Vince Ancona takes us step-by-step through his routine for accurate set up and maintenance of a table saw. By the end of the seminar, you’ll have learned how to vastly improve the quality of the cuts you make with your table saw.

Get the seminar guide here: Table Saw Set Up & Maintenance

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tips sent to your email address each week! Got to Woodworking Tips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from Woodsmith online editor Ted Raife:

The easiest way to make a lidded box is to build the box and lid as one piece and then cut them apart on the table saw. This guarantees that the lid will be a perfect fit to the box. With a little modification, this same technique can be used to make a box and lid that mate with interlocking lips, as shown in the photo at right.

This technique for making a box lid is a little different in that you do part of the job before the box is assembled. A look at the two drawings will explain. To create the lip, you’ll need to cut halfway through the sides from both the inside and the outside. As shown in Figure 1, the inside cuts are made while the box is still in pieces. Remember that this first cut will form the “high” side of the lip.

Once the box is assembled, you complete the job with a second series “halfway” cuts that are offset a blade’s width (¹/₈″) from the first (Figure 2). These cuts are positioned below the first cuts. If you hit it right, the lid will separate cleanly and after a little sanding, you’ll have a snug-fitting, lipped lid.

For more helpful table saw tips and techniques, visit Plansnow.com.

Good Woodworking,

Ted Raife
Online Editor, Woodsmith

Send for a preview issue of Woodsmith magazine

Here’s last week’s tip from Woodsmith online editor Ted Raife:

When cross-cutting short pieces to the same length, I like to clamp a stop block to the rip fence of my table saw. This block provides clearance between the rip fence and the saw blade so the cut-off pieces don’t get trapped (and kick back). But recently, I came up with an idea that avoids the hassle of fiddling around with clamps. Instead I use a magnetic stop block. It’s just a hardwood block with a pair of small magnetic catches inserted into one edge, see drawing. Note: If the face of your rip fence is wood or aluminum, simply put the magnetic catches in the bottom face of the stop block.

The magnets hold the stop block securely against the fence. And when I’m done, I simply store the block out of the way on the side of the saw cabinet.

Good Woodworking,

Ted Raife
Online Editor, Woodsmith

Send for a preview issue of Woodsmith magazine

And still, I’ve experienced situations that could have resulted in bodily injury.

Once I was knocked on my keester when a workpiece I was ripping pinched the blade and got kicked back into my stomach. (I broke two cardinal woodworking safety rules during that particular procedure.) I don’t remember now what caused the kickback. But I’ll never forget how lucky I was not to have been injured more seriously. (Or the pain to my gut!) But none of us are perfect. Accidents happen and all you can do is hope they don’t happen to you. Right?

That’s why I was surprised while watching a recent segment of TOH, as a trim carpenter made a free-hand cut on the table saw. Frankly, I watched in disbelief as he made the cut and thought to myself, “Man, that just looks dangerous!” Norm Abram was standing there watching and I thought maybe he would say something, but he didn’t. I figured there would be a lot of people commenting about the segment on our woodworking forums. And there is a debate raging over at WoodNet. But, you may be surprised to learn that there are a lot of people defending the practice.

Several people have commented that the practice of pushing a piece freehand past a spinning table saw blade is an acceptable practice by professional trim carpenters. It may be. And the guy managed to make the cut during the show without any problem. But I can tell you one thing….I’m never going to try it.

What’s your response?

To quote Wood Werks Supply:

“This won’t be just any saw. We start with the award winning Powermatic PM2000 10″ table Saw. We’ll Blanchard Grind the top, add the reliablility of an American Made Baldor® motor, then install your favorite accessories. You’ll decide exactly what color it will be, and we’ll finish it off by prominently displaying your name on the front of your perfect saw.”

Create and order your customized Powermatic PM2000 here. I created the one you see in the photo here with just a few clicks. It’s got a 3hp, single-phase motor; paint colors to honor the OSU Buckeyes; and a cast iron extension wing with cast iron legs.

