The tools were rudimentary soldering irons I’d found in a bin of loose supplies, and although I had no previous experience using them, the students and I took right to it. We practiced on leftover scraps of wood, ultimately creating some beautiful work we were proud of.

Though simply a fleeting project idea at the time — a small, nearly unnoticeable moment in the bustle of long, creative days — that brief introduction to a brand new way to “draw” sparked my now decade-long fascination with an art form known as pyrography.

As a lifelong lover of drawing, I relished that pyrography welcomed my skills and gave them a broader application. The fact that you can burn on so many different materials and objects means there are endless iterations to try. The versatility kept it fresh. Over time, the simple tools I started with were replaced with better ones. My self-taught techniques began to coalesce into something orderly and methodical, and my ideas became more prolific and complex. What continues to captivate me is multifaceted.

Sensory, Creative Path

Woodburning is a sensory experience as much as a creative path — a call to understand the nature of wood and a way to transform it into something more than what it is. With an aroma of woodsmoke in the air, each day at my workbench is a different one. I enjoy the unique challenges that a wooden “canvas” presents and the reward of progress as I gain fluency with my tools. Much like meditation, I must synchronize my body and mind upon the focal point in front of me that rests solely in the present moment. Each work is attentively created while my woodburning pen acts as the mediary, transforming heat, pressure, time, intention and once-living wood tissue into a piece of art. As a detail-oriented nature lover, I find myself at home in this process. It feels meaningful, and it’s fun!

After my daughter was born, pyrography began to take up a larger space in my life and my imagination. As my little girl began to grow, my hobby did as well. With the encouragement of my husband, it became a business. As all work-from-home mothers in creative fields know, this path takes dedication and persistence, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. For the ones courageous enough to say yes to the daily grind of making your dreams a reality, I salute you.

The enriching experiences and opportunities that have come into my life through the art of pyrography cannot be overstated. I’ve had the honor and pleasure of creating many meaningful gifts over the years. I have been asked to burn artful urns, heirloom-quality keepsakes, personalized wedding plaques and of course lots of beautiful, functional items to be used and worn.

In 2019, I was able to share my passion for pyrography through writing a book, which has since been released. These days I am a published author, full-time artist, raspberry farmer, mother and pyrography educator. I create a wide array of wood-burned offerings that I sell online and through craft shows. I also teach others the art of pyrography through my book and online courses.

What’s most meaningful about the creative path I’ve chosen is seeing the way that it has rippled outward into the world. I now have the full-circle joy of hearing from others whose love of woodburning was ignited by my own. I proudly started a series of adorable collaborations with my daughter, who is just as excited about making art as I was at her age. There are always more ideas to imagine and projects to try just over the horizon, and I look forward to what future creativity awaits. If I’ve learned anything over the years it’s this: small moments have big potential, every story begins somewhere, practice makes progress, and with a little luck and a lot of determination, you might be surprised what you’re capable of creating.

The post Pyrography: A Brand New Way to Draw appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Wood is harvested and cut into chunks or billets that are roughly the size of a spoon. Then material is removed, first with an axe followed by knives to reveal the finished spoon. You could just grab a piece of wood and a knife and start carving until you end up with a spoon, but you’ll get much better and consistent results when you have a deliberate plan.

Carving Learned Best in Person

I recently spent the day with Erik Vevang, a builder and wood carver in Minneapolis. He and his wife Michele teach traditional Scandinavian carving techniques. I’ve carved a few spoons before, but my knowledge for those spoon projects came from books. It’s amazing how much faster and more effectively you learn, especially handcraft skills, when you are taught in person by someone with skill and experience.

It’s easiest to carve “green” wood, which is wood that is freshly cut and still has a lot of moisture content. This means you’ll be carving wood that is from your local area. In my neck of the woods, birch and fruit woods are most commonly used for carving spoons.

Erik first taught me several basic carving techniques. Each technique or grip is effective for different applications. Some are better for removing larger amounts of wood and others are intended for more delicate and detailed cuts. We practiced those techniques by carving a set of chopsticks. After all, how difficult could it be to carve two straight sticks? The first one wasn’t too difficult. The trick is making a second one that matches the first. If you’re new to carving, I recommend this exercise.

