A unique natural edge design that can be made from small tree limbs, the form is generally credited to Bob Stocksdale, who worked in Berkeley, California, from 1946 to the end of the 20th century. It is a great project for young or old, beginners or experienced turners. The only tools you need are a mini lathe and a bowl gouge. Best of all, the material — a small length of a tree limb with no branches — can be easily scrounged for free.

Once turned to a narrow form with a small base and a flaring rim, we get a vessel that mimics the head of a baby bird — especially a robin.

Bird’s Mouth Turning

Remember, you need to start with a clear section of tree limb: no branches or knots. You can use a small buck saw, available at gardening and camping stores for very reasonable prices, to cut the limb off the tree. This is also the safest tool to use to cut your pieces to length.

The starting blank needs to be trimmed to the same length as the diameter: in other words, a 6″ diameter limb needs to be 6″ long. (A good starting diameter for your first bird’s mouth bowl is 4″ to 6″. Due to shrinkage problems in drying, 8″ is about the biggest that a bird’s mouth can be turned.)

Mount your blank between centers. The center points should be at exactly half the length and 180° apart. Continuing with our 6″ diameter limb example, we would buck a billet that is 6″ long, then chuck between centers at 3″ from each end.

Turn the outside shape to a silhouette that starts with a small base — smaller than judgment would tell you — and flares to the bowl’s mid height, then becomes smaller again just under the rim. This forms a ball-like shape in the actual bowl. The rim then flares sharply. This flaring is only on the end grain sections of the limb and yields two outcrops that look like the beak of a baby bird receiving food.

The most common mistake in this turning process is to make the base too big. You need to think of how small the neck of a bird is, especially a baby bird.

Leave a tenon on the “neck” end for chucking. Reverse chuck in a four-jaw chuck. If you don’t have a four-jaw chuck, scrape a mortise in a glue block that is the diameter of the tenon on your bowl and glue the tenon in the glue block with medium-viscosity cyanoacrylate (super) glue.

Turn the inside to a thin wall. The wall should be a maximum thickness of 1/4″ and can be as thin as 1/8″.

Finishing Up

The form looks better if you leave the bark on the rim because the bark accentuates the look of a bird’s beak.

If the limb is harvested during the cold months of the year, the bark adheres naturally. If it’s harvested in warm weather, the bark almost always falls off during drying. You can prevent this by applying water-thin cyanoacrylate glue to the bark and cambium layer just under it. A good finishing option is no finish at all; I have seen many bird’s mouth bowls presented this way. If you like a finish, almost any will do. Oil finish such as Waterlox is my standard, but spray varnish or Deft lacquer also work great.

Above all, stop bumping your head on tree limbs when you mow the lawn. Cut those annoying limbs off and turn some bird’s mouth bowls from them. Your head and your soul will be better for the effort.

The post Turning a Bird’s Mouth Bowl appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

More recently, Harvey Industries launched a new line of “innovation” products under its own brand label, too. The company also sells a heavy-duty T40 Turbo Wood Lathe through its website.

But there’s another side of Harvey Industries, where Xu is now serving as a matchmaker between the Chinese government and some 12,800 colleges and universities. It’s an unlikely development that’s taken shape over just the past five years or so.

“China has had an export and infrastructure investment economy for a long time,” Xu says. “But cheap labor and an economy with more than 50 percent of its revenue based on investment isn’t sustainable. Even export is becoming risky, because costs are going up.”

The government’s answer to a more stable future is to shift from an export- and investment-based economy to one that innovates, too. To that end, it is challenging Chinese colleges and universities to change their curriculums.

“In China, traditional education involves students being given the answers to problems. Teachers teach that the solutions to the important questions of math, science and otherwise are already known,” Xu says. “Students aren’t encouraged to be creative and to come up with their own answers to new questions!”

As part of the recent initiative, the government is now subsidizing colleges and universities to add creativity-based courses to their curriculum. Woodworking is among those options.

“We were doing a little business with higher education already, supplying a table saw or other machine here or there,” Xu recalls. “But our core business was in the hobbyist market, not the educational market.”

Then it began to dawn on him: in order for students to really learn how to solve problems creatively through woodworking, a table saw alone wouldn’t be enough. What colleges or universities need are fully equipped woodworking shops.

So Xu and Harvey Industries are now helping some 200 universities achieve these goals through what he calls “Creativity Centers.” The company provides the institution with high quality hand and power tools, Harvey woodworking machinery, accessories, learning materials and training. Most of the smaller tools and general woodworking supplies are imported from sources such as Lie-Nielsen, Bridge City Tool Works, Veritas, Rockler, Leigh Industries and Kreg.

“There are Chinese alternatives for all of these products, but I’ve found none of them to be up to our standards for our Creativity Centers,” Xu says.