If you’d like to find out more and join in on the long-running discussion over on WoodNet, click here.

Then I saw it. The workpiece was not the only thing I was cutting. The end of my right thumb had somehow come down directly on the spinning blade. I hadn’t even felt it.  Yet. My wife saw the whole thing happen.

The end result after some microsurgery is a shorter thumb without a thumbnail. I’ll spare you all the gory details. The prognosis for a full recovery is good after some physical therapy.

But what I have left to deal with now are all the questions. And anger and blaming myself for letting it happen. I haven’t been back to the “scene of the crime” since it happened. I suppose I’ll have to face up to it here in the next day or so.

I lay awake at night second-guessing myself. Not believing that I’ve been woodworking for over 30 years without serious injury.  The full range of emotions and “what-if” scenarios.

I’ve already wrestled with the 100 different ways I could have accomplished my goal that night. And what I should have done differently. The constant blame game you play in your mind.

But that’s behind me and life must go on. My point of telling my story is that you should always listen to that voice in your head that says, “Perhaps I should do this another way.” For that’s exactly what I was thinking precisely one-half second before I permanently injured my thumb.

In ShopNotes No. 96, we had an article about Choosing and Using Bit and Blade Cleaners, including home-made cleaners.  A number of folks wrote in to tell us that some of our ideas were crazy or that their solution worked better.  We’ve had suggestions from oven cleaner to Formula 409. I say, use whatever works for you.  For me, I tend toward the commercial cleaners.  Our guys here in the shop seem to like CMT’s Formula 2050 Blade and Bit Cleaner.

Whatever chemical you use, chance are you’re going to need to use a little elbow grease, too.  As a matter of fact, it took a couple of applications of cleaner while I was busy scrubbing the residue off of the teeth.  I had the blade on several thicknesses of old newspaper and sprayed on the cleaner.  After scrubbing one side clean, I flipped the blade over and worked on it.  That left all the crud in between the teeth and on the face of each tooth.  Here, I stood the blade up, sprayed on some more cleaner, and worked my way around the blade with the toothbrush.  A little wiping with a rag removed the last of the residue and cleaner.

You’ll be amazed at how your blades look after a good cleaning. I inspected mine closely and couldn’t find any chipped or dull teeth. But it’s hard to make that judgement on looks alone.  I’m anxious to make a few test cuts and see if I need to take the next step and actually have them sharpened.

So when I finally set up shop in my two-car garage, I was using the same saw blade in my table saw that I was using in Ohio. It was a Signature Series blade made by Oldham. I’ve been very happy with it. But lately, I’ve noticed it was pretty dull.  So rather than send it out for sharpening just yet, I thought maybe it was time to step up to a premium blade.  Of course, the Forrest Woodworker II has ruled the roost in saw blades for many years.  I’m just old enough to hate having to spend $120 on a saw blade.  I’m used to the good old days when you could get a decent blade for less than $40.  But I’ve also been reading a lot of good things about the Freud Premier Fusion blade.  Now, it’s not inexpensive either (around $100), but I needed (er…wanted) a new blade. 

So I went to the Woodsmith Store to buy one.  I met up with Dave Larson, the store manager.  He proceeded to tell me an interesting story about the Freud Premier Fusion blade.  He said that blade has been around for about ten years and was just called the “F410″ and was a nominal seller.  Then one of the woodworking magazines did a review of it a few years ago.  Sales started to climb.  Freud realized they had a winner on their hands, put into motion a massive marketing campaign, and named the blade the “Premier Fusion.”  Their web site now lists it as the P410 (for the 10″ blade).

So I bought the Freud Premier Fusion and brought it home.  I put it on my 10-year old Craftsman table saw.  I was favorably impressed.  Crosscutting red oak left an extremely smooth surface.  I grabbed a piece of melamine particleboard for the ultimate test.  Again, the cut was nice and smooth and the top edge of the cut line was nice and crisp with no chipout.  There was just the smallest amount of chipout on the bottom edge, but hardly noticable.  But I did notice something curious.  I compared the tooth geometry on the Freud Premier Fusion with the Oldham Signature Series blade.  They looked strikingly similar.

