The proviso, however, is that you must have correctly shaped and sharpened tools. In this article, let’s set up a dry grinding system so you can sharpen most steel turning tools quickly and easily.

In the past, grinding turning tools was done freehand at a bench grinder and had a long, difficult learning curve. Some never got it right and gave up in frustration. Most got inconsistent results. A large part of the problem was (and still is) that standard bench grinders have tool-rests designed for grinding machine-tool bits and not woodturning tools. While scrapers could be ground on such rests, gouges could not. Most of us mounted a 1/4″-diameter steel bar at the center height of the grinder and balanced our tools on that to sharpen, the same way we would use the lathe’s tool-rest for turning.

ONEWAY Jig Solution

In 1982, Jerry Glaser introduced a wooden gooseneck jig that pivoted on a wood block glued to the floor in front of the grinder. Anyone of average skill could suddenly grind gouges perfectly.

Tim Clay at ONEWAY Manufacturing improved the Glaser jig with the Wolverine Jig and Vari-Grind gooseneck holder that allows precise grinding of spindle, bowl and roughing-out gouges. It has become the universally accepted sharpening method for the turning community and the system that almost all turning clubs have for visiting demonstrators like me.

The Wolverine Grinding Jig (available at Rockler) consists of a pair of black, hollow bases that mount beneath the grinding wheels. They replace the grinder’s factory tool-rests. The bases accept a long steel V-arm that cradles either the Vari-Grind Jig or the end of a tool handle, for sharpening gouges. The system also includes a pivoting platform rest, similar to a standard grinder tool-rest, for sharpening scrapers. Both the V-arm and platform rest are held in the bases with cams activated by long levers.

An 8″ slow-speed grinder with 1″-wide wheels, such as RIKON’s 1/2 hp model 80-805, which is shown here, or the more powerful 80-808 (1 hp), are good choices for use with the Wolverine system.

Setting Up the Grinding Jig

In order to allow clearance for the Wolverine bases beneath the grinder’s wheel shrouds, it must be raised on blocking so the arbor shaft is about 6-1/2″ above the work surface. (Remove your grinder’s rubber feet, first.) On the RIKON 80-805, you can achieve this by gluing scraps of 1/2″ and 3/4″ plywood together. (Blocking thickness will vary among grinder models.) Make the blocking piece large enough to suit your grinder’s footprint.

The Wolverine bases also must be aligned directly beneath each grinding wheel and screwed in place. While you could mount your Wolverine system permanently to a benchtop, an 8″ to 10″-wide by 20″ piece of 3/4″ plywood or solid wood creates a portable workstation that can be stored, then clamped to a benchtop wherever and whenever it’s needed.

Glue and nail or screw the blocking piece to the center of the baseboard. Then carefully measure the span between the grinding wheels, from the center of one wheel’s thickness to the other. Mark the baseboard to center this span on its length.

Arrange the Wolverine bases so their diamond-shaped opening (for the V-arm or platform base) is aligned with the wheel-span layout lines, and set the front faces of the bases flush with the front of the baseboard. Secure each base to the baseboard with panhead or flathead screws.

All that’s left to do is mount the grinder to the baseboard. Position it on the blocking so the rims of the grinding wheels are flush with the front edge of the baseboard and the wheels are aligned correctly over the Wolverine bases. A pair of 5/16″ or 3/8″ carriage bolts, driven up through the baseboard and blocking into the grinder’s base holes, will secure it. Fasten the components with washers and nylon-insert locknuts or lock washers and regular nuts.

CBN Wheel Considerations

In the photos shown, I replaced the aluminum oxide wheel originally supplied with the grinder on the right side with an 80-grit CBN (cubic boron nitride) wheel. This 1-1/2″-wide wheel is covered with a manufactured abrasive that is nearly as hard as diamonds but can cut dry without fracturing, as diamonds will. CBN grinding wheels have a metal core that conducts heat well, to draw heat away from the tool being sharpened. While pricey, CBN wheels will last a lifetime. They’re wider than standard wheels, so you’ll need to remove the grinder’s wheel shroud to install them. But since CBN wheels can’t fracture and explode like typical bonded abrasive wheels can, this is not a dangerous modification to the machine.

Whichever wheel types you use, an 80- and 180-grit pair is a good combination for sharpening high-speed steel lathe tools.

Wolverine Accessories

Several accessories can be used with the Wolverine Jig for sharpening the gamut of turning tools.

