Made from solid cherry wood and cherry plywood, the table shown in the Drawing has an ovoid-shaped, wood framed glass top (despite the risk of breakage, I like glass tops as they’re easy to clean and you can set drinks on them without the need for coasters). The frame is supported by four splayed “boomerang” shaped legs (very ’50s), which connect the frame to a rectangular drawer box slung underneath the top. One side of the box has a shallow drawer that’s just right for storing remote control devices, magazines and other thin items. The drawer uses special “push-to-open” glides, so there’s no pull to spoil the clean, modern look of the piece. The top of the drawer box can be used as a shelf to keep books or newspapers, or it can be used as a small “showcase” for items visible under the glass top: perhaps a small collection of vintage toy ray guns or tin wind-up robots?

The coolest feature of my coffee table, though, is something that didn’t even exist in the 1950s: built-in LED lighting. A strip of colorful LED lights set into a channel on the underside of the glass frame casts a dramatic light that makes the whole table look like it’s glowing. A compact infrared (IR) remote control turns the lights on and off and allows you to select from a rainbow of colors and sequences that change colors gradually or abruptly. The remote sends signals to the light’s control module via a small, discreetly placed sensor eye. The lights are powered by a 12-volt sealed lead-acid battery (no power cord needed!) that keeps them lit for hours and can be recharged with a standard car battery charger. (Even if you don’t build this table, these LED strips are inexpensive and a great way to add lighting to all kinds of freestanding cabinets and furniture).

Making Templates

To make creating the coffee table’s curved legs and glass frame members easier and more accurate, I made templates for each part and then shaped them with a router.

To create the template for the table’s legs, I transferred the design shown in the Drawing, onto a piece of 1/2″ MDF, then cut out the shape with the band saw. I cut just outside the marked lines, then carefully sanded the template to final shape using a benchtop disc sander and an oscillating spindle sander. I sanded until all the curved edges were smooth and flowing.

To make the curves of the templates for the table’s glass frame members perfectly regular, I routed them using a large circle jig. The shorter members have a 60″ radius and don’t pose much of a problem: I clamped a 22″ x 4″ piece of 1/2″ MDF stock to one end of my benchtop, and clamped a “pivot block” to the other end. I then set my circle jig to a 60″ radius and cut the template’s outer curve with a 1/4″ straight bit. To rout the template’s inner curve, I repositioned the pivot pin 3″ farther away from the stock. The final template ends up 2-3⁄4″ wide (the extra 1/4″ is to account for the diameter of the router bit).

The long glass frame template is more challenging, as its radius is a whopping 200″! I used the same procedure as with the short frame member; however, I created an extension for my circle jig from a couple of lengths of 5″ wide, 1/2″ plywood scabbed together. I cut the template starting with a 50″ x 5″ piece of 1/2″ MDF. I set up my giant circle jig out on my wood deck, the only space I had big enough for the job!

Making the Legs

When it was time to shape the parts, I started with the legs. First, I laid out the legs on a length of 1″-thick cherry, tracing around the template to draw the outline of each leg. To save stock, and to make sure I’d end up with two pairs of left-hand and right-hand legs, I flipped the template over and aligned its straight edge first with one edge of the stock, then the other. I used a jigsaw to divide the stock into separate blanks, sawing well clear of the marked lines, and marked each blank with an “L” or an “R.” Then I set my table saw blade to precisely 45˚ and trimmed off the straight side (the part that will attach to the drawer box) of each leg at this angle. Moving to my compound miter saw, I trimmed the top edge of each blank square (where the leg attaches to the glass frame) relative to the 45˚ edge. Then I cut out the curved portions of each leg on the band saw, sawing just outside the marked template lines.

Back at the workbench, I carefully aligned a leg template to one of the blanks using a couple of scrap blocks to make sure that the top and side straight portions of the template and blank were flush, and then temporarily fixed it in place with a few fasteners driven with a pneumatic 23-gauge pin gun. You could use double-stick tape or adhesive transfer tape to attach the templates, but the pins hold it more securely and leave only tiny holes that are easily filled and end up nearly invisible.

At the router table, I chucked up my sharpest, largest diameter piloted flush-trim bit and fit the table with a starter pin — a steel dowel mounted near the bit — to help stabilize the leg blank during freehand routing. With the router running at moderate speed (I set mine to #4 out of six speed settings),I routed around each leg, feeding the stock at a moderate speed from right to left (against the rotation of the bit), taking care to keep the pilot bearing in firm contact with the template. I avoided routing around the tip of the leg’s foot (the part that sits on the ground), as the bit could easily cause excessive tearout here or even catch and hurl the leg with some violence! With flush trimming done, I removed the template with a small putty knife, then used a benchtop disc sander to sand the foot area flush to the marked line. After pulling the pins out of the template, I repeated the routing process on the other three leg blanks. I then used a self-centering doweling jig as a guide to bore 1/2″ holes into the top end of each leg (for attaching the glass top later). I positioned the jig so that the holes end up about an inch from the outermost edge of the leg.

The next step is to give all the leg’s curved edges an oval-shaped “fingernail” profile. This subtle rounded profile is commonly found on the edges of many mid-century furniture pieces. Since I didn’t have a special “oval edge” or “half bullnose” bit to cut this profile, I routed the edges using the gently curving lower portion of a 1″ radius piloted roundover bit. After chucking the bit into my router table, I set its height with the bit’s pilot bearing roughly centered on the thickness of the leg. I routed around the curved portion of each leg, stopping short of the straight sections, first doing one side, then flipping the leg over and routing the other side. Just as with the template-routing process, I used a starter pin and worked very carefully when shaping around the leg’s pointy feet.

Using an oscillating spindle sander fitted with a 2″-dia. drum, I then “faired in” the oval profile shape where the curved sections intersect the angled portion of each leg. Finally, I sanded the legs smooth, using both an orbital sander and, on the curving edges, strips of sandpaper pulled back and forth “shoeshine” style.

Creating the Glass Frame

The template-routing process for shaping the coffee table’s glass frame starts with laying out the long and short members on a length of 4/4 stock, planed down to 13/16″ thick. Tracing around the curved templates, lay out two long and two short members. I cut these out on the band saw, cutting just outside the lines and leaving the ends untrimmed. I temporarily pinned the appropriate curved template to the underside of each member, then routed them to shape on the router table using the same flush-trim bit setup used previously for the legs.

Instead of cutting the frame members to length, I used the long members themselves as a guide for trimming the ends of the short members to the correct length and shape. This is important, as the short members join the long ones along a curved joint line, so the ends must have the same radius curve as the long members. To assure that the top ends up square and symmetrical, I used a flat piece of plywood 4-1⁄2′ long and 2-1⁄2′ wide as a base on which to align the frame for trimming. First, I drew a 48″-long, 26″-wide rectangle on the plywood and marked the middle point of each side. I then set the two long frame members inside the rectangle, making sure their midpoints lined up. I drew the outline of each member onto the ply, then repositioned them so that their outer curves were aligned with the drawn inside curve lines. I set the short members atop the ends of the long ones, and aligned them to the rectangle until they were centered and even. With a pencil, I marked a line on the underside of the short members where they extended over the outer curve of the long members. After band-sawing off the excess, I repositioned and clamped each short member, then used a flush-trim bit in a router to trim the end of the short members flush.

