The candy machine fits well on the smaller top specified in the Material List But you might prefer to make the larger top instead and use this Pedestal Stand to display a big house plant or other object. Either way, let’s get started making it!

Milling and Gluing

Notice in the Exploded View Drawing that while the small top is an edge-glued panel, the stand’s discs, base and large top are each made up of four sections miter-cut into 45°-45°- 90° triangles that are glued together into blanks to hide the end grain.

I settled on walnut for my project. At the table saw, I started by ripping enough of it and crosscutting it into sections (outlined in the Material List) to make each of the discs and the stand’s base. The two 6″ discs need material ripped to 3″ wide; the 7″ disc needs 3-1/2″-wide stock and the 8″ disc requires 4″-wide stock. Do the same for the stand’s base sections and the larger top, if that’s the top you’ve chosen for your project.

From here, I took all the sections to my miter saw, swiveled it to exactly 45 degrees and miter-cut each section into a triangle. Keep in mind that the “top” of each triangle should be oriented at the edge of the workpiece and centered on the section’s length. The tops of the triangles form a square corner. You may want to test your saw setup on scrap wood first to make sure four triangles will fit together without creating gaps.

Once all those are cut, it’s time to glue together blanks for the discs and base (and large top, if you’re making one). A strap clamp is ideal for this job. Apply a liberal amount of glue to all joints before assembling each group of four triangles, and make sure you don’t overtighten the clamp that co uld push the joints out of alignment! When the blanks dry, scrape off any glue and sand their faces flat. My random orbit sander with 80-grit sandpaper made quick work of that task.

Routing Round Discs

I used Rockler’s Circle Cutting Jig for Compact Routers to turn my square blanks into four discs. To use this jig, first drill a 9/32″ center hole to register the jig’s pivot pin and then set it for each disc’s radius. With a 1/4″ straight bit installed and my compact router mounted on the jig, three progressively deeper passes in a clockwise direction cut through the stock. Secure each disc blank temporarily to a sacrificial board before routing it round. Next, I eased the top and bottom edges of the discs, as well as the flat edges of the base, with a 3/8″ roundover bit. Sand these parts up through the grits to 220 and apply a finish of your choice. I chose hard wax oil.

Off to the Lathe!

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Mount a square blank for the pedestal between lathe centers and turn it into a round cylinder. A spindle roughing-out gouge, like the one shown here, is the best tool for this task.	After marking off the major transitions on the pedestal with a pencil, use a parting tool to bring those areas to correct diameter.

It’s time to turn the pedestal! Start by cutting yours to length, marking the centers of the ends and dimpling those centers with an awl. Mount it on the lathe. I reached for a spindle roughing- out gouge to turn the pedestal blank into a cylinder. Take care to maintain a consistent diameter. Then, I referenced the Pedestal Detail Drawing and used a caliper and parting tool to establish final diameters at all of the key locations on the workpiece.

Check your sizing periodically with a caliper.	Turn the long tapered areas of the pedestal to shape using a spindle roughing-out gouge or a skew chisel. Try to keep the tapers as flat as possible

From there, I used various traditional and carbide-insert lathe tools to turn the pedestal to final shape. While tapering the long top and bottom “straight” areas of the spindle, I found it helpful to reference against a long rule to identify any high or low spots that needed attention. Make these tapers as straight as you can.

A long rule will reveal any high or low spots of your taper cuts.	Here, a spindle gouge shapes a concave recess into the center of each of the spindle’s three middle rings. A round carbide-insert tool is another good option for this shaping step.

The narrow center “ring” details have a slight undercut on each of their top and bottom faces. This creates the illusion that they’re floating. A diamond-shaped carbide-insert tool excelled at reaching into these tight places for me.

The author found a diamond-shaped carbide-insert tool helpful for working inside of the narrow areas between the rings when forming their slight top and bottom undercuts.	Hard wax oil or a shellac-based friction polish applied on the lathe are two quick finish options for this project’s pedestal. Or wait until after final assembly and spray it with an aerosol finish instead.

When the turning is done, sand the pedestal up to 220-grit and apply finish while it’s still mounted on the lathe. If you’re making the small top for this project, glue up a blank for it, cut it to final shape and sand and finish it. I rounded the corners of mine to 1-1/4″ radii at the bandsaw.

Putting the Pieces Together

Install rubber feet on the base, then attach the base and bottom discs to the pedestal with a 4″ lag screw. Counterbore the screwhead.	Install the top two discs on the pedestal with another 4″ lag screw, just as you did for the base and bottom discs.

That brings us to final assembly. I attached screw-on rubber feet to the base to protect the floor and create a shadow line there. Now use two #14 x 4″ lag screws to attach each stack of discs and the base to the pedestal. Be sure to first drill a pilot hole and a counterbore to recess the lag screw heads before driving the fasteners home. I grabbed several long #8 wood screws to attach the base of the candy machine and the top panel to the top disc.

The author mounted the candy machine’s metal base and top panel to the stand’s top disc by driving #8 x 1″ screws down through the parts.	If the top surface of your pedestal stand’s top will be visible, drive #8 x 1-1/2” screws through the upper discs from below to install it in order to hide the screwheads.

Once that was done, I could finally check this project off the to-do list! Now we’ve got a proper wooden stand for our family’s candy machine, and my new benchtop lathe tackled its first big turning job with flying colors!

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

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Since this sturdy bookcase has fairly simply styling, I thought resawing a unique slab might provide a chance to spice up the design with thicker components, showier grain and distressed figure. So I went to a local sawmill and selected a slab of red elm — it’s a species you won’t find at many lumberyards. I think its strong grain pattern, natural defects and warm color look great. The large box joints on the corners of the carcass complement the bookcase’s black, stocky base to give the project a contemporary look. Here’s a design that should work well with many home decors.

Selecting the Slab

When I had my piece of red elm picked out, I made sure to take note of its moisture content. Material around 12 percent or less moisture content is ideal for furniture building, and mine was dry enough for immediate use. The slab I bought was 7 ft long and about 14″ wide. I checked for any embedded metal objects with a metal detector and then rough-cut the plank into three sections that were about 26″ long.

I sized my pieces, in part, to fit into Rockler’s soon-to-be-released Benchtop Slab Flattening Jig. It fits workpieces up to 18″ wide, 28″ long and 1-3/4″ thick. My slab was about 2-3/8″ thick and had a slight crown to it, but that was no problem for this slab-flattening system. One of the unique features of this aluminum-railed jig is that it can be shimmed up to any height to match the thickness of the slab for surfacing. I raised the jig by inserting strips of 3/4″ MDF under its rails on top of the jig’s MDF substrate.

