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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:

My oscillating disc sander has built-in dust collection and it works great — but only when the holes in the sanding disc are aligned with the vacuum holes in the sander’s pad. And this simple requirement isn’t always as easy as it sounds. So rather than rely on a good aim when installing the discs, I put together a simple tool that makes hitting the mark a sure thing.

As you can see in Figure 1, the tool is nothing more than two dowels glued into a small block of wood. The diameter of the dowels and their spacing in the block matches that of the holes in the discs and sanding pad.

To use the tool, you simply place a disc over the dowels and then insert them into the holes in the pad (Figure 2). Slip the disc off of the dowels and onto the pad and you’re ready to go.

Good Woodworking,

Ted Raife
Online Editor, Woodsmith

Send for a preview issue of Woodsmith magazine

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

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

Measuring the width for a drawer bottom can be a challenge. I usually measure several times just to make sure I get it right.Then I made the simple drawer gauge shown in the photo below. Now, I don’t have to worry about the “numbers.” The gauge always shows me the exact distance.

It’s made from two pieces of aluminum angle joined together by a small wood block (see end view below right). The telescoping arms are two pieces of flat aluminum bar stock set side by side. A knurled knob, pressed-in threaded insert, and a penny sets and adjusts the arms.

It’s easy to use the gauge to set up your table saw for the cut. Just slide the arms until each one touches the bottom of the groove in the drawer sides. Then tighten the knob to secure the arms.

Next place the end of one arm against the blade and the other arm against your rip fence. Lock the fence in position and make the cut.
Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

Send for a preview issue of ShopNotes magazine

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

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

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

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

When gluing and clamping small parts together, it’s always a challenge to align large clamps to hold them in place as the glue dries. To make this job easier, I built the small parts clamp you see in the photo above.

The base is two pieces of ¾″ plywood glued together and trimmed to size. Two grooves in the base hold a pair of T-tracks, as shown in the drawing below.

Next, two pieces of hardwood serve as the stop block and clamping block. They are drilled to hold flange bolts and two sections of threaded rod, as the illustration shows below.

Place a T-nut in each hole at the back edge of the stop block, slide a threaded rod through the holes in both of the blocks, and then screw them into the T-nuts, like you see in the side view below right. A little epoxy at the end of the rod will keep it from turning. Next, slide the four flange bolts in the T-track, slip the blocks over the bolts and add the washers and wing nuts. Finally, add the washers and thread the knobs on the rod.

To use the clamp, loosen the wing nuts and place the parts to be clamped between the blocks. Position the front of the clamping block to extend slightly beyond the edge of the base so you can turn the knobs and secure the stop block in place. Finally, snug up the star knobs and tighten the wing nuts to lock the clamping block in place.

Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber

Online Editor, ShopNotes

Send for a preview issue of ShopNotes magazine

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

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

Finishing shelves can be a time-consuming chore. After applying finish to one side, you often have a long wait before the finish is dry and the shelf can be turned to work on the other side. When each side needs several coats of finish, the whole process can really drag on.

Impatience finally spurred me to figure out a way to streamline the job. If I could safely stand the shelves on edge, both sides could be finished at the same time. Support feet attached to the back edge of the shelf to keep it upright were the answer.

As you can see in the drawing, the feet are simply thin strips of wood that are screwed to the back edge of the shelf — one at each end. When the job is done, I simply remove the feet and no one is the wiser. Except maybe me, I’ve cut the finishing time in half.

Good Woodworking,

Ted Raife
Online Editor, Woodsmith

© August Home Publishing Company
2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50312

Click here to subscribe to Woodsmith magazine.

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

Here’s last week’s tip from ShopNotes online editor Phil Huber:

I never seem to have enough storage space in my shop. This is especially the case when it comes to screws, fasteners, and other odds and ends. Things I need close at hand, but don’t use every day.

So, to store these and other small items, I built a pull-out storage case, like you see in the photo at right. The case is large enough to hold a couple of small plastic storage cabinets with lots of drawers (the kind you find at hardware stores and home centers). I also added a few shelves to store other items.

Since I wanted to be able to move the case, I placed it on wheels (see drawing at right). A handle attached to the side lets me simply pull it out to get to the items and then push it back out of the way again.

The case fit nicely against the wall next to my workbench. It worked so well that I built a couple more cases and rolled them next to one another. Now I have lots of storage in a space that would have gone to waste.

Good woodworking,
Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

© August Home Publishing Company
2200 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50312

Click here if you’d like to subscribe to ShopNotes magazine.

Some folks aren’t aware that they can get a free woodworking tip in their email inbox every week. It’s something we’ve been doing for years and has proven to be very popular. A lot of woodworkers have been printing their favorite tips and storing them in a 3-ring binder.

If you’ve wondered what tips you’ve missed, we’ve got some handy links for you look up any of our past eTips. For our older eTips (prior to August 2003), click here.  For more recent tips, you can click here. Between these two web pages, you’ll find a complete list of all our past eTips.

Remember to sign up here for free eTips if you don’t already receive them.

Any day of the week, and at almost any time of the day, you can find a couple of hundred people comparing notes, exchanging ideas, swapping tall-tales and generally sharing their love of woodworking with each other on the WoodNet Forums.

Around since 1993, the original WoodNet BBS was a way for Woodsmith magazine to further support their customer base. The BBS evolved into what is now WoodNet.net and it not only includes the forums, but you’ll also find project plans, woodworking tools and kits, tool reviews, and tips and techniques that are sent direct to your email address each week. Read the rest of this article »

As “Danny in Houston” says so well, “….WOW ….(best) post of the month for sure!”
My Wife Finishes a Major Project (Warning: Lots of Pictures)

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

My fascination with hand planes began one year when my Dad gave me a Stanley 4-1/2 smoother and a Stanley 78 rabbet plane for Christmas. He found them in his shop and since he’s a power tool kind of guy, didn’t have any use for them. I had always used power tools in my woodworking because that’s what Dad always used.

The last time I had tried to use a hand plane was when I was a young boy. I’d go down to my Dad’s basement shop and spend hours “building” things. But trying to use his hand plane was so frustrating, I gave up. It wouldn’t cut and it kept tearing out the wood. Read the rest of this article »