Well, I’m in the middle of trying to clean up and reorganize my shop.  So I grabbed the stack of saw blades I had moved from Ohio.  In it, I found a barely used Freud Diablo blade with the gold coating.  Still sharp.  And I found a CMT fine cut-off blade.  Hmm…I forgot about that one.  But it needs sharpened.  So I’ve got the two blades that need sharpened plus the one that’s like new.  I guess I really didn’t need to buy that Freud Premier Fusion.  But I’m not going to return it, either.

That was about a month ago. We were getting ready for a vacation trip at the time and my time in the shop was pretty limited. I kept putting him off, knowing in my heart of hearts that I’d better work with him on this as soon as possible or it would be another “lost opportunity.”

Last night I was in the shop working on a small project (photo props for an article I’m working on for ShopNotes) when I recalled my son’s request. I spotted a nice poplar board leaning against my drill press cabinet. It was ½” thick. “Perfect,” I thought. So I ripped it into strips about 1½” wide, cut the strips to length, and formed half lap joints on the ends. (Download the article “Cut Perfect Half Lap Joints” here.) I don’t have a good dado stack and I only had eight cuts to make, so I just nibbled the joints away on the table saw. Then I used my shoulder plane to clean up the joints. Actually, my 13-year old was more than happy to help with that.

At this point, I called my 7-year old out to the shop and told him to bring his little wooden stool. So he promptly lugs his stool into the shop and sets it up by my workbench. I told my 13-year old to show Alex how to use the shoulder plane. Their eyes lit up. I called my wife out to the shop so share in this magical father/son moment. She crosses her arms, watches Alex’s little hands as he works the plane back and forth and says something like, “Well, I see you’ve got another one sucked in.” I don’t remember the exact words, but it was something like that. “Yep,” I said.

We stuck a glob of glue on the joints and he used his index finger to spread it around. He thought that was cool. Then we used some spring clamps to hold it together until the glue dries.

Tonight we get to plane the joints smooth, sand it, and paint it. I mean, HE gets to plane…

Restore an Old Grinder. The first thing I did was restore a hand-cranked grinder similar to this one pictured here. It was made in the early 1900′s by Luther Grinder Manufacturing Company out of Milwaukee. It’s a “Best Maide No. 1551″ with a “Dimo-Grit” wheel. (You can view a 1920 catalog here.) I had to disassemble everything, clean off the rust and old paint, repaint each part, reassemble, and add oil to the “crankcase.” I’m not sure if I’ll actually use it to sharpen anything, but it looks great and works like a charm! I was actually quite surprised at how well it worked.

Table Saw Tune-Up. I took some time Saturday evening to work on my table saw. It’s been a couple years since I really took the time to clean out the underside and lubricate all the moving parts. I’m one of those poor souls that has a Sears Craftsman saw. It’s okay, but not the greatest. But since it’s all I’ve got, I have to take care of it. I used some tips from Craig Ruegsegger in his Table Saw Tune-Up seminar. The first thing I did was vacuum out all the dust. I used a small, old brush to help loosen years of accumulation. Then I used Boeshield T-9 to lubricate the drive screws and rack for the blade height adjustment. It was no small task to get a spray can up underneath where I needed to. I ended up tilting my saw forward and resting it on a five-gallon bucket so I could still operate the blade height wheel. Once that was all done, I tighted the handwheels for the height and bevel adjustments. I was pretty happy with the results, but the height adjustment is still not as easy as I’d like.

Drill Press Tune-Up. Finally, I took some time Sunday afternoon to work on my old Rockwell Radial Arm drill press (it’s similar to this one). Let me just say that I would recommend at least considering a radial drill press for woodworking. They’re nice because of the large table area, and I can tilt the head (instead of the table) to drill angled holes. (Mine’s got a large melamine auxiliary table with T-tracks.) And I can move the entire head assembly in and out for greater reach when I need it.

