the muter bit
frequently for glue
buildup.

Smoother cuts and easier blade changes

make a spiral cutterhead worth the effort.
Starling with flat, square stock a chopping cut While this design
makes building a pmject a lot is easy to manufacture, it may not
easier. That's why a jointer is a give the best mulls And even
"must-have"piece of equipment.
with this simpk design, dranging
But a joirder has some limita- knives can be a chore.
tions. It can tear out rather than
Spiral D e s i i To address these
slice wood &as, espechlly when shortcomings, mmanufacturets have
working with figma! woods.
developed ~ l a c e r n e n i cutterThe p d e m is, on a mven- heads using a spiraldesign, placing
ti& pintercutmiwad,thela-ives
knives or cutters angled amund
are s q w to the board, creating the cylinder. The advantage of this

approach is it produces a shearing,

rather than a chopping cut. It's the
same idea as skewing your block
plane to make a smoother cut. The
good news is, &-market spiral
cutterheads are now available for
most 6'and 8" jointers.
In addition to the spiral design,
each of the manufacturers incorprates indexed knives for hasslefree leplawnent But that's where
thesimilariti9end.Whenit comes
to spiraldesign,each company has
taken a different approach.
Bask Spiral Design. The first
approach, by Sunhzll, is a "hue
spiral" design. That is, each of the
three high-speed steel knives fits
in an angled p v e in the cutterhead. The photos at the top of this
page show the design.
To wrap amund the spiral, the
knives are thin and very flexible.
Nevertheless, they hold up well
in most woodworking applications. The downside is, if you get
a nick in the blades you11 need to
replace a l l three. Since the knives
are indexed, you can't shift them
to either side as you would with a
conventional cutterhead.
Staggered Blades. The other
hvo designs shown hem take a diff e m t approach. Instead of long
blades, they use a series of small
insert cutters attached to the cutterhead with a countersunk screw.

tes No. 89

(I
.

Cutters are in line with t h ~

Cutters are pamllel to

the axrs of the drum

inserts are held into place with a

screw in a countersunk M e

Each insert has fwr cutting

edges and an indexing mark

The im&s overlap each other

between mws to pmvide a continuous cut. You can see what I'm
talking about in the photos above.
One big advantage to thistypeof
design is each insert has four cutting edges. So if you nick a cutter
you only need to rotate the dama@ edge a quarter
to expose
a fresh edge. A m n d benefit is
the inserts are made from carbide,
giving you a Lmgerlasting cutting edge. Plus,it's also suitable for
worldng with MDF or plywood.
"V" Pattern The first example,
from Wwdtek, pitions six rnws
of cutters in a "V" shape on the
cylinder. While this arrangement
produces a smoother cut than a

conventional cutlerhead (there is

a shearing effect due to the spud
pattern) it still positions the cutting
edge square to the board.
Shelk The thin4 optioni n c o p
rates the best of both worlds. The
Shelix head from Byd Twls has six
mws of insert blades, also slightly
offset for a continuous cutting
action. But unlike the Wwdtek, the
cutting edges follow a spiral patternaroundtheadsofthecutter
head. 'Ihe d i f f m is noticeable.
It produces the smooth, shearing
cut of a true spiral blade and has
the durability that only carbide cutten can pmvide.
Cost. Of couISe, all thesebenefits
come at a price. The Sunhill spiral

Replacement:
There's no reason to be intimidated by the thought of
upgrading the cutterhead of your jointer. The upgrade
isn't h a d and it doesl't take too long. The inst~ctions
that came with the diffem~tcutkdwads were all very
detailed and easy to understand. But it's still a good
idea to have the manual for y m jointer handy in case
you need a httle mae information
The drawing at right gives you an idea of what's
mvolved. First,you'll need to remove the blade and
pulley guards, and the fence assembly. Then you'll
have to lower the infeed and outfeed tables to remove
the pulley and bolts, and finally the cutbemead ~tself.
Again, your manual will have the best information.
All h t remains is to q l a c e the head and put
all back bgether. After you've
the height of t
infeed and outfeed tables, youOUU
be up and runnmg

head is a great value at $149 for a

6'jointer. Replacement knives cost
$18.95 for a set of three.
The Wwdtekand Byrdheadseach
sell for more than twice that ($320),
but the carbide inserts mean you'll
get longer life from the blades.
Replacement inserb for either of
these heads run about $27 for a box
of 10. But remember you'll need
fowr boxes to Ieplace the entire set.
Refer to page 51 for sourrrs.
If you feel like you could be gettingbetter mults from yourpiter,
one of these replacements may be
the answer. And don't wony about
changjng out a cutterhead. As you
can see in the box below, the PICcess isn't all that difficult d

Shop Short Cuts

Building a Large BencMop
A lage workbench like the one
on page 30 prewnts a couple challenges -building the layered top
and thm adding the edglng.
Layering the lbp. The trick with
the top is keeping ail the layers
flush with each other as vou due

themup.Todothia,Iusedsaews
to keep everything afigned and
act as "clamps." Plus, working in
stages makes things lesshectic.
Istartedbycuttingtheqtwo
layers to final size. Then, after
damping them together with the
edges flush, I prr-drilled all the
holes for thescrews.
With the scrrw holes complete,
you can separate the two layers
and spread on some glue. A slow-

dEGONh CUT E W E

AND FKLER
THEN GLUE AND

acmsmsizE,

9cREwTOGrmER

T H l m GLUE

AND BQtmEDGE
STRIPSAND FILLER
WKS

m mr LAYERS

set glue works best here.Then it's

just a matter of "clamping" the two
layers togetherusing the m w s .
To build up the other layers, I
followed a similar process. F i t ,
I glued up and installed the two
long stripsalong the outside edges
of the top. Then, I sized a filler
block to fit in between,gluing and
scrrwing them in place. Be sure to
stagger the screws to avoid interfering with the mews in the top.
Add the Edging. At this point,
you're w d y to add theedging. My
problem was none ofthe clamps I
had spanned the length of the top.
If you have pipe couplers, you can
simply "make"longer clamps.
For my top, I hied something
different (photo above). Instead,
I comected the clamps in series
to create "longer" clamps that
mched from one end to the other.

ShopNotes No. 89

Clearance for a Table Saw Motor

im'tdiffsculttowrapatopd
ctor's table saw (page 16).
cams when you
blade to 45O.
In many cases, any surface that
extends past the back edge will
prwent the motor from tilting.
The problem could be the thickness of the top or wen the aprons
and cleats used to build it. To solve
this problem, you'll need to pmvide space for the motor (or other
pa&+, as in thep
hm at right.