Axe First, Then Knives

Then we moved on to carving a spoon. Erik traces a template of the spoon style he is making on the wood billet. He uses an axe to roughly carve the top view spoon shape. Then he draws the side view and location of the crank or bend in the spoon and carves to those layout lines. At this point he is done with the axe and has a spoon blank. Making these controlled cuts requires a small, sharp axe. He grips the axe near its head and uses short strokes to increase control. An easier way to cut out a spoon blank is with a band saw, but that’s not the sloyd way.

Erik follows a similar order of operations with the knife as he did with the axe, starting by carving the top view outline of the spoon. From there he moves to dishing out the bowl with a hook knife. It’s easiest to carve the bowl by working from the edges toward the middle. Next, he works on shaping the handle and back of the bowl. When he gets to the point that he feels the spoon is done, he sets it aside to dry for a couple of weeks. He returns to the dry spoon to make the final finishing cuts. It’s hard to remove a lot of material when carving dry wood, but it’s easier to make crisp and clean finish cuts at this point.

Erik’s style is to leave the crisp knife facets on the surface of the spoon. Others prefer to sand the surface smooth. You may also choose to paint the handle. The final step is to apply a simple wipe-on food-safe finish to the spoon, such as walnut oil, salad bowl oil, mineral oil or linseed oil.

The post PROJECT: Traditional Spoon Carving appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Material Choices Add Interest

This bookcase was built from three different thickness of Baltic birch plywood. I chose to use different thicknesses for the frame and shelves to make the design more interesting. You could also make the frame and shelves out of solid lumber such as pine or choose a hardwood instead for added durability.

Cut all the parts to size with a table saw or circular saw using the Material List as your guide, with the exception of the side panels. To make the dado plowing process easier, cut a blank of plywood large enough to make both sides from the same piece: 3/4″ x 18-5/8″ x 29-3/8″. The 18-5/8″ dimension is the width of two sides, plus the thickness of a saw kerf. Examine your stock and decide which faces and edges will be the “presentation” sides. That means you’ll want the nicest-looking surfaces facing outward on the sides and upward on the shelves, bottom and top. Even if you are painting the project, it’s a good idea to keep minor blemishes or odd grain on the inner and downward faces. Label the components to ensure that you’ll keep these nicer faces oriented in the presentation direction as you continue. For clarity, I like to use painter’s tape and a dark marker rather than a pencil.

Starting with Cabinet Joinery

This bookcase’s joinery is fairly straightforward and can be done quickly, especially if you use a dadoing jig. The 1/2″-thick shelves and 3/4″-thick bottom fi t into 3/8″-deep dadoes in the the back edges of the side panels accommodates the cabinet back. We’ll cut the dadoes first.

Mark the dado location for the bottom panel and each shelf on the blank for the side panels you cut earlier. (These locations are provided in the Drawings, but you can easily adjust these measurements to suit whatever shelf spacing you prefer.)

Using the height of the kick plate as your starting point, mark the first 3/4″-wide dado for the bottom panel at 2-1/2″. Then mark 1/2″-wide dadoes for the shelves at 11-1/4″ and 19-3/4″ up from the bottom edge of the sides blank.

Now you’re ready to plow these dadoes, but be aware that plywood is often not exactly the thickness that it’s labeled. A piece of 3/4″-thick plywood, for instance, may actually be 11/16″ or 23/32″ thick.

So using a 3/4″-diameter bit to cut the shelf and bottom-panel dadoes will make them too wide. When routing dadoes for plywood, it’s better to make multiple passes with a router bit that’s smaller than the thickness of the plywood, in order to “sneak up” on a perfect fit.

You can make a jig to do this, but I used Rockler’s clever new Perfect Fit Dado Jig instead. It features a mechanism that sets up the jig to perfectly match the width of the dado to the workpiece. The jig travels along a clamped straightedge.

If you do the same, set up the jig to match the thickness of the bottom panel. For the bottom, use a 1/2″-diameter straight or spiral bit to form the 3/4″-wide dadoes. Repeat the same process to rout the two 1/2″-wide shelf dadoes, but instead of a 1/2″-diameter bit, you need to switch to a 3/8″-diameter bit for the narrower dado cuts.

