November/December 2019 Archives - Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To

Tool Tutorial: Power Jointers

Chris Marshall — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 20:33:42 +0000

Centuries ago, our woodworking forebears spent a great deal of time with hand planes such as the #8 jointer in order to take the twist, cup, bow and crook out of their lumber. Hand planes ensured that boards could be made flat, straight, square and smooth, and doing that work by hand was the only real option they had. Those capabilities haven’t changed, of course, and these days you can still prepare lumber this way. A good deal of practice with a collection of hand planes will yield excellent results.

But, if you want to produce flat faces, edges and square reference surfaces in a fraction of the time, a power jointer will get the job done with minimal skill and effort. For most of us, it’s the more practical approach for processing rough lumber. And I’ll bet that if our predecessors had had the option to use a jointer, many of them would have been happy to trade their hand planes for a powered alternative. Here’s a quick study on this most beneficial machine.

What It Can and Can’t Do

A jointer is designed to flatten and square; those are its primary tasks. Preparing rough stock typically involves jointing a reference face first, then flattening an adjacent edge. A jointer is not an accurate thicknessing machine — that’s a planer’s job — nor will it keep two faces or edges parallel to one another. It’s possible to cut rabbets, tapers and chamfers on a jointer too, but generally, other tools are better choices. So, a jointer’s vitae of skills is actually rather short. But what it does well is crucial to woodworking.

How a Jointer Works

FLATTENING FACES: Boards are fed over the cutterhead from the infeed side to the outfeed side in repetitive passes. The length of its cutterhead establishes how wide a piece of lumber the jointer can accommodate.

If you flip a hand plane upside down and face its knob to the right, you’re on your way to understanding how a jointer works. Its iron frame is made up of three big components: a center base casting and two movable tables. The infeed table on the right (on a hand plane, the portion of the sole ahead of the blade) supports workpieces as they’re fed into the machine’s rotating cutterhead, and the outfeed table on the left (the rest of the hand plane’s sole behind the blade) keeps stock stabilized and on track as it exits the cutterhead.

There’s a dynamic relationship between the infeed and outfeed tables and the cylinder- shaped cutterhead. When a jointer is properly tuned up, the surface of its outfeed table is precisely flush with the jointer’s knives or cutting inserts at their highest point of rotation (called top dead center — TDC). That way, boards leaving the cutterhead continue to be supported at the same elevation as they were milled, ensuring flatness. The infeed table, on the other hand, must be adjusted lower than the cutterhead’s TDC in order for surfacing to occur. This depth-of-cut can be set from just thousandths of an inch to 1/8″ or more, depending on how much stock you want to remove with each pass.

Regardless of depth of cut, it’s critical that both the infeed and outfeed tables are parallel to one another across their width and along their length. If they aren’t co-planer, the machine can’t render board surfaces flat.

If the reference face is flat, the edge will also be squared to that face. Then, the board can be accurately ripped to final width so its second edge becomes parallel to the joined edge.

A jointer’s cast-iron fence, located beside the tables, can be adjusted laterally across them for working with narrow stock or to expose only a portion of the cutterhead. It also can be tilted off of square for joining angled edges. However, the fence is typically kept at 90° so the machine can do its main task of squaring faces to edges.

A jointer’s outfeed table has a stepped edge to accommodate rabbeting operations. You can change the proportions of a rabbet, depending on the fence’s position and the machine’s depth of cut.

Located beneath its spring-loaded, pivoting guard, a jointer’s cutterhead spins at around 5,000 to 6,000 rpm to help deliver smooth cuts and minimal tearout on any wood grain. One or two drive belts deliver power from the machine’s motor, hiding inside the closed stand. Stationary jointers employ quiet, long-lasting induction motors. Benchtop models have noisier universal motors, similar to corded circular saws and routers.

Stationary jointers have induction motors inside the stand that drive the cutterhead. A long belt or two transfers power up from below.