Onceyouhavethebapinplace,
simply tilt the saw blade, che&ingfor any inkrfameas you go.
ThefirsttfiingIhadtodowascuta
notchinthecleat runningalong tfie
back edge of my table.
With the notch cut out, a little
m e tilting shaved me I had a
small problen where the q a c k m
on my motor contaaed tfre W tom &of the table.Drillitrg a
shallow counledme provided the
needed ctearancethem

@radird Q n m m l n r r
D

Edse wifh T.Molding

T-molding ran really dress up and
probecttkkigeofashoppropa

lookistowrapthenudding~
d&cmnersofthe*to
aeateasrramlessedge.
The problem is the spine on the
backside of the molding. It makes
ithardtobendamundtightcurves,
likethetopofthew~tacn
page 16. To provide flearance,
you1 need to make a muple relief

r
.

: Take a contractor's saw,

a router, a feGv sheetsic%MDF, and a
handful of hardware and turn.it 'into
,.his
super workcenter.
. ' ~.

For me, the most satisfying shop rip fence).As you can see, the table
proj& ~IEthe ones I know I'll put of the saw is surrounded by a huge
to use day in and day out. And if worksurface that makes crosscutthere was ever a project that fit this ting or ripping workpieces (large
bill, it's the table saw workcenter or small) a breeze.
Off to the right, youll find a
you see in the photo above.
This project has a long List of fea- large and stable router table with
tures. The workcenter is designed all the extras - dropin insert,
around a standard contractor's saw. miter gauge slot, and an easy-toAnd it will accommodatejust about adjust fence. And basically. the
any saw on the market. (Ours is a en& lower part of the workcenter
Delta, with a heavy-duty Biesemeyer is dedicated to valuable storage.

Now you might think that a

pmject with this many highhghts
wouldbedifficult,time-consuming,
and expensive to build. Not so. A
combination of modular casework,
simple but sturdy joinery, and inexpensive m a t e d keeps both the
work and the cost to a minimum.
And believe it or not, you can
make a good thing even better by
adding the outfeed stand on page
26 to the workcenter.
ShopNotes No. 89

building the

Cabinet

As you can see here, your firstjob

is to build the main cabinet that
supports the table saw and muter
table. Take a look at the drawing at
right and you'll see that the cabinet
mnsistsof a stack of four,~ M D P
casesfastened to a 10% continuous
base. You'll find that this simple,
modular~lymakesthework
go fast and easy without saa bit of &m&. The best plan is to
tackle the rases first, thenbuild the
sturdybase to fit them.
GeltlngStarted Other than size
and a fewimpcatantinteriordetails,
the four case6 -arr built identidy.

YouVfindthebiggestdiffmme
inthecasethatsupporbthetable
saw, so I saved it for last.
E9yJo~My@w=to
b,,ildtheeages~~,,~t&to
F
i
p 2a shows W the case in tfur two
keep the j o i i as stn@tforwad
as pos4ile.So take a quick look at sides am abbeted Bo W the .@p shehrrs you'll add later. Sefond
F i 2 and 3 below,and you'll andbdtan And t h e n i f p b k a t notice that thae three cases have ;
see how the two *age
casg
see that thei *
' se&b of colgltersunk s a w hole:
F
i
p3a,
andthemtertabkcaseamput top,andbottomamallrabWto onthesidesandbotbms(Fipm:
and 3). When the timecomes, thes
together. BasbUy, once the parts capmethebackpanel.
am cut to size, all you'll have to do
AFew Details. Beforegluingthe holes will be used to fasten tfu
tocompletethejoheryisinstalla casestogetk,themamawupteof rasestagetherandtothebase.
dado blade on the table saw and interior detailsto takecue of. First,
There's one last thing. To be cer
t;llnthewo~terwasgwdm
. ... ~ ~ . ~
......~
~ .. .~~ ~
. . . . ~.~~ ~,
~

..

--

~~

stable when set in place, I planned

toaddlevekstothecomersofthe
base. This means you2 need a m
Wthe levelers to adjust them For
thispurpW2,Idrilled~holes
intheroutertablecaseandtheleft
storage case (and later the base).
Now, the casesare ready for glue
and damps.And once the assembly
is completed, all the outside edges
of the cases are rounded over.
Table Saw Case. I had one
quinment for the table saw case
that made building it a bit more
involved -dust collection. Figure
4 at right shows how it works. As
youcansee,thetopofthecasehas
a large cutout I did this by drilling
holes at the comers and then
emwing the waste with a jig saw.
Divider. Wow the cutout, an
angled divider funnels the dust
to the back of the case. It's held in
place by a pair of angled cleats.
It works best to add the di*
after the case is assembled. F i t ,
cutthepartstosizeandthensaew
thedeatsandthedividertogether.
Then you can slide the assembly
into the case from the fmnt, and
fastmitinplacehabove.
Finally, rather than cut a dust
port directly into the back panel,
I opted for a large cutout, covexed
with a separate dust port panel.
This will give you better arress to
the dust chamber when needed

TheBase.Onceallfourcasesare
complete, you can build the base
that connects them. Like the cases,
it's pretty basic, but W s one
point I should mention up front
Thebaseissizedtoholdthefour
casesandtheendpanelsthatsup
port the top, along with the overlay
doors and drawers. When e v q thing is in place, the goal is an even
W meal all the way around.
You start the base by building a
sturdy frame from "ripped down"
two-by stodc ( F i i 5). The only
detail you11 need to worry about
is a saw kerf nmning around the
inside painreter. This @a extra
support to the levelers you11 add
( P i 5a). I relied on womkmvs
toassembktheframe.

-cNrERw
4--mHOLE
FOR DUST
COLLECrOI

1
TABLESA

rnJOINERY*
lDCHIICAtmAND mwER uehs

mltovr*mNOOKfmlrU

AFlERAB6EMWY

ausT PORT
PANEL
(10 r 12)

Once
led,
And h e ,
you can wrap it with an MDF skirt you just want to make sure you get
andtop.TheslrLtpiecesarebutted everythhg aligned pperly Pirst,
atthemmtavandthetopiscutto Isetthecasesinplaceonthebase
fitinsidethe~Witfithisdone,I and fastened them bogetkr. The
drilledanadjuatmentholeineach fourcasmshoutdbe&hacross
comerandthaninstalledthelev- thefmnt(thiswi1lbethesideofthe
elers Finally, I muted a mundover router table case). Now, when you
onthetopedgesandthecomers.
fastenthecasestothebase,simply
Put It AU to get he^ Now you're leave an even, 1%" &back on each
readytoscrewallthecasesandthe endandaaossthefmnt
BIDE WEW

SKIRT END

I (y*.W

BASE
FRAMERAIL
(3x10)