I’ve notice recently that there was a fair amount of vertical “play” in the quill shaft of my drill press. Fortunately, I still have the original owners manual and it gave instructions on how to fix it. All I had to do was find the locking collar at the top of the shaft, loosen it, slide it down to take up the slack, and retighten it. Wouldn’t you know it, mine was rusted to the shaft. I ended up squirting some PB Blaster (good stuff!) on it and let it soak for a few minutes. I found a long bolt that fit the threads where the set screw was located and used it to get some leverage to work the collar loose. It worked!

So, I feel good about having some productive time in the shop. Now, my wife wants me to build some bunk beds for two of my boys. I suppose that means I’ll actually have to build something rather than just “piddle” in the shop.

The Mobile Planer Stand is just the ticket for giving your portable planer a permanent home. It provides plenty of extra storage space and its outfeed support makes working with long stock a breeze.  And while we’re at it, we’ll give you a step-by-step approach for tuning up your planer to create perfect boards in a short time.

And speaking of storage, you won’t believe how much this lightweight Tab-and-Slot Tool Tote can hold! Made from ¼” Baltic birch plywood, it’s easy to build for toting tools or craft supplies.

When it comes to tools you use on almost every project in the shop, you can’t beat a reliable square.  We’ll show you how to build your own Aluminum Square out of common bar stock you can get at the hardware store.  And to top it off, this square is adjustable…meaning that you can be sure that it stays a perfect 90° for a lifetime of use. We’ll also show you how to work with aluminum in your shop with just a few simple tools and supplies. 

And there’s more!  We’ll give you some tried-and-true tips for getting top-notch results from your profile router bits.  Plus we’ll tell you what you need to know when choosing and using metal drawer slides, how to “turn down the noise” in your shop, cut perfect dadoes on your table saw, and how a Yankee-style screwdriver deserves a spot in your toolbox.

I found a piece of maple to make a replacement brace.  I quickly discovered that the blade in my table saw was in no condition to cut maple.  As I tried to cut one of the angled ends, I had burning on the workpiece.  But, instead of taking the time to switch out blades, I forced the piece through to finish the cut.  Stupid Act No. 1.  Soon my shop was filled with smoke.  My wife came out into the shop and asked, “What in the world are you doing?”  I told here I was cutting hard wood with a dull blade.  “You need some ventilation,” she said.  So I opened the doors to the outside. 

I finally had this piece cut and it was time to drill the four pocket holes for the screws.  So I chucked the appropriate-sized drill bit in the drill press and started drilling.  The first pocket hole went fine.  As I was drilling the second one, my 11-year old boy walks in and asks, “Whatcha’ doin’?”  About that time, the drill bit grabbed the workpiece and made hamburger out of the index finger on my left hand.  I replied, “Well, I’m breaking a cardinal rule of woodworking,” I told him.  “Always clamp the workpiece when using the drill press.”  Stupid Act No. 2. 

So I managed to get my wife to help me bandage my wound.  I eventually made it back to the shop and finished the job.  I delivered the repaired chair back to the dining room.  And took a nap.

Now, I know better than this.  I fell into the trap of thinking, “This won’t take long.”  I was in a hurry even though I had nothing else on the agenda for the day.  Was it stupidity?  Laziness?  Bottom line is that neither one belongs in the shop.