Harvey Industries has also added an 8,000-sq.-ft. woodworking shop to the first floor of its factory, located in Nanjing. Here, college faculty receive basic training in woodworking methods and tool use. The shop is staffed by four Harvey employees who are full-time trainers.

“Through woodworking education, students learn that there isn’t just one answer to a problem or question. There can be new answers! And by making mistakes, that’s where learning and creativity begin,” Xu says.

The program is still in its infancy, but Xu hopes to eventually have a woodworking shop in every accredited Chinese college and university. “I’m very proud to be helping Chinese students become better independent thinkers this way,” Xu says.

The post Woodworking Reaches China’s Higher Education appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

As the author of several books on woodturning, the designer of a lathe (the Conover Lathe, no longer in production) and a founding board member of the American Association of Woodturners (I’m member #004), it might be an understatement to say that people frequently ask my advice about which lathe to buy or which lathe is the best. They always want a simple answer, like “Buy an Acme Model XJ4, as purchased by Wile E. Coyote in the Warner Brothers ‘Road Runner’ cartoons.”

It’s not that simple. What you need depends on your budget, space and turning goals. Do you want to do mostly spindle turning (creating a cylindrical object)? Or faceplate turning (using a metal disc, the faceplate, to attach wood to your lathe so you can turn an item that can’t be secured simultaneously on the headstock and tailstock)? Will turning be your principal woodworking pastime, or are you buying a lathe to augment your general woodworking?

Types of Lathes

Today, lathes come in three flavors: mini, midi and fullsize, each with strengths and weaknesses that make them more or less appropriate for certain kinds of turning tasks.

For example, mini lathes are great for turning pens, small items and miniatures. Midi lathes are more appropriate for creating furniture spindles and medium bowls. And full-size lathes can tackle any turning task.

Modern lathes have a bed made from cast-iron or welded steel, the top of which sports a set of ways: two parallel strips of constant width and spacing on which the headstock, tailstock and banjo (tool base) are mounted. While the headstock is fixed at one end of the bed, the tailstock and banjo are free to slide on the ways to suit the turner’s application. Lathes come with at least one tool-rest, a drive center, a live center and a faceplate.

It is fair to note that increases in price usually mean improvements in usability. As you pay more, the machine gets heavier, with friendlier controls. For example, very low-cost lathes tend to have levers on the banjo that collide with each other, making adjustment difficult. Paying more gets you a tailstock, banjo and tool-rest that lock without undue force being necessary.

If you’re in the market for a lathe, let’s look at what else you should be looking for.

Choosing a Lathe: Capacities That Matter

Spindle Diameter: All mini and midi lathes have a 1″ spindle with eight threads per inch. While this is more than adequate for turning furniture spindles and bowls up to about 12″ in diameter, it is not adequate for heavy faceplate work. That is because a 1″ spindle can flex between the headstock bearings with the high forces exerted during heavily laden faceplate work.

Therefore, most large lathes use either a 1-1/4″ or a 33 mm spindle (still with eight threads per inch). Converted to decimals, these spindle sizes are 1.250″ and 1.299″ — very close. What the .049″ difference does is to increase the rigidity over 1″ from 2.44 times to 2.85 times, because the stiffness of a round bar increases by a power of four as diameter increases. Small increases in diameter noticeably increase strength. Still, this is not enough difference to choose one spindle over the other.

Swing: Manufacturers list the “swing” measurement as twice the center height — what the machine will swing over the bed. The true swing of a lathe, however, is center height over the banjo, because this base for the tool-rest has to be under all spindles and most faceplate work. Two lathes with the same swing could have different banjo heights. Many manufacturers do now list swing over banjo as well as over the bed, but it pays to check.

If your primary goal is to spindle turn furniture parts, you are unlikely to need to turn bigger than a 4″ diameter, so a 6″ swing over the banjo is more than adequate.

Center to Center Distance: Between center distance is often listed as the measurement that results when calculating the distance from the lathe’s spindle nose to its tailstock nose, with the tailstock flush with the end of the bed. You need to realize though, that the drive and live centers needed to hold a spindle while you’re turning lessen this distance considerably. Many manufacturers are now listing the true between-center distance with the lathe’s supplied centers.

That being said, most supplied centers on mini and midi lathes are inferior. This is especially true of the live center; upgrading to a better one will lessen the center to center distance by as much as 3″. In most cases, you can also gain back an inch or two of space by hanging the tailstock off the bed by this amount.

If your goal is to use your lathe in a home workshop to spindle turn furniture parts, you’ll need a lathe that has 29″ to 36″ between centers.

