November/December 2009 Archives - Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To

PROJECT: Queen Anne Highboy Part Two

Kerry Pierce — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:30:45 +0000

In an ideal world, I would have limitless space and time to describe the process of building this period-style highboy. As neither you nor I live in that realm, however, a reasonable compromise is this two-part tale of its construction. And this presentation has the advantage of allowing us to draw a breath in the midst of its construction.

With any project, great or small, it is the details that make the difference — and our author succeeds well in that regard.

While my highboy’s appearance varies somewhat from its historical predecessor — my moldings are more bold, my hardware of a different style — both the builder of yesterday and I, myself, are, in essence, after the same goal.

Starting with high quality stock and stock selection and carrying through with shapely legs, custom moldings and hand-cut dovetails, these refined details are executed with excellent craftsmanship.

One way to look at the upper case and the drawers is that they are a study in dovetailing. A dovetail joint is more than a mechanical union of two pieces of wood. The joint also has a strong aesthetic presence, adding detail and an appealing visual rhythm to a joined corner.

In addition, because it’s widely seen as one of the defining characteristics of fine craftsmanship in wood, the joint carries a symbolic significance of great weight in the woodworking world. (Is there any one of us who hasn’t pulled a drawer from a chest to look to see if there are dovetails?)

For these reasons, many craftsmen with long personal experience with dovetail joinery have spent at least some time reflecting on the subject, thinking about how dovetails might best be used to join, to add detail and rhythm, to speak about craftsmanship. I know I have, and the upper case of this highboy is a kind of three-dimensional essay in which I articulate the principles by which I now make use of the dovetail joint in my shop.

There is Strength in Size

High-style period casework features refined dovetail work, which is typically characterized by wide tails and little slivers of pins. Although the aesthetic appeal of these diminutive pins is unmistakable, their size offers little protection against the destructive force of, for example, a drawer being accidentally dropped onto its corner. Therefore, for the most practical of reasons, I prefer more robust pins and tails, which — if executed cleanly — can be attractive as well as resistant to shock.

The upper case of this highboy is held together with hand-cut through dovetails at each corner. Each pin and tail is thick enough in cross-section to individually provide resistance to shock. Plus there are enough pins and tails to provide extensive gluing surface. (Although it’s probably unnecessary, I laid out my tails on the top and bottom of the case, rather than the sides, so that the case could better resist separation force in the only direction in which it could occur: laterally.)

The rails separating the drawers in the upper case are fastened to the case sides with oversized dovetails, one of the very few locations on this highboy in which dovetails are visible to the viewer of the assembled piece. Here, too, the tails are robust in size to provide strong mechanical resistance to separation.

Authentic Hand-cut Dovetails

It’s important to test fit a set of dovetails dry before you assemble the case with glue.

The drawers are constructed with through dovetails at the back and half-blind dovetails at the front. Hand-cut dovetails shouldn’t mimic machine-cut dovetails. So, I cut these and all the other dovetails on the case not only by hand but also freehand.

It’s also important that the tails not be fully seated dry, because you may not be able to get the case apart to apply glue to the joints.

That is, I sawed them out without the aid of an angle jig or an angled reference line because, in an era in which handwork is becoming increasingly scarce, I want my joinery to be verifiably the result of the human hand.

Each of the 2″-wide drawer rails on the upper case is held in place with a 1″ deep dovetail. The author cut the tails by hand with a backsaw, then marked the tails onto the front edge of the case sides and cut the dovetail sockets with a chisel.

Finally, the drawer dovetails — like the drawer dovetails on most of my recent casework — are laid out so that the tails get narrower as they ascend the side of a drawer. In fact, those tails at the bottom of a wide drawer side might be twice as wide as those at the top. Applied consistently, this approach adds a unifying element, not only to the drawers in a single case piece but also to all drawers made by my hand.

Starting with the Big Box

Solid wood case sides expand and contract in response to seasonal changes, so the drawer runners must be fastened in a way that permits movement. The front end of each runner’s tongue fits a groove milled into the drawer rail. The back end of the runner is secured with a single fat woodscrew turned into the side of the case. The piece of 3/8″-thick scrap holds the runner back as you set the screw.