Platform rest: Perfect for grinding scrapers of all shapes, the rest tilts to match the scraper’s bevel angle.

Vari-Grind Jig: Nests in the V-arm to sharpen fingernail or side grinds on spindle or bowl gouges. Adjusting the angle of the gooseneck changes the angle of the sides of the fingernail, while sliding the V-arm in or out changes the nose angle.

Skew jig: Attaches to the end of the V-arm and provides two offset pockets for grinding the angled bevels on both faces of skew chisels.

For under $500, a slow-speed grinder equipped with a Wolverine Grinding Jig will make the path to proficient turning much gentler. Once you get the hang of using it, sharpening turning tools won’t be the hassle many turners believe it to be.

The post Setting up a Wolverine Grinding Jig appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

It’s doubtful if you could find a 1950s vintage kidney table that exactly matches our version here. But in color, shape and leg style, this design well evokes that era with a modern epoxy resin twist.

The Core of the Matter

While the exterior of the tabletop is made of colored epoxy resin, it has a core of laminated Baltic birch plywood. The dimension of this core is derived from the two radii indicated in the MDF Table Mold Diagram. I drew the two circles with their center points 18-1/2″ apart on a piece of 3/4″ thick Baltic birch. If you use our dimensions, you will create a tabletop that’s just a bit over 37″ long, about 22″ at its widest point and approximately 2″ thick.

Feel free to modify the dimensions to fit your specific situation. The gentle curves that connect the two circles can also be more or less extreme to suit your desired shape. I chose Baltic birch because it has fewer voids. Voids can produce air bubbles when you pour your resin, which are a pain to deal with if they cure at the top surface. More about that later.

With the kidney shape marked onto the plywood, I stepped over to my band saw and very carefully cut it out, just to the outside edge of the perimeter layout line. I used a belt sander and then hand-sanded to fair the curves to the pencil line, taking care to avoid creating any flat spots along the curved edges.

With that done, I took the workpiece over to a second piece of Baltic birch, traced its shape and cut it free from the sheet, keeping the band saw blade about 1/16″ outside of the marking. Then, after screwing the two pieces together. I used a bearing-guided flush trim bit in a handheld router to trim the second core so it matched the first. I also hand-sanded the edge of the core and broke the edges to keep from getting splinters. Now it was time to move onto making the MDF mold.

Building the MDF Mold in Layers

You might think you are done with the plywood core, but you would be wrong. We will use the core to form the first cutout layer for the MDF form. Start with 3/4″-thick MDF sliced across its 49″ width to create at least four 26″-wide components. You’ll need more than one full sheet of MDF, so I’d make at least five components. (I messed one up when I let my router wander off course … it happens.)

Carefully center the table core on one of the MDF pieces and secure it to the MDF with double-sided tape. This MDF piece will become the first layer of the mold above the base. With the MDF on top of a sacrificial surface, use a 3/4″ pattern routing bit (bearing next to the shank) to form the cutout in the MDF. It is important to note that the bit is cutting a 3/4″ wide space outside of the core. It seems counterintuitive, but that outside shape is what will form the mold.

In a series of passes, cut out the shape of the mold being careful to press the bit’s bearing against the core. This is where I let my mind wander and ruined the piece by allowing the patten-routing bit to stray away from the core. I had to start over. Discard the center piece of the MDF, and take the kidney bean-shaped cutout to a spindle sander to fair the curves.

Now it’s time to make two more layers of the mold. I tried doing this a couple of ways, but the easiest turned out to be the following. Place the first cutout layer on top of the next piece of MDF with the edges aligned. Trace the shape of the cutout onto the lower piece. Set aside the cutout and, using a handheld jigsaw, remove the rough shape of the kidney, taking care not to cut into the pencil line. Then, put the original cutout piece back on top of the roughed-out piece and, with the same pattern-routing bit as earlier, shape the second panel’s interior. Do this one more time so that you now have three pieces with perfectly matched cutouts. Because the base and the three cutout mold layers all have the same 26″ x 49″ size, it’s easy to glue them together accurately to make a mold. Remember that it is the inside curved edges of the mold that are the most critical to align. Glue and clamp the layers together and give them time to dry.

More Mold Maneuvers

When the glue cures, take some time to sand the inside edge of the mold smooth. I did this by hand with sandpaper wrapped around a sponge. I was surprised at how well the edges lined up, so the sanding was not as tedious as I feared it might be.