Power and Speed Controller: Electric motor power ratings are often overstated. Generally, multiplying most mini and midi lathes’ stated power by about .75 will get you a lot closer to the actual power. The reason for this is that the maximum horsepower rating can only be maintained for a few seconds before the motor burns up. What really counts is the continuous rating.

The Europeans list motor power in kilowatts, a much fairer value of the continuous, or true, power. Since there are 745.7 watts in a horsepower, it is easy to figure out the horsepower from a kilowatt rating.

Mini lathes come with a 1/2hp motor, which is probably closer to 1/3hp but is more than adequate for this size lathe. Midi lathes typically are outfitted with a 1hp motor, but this delivers closer to 3/4hp at the spindle. The fact that almost all variable-speed mini and midi lathes have a DC (direct current) motor and controller contributes to this. Again, this is generally sufficient for home workshop and small furniture shop needs.

Modern full-size lathes have a minimum of a 1-1/2hp three-phase induction motor linked with a variable frequency drive (VFD). A VFD takes your single phase 60 hertz house current and converts it to three-phase current at any cycle rate between 2 and 60 hertz. Since the speed of an induction motor is controlled by the phase rate of the current, this allows accurate speed control with negligible loss in power at low speeds. DC motors and controllers, in contrast, have a more pronounced power drop-off at low speeds.

VFDs also allow a remote switch to be attached to the controller. This allows a second set of stop and start switches to be magnetically attached anywhere the turner deems convenient. This is both a nice convenience and a safety factor.

All 2hp and larger motors will require a 220-volt outlet. All mini and midi lathes will run on 120 volts.

Weight: When it comes to lathes, weight is considered advantageous. Vibration is inversely proportional to weight, so heavy cast-iron machines tend to soak up vibration. In the last 20 years, however, machines made from welded steel — especially the bed — have come to the forefront. If designed properly, the welds act like a crack in a wine glass and stop vibration.

Three Lathe Classes

As I mentioned earlier, today there is a broad offering of mini, midi and full-size lathes. Let us take a look at each of the categories in turn.

Mini Lathes: During the last decade of the 20th century, a number of manufacturers brought out small bench lathes with a short bed. Aimed at the rising tide of pen turners (the first pen kits came out in 1987), they were dubbed “mini lathes.” These small lathes found great popularity with model makers, teenagers and those just wanting to try turning without spending a fortune. Mini lathes typically have a 1″ – 8 spindle, 8″ to 10″ swings and 12″ to 15″ between centers.

The cheapest mini lathes only have four or five pulley steps for speed control; better ones have a DC motor and controller. While the only furniture part you can turn on the average mini is a knob, bed extensions are available for many of them. With a bed extension, a mini can be morphed into a bench lathe usable for most furniture work. If you just want to try turning, a mini can be a great first stepping stone to a great hobby. Likewise, it is a sensible choice if you have a child that wants to turn or if your ambitions are strictly pens and miniatures.

Midi Lathes: During the first 10 years of this century, many manufacturers beefed up the bed of their mini lathes and raised the 1″ – 8 spindle height to yield a 12″ or better swing. The delineation of mini being 10″ or smaller and midi being 12″ and bigger is now part of the popular lexicon. A midi lathe would be Goldilocks’ pick: not too big, not too small, enough center to center distance with a bed extension, adequate variable speed power and a reasonable cost. A recent trend is to also step the banjo and tool-rests up to 1″, which adds rigidity and allows swapping of tool-rests with bigger machines.

Midi lathes are, in fact, pretty much the standard workshop bench lathes of my youth with variable speed in almost all cases. Happily, almost all companies offer stands as well.

Typically, adding one extension increases the nose-to-nose distance between the spindles to between 36″ and 45″. A midi lathe is a great choice for furniture builders but is still great for pens and miniatures. You can turn tiny things on a big lathe, but not vice versa. Midis are also very adequate for bowl turning (if this is your goal, forget the bed extension). The 1″ – 8 spindle and power does limit the midi to light faceplate work: you can only turn bowls up to about 12″ in diameter.

Full-Size Lathes: The really big lathes in this category once catered to millwork shops and pattern makers, but today they are the choice of serious hobby turners, especially bowl turners. Most full-size lathes now sport modular beds that can be extended for very long work with swings over the bed as large as 24″.

This means they can turn anything from porch posts to huge bowls. All have a minimum of 1.5hp motors, but most sport 2hp, with 3hp being an optional upgrade. Industry standard is now VFD speed control. Full-size lathes can do it all.

Most of the full-size lathes now have the ability to slide the headstock close to the end of the bed, turning them into “bowl lathes.” The idea is to make the bed shorter, allowing the woodturner to stand where the headstock would normally be, giving them great access and leverage during turning. If you turn a lot of bowls, especially big ones, the advantage of this setup cannot be overstated. (Another solution is the ability to turn the headstock nose about 45˚. This allows slightly more faceplate swing and much better access during faceplate work, but it is not as good as a true bowl lathe.)

