Even though it wasn’t the best saw in the world — it had a weak motor and a puny 8″ blade that was difficult to tilt — that vintage saw did yeoman’s duty, ripping and crosscutting boards (i.e., cutting them both with and across the grain), cutting miters and bevels and grooves and dadoes. As I took on more complex projects, I discovered just how versatile a table saw could be. Using both store-bought and shop-made jigs, I expanded my saw’s repertoire to include cutting tenons and box joints, raising panels and more.

Just What Can a Table Saw Do?

This versatile machine is capable of such a wide variety of cuts, it’s no wonder that a table saw is the centerpiece of most modern shops.

Using nothing more than the basic equipment that comes standard, you can perform all the basic cuts needed for an endless number of traditional woodworking tasks and home improvement projects:

Using the miter gauge, you can cut 45˚corners for picture and mirror frames and small boxes, cases and drawers. The rip fence is used to cut stock to width, panels to size, or to recut boards, thickness wise, to make your own veneers or split stock to book-match the grain for decorative panels. Working with the saw’s blade tilted, you can take compound cuts for frames, chests or planters with angled sides. Fit the saw with a dado blade and you can cut all manner of grooves, dadoes and rabbets, perfect for simple cabinet joinery, say to build a bookcase or display shelf.

By employing a variety of jigs and fixtures, a table saw can perform a vast array of tasks including:

– Cutting large sheet goods to size. Sliding tables, crosscut sleds, and long extension tables can all be used for safely sawing full-sized sheets of plywood and large panels to final size when building cabinets and furniture.

– Sawing tenons for mortise-and-tenon joinery. Tenons are cut by passing frame members vertically past the saw blade using a sliding jig.

– Cutting box joints. Milled with a dado blade and special jig, box joints are a series of alternating fingers and notches that interlock to form the corners of boxes, drawers, blanket chests, etc.

– Tapering. A tapering jig is used to cut tapered furniture legs and other parts that need to be wider at one end than the other. Bevel-cut tapered staves can be used to build projects with angled sides, like stands and planter boxes.

– Panel raising. By running the edges of a panel vertically past a slightly tilted blade, you can raise them (where the edge is thinner than the middle) for classic looking classic-looking raised panel doors. Smaller panels can be cut using the standard rip fence as a guide; larger panels require a jig.

– Cutting coves and moldings. Using a special fence jig that guides the stock at an angle over the top of the saw blade, you can cut hollow shapes for moldings and trim. (Look online for additional information, including a video, on how to make cove cuts.)

– Shaping stock. Fitting a table saw with a molding head — a special blade with interchangeable cutters — allows you to cut many of the same profiles that you’d normally create with a shaper or router: beads, ogees, flutes, etc.

Choosing a Table Saw

All table saws are basically built the same: a motor powers an arbor-mounted saw blade; controls allow you to raise and/or tilt the blade above a table that supports the workpiece. Beyond that similarity, there are several different types of table saws to choose from, including cabinet, contractor, portable and benchtop. The particular type, make and model saw you choose will depend on various factors, including the saw’s overall size and capacity, how powerful it is, how portable it is, its features and, of course, how well it fits your tool budget. Particular models are better suited to some woodworkers’ needs more than others. For example, it doesn’t matter if your saw is super light and portable if it doesn’t have the power to handle the heavy stock you need to cut and, conversely, a powerful saw doesn’t help you if it’s too big and heavy to move around your shop that must serve double duty as your garage. A quick rundown on the four most common types of table saws will help you decide which one is best for you:

Cabinet Saw

The first choice of professional woodworkers and serious DIYers, the “cabinet” in a cabinet table saw refers to the boxy sheet-metal base that totally encloses the saw’s inner workings. These saws feature heavy-duty trunnions and saw arbors designed to keep their 10″ or 12″ saw blades (depending on the model) running rock solid even during the most punishing cutting situations. Power is supplied by a 2-, 3- or 5-hp induction motor (single or three-phase) controlled by a magnetic motor starter switch. Most models feature a large extension table to the right of a heavy cast-iron saw table and long rails that allow them to cut panels up to 52″ wide or more.

Don’t want to spend big bucks on a top-shelf cabinet saw? Some saws, including JET’s ProShop series, are hybrid models that incorporate some features of cabinet saws into more compact and affordable contractor style machines with partially enclosed bases.

Contractor Saw

The traditional choice of professional contractors and home workshops, the contractor saw includes about three-quarters of the features of a cabinet saw in a lighter and more affordable package.

You can spot this saw by its open-legged sheet metal stand and motor and bracket hanging off the back. Most models feature a 10″ blade, sturdy cast-iron or cast aluminum table and an extension table and fence rails long enough for rip cuts 24 to 30 inches wide or more. Most saws sport induction motors in the 1-1/2- to 2-1/2 hp range: ample enough to power a saw blade through wet construction lumber, thick sheet goods and hardwood stock.

Portable Jobsite and Benchtop Saws

Although lighter and more compact than other saws, portable jobsite and benchtop table saws are impressively powerful and full-featured. Most models use a standard 10″ saw blade and have the same depth-of-cut capacity (3-1/8″ at 90°) as full-sized saws. To get a portable’s weight down, heavy steel and iron parts are replaced by aluminum alloy castings and/or molded plastic. Weighty induction motors are replaced by the same kinds of universal motors used in portable power tools. Although noisier and not as powerful as induction motors, universal motors can handle most light- and medium-duty cutting jobs. Some portables have built-in folding stands with wheels that make them very easy to move around and stow when not in use. Benchtop models have short bases and must be mounted on a work table or stand before they’re ready to run.

Selecting Blades

Although just about any saw blade will cut wood, you’ll get better long-term performance with a good carbide-tooth combination or “general-purpose” blade, such as the Forrest Woodworker II. As their name implies, these blades can tackle most of the everyday cuts taken on a table saw. But for the best, cleanest, cuts, choose a saw blade that’s specifically designed for the kind of cut you’re taking.

Crosscut blades, such as Freud’s D1080X Diablo, employ a high number of teeth (60 to 80 on a 10″ blade) with an alternating-top-bevel (ATB) tooth grind to produce square- or miter-cut ends that look as though they were sanded smooth. In contrast, ripping blades have far fewer teeth: typically 24 to 30 on a 10″ saw blade. Each rip tooth has a flat grind and a high hook angle, allowing it to slice through wood fibers along the length of a board. Thin-kerf blades (combo, crosscut or rip) require less motor power to run and generate less sawdust, to boot.

For super-clean cuts in materials such as plywood, melamine, plastics and nonferrous metals, choose a saw blade specially designed for cutting that material.