Next, I cut the slots for the #20 plate joinery biscuits that join the frame members. With a 5/32″ slotting bit in the router table, I routed a slot in the end of each short member, stopping each cut 1/8″ shy of the edge, then routed matching slots on the inside edges of the long members. I glued up the frame, using cutoff scraps as clamping blocks.

Once the glue was dry, I scraped any excess glue from the frame, then routed a 3/8″-wide x 1/4″ rabbet (for the glass top) around the inside of the frame using a piloted rabbet bit and a router. I then used a sharp chisel to extend the inner edge of the rabbet cuts where they meet at the corners.

To trim the ends of the long frame members, I clamped the glass frame on top of the short frame template, set it flush and even with the short member below it, then used my flush-trim bit and router to trim the end curved.

Next, I routed a shallow channel on the underside of the frame for the LED lighting strip. I mounted a fence to my router fitted with a pair of lobes designed to ride on the curved outside edge of the frame to guide the cut. I chucked a 7/16″-dia. straight bit into my router and set it for a scant 1/8″-deep cut. With the fence adjusted to space the edge of the channel 5/16″ from the inner edge, I routed all the way around the frame.

I also used the router to give all the outer frame edges the same “fingernail” profile as on the legs. Since the frame is thinner than the legs, I used a 3/4″-radius roundover bit set so that the pilot bearing rides just a hair below the center of the stock’s thickness. I routed the frame all the way around, first on one side, then the other. Finally, I sanded the entire frame smooth.

Building Drawer Box

The coffee table’s four legs are connected at their midsection by a rectangular drawer box built from 1/2″ plywood. I cut out all the pieces needed for the box as specified in the Material List making sure that the grain direction of the plywood ran perpendicular to the length of the box’s back, front, drawer face and two front side pieces. Before assembling the box, I glued a 1/16″-thick-piece of cherry edge banding on the top edge and ends of the drawer front, the inside end of each front side (adjacent to the drawer opening) and the front edges of the top and bottom. After tacking on the two spacer strips to the front edges of the bottom (the top gets these, too), I glued on the ends, with the back and front pieces butting over the ends, as shown in the Drawing. I drove a few pneumatic pins into the parts, to keep them aligned, then clamped up the entire assembly and set it aside to let it dry.

On the band saw, I cut out a U-shaped section from the top edge of the box’s right-hand bulkhead; this provides access to the lighting electronics. I glued the four corner blocks to the inside ends of the drawer box, and then glued in the two bulkheads and nailed it to the ends of the corner blocks. I also glued on the top brace strip and the three small plywood strips that form the battery box.

Adding the Drawer

The coffee table’s drawer has sides all cut from 1/2″-thick solid maple. I used a dado blade in my table saw to plow a groove for the drawer’s 1/4″ maple ply bottom. The groove is 1/4″ deep and spaced 1/2″ up from the bottom edge of the drawer sides. To accommodate the special push-to-open glides, two notches were cut at the lower corners of the drawer back, as well as a couple of 1/4″- dia. holes, all positioned as shown in the Drawing detail.

I used blind dowels to join the front and back pieces to the sides of the drawer box. During assembly, the drawer bottom is captured in the groove. After clamping, I checked the squareness of the drawer by making sure the diagonal measurements were the same. After the glue dried, I installed the two plastic glide mounting clips on the underside of the drawer.

To mount the drawer, I first screwed the push-to-open glides to the drawer box bulkheads, setting the glides’ front edges back approximately 3/4″ from the front of the box. After clipping the drawer onto the glides and fine tuning its alignment, I clamped the cherry plywood drawer face onto the front of the drawer, adjusted the gaps at the sides and top (they all should be about 1/32″), then drilled and drove a few screws from the inside of the drawer into the back of the face to secure it in place.

Attaching the Legs

To create a strong joint between each leg and the drawer box, I decided to use two 8mm x 40mm loose tenons set into mortises created using Festool’s Domino machine. I first set the Domino’s fence to match the 45˚ angled side of the legs, then adjusted fence height so that the edge of the mortise was 5/16″ from the flat side of the leg. To assure accurate positioning of the tenons, I used the machine’s built-in, spring-loaded stops to space each mortise from the edge of the leg.

Next, I set up the Domino machine to cut matching mortises in the drawer box assembly. I set the machine’s fence at a 90˚ angle and adjusted the fence’s height so that each mortise was spaced 5/16″ from the corner of the drawer box. Using the machine’s built-in stop pins as before, I cut all of the eight mortises into the ends of the drawer box.

Before attaching the legs, I cut a slot into the upper inside edge of the righthand leg on the drawer front side for the wiring that connects the LED strip lights to the battery and control box. I did this using a 1/8″-wide slot cutter bit chucked in my router table. I fit the bit with a pilot bearing sized to create a 1/2″-deep slot. The height of the bit was set to center the cut on the thickness of the leg. The slot extends from the top of the leg to the angled joinery surface. Next, I cut a hockey stick-shaped filler strip from 1/8″ thick cherry. After carefully pressing the four-conductor wire into the slot, I glued the strip into the slot, waited for it to dry, then trimmed it flush with the edge of the leg.

In preparation for gluing the legs to the drawer box, I taped on the scraps that were bandsawn off of the outside section of each leg, to serve as clamping cauls. I also placed the 45˚ cutoff scraps in the inside corners of the drawer box and clamped against these strips. After applying glue liberally to both the mortises and the Domino loose tenons, I pressed the legs into place one at a time, using a pair of small bar clamps to pull the angled surface of the leg flush with the end of the drawer box.

Installing the LED Lighting

Now is a good time to install all the components and wiring for the LED lighting. After slipping the battery into its shallow box, I screwed the control box just above it, so that it’s tight against the top of the battery to keep it in place. I then wired the components together, connecting both the four-conductor wire from the leg and the leads from the battery to the LED control box. I also connected two extra leads from the battery terminals to a pair of #10 x 1″ brass screws set through holes in the bottom of the drawer box. The screws were set up with nuts and washers so that they protruded from the bottom of the box. These act as terminals that allow you to easily recharge the battery without having to access the wiring inside the box (just be sure to set your automotive charger to its lowest amperage setting, e.g. two amps).

Before installing the LED light strip in the channel routed for it on the underside of the glass frame, I pre-finished the underside of the top with the same finish I used on the rest of the table and let the finish dry overnight. To get the light strip to go around the entire frame, it must be cut into four sections.

Fortunately, the LED strip is designed to be cut into segments as short as a few inches. Once they were cut to length, I peeled the paper backing off the PSA-backed strips and stuck them into the channels. Now comes the tedious part: soldering the four connections between the ends of adjacent strips to connect them together. The job is made easier by the fact that the places where the strips are cut have exposed copper patches made for soldered connections. The last connection, where the strips connect to the multi-strand wire that runs up the leg, is done after the table is fully assembled.

Final Assembly

Before installing the top of the drawer box, I pressed the IR sensor for the LED lighting up into a 1/4″ hole drilled near the corner of the top. I then glued the top into place and secured it with a few nails at the corners, bulkheads and bracing strip. Next, I fitted and glued/nailed on the thumbnail-profile molding around the top of the box, cutting 45˚ miters in the corners where the moldings meet.

To attach the glass frame to the legs, I first slipped a pointed dowel center into the 1/2″ hole atop each leg, then set it onto the glass frame inverted atop the workbench. After carefully positioning the table and frame, I firmly pressed each leg down at the corner until the point of the dowel center made an impression. I drilled a hole at each mark using a 1/2″-dia. brad-point bit (take care to use a depth stop, lest you accidentally drill through the frame!). I applied glue into all holes and onto 1/2″ x 1-1⁄2″ fluted dowels, driving them first into the legs, then I set the top on and tapped it onto the dowels with a mallet. Clamps set between the glass frame and the leg’s feet drew the dowel joints tight.