Setting Up Your Lathe

Once you’ve brought your new lathe home, it’s time to set it up. If it’s a mini lathe, one of the attractions for the small shop owner is that you can store it under a bench when not in use. When it comes to use, however, you will find the lathe works better if you affix it to the bench in some way. C-clamping each end or grabbing each end in the dogs of a workbench are great options. If you cannot clamp directly to the lathe, bolting the lathe to a 3/4″ piece of plywood that can then be clamped to the bench is a workaround.

When it comes to larger lathes, most shop owners place them against the wall. This may be all right for spindle work, but it limits faceplate work. I think it’s better to place a lathe away from, or at least at right angles to, a wall. You will need about 24″ of clearance between the headstock and the wall to accommodate the knockout bar.

Leveling Your Lathe

Proper leveling is probably one of the most overlooked factors in setting up a lathe. It should be level along the length of the ways and across the ways at each end. Across at each end is most important, because different states of level at each end of the lathe may introduce a twist into the bed (often the reason centers don’t align properly). A good builder’s level is a sufficient tool for this task. Simply adjust the leveling screws in the lathe’s stand or legs so that the ways are level end to end. Now, alternately place the level across the ways just in front of the headstock and at the opposite end, and adjust the screws until each end is dead level. It is best if you do not have to move the lathe after leveling.

Budgeting for Tools

When buying a lathe, you also need to budget for tool sharpening systems and tools — which tools depends on your woodturning goals. (Mini lathe users can get by with cheaper miniature tools.) I’ve compiled my recommendations for tools for both spindle and faceplate turning into a spreadsheet, available online.

I prefer to buy turning tools ad hoc, rather than in sets, which can include tools you will never use or workhorse tools in the wrong size. Avoid bargain basement carbon steel sets and, unless your turning ambitions are very modest, avoid carbide tools. Here’s why: If you just want to turn a few projects, they’re an economical choice because you will not have to buy a grinder and the jigs necessary to sharpen conventional tools. On the other hand, they’ll never leave the crisp edges, glassy surfaces or refined beads in spindle work that properly sharpened conventional tools will.

I suggest buying tools made from high-speed steel, or from powdered metal, which offers even more edge holding time between sharpening.

Yes, you will have to sharpen your tools, using a bench grinder to grind them to the proper shape. (They seldom come that way.) Buy as good a grinder as you can afford, such as a slow-speed grinder that comes with aluminum oxide wheels. A buffer is great for honing spindle tools after grinding.

Safety Equipment

You’ll also need to consider safety equipment and safe practices. Minimum eye protection for turning is eyeglasses, with side shields, that meet ANSI Z87.1 standards. If you wear prescription glasses, your optometrist can make you a pair that meet the Z87.1 standards, or you can wear clear glasses that meet the standard over your prescription glasses. An even better option is to wear a face shield that meets the Z87.1 standard — most actually exceed it.

Hearing protection during most turning is wise. Roughing out work, as you start your project and quickly remove material from your eventual bowl or a spindle, can emit sound over 80 decibels as the tool is alternately cutting wood and air.

Dust protection is most problematic around lathes, so anything that can be done to suck up dust before it gets into your lungs is good. You can put the hose from a HEPA vacuum near where you’re working to capture a lot of the dust. Back up this dust collection option by wearing an automotive type dust mask or, even better, a respirator.

And, when it comes to turning on your lathe, don’t be a speed demon. Faceplate work never needs to exceed 1,200 rpm, with 150 to 800 rpm for initial roughing.

Spindles up to 2″ need an initial speed between 500 and 1,400 rpm, depending on the skill and experience of the turner.

All this is to say that the lathe is just the tip of the iceberg. The best of lathes is useless without equally good tools. Many give up on turning because they never properly shaped and sharpened the tools, so a proper grinder and jigs are a necessity. I know a few turners who had to quit because they inhaled too much dust. Look at the total package, and not just the lathe.

The post Choosing the Best Woodworking Lathe for Your Shop appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

But before we go back to talking about clear finishes, there’s one more set of tools I’d like to share with you. Called pattern rollers, they let you quickly add interesting patterns to either a painted surface or raw wood.

Pattern Rollers

Just as common paint rollers apply paint quickly and evenly, pattern rollers apply patterns just as quickly and easily. There are well over 200 different patterns available covering just about every look you could desire.

Though they are primarily designed for use on walls, there’s nothing stopping us from using them on either painted or raw wood. The only caveat is that the surface can’t be too smooth or glossy. Trying to roll over a slick, glossy surface can cause the roller to slip and the pattern to smear. Flat or matte paint works well as a background, as does raw wood.