Cutting wide grooves, dadoes and notches for joinery, such as box joints, calls for a dado blade. A stacking dado set sandwiches individual chipper blades between a pair of outer saw blades. You change the width of the groove/dado by using more or fewer chipper blades, with shims between them.

Table Saw Safety

First of all: never adjust a table saw or check a saw blade without first unplugging the saw. Using safe table saw operating practices (see the “Making the Cut” section of this article for more), push sticks and featherboards can help avoid unfortunate accidents — as can the following safety devices specifically designed for your saw:

– Blade guard. Most stock blade guards have a hinged, clear plastic hood that surrounds the saw blade, allowing stock to be fed while preventing fingers from straying into the blade. The guard also deflects sawdust and small cutoffs from being thrown up toward the operator. Unfortunately, stock blade guards can be fussy to set up and must be removed for operations such as dadoing, box joint cutting, etc. It’s best to employ shop-made guards during these special operations, or fit the saw with an over-arm-style guard: a clear box-like guard suspended above the saw blade.

– Splitters and anti-kickback pawls. Whether built into the blade guard or mounted separately, a splitter (aka riving knife) is a thin steel vein set right behind the blade. It’s designed to keep the saw kerf from closing up and binding the blade as stock exits the cut, thus preventing the saw motor from stalling and the work from being hurled back at the user. Usually mounted on either side of a blade’ guard’s splitter, anti-kickback pawls are spring-loaded fingers with serrated points that scrape along the top of the work as it’s fed through the cut. They are “one-way” devices that further prevent stock from kicking back.

– SawStop. One of the most significant developments in table saw safety is the safety system incorporated into all SawStop brand table saws. The blade on the saw is charged with a small electrical signal. If the user’s skin accidentally contacts the blade, the electrical signal change activates the saw’s safety system: An aluminum brake springs into the spinning blade, stopping its rotation in less than five milliseconds. The blade’s angular momentum drives it down beneath the saw table, removing the risk of subsequent contact, and power to the motor is shut off.

– Dust Collection. Although it doesn’t prevent saw blade-related accidents, using dust collection with a table saw is an important part of protecting yourself from respiratory-related ailments.

That’s especially important because most table saws throw dust around like crazy. Fortunately, most saws these days feature a dust port, which makes hooking the machine up to a portable or central dust collector a simple matter.

Prepare a Successful Cut

Before you take your first cut, it’s important to make sure that your table saw is clean, in good condition and properly adjusted. (You can find hints on how to make this happen in my table saw tune-up article, posted online.) A poorly set up and/or maintained saw is not only bound to be less accurate, but it also can be downright dangerous to use. For example, stock being ripped using an improperly aligned rip fence may kick back suddenly and cause injury. Also make sure your saw blade is sharp and running smoothly, without vibration or obvious wobbling.

Basic saw prep before any cut should begin with checking the angle and height of the saw blade. Once you’ve mounted and secured the best type of blade for the job at hand, install a throatplate that, ideally, has the narrowest opening that still allows the blade to spin freely. For regular 90˚ cuts, raise the saw blade up to near full height and check the blade’s squareness with a dependably accurate try square, placing the edge of the try square flat against the body of the blade. It helps to put a flashlight behind the square as you sight to see if there’s any light showing between the square and blade. If there is, adjust the angle using the table saw’s bevel (tilt) adjuster (reset the tilt stop if necessary).

For bevel cuts, tilt the saw blade to the desired angle and check it with a protractor, angle block or sliding bevel. After adjustments, it’s very important to reset the height of the saw blade so that only about 1/4″ of the blade protrudes above the thickness of the stock you intend to cut.

From there on, saw preparation depends on the kind of cut you intend to make. When ripping stock, set the distance between the face of the rip fence and edges of a saw blade tooth closest to the fence to the desired width of cut (your fence should already be adjusted so that it’s near parallel to the saw blade, with just a skosh of clearance at the back edge of the blade). If your fence has a built-in cursor and scale, make sure that it reads accurately with the blade you’re using; double-check with a rule if there’s any doubt. Lock the fence, and you’re ready to rip.

To prepare for crosscutting, set the angle of your miter gauge relative to the blade. As when checking blade squareness or tilt, use a try square or protractor/ bevel gauge to check the setting (your saw table’s miter slots should already be set parallel to the saw blade). Now is a good time to set the miter gauge’s built-in stop(s), so you can repeat oft-used angle settings (90°, 45°, etc.) more quickly in the future.

Tilt Right or Left?

Traditionally, table saws tilted their blades to the right, in the direction of the rip fence, as was viewed most practical for right-handed users. A few long-standing models, including the Powermatic model 66, tilt their blades to the left, which helps prevent stock from binding and kicking back during bevel cuts. Taking miter cuts with the blade tilted left is also advantageous, as marked cut lines are on top where you can see them. While many woodworkers still prefer a right-tilt saw, left-tilting saws are popular enough that many makes/models of cabinet, contractor and portable saws are now available as southpaws.

Making the Cut

Regardless of the kind of cut you’re making, make sure that the stock — and your hand and fingers — are clear of the blade before hitting the saw’s “On” switch. When taking a rip cut, make sure that one edge of the stock has been planed or jointed so that it’s arrow straight. Set that edge against the rip fence, start the saw, then use a push stick to feed the work into the spinning blade. Feed at an even rate of speed while keeping the work in firm contact with the fence. If your stock is narrow, it’s best to use a featherboard to keep the work pressed against the fence and down on the saw table. Whenever possible, stand to the side of the stock and blade rather than directly behind it. That way, if the workpiece is kicked back, it won’t strike you.

When ripping dense hardwoods or “problem” boards (wood with knots, twisting grain, etc.), the motor/blade may bog down as you cut. In this case, try easing off on your feed speed. If the work starts smoking or binds on the blade, it’s best to turn the saw off immediately, remove the board, then repeat the cut or switch to a different piece of lumber.

Large panels and sheet goods can also be ripped using the rip fence as a guide. If you cut a really big piece, make sure it’s well supported at both ends of the cut with infeed and outfeed tables or supports. You can also crosscut large panels as long as the work isn’t too long or the side that rides against the fence isn’t too narrow.

When using the miter gauge, make sure that the end of long workpieces won’t hang up on the rip fence before you begin. Unless your stock is hard to handle, you can use hand pressure to keep the work firmly planted against the face of the gauge (a piece of peel-and-stick sandpaper applied to the face helps keep the work steady during cutting). When you’re ready, slide the miter gauge and work slowly and evenly through the cut, making sure to keep both hands well clear of the blade. After the cut is complete, it’s safest to shut the saw off before removing the workpiece and cutoff scrap: never reach over a spinning saw blade! For long, large, or extra short workpieces, either clamp the work to the gauge’s head or use a table saw crosscutting sled or specialized jig.