After final sanding all parts down to 240-grit, I taped over the IR remote sensor and finished the piece with Danish oil. I allowed the finish to dry thoroughly, then I soldered the multi-strand wire (coming from the leg) to the end of the light strip. My final task was to install the 1/4″ glass top, cut by a local glass shop from a cardboard pattern I made by tracing around the rabbet in the frame. All that was left was to press a button on the LED remote control, sit back and enjoy a colorful light show.

Hard to Find Hardware

Salice Futura Push-to-Open Drawer Slides (1 pr.) #49616

Click Here to download a PDF of the related drawings.

The post Making a Mid-Century Coffee Table with LED Lights appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

In most respects, this table is conventional.However, its curved front presents some technical challenges that may upend some of your woodworking habits and cause you to approach the work from a different perspective. Because the laminated front apron’s curve and dimensions are difficult to control perfectly, all the other workpieces are subordinate to it, so it’s the first part you make.

Start with the Laminated Front

Although I used mahogany, other species such as maple, cherry or birch are also suitable for the design and to make the bent laminate. I started with about 22 board feet of combined 4/4 and 8/4 stock for the table as well as some Baltic birch plywood and maple and sycamore shop scraps for the drawer and slides. Of course, the quantity you need can vary depending on the quality of the wood and the amount of waste you generate.

Using a jointer and planer to mill roughsawn stock will ensure that your workpieces are consistent and true, but if you don’t have these tools, many hardwood dealers can mill the wood for you. However, one tool that’s essential for this project is a good band saw to resaw the 1/8″ or thinner pieces that comprise the laminated bowfront apron.

Making the laminated apron is the hardest part of the project and requires patience and precision, but it’s not rocket science. First, you’ll need to make a 5-1/4″-deep bending form out of stacked pieces of plywood or particleboard. There are a number of ways you can lay out the curve, but the method I use is very simple and accurate. Start by making a template of the tabletop on a piece of plywood. (The template works for both the top and the apron curves.) Mark the 12″ width on the outside edges and 14″ on the center. Drive small finish nails at the front, outside corners and one in the middle. Wedge a 36″ steel or aluminum straightedge between the nails and then mark the rule’s curve with a pencil. The natural bow of the ruler provides a smooth, pleasing contour.

Next, you’ll need to cut thin strips to make the laminate. Now’s a good time to make a few test pieces to ensure that your band saw blade is plumb and cutting true. The finished size of the bowfront is 4-1/4″ x 29-1/8″ (including tenons), but you should make 4-3/4″ x 34″ strips to allow for waste. The thickness of the strips is up to you and can be anywhere from 1/16″ to 1/8″ thick, but when combined should create a finished 5/8″ to 3/4″-thick workpiece. The thinner the strips, the less spring-back you’ll have when you remove the workpiece from the bending form. I had virtually no spring-back using seven laminate pieces that were nominally 3/32″ thick.

Before you start gluing pieces, glue or tape rubber shelf liner inside the form. This helps distribute clamping pressure evenly and prevents errant glue from adhering the workpieces to the form. I’ve found that polyurethane glue works well for bent laminates because it doesn’t creep under pressure like PVA glue and it has a longer open time. On the downside, it foams and it can be messy, but you can overcome these problems by working carefully.

There’s a sense of urgency when laminating, as with any gluing process, but here are a few tips to keep things under control. Before you start, do a dry run and have all your clamps adjusted and ready to go. Cover your workbench with waxed paper to keep oozing glue from bonding with your bench. Mark the center and ends of both sides of the form for accurate alignment and material placement. Apply polyurethane glue to only one side of each surface; the foaming action will force glue into the adjacent surface. Use a spreader to coat the entire surface of the work with a thin, even layer of glue. Check for any horizontal or vertical slippage of the form halves. Finally, tighten clamps progressively to ensure even pressure.

Once the glue has fully cured, remove the workpiece from the form and clean off any glue or shelf liner that’s stuck to it. Mark the centerline and the ends of the workpiece before trimming it to size with the band saw.

Cut Parts, Make Joints, Assemble

Stock preparation for all the other parts is straightforward. You may need to glue up pieces for the top and legs if large enough sizes aren’t available, and hold off on making drawer parts until after you cut the opening in the front apron. Now that you’re able to compare the curve of the front apron to the template, you can determine if the dimensions of any other parts, particularly side aprons, need to be adjusted. You can also use the front apron to trace the curve onto the stock for the top.

Use the band saw to cut the curve on top just outside the line and then use a hand plane to smooth and refine the curve. (I prefer using planes to smooth most surfaces rather than sanding or routing. There’s less dust and it produces a crisp, clean result.) Use a router and 30˚ chamfer bit mounted in a router table to form the bottom bevels on the front and sides of the top. You’ll need to stand the work on edge, so use a tall fence and clamp a guide board in front of the workpiece. Sand or plane the bevel if it needs to be refined.

Don’t taper the legs until after you cut the mortises in them. (Mark the top of each leg with its position and orientation to help prevent mistakes.) The mortise-and-tenon joints on the back and sides are a standard 1/4″ thickness and 3/4″ length, so you can use your preferred joinery method, or use a drill press and 3/16″ brad-point bit to remove most of the mortise waste and then make one pass with a 1/4″-up-cut bit and router to finish the joint. (You can use a router table or a handheld router fitted with a fence and your workbench’s end vise as a platform for this operation.) Cut all the tenon faces on the table saw, and use a tenoning jig for the best control.

Cutting the front apron tenons is a bit more complicated because they’re angled slightly in relation to the curve. (Providing an exact layout for the joints isn’t practical because the curve of the front apron will vary depending on how much your apron springs back.) I laid out the tenons with pencil lines and then hand cut them with a pull saw and chisel, checking the fit regularly as I worked.

If this seems too daunting a task, you could use a biscuit joiner, dowels or a Festool Domino joiner instead. (If you opt for one of these methods, you’ll need to consider this before you cut leg mortises.) The tenons could also be machined using a router or table saw jig, but it’s questionable if the time spent designing and building a jig for a one-off project is justified when the other methods are faster and easier.

Now that you’ve completed the joinery, test-fit all the parts and make any necessary adjustments. Lay out the leg tapers and then cut them with the band saw. Smooth the tapers with a hand plane or sanding block. Try to keep the leg edges crisp — a few swipes with a block plane or some fine sandpaper is all that’s needed.

There’s one more somewhat nerve-racking job before assembly, and that’s cutting the drawer opening in the curved front apron. Lay out the opening in pencil using the centerline on the apron. Bore a hole in each corner large enough for a jigsaw blade to pass through; then very carefully cut out the opening, staying just inside the layout lines.

Rout the 45˚ bevels on the bottom of the front and side aprons and sand all the parts with 220-grit paper before assembly. The easiest way to assemble the table base is in stages. First, assemble the front and rear aprons to their legs.

Next, join these two sections with the side aprons. Check the assembly for square and make sure it’s sitting level on the workbench. You can glue the top fastening blocks to the inside of the aprons now, too.