The next step moved me into the world of epoxy resin. I mixed up a small amount of MAS Table Top resin and sealed the mold. Using a foam brush, I painted several coats of the resin onto the edges and one layer onto the bottom surface. This step is critical to your success later on. It fills up the pores in the edges of the MDF and any seams between the layers. After it cured (overnight), I once again sanded the edges of the mold as smoothly as I could.

Next, things get a little weird. Having made a few molded resin projects, I’ve learned that getting the finished piece out of a custom-made mold can be one of the most challenging tasks to accomplish. The size, weight and complex shape of this top concerned me. For that reason, I decided to cut my mold into four sections that I could then take apart as I removed the completed tabletop. I drew registration lines on top of the mold to help me realign it after it was quartered, then I stepped over to the table saw outfitted with a thin-kerf blade, and I sliced the mold into four pieces. The blade just barely made it through this thick lamination!

With that done, I “glued” the four pieces of the mold back together using Lexel clear sealant to join the sections. Apply plenty of the sealant and clamp the pieces together. Wipe any squeeze-out away from the joints before it begins to cure. When it has completely set, you are ready for the next step: wax. As mentioned, I have had challenges getting poured epoxy pieces out of their molds. This time, I applied a thick layer of paste wax to the interior of the mold to help with that. Put down another thick layer of wax. And when you are done with that, use more wax. And maybe a bit more after that…

There are only a few more steps until the big pour! But next up, the core needs to be placed into the mold. To keep the epoxy from creeping under the mold (it is difficult to put into words how easily epoxy resin will seep into areas you don’t want it to go), I applied a wiggly, thick bead of sealant around the perimeter of the core on its bottom face. Setting the core in the mold, I took care to keep the gap between the edge of the mold and the core uniform. Press down on the core and wipe any excessive squeeze-out away from its edge. Let the sealant cure overnight.

It’s Go Time for Mixing Epoxy!

I thought it wise to consult with the experts at MAS Epoxies about how to properly pour this resin tabletop. It would take over two gallons of the resin, and the last thing I wanted was to make an error that would ruin the piece. When I explained the project to them, they recommended that I prime the mold first. At their encouragement, I used some of their Table Top Pro resin, colored white as the main section of the top would be, and I poured a 1/4″ base layer into the mold. At this point, I also used a Popsicle stick to trowel resin onto the edge of the plywood core to seal it. (But if I were to make another mold, I would seal the core’s edges before I put it in the mold, which would make this edge-sealing process much easier.)

When that first resin cured, it was time to pour the main tabletop. Something important that I failed to mention earlier is that it is critical to level the mold perfectly on your worksurface. This ensures that the thickness of the resin is consistent across the length and width of the pour.

Once again at the recommendation of the folks at MAS, I used their Deep Pour X resin formulation. As some of you might know, when you increase the amount of epoxy resin you are working with at one time, you can run the risk of creating a thermal reaction that will bubble, craze or yellow. With deep pours, here’s the rule: the slower the cure time, the better. Deep Pour X is made just for this sort of task. With the help of my co-worker Jeff Jacobson, I mixed the resin and added color. Using the Eye Candy colorants, Jeff created an off-white color. Once it was mixed and ready, I poured the mold full, stopping about 1/4″ from the top. I fanned it with a torch flame to pop any bubbles. It took just about two gallons of resin and a little more than 48 hours to cure completely, but it looked great.

I don’t want to brag too much, but I was able to get the tabletop out of the mold. It actually went very well, and when I was done, I could have reused the mold pieces to make another top. (There were a couple of people laughing in the shop while I was grunting away at this task, but they might have been amused by something other than me … well, maybe.)

Using a 5″ rotary sander, I leveled the top. Next came routing in some super-cool shapes. There were a lot of ways we could have gone with this tabletop, but we thought it would be fun to rout some shapes we found on Mid-century modern-style websites into the surface of the table, then “inlay” resin colored to the pastel hues of the period. (You can find full-size drawings of these shapes if you want to make your own templates.)

Final Details and Lots More Sanding!

After routing the first shapes, I poured colored MAS Table Top resin into those grooves. When that cured, I routed the intersecting shapes and poured the complimentary color. Then it was onto sanding and shaping.