Flattening Both Sides

When preparing a slab for flattening, it’s important to stabilize and secure it to the jig’s MDF or plywood substrate so it can’t shift. I used a combination of shims and blocking, hot-glued to the substrate and the slab sections, to lock things down.

With a 1-1/2″-diameter carbide-insert spoil bit installed in my mid-size router, and the router mounted to the jig’s reinforced plastic router sled, I was able to easily remove the rough surface of the wood and eliminate the cupping/crowning. The process to flatten a slab in this jig is simple: Slide the router carriage back and forth on the jig’s aluminum rails, taking off about 1/8″ of material or less of thickness at a time.

After one side is flat, you could flip the slab over and repeat the flattening process to create a second smooth face. That might be really helpful if you don’t own a planer. But since I do, I ran the slab sections through my planer at this point with the flattened faces down to reduce their thickness to 2-3/16″. This way, I could resaw them to achieve the 1″ stock thickness I needed plus account for the material lost to the blade kerf and a bit of cleanup.

Once the faces of my slabs were flat, smooth and parallel to each other, it was time to work on their live edges. At the table saw, I used Rockler’s Straight-Line Rip Hold-Down Clamps attached to a plywood sled to rip one irregular edge off of each slab. I cut the opposite edges off using the rip fence, leaving each piece about 1/2″ wider than the Material List dimensions. I squared up their ends at the miter saw and kept them a tad overly long.

On to Resawing, Gap-filling

It’s sometimes easier with modestly powered band saws to first begin a resaw cut at the table saw, making a deep cut into both edges. That’s what I did here, which reduced what would be left for the band saw to finish up.

After making the table saw cuts along the slab’s centerlines, I took them over to the band saw and split them the rest of the way, turning three thicker pieces into six thinner ones.

I cleaned up the six sawn faces with one more pass through my planer, which brought them all to 1″ thickness. But you could use the flattening jig instead, or even a belt sander or a bench plane. It’s up to you. The important thing is, make sure the stock thickness for the bookcase’s top, bottom and sides match.

One of the reasons I selected this slab was because of the unique cracks and voids in it. I filled those defects with a black tinted epoxy designed for this application.

After a few hours of curing, the epoxy was ready to sand flat, which I did with my random orbit sander. Then I trimmed the bookcase’s top, bottom and sides to final size.

Cutting Box Joints

This bookcase features an irregular box joint pattern on the corners to add some visual interest as well as strength, since the project has no back panel. I cut my box joints using the old tried-and-true shop made “miter gauge” jig. It consists of a piece of 3/4″ plywood attached to my miter gauge’s fence with a 3/4″ x 1″ wooden key installed in a notch in its bottom edge. I chose a piece of plywood measuring roughly 12″ x 16″ for the jig fence — it was large enough to provide plenty of vertical and horizontal support for these large bookcase components, particularly when two of them need to be standing side by side on the jig for cutting the box joints. With a 3/4″-wide dado stack installed in the table saw, I set the height a hair above 1″, so the pins of the joints would extend just a bit past the workpiece faces when assembled. (I think it’s easier to level those flush than have the pins come up short and need to plane the whole faces of the parts instead.)

I cut a 3/4″ slot through the edge of the jig’s fence, about halfway along its length, for the wooden key. Then I made up a piece of 3/4″ x 1″ key stock about 4″ long. I cut it in half and installed one piece in the jig’s notch so it was flush to the back face of the fence and projected outward.

To prepare the box joint jig, set the second key against the first key on its left side (looking down from above) to act as a spacer, and place the jig fence against the miter gauge fence with the miter gauge in your saw’s left miter slot. Slide the fence assembly over so the spacer key touches the right side of the dado blade. Holding it carefully in this position, fasten the miter gauge to the box joint jig with several screws driven through both fences. Then remove the spacer key and cut a second notch through the jig fence. The distance between the jig’s key and the blade must match the width of the blade precisely, or the joints will be difficult to assemble. Accurate setup is really crucial here!

I used masking tape to lay out my box joint pattern on each of the bookcase’s top, bottom and side workpieces to help avoid confusion — no room for mistakes here on one-of-a-kind lumber! The tape layouts are merely visual guides, not exact templates for cutting.

As you can see in the Box Joint Layout Drawing, the 3/4″-wide pins are spaced between 3/4″-wide slots, and there’s a 3″-wide “pin” in the middle of the pattern on the bookcase top and bottom panels. I cut the joints on the ends of the top and bottom panels first, indexing each slot cut by fitting it over the jig’s key. Notice that you cut two slots in from each edge of these parts to form two thin pins. What’s left in the middle is the wider pin. Once the top and bottom panels are cut, use them to index the first slot cuts on the edges of the bookcase sides. It’s typical box-joint cutting procedure. Finish cutting the wider center slots by removing the waste in several passes.

Assembly Time!

With the tricky step now behind you, dry-fit the corner joints to make sure they slip together — if you made the jig correctly and worked carefully, they will!

Then I disassembled the carcass, gave all four parts a finish-sanding up to 220-grit and brought them together one last time with glue and clamps. When the glue dried, I flattened the protruding pins with 60-grit abrasive in my random orbit sander, then finish-sanded those areas again.

I wanted the bookcase shelf to be adjustable, so it was time to pull out my Rockler shelf pin jig and drill/driver to bore the 1/4″ shelf pin holes. Make sure all the rows of holes you drill align with one another so the shelf will sit evenly.

The base’s legs and short and long stretchers are simply 1-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ stock joined with pocket screws and glue. Since I would be painting the base, I just milled down economical 8/4 poplar for these parts. Once you’ve got the components cut to size and shape, fasten pairs of legs to each short stretcher with glue and pocket screws, orienting the pocket holes so they’re inside the base where they won’t be seen.

Then join these base end subassemblies to the long stretchers, again hiding the pocket holes on the back sides of the parts. When the glue dried, I sanded the base and brushed on two coats of General Finishes Lamp Black Milk Paint to wrap up its construction.

Finishing Up

This bookcase will receive lots of use in my busy home, so I opted to finish the carcass and shelf with a hard wax oil. It’s easy to apply by hand, and it buffs beautifully to a soft luster. It’s also easy to repair down the road by simply wiping more finish on again.

Once the paint and finish thoroughly dried, I bored 1/4″-deep countersunk holes into the bottom of the base stretchers, centered the base on the bookcase’s bottom panel and fastened the components together with 2″ wood screws.

Now grab some metal shelf pins and install the shelf at a height that works for you. I hope you’ll enjoy this rugged and attractive bookcase as much as I do!

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This design has a round resin “tabletop” that is as ultra-practical as it is impervious to water. Pouring your own resin top gives you the advantage of having nearly unlimited color variations at your fingertips. And that task will be made much easier by using a round silicone mold from Rockler. I have had mixed results making my own molds — breaking the hardened resin free from those molds is a common problem. They can be quite stubborn, and some bad words may have been uttered as I worked to free them. This silicone mold made that step so easy that it’s hard to explain the difference.