A few years ago, someone suggested that I try using Bostik’s TopCote®.  You can buy it from the Woodsmith Store.  It’s an aeresol product that dries quickly to a dull haze.  Then you can buff it with a soft cloth for a smooth surface.  It doesn’t contain any wax or silicone that could mess up a finish on your project.  The first time I used it, I was surprised at how easy it was to apply and what a great job it does at protecting my power tools.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that a few of my old hand planes were getting small spots of rust on them.  So I used a Scotch-Brite pad to polish them up.  The thought occurred to me if TopCote works on power tools, why wouldn’t it work on hand planes?  I usually use a paste wax.  But I tried TopCote on one of my planes.  I knew it would help keep the rust at bay, but I was curious to see if it made any difference while planing.  So I slapped a scrap piece of wood up on my bench and took a few swipes.  Wow!  It took no effort at all to slide the plane across the wood.  I was sold.

I also have a can of Boeshield T-9® sitting on my shelf.  I might do a little experiment and see if there’s any difference between Boeshield and TopCote in terms of rust protection and reducing friction.

Now, it seems that a recent ruling in favor of inventor Stephen Gass’ technology by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission will turn the debate into one of economics rather than safety. You can read more about the ruling here.

The problem is, manufacturer’s of woodworking machinery are not embracing the technology. And the ruling has led the U.S. government to agree with the recommendations of the CPSC, that mandatory safety standards for table saws be raised to include the SawStop technology.

That’s where money comes in. According to Charles Murray, technical writer for Design News, woodworking tool manufacturers face the prospect of investing millions of dollars to re-tool existing production lines. And inventor Gass agrees, “… there’s a huge product liability problem for any manufacturer who doesn’t have this. People will ask, ‘Why didn’t you have this on the saw you sold to us?’”

So now thanks to this ruling, and as is often the case when lawyers get involved, it comes down to one thing — money. (By the way, Stephen Gass was a patent attorney and a woodworker, when he came up with the SawStop.) If manufacturers of table saws are faced with adding safety features that will potentially cost them millions, who do you think will pay for it in the end? You guessed it — woodworkers!

Two of the first tools to come to my mind are the drill press and a contractor’s-style table saw. Most drill presses are made for the metalworker first and foremost. Features that a woodworker would find beneficial are an after-thought, if they’re thought of at all. And the contractor’s table saw, with its motor sticking out the back, is the price you paid for an affordable saw that supposedly is light enough to lug around to the job site.

But, a few manufacturer’s are starting to come around to offer tools with wood shop features. I’m talking in particular about the Powermatic® 2800 VS Drill Press, and the Jet® Pro-Shop line of contractor style table saws. I got a quick look at both of these new tools at IWF — 2006 in Atlanta last week, and are they impressive.

The Powermatic 2800 VS Drill Press has so many features that are great for woodworkers it’s hard to list them all. But I’ll try!

* Single handle variable speed adjustment (with a digital readout)
* A 5/8″ keyless chuck
* Twin LED lights
* And, a new dual laser guide system.

These are all welcome features that provide ease of use and accuracy that is rare on a standard drill press.Best of all is the extra-large table (it has dual extension wings to provide additional support for long work pieces). The table also tilts 90° and has a positive stop at 0°. Its large adjustment handle makes lowering and raising the table quick and easy.But that isn’t all, twin T-slot grooves for a miter gauge, hold-downs or shop-made jigs are milled right into the table top and an adjustable split fence with dust collection port is included.Finally, it doesn’t matter if you’re right or left-handed, because the feed handles can be mounted on either side of the drill press. Whew, that’s a lot of great features!

One of the more impressive new tools I saw at IWF is the Jet Pro-Shop Contractor Style Table Saw.

This table saw has a couple of features more commonly found on cabinet (or hybrid) style table saws. First, is the enclosed cabinet with a 4″ dust port for improved dust collection. The stand makes assembly of this saw significantly easier than a regular contractor’s-style table saw.The Pro-Shop saw has a new Pro-Shop fence with extruded aluminum side boards with T-slots and either 30″ or 50″ rails. The saw below is shown with steel wings, but cast iron wings are also available. A large paddle-style switch is also a nice safety feature on this saw. Once again, you can turn to Workbench Magazine for reviews and much more on these new tools and lots of others in future issues.