Once again using a 5″ rotary sander and starting with 60-grit paper, I flattened the top. Also starting at 60-grit, I used a belt sander to smooth the edges of the tabletop. Taking a short break from sanding, I used a 3/8″ bearing-guided roundover bit to shape the top and bottom edges of the tabletop. From there on it was back to the rotary sander and successive grits, going all the way up to 600-grit. (I used the rotary sander on the edges too.)

Next up? Okay, it’s more sanding, but here we switched to Micro-Mesh Cushioned Abrasive instead. These pads attached to my 5″ sander. Starting at 1,500-grit, they run all the way up to 12,000-grit. Between each grit I wiped the swarf away with a damp rag. Starting at 2,400-grit, I used a few drops of water as a sanding lubricant. Wipe the top clean of slurry between each grit. We stopped at 12,000 grit. That seemed the right combination of smooth and shiny for a tabletop. You can continue buffing to a mirror-like finish with resin like this, but that seemed excessive to us. With the tabletop’s surface finish completed, it was time to attach the legs.

From the very beginning of the project design, I wanted to use some classic turned legs found in so many Mid-century modern coffee tables. I thought of turning them myself, but Rockler was bringing in a variety of new leg styles, available premade, and they have a selection of different ferrule types that really caught my eye. Also available are mounting plates that add to the ease of installation, angle consistency, etc. One important point: the hanger bolts installed in the legs will extend past the bottom surface of the steel mounting plate, so I bored a hole under the mounting plates to accommodate the protruding end of the hanger bolts.

With the legs attached, I put the table in my living room, fired up a Camel straight and asked my wife to make me a martini and put a Johnny Mathis record on the hi-fi. Well, none of that happened, but the spirit of the 1950s was truly evoked by this kidney-shaped coffee table.

The post PROJECT: Mid-century Kidney Table appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

The Internet was in its infancy then, so guitar specs and YouTube instructional videos were not an option. What I did have was a tape measure and a local music store where I spent hours measuring, sketching and planning my build. I came out of that project with a guitar that worked, a little more knowledge and an immediate desire to start the next one. Fast forward 27 years, and my excitement for guitars continues to be as fervent as ever. It’s now my business.

I was fortunate enough to attend the 50th anniversary gala for the Apollo 9 mission, held at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. I talked with Mission Control legend Gene Kranz and mentioned that it would be a dream to build an Apollo-themed guitar. He encouraged it, as did veteran astronaut Jim Lovell. While talking about the idea of an Apollo-themed guitar, Lovell asked, “Who is it for? It should be for somebody.” Brilliant! After a quick concept sketch and a meeting with San Diego Air & Space Museum’s CEO Jim Kidrick the next day, the guitar project was a go!

A Tribute to Inspire

I wanted this to be a serious tribute to the men and women who made the Apollo program a success; it needed to be striking but not gaudy, to catch the eye and inspire the next generation to look to the stars. I also wanted it to be fun. I’ve built a lot of guitars, yet there were many aspects of this build I was uncertain how to execute.

To allow experimentation with technique, I built two identical guitars. My design was intricate, calling for the mission patch of every manned Apollo flight to be created in wood veneer and inlaid into the sides of the body, large mural inlays for the back and plenty of Easter eggs hidden in plain sight. My work was cut out for me.

Building both guitars took more than 1,000 hours to complete over two years. Each has 1,328 individual inlay pieces. The fretboard side markers are authentic space-flown artifacts from every manned Apollo mission. The internal bracing bears the names of fallen astronauts; the famous “Earthrise” adorns the headstock, and a quote from John F. Kennedy is engraved on the back of the neck. A Saturn V rocket stands proudly on the fretboard, and the front of the body looks as if it just splashed down after streaking to earth from the heavens. The back includes the Apollo program logo and a depiction of the Command and Service Module docked with the Lunar Module as it would have looked on the way to the moon. Hours of research went into making this as technically accurate as possible.

Spacefest Unveiling

“Eagle” and her sister guitar, “Aquarius,” were unveiled last year at Spacefest in Tucson, Arizona. I experienced firsthand the reaction of astronauts and support staff as they looked over my creations, and it made me beam with pride. I asked the astronauts to sign the Apollo guitar, since it is for display. Watching Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke add the first signature was a thrill. I have been fortunate to have several of the Apollo astronauts and Mission Control staff sign it. These men rode rockets, coolly handled danger and left footprints on the moon. Seeing the wonder on their faces as they looked over my tribute is something I can’t describe, but I will treasure it for the rest of my life.