Drawer and Slides

The drawer’s construction is pretty basic: no hand-cut dovetails, although they would be a nice addition. The only complication is that the drawer face and drawer front are curved to match the front apron curve. Cut the joints in the drawer front before cutting its curve. Use the front apron as a pattern (preferably before it’s assembled) and cut the curves with the band saw. Sand the contour on the back of the drawer face so it matches the apron’s curve and then match the drawer front’s contour to the back of the drawer face.

Like the drawer, the slides are simple, just rabbets cut in solid stock. The drawer is small and light, so this arrangement is perfectly adequate. Once you’ve made the pieces, cut them so they fit snugly inside the table base. To position the slides precisely, clamp the assembled drawer to the table base, then glue the mounting blocks in place and secure them with a pin nailer, if available. Similarly, position and fasten the top guide that prevents the drawer from tipping when extended. The drawer should have a little play but still slide smoothly.

All that remains is to fit the top to the base and do a final sanding before finishing. (Remove the top before finishing.) I applied three coats of satin varnish cut 50/50 with mineral spirits and sanded with 320-grit paper between coats (always with the grain). Then I rubbed out the final coat with 0000 steel wool followed by a buffing with a soft cotton rag to restore the luster. Of course, the great thing about this project is that it resides in your front hall, so as the center of attention it’s an instant conversation starter with visitors. You’ve earned your bragging rights with this one.

Click Here to download a PDF of the related drawings.

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While much of L & J. G. Stickley’s Arts & Crafts output follows the style pioneered by Gustav’s Craftsman Workshops, the broad, continuous arm and frame-and-panel sides of these Peter Hansen designs distinguish the “Prairie” settle (No. 220) and chair (No. 416). Released in 1912, these pieces call to mind ,the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright. They also provide an attractive alternative to variations on common Mission designs. Simple construction techniques underlie the minimalist design: mortise-and-tenons join the rails to the legs, and grooves capture the stiles and panels. Corbels support the top while providing a little visual relief. I’ve long admired the settle, so when the time came to replace our loveseat, I jumped at the chance to build an interpretation of it. I began by scaling it down to fit its intended space, then added shallow arches to the long bottom rails to soften those strong horizontal lines. You can use my construction techniques to reproduce this version exactly, or to adapt the design to your own space. Following the original, I built my version in quartersawn white oak but substituted 1/4″ plywood for the panels.

While it’s not the most challenging work to upholster the piece, it was still beyond my skills, so I hired an upholsterer. Although leather is a popular choice for Arts & Crafts seating, we chose fabric. It’s historically accurate and less expensive than leather. My upholsterer used high-density polyurethane foam for the cushions and covered the seat frame with webbing, padding and a cloth cover. If you use an upholsterer, consider having a conversation before construction begins: my upholster had helpful input on the seat frame and its brackets.

The Quadrilinear Leg

Quartersawing white oak produces strikingly figured grain, but it only shows on the faces of boards. So even if you have easy access to thick leg stock, you’re better off gluing up leg blanks. There are a couple of approaches you can take to make legs with four figured sides.

Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Workshops veneered the non-quartersawn faces of legs so that figure would show on all sides. To produce these legs, laminate stock to final thickness and rip it 1/4” below final width. Saw 1/8” veneer stock and apply to the blanks, then dimension to final size. A light chamfer helps blend where veneer and solid wood meet. His brothers L & J. G. Stickley took a slightly different approach, shaping four sides to form a box leg. They called this the quadrilinear leg, and it’s functional as well as decorative since it allows you to use thinner stock to build the leg.

A similar effect can be achieved by mitering stock at the table saw or router table, then gluing up the miters, but a locking miter bit provides a mechanical interlock and avoids the slipping and sliding that can occur when joining simple miters. Since even small errors in setup will telegraph in the finished joint, it pays to take care setting bit depth and fence position. After reading good reviews of Inifinity Tools’ Lock Miter Master Jig, I decided to give it a try. I had my depth and fence zeroed in on my second attempt. If you don’t want to purchase the jig, be prepared with some scrap stock to test your cuts as you refine your setup. Once your setup is complete, mill the joints. Each cut needs to be made in a single pass, so take care to not bog down your router. And each joint has complementary faces, so you’ll be cutting one half of each joint with the edge of the board to the fence and the other with the face of the board to the fence.

Legs Form the Foundation

Whatever size you’re building, begin by milling stock to final thickness and gluing up panel blanks if you opted for solid wood instead of veneered panels. Since the legs form the foundation for the settle, it makes sense to begin construction with them. I ripped the faces of each leg to width and crosscut them a little long, then cut the locking miters at the router table, making sure to produce enough stock for an extra leg. The last step in cutting stock for the legs is to cut the central core of each leg. With the leg faces dry fit, measure the width and length of the hollow at the center of the legs, then rip your cores to fit.

Leg assembly is best handled in stages. Begin by creating leg halves. Glue two complementary sides together to form an L-shape, taking care to control glue squeeze-out, then glue those halves together around the central core. After the glue has dried, trim the legs to final size (a stop block on a miter saw or crosscut sled helps ensure all four legs are the same length).

Take some time arranging the order of the legs until you’re satisfied with their appearance. The front faces of the front legs will be most visible, while the back legs will hardly be seen. A cabinetmaker’s triangle at the top of the legs will help you maintain that arrangement as construction continues.

Once you’ve selected your front and back legs, you can cut the mortises for the rails. With the construction Drawings as a guide, lay out the mortises and cut them using your preferred technique. The grooves for the corbels can wait until you’ve actually cut the corbels, so set the legs aside for now and turn your attention to the rails.

Rails Tie Everything Together

Rip and crosscut your rails to length, using wood with the most attractive grain for the front rail since it will be most visible in the completed project. Then cut your tenons and tune them to fit their mortises. If you want to follow the original design closely, omit the arch in long rails. Otherwise, lay out the arch, cut close to the mark with a jigsaw or band saw and fair the curves with a spokeshave or sandpaper. Because I put arches on the front and back rails, I first created a pattern for the arch. Using a pattern means I only have to do the work of fine-tuning the arch once. Satisfied with the shape of my pattern, I attached it to the back face of the rail with a couple of screws and routed it to shape. To avoid tearout, I made the cut from both ends, working towards the center.

The deep chamfer on the top of the front rail increases the settle’s comfort by softening an edge that would otherwise dig into the back of your legs. It’s an easy detail to reproduce using a large chamfering bit. To avoid taxing the router, ease into final depth with a couple of passes. You can also rip the chamfer on the table saw with the blade set for an angled cut, then clean it up with a plane or sandpaper.

To minimize tool setup and save time, wait to cut the grooves in the rails until you’re ready to groove the stiles as well. Begin by ripping and crosscutting the rails to size, then set up your machinery for the grooves. I use a 1/4″ x 1/2″ slot cutter in my router to make the cut, but a dado stack would work, too. Whatever your approach, you want to end up with a 1/4″-wide and 1/2″-deep groove centered on the rails and stiles. Then tenon the ends of the stiles. I used a 1/2″ rabbeting bit set for a 1/4″-deep cut. Fine-tune the fit of the stub tenons in the grooves, then cut the panels to size. If you’re using solid wood, you’ll want to cut them 1/4″ narrower than indicated in the cut list to allow for seasonal wood movement. Since I was using veneered panels, I cut them slightly undersized (about 1/16″) in both dimensions, then test fit everything.