The bookcase’s back panel fits into rabbets on the rear edges of the two sides. Head to your router table and set it up to form a 3/8″-deep by 1/4″-wide rabbet cut. By milling these rabbets last, you’ll remove any tearout from the back edges of the side panels that was created by the previous dado cuts. Then split this workpiece into two 9-1⁄4″-wide side panels at the table saw.

At this point, all your workpieces are prepped and nearly ready for assembly. But before moving on, sand them smooth — it’s much easier to do this now.

Boring Pocket Holes

We’ll use pocket holes and screws to secure the bookcase’s top, kick plate and rails. Set up your pocket-hole jig and bore two screw pockets in the top end of the sides.

In the same manner, drill a pair of evenly spaced pockets on the inside ends of the kick plate. For the narrow two upper rails, a single pocket hole on each end is all you need.

Paint First, Then Put It Together

I chose to paint the faces of all the parts but leave their edges and the shelves bare as a decorative accent. A small foam paint roller is an excellent applicator for this job; it lays down a smooth, even coat that dries quickly.

The contrast between the painted panels and the plywood edges creates a clean, modern look, and the void-less construction of Baltic birch plywood makes exposed edges like this possible. Leave the bare edges unfinished so glue will create a stronger bond.

Once the paint dries, you’re ready to put this bookcase together. As with any woodworking project, dry fitting the parts with clamps is a must. This process verifies that all the pieces go together properly and gives you an opportunity to test your assembly process before you reach a point of no return. After all, glue is permanent!

Apply glue into the dadoes on one bookcase side and, being careful to mind your directional labels, set the shelves and bottom into place so they’re flush with the bookcase’s front.

Because these parts are 1/4″ narrower than the side panels, they should also be perfectly flush with the back-panel rabbet.

Go ahead and apply glue into the dadoes on the other side panel and fit it into position on the shelves and bottom panel. Clamp everything up as you had practiced, and check it for square.

When the subassembly dries install the remaining pieces, except for the back panel. Use both glue and screws when you mount the kick plate, but pocket-hole screws are all you need for securing the rest of the parts.

The final step is to set the back panel into its rabbets and attach it with 3/4″ brad nails. One big benefit to a tightly fitting and well-secured back panel is that it makes a structure like this more rigid and keeps it square under load.

Bookcases are often gateway projects to bigger and more sophisticated woodworking pursuits. But I think this little bookcase is a wonderful piece of furniture in its own right.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

Hard-to-Find Hardware:

3/4″ Baltic Birch Plywood, 24″ W x 30″ L (2) #63453
1/2″ Baltic Birch Plywood, 24″ W x 30″ L (1) #63446
1/4″ Baltic Birch Plywood, 24″ W x 30″ L (1) #63420
General Finishes Milk Paint, Pint, China Blue (1) #73131
Perfect Fit Dado Jig (1) #59385
Wooster Short Stuff Touch-Up Kit (1) #53197
EZ-Mark Line Cords (1) #32527

The post PROJECT: Simple Bookcase appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Making the Aprons and Legs

Take a few minutes to study the leg base drawings. One thing I didn’t mention already is that the interface between the inner and outer frameworks will involve some close tolerances, because the outer dovetailed apron assembly effectively “captures” the inner walnut framework. These inner frames also connect to the legs’ offset upper tenons with tongue-and-groove joints. It’s precision work, to be sure.

We’ll join the four aprons together first, then machine the legs and their tenons so we can be certain of the fi nal part lengths for the inner frames’ rails. So start by preparing four blanks for the front, back and side aprons. Make up a set of full-size test pieces for these parts too, from scrap stock.

Set up your dovetail jig to mill through dovetail joints. The Leigh D4R Pro jig that I used can produce variable-spaced dovetail patterns, which adds a customized detail to the joinery. You can see the layout I followed for spacing the tails on the ends of the side aprons in the drawing. If your jig isn’t able to create variable-spaced dovetails, you could rout a regular pattern of tails and pins instead. They’ll work fine.

Mill dovetails into your apron test pieces and refine your dovetail jig setup until they fit together with light pressure. When they do, machine the dovetails on the actual apron parts. Final-sand the aprons up to 180-grit, and glue them together. Squareness of this assembly is critical, so be careful about where and how tightly you position your clamps.