At this point the cases and the

base are p ' i into one assembly
but one of the major feahm of the
work-its genestorage
-stillnee&mareworkThethree
fmnt cases h p l y need doors and
shelves. But I had other ideas for
the muter table case, Hem, easy
aaea to my evergrowing collection of muter bib and accesmries
was my number one goal. Acouple
of deep drawem are theanswer.
Simple Doom. I took on the
A Easy InstaIIatlon. easier fhalEwg@ of making the
These no-mort~se

qu~ckand easy job.

overlaydc-mIirst.Asyoucanseein actually, I found that they were

Figure 6, I cwtainly didn't get bey pretty easy to install.
here. I started by cutting panels of
h a r e a couple of helpful tips
MDF to overlap the opmings in the I can share with you. F i t , these
casesby%"onaUsides.Andthen hingesatedesignedtobeusedon
after rolmding the sharp comers, I both inset and overlay doors. For
muted a mudover on the outside the overlay d m here, you want to
edges. 0 t h than adding the hard- attach thehingeplate with thelong
ware, you're done.
arm to the case (Figure 6b). This
Mounting the Doors. To install will give you the right "swing."
the doors, I turned to some selfSeumd, the hinges have slotted
closing.mmortjse hinges. As you mew h o b for horizontal adjustcan see in the margin photo at left, ment, but not much in the way of
they look a little intimidaw but verticad adjwbrmt. So to help me
get the vertical position conect, I
drew m m p m d h g centerlines for
the hinge plate on both the door
and case.This way you can simply
centa themiddle mpw hole of the
hinge plate on this line.
Dotails. A couple m a details
and youcanmoveontothedrawers
for the muter table case. You won't
need catcheson the doors, but you
will need pulls. I o r d e d some
durable, hard plastic pulls for this
job. 'Ihey simply sapw to the face
of the door. And finally, I cut a
couple of MDF shelves to size for
the two storage cases (Figure64.
The Drawus. The two drawers
I built for the muter table case are
Likavise,no~.Asyoucansee
in Figure 7, they're just sturdy
boxes with false, overlay fmnts.
ShopNotes No. 89

a the

The table saw and m t e r table

topiswiu?rethewmkwiUaet
dOne.~o~wa~loo~fomr&to
startingonthispartofthe+
A Quick Look First, I11 give
you a general overview. Take a
~at%ue8below,andyou11
seethat&b,pcon&softwo
main sedims. Bach is made UD
of a daubof MDF w i t i
Get Statted. I started by gluing
plastic laminate on bath sides.
up an
twelayer, MDP
~ S e c t i a r s w r a p a K n l n d t h e paraelforeachtopDpThea
back of the saw table. And a gap behreapplyingthe laminate,you11
between then prwides a space want to cut the sedions to finalsize
rOr the splitter and blade guard. and shape. The less oppommity to
It can be 6Iled with a "pop out" chipthelaminate,thebetta
inrwnt (Figure 10). Pinally the top
You d y have two pbs h e .
is attached to the saw table by way First,cutting each ueclia~to amaR
O f ~ a n g E e b d t e d t o t h e size, then making the L A q @
saw tabk (Figure 8s).111 cover the cutouts that allow the Sectiars to
rest of the details along the way.
wrap amund the saw table.
A New Base. B h getting
Iwasabktodosmneofthiswork
st&,
I took my saw off its stand at my table saw.But the large size
andmovedittoifsnewhomeon of the right seaionand
the workcder cabjllet.This way, p-ted
a problem l k
whenthetopisrertdytoinstaU, is to first mu& cut the
everythhgwiUbeinphce.
size and then use a router with a

.,

straightbit insbllk.
a
edge to trim them accurately.

Thentic Lamhate. Now

can apply the plastic laminate
trim it flushYou%
to apply a backer

d"
abcul
keament latet Take a look at the
arMe on pap 10 for mom infor-

matian r
m worldmg with laminate.
MiterGaupSlotaYoullMtia
mP@e
8, that the miter gauge

8bgBwtedintothetop.Sincethis

b~fmdearance,Imted~~~
siPeslotsanddidn'twonyabout
h t .
Lhremorethingand
thetopsedimsmreadytoinstalL
In'cnderforthetoptofitoverthe
~.
ahmnlnuin angle and snug to the
..: , Miiparfir
to mt a
.&.q,&bet
L
&pdcutauts(FiguRs&and8b).
:-You% also need to c ~ u n h b m
for
-theheadSofthebo1ts,,butthiscan
wait until the angle is installed.
Side Panels. B e h e installing
the new top, the cabinet below
needs me mmadditioa In F i g m
- . 9 you% see how three MDF side

panelsmsaewedtothecabinerto
-

helpsupportthetop-onemthe
left end and one on e i k side of
the router table case.

Sa

It's important that the panels

support the top level with the saw
table. F i 9a shows how to find
the height of the panels. Justmeasurefmmthetopofthebasetothe
top of the saw table and then subttact the thickness of thenew top.
New Top. Once the side panels
are in place, you can takethe extension wings and fence off the saw
and switch tot he new to^.
The aluminum angle used to
attachthetopisfastenedtothesaw
table using the bolts and W d e d
holes that held the extension
m.
To allow easv adiustment of
the Light of the a&e, drilled the
bolt holes oversize.F@E 9b shows
how to adjust the angle for a flush
fit of the top. Once the aluminum
angle is attached and adjusted, the
LE
two topsectionscanbesetinplace 51DE
PANEL
(ns** *)
and mewed down.
FinaI Details. All that's left are
a few loose ends (Figure 10). First
comes the splitter insert that fiUs
Top Cleat The back edge of the
the gap at the back of the top. It's insert rests on a long deat that's
sizedtofitsnuglyinitspocketand w e d tothe underside ofthe top
haslaminateonbothsides.Iadded ( F i w 1%). lhis cleat's main p&a finger hole to m o v e it and a cleat
is to wnnect the top &ons
keeps it in place (ma@n photo).
and keep them flat and true.

@kl

:.

www.ShopNotes.com

You'll notice that the

cleat has a goalsize
notch cut into it. This
provides clearance for
-themotor when the blade is tilted
to 45O. Turn to Shop Shortcuts on
page 14 for more details on this.
T-Molding. The last item is
the top edging. For this I turned
to easy-to-install and chipproof,
plastic T-molding. But before
on &,decide whether
you plan on building the
outfeed stand on page 26.
If so,hold off and install all
the T-molding at once.
Installation. 'Ihe first thing
todoisroundallthemmersof
the top so the molding will bend
around them. The T-molding is
held in place by a flange that fits a
slot in the edges of the top (F@R
10a). So muting this narrow, centered slot is the next job.You can
mark the ends of the rip fence rail
and stop the slots there.
Installing the T-molding on the
top is as easy as pressing or lightly
tapping it into place. You'll find
the simple kchniqw I used to
the comers in Shop
Shortcutson page 14.