One company, Rollerwall, offers a huge range of patterns and pairs their rollers with a clever foam paint applicator, all in one handheld unit. You load the paint onto the foam roller and it applies the paint evenly and consistently to the pattern roller as you use it.

Most pattern rollers are designed for applying water-based paint, but many work equally well with water-based glazes. Besides applying color, you can use a clean roller on a freshly glazed or painted surface to remove paint selectively. Not surprisingly, a heavy-bodied paint can add texture, should you want that.

A Few Examples

As you can see, a single application of paint, like this toy pattern on the lid of a storage box, quickly adds character and interest. This lid will eventually be sealed with clear chalkboard paint so the owner can color in the ducks, bears and donkeys, erase it, and do it again.

Of course, nothing is limiting you to one solid color over another solid color. Behind the bamboo pattern, I used some latex paints and a sea sponge to create a background of mottled yellow and green. The background adds a soft touch to the otherwise stark outlines that the bamboo pattern roller creates. I could also have filled in some or all of the leaves if I were feeling artistic.

This photo is another example of a pattern atop a background. On this raised panel, I used an alligator skin pattern roller over a lighter, mottled background. By using thick paint Because I used dye instead of pigment, I was able to add the toner color after the graining pattern instead of before, and still not obscure the graining.

Beginning with a neutral beige background paint, I first applied fine grain lines with a metal checking roller. After that, I added coarse grain with a wood grain roller.

The two grain patterns were rolled onto two boards in a slight diagonal, since I was aiming for a book-match look. Once both grain patterns were dry, I selectively added reddish and greenish toner along the grain lines
to make the piece look more realistic. The end result is a long way from the original and, at a distance, makes a fairly convincing fake wood.

Peel Coat

Thinking of trying one of these roller patterns, but not sure you are ready to commit to it permanently? First, try applying Rust-Oleum® Peel Coat®.

Peel Coat is a removable paint that comes in aerosol cans in a variety of colors. Once it is dry, you can paint over it, and then peel it off when you get tired of it. Here are some directions for using Peel Coat, taken largely from Rust-Oleum’s own website:

Make sure the surface is clean, free of wax and grease and completely dry. Mask off any areas that should not be painted. This is a solvent-based vinyl paint, not water-based, so you’ll get cleaner edges with green “lacquer” tape as opposed to other masking tapes.

Hold the spray can 8″ to 10″ from the surface and spray slowly and steadily. Target 50 percent coverage on the first coat and apply four or more coats for complete coverage. Allow 5 to 10 minutes between coats. The more coats you apply, the easier the paint is to remove.

Remove masking immediately after the last coat. If you wait too long, the coating may adhere to the tape. Let it dry 24 hours before painting on top of the Peel Coat. As luck would have it, the Peel Coat dries to a matte surface that makes it perfect for using a roller without slipping and smearing the pattern.

When it comes time to peel the coating off, slowly rub along one edge until it begins to peel back, and work slowly from the edges. It’s best to remove Peel Coat within six months.

This coating is designed for cars, and it will not easily peel off of shellac, lacquer, most water-based coatings or raw wood. However, it will work on pretty much any cross-linked finish.

Cross-linked finishes include two-part coatings (polyurethane, epoxy, polyester, conversion varnish) as well as oil-based polyurethane and even cyanoacrylate glue, a popular finish among turners. These are the types of finishes you’ll find on most modern kitchen cabinets, most guitars made overseas (and many made here), most prefinished flooring and a lot of commercial furniture, especially that made overseas.

And yes, it will work over the powder-coated paint on your power tools. Just think: you can temporarily embellish the door of your band saw with seasonal decorations, or with your favorite team logo, then peel it off when the season is over.

The post Roll On a Decorative Design appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

With this jig, I wanted to create a solution that allowed for swapping out material without moving the track, and hence the angle, every time I made a cut. I wanted to be able to set an angle (90˚, for example), place a stop and clamp my workpiece while freeing my hands to use the saw more safely. (I had already increased safety and improved my results by adding the Triton TTSWC Track Saw Work Clamps, which clamped the track to my workpiece so I didn’t have to worry about it moving during setup or, even worse, mid-cut.)

Design Process

When I come up with a new jig idea, I usually grab a pad of paper and doodle some ideas for scale and concept, then head over to the computer to mock up a plan in 3D/CAD until I am sure it will work. That bit of work on the front end of a new project can save tons of time and material cost.

With a workable plan in hand, I spent some time on rockler.com searching for the jig-making parts I would need to make it happen. You can find my list in the Hard-to-Find Hardware box at right. The photo above that box should give you a good idea of where I placed the jig hardware. I already had a Rockler Material Mate Panel Cart for a work surface, a Triton TTS1400 Track Saw and a 59″ track, so I designed my jig around these elements. If you have a longer or shorter track, you may want to adjust the jig slightly.