After gluing up and leveling the four panels that comprise the upper case shell, I cut through rabbets on the inside back edge of the top, bottom, and two sides. (Through rabbets were acceptable because the waist and cornice moldings would later conceal the ends of those rabbets.) I next cut and carefully fit the long rows of dovetails at the corners and glued up the case, pressing each dovetail home with a pipe clamp I moved back and forth across the joinery. After the dovetails were fully seated, I checked diagonals to verify that the case was square, and then I set it aside to cure.

After planing the surplus length from the ends of the upper case’s pins and tails, I prepped the drawer rails. First, I plowed grooves on the back side of each rail — grooves which would later accept a tongue on the ends of the drawer runners. I then cut dovetails on the ends of each rail. Finally, I marked and cut the dovetail sockets in the front edges of the case sides to receive each of the dovetails and glued the rails in place.

The drawer kicker assembly.

The drawer runners went in next. I installed them by sliding the tongue on the end of each into its groove on the back side of the drawer rail, fastening the back end of the runner to the case side with a single heavy screw. In the case of the two top drawers, I assembled the drawer runner/kicker strip unit before attaching the whole thing in place with two screws driven up into the top of the upper case, through the kicker strips. Additionally, tenons fit into the backs of the two uppermost drawer rails. When all those members were installed, I went ahead and fit the back.

Adding Various Moldings

Through the years, I’ve created moldings with a router, a table saw with molding heads, scratch stocks, bench planes, and so forth. But for the last five years, I’ve been making them primarily with molding planes because, first, I think antique molding planes offer modern makers the richest available variety of shapes. Second, these antique planes are so much fun to play with. But I don’t think it much matters how a craftsman arrives at appropriate shapes, as long as those shapes can be arranged into harmonious wholes.

My waist molding, which wraps around the bottom of the upper case, is simply a little bubble of ascending beads marking and smoothing the transition between the lower and upper cases. The cornice molding on top of the upper case is a bit more complicated, consisting of three parts: a narrow cluster of shadow lines at the bottom, a simple cove in the middle, with a thumbnail molding at the top.

Although the crown and waist molding can be formed in a variety of ways, the author prefers using antique molding planes — he simply enjoys them.

Molding installation on a solid wood highboy is inherently tricky because the horizontal grain direction of the moldings is perpendicular to the vertical grain direction of the upper case side to which they must be fastened. Obviously, the moldings can’t simply be glued in place, because after six months in a home with forced-air heat, cross-grain shrinkage of the upper case side would cause the glue to fail, and the moldings would simply pop off. This is not a problem on the front of the highboy’s upper case, because there the grain in the case and the grain in the moldings run in the same direction. Here, I simply glued the moldings in place.

It is possible to circumvent the cross-grain problem by nailing the moldings to the case side, but that approach results in unsightly nail holes that must be filled. Plus, it puts the craftsman in the position of swinging a hammer at delicate molded shapes, something that should be avoided whenever possible.

I’ve developed a different approach that allows me to install my highboy moldings securely, without visible nail holes and without any risk of moldings popping off. I do it by combining glue and hidden nails.

The author first glued and nailed in place the two side sections of molding, resting them on the blocks he’d clamped to the case (process described in the story’s text). He then glued the front section into place, clamping it as shown here.

Nailing works in a cross-grain application like this because nails are flexible. The shanks of thin nails can bend to accommodate movement, and the holes in the material through which those shanks pass can also enlarge to allow movement. In fact, it would be possible to fasten moldings to the sides of a highboy using a technique known as “blind nailing,” which is nailing under a lifted sliver of wood which is then glued back into place over the nail head. (In fact, Stanley once made a plane-like tool — the #96 — for this express purpose.)

But blind nailing alone wouldn’t work in this application because movement across the whole width of the highboy side would almost certainly destroy a tight molding miter at the front of the case. My method involves both blind nailing and gluing. Let me explain by detailing the installation of the waist molding.

The crown molding is created from three separate pieces of shaped stock stacked to form the desired profile. The author builds the molding on the case so he can hide the nails that he uses to fight seasonal movement.