As surfaces are flattened, accumulating debris falls down a ramp inside the stand and out through a 4″ dust port. Jointers create a mountain of wood chips and dust in no time — second only to a thickness planer or lathe. So, for shop cleanliness and cleaner air, they need to be connected to a dust collector with as short a run of hose or ductwork as possible.

If you’re lucky enough to have a spacious wood shop, your jointer might be able to stay in one place all the time. But when it has to be moved — and sooner or later that time will come — you’ll appreciate having casters underneath to help roll its hundreds of pounds around. Some machines come with casters built into the stand. Or, you can add an aftermarket mobile base to any jointer.

Cutterhead Options

A hybridized version of straight knives, this quick-setting feature from JET provides cam adjusters to help align the cutterhead’s three double-edged knives more easily than conventional knife styles.

Up until the early 2000s, the cutterheads on all but industrial-size jointers had the same basic design: three or four single-edged, straight-bladed steel knives that sat in pockets in the cutterhead. You can still find these cutterheads today on some jointers. As long as those knives are sharp, the design works fine. But, as soon as the knives nick or dull, the task of servicing them becomes difficult. That’s because reinstalling and setting fresh knives can require the patience of Job and the precision of a Swiss watch maker. Each knife must be set square to the jointer tables from end to end and at precisely the same height as one another. Combinations of springs, recessed set screws and gib bars with multiple screws holding the knives in place only compound the problem of installation. Unless you do it often, setting traditional jointer knives is a big hassle.

Jointer cutterhead maintenance and performance took a quantum leap forward when manufacturers began to offer helical (also often called spiral) cutterheads with replaceable inserts as options. Unlike a straightknife head, spiral heads are equipped with rows of carbide inserts that have four sharp edges. Pockets in the cutterhead automatically set them to correct TDC, and a single star-drive screw holds each insert in place. When an insert nicks or dulls, it has three more sharp edges that can be accessed as easily as loosening the screw and rotating the carbide. Inserts are also cheap to replace.

Helical cutterheads with four-edged, automatically indexing carbide inserts stay sharp longer than steel knives and are simple to maintain. Their shearing cutting geometry also helps tame tearout on difficult wood grain.

Each row of cutters presents itself at a bias to the wood, instead of straight across, to create a shearing action that cuts figured and interlocked grain more cleanly. While purchasing a helical-equipped jointer will cost hundreds of dollars or more than a conventional straight-knife model, it’s an investment you’ll appreciate — both for maintenance and when you’re jointing figured or difficult-grain stock. It’s an improvement that surely will make straight-knife cutterheads obsolete on new jointers at some point, probably sooner than later.

Machine Sizes, Styles

Economically priced benchtop jointers can satisfy space-starved shops and still offer as much as 6″ of width capacity. Their tables are quite short, however, which can compromise accuracy when flattening longer stock.

If you’re in the market for a jointer, its cutterhead style is one important consideration. Another decision you face is its maximum width of cut. Jointers are manufactured with 6″, 8″, 10″, 12″ and even 16″ cutterhead lengths. The size determines how wide a board face you can join in a single pass. Obviously, longer cutterheads offer more capacity and can prevent you from needing to rip wide stock narrower in order to flatten it. As cutterhead lengths go up, so does the overall table length of the machine, to a point. So, while a 6″ jointer might offer a 50+”-long table, an 8″ model usually provides several more feet of table length. Longer tables are a big advantage when you need to flatten longer stock.

The counterpoint here, not surprisingly, is cost. As machine sizes increase, their price tags spike upward, too. For instance, an 8″ helical-head jointer may cost around $1,500, but a 12″ machine with the same cutterhead style can set you back $4,000. With those numbers in mind, occasional ripping and re-gluing may be a fair trade-off to buying a more-than-you-really-need jointer. A good compromise between capacity and cost is the 8″ size. I’ve used one for 15 years and have rarely needed more.