When I first saw the steel gray and black paint scheme I was reminded of another manufacturer of woodworking machinery. That may have been done on purpose, but I doubt it. They made no secret that quite a few of the people working for Steel City formerly worked for the competition, including Delta, Powermatic and Jet. But they’re not out to copy anyone. Their goal is to offer quality machinery without all the gimmicks.

When asked what it is that they hope will set them apart from the competition, the answer was — service. All of the tools are backed by a full, 5-year warranty and they promise to deliver the best customer and technical service and support possible.

From what I could see, they’ve made a good start. Look for more on Steel City Tool Works in future editions of Workbench magazine.

There is no other magazine out there quite like ShopNotes. Through the years, I’ve used plans from ShopNotes to build workbenches, tool stands, and jigs for joining, detailing, and finishing my furniture projects. My first workbench was from Issue No. 24. I cut my first box joints using a jig from Issue No. 8. And I recently started building a spokeshave featured in Issue No. 84.

In the latest issue, due on newsstands in the next week or two, there are several projects I’m looking forward to, including:

Dream Shop Project: Table Saw Workcenter
Upgrade your contractor’s saw by building this custom workcenter. With a large worksurface, loads of storage, dust collection, and a handy built-in router table, you’ll be able to handle any project. Plus, there’s an optional table for extra outfeed support and even more storage.

Weekend Workshop: Heavy-Duty Workbench
This workbench has it all — a rock-solid base, large top, and it’s inexpensive to make. All you need are a few sheets of MDF, some “two-by” stock, and a handful of hardware.

Best-Built Jigs & Fixtures: Palm Router Fluting Jig
Adding flutes is a great way to dress up a project. This shop-made jig makes it easy to rout consistent flutes quickly.

Plus these great Departments: Readers’ Tips, Router Workshop, Materials & Hardware, Jigs & Accessories, Shop Shortcuts, In the Shop, Setting Up Shop, Mastering the Table Saw, Ultimate Garage, Q&A, & Sources

Did you know a Unisaw is a table saw, but a table saw isn’t necessarily a Uni..? (Submitted mostly for the pictures of Keith’s A100 Unisaw, presumably the very first one produced/sold by Delta.)
What is a Unisaw?

There are some true artists out there, and it seems like the Woodnet forums gets their fare share of them who build beautiful hand planes.
Damascus and Ivory Plane

RIPPING THE LEG STRIPS

With the bending jig all done, I actually started making the legs. The first step was to rip a number of thin strips from 6/4 (1-5/16” thick) cherry. After some experimenting, I discovered that I could bend an 1/8”-thick strip around the arc of the jig. Any thicker than that and it wouldn’t bend around the jig without breaking. Since the finished legs were to be 1” thick, that meant I needed 8 strips per leg, or 32 strips for all four legs.

My first thought was to rip the strips on the table saw or band saw a little too thick and then send them through the thickness planer to get them smooth and consistent. That didn’t work so well as the pieces were so thin, they started chipping out and shattering as they went through the planer. I tried the technique of fastening them down to a carrier board with double-sided tape. Even that didn’t work so well.

So I tried using one of Freud’s new “Glue Line Rip Blades” on my table saw. Then I just cut the strips to exactly 1/8” thick, see Fig. 11. The little green plastic piece behind the blade is a MJ Splitter from Micro Jig. It holds the kerf open after the cut. This technique worked great. The cut was so smooth that I could hardly see any saw marks on the wood and the pieces were a very consistent 1/8” thick.

Fig. 11

I also used a push block from ShopNotes No. 1 that pushes the thin strips safely past the blade, see Fig. 12.

Fig. 12

Note: There are a number of other ways and jigs to safely rip thin strips. See Ripping Thin Strips from ShopNotes No. 34.

Setting the rip fence to cut exactly 1/8”-thick strips took quite a bit of experimenting, but once I had it right on, I used my dial calipers to show that 8 of the strips put together would equal exactly 1” thick, see Fig. 13.