The framework of the plant stand is made from a manufactured bamboo board. I’d never used bamboo before, but I have to say I will use more of it now. It is solid and easy to work. Rockler sells a 3/4″ x 8″ x 30″ board that is more than sufficient to make one plant stand.

Starting at the Beginning

Kick the project off by ripping the top pieces and the legs to width on the table saw. As I’ve mentioned, this was my first experience with a manufactured bamboo panel. I was so impressed with the smooth, nearly polished edge that my carbide combination blade formed with these rip cuts. It was super clean.

Following that step, I used my miter saw to cut the top pieces to length. As surprised as I was about the smooth ripped edges, I was equally surprised by the fuzz formed on my crosscuts.

Apparently, the fibrous nature of bamboo does not take well to crosscutting. I likely could have improved my success by scribing a line with a knife in advance of the cuts, but I decided to use sandpaper to solve the problem instead.

With the pieces cut to length, it was time to make the half-lap joint in the center of the top pieces. I used a 3/4″ dado blade in my table saw. Test your setup on scrap pieces. This needs to be a tight joint, so take your time and do it right.

With that done chuck a 3/8″ straight bit into your router table and use it to form the mortises on the top pieces. It is a “drop” cut, so I made use of a featherboard to help control the operation.

I was able to rout the full 3/8″-deep mortise in one cut. The half-lap joint means these mortises need to be on a specific edge; mark them so you don’t get confused. Finish shaping the top pieces by cutting the angles on their ends.

Legs are Next

You’ve already ripped the legs to width, so now you need to add some details. First, cut the legs to length using your miter saw. Both the top and bottom of the legs need to be angled slightly. Set the angle — 10 degrees — on your saw. Be sure to cut the legs to exactly the same length to avoid a wobbly plant stand.

I raised the tenon on the top of each leg using my router table and a miter gauge. I attached a sacrificial fence to the miter gauge and chucked a 1/2″-diameter straight bit into the router.

Setting the bit 3/8″ above the table, I cut a notch in the fence, then clamped a stop block to the fence. Test the setup with scrap lumber until you are raising a 3/8″-tall by 3/8″- wide tenon.

Using a combination of a band saw and hand saw, I squared up the shoulders of the tenons. Finally I used a rasp to round the shoulders to match the rounded ends of the mortises. Test-fit each leg to be confident of a proper assembly.

Tapering the legs comes next. The taper starts 3-1/2″ down from the top of the leg (minus the tenon) and angles over to leave 1/2″ of bamboo remaining at the bottom of the leg. I set up Rockler’s large tapering jig and sliced the tapers, which cut smoothly and cleanly.

With that done, sand the undercarriage pieces smooth and do a dry-fit to make sure all the parts are correct. Now it’s time to glue and clamp them together. I chose to make two subassemblies using a top piece and two legs each.

I let the glue cure then applied glue to the half-lap joint and clamped the subassemblies together. I chose Titebond III, as it’s a darker color that matches the bamboo, but any wood glue would work just fine. After all the glue had cured, I broke the edges of the pieces with 220-grit sandpaper.

You may have noticed that the resin top is lifted slightly above the level of the top pieces. I did that with shelf pins that are usually used to support adjustable shelves in a cabinet. I bored holes for them 3/4″ in from the end of each top piece, centered in the edge.

Later, I used dowel points to locate the matching holes on the underside of the resin tabletop. This completed the woodworking aspect of the project. I sprayed a few coats of lacquer on the bamboo from an aerosol rattle can. It took the finish well.

Round Resin Tabletop

Epoxy resin work has become exceedingly popular when combined with woodworking. Rockler’s silicone molds make that work so much easier.

Measure your components carefully — by weight is best, but volume will work reasonably well. Using a mold release spray is also a sound technique … work smarter, not harder. Imagination and attention to details are the keys to great-looking resin products.

Careful measurement of the resin and hardener is critical to success. Mix the two components together well, then add color, should you so choose.

Combining colors and decorative agents adds variety to resin work. Rockler’s round silicone resin mold forms a perfect circle, and it also makes it so easy to remove the hardened resin when it cures. One trick in creating interesting swirls is to wait for the resin to just barely begin to harden and then move the stir stick across the shape in irregular and abstract patterns.

Topping it Off

I made the choice to make the tabletop from resin for a couple of reasons: first, resin is sturdy and waterproof, and second, it gave me a chance to try out Rockler’s new round silicone mold. Let me tell you, removing the top from that mold was so easy I could hardly believe it. That feature and the repeatability of the mold really sold me on the concept.

I made a few tops with my favorite being a translucent aqua green. To be frank, the tabletop could have been made of wood and the plant stand would be just as functional — but to me, the see-through top really adds to the freshness of this design.

Here’s a fun little project to build, and it makes a great gift. If you give them to a few different people, changing the tabletop colors and textures ensures unique gifts for all.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

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The dresser is only about 15″ wide, so it might be perfect for a narrow wall space or small bedroom. But notice that its three unconventional legs are centered underneath, so the dresser must be mounted securely to a wall stud. It’s not one you can move around a room, but it’s surely bound to be a conversation piece!

Building the Carcass

Get this dresser project off to a fast start by breaking down a sheet of walnut-veneered plywood into two carcass side panels, a top and bottom and four dividers, according to the sizes specified in the Material List. I used a track saw and my sliding compound miter saw with fine tooth blades for that job to help minimize tearing out the fragile face veneer.

Notice in the Exploded View Drawing, that the top, bottom and side panels have mitered corners to help extend the illusion that this dresser’s carcass is solid wood. So very carefully trim the corners of those parts at your table saw with the blade tilted exactly to 45 degrees.

Then I dry-assembled the mitered parts to check their fit and so I could measure for a 1/2″-thick plywood back panel. Cut the panel to size now, too.

In the Drawings, you’ll see that the top, bottom and sides require a 1/4″ x 1/4″ groove cut 1/4″ in from the back edges of the parts. This groove around the carcass fits a 1/4″ x 1/4″ rabbet, milled into the edges and ends of the back panel, to both lock it securely in place and enable the back panel to be installed flush with the back edges of the dresser.

Remember, it’s the wall attachment point for the project. So, head to your table saw or router table to mill the grooves and rabbets with a 1/4″ dado blade or straight bit. Carry out a full dry-fit again to make sure the back panel fits into the carcass easily and the mitered corners close well.

At this point, we can cut four 1/4″-deep x 3/4″-wide dadoes across each side panel to house the four dividers. I clamped them together, side by side, and milled the dadoes across both side panels in long passes with my router and a straightedge to ensure that the dadoes would line up evenly.