Corbels Aren’t Just for Show

Functional as well as decorative, the corbels support the wide cap arm. You have a number of options for attaching them to the legs, including a simple butt joint or biscuits. I chose to cut a stub tenon on each corbel and grooves to match on the legs. This method registers the location of the corbel relative to the leg and provides for a solid connection. With a number of identical corbels to cut, a router template was a logical choice.

I laid out the shape on some scrap, cut it close on the band saw, then faired the curve with a spokeshave and sandpaper. Once I was satisfied with the pattern, I traced it out on my stock, then cut close to my layout lines before routing each corbel to size using a pattern bit in the router. You need seven corbels if you’re building the settle in a loveseat size, but it’s a good idea to cut a couple extra in case something goes wrong during pattern routing. And be sure to save a couple of your offcuts; you’ll use them as clamping blocks when it comes time to install the corbels.

After routing the corbels, I used a 1/4″ rabbeting bit to cut the stub tenons. A 1/4″ straight bit made quick work of the corresponding grooves in the legs and center stile of the back.

Continuous Arm Caps Things Off

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the settle is the continuous arm running along the top. Although there’s no complicated joinery involved in its construction, its prominence calls for careful execution. Ideally, you can cut the three pieces from a single board; if that’s not possible, find boards with similar figure and grain. Rip your stock to width, then cut the miters on the back piece to bring it to final size. Leave the sides long until you cut your miters, then trim to final length. I clamped both sides together and crosscut them on the miter saw to ensure they were the same length.

Because you want a smooth joint where the arm parts come together, you’ll want to assemble the arm, then sand or plane the top flush. I used loose tenons to reinforce the joint, but splines or biscuits would serve as well. After dry fitting, I sized the miters by applying a thin layer of glue and let it sit for a minute. This gives a chance for the end grain exposed in the joint to absorb glue and helps with adhesion. After a minute, I applied another thin layer of glue and clamped things together. When the squeeze-out had begun to gel, I scraped it away and let the assembly sit overnight.

With the arm assembled, I was ready to sand. I worked through 220-grit on all my parts, taking special care to make sure the miters of the arm were flush. I then routed a light chamfer (about 1/8″) on the edges of the arms and long edges of the legs to soften them. You could also ease the edges with sandpaper, but the chamfers’ crisp edges complement the design. To minimize the risk of splintering, the bottom edges of the legs get a slightly deeper chamfer.

Historically Accurate Finish

At this point, you have all of your parts cut and sanded and have a couple of options for completing assembly and finishing. When a design permits it, I like to pre-finish the parts and then assemble. Doing so makes removing glue squeeze-out an easy task — it tends to pop off the finish with minimal effort, and there’s no risk of glue interfering with the finish.

A fumed finish (so called because the oak is exposed to ammonia fumes, which reacts with tannins in the wood to darken it) was a popular finish for Arts & Crafts pieces in white oak. Many finishing schedules have been developed to replicate the look of a fumed finish while avoiding ammonia, but the traditional finish isn’t difficult to apply so long as you take some basic precautions. You’ll need aqueous ammonia (available by mail or from blueprint supply stores), containers to let it evaporate easily (glass pie pans work well), safety goggles and a respirator with appropriate cartridges. For ammonia fuming to be effective, you need to seal the piece. Furniture maker and author Kevin Rodel has described renting a moving truck and fuming a batch of furniture in the cargo bay, but the more common approach is to tent the piece in plastic sheeting. You can build a wood frame and staple the plastic to the frame, or build a more temporary structure by stringing line between posts.

Whatever your approach to tenting, you need a good seal at the base of the tent and air circulation all around the piece. Dry fit the entire assembly, and tent it along with some offcuts from your project. After putting on your safety equipment, pour ammonia into the pie pans, then position them under the piece, allowing the evaporating ammonia to circulate.

Longer exposure times lead to a darker final color, but exactly how long to fume your piece will vary with temperature since ammonia evaporates more quickly in warmer air. After four hours, remove an offcut from the tent and wipe it with a quick coat of boiled linseed oil. When the oak is fresh from the tent, it will have a greenish cast to it, but this is temporary. The boiled linseed oil reveals the wood’s true fumed color. If you’re satisfied with the color, dispose of the ammonia and let the piece air out. Otherwise, continue to check back.

While the piece is dry assembled, it’s a good time to install the cleats that support the seat frame. The long cleats run parallel to the rails, but the short ones slope downward from front to back to create a more comfortable seating angle. I glued and screwed the long cleats in place, then marked the slope of the side cleats and installed the cleats.

Before continuing with my finishing schedule, I masked any areas that were to be glued, then applied two coats of boiled linseed oil, sanding the last coat with 320-grit wet/dry paper while it was still wet. Once the oil was dry, I wiped on a few thin coats of garnet shellac. To even the shellac, I wet sanded the last coat with 400-grit paper.

Simplify with Subassemblies

Breaking assembly into stages keeps it manageable and prevents the panic that can sometimes accompany large glue-ups. At each stage, dry fit your parts one last time to verify final fit and that you have all the clamps and cauls you’ll need. Begin with the sides. If you’ve used veneer panels, you can glue the panels to the frames for additional stability, but you’ll need to leave solid panels loose in their grooves to expand and contract with changes in humidity. Once the glue has dried, you can glue the legs to the ends of the sides and put the back together. When assembling the back, be sure that the grooves you cut in the rails and stile for the central corbel line up.

After the back has dried, you can glue it and the front rail to the side assemblies, checking for square. With the main body of the settle assembled, it’s time to glue on the corbels. Apply glue sparingly to the tongues and clamp in place, using offcuts from cutting the corbels as clamping blocks. Be sure the tops of the corbels are flush with the settle. Once the base is out of clamps, level the top to make an even surface for joining the arm to the base. A plane works well here.

The last step in assembly is joining the arm to the base. There are a number of ways to attach it — screwing through the top of the arm and plugging the holes; using biscuits to align the piece; or pocket holes through the back faces of the corbel into the arm — but the joint provides ample long-grain to long-grain contact, so simply gluing the arm to the base is more than adequate. Apply glue and position the arm, checking to make sure it stays in place as you tighten your clamps.

If you’ve pre-finished your parts, you’re almost done. The seat cushions rest on a frame that sits on cleats attached to the inner rails. To determine the size of the frame, measure the opening of the base and subtract 1/4″ from both dimensions. Mortise-and-tenons join the frame, and the corners are notched to clear the legs. A center rail provides additional support; if you are building a sofa-length version of the settle, use two center rails. Once you have the cushions installed, sit back, relax, and think about your next project.

Click Here to download a PDF of the related drawings.

The post Stickley-Inspired Prairie Style Settle appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

My hold-down knobs for the corner braces are shop-made on the drill press and band saw. I happened to have a couple of 5/16″ star knobs on hand, but these could also be shop-made. The dimensions of this jig are fine for my purposes but can be easily adjusted to meet individual needs. Having the sliding panels secured to the base by two dovetailed runners keeps them properly aligned in use. I put paste wax on the runners so they will glide easily. The threaded rod arrangement holds the clamping pressure in place without any additional clamps or stops. To make the two sliding panels, lay out and machine the various grooves, holes and slots as shown in the Drawings.

On the threaded rods, the 1/8″ hole for the cotter key (you can substitute a small finishing nail) is approximately 1″ in from the base of the knob. (You can take up any slack with a washer or two.) Measure the depth of the knob you’re using before mounting the rod in the knob, and drill a through hole for the pin using a V-block to hold the rod in position.