The infeed and outfeed tables of wedgebed jointers slide up and down on sloped, dovetailed ways in the machine’s center base casting. The tables are supported along their inner edges only.

Jointers are also manufactured in two table styles: wedgebed and parallelogram. Wedgebed jointers have tables that slide up and down on sloped dovetailed ways in the casting. If the machine’s center casting looks somewhat like a triangle, the jointer is a wedgebed. Its infeed and outfeed tables are mounted and held in place along their inner edges only.

Parallelogram jointers have two pivoting arms (not shown) beneath the infeed and outfeed tables to support and move them up and down. Some experts contend that this style holds its settings better than a wedgebed.

By contrast, the tables on a parallelogram jointer raise and lower on pivoting braces in the center casting. Each table is equipped with two braces along its length. Some experts suggest that parallelogram jointers are better able to maintain a co-planar table relationship, thanks to the added support these braces provide. But, wedgebed jointers that are used carefully and set up properly have served woodworkers well for as long as jointers have been made. Generally, they’re also more affordable. Regardless of design, if you buy your jointer from a reputable manufacturer, either style should serve you well.

Setting Up a Jointer

A jointer’s outfeed table must be set and locked to the cutterhead’s top dead center of rotation. Check it by placing a rule on the outfeed table and over the cutterhead.

Aside from cranking down the infeed table to establish your desired depth of cut, there are only a couple of adjustments you might need to make to ready the machine for use. For one, it’s imperative that a jointer’s outfeed table is flush with the cutterhead’s TDC. To check, hold a straightedge against the outfeed table so it extends over the cutterhead. With the machine unplugged, rotate the cutterhead; the knives or inserts should just “kiss” the straightedge, touching but not lifting it. Adjust the outfeed table up or down slightly to dial it in as needed. Once TDC is established, you shouldn’t have to check it again unless you move the machine, bump the outfeed table significantly or drop something heavy on it.

For edge-jointing and squaring, you’ll also want to adjust the fence so it’s perpendicular to the tables. Do this by holding an accurate combination or engineer’s square against the fence and table, just past the cutterhead on the outfeed side. Adjust the fence so there’s no gap between the square’s blade and the fence face, and tighten the table setting.

Unless a jointer’s fence is perpendicular to its tables, it can’t square the edge of a workpiece to an adjacent face. Inspect this setting routinely with a reliable square.

The fence also needs to be moved laterally so it will expose enough of the cutterhead to join the stock width at hand. I leave my jointer’s fence cranked as far back as it will go most of the time; this way, I’m always ready to use the machine on wide material. Be sure to check for fence squareness again every time you move the fence in or out — any “play” in its mechanism can throw the fence out of squareness with the table again.

What about the “correct” depth of cut? To some degree, that’s a matter of personal preference. The deeper you set the infeed table, the more stock the machine will remove. On roughsawn lumber, a 1/16″ depth of cut will quickly skim off the oxidized, rough outer layer of the wood. It will rectify lumber defects such as cupping or bowing with fewer passes, too. But, deep cuts can also lead to more tearout on interlocked or figured grain. So, you may need to experiment with a cutting depth that best suits the particular stock you’re joining.

While an infeed table can be lowered to about 1/2″, don’t exceed a 1/8″ depth of cut for ordinary face- and edge-joining operations.

Generally, I leave my jointer set for about 1/32″-deep passes, regardless of the condition of the material or the species I’m surfacing. It requires me to make more passes to get stock flat, but the tearout is minuscule, provided I’m feeding the wood “with” the grain direction and not against it. Whatever you decide, however, never exceed a 1/8″ cutting depth for ordinary flattening and squaring operations — it increases the risk of kickback and torn-out grain.

Play It Smart: NEVER Do Either of These Things!

Jointers are the wrong tools for machining end grain. Severe tearout on the back corner is almost inevitable, and the cutterhead could grab and propel the wood backwards. Don’t do it.