Make Some Cuts to Make Your Jig

To make the jig, you’ll first want to cut your melamine top down to size. I found a 28″x48″ top to be the right size for my shop, but you could go wider if you want a larger work surface. Then you can move on to cutting your fence track supports, alignment blocks, clamping blocks, bottom rails and spoil board to the dimensions listed in the Material List I made most of these parts — except for the alignment blocks, which are cut from hardwood — out of Baltic birch plywood.

Now it’s dado time. Use your router to cut the three dadoes shown in the Drawing. Two of these three dadoes are for your jig’s T-Track. The third dado is for the replaceable spoil board. This is an optional feature, but handy: it will enable you to cut through materials without the blade damaging the melamine on the top of your jig. The hardwood spoil board will keep your jig working like new much longer. See the Drawings for locations. You’ll want to make sure you set the depth of the first two dadoes slightly deeper than the T-Track (so, just a hair over 3/8″). This keeps the track below the jig surface when you glue it in place. That way, it doesn’t interfere as you move your workpiece.

Next, mill the two stopped slots in the fence (see Drawings for dimensions). To make these cuts, I used a router table with a 3/8″ straight bit and marked the tabletop with blue tape to make sure I could start and stop the cuts accurately.

With your fence completed, you can move on to the track supports. This cool assembly is the system that allows you to move the track up and down for material placement without losing the angle alignment you are working so hard to keep. You will need to cut four more 3/8″-wide stopped slots in the track supports. Check the Drawings for locations and dimensions.

Assembling the Jig

It’s time to put things together. Double-check that your dado depth fits your track, then grab some epoxy and your 3/8″ screws and start installing the T-Track. During use, there will be quite a lot of force trying to pull the tracks out of the jig, so use plenty of epoxy. I used Loctite’s® Quick Set Epoxy dispenser that automatically mixes the two components together as you apply it.

While you have your epoxy out, glue, clamp and screw those bottom rails onto the base of the jig as well. Since they keep everything straight and level, make sure you have them lined up perfectly.

You can now fit your fence, installing it with the star knobs and 1-1/2″-long T-track bolts from Rockler. Next, mount the track supports by drilling holes through the bottom rails for the 3-1/2″ T-track bolts, and spin on the star knobs, as shown in the Drawings.

Just a few more steps and you’ll be ready for your first cuts! At this point, you will use a square to line up your track supports perpendicular to the melamine top and tighten them in place with your newly installed handles. Screw the alignment blocks in place on either side to keep the supports properly aligned in the future.

Now it’s time to make that project you’ve been dreaming of!

Click Here to Download the Materials List and Drawings.

Hard to Find Hardware

Rockler 4′ Universal T-Tracks (2) #20054
Rockler Mini Deluxe Hold-Down Clamps (2) #45692
Rockler Easy-to-Grip 5-Star Knobs, 5/16″-18 (6) #51036
5/16″ SAE Flat Washers (1 pk.) #48661
1.5″-5/16″ T-bolts (1 pk.) #36677
3.5″-5/16″ T-bolts (1 pk.) #35877
Brass Screws #4 x 3/8″ (1 pk.) #30489
Loctite Quick Set Epoxy (1) #36631
Triton TTS1400 Plunge Cut Track Saw (1) #57330
Triton TTST1500 59″ Track Saw Track (1) #57652
Triton TTSWC Work Clamps (1 pr.) #51203
Rockler Material Mate Panel Cart and Shop Stand (1) #56889

– Jacob Garrison is a woodworker in the Woodworker’s Journal shops.

The post Project: Track Saw Jig appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

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I’ll also recall how handy it was to have a circle-cutting jig for my compact router — I used it extensively to shape this project’s single-piece back panel and to cut out the outermost “floating” circles and rounded shelves. The circle-cutting jig also makes it easy to mill lots of concentric ripple details. I highly recommend this fun and easy jig for building this project.

While there are larger router circle-cutting jigs that are intended for mid-size machines, this smaller version I used was just right for the job and fit my compact DeWALT router perfectly. A larger jig size and bigger router would be more cumbersome to use here.

For this project, I used up some pre-milled poplar left over from another project. It’s economical, easy to find at home centers and is an excellent hardwood choice for painted projects.

To get your wall shelf underway, start by gluing up a 13-1/2″ x 26″ blank. And while you’re at it, rip and crosscut blanks that will produce the two floating circles and four shelves (pieces 2 and 3). Take a look at the Drawings and you’ll see that the big glued-up panel forms the largest inner circle with the mirror cutout, plus two smaller circles that flank it. These three circles remain as one piece.