Next, prepare four blanks for the legs as well as a test piece from 8/4 solid stock so you can dial in your joinery and taper cuts. Surface these parts to 1-3⁄4″ square, and mark their ends to keep their orientation clear. I chose to cut my leg stock from riftsawn portions of my lumber for a more consistent grain pattern on all four faces.

The leg base’s walnut inner frames will have continuous tongues on their ends that fit into matching grooves on the legs. So we’ll begin by cutting the leg grooves. Install a 1/4″-diameter straight or spiral bit in your router table, and set the fence 1/2″ from the closest edge of the bit.

Lay out the positions of a pair of 1/4″-wide, 5-1/4″-long grooves on the legs. These grooves are located 1/2″ back from the inside corner of each leg on adjacent faces. Then make two reference marks on your router table that indicate the cutting limits of the straight or spiral bit so you’ll know where to start and stop these groove cuts.

Rout the leg grooves into a test piece. Make each groove cut in several passes of increasing depth until they’re 3/8″ deep. When I routed these pairs of grooves, I cut in from the top end of the leg for one groove but switched to a “drop cut” (starting at the closed end of the groove and cutting outward to the end of the leg) for the other groove. Doing this enabled me to keep the same fence setup for the entire milling operation. If you’re satisfied with the groove cutting results on your test piece, repeat the process on the actual leg blanks. Then chisel the bottom ends of the grooves square.

With the grooves milled, it’s time to raise 1″-square x 3-1/4″- long offset tenons on the top ends of the leg test piece and the actual legs. I cut these at the table saw with a wide dado blade raised to a cutting height of 3/4″. Keep your concentration focused when forming the cheeks and shoulders of these tenons to avoid mistakes: you are cutting away material only on the faces without groove cuts. Don’t get confused. The two inside (grooved) faces of the legs are tapered. These tapers begin 5-1⁄4″ down from the top ends and reduce the legs to 1-1/4″ square at their bottom ends. Lay out and cut both tapers on your leg test piece first before committing to the actual leg blanks. Be very careful when making these taper cuts as well; they can be confusing, considering the unusual placement of the offset tenons. Mark them clearly so you can visually confirm each cut before making it.

When the dust clears from that operation, smooth the tapered faces and remove any sawing marks with a sharp hand plane or by sanding. Chamfer the bottom ends of the legs to help safeguard against splintering down the road, and ease the long, sharp edges of the legs slightly with a sanding block.

Assembling the Leg Base

Position and clamp the four legs against the inside corners of the assembled apron with the apron resting on the tenons’ shoulders. Now measure the distance between the bottoms of the groove cuts so you can determine the overall length of the top and bottom rails we’ll build next for the leg base’s internal frames. Add 1/16″ to these long (front, back) and short (side) rail measurements. That way, you’ll be able to shorten them a little at a time for a perfect final fit.

The inner frames could be made conventionally with four sticks of long-grain material each, like a cabinet door. But in this case, those frames would come together at the corners without reinforced joinery — only weak, cross-grain butt joints. So I decided to make my frames by cutting the rails from long-grain material and the stiles from short-grain material of the same board sections. I started with 7/8″-thick, overly wide boards cut to the final rail lengths as determined in the previous step. I ripped a 3″-wide strip from each board’s center, first, then ripped the top and bottom rails from the pieces that straddled these center portions. I crosscut the stiles from the ends of the center piece. With this strategy, each frame has continuous, matching grain with an opening that appears as though it was simply cut out of the middle of a board. It also allows the corner joints to be long-grain connections — a much stronger gluing solution than cross-grain.

Carefully glue the rails and stiles together to form the four long and short inner frames. I used hide glue for this operation, because the excess can be removed with water and a little scrubbing after it cures. That’s a handy benefit when cleaning out their inside corners, especially when half of each inside corner joint is end grain that wicks up glue, which is notoriously hard to clean away. Once the glue dries, surface the inner frames down to 3/4″ thick. While you’re at it, prepare a test piece for each inner frame. These will be helpful in refining the final inner frame joints and part lengths.