Likewise, never put your hands at risk by joining stock thinner than 1/2″, narrower than 3″ or shorter than 12″.

Body Language

Both hands play a role in maneuvering stock over a jointer. For face-joining operations such as this, use pushpads — not your fingers.

Using a jointer is a bit like learning a dance step, and it takes some practice. Whether you’re jointing faces or edges, you’ll stand beside the machine on the infeed side and feed stock into the cutterhead with it firmly held against both the infeed table and the fence. Your left hand guides the workpiece from above, while your right hand feeds it forward from behind.

Once the stock begins to pass through the cutterhead, it’s safe and appropriate to move your left hand to the outfeed table to continue guiding it along. That might mean taking a step or two forward, alongside the machine, which is why it’s important to orient yourself so you can move with the wood, if needed. This is particularly important when joining long or heavy lumber.

Above all, maintain your balance and sure-footedness. Feed the material across the machine in a fluid, continuous motion to help ensure that faces and edges will be milled flat and smooth.

Then, there’s the matter of safety — the cutterhead won’t know the difference between wood or your fingers. Be sure the machine’s casters are locked so it can’t accidentally move during use. Roll up long sleeves and use push sticks or push pads for face jointing instead of your hands. NEVER operate a jointer for flattening faces or edges without the guard in place and functioning correctly. A jointer is a fantastic shop asset. Use it wisely.

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FREE PROJECT: Turning a Pepper Mill & Matching Salt Shaker

Ernie Conover — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 16:00:21 +0000

Over the last forty years, I have turned a good many pepper mills using a variety of grinding mechanisms. This project absolutely requires the purchase of a grinding mechanism, and it also demands that the mechanism fit superbly in the wooden body and cap to work well. For this article I picked the Rockler CrushGrind Mechanism, which grinds superbly. It comes in two variations.

You will need to start with a wood billet that is 2-1/4″ to 2-1/2″ square. Any wood can be used but a dense close-grained wood such as maple or cherry work best. I used cherry for this article. Tropical woods also work well but may pose toxicity problems for some people. (The closer to the equator a tree grows, the more likely its wood will be toxic so it can ward off insect attack.)

Rockler’s two CrushGrind Mill Mechanisms have ceramic grinding cones that stay sharp and grind well. The shafted model at the top (item 32708) makes a traditional pepper mill from 5″ to 9-1/2″ tall with a rotating cap. The bottom style (item 35401) makes a mill in which the top part revolves around a relatively short section on the bottom. Fisch’s Pepper Mill Boring Kit for lathes (inset) provides drill bits, extensions and a Morse taper.

A mistake that most turners make is to turn the outside first. A much better arrangement is to do all the internal work first, then grab the bore in cones and turn the outside. This allows gripping in a four-jaw scroll chuck for drilling and ensures that the inside and outside of the spindle are concentric with each other.

In order to ensure that the center of the billet is in axis with the centerline of the lathe, the author grips one end of the 2-1/4″ cherry blank in a Stronghold four jaw chuck while catching the other end of the billet with a 60° live center in the tailstock.

Being the guy who often says, “You can get along fine without a four-jaw scroll chuck,” I have to state that this is a turning project that is greatly aided by a fourjaw chuck. I used a Oneway Stronghold with the supplied jaws that grip externally from 1-3/4″ to 3-1/4″ for drilling and scraping the grooves.

Step 1: Make the first bore for the CrushGrind Mechanism. The author is using a 1-5/8″-dia. Fisch Wave Cutter Forstner-type bit and drilling to a depth of 1-3/4″.

I also used their spigot jaws to internally grab the bored blank for turning the outside. I stabilized and centered the entire bore by also catching it with a Robust Live Center with a large cone threaded onto it. However, I could have put a piece of scrap in the standard jaws and turned it to a taper that fit the bore, then stabilized and centered it with the same live center. If you lack a four-jaw chuck you can do all the boring in a drill press, but scraping grooves to accept the paws of the grinding mechanism will be problematic.