The plywood top and bottom divider panels are narrower than the middle dividers so their front edges can be covered by a 3/4″ x 3/4″ solid-wood trim piece. Go ahead and make up those trim pieces from walnut, and glue and clamp them to the front edges of the two dividers.

Preparing for Doors

The dresser’s two doors recess flush to the front edges of the top, bottom and dividers, so we need to cut 13/16″-deep notches that extend from the carcass top down to the top divider and up from the carcass bottom to the bottom divider (see Drawings) on both side panels.

As you can see, I took care of that job with my handheld router mounted to a scrap plywood base and a 1/2″ straight bit. I carefully removed the face veneer in these notched areas first to prevent tearout, then hogged out the rest of the inner plies to leave clean openings. Alternately, you could use a jigsaw if you like.

You’re ready to glue up a 3/4″-thick blank of solid walnut to create the two doors. I chose walnut stock for my doors with a pleasing grain pattern and no sapwood, so each door’s appearance would really complement the face of the dresser. Sand your door panel smooth when it comes out of the clamps, and rip and crosscut it to create two doors at final size. Then take a close look at the Drawings again and at the photo series above to get a clearer understanding of how the fingerpull edge on each door works.

The sculpted lip on the door edge is created partially with a 1-7/8″-diameter cove bit in the router table, set to 9/16″ high and projecting 3/4″ out from the router table’s fence. The flat, fingerpull edge of the door receives this profile cut first, then a portion of the coved area is removed by cutting the routed edge of the door into a gentle, broad arc. The outer edges of the coved recess disappear, with the full cove shape remaining only in the apex area of the arc. Pretty cool, huh?!

I used a thin dowel, flexed between a couple of clamps on the door, to draw the arc shape, then headed to my router table to make the cove cuts. Again, even though routing these coves will have you looking down at a curve drawn on each door, what you’re making is a simple cove cut along a flat door edge.

Once the coves are routed, take both doors over to your band saw to finish up the fingerpulls by sawing along the arcs. Complete these door details with some hand-sanding to remove any burn marks left by the router bit and to smooth the sawn edges.

Preliminary Hinge Installation

Brass knife hinges are about as sleek as hinges get, and instead of seeing long hinge knuckles along the edges of the dresser, as you would with butt hinges, or chunks of hinge hardware inside when you open the doors, as with Euro-style cup hinges, knife hinges are much more refined and subtle. There’s just a thin bar of brass for each hinge leaf, recessed into the top and bottom edges of these doors and the adjacent faces of the dresser’s top and bottom panels and dividers. The downside to knife hinges, though, is that installing them is more exacting than other hinge options. They offer no adjustability once installed. So, working patiently and precisely is the name of the game for getting these hinges hung on the project correctly.

The first step of the installation process is to lay out the hinge-leaf sizes and locations on the top and bottom edges of the doors. I used a cutting gauge, a small square and a knife to incise the hinge-leaf mortises on the doors to make sure they would fit the hardware like a glove when I was done. It’s also important that the pivot points of the hinges are located completely outside the faces of the dresser, so keep that in mind when setting the mortise lengths on the doors. Removing the waste from the hinge-leaf mortises is quick and easy if you run the doors on-edge against your router table’s fence and use a 3/8″-dia. straight or spiral bit to zip away most of the waste. I clamped a scrap piece of walnut to the outfeed side of the fence to act as a stop block, preventing me from accidentally routing too far (it’s easy to make this mistake, believe me!). I then squared up the mortises with a chisel.

That takes care of the door-side preparation. Now the hinge locations need to be marked and the other hinge leaves cut accurately on top and bottom divider panels and the carcass sides. That’s easy to do on the divider panels with a similar router table setup that you used for the door-leaf hinges. But marking the hinge-leaf locations on the carcass side panels is trickier. That’s because the front edges of the carcass need to be covered with walnut veneer edge tape to hide the center plies, and it takes up a thickness.

The door also needs to end up flush with the front edges of the dresser when closed. My solution was to use strips of walnut veneer as spacers to shim up the door where it would need to be in the carcass recesses. Once each door was accurately placed, I could mark their locations onto the side panels with a sharp pencil, then extend those lines as needed where the hinges would cross over the side panels to account for their pivot points.

A narrow, flush-cutting backsaw was just the ticket to saw shallow pairs of layout lines for the hinge mortises on the edges of the carcass side panels, and I removed the waste in between the saw kerfs with a sharp chisel.

Assembling the Carcass

With the hinge prep work behind you, give all the plywood parts a final sanding, then go ahead and assemble the carcass top, bottom sides and dividers with glue and clamps.

Make sure the assembly is square and that the four miter joints at the corners are as close to airtight as you can get them.

Making and Installing Drawers

Because this dresser is pretty narrow, the drawers don’t have to be heavy-duty. Some good quality 1/2″ plywood is all you need to build the drawer boxes. Cut panels for the fronts, backs, sides and bottoms to size, according to the Material List. The corner joints are 1/4″ x 1/4″ rabbet-and-dado style. You can see how to machine the joints in his article. Locate the drawer bottom grooves 1/2″ up from the bottom edges of these drawers, however, because you’ll need that clear space underneath for installing the undermount drawer slides used here. Finish-sand the drawer box components, and assemble the three drawer boxes with glue and clamps.

Rockler’s Soft-Close Undermount Drawer Slides require a 1/2″ x 1-3/8″ notch cut into the bottom back corners of the drawer backs so they’ll fit over the slide hardware. I cut those notches at the table saw with a wide dado blade. The instructions that come with the slides will also inform you that a hole needs to be drilled above these drawer notches to accommodate a sharp prong on the slides that helps to lock the drawers and slides together. Bore those holes now, too.

The main steel component of the slides fastens to the inside walls of the carcass, and a second component fastens to the inside front bottom corners of the drawers, underneath the bottom panels. Follow the hinge instructions that come with the hinges carefully to create the proper setback for the slides inside the carcass, and install them with screws. Then attach the “drawer” components of the slides to the drawers with more screws. Check that the setup works.

I painted the faces of these drawers, made from 3/4″ MDF, and used a V-groove bit in the router table set to 1/8″ high, to plow a series of decorative grooves into the faces one inch apart. You could space them differently if you’d like. Once you’ve painted the drawer faces, attach them with short panhead screws. Select your drawer pulls — I like the look of oil-rubbed bronze with dark woods like this — and install them.

Finishing Up

With all the hardware in place, you can go ahead and apply adhesive-backed walnut veneer edge tape to every exposed plywood edge to cover them up. I also added edge tape to the front edges of the walnut trim on the top and bottom dividers to bring those edges flush with the other carcass edges.