Go ahead and glue and clamp the legs into place within the apron. When the clamps come off, sand the legs and outer surfaces of the apron assembly up to 180-grit. Now it’s time to fit the inner frames in their grooves. The ends of the frames require 1/4″-thick, 3/8″-long tongues to fit into the leg grooves. So set up your table saw with a wide dado blade, and make a tongue on one end of one scrap piece. See if it fits the leg grooves, and raise or lower the blade slightly as needed to improve the fit. You want the tongues to be snug but not tight.

When you have the tongue-cutting blade setup dialed in, head to your miter saw to crosscut the four test frame pieces to the correct length for each of the long and short frames. Be advised that the lengths may vary by fractions of an inch for each frame, depending on the accuracy with which you’ve made the legs and aprons up to this point. But that’s the advantage of making a test piece for each frame.

Now raise tongues on the ends of the test frame workpieces and check that they seat properly in their grooves. If they do, mill tongues on the actual frames and dry fit them. Make sure the top rail edges align with the top ends of the leg tenons to form a flat top surface for supporting the upper cabinet.

Give the frames a final sanding. I stained them with Watco Dark Walnut oil/varnish blend to warm up the walnut’s grayish and purplish undertones. When the finish cured, I spread glue into the grooves and fit the frames into place on the base.

The base still needs a means of connection to the upper cabinet. My solution was a pair of 1″-thick, 1-1⁄2″-wide cleats attached to the upper rails of the inner frames. Before installing them, I drilled a round center screw hole and machined two slotted outer holes for attaching the cabinet, to account for its inevitable cross-grain, front-to-back wood movement.

Building the Dovetailed Cabinet

With the leg base’s construction completed, glue up panels for the cabinet’s top, bottom and sides, plus a spare panel or two that you can use as setup aids for adjusting your dovetail jig. When the panels come out of the clamps, sand them smooth and flush, and trim them to final size.

As I mentioned earlier, my Leigh D4R Pro Dovetail jig has an adjustable guide finger assembly that allows through dovetail patterns to be spaced variably. I tried out a couple of tail pattern options on a piece of scrap to settle on a custom pattern that I liked. The only way to truly see what the effect will be is to rout a sample piece, so it’s worth the effort.

The D4R Pro requires that the tails of a through dovetail joint be routed first, then the pin boards are routed and the jig adjusted to fit these tails. After routing a test piece to check my setup one more time, I cut the tail patterns into the top and bottom ends of the carcass side panels.

Flipping the guide finger assembly over on this jig resets it for cutting pins and tail sockets on the ends of the top and bottom panels. That was the next task, with the first pass done on a test board using a straight bit in the router this time. It took a couple of rounds of test cuts, then making small adjustments to the jig’s setup, to reach a satisfactory “push fit” of the pins into the tail board sockets. Here’s where patience and methodical procedure will pay off in the long run. Take your time.

When all four panels are dovetailed, dry assemble the corner joints and check the cabinet carcass for square. Then carry out a full practice run of installing the clamps you’ll use for gluing up the cabinet so you’ll know where and how to apply pressure best. I created a plywood clamping caul for each joint that directs clamping pressure to the tails to help press them into their sockets. When everything is ready, spread glue onto the pins and into their sockets on the tail boards, and assemble the joints.

After the glue dries, flatten any protruding tails and pins with a hand plane or by sanding. Make sure the front and back edges of the carcass are also flush with one another, and plane them flat if they aren’t.

This cabinet’s 1/2″-thick plywood back panel fits into a 1/2″ x 1/2″ rabbet in the carcass back. I milled these rabbets at the router table.

Square up their curved inside corners carefully with a chisel. Now measure and cut a walnut plywood back panel to size. Sand it smooth and install it on the cabinet carcass with 1-1⁄4″ brad nails driven into the rabbets.

Adding the Figured Slab Doors

This cabinet’s 11″-wide doors are simply slabs of solid lumber. I made mine from glued-up blanks of a single piece of beautifully figured cherry. Make sure when you prepare your door blanks that the stock is as flat as possible. Trim the door blanks carefully to final length, allowing about 1/16″ of swing clearance between the door and cabinet carcass on the top and bottom.