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The story of the Eustis Mansion began on November 7, 1876, when Edith Hemenway married W. E. C. Eustis. Peter says, “The Hemenway and Eustis family properties in Milton bordered each other. Edith’s mother, Mary Hemenway, gave the couple approximately 181 acres on the adjoining properties to build their new home.” Historic New England describes the Queen Anne style mansion as “a marvel of the Aesthetic Movement.” Locally prominent architect William Ralph Emerson designed the home. Peter says, “Unfortunately, not many of William Ralph Emerson’s papers survived. There isn’t one great repository of his work and that is regrettable because he was pretty prolific. Today, Emerson isn’t very well-known and just recently two of his fantastic houses in the area have been demolished. We are hoping the Eustis Estate will shed new light on Emerson’s body of work.” (Emerson was the fourth cousin of author Ralph Waldo Emerson.) Regarding the decor, Peter says, “We don’t know if the emphasis on wood was determined by the young couple, Emerson, interior designers or Edith’s mother, Mary Hemenway.”

Detective work has tracked down many of the craftsmen who worked on the mansion. Unfortunately, the woodworker remains a mystery. Evidence points to a Boston carver, possibly a German, named Caspar W. Roeth. Peter says, “There aren’t any maker’s marks visible on the wood, but Roeth was working with Emerson at the time the Eustis mansion was being built.” Roeth’s obituary in the Boston Journal on November 21, 1891, described him as a “well known manufacturer of artistic furniture and a decorator of buildings.”

Peter notes, “The family’s heavily carved wooden furniture was likely purchased on the couple’s Italian honeymoon in 1876. We found the word ‘Firenze’ underneath one of the pieces, so we feel confident that it came from Florence. Some carved panels in the mansion might have been done by Luigi Frullini. He was working on the Chateausur-Mer mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, at the same time the Eustis Mansion was being built. The fireplaces do not have any identification, but there isn’t any evidence they were imported. This is still a new property for us. We have only been in the house for two years, and we hope to learn much more.”

Michaela adds, “The mansion has all types of wood, and the carvings have subtle differences throughout the building. Every time I looked at a section of wood, I found something different. In the dining room, there are birds and grapevines. Some paneling has starbursts, swirls; upstairs, there are faces and cartouches. The carving is very playful. The wood is not constrained by one pattern throughout the house. Many houses often have the same types of wood and motif throughout, but not here. The elaborately carved fireplaces all have different style variations; some of them are subtle.” She suspects “the fireplace in the dining room might be by someone not part of the larger woodwork project. It looks like a different hand.”

Overall, Michaela said, “The wood is in extremely good condition. The family took very good care of it, and it shows. I can imagine them telling the children to be careful playing in the house.”

Liz Peirce, a Mellon Fellow in art conservation who worked on the Eustis restoration, detailed the cleaning process: “We used a mild citrate solution on the woodwork, cleaning with a combination of soft rags, swabs and brushes. We use a 2% citrate solution that has been buffered to approximately pH 8. We use a chemical grade citric acid powder, which is then dissolved in water before adding a base to adjust the pH. In some cases, if the dirt was particularly grimy, a very small amount of benzyl alcohol was added (0.05%) to help cut through grease. When dry, the woodwork was then waxed with either clear paste wax for flat surfaces or a tinted paste wax for highly carved decoration. The clear paste wax dries white, and is difficult to buff out from crevices. Toned waxes are less glaring, should any be left in nooks and crannies. The wax was then buffed with a soft cloth. For heavily handled places, like the stairway railing, the clear paste wax was applied twice to build up a protective layer.”

Peter said, “As we were making the final preparations for opening the museum, we gave our office staff a chance to get involved and had volunteer days. People who work at Historic New England love old houses. They welcomed the opportunity to work on the beautiful wood.” Peter also emphasized that “Any restoration work has to be reversible. Anything added may have to be removed at a later date. The restoration in the house doesn’t look ‘perfect.’ We wanted the house to show age and the wood’s patina.”

The Eustis family sold the museum several rooms of original family furniture. However, the sheer size of the mansion led to a revolutionary idea. Peter said, “We wanted to have a furnished look. Period furniture was obtained through dealers and auction houses specifically for use by visitors doing self-guided tours. Information for each room can be found on tethered computer tablets. The only custom-made furniture is a set of Mission-style side tables that accommodate the tablets; the power cords run inside one of the legs.” This is a museum where people can sit on the chairs!

Historic New England, originally known as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, was founded in 1910 by William Sumner Appleton. Anyone interested in traditional architecture, carpentry and historic furniture would enjoy visiting their 37 properties. The oldest is the 1664 Jackson House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the newest, the 1938 Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The Eustis Estate is particularly worth a visit by anyone who loves Victorian woodworking.

For more information, visit the websites www.eustis.estate or www.historicnewengland.org or call the Eustis Estate at 617-994-6600 or Historic New England at 617-227-3956.

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Drying vs. Non-drying

There are two types of oils — drying oils and non-drying oils. In my mind, drying oils are the only valid finishing oils. They start out as liquids, but they cure to a solid film. To me, that’s the definition of a finish.

Typically, nut oils are drying oils, and the most common ones we use are linseed, tung and walnut. These drying oils cure by taking oxygen from the air and crosslinking the oil molecules into much larger molecules. Once the new molecules get big enough, the resulting matrix they form becomes a solid instead of a liquid, forming a film either in the wood or on the wood.

The most common is boiled linseed oil (BLO), which, in spite of its name, is neither boiled nor heated. Instead, it contains metallic drier that speeds up the cure time. A coat of raw linseed oil will take over a week to dry; one of BLO will often dry overnight. Tung oil dries quickly by itself, so it generally does not need driers added to it. Unmodified walnut oil dries even more slowly than raw linseed oil, which is why I avoid it.

Non-drying oils are usually vegetable (peanut, olive, corn, coconut, rapeseed) or mineral oil, which is extracted from petroleum. Orange and lemon oil, typically mineral oil with citrus scent added, are also in this group.

These do not form a film but stay wet indefinitely. They can come off onto whatever comes in contact with the oiled wood, and they will soon wash off with soap and water.

Thus, putting vegetable or mineral oil on wood is not a finish, but a wood treatment, and a temporary one at that.

Important Safety Note!

Drying oils are spontaneously combustible. Take all rags and wipes containing drying oils and lay them out one layer thick until they are dry and crusty, at which point they can be safely added to your household trash.

VOCs vs. Solids

Concerned about VOCs? Those are the finish solvents, restricted by the EPA, that can cause dangerous ozone buildup in the presence of sunlight. Pure oil has none whatsoever, because it has no solvent in it. Thus, it is a 100% solids finish. Solids are whatever stays on the wood, after the solvent, to become the film. Clearly, this is a very eco-friendly finish; it comes from plants and contains no solvents, harmful or otherwise.