Today, “Aquarius” resides in my personal collection, and “Eagle” is on permanent display in the San Diego Air & Space Museum’s “SPACE: Our Greatest Adventure” gallery; positioned side-by-side with storied relics, like the Apollo 9 Capsule “Gumdrop” and Apollo and Mercury space suits. I am honored that my tribute will be enjoyed for generations to come.

See more Stotler guitars at oakcreekguitars.com.

The post Josh Stotler: A New “Eagle” Has Landed appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

When I graduated from college 20 years ago and got my first apartment, I couldn’t afford a bed. After several trips to the furniture store, I decided that I could make my own bed instead. How hard could that be? You see, my father made all sorts of projects from mirror glass, and my uncle is a carpenter. My mother, grandmother and aunts are also crafty, so I knew this was in my genes. With a borrowed drill and a battery-powered screwdriver, I built a platform bed. It took me three months, but I was successful in the end, and I slept on my bed for the next seven years.

Several projects have happened since then! Seven years ago, I left my job in corporate America to become a full-time maker. I love building things that mean something to others. I also love helping others realize their potential with tools and sparking their creativity. I’m a mom of four kids, so I’ve introduced children as young as seven to power tools and have taught people as old as 80 how to use the table saw, miter saw and other woodworking tools. Even if my students make simple projects such as birdhouses, toolboxes or charcuterie boards, they then have a new life skill.

My main goal is to give back to the maker community. I do that by volunteering with the Girls Makers Club at my local maker space, and I serve on the board of directors at Decatur Makers in Atlanta. I’ve also had the opportunity to work with various television networks as a maker and create content for several magazines.

Becoming a social media influencer was serendipity. It has connected me with other makers and enabled me to share opportunities with a much larger online audience. Having a voice in this traditionally male-dominated craft of woodworking motivates me to empower other women. I really believe that whatever your passion is in life, pursue it with every fiber of your being.

The post Char Miller-King: Woodworking Found Me appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Another design factor worth considering carefully is grain pattern. That was very important to me. I wanted the horizontal grain of the drawer fronts to flow across the chest, so I cut those pieces sequentially from a long panel of stock to ensure that it would happen.

Same goes for the grain pattern around the carcass. I was aiming for a waterfall effect, flowing up the long side and cascading down the steps. Paying attention to grain patterns this way harmonizes similar elements. No drawer front or carcass panel calls more attention to itself than another. That way, wood grain unifies the design rather than disrupts it.

Have you noticed yet that I used figured cherry for the drawer fronts but quartersawn African mahogany for the other visible parts? I think the contrast between swirly cherry grain and ribbon-stripe straight grain of the mahogany looks great!

From a construction standpoint, I’ll make two suggestions: Get comfortable making box joints before you build this project. They’re not difficult, but they do require meticulous machining so they slip together without force and close seamlessly. Second, round up a LOT of bar clamps. You’re gonna need ’em!

Routing Carcass Box Joints

This chest’s carcass will require about 13 lineal feet of 12″-wide stock, so select enough 4/4 lumber to create panels for the first six parts on the Material List. African mahogany is one of those species you can often find in unusually wide boards, so if you can create your carcass panels from single board widths, more power to you!

Since I had to glue mine up from narrower boards, I paid careful attention to grain matching in order to blend the glue lines so they wouldn’t stand out. I planed my stock to 13/16″, glued up the panels and surfaced them down to 3/4″ after they came out of the clamps.

Trim the right and left end panels, the two inner panels and the right, left and center top pieces to final length. Before you have a chance to forget their arrangement, carefully label each of these workpieces so you can keep their grain flow and orientation correct from here on out.

It’s time to cut those box joints in the carcass panels, so study the Exploded View Drawing. Notice that each vertical panel has a slot cut on the front edge of its box joint and a pin at the back. The pattern of the top panels is reversed — there’s a pin on the front and a slot at the back. So be sure to order the cuts on your box joint jig with this arrangement in mind.

I used Rockler’s new Router Table XL Box Joint Jig and a 3/4″-diameter upcut spiral bit on my router table to mill these joints. The oversized jig works similarly to Rockler’s smaller box joint jig. It features a brass indexing key to set up the routing pattern and a base that clamps to the router table’s miter slot to secure it. A metal sled slides in a pair of grooves on the base to cut the slots, and it’s large enough to fasten sacrificial fences in front and back to support really big workpieces like these.