You still have a center leg and two outer legs to complete. I made mine from three pieces of walnut plywood, cutting their front and back curves at the band saw and hiding those edges with veneer tape. I centered the legs on the bottom of the dresser and spaced them 2″ apart. A few countersunk 2″-long screws, driven down through the dresser’s bottom and into the tops of the legs, is all it takes to fasten them in place. Again, remember that this unit must be attached to the wall with screws. Its design will not allow it to be freestanding.

Your choice of finish for the plywood components of this new dresser is entirely up to you. I suggest shellac, lacquer or oilbased varnish to really bring that walnut grain and color to life!

The only step left is to position it where you want it to be and fasten the dresser to a wall stud through the back panel with four to six #10 x 3″ screws, and it’s ready for use.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

The post PROJECT: Tall Dresser appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

My kennel here is made of solid cherry hardwood. I think it looks like a piece of furniture. Its door flips open and slides into a pocket inside the kennel, using Rockler’s EZ Pocket Door Slides. The project is built around a plastic tray and a cushion, so there’s no wooden bottom to the kennel. That way, if something messy happens inside, it’s easy to remove the mess and clean the area.

One detail here is either a benefit or a flaw: the kennel is obviously made of wood. If your dog is a chewer, this is not the best solution. But worse case scenario, the good news is that the slats are replaceable. Still, consider yourself warned, because this project takes a good bit of time and effort to complete, so evaluate your dog’s chewing tendencies before you build.

Get Ready for Some Table Saw Time!

The kennel consists of 31 different pieces and 85 total parts, by my count. As my shop buddy, Woodworker’s Journal Senior Art Director, Jeff Jacobson, pointed out, the key to building this project is staying organized.

Nearly the entire kennel is built using the table saw to do the machining. I opted for 1-3/4″-thick cherry lumber, surfaced on two sides, for the lion’s share of the construction. You can purchase it in that dimension at Rockler stores as I did. Or you can order some 8/4 lumber and surface it to thickness. After using my miter saw to break the lumber down into manageable pieces, I jointed one edge of the boards and got busy on my table saw.

I ripped the side frame stiles to width before heading back to the miter saw to cut the pieces to their exact length. Repeat this process for making a pair of 1-1/4″-thick stiles for the end frame and door now, too. Then I examined the thicker stiles to see which ones looked the best and chose those for the front of the carcass, on either side of where the door will hang.

Next, I sketched where the grooves will be plowed on the stiles to help keep their orientation clear. Note that all the stiles have full-length grooves along their inside edges to fit the ends of the rails. The rear stiles of the side frames also have a groove on an adjacent face so they can attach to the end frame with loose tenons. The end frame stiles have a groove along both long edges — one groove to house the rails and another to fit the loose tenons. To plow all of these 1/4″-wide grooves, I switched to a full-thickness saw blade and made them each in a pair of side-by-side cuts. Those on the end frame and the door also need to be centered on the stock thickness.

Lots of Notches Come Next

As I mentioned initially, the slats of the kennel are replaceable. To make the housings that hold the slats, I decided to cut 3/8″-deep notches into 5/8″-thick stock that would be used to form the top and center rails for the two side frames, the end frame and the door. Start with rail blanks that are overly long and twice as wide as the various rails will be in the end. After machining the stock, you’ll rip them in two and then glue them together into doubled-up rails with 3/4″-square, centered slat mortises. It’s a slick trick.

I used a Rockler Cross Lap Jig to form the slat notches. You will find the layout for the notches in the drawings. Mount a 3/4″-wide dado blade in the table saw and adjust the key on the jig to match the blade width. Offset the key by the 2″ space between the notches, and lock it in place.

Now measure to the center of your first rail blank and mark a line. Mark another line in the center where the dado head cuts through the jig’s backer board.

Put a piece of stock up against the jig face to clear the jig registration key, and cut the center notch on the rail material. Now, you can use the registration key to locate the remaining notches on the board.

I recommend that you machine all the notches in all the rails while you have this jig set up on the table saw. That will help you stay organized!

Set those parts aside for the moment so you can rip and crosscut the slats from 3/4″ stock, making certain that they fit the notches you just formed in the rails. They should slide easily in the notches; too tight and you will have trouble later.

Now it’s time to rip those rail blanks in two and glue them together to form the rails. Glue up all the rails and scrape off the squeeze-out when it gets rubbery. Clear away any excess glue inside the slat mortises at the same time so that it won’t obstruct the slats.

When the glue has cured, it’s time to carefully cut the rails to length, keeping the notches properly centered. I did that by inserting a “drop” piece of the slat material into the center slat mortise and then measuring half the length of the rail to each side of center.

Once you have that marked, you can stick two matching rails together with the slat piece in their same mortises and cut the rails to length simultaneously. This gives you the proper sized rails and perfectly located mortises.

Remember those grooves you plowed earlier on the stiles? Now we’re going to raise some 1/4″-long, 1/4″-thick stub tenons on the rail ends (see the Drawings) that will fit into those grooves. This is another table saw task, although you could do it on a router table, too.

When that’s done, use the placement of those stub tenons to locate grooves in the bottom of the center rails and the top of the bottom rails. These grooves will capture the raised panels that we will be making shortly.

In addition to those grooves, on the top edge of the top rails you’ll need to form a 3/4″-wide by 1/4″-deep centered recess to accept the retaining caps. The caps will hold the slats down and in place.

Testing the Fit and Keeping Organized

Next up is making the solid raised panels (pieces 6, 13 and 22) that surround the bottom of the kennel. Use 1/2″-thick stock and cut the various pieces to width and length. I raised a rectangular field in these panels in a two-step table saw process. First, I used a tenoning jig to slice across the grain on both ends of each panel.

With that done on all four panels, I set up the saw with some featherboards and cut a pair of long rabbets along the length of the panels to complete the raised area. Sand the saw marks smooth and dry-fit the panels in their grooves.

If all looks good, glue and clamp the rails and stiles of each frame together, but be sure to allow the raised panels to “float” in their bottom grooves without glue so they can expand and contract. Don’t put the slats in place just yet.

While you are waiting for the glue to cure, make the slat retaining caps (pieces 8, 15 and 24), filler strips (pieces 7, 16 and 25) and a pair of loose tenons (pieces 17) for attaching the end frame to the side frames. These are all 1/4″-thick pieces of wood, so some care needs to be taken as you cut them.

I used Rockler’s Thin Rip Tablesaw Jig, which kept the part thicknesses uniform. Don’t cut these pieces to length just yet. The front top and bottom rails (pieces 26) are next. Rip and crosscut them to length and width from 3/4″ stock, then use a pocket-hole jig to bore two screw pockets into each rail end.