Where’s the Film?

In many woods, the first coat of oil penetrates and is almost entirely absorbed by the wood, so it does not look like a film was formed. It’s there, but it is in the wood, not atop it. The oil cures in the outer layers of wood fibers. But even if you add no more than one coat, cured oil will still help the wood shed water, oils, dirt and some, but not all, of the things that stain wood. Add more and you get more protection. Multiple coats can eventually build up a gloss film.

Applying Oil

Do not add solvent to pure oil. It will not, as some believe, increase absorption, and will only reduce the amount of protective film per coat while contributing to environmental problems.

Flood oil onto the wood liberally, keeping it wet for at least 10 minutes. If areas of the wood absorb all the oil in under 10 minutes, add more, keeping the whole surface fully wet. When it stops absorbing oil, wipe all the oil off the surface. You’ll have a uniform, dustfree coat with almost no effort.

Want more build? Do the same thing the next day, and the next, adding one flooded on/wiped off coat per day until you get the look you want. One coat will look woody and natural, while 12 coats (over 12 days) will look like traditional varnish.

To speed the process, or create a slurry to help fill open pores, sand the oil into the wood with fine wet/dry paper.

Oil Varnish

Where oil has only one ingredient, varnish contains resin and solvent. Traditional spar varnish, for instance, contains tung oil, phenolic resin and mineral spirits or naphtha. The most common varnish resins, alkyd and polyurethane, can be made by chemically modifying linseed oil.

In spite of their names, Danish oil and teak oil are not oils, but thin varnishes. Manufacturers call them “oil” because they are designed to be applied just like oil. The truth is that you can apply any oil varnish the same way you apply pure oil: flood it on, wipe it all off, and repeat with one coat per day until you get the build you want.

Forget the Solvent

Whether it’s Danish oil or polyurethane varnish, there’s no need to thin it for this type of application: any solvent only acts as a diluent and does not effect how well the finish penetrates the wood.

With thicker varnish, a nylon pad (such as ScotchBrite®) works best to scrub the varnish on before wiping it off. Of course, should you prefer to spray or brush thick varnish, you’ll likely have to thin it for workability.

Exceptions

There are a few woods over which oils will not cure properly. Notable among them are most Dalbergias (rosewoods) and some aromatic cedars.

Remember how oil and oil varnish cure by using oxygen from the air to crosslink the molecules? Such “problem” woods contain antioxidants that prevent oxygen cure.

The solution? Seal them first with a thin coat of dewaxed shellac, after which you can switch to oil varnish.

But What About Nut Allergies?

Once they cure, drying oils, which are usually nut oils, form a solid, inert matrix that will not come off on your hands or in your mouth. Thus, the odds of a negative reaction should be substantially less than with wet oil.

Anything can happen, but in more than 45 years in this field, I’ve never seen an allergic reaction to a cured film of linseed oil.

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Why not just let the blank dry and turn a bowl from it once dry? This has to do with wood’s dynamic limit: how much it will bend before failure (checking) occurs. Every material has an amount it can bend before breaking. With most materials, a thinner section can bend farther before reaching the dynamic limit — and a wall thickness 10% of the diameter is generally below that limit.

Important to this discussion is that wood only shrinks about 0.1% along the grain. However, it shrinks 4.39% from the center of the log to the outside (the radial shrinkage). The same log also shrinks 7.95% in circumference (the tangential shrinkage). The specific numbers are an average of all species worldwide, but the point is that the average log loses circumference at about twice the rate it loses diameter. This means that circular stress is going to build around each annular ring. Takeaway: to reduce checking, it’s important not to have a complete annular ring in any blank you gather.

Also, as your roughed-out bowl is sitting on a shelf drying for three months, the end grain will lose water faster than the face grain areas. This causes faster shrinkage in the end grain, making checking likely.

Wrapping a freshly turned green bowl in sheets of newspaper or putting it in a paper grocery bag can create a sufficient vapor barrier to allow face grain to dry at about the same rate as the end grain. Some turners also paint the freshly turned blank with wax-based wood sealers used by the forestry industry. (Anchorseal® and Sealtite are two popular brands.) This will cause uniform drying, but it adds a month or two to the drying time.

Speaking of time, many turners want to reduce that three-month drying period. With that in mind, I’ll take a look at methods that either speed up drying or improve the end results.

(Take note, though: while practicing the science related to wood drying will greatly increase the probability of good results, in real world practice, you will sometimes get a failure even from theclearest of woods coated with wax. At other times, a funky piece of wood thrown in the corner with no paper or wax will dry just fine. That’s just the way things go …)

Method 1 — Detergent:

In this process, you soak rough-turned bowls in a simple solution of one-sixth concentrated dishwashing liquid, such as Dawn® or Joy® (NOT automatic dishwasher detergent). Chemically, detergents are surfactants, substances that reduce the surface tension of a liquid.

You can get wonderful results from soaking your bowl overnight, but three days is the optimum time. After soaking, you have two options. The first option is to finish turn the bowl to a thinner wall immediately. The surfactant makes the final turning go much easier, with much less tearout in the end grain by the tools. There is also an improvement in sanding, with less clogging of the sandpaper. The detergent seems to further reduce checking in clear wood.

The second option is to allow the rough-turned blank to air dry before re-turning. Drying time is reduced and checking becomes nonexistent — even without wrapping in paper or waxing. It seems the surfactant is accelerating the water transfer across the cell membranes.

Despite Internet claims of a reduction in warping during drying, there is no change in the ultimate warping of the wood. There is, however, some debate on the process changing the color of the wood. I have personally found no change in color or how the wood accepts a final oil finish, but I have received reports of various lacquer finishes reacting badly to the detergent.

Method 2 — Microwaving:

This method involves placing your rough-turned bowl in a plastic bag and microwaving it on a defrost cycle until you start to see steam. The blank is removed from the bag and allowed to cool to room temperature. The process is repeated again and again, until you no longer see steam and there is the predictable warping, or until the weight of your wood has dropped by one-third.

Even with the most careful finding of the right power setting on your microwave, allowing complete cooling out of the bag and reversing the bag to dry the moisture out of it, you may get some checking.

I’ve used this process when I absolutely had to get a bowl out the door but have rued the procrastination that caused me to have to resort to it. (Plus, it takes an entire evening, so pick one when you don’t care about watching the big game.) Overall, I consider it an emergency triage method only!