Fig. 13

You will also notice in Fig. 13 above that I numbered each of the strips as they were cut. This helps keep the grain lines and color “close” when I glued them up. I say “close” here since I lost 1/8” of wood (the kerf cut) between each of the strips. Actually, that’s one thing that was hard for me to get used to. Since half of the wood ended up as sawdust (the kerf cut), I needed twice as much wood to make these legs as were actually in the legs! I couldn’t believe how much cherry I went through just to get these four little legs.

Also, while I had the saw set up, I cut four or five extra strips. I know from past experience, that having extras can really save you when one of your “good” pieces splits, chips, or there’s a knot or blemish.

Something needs to be said here also about the length of the leg strips. I measured the outside arc in the bending jig and added about 6” extra to that to be on the safe side. Then I wouldn’t have to align the pieces perfectly in the jig.

Before actually gluing up the pieces, I did a “test run” by trying to load them all in the jig and clamping it up dry. The first thing I discovered was that it would take some brute strength, dexterity, and about four hands to bend all 8 strips around the inner form and get them clamped in place. So I drilled a couple of holes in the base of the jig where I could temporarily insert some dowels that would hold the pieces roughly in position while clamping (you will see these dowels in an upcoming photo).

GLUING UP THE LEGS

Okay, here’s where things start getting really messy. To give me some extra assembly time, I used Franklin Titebond’s Extend Wood Glue. I laid out my pieces in order on the bench and applied glue on one side of each piece, see Fig. 14.

Fig. 14

Then I grabbed all of the pieces up in their final position and stuck one end between the temporary dowel and the inner form, see Fig. 15. Next, I pulled the other end around the inner form and stuck another temporary dowel into the other end of the jig to hold the pieces roughly in position, see Fig. 16.

Fig. 15

Fig. 16

Then I took a deep breath (and washed all the glue from my hands!).

Next, I started adding the clamps, working from the center out to the ends. The glue on the pieces wanted to make them slip up and down a bit, but I tried to keep them down tight against the base of the jig using a mallet and block of wood, see Fig 17. I didn’t worry too much that they be were all at exactly the same height, as I knew I was going to do some planing later to produce the final width of the legs.

Fig. 17

It really took a lot of pressure on the clamps to squeeze the two parts of the jig tightly together. More than my old, arthritic hands could muster. So I used a tip that I picked up quite awhile ago. I drilled a hole through the wooden handle in my clamps. Then I used an awl in the hole to get some extra leverage, see. Fig. 18. That was just about enough to squeeze the clamps tight and close up most of the gaps between the thin strips.

Fig. 18

CLEANING UP THE LEGS

With all that glue, it takes quite a while for it to dry. So I waited 24 hours before removing each leg from the jig. (And, that meant it took four days to make all four leg blanks.)

Before I removed each blank from the jig, I labeled the “TOP” and “BOTTOM” of each leg as they started looking alike, see Fig. 19.

Fig. 19

Next, I scraped the big globs of glue off each blank with a scraper, see Fig. 20.

Fig. 20

I considered hand planing the legs, but that seemed like a lot of work and chipout was likely. Since the bottom of each blank was fairly flat, I glanced over at my thickness planer and wondered if somehow or another I could just send each blank through there? Sure enough, I fed it through sort of wiggling it around the corner as it went, see Figs. 21 and 22. It was surprisingly easy and the surface was perfectly smooth. Then I flipped it over and took a pass on the other side.

Fig. 21

Fig. 22

Side Note: You might have noticed my 10” Ryobi Surface Planer. Yep, that’s one of the original models (vintage 1986?) that kind of changed the whole woodworking field when it brought the prices of planers down to something home hobbyists could handle. I bought this from Woodsmith when they were upgrading many years ago, and I’m still very happy with the quality of cut.

With all four leg blanks planed to final width, I sanded the inside and outside faces. Then I rounded over all four edges with an 1/8” roundover bit on my router table, see Fig. 23.

Fig. 23