I used a 5/8″ dovetail bit to cut the shaped slots in the base. The dovetailed runners are made using the same size bit on the router table with the material held vertical against the fence. (See the Drawings.) For safety, use at least a 3″-wide piece of 3/4″ maple and use a featherboard to keep the material firmly against your router fence as you make your cuts. Sneak up on the cuts for the runners until you have a snug but not too tight fit. (Test your setup on scrap wood.)

Once you have the final tweaks for the runners, you can make them in two passes by using a single 24″-long piece of hard maple, then slice off the runners at the table saw, and cut the four runners to length.

NOTE: To ease attachment of the runners to the sliding panels you’ll want to leave a “base” on the runners. Use a piece of carpet tape on the runners, place them in the base slots and align your sliding platforms, then press them in place. With the runners held to the sliding platforms with the tape, remove the assembly from the base, then countersink and install two screws to each runner.

Shop-made Knobs

I chose to make my own knobs for the corner braces, because I wanted them narrow enough so they would not interfere with any frame components 1″ or more thick. To make my knobs, I started with a 3″ x 3″ piece of hard maple, then marked the center of the piece (see the Drawings). Mark four holes 5/8″ from the center and drill four 3/4″ holes completely through the stock. To accept the nut, I drilled a 15/32″ hole at the center, 1/4″ deep. Then I drilled a 1/4″ hole through the middle of the knob. Trim away the excess scrap on the band saw or scroll saw and sand any rough edges. Put a small amount of epoxy in the 15/32″ hole and, with the nut screwed into the end of a hex bolt, tap the nut into place with a hammer until it’s fully seated. When the epoxy dries, you’re ready to paint if you wish, then mount them to the corner braces using T-bolts. Go ahead and do the final assembly of all the pieces — and now you are ready to get busy with clamping up some frames!

Click Here to download a PDF of the related drawings.

Hard to Find Hardware

5/16”-18 Threaded Inserts (2) #28811

Universal T-Track 3′ (1) #26420

Star Knobs (2) #54589

T-Slot Bolts (4) #37295

– Raymond LaRochelle lives in California, where he serves as the president of the Viet Nam Veterans of Diablo Valley.

The post Making a Frame-Clamping Jig appeared first on Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To.

The crude performance of my first sliding miter saw many years ago gave me reason to believe that “sliders” weren’t accurate enough for precision woodworking. But boy have these saws gotten better since then! Today’s versions have crisply locking detents for setting spot-on miter cuts, solid tilting controls for dialing in bevel settings and motor carriages that glide back and forth without a hint of slop. In fact, 10″-diameter sliders are a growing category because, thanks to their moving motor carriages, they can crosscut a 2×12 or a 4×4 in a single pass. They will cut 1x or even thicker stock up to about 8″ wide when set to maximum compound miter/bevel angles. Then, when cutting is done, most are reasonably easy to lift and carry from one job to the next. They just might be the perfect miter saw for both jobsite and woodshop.

We last tested 10″ sliders in 2008, so it’s time to take an- other look. I installed a new Freud 80-tooth Thin Kerf Ultimate Cut-off Blade and put today’s models through a brutal test, making 50 crosscuts and 50 compound cuts through 1-3⁄4″.-thick, 10″- wide hard maple. It offered me the chance to examine many attributes: motor power, smoothness of cut, accuracy of the rail systems and locking settings and ease and convenience of other important features.

Dust collection on a miter saw is important — they produce lots of it — so I connected an empty shop vacuum or dust extractor to each one during cutting. The saw’s dust port size deter- mined which vac I could use with it. Once done sawing, I swept up and weighed what didn’t get sucked away.

VIDEO: Watch the Miter Saw Dust Collection Test

After my maple plank was chopped to bits, several of these models tested impressively, but only one earned our “Best Bet” honors. Here’s how they sized up.

Bosch CM10GD

Street Price: $699
Bevel Tilt: Left, Right
Motor / Soft-start: 15 amp / Yes
Miter Detents: 0°, 15°, 22.5°, 31.6°, 45°, 60°(R) Weight / Laser Guide: 64 lbs / No
Base Width / Height: 26-7⁄8″ / 3-7⁄8″
Web / Phone: www.boschtools.com / 877-267-2499

It’s easy to warm to Bosch’s unique CM10GD miter saw, because it’s loaded with friendly features — starting with the controls. Just a quarter twist of the front lock knob releases and swivels the table for setting miter cuts, and it snaps firmly into 10 detent positions. Or, squeeze a release below the knob to override the detents, then lock the override on by thumbing a switch ahead of the twist knob. Even more helpful is a front-mounted lever on the left that locks or unlocks the saw carriage so you can tip it off of vertical for making bevel cuts. Most saws locate this control in back of the machine, so you must reach in back to find it. The up-front convenience makes setups a breeze.

Powering up this saw’s 15-amp motor is easy for either lefties or righties: the trigger is ambidextrous, with dual safeties. A broad fence with milled texturing supports tall workpieces securely. Since the motor tips both ways, the fence “wings” slide open easily for blade clearance.

Bosch broke from convention by doing away with the usual two-rail style for sliding the motor carriage back and forth. Instead, there’s an Axial-GlideTM system: four beefy control arms fold open and closed on six pivot points. The sliding motion is silky smooth and rock-solid.

During my tests, the CM10GD sliced maple with verve. Cuts were flat and glassy, and the saw held its miter and bevel settings precisely. Axial-Glide also eliminates the long rail projection behind the saw when ordinary sliders are pushed fully into a cut. Since all the sliding motion happens ahead of the control arm mount, this saw’s base takes up just 21″ of workbench, from front to back. That’s good, because at a hefty 64 lbs., you may want to leave this saw in one place.

Even with a dust extractor’s help, the CM10GD spat a rooster tail of dust into the air with every cut. Here’s why: the dust port is separate from the upper guard instead of being part of it. It seems to be too far away from the blade to capture the spray effectively. I collected about 13.40 ounces of sawdust from on and around the saw — the poorest performance here.

Dust collection aside, this is a fine saw. But, some others cut just as well and keep the work area much cleaner while costing less.

Craftsman 10″ Compact Sliding Miter Saw

Street Price: $249.99
Bevel Tilt: Left
Motor / Soft-start: 15 amp / No
Miter Detents: 0°, 15°, 22.5°, 31.6°, 45°
Weight / Laser Guide: 43 lbs / Yes
Base Width / Height: 20″ / 3-1⁄2″
Web / Phone: www.craftsman.com / 800-843-1682

Released just last summer, this new Craftsman 10-in. Compact Sliding Miter Saw is taking compactness seriously. The motor carriage rides on a pair of tubular rails that are fixed in place and project forward over the saw’s base to save front-to-back space. Tucking the rails this way enables the saw to sit on a work surface just 19″ deep, and since they don’t slide back, they can’t bang into a wall like other moving rail designs. Very nice. They’re also offset from one another vertically instead of aligned side by side, to help stiffen the motor carriage against twisting when you bear down and push through a big cut.

This saw’s base also saves bench space left-to-right: it’s just a hair over 20″ wide. When you need to cut long workpieces, a pair of table extensions pull out on steel rods to offer 40″ of overall support. A tip-up red stop on each one helps you set uniform cutoff lengths.

If you need to move this little saw around, its cast- aluminum frame keeps the weight manageable at 43 lbs. There’s one downside to compactness, though: the table surfaces at the end of the fence are pretty small, which can make wide workpieces like my test lumber feel tippy. So, be sure to use the hold-down clamp that comes standard with this, and every other saw here. Also, while the fence has a tall wing on the left, it’s very short on the right side of the blade, which limits vertical support there.