Method 3 — Desiccant:

Desiccant pellets are used widely in industry to dry items quickly and to keep them dry during shipment. The pellets come in a plastic bag sealed in a screw-top pail with a rubber gasket which keeps them dry until you want to use them. The pellets have a chemical indicator that makes them turn reddish as they absorb water and become expended.

They can, however, be used over and over: once they have turned red, they may be heated in an oven, which brings them back to new condition. A convection oven works best, with the pellets spread in a thin layer on cookie sheets. They are in new condition in two to two-and-a-half hours. Dry them at 250° Fahrenheit; if you heat them above 260°, the chemical indicator will not tell you when they need drying again. (They will still work, but knowing when they are expended will be problematic.)

Once you have rough turned a bowl — or, if you’ve got a bowl that you intend to be oval, you’ve turned it to its final thickness — bury the bowl in the desiccant pellets. (Note that the desiccant method is limited to bowls with 1″ wall thicknesses.) The bowl must be completely buried, with its inside full and at least one inch of pellets in all directions. Incomplete burial will result in checking.

How long exactly a given bowl will take to dry is dependent on a number of factors: how wet the blank is, how thick the wall and the species of wood all factor into the equation. A beech bowl will take longer than a cherry bowl, and a rough-turned blank will take longer than a finished turned one.

How do you know when your bowl is dry enough? The best way is to first place your freshly turned bowl on a kitchen scale and weigh it. After 24 hours, weigh it again. When it has lost at least one-third of its weight, you can apply finish to a once-turned bowl or re-turn a roughed-out bowl.

Overall, for thin final walls, leaving the bowl in for about 24 hours will usually do the job. On a rough-turned blank, drying will usually take about 48 hours.

You can also immerse a finish-turned bowl in the desiccant for a couple of hours, then remount it in the lathe for finish sanding. This saves time and sandpaper, because the surface is sufficiently dry to sand well without clogging the sandpaper. Then place the bowl back in the desiccant for final drying before you apply finish.

The desiccant process effortlessly speeds things up immensely. You can order a kit of the desiccant from rockler.com.

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With my space limitations, I decided to mount my new Rockler Pro LiftRouter Lift into the side extension table of my Delta Unisaw. I’m really looking forward to using this router lift, because it will allow me to quickly and accurately adjust the bit height from the top of the table.

Rockler has two unique methods built into this system for lifting the router: a “Quick-Gear” dial for the lift’s hex wrench will enable me to raise my router through the lift’s full travel in just a few cranks; then, there’s a second precision gear for the wrench so I can make fine bit-height adjustments, too.

A Template is Key

The solution to the first part of this challenge is to use a template to help machine the tabletop opening accurately. Some manufacturers of router table insert plates sell a pre-made template that you can use for this job, with a cutout in it that matches their plate size. But in my situation, I decided to create a template from scrap material instead. Then I’d use my handheld router to cut the opening in the table, mill the rabbet that supports the plate and cut out the waste piece in the middle — all with a single router bit. As you’ll see shortly, spacer strips placed around the inside of my template would move the router inward so I could cut out the inner waste piece neatly. But you could also use a jigsaw to cut out the hole. While that’s faster, it’s not as precise, and you’ll still need to use a template and router to cut the plate’s recess and rabbet first.

Consider Placement and Fence Usage Carefully

The exact location of where you place the router lift plate on your tabletop is matter of personal preference, of course. But, here’s how my thought process went. I chose to locate my plate closer to the user (infeed) side of the saw table, versus centering the plate front-to-back, for several reasons. First, I wanted to give the material I’d be routing as much table support as I could after it passed by the router bit. Sure, it’s always possible to set up a roller support or an outfeed device of some kind behind the table to handle the longer stuff, but having even a few more inches of tabletop behind the plate can’t hurt.

Second, positioning the router lift closer to the infeed side will help me maintain a solid, strong stance and good balance while I’m routing. At the same time, it will prevent me from reaching too far across the table to feed workpieces through the cut.

I also wanted to ensure that my router plate feature will not interfere with “normal” table saw operations. By locating the router plate toward the far right side of the table, instead of centering it side-to-side, I can still use my table saw for ripping material or cutting sheet stock up to about 38″ wide before the router plate impacts my saw’s rip fence. On a previous table saw with a router plate 11installed, I used the rip fence for both
the saw and the router table. It had a custom-built drop-down dust collection hood and, while that worked great, the problem was that when I was routing stuff, I tied up my table saw fence. If I needed an extra piece ripped on the saw, I’d have to break down my router fence setup in order to use the table saw again. With that said, where you place the router lift is up to you.

This go-around, I decided that I would keep the rip fence dedicated to the saw and integrate a standalone router table fence into the new system. I settled on Rockler’s Router Table Fence with a built-in dust hood and featherboard accessories. If you decide to use a separate router table fence, too, be sure that the location you choose won’t have the fence or its other components overhanging the edge of the table, which could become a snag and bump hazard.

Important Reference Marks

After settling on the best location for the plate and fence, I set the lift in place and used the saw’s rip fence to align and square the plate to the tabletop. Then, I traced around the plate’s perimeter with a pencil. That visual reference proved helpful throughout the entire installation process.

What this tracing doesn’t tell you, though, is how large to make the template. For that, you’ll first need to know the distance from the straight-cutting router bit you’ll use to the outside edge of your router’s subbase. Rockler’s router plate has 3/8″-radius corners, so I decided to use a 3/4″-diameter straight bit to match those corner curves.

A careful measurement from the edge of this cutter, installed in my Makita plunge router, to the rim of its sub-base, was 3″. My router base has both flat and round areas, so to keep the router oriented consistently during cutting, I drew a “witness mark” with a black marker right onto the router base. I made sure that this line was in contact with my template during every cut. That way, I knew I could keep that 3″ offset distance constant as I made my table opening cuts (it can vary slightly around the router base if the sub-base isn’t perfectly centered on the bit or, in my case, if the base has both round and flat areas).

Assembling the Template

Making my template was pretty straightforward. First, I ripped four pieces of 1/2″-thick scrap plywood, long enough to span across my saw table (front to back, and side to side). Then, I ripped more scrap plywood spacer strips to 3″ wide, to maintain the correct offset between the router bit and the edge of the router. I crosscut these spacers to fit around the router plate with it in position over my penciled reference marks on the table. Then, I set the longer template boards against the outside edges of the spacer strips.

With everything in place, and with my rip fence against the closest template piece to keep things square to the table, I screwed the four template parts together with a couple of overlapping strips of 1/2″ plywood. Use at least two screws per corner joint, and make sure the parts don’t shift at all during assembly. Once screwed together, I clamped the template down firmly to the table. Then, the router lift plate and spacer strips could be removed from the template’s interior to get ready for routing.