Step 2: Now bore a 1-1/2″-dia. recess to a depth of at least one-half the length of the blank. Swap the piece end-for-end after Step 5 to complete this bore.

That being said, this project can be done without scraping any grooves at all, as I’ll explain shortly. Taking this option means you drill the internal bores on the drill press then turn the outside between centers with a cone mounted on a faceplate, turned to fit the bore and stabilized with a cone live center in the tailstock. A turned cone that fits over the end of your live center can be rigged if you lack a commercial live center that accepts larger cones.

Step 3: In preparation for scraping the retaining groove, the author ground his scraper from an old mortise chisel. Notice he has drawn a line 1-3/4” from the scraper’s end to place the groove at the correct spot.

You will need some large Forstner bits to bore your pepper mill, and they differ between the two mechanisms. Pepper mill mechanisms are made to metric standards, while most of us have Imperial Forstner bits only. The larger a given diameter, the more likely you are to find discrepancies between the two systems.

Step 4: Applying gentle lateral pressure, with the scraper’s layout mark aligned with the end of the billet, forms the necessary 1/8”-deep groove.

In this project, the bore will be large for the grinding parts. Additionally, the mill’s plastic housing is slippery. You are likely to find out, as I did, that if rotating the cap grinds no pepper the grinder in the bottom and the insert in the cap (that grips the central shaft) are slipping.

Step 5: The mouth of the body must be opened about 1/32” larger than 1-5/8″ by scraping to accept the bottom flange of the CrushGrind Mechanism.

This is to say that you will have to epoxy these parts in place once you have tested that everything fits properly. Being originally trained as a metal machinist, I scraped grooves in both the base and the cap, but with epoxy you do not have to.

Step 6: Here, the top of the mill is grabbed from the inside with the spigot jaws. The other end is caught with a Robust Cone Center. This makes the drilled and scraped bore run true with the axis of the lathe. The outside of the pepper mill body can now be turned to shape.

I do feel that a groove makes for a better glue joint between the plastic and the wood housing. I ground my scraper for these grooves from an old mortise chisel, but Sorby actually offers a special scraper for the purpose, the 895CGH Crush Grinder Scraper.

With the salt shaker billet held in a four-jaw chuck, drill into its base to a depth of 1/4″ with a 1-3/8″-dia. Forstner bit to form a chucking recess.

The drawing gives all the sizes (using Imperial bits) and the location of the grooves. The photo essay above should give you the necessary information to make a pepper mill. I strongly urge you to make your first pepper mill 6″ or less in height. Chucking will be much easier.

Drill a blind 13/16″-dia. hole most of the way to the counterbore in the base. Now shape the top and scrape a 1/4″-deep counterbore that is a press fit with the shaker’s cap.

A matching salt shaker can be made using a salt shaker cap. It will appear that it is a press fit with a 1-1/4″ drilled hole. However, the cap measures 1.241″ across its retaining fingers, making it a loose fit with a 1-1/4″ hole.

Check the fit. It must be tight if you only want to lightly salt your food.

It was probably designed for a 31.5 mm hole, which would yield a quarter of a millimeter (.010″) press fit. If you do not want way too much salt on your food, the solution is to bore the hole to 1-1/16″ or 1-1/8″ (depending on your bit inventory) and scrape a 1/4″-deep counterbore that is a press fit with the cap.

Stabilize the top end of the shaker with a cone center while grabbing the inside of the bottom with the spigot jaws. Turn the outside to shape.

In the end, the cook in your household will appreciate your efforts with this project. And so will you — freshly ground pepper is so much superior to pre-ground pepper! It’s worth the effort.

Click Here to Download the Drawing.

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PROJECT: Tile-topped Plant Stand

Rob Johnstone — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 19:58:18 +0000

Curved lines and quarter-sawn grain combine to make this little plant stand a pretty piece. The ceramic tile top resists water and adds an attractive accent to the dark dyed wood.