I decided to hang my doors on conventional, solid brass 2″ butt hinges. Using a simple shop-made template jig and piloted mortising bit, I routed hinge leaf mortises 2-5/8″ in from the ends of the doors on their outer edges. Mount the hinge leaves to the doors with a single screw for now. Set each door into place on the cabinet and resting on a spacer (I used strips of scrap plastic laminate) so you can mark the hinge leaf locations directly onto the front edges of the cabinet carcass. Use a knife or mechanical pencil with a fine lead to “tick” these locations carefully for an exact fit. Then rout or chisel the hinge leaf mortises on the inside faces of the cabinet. I used the same clamp-on mortising jig for this milling step.

Hang the doors on the cabinet with single screws in the hinge leaves, and check the swing clearance of both doors. Then mark and trim the doors to final width, allowing for about 1/16″ of space between them. I do that by marking and trimming one door at a time, rehanging it before marking and trimming the other door. After that, I turned 1-1⁄8″ diameter walnut knobs on the lathe for my doors to give the doors one more handmade touch. I centered them on the door lengths and spread them 1-1⁄8″ apart, horizontally.

Rehang the doors so you can mark the interior of the cabinet for door catch hardware. I used brass, spring-loaded bearing catches. Install the catches, and adjust them as needed.

Accessorizing the Interior with Wire Hardware

Rev-A-Shelf offers brass-colored wine bottle and stemware holders that are unobtrusive and easy to install. I mounted two wine bottle and two stemware racks to the cabinet’s inside top with screws. Then I inverted the cabinet and fastened the leg base to it with six #10 x 1-1⁄2″ wood screws. Center the leg base on the cabinet, all around.

Finishing Up

Now remove the doors and all hardware up to this point so you can apply finish to the leg base and cabinet. I wiped on several coats of Watco Natural finish to give both the walnut and cherry a pleasing amber tone. When that thoroughly dried, I top-coated the project with satin lacquer to add more durability and shine. Wait a day, then fasten the cabinet to its base again. Mount the doors and wire bottle and stemware hardware one last time to wrap things up on this involved project.

All that’s left to do is to fill your new cabinet with several bottles of your favorite vintages, wine glasses and other bottles of special spirits you may wish to store inside it, too.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

Hard-to-Find Hardware:

11″ Stemware Holder, Brass (2) #1001876
Double Bottle Rack, Brass (2) #1001882
Polished Brass Ball Tip Hinge, 2″ L x 1-1/2″ W (2) #26484
Brass Ball Catch, 1-29/32″ Long x 11/32″ Wide (2) #28662

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

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Cherry Wine Cabinet: Our senior editor clocks some hours on his Leigh D4R Pro Dovetail Jig to produce a Krenov-inspired chest-on-legs that’s ideal for storing your favorite wines.

Simple Bookcase: Measuring and cutting parts, then assembling them with a variety of joinery, isn’t just for entry-level woodworking projects — these are commonplace tasks for everything we build. This straightforward but attractive bookcase will help you put those bread-and-butter woodworking skills through their paces.

Timber and Epoxy Table: If you haven’t yet tried your hand at the “river pour” table craze, our publisher submerges a piece of rough-around-the-edges maple into a bath of Timber Cast Deep-pour Epoxy Resin and shares his experiences. Lessons were learned!

Traditional Spoon Carving: An axe and a couple of carving knives are all the tools you’ll need to fashion hand-made wooden spoons in the Swedish sloyd tradition. A Minneapolis-area carving expert shows us the ropes.

Woodturning: Texturizing can take your faceplate or spindle turnings from dull to dazzling. Our expert reviews these techniques and offers words of wisdom about each.

Tool Tutorial: A.J. Hamler will help you navigate the important features when choosing or building a router table. It’s an accessory that can maximize a router’s full potential.

Tool Preview: Take a sneak peek at SKIL’s brand new mid-size router, outfitted with a digital display and both fixed and plunge bases.

Hardworking Woods: Much revered, particularly in the Arts & Crafts furniture world, white oak is heavy and tough as nails but surprisingly easy to work. In quartersawn form, it’s medullary rays can be dazzling.

Finishing Corner: Expert finisher Tim Inman and our staff answer your often-asked finishing questions.

Getting Started: This new department for newbies will examine woodworking fundamentals. We kick off the discussion with an overview of why you need to make and follow a material list.

Buying Lumber: Knowing how to estimate lumber volumetrically isn’t difficult, once you understand a couple of straightforward formulas. Using them correctly can save you from both miscalculations and overspending at the lumberyard.