Routing the Plate Rabbet

At this point, it’s a good idea to set the router inside the template and check for accuracy. With the machine unplugged, lower the router bit to confirm that the cutting edges are lined up properly with your traced outline — this is the last opportunity you’ll have to be spot-on. If the bit drifts away from the pencil line as you move the router around the template to check things, fix the template to correct it before proceeding — it’s an indication that something must have shifted when you assembled it.

From here, I set my router’s cutting depth to match the router plate’s thickness. This is a critical adjustment if your plate doesn’t have built-in leveling screws. If you cut the rabbet ledge too deep, you’ll have to shim under the plate 00to bring it up to flush with the tabletop.

Then, fire up the router and feed it clockwise around the inside of the template, keeping the witness mark in contact with the template all the time. Don’t hog out all of the waste down to your final cutting depth in one pass; instead, make several passes that get deeper each time. That’ll be easier on both the router and the bit. And if your router has integral dust collection, use it — this is a very messy operation.

Removing the Center Cutout

When the perimeter cut was completed down to the rabbet level, I ripped some 1/2″-thick spacer strips and installed them along all four inside edges of my template. I fit these spacer strips snugly and tacked them in place with some 23-gauge pin nails.

Why the new spacer strips? Well, they move the router and bit 1/2″ in from the previous cut to set it up for cutting out the interior waste piece. And that way, I’d end up with a 1/2″-wide rabbeted ledge to support the router lift.

With the new spacer strips in place, I proceeded to cut out the center section where the router will drop into. A couple more passes enabled me to cut all the way down through the tabletop thickness, producing a smooth cut edge.

Time for a Test Fit

Leave the template in place while doing your first test fit, in case you need to adjust the rabbet depth. One of the best ways to test the height of the router plate is to use a scrap as a straightedge and slide it over the table and across the router plate. If the scrap catches the edge of the plate, you’ll know the plate is still too high. And, if the plate is sitting too low, you’ll see a gap between the scrap and the plate. In that case, a router plate that has height adjustment screws can bring it up to flush easily.

As it turns out, my first test fit showed that the router plate was still about 1/32″ proud of the table surface, so I removed the 1/2″ spacers, reset the router’s cutting depth and cut the rabbet ledge a little deeper. After that, my second test fit showed that the plate sat flush with the table — exactly what I wanted.

When the plate fits properly in its opening, you can mount your router motor into the lift. Rockler’s Pro Lift accepts my PORTER-CABLE 3.25hp router motor without any modification. But, you can order adapter collars for it to fit several popular motor diameters of smaller routers, too.

Adding a Fence

With the lift plate now in place, I could move on to the router table fence. I first centered the fence’s face over the router collet and squared it to the table, again using the table saw’s rip fence as a reference. Then I marked the centerpoints of the fence’s two mounting slots on the tabletop, removed the fence and routed two 1/4″-wide x 5″-long slots down through the table.

My template again proved helpful as an edge guide for the router to keep these fence slots straight. The slots will allow me to adjust the fence back and forth for setting up various cuts as well as to slide it out of the way when I need to change bits or remove the router lift. I secured the fence to the table with carriage bolts and T-knobs.

That wraps up this installation procedure. My method isn’t the only way to do the job, but it sure worked well for me. I hope it helps you, too.

– Rob Robillard is a general contractor, carpenter, woodworker and editor and host of www.aconcordcarpenter.com.

Hard to Find Hardware

Rockler Pro Lift Router Lift (8-1/4″ x 11-3/4″ plate) (1) #52429
Rockler Router Table Fence (1) #58215
Rockler Easy-to-Grip T-Knob, Female Threading, 1/4″-20 (1) #52325

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Routing Aluminum

And that’s what I used to rout a 3-3/16″-wide, 5-3/4″-long opening for the bread pan. It captures the pan just under its rim. I built a three-layered jig to assist in the task: a 1/2″ plywood top template has a cutout that matches the pan’s top outer dimension: 3-3/8″ x 5-15/16″.

The jig’s midsection is a built-up layer of 1/2″ MDF topped off with 1/8″ hardboard to hold the aluminum blank securely during routing. Its base is just a big piece of scrap plywood that provided clamping points for my workbench. A 7/16″ O.D. guide collar in the router provides the right offset for the bit — 3/32″ — to create the opening in the metal.

I routed down through the plate in four passes, increasing the depth of cut by 1/32″ each time. The result: clean, straight cuts that look like they were made by a CNC machine. And the bit is still sharp and ready for use in wood again when duty calls.

Milling the Aluminum Plate

We’ll begin this project by machining the 1/8″-thick aluminum plate. While you could certainly use a jigsaw and metal-cutting blade or a hacksaw, I cut the plate to size with a 6-tpi skip tooth woodcutting blade that was nearing the end of its woodworking life (repeated use on aluminum will dull the blade). The metal is so soft that a band saw and an ordinary blade cuts it easily, and I could use my rip fence and miter gauge to ensure flat edges and square corners.

Here’s the second machining step that worked well for me: I milled the bread pan cutout in the plate by template-routing the opening with a shop-made jig and a trim router (as outlined above).

Making the Sides

Any outdoor-suitable wood will work here, and whatever you choose, a piece of 6″-wide stock, 5 ft. long, will provide ample material to build it. Joint and plane the board down to exactly 1/2″ thick, and finish-sand it up to 180 grit.

Crosscut a 20″ length to make the two side panel workpieces, and rip this blank to 3-1/4″ wide. Save the long offcut — we’ll use that for making the lid cleats, later.

You’ll see in the Drawings that the project’s three layers of beveled fins fit into grooves cut in the sides. We’ll mill those now. Chuck a 1/2″ straight or spiral bit in your router table, and set the fence 1/2″ away from the bit. Raise the bit to 1/8″, and rout a groove into the face of the workpiece along the full length. This groove will house the bottom fins. Then reset the fence 1-5/8″ away from the bit and rout another continuous groove for the middle fins.

Now crosscut the blank into two 9-1/2″-long pieces — one for each side. Return to the router table with your side workpieces so you can complete a pair of short, stopped grooves for the top fins. This time, reset the fence so the bit protrudes its full 1/2″ diameter out from the fence opening, but no more than that. Cut the stopped grooves 5/8″ long along the top edge of the side workpieces. Mark your router fence so you’ll know where the bit’s limits are.

Next, miter cut the ends of the side panels to 30°. Be careful not to shorten them in the process, and set up the cuts so the groove for the bottom fins will end up closer to the shorter (bottom) edge of these parts. Then square up the back, rounded ends of the top fin grooves with a chisel.

Plowing the Plate Grooves

Both side panels and the inner ends of the top fins have 1/8″-wide grooves to hold the aluminum plate. We’ll cut those next. But first, crosscut a 12″-long piece of your project stock: we’ll use it for both the top and middle fins.