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PROJECT: 21st Century Desk Caddy

Rob Johnstone — Fri, 29 Nov 2019 16:09:28 +0000

Sometimes what is old becomes new again — like desk caddies. They were popular back in the day, but as our world became more high-tech they rode off into the sunset along with their buddy, the fax machine. Still, the services that desk caddies provide remain useful for many of us, so these desk accessories are becoming relevant again. Do you have a person on your gift list who works at a desk most of the day? Then consider this handy and attractive project.

Our desk caddy is configured to serve the needs of a modern office desk. There’s a spot for a cell phone to sit upright with an access channel for a charging cable. There are recesses for a Google Home Mini (or perhaps, paper clips), some cheater glasses and a pen. And when you find yourself at work late at night with no food or drink to sustain you, there is a lidded money “vault” to save the day. Keep hydrated and don’t let your energy drop!

This project has free downloadable programming available on our website for those with access to a CNC router.

Building It “Analog” Style

If you are not a CNC user, just photocopy the pattern above at 200 percent. We are waiving copyright on this pattern for Woodworker’s Journal readers.

We recommend making the caddy as a doubled-up lamination. First, prepare a 1/2″ x 8-1/2″ x 12″ top blank and adhere the pattern to it. Cut out the five main compartments on a scroll saw. Angle the scroll saw table a few degrees to create beveled walls around the openings. For the money vault opening, rout a small rabbet around its side and front edges, to support the 1/8″-thick lid.

With that done, make a 1-1/4″ x 8-1/2″ x 12″ bottom blank. Cut and rout a 3/8″-deep, 3″-long groove in its top face to form a clearance channel for a cell phone cord. Bore a 3/8″-dia. hole down through the front end of this groove.

Then, starting at this hole, rout a 1/2″-deep groove into the bottom face to continue the channel out to the rear of the caddy. When the channel is finished, rout a shallow groove across the compartment in the top face to serve as a “dock” for the cell phone, which prevents it from sliding forward.

Glue the two blanks together. While that dries, cut out the money vault cover and phone support from some 1/8″-thick stock. Now cut or rout a chamfer around the caddy’s top outer edge. Finish-sand the project, then glue the phone support to the rear of the phone compartment. Apply your finish of choice and install some rubber feet onto the bottom, if you wish. Your new caddy is now ready to go to work.

The pattern is at 50% of its original size. Enlarge it with a printer or copier set to 200% to make a full-size pattern. Each square = 1/2″. Woodworker’s Journal readers have permission to copy the drawing for personal use.

Click Here to Download the CNC Files.

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PROJECT: Whiskey Barrel Stave Candle Holder

Journal Staff — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 15:06:47 +0000

There’s something about candle light that evokes the holidays. Their flickering glow creates a warm setting that can bring a relaxing calm to a long winter evening.

Clean and remove any charred wood from the surface of the stave. The
paddle end of a Rockler Silicone Glue Brush works well as a scraper.

This barrel stave candle holder is a simple-to-build and fun-to-use project that also makes a wonderful gift. The staves are available from Rockler. There are just a few things to consider first before getting this project underway, so keep the following suggestions in mind.

Spacing the Candles

Use a measuring tape to lay out where you will position the candles along the stave. Mark the center of each candle location.

While the arc of the barrel stave is locked in, what you can choose is where you locate the candles. Our version spaces multiple candles evenly along the arc of the stave. Another option would be to start with a candle at the center of the stave, then expand the distance between subsequent candles. Or you could position pairs of candles across the stave — those options can be the key to customizing this project however it looks best to you.

Details for Boring

Select a Forstner bit that has a slightly larger diameter than the battery-powered tea candles or glass votive cups you plan to use.

One important thing to keep in mind is that the bore for the candles must be oriented to the horizon, not the curve of the stave. Otherwise, the candles will tilt. As you can see in the photo sequence, securing the stave to a board and then using a drill press to drill the candle holes is a super way to get this done.