The only element of the waist molding that contacts the case side is a strip of 1/4″-thick stock with a half bead cut onto the top edge. (That bead is the only part of this strip that is visible in the completed molding.) The front two inches of that strip are glued in place so that the inevitable cross-grain shrinkage will necessarily occur at the unglued back end of the strip, leaving the miter, at the front, tight. The rest of that strip is held in place by eight to 10 small nails, so the case side underneath the strip is free to move. The nails are placed below the visible half bead and are concealed by the next layer of molding which is glued, positioned, and press fitted for a 60 count. From there, the tackiness of the glue holds the molding in place on its own.

Successive layers of molding are then glued to the outside of this first strip.

I used the same attachment process to install the cornice molding around the top of the upper case.

Building the Drawers

It is very important to select your drawer face lumber with an eye to the figure of the wood. The grain should match and flow from piece to piece.

The drawers on this case are constructed with (non-period) fitting strips glued to each side. These 3/8″ x 5/8″ hardwood strips are glued to both sides of the drawers for two reasons: First, they reduce the friction when the drawers are opened and closed, and second, their presence reduces the amount of material that must be planed to fit when installing the drawers. The presence of these strips means the rabbets on the back side of each end of each of the drawer fronts must be wide enough to accommodate both the drawer lip and the fitting strip.

After defining the sides of the tails with a backsaw, the author removed most of the waste with a coping saw before finishing the opening by paring the cut to the baseline.

The front side of each of the drawer fronts has a molded edge all around with a rabbet on the back side on only the top and each end. I assembled the drawers with half-blind dovetails in the front and through dovetails in the back.

After cutting the tails, the author holds the drawer side in place and marks the pins.

The 9/16″-thick drawer bottoms are tapered to a 1/4″ thickness on the front and both sides. These 1/4″ edges are slid into matching grooves plowed on the inside of the drawer sides and the back of the drawer fronts. The bottoms are held in place with screws that pass through notches into the bottom edge of the drawer back.

It’s easier to cut the mortises for the lock hardware before the drawer components are dovetailed and assembled. Here, the author is cutting the notch for the key’s tooth with a chisel.

Three of the drawers have locks with escutcheon plates integrated with their respective hardware. If you choose to include this detail, you must lay out the mortise for the lock on the back of the drawer face. The lock will have a mortise and escutcheon on the adjacent rail to accept the bolt.

When the drawers are complete and fitted, attach the ship-lap back pieces and move on to finishing.

Finishing

A successful finish depends on successful prep work…in other words, sanding. I think most unsatisfactory finishes are the result of insufficient sanding. Sanding doesn’t begin after the piece is assembled. It’s an ongoing process that begins — in the case of this highboy — with the creation of the cabriole legs. After surfacing those forms with a plane, a drawknife, a spokeshave, scrapers and rasps, I sanded them with 100-grit paper, followed by 150- and 220-grit papers, each grit removing the scratches left by the previous grit. Similarly, every other part of the highboy was sanded before installation, and sanding of assembled parts occurred periodically throughout the construction process to clean up the inevitable dings and scratches that occur as a piece is constructed.

Then, when the piece was officially done, every surface was resanded, beginning with whatever grit was necessary, and progressing up through a number of grits, ending with 400-grit paper on exterior surfaces and 220-grit paper on interior surfaces like drawer sides.

I then brushed on and wiped off a blended poly designed for that style of application. When the first coat had dried thoroughly — at least 24 hours in humid Ohio — I sanded again with 400- and then 600 grit paper on exterior surfaces, 220 on interior surfaces. A second coat of finish went on next, followed by more sanding. I then applied the last coat of finish.

Once the finish has cured, I think you have earned a moment or two of proud reflection on a job well done. Like your predecessors in woodworking, you have crafted a significant project.

Click Here to Download Drawings and Materials List.