23

A Splrtter Insert.
Removal of the
"pop out" insert
makes way for
installatton of the
spl~nerand blade
guard.

Witfithe top in plaoe on the workcenter, your table saw is back in

business.Sonowyoucarsetyour
Bights al compleling the muter
table. This canes down to three
- instilling the phenolic
insert plate in the top, adding a
miter track, and finally, building
and installing the fence.
Insert PLte. To me, an insert
plate isn't an extra, it's a must. It gnwve and then acrewed the track
saves a huge amount of effort on in place, =.shown in F i 11.
bit changes and gemrally makes
TheFqce.NowdthaVsleftisa
using the muter table easier. So I fence.Take a bok at Figure 12, and
added a heavyduty insert plate yoult see the practical answer. ?he
with "popout"collars, like you see fence I built is simply a hardwood
in F i 11 and the photo on the base and face -ed
togeher in
n e x t p a g e k y o u y o u U a l s o f i n dan"L"shape.Fourbraceskeepit
thepmdumforfiItingtheinsert sq&andlargecutoutsprovide
Miter Rack. After instahg the plenty of bit dearance.
insert, adding the duminum miter
Smooth, easy adjustment is
track is next up. To do this, I simply important, and this job is handled
muted an appqx&ely sized by a pair of slots in the fence bnw

and studded knobs that s a w into

T-nuts installed in the top (Figures
12a and 1%). For a wider adjustment range, I installed three s& of
T-nuts, as shown in Figure 11 and
lla. As you on see, the T-nuts am
countersunk on the underside of
thetop.Youllwanttodothisafh

dAllingtheahankholes.
W s it. Your new wmkcenter
is d y toga But before putting it
hande
ldh
tebeast, you might want to check
wttheoutteed stand on page 26.
TABLE FENCE PARTS ARE
MADE FROM %'-THICK

OR INSERT La

ShopNotes No. 89

optional

Outfeed
,

fmted r a m Ani -a "bonu6" is

that ttre top can do double-dutyas c m a u c t b
an extra worbsutk~

ShopNotes No.89

S i Panels. Once the case and

base am b l e d , you can add

MDF with laminaie on both sides

and T-moldingon the edges.
Remember that one long edge of
the top butts against the back edge
of the main top. So these two mrnersamleft~quareandthere'sm

1-

thetwotopsto@ec,asshbwnin
Figure 14a.Hexbolts, washers, and

left to build are a pair of drawem

forthedeepsideofthecabinet
and a shelf for the shallow side.
The drawers, shown m F i 15
and 1% below, should lodr pretty
familk. In fact, they'rcidenlid

yz

a x l e -

% l J

BASE
FRAME BIDE

Why buy pulls when you can make your own? All it
2kes is a little shop time and a step-by-step approacl

ShopNotwr No. 89

you move to the table saw, cut the pull loose, and repciat the p-.
You'll want to check out the box below to mount tkw p\llls

as dxwnin the upper and middle drawings.

nnmdtheendsof
the brackets on the
h a d saw before
drilling the holes
for he tenons and
finafly cutting the
lhetenonsmthe

ends of the dowel

are made by rotating
the dowel over the
table saw blade

::

-+

Threaded

aluminum angle and buffing it out.

The next step is to drill and countersink a pair of m m h n g holes
for some woodscrews in one face
of the angle (upper drawing).
The %''-dia.dowel that pmvides
a grip iskerfed to fit over the angle.
The lower drawin%shows how a
block with a "stop&d" hole holds
the dowel while you runit through
the saw. Finish up by glwng the
dowel in pk--. 2, -7Xy

&:

sturdy
m wobbling allowed
And it must have&large,flat work-

a@eamdc-&dbarhtt\atwiU

The seaet bo
ttie work&n&

of standuptoheavyuseThisconlheknchwm'ttakeabtoftime.

~"tw~stalcatdthetep, ~y,asgOOdastfiis~is,
shelf, and end pan& ave mr& youcanmakeitevenmorevmde
from~.Idvreethesemateri& byaddingabolt.01woafw~
builtoutofmaterialstt\atyoucan h t h e i r s h d h s , h c o e t , a n d visethat's.eqtoinsiaUaswell.
one trip to your barl heme CWUR.

years of hard-workingsewice

Expl-

W I w Details

END ASSEMWE6
ARE WILT 6Y

'WIUpnW LEGS

AMUND MDF
rAqEl.6

W E FRAME 16
OF w 6 r
LUMBER

FACE FRAME
OYERLAPS END
M e E M W E 5 TO

.
- - -%"

MW PANEL6

WLDeKS
FlX RAIL5

RACKING
W000(iCllEWB

AND C U E
HOLDCLEAT

IgtBUSIK)Nw

CHAMFER

eomw

W O O ~ E W S

MW PANEL
END
LEG ASSEMIKY

row

!hetwoed~liesactasthe
bench's legs. This does two thingx
Fi,it gives thebench a rigidbase,
and second, thepinery is simple.
A~~ofEigwe2shows
that the each end assembly is

made up of a pair of comer posts

anaeaedbyanMDPpanel.Each
"po6t" amsists of two idenlid
pan~I.To make the pmk, all you

hawtodoisJineuptheparbalong
the edgm and glue them bgether.
When the glue is dry, the mmm
postswillttrenbereadyforthe
MDPpinels@gcm2a).Addingthe
panels is a gmd way to emwe the
assemblies stay square and stable.

32

berhtopandbwerHinpIlre.
After cuttingthe cleats to eize, I

I MOTCH

MTTOiv

6HELF AROUNF

CORNER

POST

fid~beforemoavfngmto,tk

bmchtop. Thc bot&ki W:Ih

(Figure 3a). Then. you can athrh
the sklf by installing m

UuoughtheJeatsintotheW

adding the
AU the effort put into building
strung base fa the w o r m
would be wasted if it didn't have
a study, flatbenchtop to match If
youtakealodtatFigure4,youcan
seehoWIdidtb.
The~ttfiingtonoteisthatthe
top is made from "two-by"stock
and MDP. Why MDF? For starters,
it pmvidea a smooth, flat swfam.
Second, it's heavy, which adds to
the stirbility of the workbench. -top
provides the extra thickAnd ~~MDP
Mis
II
affordable.
Y,
neas right where it's needed the
Layax As you can see in Figure most for orping workpieces or
4,fatrlayersofMDFa1edto adding acsmies.
create a thfdc top. But not all the
Benchtop AMembb. Just like
l a ~ ~ h r l t p i e c e s o f M D ~ , h o WIbuiltthebaseinsedions,Ialso
wet. Only the two top layers are assembled the benchtop in secmsiae.lhetaMOatwolayersare !ions. The top two layers wen2
made frompieces of MDF.
cut to size and then glued and
Byusingpiees,Iwasableto screwedbogether.lnthesameway,
get these extra 'laps" fmm a the bottom two layas (&led
singlesheetofMDF.Irstahgk fmm p h ) w e cumpletad. Once
piecesjustalmgtheedgesofthe that's done, you can awmble the