Clamp the stave securely to the drill press table. For best results, position a long board under the stave as shown above to help stabilize it.

If you don’t have a drill press, don’t despair. You can still make the project, but you will need to account for that arc as you drill. Again, put the stave on a board, but then set a combo square behind the stave with the ruler pointing up. You can visually align your handheld drill to that orientation and get a pretty good result. Also, make certain that your drill bit is of the correct diameter to accept the candles. A Forstner bit is the best option here because it cuts clean, flat-bottomed holes. A slightly oversized diameter will make the candles easier to insert and remove.

Drill a stopped hole at each marked candle location. Do not drill deeper than the height of the candle or all the way through the stave’s thickness.

Speaking of which, we used battery-powered votives in the above photo, and that is our strong recommendation. You can buy a bag of 24 at Amazon or craft stores for under $10. But, if you are going to use actual candles rather than artificial ones, make sure that they have a glass or metal casing around them. Better safe than sorry when it comes to open flame.

Apply a finish of your choice. In this case, we brushed on a coat of shellac. It builds quickly, dries fast and enhances the rugged wood grain.

Any clear finish will work on these staves, but shellac might be the best choice. It is quick to dry, adheres to just about anything and it does not have an offensive odor.

This lovely gift will be used year after year. Give it a try for the holidays.

WARNING: Use appropriate candle holders or battery-operated candles to keep flame and heat away from flammable wood and decorations. Do not leave lit candles unattended.

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FREE PROJECT: Game Table Trio

Rob Johnstone — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 16:45:33 +0000

Games, especially board games, are a great holiday pastime. This little table has three classic games engraved in the tabletops: cribbage, chess/checkers and Nine Men’s Morris, all in a small end table format. When it is not being used for gaming, one of the three tops can be flipped over and it will simply look like a small table with a smooth surface.

Three separate game boards can be exchanged to suit the desire of the moment. The top board can be flipped over to expose a smooth, non-game table surface.

I routed the three game boards using a Shaper Origin (it’s a unique handheld CNC machine), but they are doable using “old school” methods as well. More on that at the end of this article.

Starting at Floor Level

The game table’s legs are formed out of 2-1/4“ sticked up blanks. The author chopped the mortises for the cross braces before turning the legs round. It made the mortising process a bit more manageable.

I built the legs for the table first, choosing ash lumber that I surfaced to 13/16″. That allowed me to glue up three pieces per leg and make blanks that were 2-3/8″ square. I also left them longer than their final 24″ length. I then chopped mortises in the legs for the cross braces while they were sticked up and moved on to the lathe. Here, I turned them to cylinders with a rabbet at the top and a “foot” at the bottom.

A mortising machine makes short work of that task, but another option is to bore out the waste with a 1/2″-dia. Forstner bit and then chisel the ends of the mortises square.

I cut the legs to final length on a miter saw. I also cut the cross braces to width but left them overlong and set them aside for the time being. You can find all the dimensions and construction details for the table parts in the Material List and in the Drawings.

Turn the legs to a basic cylinder and cap them with a small rabbet at the top and a 1″ long “foot” at the bottom. After each leg is turned and sanded, apply the first coat of finish while it’s on the lathe.

Next, I glued up the four pieces for the tabletop game boards, taking the time to “compose” the panels — trying to create pleasing grain patterns. Ash has bold grain patterns and can be very beautiful. Because I was working with the Shaper Origin and was frankly a total rookie with it, I made my top blanks 28″ square to leave some room for error.

Hand-guided CNC Router

Applying special adhesive-backed “domino” looking tape to the tabletop blank and the shop-made fixture that surrounds it on three sides is the first step in getting ready to use the Shaper Origin to machine the tabletops.

I’ve been aware of the Shaper Origin for a long time now, having seen one of the very early prototypes developed by some MIT students.

Once the tape is in place, scanning the workspace is the next step.