Putting It All Together

It’s time to assemble the carcass! Spread glue on the two loose tenons, insert them into their grooves in the end frame and then bring the side and end frames together with the tenons seating in their side frame grooves. Pocket-screw the front top and bottom rails to the side frame stiles, checking to be sure the carcass assembly is square.

As you wait for the glue to cure, it’s time to prepare the stock for the kennel’s top panel. I chose to make it out of solid lumber, as I wanted a real “furniture” feel to the project. But veneer- covered plywood with solid-wood edging would work just as well. Cut the cherry to rough length, and then use a jointer and planer to create 3/4″-thick pieces with flat, parallel faces and dead-straight 90-degree edges.

With that done, lay your stock out on a flat surface and “compose” the top. When you are happy with the grain arrangement, glue and clamp the top together. I used Rockler’s Deluxe Panel Clamps for this job, because they work great to keep the edges aligned and the panel flat.

Unclamp the carcass when the glue dries because it’s time to hang the door on the EZ Pocket Door Slide hardware. It is pretty straightforward on this project, as you mount the slides right to the side frame rails. Choose whether you want the door to open on the left or right. After doing that, I positioned the slides and then eyeballed their setback. Attach the hinges to the slide mounting plates, then transfer the placement of the hinge cups to the door.

These are 40 mm-diameter cups for Rockler’s Thick Inset Pocket/Flipper Door Hinge Kit, and I bored them on a drill press. With that done, I temporarily mounted the door. It fit pretty well, but I wanted the reveals around the door to be even, so I took it to the table saw and trimmed it down just a hair. Once it fit perfectly, I completed the installation. I also crosscut and installed all the filler strips to fill the open grooves in the kennel’s carcass and door stiles.

You might wonder, will those slides and hinges get tangled up with my dog? The answer is probably yes, so we put a safety panel (piece 27) in place, mounted to two supports (pieces 28). The cherry supports have 1/4″ grooves plowed along their length to capture the safety panel and are secured to the carcass with pocket-hole screws.

The panel is 1/4″-thick plywood. The panel is the last thing you mount in the kennel. Finally, cut a couple of cleats and glue them in place at the top front and back of the carcass. You’ll use them to attach the top panel. Drill elongated holes through them for 1-1/4″ screws.

Cut the kennel’s top panel to final size and then get out the sander … yup, you are going to make some sawdust. Sand the top smooth and up to 180-grit. Take the door off so you can do the same thing to all surfaces of the carcass, door and slats.

When I got done sanding, I applied three coats of aerosol shellac to all the parts. Shellac is food-safe and worry-free if your little buddy decides to snack on some of the slats. Then I inserted the slats into their mortises and cut the retaining caps to length. I set those in place before attaching the top and door.

I mounted a small catch on the door, but it turned out I needed a stronger one, because dogs can actually push pretty hard to get out. You’ll want to be able to latch the door securely.

I’m pleased with this kennel’s furniture quality, and my dog has taken to the new digs without a bark of complaint!

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

The post PROJECT: Cherry Dog Kennel appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

The post Cherry Dog Kennel Drawings appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

And if you’re willing to test your template-making skills, this alternating, double-shelf project is well worth the effort. Its small cubby in between the shelves can stow a wallet, jewelry or other small valuables behind the front door. I outfitted the project with a strip of low-cost LED rope lighting to cast a soft glow under each shelf. Mine also contains a USB outlet for charging smart devices. The project mounts to a wall stud with screws driven through the cubby’s back panel.

If you like the look of the project but aren’t yet up to the challenge of tricky template-making (or investing in the edge V-groove router bit set), you could simply make the plywood shelf cores larger and wrap their edges with thin veneer edge tape. But that won’t be as durable as solid wood in the long run, nor will it give the same effect as this contrasting, wide purpleheart will. So, why not test your skills and build it just as I have!

Making Subassemblies of Trim Blanks

Let’s get down to business by assembling pieces of long and short side trim to the front trim pieces. I ripped my purpleheart stock to 4″ wide, then headed to my miter saw to crosscut the pieces to rough length. Now, study the Trim Subassembly Drawing for miter-cutting these trim pieces correctly. Why miter them, you ask? Well, mitering will eliminate nearly all of the end grain that would take finish more darkly than the side grain will. You’ll also help to blend the face grain more uniformly all around the shelves, which will look much better when viewing the shelf trim from above.

Notice how the short and long side trim pieces are mitered at 45 degrees on one end. The long front trim piece is miter-cut at 29.5 degrees on one end but 60.5 degrees on the other end. I could make that last cut happen because my Makita miter saw swivels to 60.5 degrees. Some saws do. If yours doesn’t, you might have to tackle that cut in a different way with another saw instead.

Glue and clamp the three trim pieces for each subassembly together. You can see in the photo at right that these are simply glued butt joints. Any reinforcement across the joints (dowels, floating tenons, biscuits) would become exposed when the trim is finally cut to width. But no worries, because in this application, reinforcement isn’t crucial. Glued miter joints will be strong enough for machining, and once the trim wraps the shelves, joint strength will come from the routed V-groove joints between the plywood and purpleheart anyway.

Get ready for some challenges gluing the funky mitered ends together, however. I used both wood screw clamps and bar clamps for that job. The wood screw clamps actually became attachment points for my bar clamps. Kind of unusual, sure, but it worked! When the clamps come off, sand or plane the joints flush.

Making Template #1: Inner Trim Edges

Draw a full-size version of the Shelf Template on a large piece of 1/2″ MDF or other sheet material. Make sure your template workpiece is at least a couple inches wider on both sides than the gridded shape. You also want the “legs” of the template on either side of the shelf shape to be 2″ longer than necessary. Use a flexible batten or large French curves to draw a smooth layout line for this template, centering it on the template material. The line represents the inside edge of the purpleheart trim. I used a jigsaw to cut out the center waste of the template, sawing just inside my layout line.

Then I took the template over to my benchtop oscillating spindle sander to smooth and fair its sawn edge. Go the extra yard here to make sure this inside edge of the template is perfectly smooth and even by working it further with some careful hand sanding.

Mark the 2″ template leg extensions on their inside edges so you can line the template up accurately on your glued-up trim subassemblies.

The next step will depend on your confidence at the band saw. I attached the template to the first trim subassembly with short pieces of double-sided tape, took it to the band saw, and sawed away the inner purpleheart waste. I was careful when attaching the template that I would be removing about the same amount of trim material all the way around.

If you fear you might accidentally cut into the template doing it this way, then just trace the template’s inner profile onto the trim subassemblies instead and band-saw the waste away. There’s no risk of damaging your template this way, so play it safe if you wish.