tridc

entire benchtop. The only

hereiskeepiialltheedge?flush
ToseehowIdidthis,tumtoShop
ShortC~onpage14.
Edging. MDP edge?aren't all that
d u r a b l e . % t o ~ t h e ~
ofthebewhbpandtogivethe
wallren*lamorefinishedlook.I
attadred edging made from "twoby"~asmFigures4and4a.
AndtopmvideadeaRfinished

hok,thisedgingiswmppedammd
the top with micomers.

mauklfER
*ANDBorlQM

OF-

!
............................ :..

This jia 1

)aim router

Fluting Jig
Fluted legs or him pieces can add a dassic look to
a project. But the challenge is making flutes that are
shairrht and evenly spaced. To solve those problems,
I maze this flutingjig(shown above). It's dkgned to
fit a palm muter or laminate trimmer.
As you can see, the jig is pmtty simple. It's just a
baseplate made from a piece of acrylic. A set of hardwooh spacers makes 6 easy to position the flutes
evenly a m m a workpiece, see inset photo. And using
the jig with my palm router makes it easy to handle.

I like this jig because it's versatile. What I mean is

you can make the spacers wider or narrower to adjust
the spacing of the flutes (more on that later).
This is &e of those simple projects that you can
put together in an evening.But it's a handy jig youll
use for years to come to add appeal to your projects.

-I

Jig+A
++
L

(CR lamjMte trimmer).

*cut-

jig m
~
r
t
c
.

the fhebaseplakto size,I muted

desandasetofspacus.lhese
s let you reposiblon the
den and spacers for mutthehtes.Idrilledthe
Iholesforthes~first
n a couple of passes
h a W-dia. straight bit
shedtheslots(Pii1).
f Now you can use your
&outer's baseplate as a ternate to maithe-

Y
-.

-t--

Ae l0cdW. men, drill

dcounWthehdeaAhoh?
w will create a nice center hole
t the bit. After you attach the
uter, scribe a centerline on the
stkmdthebaeepkinline
Iththecenterdtheozdlet
lpasr Guides and Sprcla The
a,G?egukl@a~theV-=

p:ldlidenticalexceptfor~

WL You can make them from

yarsceinFigurr2

cutting the blank to

b i t ~ ~ h r v i tno g
d j w t the
depthofthebit

~ i s y o u c a n ~ ~ d r p a c
ersofvaryingwidths,&pmding

using the

Flutitla Jic
Once you have the muter securrly

mounted to the jag baseplate, you

can set up for your first cut.
Position Edge Guides. The first
thing you need to do is determine the p i t i o n of the two edge
guides. Oneof them will ride along
the edge of the workpiece when
routing the first flute. To do this,
loosen the saews and arrange the
edge guides and spacers as shown
in I
%1and la. Now you can
align the centerline of the jig with
the centerlineof the first flute and
slide the spacsrs and edge guides
against the workpiece (Figure 1).
lighten Edge Guides. As you
canseeintheFigurela,thissandwiches the workpiece between
both edge guides and all the spacers. Once the jig is aligned, you
can tighten the two edge guides in
place. What you're looking for is a
smooth sliding fit of the jig dong
the workpiece without any sidetoside play or b i i .
The last thing to do befote you
startmutingistosetthedepthof

the router bit. This will determhe cutting the first flute. Start at one
the depth and width of the flutes. end of the workpiece and move
the jig in a continuous motion to
ROUTING THE FLUTES
the +te
end for a smooth cut.
Spacing. Now, the spacers
On some projects, you want the
flutes to continue all the way to the make it easy to mut the rest of
end of the workpiece, as shown the f l u b accurately. Just flip the
in the photo above. Since the jig jig upside down and slide one of
is already set up, you can start them to the opposite side, like you

SLIDE ONE SPACER

ShopNotes No. 89

IlJsnot uncmnmon to get bum-

workpiece (upper right

' ' M m twice - cut one." I've

followed thoee words of wisdom
ever since I began woodworking.
But over the yeam, I've leamed a
kw other things that have helped

me get accurate and consistart

d t s time after time.
Onthenextfew pages you'll find
a dozen ideas that a~ sure to be
useful in any shop. Some involve

Etched vs. Stamped

I It's hard to lrass uo a Lwmin, but when it comes to

usL\g the right tool, while others

fmwunkchnique.Andnomatter
what. kind of propcts you build,
you ean put most of them to work
in yaur shop right away.

0fthebig;pest .
between highquality meamingtmlsan=d
modelsistheuseofetched 1 ' ( 1 ( 1 1 1 1 '
linesrather than stamped marks.
The practical benefit of etched lines is that they'=
fine^ aUowine m o definition
~
between small mea-

normal lighting.'Ihese tools usually cost a little more, awtend all fhe way to gre edge d the rub,malvng fhem
easier to read than t
bstvnped lines of the lower c ~ e .
but they're worth the i n v e m t .

r One Tape per Project

Ks tough to beat a tape measure for ease of use and
convenience. I have several in my shop. But I've
leamed that using difbent tapeson a project can lead
to serious measurement errors. The problem is tapes
can differ in their readings for a couple of mawns.
First, if the hook on the end is bent or damaged, it
can throw off the stiuting point of the measurement
Second, the tapes themdves can be printed with
small deviatim in the measuring marks. But if you
slick to one tape measure thmughout a project, you'll
be sure to get consistent d 6 .
ShopNotes No. 89

-". .- .

...-

SlRAlGMEDGEOFA
' KMRD ANDDRAWA
PERPENDICULAR LWE

,--

/-

.A

--

/-'

4 Center Punch.

Strike the inside

wmer with a center
punch to open the
/ags or outside (see
inset) to dose them.

how to debmnhe whether

square is actually ysquare.

of a board or the width of

a dado with a tape measure, then
you know it's a challenge to get
a m a t e mults. Even with a good
steel rule, it's still tough.
For these measuremen6, I reach

foracaliper.Acaliperisdesignedfor
that kind of job -and it's far more
precise than most woodwo~king
tools. But not just any caliper will
yield easy-to-read mults. Because
I use fractional meammnents in

mypmjeas,Ipdertouseafrac
tional, rather than decimal,caliper.
A fractional caliper has marks in
W increments. So you don't have
to "do the math" to find the dimension you'= looking for.