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In this case, we visited Vevang Studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to learn about traditional hand tools and carving techniques used to make a wooden spoon. Erik Vevang demonstrates how to properly and safely use a few carving knives to make a beautiful and useful spoon.

The post VIDEO: Carving Knives and How to Use Them appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

This organizer fits Rockler’s Router Table Steel Stand.

Building the Center Drawer Cabinet

Let’s kick this project off by cutting the drawer cabinet’s top, bottom and sides to size. You’ll notice in the Drawings that the top and bottom panel require 3/4″-wide, 3/8″-deep rabbets milled into their ends to fit the side panels. Cut those rabbets now with a wide dado blade buried partially in a sacrificial fence at the table saw.

Dry assemble the top, bottom and sides so you can take final measurements for the back panel — it simply butts against the back of the cabinet rather than fitting into it. Cut the back panel to final size.

I decided to install the cabinet back using pocket screw joints, so I bored four holes into the inside faces of each cabinet side for this purpose. If you don’t have a pocket screw jig, you could attach the back with brads, screws or even glue alone, if you’d rather not see fasteners. Give the cabinet part surfaces a light sanding, then spread glue along the top and bottom panel rabbets, and assemble the carcass with clamps.

When the glue dries, attach the cabinet-side drawer slide components to the side panels with screws. Center them vertically, making sure they’re parallel with the cabinet top and bottom so the drawer will slide smoothly. A couple of scrap spacers can make this process easier and more foolproof than aligning the hardware by measuring.

Install the back panel on the cabinet. Its edges should be flush with the outside edges of the carcass.

Making the Drawer

On a shop project like this, I like to keep drawer construction simple but strong, and there are other options besides dovetails. While they aren’t the fanciest choice, rabbet-and-dado joints have stood the test of time for me, so that’s what I used for this drawer. Start the construction process by cutting the front, back and side panels to shape.

A 1/4″-wide dado blade, raised 1/4″, will take care of all the cuts you’ll need to make for the corner joints and drawer bottom groove. Set your table saw’s rip fence 1/4″ away from the blade, and cut a dado across the inside face of the side panels on both ends. Now, without moving the fence, cut a drawer bottom groove along the inside face of the front, back and side panels.

Install a sacrificial facing on the rip fence, and slide it over until the dado blade just “kisses” the fence facing; this sets up the rabbet cuts for the corner joints. Make a test cut on a scrap piece of 1/2″ plywood, and see if it fits the drawer side dadoes. Raise or lower the blade a nudge, if needed, so the rabbets will fit their dadoes snugly. Cut rabbets across the ends of the outside faces of the drawer front and back, to complete these joints.

Dry assemble the drawer box, and measure the length and width of its inside opening. Add 1/2″ to each of these dimensions, and you’ll have the final proportions for the drawer bottom panel. Cut it to size.

Reinstall the 1/4″ dado blade and sacrificial fence again and, with it raised 1/4″ above the table, mill a rabbet around all four sides of the bottom face of the drawer bottom panel. Test your setup first on a scrap to be sure the rabbet proportions are dialed in correctly; you want the drawer bottom rabbets to fit their grooves so the panel seats inside the drawer box but still allows the corner joints to close completely.

Sand the drawer parts smooth, and assemble the drawer with glue and clamps. All the surface area of these joints will ensure that the drawer will be plenty strong without any added fasteners. Check it for square by measuring the diagonals. Adjust your clamps, if needed, until the diagonal measurements match.

When the clamps come off, attach the drawer-side slide components to the drawer sides, centering them vertically and making sure they’re parallel. Now install the drawer in the cabinet to check its sliding action. If all is well, cut a drawer face to size; the Material List dimensions account for the drawer face having 1/16″ of inset on the sides and bottom of the cabinet opening to provide clearance when the drawer is opened and closed.

I attached the drawer face to the drawer box with several strips of double-sided tape to align it right where I wanted it, checking its position with the drawer installed in the cabinet. Then, I marked the face for the drawer pull and drilled a pair of 3/16″-dia. holes through both the drawer face and the drawer front. The holes in the drawer face, of course, allow for the wire pull’s installation screws. The holes in the drawer front serve a different purpose: here, I enlarged these holes with a 1/2″ Forstner bit. This way, once the wire pull is installed and the drawer face is mounted on the drawer, I’ll always have access to the wire pull’s screw heads from inside the drawer, should they ever loosen up (and often, they do). I used four 1″-long washerhead screws to attach the drawer face permanently. The top two screws were installed first into oversized holes in the drawer front to give me a final bit of adjustability before driving the bottom two screws into regular screw clearance holes.