Forming the Routed Profile on the Inner Trim Edges

With the template attached to the first trim subassembly, install the concave edge V-groove bit (the one that looks like a bird’s mouth) in your router table. With the router unplugged, set the motor to a medium/ high speed and adjust the bit’s height so the midpoint of the bird’s mouth profile will be centered on the thickness of the trim material.

The router bit’s top pilot bearing needs to be able to roll along the cut edge of the template, too. Then start the router and, beginning with the bit’s bearing on the template’s right “leg,” feed the template and trim subassembly clockwise around the bit to remove the rest of the inner waste. This bit reforms the inner edge of the purpleheart trim into a sharp chisel point.

Detach the template from the first trim subassembly carefully, then mount the template to the second trim subassembly with more double-sided tape, and repeat the routing process.

Making Template #2: Outer Edge of Shelves

The good news about doing a really careful job of making the first template is that it will improve your odds for laying out the second template accurately. This one, also made of 1/2″ MDF or plywood, will form the outer routed profile of the shelf cores to mate with the chisel-pointed profile on the purpleheart trim. Here’s how to lay it out. Start with a piece of oversized MDF, and mark it 2″ in from one long edge to serve as an extension of the template past the shelf during routing. Now lay one of the trim subassemblies on it so the bottom square ends of the side trim pieces intersect your 2″ layout marks. Take a very sharp pencil or a fine leaded mechanical pencil and trace around the bottom edge of the trim’s routed profile, right where it touches the template surface. This line represents the outer perimeter of what will be the plywood shelf. It’s SUPER important to trace this layout line accurately.

Grab your jigsaw and cut just outside of this layout line (only the portion inside the layout line is the template this time). Very carefully, sand the template up to the layout line. If you sand the line away, the fit between the plywood and the trim might be too loose and create a gap on the shelf. If you don’t sand enough, the trim will fit too tightly around the plywood and could break at the mitered joints when it’s installed. Take your time and be fussy with this sanding.

Fitting the Routed Shelf Edge to the Trim

Cut two plywood panels for the shelves, and then cut one or two more that you can use as test pieces. Why? Because at this moment, we still don’t know if the second template will produce shelf cores that fit the trim correctly. So, there’s some experimentation and refinement ahead of us! It’s the nature of the beast … don’t ask me how I know.

Get one of your plywood test pieces, and trace the shelf template onto it. Band-saw the test shelf about 1/16″ outside the layout line. Now chuck the convex V-groove bit (with the pointed center tips) in your router table. Adjust its height so the bit’s tips line up with the inside routed edge of the trim subassemblies. Once that’s dialed in, mount template #2 to your plywood test shelf with double-sided tape so the shelf’s contoured edge overhangs the template’s edge evenly. Make sure to also align the back “flat” edge of the shelf with the template’s 2″ overhang marks. Start the router, and rout all the way around the shelf to reduce its size and form the concave, mirror image to the trim’s convex chisel-edge profile.

Remove the template from the shelf, and clean off any whiskers left by the router bit along the routed edge. Now very carefully and gently, try to slide one of the trim subassemblies into place on the test shelf. Don’t force the parts together, or you could break the miter joints. Do the routed joints fit together? Are there any gaps, or is the fit too tight? Either way, if the shelf and trim don’t come together well, it’s time to make little adjustments to the shelf template’s perimeter and rout another test shelf. Keep working at the template’s shape until it produces a shelf that fits the trim.

My cherry plywood was slightly thinner than my purpleheart trim, so I readjusted the bit height so the best face of each shelf aligns flush with the best face of each trim subassembly. Keep in mind that if you need to do the same thing, these shelves will face in opposite directions on the final project. Go ahead and rout your actual shelves. Then glue and clamp the trim to each shelf. Remember to tighten those clamps carefull so as not to over-stress the miter joints.

Making Template #3: Outer Perimeter of Trim

It’s time to bring the overly-wide purpleheart trim down to its 1-1/4″ final width, and we’ll do that with a third template. To make it, I first created a simple scribing jig for my pencil.

It’s just a scrap with a flat edge that rides against the shelf template to trace a layout line 1-1/4″ larger than the shelf onto a piece of MDF.

Create this template with the same 2″ extension as the other two templates.

Cut the template out, sand its outer edge smooth and use it to trace the outer perimeter layout line onto both trim subassemblies.

Cut them to shape at the band saw or with a jigsaw.

Grain Direction Precautions

Refining the outer edge of the trim with template #3 is our next step, but it’s a bit tricky because the grain direction of the purpleheart comes into play. Flush-trimming around the corners could mean you’ll be routing with the grain and then inadvertently against the grain from one piece to the next, depending on your stock arrangement. So to help mitigate problems, I installed a double-bearing flush-trim bit with a shear-cutting angle (Rockler #27867). After sticking each trim subassembly to the template, I started the routing process with the template on top, riding against the bit’s top bearing.

But, if the purpleheart started to chip, or the bit’s cutting action began to feel choppy, I stopped the routing pass, flipped the template over, and raised the bit to use its bottom bearing against the template instead. That way, I could reverse my feed direction and rout with the grain again. Your template-routing experience will help you assess how best to flush-trim these edges in order to rout with the grain direction as much as possible. But I definitely recommend preemptively using the same shear-cutting bit as I did, or one similar to it. It really helped here!

Finishing Up the Shelves

Once the trim was flush-cut to final width, it was time to trim the shelves to their final front-to-back width of 12-1/4″ at the widest point. I did this by mounting each shelf temporarily to a flat-edged panel of MDF that was wider than the shelf. That way, the panel’s flat edge could follow my table saw’s rip fence while I trimmed the waste off of the back flat edge of both shelves.

Wrap up work on the shelves by hand-planing or scraping and sanding the trim flush with the plywood cores. Be careful to not overdo it and cut through the plywood’s thin face veneer. And when you’re satisfied with your shelves, you can also be happy that you’ve completed the hardest part of this project!

Building the Middle Cubby

I made the cubby so that all the visible parts, when viewed from in front, would be purpleheart. So, the cubby’s sides and door are solid purpleheart. But the top and bottom panels are maple with a 3/4″ x 3/4” strip of purpleheart glued to their front edges because those components aren’t as obvious. That way, when the cubby’s door is opened, the carcass looks like purpleheart all the way around.

Use a wide straight bit in the router table or a dado blade in your table saw to plow 3/8″-deep x 3/4″-wide rabbets along the top, bottom and back edges of the side panels so they wrap over the ends of the top and bottom panels.

I decided to install the door with a single Mini Blum® 26 mm Frameless Overlay Hinge (Rockler #38385) that snaps closed, because this door is so tiny as to not need two hinges. Follow the instructions that come with the hinge to bore a stopped hole in the back of the door for the hinge’s cup. Dry-assemble the cubby with clamps so you can install the carcass-side component of the hinge on the cubby’s side panel.