I noticed a bit of side-to-side play when snapping this saw’s base into nine detents for setting up miter cuts, but once the lock knob is tightened, the slop vanishes. A plastic throw lever in back allows you to release and tip the motor up to 47° left for bevel cuts. Tighten the lever, and the angle setting stays put.

In my cutting trials, the Craftsman managed hard maple well. Its sliding system produced offcuts that were uniform, indicating that the blade was tracking straight and true. The cut faces on my maple slices weren’t glass-smooth, but still very acceptable. With the saw’s 2-1⁄4″ I.D. dust port connected to a vac hose, this system channeled dust very well, rating third best at 1.30 ounces.

A laser with simple, tool-free dial adjusters is provided to help align the blade to a pencil line, and its crisp beam hits the mark where it should. It’s not often that a laser feature actually works so well for me. A zippered dust bag rounds out the standard goodies. For $249, Craftsman packs a lot of value into this space-saving slider.

DeWALT DW717

Street Price: $449
Bevel Tilt: Left, Right
Motor / Soft-start: 15 amp / No
Miter Detents: 0°, 15°, 22.5°, 31.62°, 45°, 60°(L) Weight / Laser Guide: 51 lbs / No
Base Width / Height: 22-3⁄4″ / 3-1⁄2″
Web / Phone: www.dewalt.com / 800-433-9258

Unlike some companies that pack their tools with every imaginable feature, DeWALT knows what the contractor or serious woodworker wants. You may not get oodles of extras on this DW717, but what’s here brings solid performance when cutting wood. I like the 4-1⁄4″-tall fence: its textured faces keep workpieces from slipping during cutting. If you’re trying to hold the narrow edges of crown molding against it when cutting them in the “nested” position, you’ll appreciate the extra traction that provides.

Setting up compound miter cuts is easy: DeWALT locates a big bevel tilt lever on top of the rail assembly. It’s a better position because it’s easier to reach. Give it a turn and flip up a second pair of throw levers, and the saw tips left or right up to 48°. In addition to 0°, it also has preset detents at 22.5° and 33.9° to suit typical crown molding angles (most saws have one or two bevel presets for crown).

To adjust the miter angle, there’s no twist knob: just thumb a release and swing the saw table to any angle left or right. Let go, and the table will stop squarely on 10 detents. Push the big front lever down to lock it, and the angle won’t budge.

DeWALT provides a traditional dual-rail sliding design. When fully pushed through a cut, the DW717 requires about 26″ of bench depth to fit the base and those jutting rails. It’s not the biggest bench gobbler of this test group, but other compact designs take less space. Still, the motor carriage glides on the rails smoothly, and they helped the saw’s powerful 15-amp motor peel off one slice of maple after the next cleanly and consistently. You’ll be pleased by the results.

This saw had flat-out impressive dust collection: after 100 cuts, I gathered just under an ounce (.80) of residual sawdust. The rest of it was drawn away efficiently through the machine’s 13⁄8″ I.D. dust port, using a dust extractor. If you work in a basement shop with limited fresh air sources, the DW717 will definitely help you breathe easier.

You can buy lots of extras for this saw: table extension, crown molding fence, a laser or an LED task light system. In its basic form (shown), it sells for $449: not cheap, but still fair for a pro quality tool.

Kobalt SM2507LW

Street Price: $179
Bevel Tilt: Left
Motor / Soft-start: 15 amp / No
Miter Detents: 0°, 15°, 22.5°, 31.6°, 45°
Weight / Laser Guide: 36 lbs / Yes
Base Width / Height: 20-1⁄2″ / 3-1⁄2″
Web / Phone: www.kobalttools.com / 888-356-2258

If you frequent the tool aisles at Lowe’s®, you’ve probably seen Kobalt’s SM2507LW. And if you were curious about its performance, or wowed by its super-low price of just $179, you might have checked the Lowe’s website to read customer feed-back. Many rave about this bargain-priced saw. On the whole, I found myself agreeing with them after putting this saw through its paces.

It is left-tilting, with a traditional rail system that projects back. That travel, plus the saw base, will require about 24-1⁄4″ of bench depth. The motor carriage tips down smoothly, but on my saw the return spring felt stiff. It pushed through cuts pretty smoothly on linear bearings. A large wing knob in back locks bevel tilt settings securely, and there are presets at 33.9° and 45°, too.

My test saw had a few idiosyncrasies: the factory setting for the fence was too far back, which prevented the blade from fully cutting through the maple at the bottom inside corner. Loosening the fence’s mounting bolts and shifting it forward corrected the problem. When I swiveled the table and attempted to lock the table off of the nine detents, twisting the knob made the table creep to the right. That would be cause for me to return the tool and get another one: a miter saw should lock positively wherever you set it. But, when snapped into its nine miter detents, the lock knob tightened properly.

Kobalt provides a laser feature that comes aligned to the right side of the blade. Right-handers will want it to illuminate on the left side instead. Saw owners have remedied the problem by disassembling the feature and fixing it — it’s discussed extensively online in the reviews; the manual’s adjustment procedure won’t be sufficient. I also wasn’t crazy about the trigger’s left-side safety switch: it’s hard to activate with your thumb without altering or somewhat opening your grip every time.

For plusses, this saw has slide-out table extensions with work stops similar to Craftsman that offer almost 42″ of workpiece support — helpful! It made reasonably smooth test cuts in such dense, hard material, and the offcuts were uniform for the most part. Some, however, showed signs that the motor head might be twisting slightly on its rails when starting wide cuts. Dust collection through Kobalt’s 2-1⁄4″ port was decent when connected to a standard shop vac, placing it mid-pack at 2.10 ounces of debris left behind.

Kobalt makes transport easy, too: the tool weighs just 36 lb. and has two sturdy carry handles on top. My sample saw needed a few tweaks, but it was no lemon.

Makita LS1016L

Street Price: $499
Bevel Tilt: Left, Right
Motor / Soft-start: 15 amp / Yes
Miter Detents: 0°, 15°, 22.5°, 31.6°, 45°
Weight / Laser Guide: 52.2 lbs / Yes
Base Width / Height: 25″ / 4-1⁄2″
Web / Phone: www.makitatools.com / 800-462-5482

Makita builds tools for pro users, and this LS1016L saw is designed with features that should be very appealing to them. For starters, the tool has a generously wide and deep table area in front of the fence for better than average workpiece support, and a pair of nearly 5″-tall fence facings will lend good backup for cutting crown and wide base moldings.

The LS1016L has a unique rail style, too: instead of two long tubes, Makita provides four in shorter lengths. The bottom pair slide in and out from under the table, and the top two move the motor carriage on its mount. The combination creates a telescoping “stairstep” when pushed through a cut. It doesn’t really save space — the saw measures about 26-1⁄2″ from the table’s front legs to the back of the posts when extended — but Makita says shorter posts help ensure against deflection. And in my cutting test, the motor tracked straight and true: both square and compound angle-cuts were polished smooth, flat and uniform.

I love the soft-start feature on Makita’s 15-amp motor. When you squeeze the trigger, the motor comes up to full power smoothly instead of jerking your trigger hand like some do. Makita also tips the motor up at a steep angle, relative to the blade; that helps it clear the tall fence when tilting to the right (it tips both directions). The design also allows the motor to drive the blade directly. It’s different from other dual-bevel miter saws, which have a drive belt between the motor and blade arbor that will eventually wear out.