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PROJECT: Horizontal Tilt-top Router Table

Sandor Nagyszalanczy — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 19:55:16 +0000

Sure, a regular router table that mounts a portable router vertically is great for all kinds of shaping jobs. But a router table that mounts the router horizontally is even better for tasks such as panel raising, joinery cutting and other shaping jobs where you’d rather have the work flat on a table than run it vertically against a fence. But this horizontal table has a versatile twist: its table tilts, allowing you to do a variety of work that’s difficult or impossible on a regular flat router table. For example, you can shape angled tenons on the ends of aprons or stretchers that join the splayed legs of a stool or chair. You can also use the tilted table to rout slots for splines that join beveled parts — say, the sides of an octagonal planter. Best of all, by changing the angle between the profile of the bit and the workpiece, the tilt-top lets you rout a variety of new shapes from the router bits you already own!

Versatile Design

With its top lying flat, the horizontal router table is great for raising panels and other jobs on large panels. panels. With the top tilted, it excels at angled joinery.

Happily, this unique table isn’t difficult to build, doesn’t require much in the way of materials and is compact, so you can easily stow it away when it’s not in use. The table has a cubical base with an oversized bottom that makes it easy to clamp the device atop a bench or work table. A pivoting router plate mounted to a crossmember on the base provides a mount for just about any standard router.

The tilted table is also perfect for altering the profile of edges with standard bits.

Pivoting the plate adjusts the bit’s cutting depth up and down (because of the horizontal orientation of the table, the router’s regular bit depth adjustment changes the width of the cut). The table’s top is attached to the base via a pair of plywood compasses, each with a pair of radiused slots that allow the top to tilt from flat to 45 degrees. A slot in the top accepts a standard miter gauge, which is useful for end-routing.

Kicking Off the Construction Process

After temporarily screwing a bolt into the threaded insert, a socket and ratchet wrench drives the insert into the hole in the side of the horizontal router table’s base.

To start construction, make the table’s base from 3/4″ MDF or particleboard. Cut out an 18″ x 12″ bottom, three 12″ squares for the front and sides and a 12″ x 3″ wide strip for the bottom rear (pieces 1 through 4). On the band saw (or with a jigsaw), cut a 3″ high, 3/4″ deep notch at the top back corner of each of the two sides for the crossmember that supports the router plate (cut the notch slightly shallower, if your crossmember stock isn’t fully 3/4″ thick). Make sure the notches’ edges are nice and square. Now drill a pair of 3/8″-diameter holes through each side piece, located as shown in the Drawings.

A pneumatic nail gun makes quick work of assembling the router table’s MDF base, keeping the glued parts aligned and together while clamps are put into place.

These are for studded hand screws that will attach the tilt-top to the base. Install a 1/4″ threaded insert in each of these holes, using a short 1/4″ bolt, two nuts and a ratchet wrench to drive them in place. Glue and nail (or screw) the sides of the base together, with the bottom strip at the lower edge of the cube. Center the sides on the base’s bottom piece and glue and nail them in place, making sure the assembly is square and that all the edges are flush.

A socket and ratchet wrench, set onto a pair of nuts, drive the hanger bolts into place. These hanger bolts attach the router plate to the crossmember on the base.

Cut the router table’s 3″ x 18″ crossmember (piece 5) from a piece of good quality 3/4″ plywood. Band saw or jigsaw a semi-circular hole at the center of the crossmember’s top edge to provide clearance for the router bit. Next, drill a pair of 7/32″-diameter holes, positioned 16-1/2″ apart, as shown in the Drawings. These holes are for the two 1/4″ x 1-1/2″-long hanger bolts that attach the router pivoting plate to the base. Hanger bolts have a wood screw thread on one half and a machine thread on the other. To install them, lock a pair of 1/4″ nuts together (with a washer between them) on the bolt’s machine threaded end, and drive the screw-thread end into the holes. Now glue and screw the crossmember into the notches on the base, centering it side-to-side.

Center the crossmember on the notches cut into the base, then glue and screw it in place. The face of the crossmember must be flush with the edge of the sides.