Follow the instructions that come with the jig to set it up so you can mill the pin-and-slot patterns across the carcass panels. If you’ve used Rockler’s smaller jig before or even made box joints on a table saw with a miter gauge jig, the process will be very familiar here.

I did learn a few important machining tips that I’ll pass along now. For one, routing 3/4″ x 3/4″ slots in single passes is demanding work for the router and router bit. In order to preserve the bit’s cutting edges, I sprayed it between passes with Bostik GlideCote, a dry lubricant that made the cutting process easier with less burning. I also routinely cooled the bit with compressed air.

Cumulative error can impact long runs of box joints. In this case, my last slot cut on the top panels often left me with a sliver of extra stock along the edge. I compensated for this by making the final slot and pin just a tad wider than the others to trim this sliver away.

Also, you may need to raise or lower your router bit slightly to tweak the cutting depth. My router jig was in the way, but I could still make this adjustment by turning the threaded post of my router lift up or down from underneath the router table. That was really helpful!

Milling Stopped Dadoes

The six shelves, as well as the left ends of the top right and center panels, fit into dadoes in the vertical carcass panels that stop 3/8″ short of their front edges. I laid out these dado positions for the right and center top panels using the right end panel and right inner panel as guides; the bottoms of the joint slots on these two vertical panels set the location of the top panel dadoes. Follow the Shelf/Top Locations Drawing on the preceding page to lay out the other 12 shelf dadoes — they line up with one another from tier to tier.

I planned to use sheet stock for the shelves rather than solid wood. If you do the same, choose a bit for routing the dadoes that matches the exact thickness of your shelf material, especially if you choose plywood that differs from the thickness of the center and right solid-wood top panels.

Plow all of the dadoes 1/4″ deep. I guided my router against a clamped straightedge for this operation to ensure that the cuts would be straight. Be careful to stop your dadoes appropriately.

Because the stopped end of these dadoes is so narrow, I clamped a scrap stop to my bench behind the carcass panel to act as a stop for my router base, preventing me from routing too far.

Once the dust settles from cutting the dadoes, mark and trim the front left corners of the right and center top panels so the front edges of these panels can overlap the stopped ends of the dadoes and be flush with the front of the carcass.

Next, it’s time to rout grooves for the cabinet’s three back panels. Prepare for it by switching to a 1/4″ straight or spiral bit in your router table, and raise it to 1/4″. Set the fence 1/4″ away from the bit. Now flip back to the Exploded View Drawing again to see where these cuts start and stop.

Notice that they stop 1/4″ down from the top ends of the rear pins inside the left tier. Same goes for the inner face of the right inner panel and the right end panel. However, for the right faces of the left and right inner panels, the grooves extend only to the top panel dadoes — that’s the third one up for the center tier and the second one up for the right tier.

When you’re plowing these grooves, be sure you know where the cutting limits of the bit are. Why? Because depending on the cut, these grooves stop in different places or even must start as “blind” drop cuts onto the bit. Think carefully about each groove, and stay focused!

When the grooves are done on the vertical panels, cut back panel grooves all the way across the inside faces of the three top panels.

Assembling the Carcass

Go ahead and cut the six shelves to size so you can carry out a full dry-fit of the carcass parts you’ve made so far. Make sure the box joints slip together properly and the shelves seat completely in their dadoes. If all looks good, sand the inside faces of the parts up to 180-grit.

I assembled the carcass in three stages to keep the gluing and clamping process manageable. First, I glued up the left tier with the shelves in place. I used Rockler Clamp-It Assembly Squares to help square up the corners, plus clamping cauls applied to the box joints to push them together snugly. Once that subassembly dried, I installed the center tier components onto it with glue and clamps. Then I added the right tier.

Next up, the front edges of the shelves need to be hidden. I selected a nice piece of mahogany and ripped it into 3/4″ x 3/4″ edging strips. Crosscut the edging slightly long so you can sand the ends as needed for a push-fit into place on the shelves.

Sand their faces smooth, and glue and clamp the edging to the shelves. Rockler’s Bandy Clamps are a nifty solution for attaching edging like this, but if you don’t have some in your shop, you can also hold the pieces in place with strips of painter’s tape.

Wrap up the work on the carcass by measuring its openings for the three back panels and cutting them to size from 1/4″ plywood. It’s a good idea to verify the actual widths of the back panels you need by measuring each opening from groove bottom to groove bottom; sometimes a panel might need to be a tad narrower or wider than the Material List dimensions specify. Finish-sand your back panels and dry-fit them in their grooves. If all looks good, go ahead and glue them into place.