The shorterjaws on a cahpPsr

are used for ins~demeasurements.
such as the w'dth ofa dab.

..,

1
1darking Knife
itc comes to lay in gout marks for

cutting joinery, a pend line is often

too thick. For precision work, I reach
for a sharp marking knife.
Not only does the knife lay down
a fine line, but the mark is durable
and won't smudge or fade as you
handle the piece. Another benefit for
joinerywork is the line also provide a
handy "groove"for placing a chisel or
saw blade. That's especially useful if
you'= squaring up the side of a mortise after drilling out the waste. The
line keeps your cuts square.

www.ShopNoksmm

it comes to laying out hole

I When
locatiolw~,I reach for an awl. It's

possibility of the bit wandering off

the mark and scratching the surrounding stock. It also guarantees
a more precise hole location than
if you had just made an 'x' on the
stock with your pendl Another
nice thing is the mark will survive
sanding.So you can preserve the
layout if you prefinish the part

gpedally handy if you're drilling

the holes with a hand drill rather
than at the drill press. The awl
leaves a small indentation which
sews as a starter for a drill bit.
By placing the tip of the drill
bit in the awl mark, you avoid the

!Usea Drill Bit for Precise Setup

Settinnthe6areofvourmutertable
toan&ct~'fmmthebitcan
be a mal chore. Howwer, sincedrill
bits are predsely machined to a
+dbwer,youcanusethem
as fehble measrning tools -just
like a set d bass set-up blocks.

For Instwce. if vou need a dado

%"fromtheed&dfaboard,justlay
a %"&. drill bit betweenthe fence
and thecutting edgeof arouter bit
Thisguaranteesthedadowillbe
where you need it w i h t a lot d
fussy mtnunning in tight spaces.

I b Mark M

y wim a ~trai&edge

It may sound like splitting hairs,

but the way you hold your pendl
or marking knifeagainstastraightedge as you make a mark can make
a big difference.If you want to put
a line on an exact measmment,
you'll need to be sure the tip of
your pencil or knife is not angled
away from the edge of the square
or rule, -.-..
as in- t*~
he far leftphoto.
:, :'.,

,.,*.

A simple way to ensure consistent layout marks is to hold the

point against the straightedge, as
shown in the photo at left.
Another rule of thumb is to pull
the wemil Ward vou. rather than
straighttry push it al&
edge. Pushing the tip can cause it
to catch on the grain of the wood
and jump away hum the line.

the

.,

.~.*,.-*<-*fA.
:E*Fs
.~;.-%s.'?*.,
i....,.r
,. :
.,,,-ii
~

.
. ..

..
~

MAKE 6URE M A W
ARE ORIENTED TO SHOW TOP
AND BOrrOM OF P A W

No matter how many times I've

built a set of drawers, it's easy to get
confusedandmixupthepieces.
time-~methodofmaridng
maid-hgcomersremainsthe
waytoavoidthismis.
you've laid

the [email protected] sure that a l l marks

- --

WEUNOUCHrmMl
KEASYTDMAIM
A5eEMOLY

DMWX SlDu,

The easy solution is to mark each freshly jointed

surface as you go. It only takes a second, but a quick
pencil mark can save you a lot of head scratching
down the road. This way, when it comes time to cut or
plane the oppaite side parallel, you can tell at aglance
which side goes against the fare of yow table saw or
face down thtuugh the p k .

.-

Fmaitime to time, no matter how earrfut you are,

you'8 make a mistake m?ading t a p and ruleg For
me, this usually happens when I'm trying to read the
marb upside down or with the tape in an awkward
position. Other times I'm just in a huny and get the
meaamments tmqmwd. The fact of the matter is,
therearetimeswhenthebest~todoisleeveym
tape m thebench and not measure at all.
A good "ample of this is fitting an inset cabinet
door. Of course you'll want to begin by buiid$rg the
door to a rough size using the dimension8 from your
plam'But when you've completed the case or fmme
fortbiedoor,whynotjustholdthe~piece
up to the opening and mark the edge showing the
exact irsight and width? This way, you'll be sure to
havethecorrectdimarsionThenyoucanuseasqwm
andtransBerthaseedgemarlcstothefaceofthepiece
andheyourlayoutAfterthat,it'sjustamatterof
to thetable saw and cutting the door or drawer
to the layout lines for a perftxt fitd
E

I I

Consistency.An even
gap around the edges
highlights a perfect/y fit

Here are a few low-cost ideas

RIP-TOP EXTENSION WIN6

S O m e a d d e d ~ s u p p o r t betwearthekna
-bUttha'saboutit

addsomestomge.Inthedrawiq

else you might need.

6tmh

tools separate

from

the

it's a good idea to

on the side of the saw cabinet.

TABLE AND EXEN

HOLDERS KEEP
OFTEN-UBED

be, it got me &inkingabout putting

up ra&s in other pacts of the shop.
And it was only natural to think
about using pegbad to tame the
cluita amund my saw.
But if your table saw is located
in the centex of the workshop like
mine, walking back and forth to
a wall rack can get oldin a hurry.
HOW- that doeaft mmn you
need to give up on the idea.
If you take a look at the drawin& you can see a simple solution

tabk and an extension wing. The

idea behind this rack ISto provide

a place for only the things you

reach for most often.
A combination of custombd,
shopbuilt holders along with
some s t a d a d tnetalhooks allows
you to customize the rack to suit
your work habik and keep some
frequently used Items within
arm's reach. Best of all, you can
probably add this handy rack to
your saw in about an hour.

!lwmT&SMRAGE

was add

anothez

MASTERING TH

Turn your table saw into a shaper with this cutterhead

and a handful of different knife ~rofiles.
A nmlding head is nc&ing m ~
thwaheavysteeldiskthatmounts
in your table saw like a saw blade.
It holds a set of replawable, highspeed steelknives. And this feahm
sllowsyoutoavapoutthelarives
to cut djtihnt profiles of moldingaSothemoldingheadturm
your table saw into a shaper.
vatilitjt*great&gabout
molding heads is their versatility.
To start-with, there's a wide vanety of knife pro6les available. But
that doesn't mean you have tobuy
a lot of knives. Most knives can be
used to create several profiles by
exposinp di&ent parts of the cutting edge. And by combining pmfilesfmm different knives, you can
create many complex moldings.
Molding M e a To give you
an idea of just how ve.rsatile a
molding head is, takea look at the
opposite page. I made allsix of the
moldings shown with just four
different knife pm61es. (These are
A Auxiliary Fence. Bo
the knrvesinanauxil,arys in an a x i l the basic profiles that came with
r ~ pfence allows you to shape the edge of a board the molding head, refer to Sousing just a port~onof the knife profile.
on page 51 for more information.)