The router plate consists of two 18″-long, 9″-wide pieces sandwiched together: a 1/4″-thick plywood, melamine or tempered hardboard facepiece and a 1/2″-thick MDF or plywood backing piece (pieces 6 and 7). In the center of the face piece, drill a 2″-diameter hole for the router bit. Now remove the sub-base of the router you’ll use with the horizontal table, center it on the hole in the face piece, and clamp it down (make sure to orient the sub-base so that the router’s final mounted position on the router plate will locate the On/Off switch facing upwards, for easy operation). Go ahead and chuck a self-centering bit (these have a spring-loaded guide sleeve that centers the bit in a hole) in an electric drill and, using the subbase’s mounting holes as a template, bore the router mounting holes through the face piece. Countersink the holes for the mounting screws so their heads will be flush with the surface of the plate. After sawing a hole in the center of the backing piece large enough to clear your router’s base, carefully align and glue the backing and face pieces together.

Using the router’s subbase as a template, drill holes through the router plate’s face piece with a self-centering bit.

Tip: To keep two flat surfaces being glued up from sliding around when you apply clamping pressure, drive a couple of small brads in one surface, then clip them off nearly flush; the nibs “dig in” and keep parts from sliding.

To make clearance for the router, use a jigsaw to make a circular cutout in the plate’s backing piece.

Next, drill a hole in the router plate for the hanger bolt that allows the plate to pivot (located as shown in the Drawing). Fit a router with a circle jig and 5/16″ straight bit set to cut all the way through the plate. Set the circle jig so that the distance between the pivot pin and the centerline of the bit is exactly 16-1/2″.

Cutting a radiused slot through the plate will require a circlecutting jig attached to a router.

With the router plate clamped atop a wood scrap, rout the curved slot following the dimensions in the Drawings. Attach the plate to the crossmember with a pair of threaded hand screws.

Getting to Tilt

A pair of threaded hand knobs attach the router plate to the two hanger bolts protruding from the crossmember.

The two compasses (pieces 8) that support the table top and allow it to tilt are the most complicated part of the build. The compasses are necessary, because they allow the top to tilt without being hinged on the router plate — an arrangement that wouldn’t allow the plate to adjust up and down for depth of cut. Both compasses are sawn from a single 11-1/4″-wide, 20″- long blank of 1/2″ plywood, laid out as shown in the Drawings. Use a good quality plywood, such as Baltic birch. Each compass has a pair of semicircular slots routed through it, located as shown in the Drawing. Screw the blank temporarily atop a scrap piece of 24″ x 14″ (or larger) plywood or particleboard. As the actual pivot point of the tilt-top is located beyond the corner of each compass, where the front of the router plate and top meet, you must screw a pair of scrap blocks to the plywood to provide a pivot point for layout and slot routing. The 1/2″ x 4″ x 1-1/4″ scraps are positioned at opposite corners of the blank, as shown in the Drawing. Use a compass set to a 12″ radius to mark the outer edge of each compass. Mark the stop lines for the slots, as shown in the Drawings.

A small scrap of plywood provides the pivot point for the circle-cutting jig.

It’s easiest to use a plunge router to cut the two radiused slots in each compass. But by using a little finesse when starting and stopping slots, a regular router or laminate trimmer will work. For the smaller slots, set your router’s circle jig so that there’s 5″ between the pivot point and the centerline of a 5/16″ straight bit. Rout these slots on each of the two ends of the compass blank, starting and stopping the bit at the lines you marked. Now reset the circle jig to an 11″ arc and rout the two larger radius slots. Band saw the compasses from the blank by cutting out their curved outside edges, and sand them smooth.

Each of the twin compasses that support the horizontal router table’s tilt-top has a pair of curved slots. Mill these with a router and circle-cutting jig.

Cut the table’s 14″ x 22″ tilt-top (piece 9) from 3/4″ melamine or MDF stock, then bevel the lower edge of one of its long edges at a 45° angle (see the Drawings). The bevel allows the tilted top to clear the base. Now measure the exact width of the table’s base you assembled earlier (it should measure about 13-1/2″ wide). Using a 1/2″-wide dado set in your table saw (fine-tuned to fit the exact thickness of the plywood compasses), plow two 3/8″-deep dadoes across the narrower dimension on the underside of the top. Space the slots so that their inside-facing edges are as far apart as the width of the base. This will ensure that the inside faces of the compasses will fit snugly against the sides of the base.