I cut the plate grooves with a 1/8″-kerf ripping blade on the table saw (in order to make square-bottomed grooves), and set my rip fence 1/4″ away from the blade. Raise the blade to 1/8″, and plow the plate grooves into the inside face of the side pieces, with the longer top edges against the rip fence. Then cut a groove across both ends of the combined fin workpiece, keeping the same face of the workpiece against the rip fence when making these two kerf cuts.

Creating the Fins

Crosscut a 10″-long piece off of your project board and set it aside for the lid panel. Then rip the top/middle fin workpiece (that just received the aluminum plate grooves) and the remaining portion of the project board to 4-1/4″ wide.

To complete the two short top fins, all you need to do is crosscut the grooved ends off of the combined top/middle fin workpiece, with your saw blade tilted to 30°. Mark these two cuts so the bottom faces of the top fins are 15/16″ long.

And be careful that the grooves for the aluminum plate are closer to the longer bottom faces of these fins than their shorter top faces, so they’ll line up with the plate grooves in the side panels.

Take what’s left of the blank from the top fins and mark a crosscut line 2-1/2″ in from each of the bevel points on its ends. Crosscut the blank at these lines with the blade tilted to 30° and so the bevels on the ends of these parts are parallel. Repeat the bevel-cutting process on your other 4-1/4″-wide workpiece to form two 3-5/8″-long bottom fins.

Assembling the Base

Carry out a dry assembly of the aluminum plate and fins in the side panels to make sure that the parts fit their grooves well. Adjust the fins so their beveled ends slope away from the top in a straight line. Once you have them aligned, reach down inside the bread pan opening and mark the positions of the back ends of the fins on the side panels, and do the same thing where the edges of the fins meet the side panels on the outside. These markings will help you realign the fins at glue-up.

At this point, I used dark- and light-brown exterior stains to color the parts. Since it was oil-based, I covered the glue joint areas with painter’s tape so the glue would stick properly, later. Topcoat the project parts with an exterior finish, like spar varnish, if you wish. When the finish cures, assemble the base with exterior-rated wood glue.

Preparing For Use

Gel-based Sterno® Canned Heat in the 2.6 oz. size fits inside the bread pan to provide the fire for this pit. You can find it online, in kitchen supply stores and at camping outlets. To prepare the pan for use, pour a single layer of the decorative tempered glass into the bottom of the pan to bring the can up to level with the rim.

Set the can down inside, and fill in around it with more glass. Pry off the lid, and the fuel lights easily with a long match. It burns for around 45 minutes, but you can snuff it out sooner using the project lid (lined with aluminum) or the can’s lid. The unburned gel that remains can be lit again another time.

Completing the Lid

The lid is the last component to build. Besides just making the project look neater, putting a lid on the fire pit also serves to keep the rain out of the interior.

Start by ripping your lid blank to match the width of the base, and bevel-cut its ends at 30° so the bottom face of the lid is 9-1/2″ long. (Its bevels should line up with the top fin bevels when the lid is installed on the base.) Now take the narrow offcut you set aside first when making the side panels, and plane it down to 1/4″ thick. Rip several 1/4″-wide strips from it at your band saw or table saw, and crosscut four lid cleats from them. When fitted together, this cleat framework should sit inside the base between the top fins and the side panels. I tacked the cleats together with dots of CA glue, and stuck this framework to the lid with little pieces of double-sided tape. Adjust the position of the cleats on the lid until the lid fits over the base properly. Then mark their position, remove the tape, and glue the cleats to the lid. I used 5/8″-long, 23-gauge pin nails to hold them in place while the glue dried.

Apply stain and finish to the lid. If you have some extra aluminum as I did, you can turn the lid into a handy flame snuffer by installing a piece inside the cleat area. Then follow the sidebar, below, for preparing the fire pit for use. I hope this little project helps bring a glow to your table for those special outdoor evening meals this summer.

Click Here to Download the Materials List and Drawings.

The post PROJECT: Tabletop Fire Pit appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

This rack folds and is freestanding, so it doesn’t require that you drill holes in your walls or lower your bike from an elevated spot like wall-mounted racks do. It’s also relatively lightweight (approximately 25 to 30 pounds) and can be built with readily available materials and hardware. And, with a few bungees to secure the rack and its load, it can be used to transport bikes in the back of a pickup truck. Although it may not be ideal for everyone’s bike storage needs, it’s very convenient if you have the floor space. Almost any type and size of adult bike with tires up to about 3″ wide will fit the rack.

Tools and Materials

You won’t need many tools: mostly just a band saw or table saw (or both), a router table, a handheld drill and a basic set of hand tools. If you want to mill your own wood, you’ll also need a jointer and a planer. (It’s aways better to mill the stock yourself to ensure straight, square workpieces, but it’s not essential.) I made the rack out of 8/4 hard maple, but birch, ash and oak are also good choices. However, construction lumber and poplar probably won’t be strong enough for this project. If you’re unable to get 8/4 lumber, you can glue thinner boards together to achieve the necessary thickness. You’ll need about 10 bf of rough stock. Most lumberyards that sell hardwood can mill the stock to thickness, but you’ll need to cut it to size.

Make the Wood Joints

The joinery consists of stub tenons on the rail ends and stopped grooves in the stiles. They prevent the square-section workpieces from twisting, but alone they don’t provide enough joint strength. That’s achieved with the hardware: bolts and cross dowels.

The joints are easy to make using a table saw or band saw and a router table, but practice on some scrap stock first. You’ll want to have a few extra pieces of 1-3/4″ x 1-3/4″ stock on hand for these test pieces to check the joinery before committing to the actual workpieces. (If you’d like a simpler joinery method than the tenons and grooves, you could use a few small dowels at each joint to pin the mating parts.)

Once you mill and cut the parts to size, lay out the joinery. To keep mistakes to a minimum, it’s aways advisable to label all the parts with numbers or letters and indicate where and how they join corresponding parts. It’s easy to get parts mixed up even with a relatively simple project like this.

First, rout the stopped grooves in the stiles, preferably on a router table. That establishes the groove width so you can cut the mating tenons to fit. Cut the tenon shoulders before the cheeks. Then cut the cheeks on a test piece, just a little wide at first. Although the fit doesn’t need to be perfect, it should be close and not loose. Once you’ve cut joints on all the parts, check the fit at each joint and make any necessary adjustments with a sharp chisel.