When if cOnw to making moldings, the first tool that comg to

mind is probably a muter table
or a shaper. But with one simple
accessory, you can make all sorts of
moldings -on your table saw. AU
youneedisarnoldingheadanda
few sets of knives (photo above).

Using
a Molding Head. If
e
you'venever used a molding head,
thereareakwtlungstoblOW.To
start with you'll Deed a couple of
insert plates for your table saw.
The first is a molding head
insert.(Thiscantepurd.lasedor
shopmade) The m o w head
insert has a short, wide opening
toamommodatethewidthofthe
molding head hives.
For pmfilea hat are cut with the

wodsMcestanding~*,you~
want to we a zerodearance insert

to~thefiefromfalling into the insert opening.

Enally it's a good idea to auach
an a u x i h y kwe to your table saw
ripknce.Thisallavsyoutobury

thelarivesinthefencesoyoucan
safelyusejustaportionofthepro6le (phoio at left).You may have to
movethekncefromthelefttothe
right side of the molding head to
get the profiie you're afte~.
Wth a little aeativity and some
qmknmth.~you can make a
widevarietyofmddingstodress
up just about any
d

ShopNotes No. 89

- - - - - - - -- - - -

- - - -- --

~quarbermund(mund0ver)isoneoftheSimplestpmfiIesyoucan
make with a molding head Simply bury the
cutter in an audfiiuy fence and cut a mundoverontheedgeoftheboard.Youcancreate
a shoulder (or BUet) along the
mundovff by raising the height
inn
"head and mwsitioning the

,.

CEm

One of the advantages of a

molding head is that you can cut a pmfile in
the center of a wide board (something you
can't do with
muter bits). This feature
allows you to make
ownbeaded board

sockefhead set screw

detail is often used on dividers between

on the edges of shelves. W~tha zeminsert installed in your table saw, you can
or+
duough the saw on
bead(3ryoucanfiipthewor

I
1

'Ihen flip the workpiece over and cut a

A "thumbmd" p r o of the molding head so the mund- may have to do a little sanding, but
commonly used on the edge over transitions smoothly into the when you're dare, you'll have a
letops. This pmfile is aeated curve of thethudmail. Again. you dassic,decorative pmfile.
in three separate steps, using three
~tcutters.staltbycuttingthe
thumLmail pmfile with a shoulder
on thetop edge.
Next, use a fluting cut& to m a t e
a small cove along the edge of the
shoulder. Then flip the workpieccut a W kundwer &
m edge. Adjust the height

Garage

shop heating

.*+*..

6:- I 3

Take Off '

kg:.,,::

Make woodworking
in the cold a bit
more comfortable
with electric heat.

My first shop was in the comer of shop warm. Heating just a little dasortwwh other. You might lose
thegarage.UnforhmWy,likemost spaasa\sybeallyouneed.And soae&wmom,butonlyhaving
garages, it got too cold to spend
have electrical to heaf a mnaU a m more than
much time doing woodworking
t simply plug m &wp
hr for incmv-.
when winter camearound.
easy way to take
And keep in mind that not all
The nice thing is that doesn't
wocrlararlang
bahny amhavetobethecase.aon?wony%em are a number of ditiaa Gkmps and finkhiq are
l!mnottaIkingaboutinstallingan
electric healus in the mast
So, it!s a simple
elaborate system to keep an entire your shop. Fdp the switch and get -teibheatwh
kww*
heat. Plus, y o u ' r e those
~ ~tab.
yoaean plug one in anyOnce pou'~edeterminedexactly
Wtrw theresanoutlet
where you need some heat, the
DaQt heaters can be nextstqiatosele&aheatersuited
m
d wedwad, on to for &&As you might imagine,
a wall, or even set up on you have a fewchoices.
your-(A*
overswibchshuist
kunit
lWlllWlllEA'MS
off if it's M
over.)
CJne of the simplest heaters to use
P h d q . Before you is a radiant heater, l
h the one
buy a "spu"heater, do pictured above. Also l a m as an
a little planning first To infraRd or quartz heater, it has a
startwithsmallelectric ~ p a n e l b e h i n d t h e h e a ~
heaters awn? designed elemeas to direct heat Ward
towarmupalargeshop. wmthelooan(Figure1).
So,it'ssbesttocommbate
Think about an asphalt street
the heat you Deed into a during the summer. As the am
~ w o r l c ~beams down on it, the pavement
~waytodotfiisis ~ s o h o t y o u c a h s e e t h e ~ t
toolsa little rising ("tadiating') hornthe mad.

e.

ShopNotes No. 89

Sawdust One of the downsides

of a forced-air heater is it can stir up
sawdust, so you'll want good dust
colledion to minimize the problem.
And in general, it's good practice to
keep sawdust in check when using
any type of electric heater.
Availability. Prices for small
electric heaters start at about $50,
and they're available just about
anywhere. Forced-air heaters are
CONVECTION HEATERS
Unlike a cunvedion neater with usually a bit more expensive and
Convection heaters take a different a small fan. a forced-air unit uses to find one you may have to go to a
approach and work like baseboard a larger blower to really move air home center or order online.
heaters in many homes.
over the heating element (Figure 3).
Still, electric heat is a great way
As the unit heats the air, the warm
This will heat up an area quickly to inexpensively warm up a shop.
air inside rises. As it does, cooler And like a convedion heater, Another option for taking off the
air is drawn in to q l a c e it (Figurr the unit cools down quickly - chill is to simply keep your feet
2). That cooler air is then warmed, resulting in a shop that cools down little warmer. For more on
rises, and the cycle repeats itself.
check out the box below. &
more quickly as well.

The same principle applies

when using a radiant heater. As the
radiant heat warms a tool, the tool
radiates some of the heat back out.
This warms the air m u n d the tool,
multing in a warmer shop.
And, since the tools themselves
heat up, the shop will continue to
stay comfortable for a bit even after
theheater is turned off.

A convection heater can take

a little longer to warm an area.
To heat things a little faster, some
models use a small fan to increase
the airflow. This helps while the
fan is running,but once the unit is
turned off, the shop will cool down
more quickly than one equipped
with a radiant heater.

atated
the Cold
Mat
with,a_.":"""p I
;

..