Please keep in mind that while the dimensions for my project are outlined here, your circle sizes don’t have to exactly match mine. Just like real puddles, everyone’s shelves will turn out differently. For that matter, you might not even want to duplicate my water theme. You could use this basic approach to make lovely picture frames that are simply connected circles, too.

Gluing Up a Panel

Then, spread glue on both contact surfaces of each joint, and apply clamps uniformly along the panel’s length to distribute the clamping pressure evenly.

Laying Out the Shapes

Once your back panel comes out of the clamps, grab your combination square and a compass so you can lay out the three connected circles on it. When those are drawn, scribe pairs of parallel lines across the outer circles to mark a 3/4″-wide shelf dado on each. I centered these dadoes on the circles for two reasons: first, with one end of each dado terminating where the mirror opening will be, I would be able to mill them without worrying too much about stopping the dado cuts precisely. Second, centering the dadoes will make it easy to set the radii for routing these shelves.

I’ll also recommend that you draw at least one line on the back of this panel, parallel with its long edges, so you can reference it later when aligning the French cleat (ensuring that the shelves will hang level). If you don’t draw a guide line now, you’ll lose all of the panel’s square reference edges once the circle routing is underway.

Milling Dadoes

Now go ahead and cut both 3/8″-deep dadoes on the table saw. Use your dado layout lines to figure out where to set the rip fence for each of these stopped dadoes. Put a piece of tape down on the saw table to mark where to stop cutting each dado (stop them a couple of inches shy of the middle circle’s centerpoint).

You will have to reset the fence and move the piece of tape before ripping the second dado. Then mark and plow a centered groove of the same size along the length of the floating circle blank as well.

Routing the Connected Circles

Here’s when the fun really begins! Fasten the jig’s arm to your router base and install a 1/4″ up-cut spiral bit. Clamp the back panel securely to a sacrificial surface on your workbench.

We’ll begin by routing one of the outer circles, so use the screws it came with to fasten the jig’s base to the center of one of these two circles. Now, keep in mind that you won’t be cutting this circle off of the large blank — it stays connected.

Adjust the jig so the bit will cut on the waste side of the circle’s layout line, and rout the circle 1/4″ deep all the way around by taking many small passes no deeper than 1/16″.

Then, continue routing all the way down through the blank where the two circles don’t overlap (this creates most of the first circle’s outer profile). Then, rout completely down though where the outer circle extends over the mirrored area.

Get Your Grooves On

At this point, you can switch to round nose, core box or other end-profiling bits to create concentric grooves and details in this outer circle. Just change the length of the jig arm setting as you like to cut these ring designs. You can see what sorts and sizes of bits I used.

Sometimes I only took one pass to create a slight concave groove, and other times I would go as deep as 5/16″. Don’t rout deeper than this, though, because you will be attaching the French cleat with screws, and you don’t want a screw to poke through the front! Repeat all of your concentric detailing before unscrewing the jig base.

Now install the jig base at the center of the large mirrored circle. Rout all the way down through the blank to form this circle’s outer upper and lower curves with the up-cut bit, stopping these cuts where they meet the other two circles. Then switch bits to form the mirrored circle’s concentric rings. Finish up its routing with the up-cut bit again to cut down through its top and bottom portion of the mirrored area.

Repeat the whole routing process for the third connected circle. Its “mirror” cut will release the center waste piece.

Switch to the second dadoed blank and rout the two floating circles from it. When those are done, rout the four half-circle shelves from the third blank.

Creating a Mirror Recess

We still need to rout a recess into the back of the middle circle that’s deep enough to house a piece of 1/8″-thick mirror glass and a 1/8″-thick backer board to cover it. I assembled a square framework from 1x scrap wood with a 8-1/8″ x 8-1/8″ inside opening, using pocket screws. Clamping this “template” evenly over the mirror opening on the back of the shelf frame, I was able to use a pattern bit with ,a shank-mounted bearing to rout out the 1/4″-deep mirror recess. A sharp chisel helped me square up the rounded corners that the bit left behind.

With the recess done, I bought a piece of mirror glass and tried my hand at cutting the size I needed. Cut a hardboard backer piece to match.

Cutting Glass

Here’s how: thoroughly clean the mirror and the surface you are going to be scoring the glass on. Dust and dirt can cause a bad score line and break.

Use a straightedge to guide the glass cutter to score the top of the mirror in one pass. You will hear a soft crunching sound as the surface is scored.

Then, with gloves and eye protection on, flex the mirror along the score line gently to snap it cleanly in two. Practice this first to get the hang of it.