Constructing the Bit Racks

The two bit racks are identical, so go ahead and cut four tops, bottoms and sides to size. Then, just as you did for the drawer cabinet, load a wide dado blade in the table saw to cut 3/4″-wide, 3/8″-deep rabbets. Cut rabbets in the top and bottom panels for the side panels, then cut a rabbet along the inside back edge of the tops, bottoms and sides for the back panels.

Each side panel also receives 1/8″-deep, 3/4″-wide dadoes cut across the inside face for four bit shelves. Make sure to adjust the width of your dado blade, as needed, to match the thickness of the 3/4″ plywood you’re using for this project — its thickness is probably closer to 23/32″, and you want the bit shelves to fit their dadoes without gaps. Follow the Elevation Drawings on the next page to space these dadoes apart evenly. I cut them with the shelves backed up against a long fence attached to my saw’s miter gauge, using a stop block to set the position of each cut. Flipping the side panels end for end will enable you to make two dado cuts per stop block setting.

With the joinery completed, fit the bit racks together temporarily so you can determine the final dimensions of the back panel and the length of the shelves. Cut the two back panels and eight shelves to size.

All that’s left to do before final sanding and assembly is to drill holes in the shelves and bottom panel for router bit shanks. I’m using Rockler’s new plastic Router Bit Storage Inserts, which will hold either 1/2″- or 1/4″-shank bits.

Over the years, I’ve found that 2″ spacing between bits works well for storing practically any router bit you’ll run across, and that spacing will fit seven bits per shelf here. Mark the shelves and bottom panel according to my spacing (or your own, as you see fit), and drill centered holes for the bits. If you use Rockler’s inserts, these holes are 5/8″ dia. and should be bored all the way through the shelves and bottom panels.

Sand the bit rack components, and assemble the tops, bottoms, sides and back panels with glue and clamps.

Finishing and Installation

Next, I cut a base panel to size. This was also a good time to build a small holder from scrap for storing my router lift’s five aluminum insert rings. After that, I laminated three pieces of 1/2″ plywood together, with a 5/16″ x 5/16″ groove cut along the length of the center piece, to stow my router lift’s height adjustment wrench. It’s easer to install features like these before the racks are in place on the router table, so consider doing the same for your organizer now, with any add-ons.

Remove the drawer slides and wire pull, and you’re ready to apply finish. I used General Finishes water-based High Performance varnish, which applies beautifully with a brush or foam roller and dries quickly. When the finish cures, push the plastic bit inserts into their shelf holes.

To install the organizer, first remove your router lift. I also removed the metal Dust Bucket enclosure around the router motor. Fit the base into place on the router table’s lower cross supports. Rockler provides screw holes if you want to fasten the base to these supports, as I did, driving 1/2″ panhead screws up into it from below. Slide the bit racks and drawer cabinet into place on the base; they’re inset 1/4″ from the base’s edges and ends. Mark the location of the components on the base, and drill pilot holes down through the cabinet bottom into the base for screws. If you have an enclosure around your router, pull the cabinet back out and reinstall the enclosure now. Then slide the cabinet back into position, and fasten it to the base with countersunk screws. Drive more screws through the side walls of the cabinet and into the backs of the bit racks to secure them.

Sooner or later, you’ll want to have a pair of featherboards close at hand for router table operations, and here’s an easy way to store them. I fastened a length of Rockler’s extruded aluminum miter track to the cabinet back, 1-1/2″ down from its top edge. It makes a simple holder for several large featherboards: just tighten one of their expanding miter bars into the track, and they’ll be at the ready when you need them.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

Hard-to-Find Hardware:

Centerline® 14″ Full-extension Drawer Slides (1) #44506
4″ Brushed Satin Nickel Wire Pull (1) #1010901
Router Bit Storage Inserts, 10-Pack (7) #57223
Rockler 36″ Miter Track (1) #48037

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