In order to swivel the table to set miter angles, you must push the lock knob in and twist it right to loosen; it’s counterintuitive to the usual right-tightening approach, but the design is quick and effective once you get used to it. Miter angles lock securely both on and off the detents. Makita provides two overlapping bevel scales in back, too, to help make settings easier to see from in front of the saw without craning your neck.

Rounding out the accoutrements is a hold-down clamp and a laser guide, which was crude to fine-tune. Unlike the other saws, the Makita’s blade does not come installed. Make sure you look in the packaging! You do get a dust bag, the tool’s port was slightly undersized for my Festool dust extractor, but it fits Makita’s dust extractor hoses. Once I got mine connected, this saw delivered a mediocre dust collection performance, leaving 4.45 ounces around the work area. But, if you don’t mind extra dust, this LS1016L saw made first-rate cuts and was pleasant to use.

RIDGID MS255SR

Street Price: $399
Bevel Tilt: Left, Right
Motor / Soft-start: 15 amp / Yes
Miter Detents: 0°, 15°, 22.5°, 31.6°, 45° Weight / Laser Guide: 59.6 lbs / Yes
Base Width / Height: 23-1⁄8″ / 3-5⁄8″
Web / Phone: www.ridgid.com / 800-474-3443

Slicing through hard maple 100 times over is a taxing job with any of these saws, but I have to say, it was enjoyable with RIDGID’s MS255SR. That’s because RIDGID’s engineers have gotten just about every aspect of this tool right. Its pair of etched fences are a generous 43⁄4″ tall and slide easily open or closed, depending on whether you need to tip the saw left or right for bevel cuts. When you do, that task is simple: the bevel tilt lock is right in front on the left, next to the miter lock lever. No reaching around needed. I wish the bevel scale were easier to see from in front of the saw — it’s tucked under the saw’s dual rails — but once you find your angle, the lock lever holds it securely. Miter settings either on or off the table’s nine detents are easy to set as well: thumb a slider knob ahead of the miter lock lever to swivel the table, then push the lever down to lock.

The over-molded and comfortable grip on this saw is smartly designed: its trigger stretches the full width, and there are easy-to-reach safe- ties on both ends. The grip is also centered behind the motor carriage, making pushing easier. One downside, however, is that at full throw, you’ll need about 30″ of front-to-back bench space to keep from banging these rails into a wall. The saw is also a bulky 59 lbs., but two handles on top of the tool make lifting it less burdensome.

RIDGID equips the 15-amp motor with both soft-start and feedback circuitry, so you won’t be startled when you squeeze the trigger and wake this beast up. The motor comes to life gently, and no matter how forcefully I pushed through the test cuts, it didn’t bog down. Cutting smoothness, flatness and off cut consistency was exceptional. Had I opted to use these saws’ standard blades, RIDGID equips their saw with a good quality Freud Diablo® 40-tooth blade.

Dust collection via shop vac was extremely effective here through the tool’s 2-1⁄4″ port. It scored just behind DeWALT at only .75 ounces — second-best in this test.

Other amenities include an articulated hold-down clamp with a quick-adjust button, cord wrap, dust bag and a dual-beam laser that is mod- erately helpful. Its beams project a path wider than the blade, so this laser will get you close but not spot-on to your layout line. RIDGID also includes a gimbal-type LED task light that swings freely inside its housing and settles by gravity. No matter what angle the motor carriage may be at, you’ll get helpful illumination in the general cutting area. I wish all of these saws had a useful task light, too!

For $399, this affordable, accurate and clean-cutting saw is a bargain among its peers here. Check it out at your local Home Depot store.

RYOBI TSS102L

Street Price: $199
Bevel Tilt: Left
Motor / Soft-start: 15 amp / No
Miter Detents: 0°, 15°, 22.5°, 31.6°, 45°
Weight / Laser Guide: 34 lbs / Yes
Base Width / Height: 19-7⁄8″ / 3-1⁄2″
Web / Phone: www.ryobitools.com / 800-525-2579

If affordability is the deal- maker for you, RYOBI’s TSS102L is priced to please at $199. The saw is appoint- ed similar to the comparably priced Kobalt saw here. When you need to cut long workpieces, RYOBI provides a pair of steel bar workpiece supports on either side of the table that extend its overall platform to about 30-3⁄4″. They don’t retract. A zippered dust bag helps to corral sawdust, or you can connect the 1-5⁄16″ I.D. dust port to an extractor.

The table on my test saw swung easily up to 47° left or 52° right and locked crisply into nine detents. Or, skip the detents by squeezing a release lever under the knob with your index finger. A second lever below that locks this override on. A twist-type knob holds your miter setting. It’s also simple to tip this saw’s rail assembly left for beveling once you loosen a large wing knob in back.

RYOBI’s twin-tube rails will require about 281⁄2″ of workbench depth for full front-to-back travel. It’s one of the longer saws here but still lightweight, weighing an easy-to-tote 34 lbs.

For other extras, you get a twin-beam laser guide, but I found it difficult to align accurate- ly with the blade, because the beams move off mark as you lower the blade into a cut. And the motor, while plenty powerful for all my cutting needs, doesn’t ben- efit from soft-start. When you squeeze the trigger, it snaps to life abruptly with a jerk at the grip (so do Kobalt and Craftsman). I also noticed, about halfway through the cutting test, that the saw’s electric brake was fading and taking much longer to stop the blade. The brake’s effectiveness didn’t improve afterward.

I’d like to have at least one taller fence facing here for more workpiece backup; as is, the fence is a one-piece casting that’s 3-1⁄2″ tall at just three narrow peaks. You can, of course, screw a scrap facing to this fence to make it taller or to help close up the gap behind the blade (you can do that with the other test saws, too).

Curiously similar to Kobalt, the fence on this RYOBI saw was also bolted just a bit too far back on the table. I needed to loosen and slide it forward a nudge so the blade would cut completely through the bottom back corner of the maple.

For dust tidiness, the TSS102L finished in fifth place at 2.35 oz. All in all, this wallet-friendly saw, which is available at Home Depot, neither wowed nor disappointed me. It seems right-priced.

Who Gets Top Billing?

I often struggle between several deserving tools when selecting a “Best Bet” winner, but not here. With a clear conscience, I think RIDGID’s mid-priced MS255SR leads this pack. It is feature-rich, cuts beautifully and keeps the bench area cleaner. Even better, it costs $50 less than DeWALT — a saw I also really liked — while offering more standard goodies. RIDGID also backs the tool with a Lifetime Service Agreement that covers all defects in workmanship or materials and normal wear items for the lifetime of the original purchaser.

Another Great 10″ Slider Option: Festool Kapex

For more than a year now, I’ve had the good fortune of using Festool’s sophisticated Kapex 10-1⁄4″ sliding compound miter saw in my shop. It has a powerful, variable-speed, soft-start motor, a compact design with forward fixed rails and large, easy-to-set and easy-to-read miter and bevel scales. It also has the best laser guide for lining up cuts that I’ve ever used. Why didn’t I test it here, you might wonder? Well, at $1,400 street price, this saw is twice the cost of Bosch’s CM10GD and multiples the price of the three budget-friendly models here. I felt that cost disparity was too great to make it a fair comparison. But make no mistake about it, Festool offers a premium quality slider that would be tough for a 10″ competitor to beat.

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