:<.:$hs&.~;?&~:
atter how much heat you pump into your shop,
hop floor will stay cold for a long time.
your feet are cold, it makes it almost
e to work comfortably on any task.
anti-fatigue mat is one way to keep your
floor. But in most cases,it doesn't provide
mulation to help much. A better option is to
a built-in heating element (availSUDD~Vstores). l%eW
plugged in, the mat startshealing up. Soit's a quick and
eksywaytostaywarm-andkeep youintheshop.

our Readers

stropping for a

Razor=
When to Shop. There's N)doubt
that stropping produces a razorsharp edge. But I've found it to be
werkiu for most common woodworking tools. The fact is, waters b n s , oilstones, or sandpaper on
glassallpmdufeanedgesharp
Every woodworker I h o w has
enough for most woodworking
an opinion about the ' k t " techneeds. If you're using any of these
nique for .
And often
methods and your sharpening
the debate centers on what constitasks are limited to plane mms and
tutes the "sharpesY' cutting edge.
bench chisels, there's very little to
Stropping is considered by many
be gained by simpping. There are,
tobethefinalstepinpmducingthe
however, exceptions to every rule.
ultimate, a m m h r p edge.
Carving Tooh If you're a carver,
What is Stropping? Stropping
stroppingmaybethebestmethod
takespkceafterthenormalsharpof keeping your tools ready to go.
ening steps of ginding and honing.
Many carnng lauves use very thin
blades that simply can't be ground
onanythingbutthefinesthoning
stones without removing too much
metal from theblade.
In this case, charging a leather
strop wth an abrasive stick, shown
in the photo above, may be the
answer. Stroppii will leave the
blade polished and razodwp, as
shownintheinsetbox.
Only you can decide what's
"sharp enough" for your needs. If
A Buffin# Wheel. A wheel charged witn A amarr rmnr- rarrrry Greaum a i d you want better ~ u l tbhan your
different grades of abrasive compound can carving knives can be made razor sharp current method provides, you may
want to give stroppinga try. 4
on an inexpensive, profiled strop.
polish the edge of a gouge in no time.

A woodworking neighbor told me I need to strop nty

tools to get a sharp cuffingedge. Othmfriends say if's
a waste of time.Who's right?
D a d Smggins
HordPrsa,Nd

Tradiiiionaly, a blade is stmpped

by pulling the bevel across a firm
piece of leather. Slmpping removes
the nearly
strands of
metal that mumin on the cutting
edge of a blade after thewire edge,
or burr has been honed away.
Here again, there are a number
of opinions about the pmper technique. Some woodworkers prefer
to charge the leather simp with
abrasive compounds. But others
argue that stropping is not n d y
meant to abrade themetal. Jmtead,
it is intended to burnish the edge
by bending the slmds until the
metal fatigues and they fall off.

ShopNotes No. 89

Sources
ROUTER FLUTING JIG

;-.
xou can find the hardware you'll
. ..
%.

;a9.

need to build the m t e r fluting

'1:.... jig on page 36 at a local hardware

store or home center. But you'll

pmbably need to order a sheet of
- - aaylic for the base plate. The 1/4": hid-.hMnraw @ir
T (86205) was ordered from United
States Phtic. You'll find contact
information in the margin.

:>
;.

::

as the drawer handles @UH-50)

were ordered from Reid Tool.
In order to wmplete the muter
table, you'll need a few other items.
Thephenolicmterplate(147)came
from Wwdhawn. And I picked up
the dust collection port (7l5115) at
i h . ~M s m i t h S ~ . . A m u t e .table
r
dust collection port (35317) is also
available from Redder.
You'll also need a miter gauge
track for the muter table. The
Rousseau (0048)miter gauge track
came from the Mike's Tools.
To give the top of the workcenter
a nice finished edge, youU need to
install some T-molding. I ordered
the l W black T-molding (3%) from
T-Molding.com. You can find contact
information in the margin at right

It includes a molding head, Alien

wrench, and four sets of cutters.
I ordered mine from Mike's Tab,
but they're also available through
Amazon.com and Woodworker's
Supply. You'll find contact information in the margin.

SHOP-MADE WUS

The drawer pulls shown on page

28 are easy to make and can save
you some money. But you might
need a few pieces of hardware in
SPIRAL CURERHEADS
order to mount them.
- Spiral cutterheads, like those
Screws and threaded inserDi are
shown in the article on page 12,
available
at hardware and woodare a great way to upgrade your
working
stores.
But when I'm not
jointer. The Sunh~ll and Byrd
sure
of
the
length
of the ECEW IU
Shelrr cutterheads came from
need,Iuseasegmented,breakaway
Sunhill Machinery. I ordered the
screw (35535) from Rockler. The
Wwdtek Staggered Cutterhead from
rib-type, pressin threaded inserts
Wwdwo~ker'sSupply.
(5645) can be found at W w d h .
WoRWBENMl
The split-typ b d e d insertsare
You can find almost all of the ma*
TABLE SAW WORKCENTER
Much of the hardware you'll need rials needed to build the work- available at Wwdwo~ker'sSupply.
to build the table saw workcenter bench on page 30 at your local
STROPPING
on page 16 can be found at your hardware store or l W a r d .
Stropping
can
be a great final step
local hardware store or home But the vise I used to complete the
improvement center. But them are project is a 9" quick-release wood to achieving a razor-sharp edge
on your tools.But to do this you'll
a few items you'll need to order to vise (22876) from Redder.
need to use a good strop.
be able to wkplete the project
You can find leather strops at
The wmer levelers(31217)for the
MOUIINGHEADS
woodworking stom and
many
cabinet. sorine him&
" .QEE4.5~ for A moldine head and cutter set, like
hardware
stores.The leatherhcming
the doors, and 16' Amride drawer the one in the article on page 46, can
addversatilityto your table saw.The strop (22698) and the power strop
slides (32482) all came from R&.
The 51$' x 2" star knobs (DK-685) one featud is a molding head and (20703)shownon theoppositepage
for the muter table fence as well cutter set (34-813) made by Delta. came from Rockler. &

.."

MA1L
ORDER
SOURCES

raidlooLaw

IkauarH a w K w b
Mike's Tmla
7145588360

-mm
asUo Mddrng H a d and
CaaarW R-u
MUer
GwP-eamPb
8008159292

-.-

rhw M d d m g H a d
ca*lOnttrrwwmmak
Sloggnadc-

T-Mokkg.~~m

.,

w6Mz2-5815
tWd&.mm

-T
Us,Pbmlic Gorp.
-17

slrricAqlc Sket
a
x
"
,
!

D.IsoMdhgHadd

mkvsd
Slbm-

-.

BM)-928-U21

sw#hdldSyml~~z

Spml-

Irev.orp
800871-8158
kmkY.-

Qum(rRadmdHsotsr

.And the bcli/t-&wter @We