Adding Floating Circles, Shelves

Dowels are an easy way to attach the two floating circles to the larger back panel. To mount them, clamp the small circles into place so their dadoes are parallel with those on the larger circles. Then flip the assembly over and draw alignment lines and arrows as needed to mark positions and the dowel locations. Chuck a 5/16″-dia. brad point bit in your drill press or drill/driver, and bore 1-1/8″-deep holes at your marked spots.

Before assembling anything, take some time now to ease the sharp front edges of the three connected circles and the floating circles. I did this on my router table with a 5/16″-dia. roundover bit. Before you rout the edges of the half-circle shelves, insert them into their dadoes so you can mark them for where to stop routing — you don’t want to remove the back corners of the shelves where they insert into the dadoes.

It was then time to use some wood putty to fill all of the screw holes left behind by the circle jig base. I also glued the half-round shelves into the floating circles but decided to wait until after painting to install the shelves in the larger pair of circles. After that came sanding! I only sanded up to 180-grit, since all the wood would be covered with paint; I was mostly just concerned with getting everything smooth. Spend time hand sanding to get the concentric circle details nice and smooth, too.

Bring on the Milk Paint!

While sanding is never my favorite part of a project, I loved the next step: painting! I used General Finishes Milk Paint in Persian Blue and Coastal Blue as the base colors. Then I mixed in some Snow White color to create lighter blue tones for a few of the contoured details.

I turned on my current favorite album and let the afternoon fade away as I brushed on those beautiful colors. Milk paint doesn’t emit toxic fumes, and this pre-mixed brand has a lovely thick consistency. It brushes on smoothly, without leaving any globs.

Finishing Up with a French Cleat

The last pieces to make and install are a pair of French cleats to hang this project on the wall. I made mine from strips of 1/4″ plywood. Bevel-rip one long edge of each strip at 45° so these edges can engage one another when one cleat is mounted on the project and the other is on the wall.

Once the paint thoroughly dries, glue the remaining two shelves into their circle dadoes, and attach the floating circles with glue and dowels. Then set the mirror and backer into place and fasten the French cleat to the back panel with short countersunk screws (it overlaps and secures the backer). Be sure to face the cleat’s bevel downward and inward.

Screw the mating cleat to the wall, with its bevel edge facing up and inward. Be sure to level it first and hit two wall studs, if possible. Now set the shelf into place and push it down to engage the cleats. Then step back and look in the mirror, remembering how much we all owe to clean and plentiful water!

Click Here to Download the Materials List and Drawings.

Hard to Find Hardware

Rockler Compact Router Ellipse and Circle Jig (1) #55819
Rockler Roundover/Beading Bit – 1/2″ H x 5/16″ R x 1/4″ Shank (1) #26628
Rockler Core Box Router Bits – 1/4″ Shank (1) #90935
1/4″ D x 1″ H x 1/4″ Shank Onsrud Carbide Up-Cut Spiral Bit (1) #82652
Rockler Pattern Router Bit – 1/2″ Dia x 1/4″ H x 1/4″ Shank (1) #33536
GF Milk Paint, Snow White, Pint (1) #35877
GF Milk Paint, Coastal Blue, Pint (1) #39130
GF Milk Paint, Persian Blue, Pint (1) #55917
E-Z Ancor® Wall Anchors with Screws, 2-Pack (1) #47987

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JimmyDiResta.com

Jimmy DiResta has been making things for over 40 years. He’s a true jack-of-all-trades, with an infectious love of being creative, learning new skills and solving problems. His work ranges from traditional wood furniture to metal fabrication to working with acrylics. He’s even restored a few centuryold letterpress machines to create original prints.

Jimmy’s project videos are filled with pro tips he’s picked up over the years — you’re bound to learn something in every episode. He regularly shares complete project build videos, such as his oak farm table, on his YouTube channel, and you can keep up with his latest work on Instagram.

JenWoodhouse.com

Jen Woodhouse is a performing songwriter who also has a great eye for design. She loves to build projects and share them on her website, The House of Wood (The DIY Life of a Military Wife). Most are furniture and decorative furnishings, but she also throws in a few workshop projects, such as this mobile worktable with storage shelves that doubles as an outfeed table.

Her projects are designed with the DIYer or beginning woodworker in mind, and she offers downloadable PDF plans for most of them. The projects are archived on her website; her Instagram and Facebook pages are the best places to keep up with her latest work.

Homemade-modern.com

Ben Uyeda is an architect turned content creator. HomeMade Modern, his design firm, primarily creates home furniture and furnishings that feature modern designs and are built with a variety of materials, including wood, metal, concrete, textiles and leather. Ben often presents his projects in easy-to-follow video presentations.

Sometimes the projects are practical, such as his kitchen island. And sometimes his projects are more experimental, testing different applications of common materials, such as a concrete light fixture. You can find them on the HomeMade Modern website and YouTube channel and on Ben’s Instagram account.

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