Cut a pair of grooves into the bottom of the router’s tilting table top using a dado blade in the table saw. These house the plywood compasses.

Next, set your table saw’s dado set to plow a miter-slot groove into the top surface of the top, located as shown in the Drawing. You can cut a 3/4″-wide, 3/8″-deep groove to fit the bar of a standard miter gauge. Alternatively, you’ll get a more accurate and wear-resistant miter gauge fit by installing a length of aluminum miter slot track. This requires dadoing a larger slot, sized to fit the track you use.

To mount the top to the table’s base, studded hand screws are installed through the curved slots and screwed into the threaded inserts you installed earlier.

Glue the two compasses into the dadoes in the table top, aligning each compass’s square corner flush with the lower corner of the top’s beveled edge. Set the top/compass assembly on the base, bringing the top’s beveled edge flush to the router plate. Screw the studded hand screws into the threaded inserts.

Putting the Router Table to Work

To use the router table, set the table to the desired degree of tilt and tighten the compass hand screws. Next, set the width of cut the bit will take using your router’s depth of cut adjustment. Finally, set the actual depth of cut by loosening the hand knobs on the router plate and pivoting the plate up or down. Lock it in place.

Now you’re ready to perform your basic run-of-the-mill routing jobs, plus a host of technically difficult angled cuts and modified profiles that your ordinary router table just can’t do.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

Hard-to-Find Hardware:

Threaded Inserts (8) #28803
Hanger Bolts (8) #24406
5-Star Knob (4) #58085
5-Star Stud (4) #58261
Miter Track #23880

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PROJECT: Modular Bookcases

Rob Johnstone — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 15:57:54 +0000

A common woodworking misconception is that simple joinery is easy to make. While it’s true that dadoes and rabbets are much more accessible than, say, secret miter joints, they must be cut to exacting tolerances to be done well. This is especially true when the joints remain exposed, as in these bookcases. Constructed from ApplePly, the joinery on the built-up shelves and uprights adds visual interest to the project’s clean lines. If the joints are really tight, they look great. If they have gaps, well … not so great.

I say all of this simply to encourage you. Should you decide to build this piece, take your time at each machining step to fit the parts carefully. Also, be sure to stay focused. There is nothing tricky about constructing these modular bookcases but, as I found out the hard way, a moment’s lapse in concentration can necessitate a complete “do-over” on an individual component.

Ripping the Stock

ApplePly has two major advantages for this project (although it can be built from other sheetstock, should you so choose): first, its regular voidless veneer construction creates an attractive edge for the shelves. Second, it is sold slightly oversized as compared to other sheetstock (48-1/2″ x 96-1/2″). That way, you can trim the edges off if they get dinged during shipping and handling.

Gluing and clamping the long, narrow blanks from which the shelves and uprights are cut is time-consuming.

I started the project by ripping 3/4″ by 12-1/8″ panels, the full length of the sheet. Then I glued and clamped pairs of the long panels into 1-1/2″-thick shelving blanks.

The author applied his glue with a water-moistened paint applicator and allowed at least four hours (but preferred overnight) for the glue to cure.

These are really large pieces to handle during a glue-up, so here’s how I did it. Grabbing a large glue bottle, I swizzled a wiggly line of glue onto each piece. Then I borrowed a paint-pad usually used for wall painting, and dampened it with water. Using the painting pad, I spread the glue into a thin, smooth layer on each piece of plywood. Assembling the glueblank sandwich, I clamped them together and to my assembly table using square-head clamps with additional Jorgensen woodscrew clamps on either end. Clamping to the assembly table ensured that the glue-up would remain flat. Due to the extra moisture content in the glue and the large surface area, I allowed a minimum of four hours for the glue to cure. Most of the blanks I left in clamps overnight.

Square and True

Cut the shelves and uprights to length. They must be dead-square and exact in length.

When the glue cured, I returned to my table saw and squared up the edges of the long blanks. With the second slice of the process, I ripped them to their final width. Then I used my power miter saw to crosscut the shelves and uprights (pieces 1 and 2) and even the TV shelf (pieces 3 and 4) to length. I cannot overemphasize how much trouble you will save yourself if these cuts are exactly square and true, so double-check your saw settings for each new cut.