Building Drawers

If you’ve prioritized grain pattern so far like I have, be just as fussy when you glue up stock for your drawers. I prepared mahogany panels that were long enough to harvest two sides and a back panel for each drawer. That way, I could once again create a continuous grain pattern around the mahogany sections of the drawers. I ripped these panels to width carefully so they were able to slide into the carcass openings with a bit of play, to allow for seasonal expansion but not be a sloppy fit. I also prepared a long cherry panel for the drawer fronts and sectioned it off so the drawers that would be positioned side by side would have drawer fronts that came from adjacent pieces of the panel.

Crosscut your mahogany and cherry panels to create fronts, backs and sides for each of the six drawers. Be sure to mark them carefully to keep their orientation clear, in terms of which parts form which drawer and how the four parts of each drawer box are arranged.

Then head back to your router table to set up the box joint jig and 3/4″ router bit again. Dial in its settings on some test scraps to confirm that the joints will fit together correctly. Then, you know the drill: mill the pin and slot patterns on all four panels of each drawer. Be sure you’re clear about the fact that every drawer front and back begins its box joint pattern with a pin on top and a slot on the bottom. In turn, that means the drawer sides will have a slot on top and a pin on the bottom instead.

Dry-fit the six boxes together to make sure the joints are good to go. At that point you can tear down your box joint jig setup and switch your router table over to the 1/4″ bit again for plowing more 1/4″-deep grooves for the drawer bottoms. Position the grooves 1/4″ up from the bottom edges of the drawer parts. For the drawer fronts and backs, go ahead and run these grooves all the way across the inside faces of the parts — the bottom box joint slots will hide them. For the drawer sides, however, these grooves need to be stopped 1/4″ in from the ends of the bottom pins. Mark each drawer side for where to start and stop those grooves, and mark the limits of the router bit on your router table fence as well. After all this work, now’s not the time to make a mistake and ruin a drawer side by cutting the grooves too far!

Cut six drawer bottoms to size from 1/4″ plywood, finish-sand all the drawer parts and glue each drawer together. Here’s where all those bar clamps I suggested you find at the start will come in handy: I used eight clamps per drawer, with pairs of scrap cauls at each corner, to help close the joints.

Finishing Up

Sand the outer surfaces of the carcass smooth, and do the same thing on the drawers. Then mark and drill for the drawer pulls, centering them on the drawer fronts. I chose Rockler’s Solid Cast Brass Ring Pulls for my chest. After that, I applied three coats of Watco Danish oil to the carcass and drawers, installed the pull hardware and found a nice spot in my home for this unique little chest.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

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If you build your plant stand from African mahogany as I did, it will hold up well to sun exposure and regular waterings without prematurely rotting — mahogany is an excellent choice for outdoor projects. Each plant box mounts to the frame’s uprights with a pair of 2″ connector bolts and cap nuts. Tightening them holds the boxes level. At the end of the growing season when plants need to come inside, just loosen the bolts to tip the boxes up for off-season storage.

Forming Box Joints at the Router Table

I started construction of the three boxes at my table saw by ripping 1/2″-thick, 3″-wide boards down to 2-3/4″, then crosscutting six workpieces to 10″ long for the box fronts and backs, plus six 5″-long pieces for the box ends. I arranged the panels for each box in the most pleasing grain orientation and labeled them 1 through 4. I also added a “T” for top and “B” for bottom near the long edges. These notations will be helpful to avoid confusion when routing the box joints in the next step.

I used Rockler’s Router Table Box Joint Jig and a 1/4″ spiral upcut bit to mill the box joints. The jig is easy to set up and has its own sled for clamping each workpiece vertically to make the slot cuts on the parts. Prepare it for use by installing the 1/4″ brass key in the jig and chucking the bit in your router table. Raise the bit to 1″ (which is 1/2″ above the jig’s base). Now adjust the jig so the brass key is exactly 1/4″ away from the router bit, and tighten the jig’s base securely in your router table’s miter slot with its lock knobs. (Rockler’s instructions will walk you through the setup process in more detail.)

While the photos show me routing an actual joint, you should really test the jig’s settings on scrap wood first to be certain the joints will fit together properly. It often takes small adjustments to the spacing between the jig’s brass indexing key and the router bit to get the pins and slots to fit well.