Install the Joint Hardware

You can bore all the holes for the connecting bolts and cross dowels with a handheld drill, but you’ll achieve a better fit if you use a drill press to first bore pilot holes in the stiles. Use a small bit — 1/4″ or less — for the pilots, and then use the holes as a guide to drill counterbores for the bolt heads with a 7/8″-dia. Forstner bit. Use pipe or bar clamps to hold the frame together when enlarging the holes to 5/16″ dia. If the bit isn’t sufficiently long, you may need to take the joints apart to drill holes that are deep enough in the rails.

Finding the correct position for the cross dowels can be tricky, so use the joint test pieces to confirm your measurements. For the strongest joint, the cross dowel should be located as close to the end of the bolt threads as possible and centered in the stock (see Drawing). Install the bolts and cross dowels as soon as you’ve completed boring all the holes. There’s no need to glue the parts together. The bolts provide plenty of strength without glue and allow you to knock down the stand to its individual parts if necessary.

The piano hinge that enables the frame to fold up is a snap to install. Simply lay the bottom (horizontal) frame, with its bottom side up, on top of the top (vertical) frame, with its front side up. Place the bottom frame so its inside rail and the top frames’s bottom rail are offset to form a 90˚ corner.

Then center the hinge and drive a few screws to hold it in place. Now you can bore the screw holes and drive the remaining screws. You’ll need to remove the hinge from the frames along the way, but it will be easy to reinstall it, now that all the holes are set.

Position the Frame Supports

The frame supports tie the two frame halves into a single rigid structure using threaded male knobs and threaded inserts. First, cut 45˚ miters on each end of the supports. Don’t worry if they’re not exactly 26″ long; close is good enough. Bore the 5/16″ holes for the knobs in each end (see Drawing). Now you’ll need to fit the supports to the frame. Although you can measure to find the positions for the threaded inserts, it’s more accurate to use the support as a template to locate the exact position. Use duct tape to secure a carpenter’s square to the frame to hold it perfectly square. Then bore though the holes in the support just enough to mark the threaded insert positions on the frame.

There’s no set size for the threaded inset holes; it depends on the hardness of the wood. The holes will need to be larger with maple than with birch or ash because it’s harder. Use some scrap and experiment. Rather than installing the inserts with a screwdriver and risk damaging the threads, use a bolt or knob and lock it in position with a nut or wingnut; then just twist or use a wrench to install. There’s one extra threaded insert you’ll need to install on the vertical frame (either side is fine). It’s used with a frame support to keep the two frames secured together in the folded position. Locate the position of this insert when the stand is folded.

Refine and Finish the Rack

Easing the edges and sanding can be done while the stand frames are assembled but with the hinge removed. A 3/16″-radius roundover bit is about right to ease the top and visible edges. There’s no need to rout all the edges; sanding is sufficient for the bottom and back edges. And, considering the purpose of the stand, 120-grit paper will produce an adequately smooth surface. Do all the routing before sanding, though.

The rear wheel braces are what keep the bikes upright and stable on the stand. They need to fit around the tires snugly, so you should take care making them. Make them from the same square stock as the frame. Simply cut the square-section stock diagonally using a band saw or table saw to make two parts from one piece of stock. Although it’s possible to attach the braces directly to the frame, the brace platform and guides allow easy adjustment for different tire widths. If you don’t plan to store more than two different bikes on the stand, attaching the braces directly to the frame will save you some time and effort. And if you only need to make a few width adjustments, you can skip routing the adjustment slots in the platforms.

The brace platforms and guides are made from 1/2″ Baltic birch plywood, but solid wood works well, too. If you rout the adjustment slots, first bore a series of holes along the slot centerline to make routing easier. Use a router table with a fence, and carefully lower the workpiece onto the spinning bit. But be sure to keep your hands out of the path of the cut.

The brace guides keep the braces aligned and prevent them from rotating under load. Glue the brace guides to the bottom of the wheel braces using the platform as a spacing gauge. A pin nailer can speed up the assembly and ensure that the guides are securely fastened. Once you’ve completed the wheel brace assemblies, screw them to the bottom frame, centered about 10″ from the edge of the frame. Then install the bike hanger hooks on the top vertical frame rail. Now you can check that your bikes fit properly.

The rack may not be a piece of furniture, but a film finish will help protect it from dirt and moisture and prolong its life. Maple isn’t very porous, so one coat of wipe-on varnish or water-based polyurethane is all that’s needed. Finally, install anti-skid feet to the bottom of the rack. Now that you’ve finished the rack, maybe you’ll be inspired to inflate your bike’s tires and take a nice long, scenic ride.

Click Here to Download the Materials List and Drawings.

The post PROJECT: Folding Bike Rack appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

AConcordCarpenter.com

Rob Robillard is a general contractor who publishes videos and articles about carpentry techniques, remodeling projects and tool reviews. He has extensive knowledge of tools and a lot of real-world experience that adds a lot of credibility to his reviews. In addition to tool reviews and techniques, Rob also features step-by-step instructions for some of his projects, such as the outdoor shower enclosure pictured.

TheWoodshop.tv

If you’re interested in woodturning, then Carl Jacobson should be on your list of resources. Carl shares an interesting mix of woodturning technique lessons, reviews of woodturning tools and a wide range of projects. He demonstrates everything from basic bowl turning to advanced turning techniques, such as the offset winged bowl pictured.

ILikeToMakeStuff.com

As his site name suggests, Bob Clagett likes to make stuff — all kinds of stuff. One week you’ll see him making a practical piece of furniture for his office or workshop, and the next week he’s making a costume prop, or wiring up the controller for a tabletop arcade game, or making an indoor climbing wall. He demonstrates the techniques he used to complete the project and shares what worked well and, in some cases, what didn’t work.

The post Maker Spotlight: Rob Robillard, Carl Jacobson and Bob Clagett appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

Tabletop Fire Pit: Get aglow about the outdoors with this easy-to-build tabletop fire pit, plus expand your woodworking skills to a new material as you route an aluminum plate for the fire pit top.

Installing a Router Lift: Rob Robillard, the Concord Carpenter, walks you through a shop installation of Rockler’s cool new Pro Lift Router Lift into his his table saw’s extension table.

Tool Tutorial: For many woodworkers, the table saw is the shop’s go-to tool. Learn from tool expert Sandor Nagyszalanczy about what this versatile tool can do, the features you’ll find, safety setups and usage tips.

Woodturning: Can you speed up the drying time for green wood bowl blanks? Maybe … Woodturning expert Ernie Conover looks at the pros, cons and methodology of three techniques for faster or improved drying time.

Delaware Chair: Kerry Pierce’s classic post-and-rung chair takes advantage of story sticks and jigs to mark off turned elements and make repetitions – for this chair or others – much easier.

Folding Bike Rack: Easy-to-build storage for your two-wheeler keeps it ready to go in the garage or the back of the pickup, and folds down when not in use.

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