The author used a plunge router guided by a shop-made jig to cut the dadoes and rabbets into the shelves. A plunge router makes it easy to take multiple passes on the 3/4″ by 3/4″ cuts.

With the components prepared, it was time to start machining the joints. These are straightforward dadoes and rabbets, but since they’re exposed, they need to fit snugly to look good. I decided to use a handheld plunge router to cut this joinery. These rabbets and dadoes could be formed on a table saw with a dado head just as easily. After I set up my router and made a few test joints using cutoffs from the actual stock, I continued to test the fit of the joints randomly throughout the routing process. Once the joints were all cut, it was time to assemble the bookcases.

Careful fitting of the bookcases’ exposed joints is the key to building this project. It is a good idea to continue to test your machining as you proceed through the building process.

I used a foam paintbrush to apply a thin coat of glue to the faces of each joint. I built up one compartment at a time, checked them rigorously for square and allowed the glue to cure. If your joints are cut well, this process will go very smoothly. I glued the TV shelf and the fascia strips together in the same manner.

The Finish Line

In this photo, the two bookcases minus the TV shelf come together to create a clean-looking place to display books and other items.

You can’t escape it: now it’s time to sand. The maple veneer faces of the ApplePly need very little sanding, but the edges are a different story: they need to be sanded smooth right through to 180-grit. With that done, I applied three coats of dewaxed shellac and a final coat of wipe-on polyurethane.

And even if I am forced to say it myself, I’m very pleased with the results — full-sized mockups, basic joinery, sound design and good material combine to create a lovely little bookcase set.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

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Making the Most of Your Router Bits: Dish Carving Bit

Ralph Bagnall — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:23:47 +0000

There are many projects that require the milling of pockets. Antique game tables nearly always had dished-out areas for candles and game chips (Photo 1).

Photo 1

Signmakers often raise letters by removing the background around them, and all sorts of serving trays, bowls and stands are dished out to provide a rim for keeping things in.

Photo 2

I used to use a simple round-nose bit to mill out these areas, (Photo 2) but the Dish Carving Bit (sometimes called a bowl bit) vastly simplifies the process and has other uses in your shop. Since the very tip of a round-nose bit is quite small and has no real flat on the tip, it takes many passes to mill out an area, and typically needs carving and scraping to smooth the bottom. The Dish Carving Bit provides a wide, flat cut at the tip, but is rounded over on the corners of the cutting edge so the area being milled always has a smooth curve transitioning

from bottom to side. This is especially important for serving trays and such as it makes them much easier to clean after use.

Photo 3

Photo 4

This particular bit comes with a matching bearing (Photo 3). The bearing makes it easy to use templates to control the shape and size of the pocket being milled (Photo 4). For deep cuts (like snack bowls) as the cut deepens, the bearing will guide along the previously cut edge, so the template does not need to be overly thick. Templates allow you to make a number of pockets that are the same size and shape, or even irregular shapes. The only real limit is in the corners. Their minimum radius is determined by the bit diameter.

Photo 5

Here, I am using the bit to mill a water well for a Japanese style tea tray (Photo 5). Because the pocket is wider than the router base, I am using an auxiliary base to span the template, insuring a smooth bottom. Waste will need to be removed as it builds up or the bearing might be guiding along a pile of chips rather than the template.

Photo 6

This bit earns its keep in my shop just for making pockets, but I find myself using it for other tasks as well. Here, I am using it to trim edge banding on a cabinet side (Photo 6). The rounded corners keep it from leaving lines. The smooth transition from side cut to bottom cut also minimizes tearout along the outside edge.

Photo 7

Mounted in the router table, the round corner and flat bottom combine to make an excellent back cutter for door panels (Photo 7). Thicker panels tend to sound and feel better than using 1/4″ plywood, and this setup allows you to tailor your panel to fit the groove (Photo 8).

Photo 8

For serving sets, reproduction tables, gameboards and a host of other projects, the Dish Carving Bit will become your “go to” solution for many common tasks.

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