Rout the joints by setting the top edge of a box front or back against the side of the jig’s brass key and cutting the first slot with the workpiece clamped to the jig’s sled (this cut also forms a pin on the part edge). Then fit the slot over the brass key, re-clamping the workpiece against the sled, and make another pass to form the second slot and pin. Repeat this process to form the rest of the slots and pins. Then turn the part over, keeping the same top edge against the indexing key, and rout the slots and pins on the opposite end. Mill the joinery on the other five box fronts/backs.

To rout the corresponding pattern of slots and pins on the box ends, set up the pattern by fitting the last slot of one of the front/back pieces over the brass key. Now set the box end so its “T” edge is against the side of the front/back piece. Make a routing pass with both workpieces held in place — it will form a slot on the edge of the box end instead of a pin. Rout the rest of the slots and pins on this and the other five box end workpieces.

Assembling the Boxes

These boxes need a groove cut along the inside faces of the front and back pieces to house the bottom panels. Locate these two grooves 1/4″ up from the bottom edges so they align with the bottom slot cuts of the corner joints. You can cut them on your router table with the same 1/4″ spiral (or straight) bit raised to 1/4″. Set and lock the router table’s fence 1/4″ away from the bit, and plow the grooves all the way along the workpiece faces with their bottom edges held against the fence as you push them through the cuts.

Prepare three box bottoms from 1/4″-thick mahogany rip-cut to 4-1/2″ wide and crosscut to 9″ long. When those are ready, dry-assemble the three boxes with the bottoms in place to make sure the box joints come together well. If they don’t, trimming the ends or edges of the box bottoms slightly often will do the trick to close the joints the rest of the way.

Sand the box parts up to 150- or 180-grit, spread glue on the slots and pins and clamp the boxes together. Since the bottoms are made of solid wood, which will need to expand and contract a little bit with changes in humidity, don’t put glue in the long bottom grooves. Just let these bottom panels “float” in them unimpeded.

Before the glue hardens and when it’s still rubbery, scrape off any squeeze-out as best you can, and scrub the corner joints with a wet sponge to clean up the remaining glue residue. Give the boxes at least eight hours, or even overnight, to fully dry. Then unclamp them and plane or sand the box joints flat, if the pins stand a little proud.

Building the Frames

I had some 8/4 mahogany on hand, which is at least 2″ thick in the rough, to use for my plant stand’s framework. I crosscut 9-3/4″- and 20″- long pieces that were wide enough to form both bases and uprights, then ripped this stock into 1-3/4″-square blanks at my band saw. Smooth their faces with a hand plane or on the jointer.

Next, these four workpieces require an angle cut on one end so the assembled framework will tilt backward. You could make these miter cuts on either a miter saw or at your table saw against the miter gauge. Either way, trim one end of each frame piece to 22.5 degrees; the goal is just to trim the ends but not shorten the parts in the process.

Lay out the two uprights with the three hole positions for the connector bolts, using the Plant Stand Frames Drawing. That hardware requires two hole diameters: 7/32″ for the bolt and 3/8″ for the cap nut. At each hole location, drill the smaller hole size (for the bolt) all the way through the upright. Then, on the outside face of the upright, widen each hole with your 3/8″ bit, drilling to a depth of 3/4″ to recess the shaft of the cap nut.

Use the smaller bit size to drill a hole through the end panels of the boxes for the connector bolts, too. Position these holes 1″ in from the back faces of the boxes and centered, top to bottom, on the box ends.

Most woodworkers these days own a pocket-hole jig, and that’s the joinery I used to connect the frame bases to the uprights. To do this, I set up my pocket-hole jig for drilling 1-1/2″-thick stock, and I bored a single screw pocket into the longer bottom face of each frame base, adjacent to its angled end.

Now connect the bases to the uprights with 1-1/2″ pocket screws. Then sand the two frames up through the grits to 150 or 180, and break all of their sharp edges and corners.

Finial Assembly and Finishing Up

You’re ready to put the five pieces of this project together to wrap up its construction. Slide the connector bolts through the holes in the boxes from the inside, fit the frame members onto the bolts and thread on the cap nuts. Tighten the bolts and nuts to hold the boxes level with the ground.

You can stain your new plant stand if you like. But I decided to just wipe mine down with a clear outdoor oil finish to highlight its beautiful grain.

Download the Drawing and Materials List

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