Think of it as a handheld router with a sort of GPS system that helps guide the bit. You do the driving, but the machine keeps you on the road.

The workspace is recorded and stored in the Shaper Origin’s memory, and it uses the tape to locate itself on the workspace surface.

When you learn any new tool or process, there are going to be fits and starts, and that happened to me. At the same time, I was pretty successful using the tool, thanks to the support the company provides on their website (shapertools.com).

The designs for the games and the tabletop shapes were downloaded into Shaper Origin’s memory. These are then imported to get ready for cutting. These designs are free now at shapertools.com.

We created our plan, sent it to Shaper to assist, and they put usable files into our ShaperHub portal.

We’ve created a video that demonstrates how I routed the games and cut the tabletops with the Shaper. Once I completed the tops, I measured to make sure that the dimensions of the cross braces were correct, then raised tenons on their ends and formed the half-lap joints.

The woodworker tells the machine which bit is installed and inputs the depth of cut and where the cut will be made in relationship to the line: right on the line, inside or outside of the line.

After some final sanding and a dry fit to make sure the parts all fit together, it was time for assembly. I used shellac to build up a film coat and then a rattle can of clear lacquer as a top coat. Wax the surfaces to keep them from welding together!

The machine will not allow the cut to stray from the line selected.

If you are not going to use a Shaper Origin (probably most or all of you), we have downloadable drawings that will give you the tabletop shape and the Nine Men’s Morris layout.

Cut tenons on the ends of the cross braces using a miter gauge on the table saw. Nibble away the waste, forming the cheeks and the shoulders in a series of cuts.

Rockler sells a few jigs for drilling cribbage patterns (#51133 is one of several) that you can select. If you want a checkerboard pattern, painting that pattern on the tabletop is a simple solution.

In a similar way, mill the half-lap joints at the center of the cross braces.

But don’t stop there! The tabletops are an opportunity to put any sort of board game on the surface. Creativity counts!

Be sure to dry assemble the table before gluing it up — it’s an essential step to test that all the parts fit together properly.

All in all, this was a fun learning experience, and the table is a little gem.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

Click Here to Download the Game Table Templates.

The post FREE PROJECT: Game Table Trio appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Woodworker’s Journal – November/December 2019

Matt Hocking — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 15:00:16 +0000

The November/December 2019 issue of Woodworker’s Journal includes plans for Pepper Mill, Salt Shaker, Candle Holder, Wireless Speaker, Desk Caddy, Game Table and a Plant Stand.

The post Woodworker’s Journal – November/December 2019 appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

VIDEO: Six Features to Check Before Buying a Jointer

Chris Marshall — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:09:18 +0000

A woodworking jointer is rarely the first tool purchased by a woodworker and many woodworkers can get by without one. But if you want to work with rough-sawn lumber, then a jointer is an important tool to have in your workshop.

What should you consider when you’re shopping for a woodworking jointer? Your budget is an obvious consideration, but there are also six features or options that are important to consider, including the board capacity, the cutterhead style, the fence, the type of infeed and outfeed table lifts, if it has casters or a mobile base, and the drive belt tensioning system. In this video, Chris Marshall goes over the pros and cons of different options available.

The post VIDEO: Six Features to Check Before Buying a Jointer appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Game Table Templates

Matt Hocking — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:00:59 +0000

In the November/December 2019 issue of the magazine, we explored using the Shaper Origin CNC tool to create our Game Table. If you’re interested in creating this table without a Shaper or CNC, download our templates below.

Click Here to Download the Game Table Templates.

The post Game Table Templates appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

PROJECT: Perpetual Calendar

Matt Hocking — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:00:49 +0000

Test out your scroll saw techniques and never buy another calendar again with his handy perpetual calendar. For some in-depth scroll sawing tips, including how to cut non-wood items with a scroll saw, check out Carole Rothman’s latest column in the November/December 2019 issue of Woodworker’s Journal.

Click Here to Download the Plan.

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