Tricking Out the Project and Installing It

There are several doodads you can choose to add to your project as I have to make it even more useful, and now is the right time to consider them. I like the white Tot-Lok Mechanism (Rockler #63164, #63172), because it enables a door to be unlocked with a magnetic key from the outside. So, I mounted this hardware to the back of the door and to the cubby side opposite the hinge. I also thought LED lighting might be a nice touch. I picked up an inexpensive 6-ft LED rope light, and I routed a channel in the cubby top, bottom and back to feed the LED through from inside the cubby to the bottom faces of the shelves. If you’d like USB ports in the cubby too, you’ll need to chisel an opening for that hardware in the cubby side as I have.

All of this work happens before gluing the cubby together. When I was finally ready to assemble everything, I glued the cubby top and back panels to the side panels first, but I left the bottom panel unglued so I could remove it for installing the cubby to the top shelf. When this glue-up dried, I centered the cubby’s top on the bottom face of the top shelf with the back of the cubby flush with the back edge of the shelf. I fastened the cubby to the top shelf with four #8 x 1-1/2″ screws driven into countersunk pilot holes. Then I could glue the cubby’s bottom panel into place and install the bottom shelf to it (facing the opposite direction to the top shelf) when the glue dried. To verify the alignment of the two shelves before attaching the second one, stand the project on a workbench and use a couple of combination squares held against the ends of the shelves to see that their ends align. I made a few adjustments, then drove four screws up through the bottom shelf into the cubby bottom to attach the parts.

At this point, I went ahead and applied a couple of coats of poly to the whole project. After it cured, I installed the LEDs and USB hardware, then hung the shelf on the wall near an outlet to power everything up. A few long screws driven through the cubby’s back and into a wall stud will provide plenty of structural support to secure this project at the height you need it.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

The post PROJECT: Floating Bedside Shelf appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

However, in our home, making something practical is also very important. I try to live by the motto, “if it’s going to be in the kitchen, we better use it.” (Just don’t look at my drawer full of BBQ tools … Yes, I need all those turners and tongs!) But I think I’ve reached a happy medium here. This round cutting board with a multi-species laminated accent is both fun to make and practical as can be.

Let’s Get Rolling

I started by selecting a color scheme and decided to make most of the cutting board from walnut with a bold accent of maple, cherry, mahogany and padauk. These colors work great in our kitchen and really make the cutting board pop! But just about any close-grained hardwoods would be great choices for this board. There are no rules here; my picks were entirely subjective, and my wife really liked the colors. Which supports another motto worth remembering: “Happy wife, happy life!”

Ripping Along

This project really gave my table saw a workout. I got started by crosscutting my pieces of walnut into roughly 16″ lengths and then ripped them to 1-1/8″ wide. My goal for this board was to end up just a bit proud of 1″ in thickness, so giving myself that extra 1/8″ for flattening and sanding turned out to be helpful.

To glue up the accent strip, I put a thin coating of glue on the faces that would be touching. I grabbed a couple of 2x4s to use as clamping cauls to provide even pressure.

I reached for my bottle of Titebond III for this lamination. The “green” label is the right choice here, because it’s a waterproof formulation and is FDA-approved for indirect food contact.

Once it had time to fully cure, I scraped away the extra glue squeeze-out and headed to the miter saw to cut it into some angled pieces. I swiveled my saw table to 22.5 degrees and, using a piece of tape and a marker, scribed a registration line on the saw’s fence 1-1/8″ away from the blade.

I cut 10 pieces to this length with the lamination laying on the saw table so its glue lines were facing up. Now back to that sandwich!

As you can see in the Drawings, I captured the angled pieces between the two maple strips. To glue the maple and the angled accent pieces together, I applied glue to one face of each maple strip and to the angled ends of the multicolored pieces, then sandwiched them all together. I was concerned that too much clamping force would cause this multi-piece glue-up to shift around before the glue had time to tack up. So, spring clamps to the rescue! I used enough clamps to apply adequate pressure but not to ruin their alignment.

While the glue was drying, I started to prepare for gluing up the whole board. I did a dry-fit of all the pieces and was satisfied with the results — it was going to work fine. Then I got busy applying glue to the pieces. After I had assembled about two thirds of the walnut into a blank, I glued in the accent strip and then finished up with the remaining walnut on the opposite side of the accent.

I used a pair of Rockler’s Mini Deluxe Panel Clamps to provide the clamping pressure. They’re designed to both squeeze a panel together and also keep its laminations flush — perfect for this application!

Cutting and Shaping Comes Next

It’s always a good idea to give the glue on complicated laminations plenty of time to cure, so I let mine dry overnight. Removing the board from the clamps, I was pleased to find that it required minimal flattening. And that was good because I had more work to do.

I got started back at the table saw squaring up its ends. While this board would have worked well as a square, I want something different, so I settled on a circle!

Before I got too excited and cut it round, I wanted to use a new 4-in-1 Cutting Board Handle Routing Template from Rockler. The template has four different handle shapes and takes the effort out of forming cutouts.

Simply register the template and remove the material with a router, making use of a guide bushing and 3/8″ spiral bit. I decided on the square cutout to pay homage to all the other square cutting boards in the world, and I think the square hole in a round object makes the choice a bit comical, too.

Then it was time to cut the board round. There are many ways to do this, but let me show you my preferred method. I started with my router attached to a circle-cutting jig and made a very shallow cut along the bottom of the board so I could see where the circle was going to be.

I set the jig for a 14″ diameter. I made a few more passes, routing to about 3/8″ deep. Then I took the board over to the band saw and completed the circular cut I had started. My last step was to skim off the remaining band saw waste with a flush-trim router bit.

Wrapping Up Some Final Details

A round cutting board with sharp edges just seems incomplete to me. So, I eased the outer edges of the circle with a 3/8″-radius roundover bit in the router and switched to a 1/4″ roundover for softening the edges of the handle cutout. I think the combination of profiles adds a nice detail.

Even though my board was sufficiently flat, it still needed more final sanding So, I worked up through the grits to 320 to give all of its surfaces a silky smooth feel. A couple coats of food-safe Walrus Oil Cutting Board Oil made it even smoother, and the oil really highlights this project’s many wood colors.

My favorite little feet are some 3/8″ soft bumpers that install in drilled holes in the bottom face. I mounted eight of them to prevent any tipping when I’m slicing tomatoes for my next BLT. And with that, my new cutting board was ready for use.

If you make one of these boards too, be sure to only wash it by hand and not in the dishwasher. When the board eventually looks dull and dry, clean it thoroughly and then apply a fresh coat of oil. Simple as that! I’m off to make a sandwich.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

The post PROJECT: Accented Cutting Board appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.