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Phil Huber, a senior editor for ShopNotes magazine details in this seminar all the steps necessary for building a sturdy set of drawers on a router table.

First, he’ll demonstrate how to build drawers using a specialized drawer joint bit in just two simple steps. Then, for those of us who choose not to buy the special bit, Phil will take us through the steps of building drawers with an ordinary 1/4″-dia. straight bit.

Get the Seminar Guide here: Building Drawers Using Drawer Joint Bits

 

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Jan 17…Building Drawers Using Drawer Joint Bits w/ Phil Huber

Jan 24 …Three Hand Planes Every Shop Should Have w/ Randy Maxey

Jan 31 …A Simple Shop-Made Jig for Cutting Tenons w/ Carol Beronich

Feb 7 …Table aw Set Up & Maintenance w/ Vince Ancona

Feb 14 …3 New Innovations in Joinery w/ Joel Hess

Feb 21 …12 Must-Have Finishing Supplies w/ Dennis Perkins

Feb 28 …5 Surprising Woodworking Techniques You Didn’t Know About w/ Doug Hicks

Mar 6 …Sharpening Basics: Man vs. Machine w/ Randy Maxey

Mar 13 …3 Fast Joints — All in One Hour w/ Ted Kralicek

Mar 20 …Scroll Saw Tips & Techniques w/ Linda Anderson

Mar 27 …Two Methods for Perfect Box Joints w/ Bryan Nelson

Apr 3 …Case Construction: Routing Rabbets, Dadoes & Grooves w/ Chris Fitch

Apr 10 …Mortise & Tenon — Two Variations for Making Doors w/ Dennis Perkins

Apr 17 …Hand Rubbing a Perfect Finish w/ Doug Hicks

Apr 24 …Building a Bookshelf: From Start to Finish, Part 1 w/ Phil Huber

May 1 …Building a Bookshelf: From Start to Finish, Part 2 w/ Phil Huber

Get the full schedule of upcoming seminars and descriptions at WoodworkingSeminars.com

The seminars start on January 17th and run through May 1st. Cost per seminar is $8, but the price includes a $5 $awbuck$ coupon good for any item in the Woodsmith Store (excluding seminar tickets and season tickets).

It seems like all the good furniture-making classes and schools are in the New England area. So it’s hard for us midwesterners to have access to respected woodworking instructors from the better-known schools. But this February 23 and 24 (Friday evening and Saturday), Phil Lowe will be in Des Moines. This is a great opportunity for woodworkers in the Des Moines area. This event is sponsored by the Des Moines Woodworkers Association and will be held at the Woodsmith Store. During Saturday’s session, he will show you how to design and build a pedestal table. Now, whether or not you’re into traditional-style furniture, this is a great opportunity to learn and interact with a true craftsman at work. Read the rest of this article »

Back in the shop on Friday evening to finish up the Joiner’s Mallet. By the way, one of the reasons I can’t get into the shop on Thursday’s is because I’m helping with the woodworking seminars at the Woodsmith Store. If you’re interested in what we’re doing at the store every Thursday from September through May, but you don’t live in the Des Moines area, you can now watch podcasts online (or download them to your iPod). We’ll be adding a few more podcasts in the next week or so, then when we catch up, you’ll be able to get a new one every Monday afternoon. There’s a comment box and I’d love to hear what you think — good or bad. Read the rest of this article »

Next Thursday at The Woodsmith Store, I’ll be giving a seminar titled:

Why You Need Hand Planes in Your Shop

Even if you have a shop full of power tools, I’ll show you how hand planes can add a level of craftsmanship to your projects you never thought possible.  We’ll look at how to level an uneven joint, get perfectly flush edge-banding on plywood, smooth a glued-up panel, and much more.

Join us for an information-packed and fun evening!

Sponsored in part by:

My shop used to be in a basement.  Now it’s in an unheated garage.  In both environments, I would get the occasional rust spot on my tool surfaces, especially my table saw.  I’ve used automotive paste wax and it seemed to help.  And it helps reduce friction, too.  It makes the wood slide across the saw so much easier.

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.

I’m a member of the Des Moines Woodworkers Association.  I went to their monthly meeting Tuesday night where Rick Hutcheson was the main presenter.  He gave an hour’s worth of valuable information on scroll sawing.  He had his Delta scroll saw set up in the Woodsmith Store seminar room with a video camera behind his shoulder.  The camera view was projected on six television monitors in the room.

Rick had a lively, entertaining discussion while he was busy at the saw.  He talked about the various blades, sizes, and tooth patterns.  And he gave tips on setting up your scroll saw for accuracy.  Then he proceeded to tell us about his love of doing miniature work.  Like the 1″ x 1″ jig saw puzzle with 64 pieces!  Then he went about cutting Christmas ornaments.  Some were “compound” ornaments, where you cut a block from two sides to make a three-dimensional shape.  Probably the most famous example of this is a reindeer.

And talk about scroll saws!  You should see his collection!  Antiques to homemade saws and everything in between.

Rick’s web site is a wealth of information for the woodworker and scroll sawyer, though it leaves a little to be desired in the layout and design department.  If you can get past the design of the web site, there’s a ton of information buried there.  

The Des Moines Woodworkers Association maintains a web page of links that would be of interest to scroll sawyers.  Click here to see it.

With the weather turning colder, I think we’re all getting anxious to spend more time in the shop.  And now’s the time to start working on those holiday gifts.  If you’re looking for Christmas gift ideas, you can order this plan and hardware kit for a Holiday Lantern from the Woodsmith Store.  “All it takes is a scroll saw and a light bulb to create some holiday magic.”

In a previous post, I talked about building the Woodsmith Chisel Plane. Now I want to talk about my experience building the Woodsmith Hand Plane. It’s a kit that you can order from the Woodsmith Store.

The kit comes with pre-cut front and back wood pieces, two predrilled brass side pieces, a Hock iron and cap iron, and the cap screw and washer used to assemble the iron into the finished plane.

The brass sides need some work before you can fasten them to the wood pieces. The holes need countersunk for the small brass screws. I used a countersink in my drill press, being careful not to drill too deep. You want the head of the screws to be just a little proud of the surface so you can file them flush later. Then following the detailed instructions included in the kit, I marked and predrilled pilot holes for the screws in the wood pieces. The most critical dimension here is the width of the mouth opening. You want a tight opening to be able to take fine shavings without tearout. The nice thing is, if the mouth ends up being too tight, you can file a little to open it up. But if it’s too big…well…let’s just say that it involves quite a bit more work.

I took a file to the brass sides to file the screw heads flush to the sides. Then I used sandpaper face-up on my bench to smooth the sides and make them flat. I started with 150-grit and worked my way up to 400-grit. That leaves a nice “brushed” finish. Then I rubbed the sides with a fine 3M Scotch-Brite pad. Then I went to work to form the radius on the back and front like you see in the photo. I used a rasp and sandpaper to do this while the plane was clamped in the tail vise of my workbench.

The next thing I did was flatten the sole. I followed the instructions and used sandpaper face-up on my table saw. I used the rip fence as a reference to keep the sole 90° to the sides. On my plane, the sole on the back piece was thicker than that on the front piece, so it took quite a bit of sanding to get the entire sole flat.

Finally, I was ready to fit the iron into the plane. The mouth was a little tight, so I ended up filing about 1/32″ from the front of the mouth. It’s important to keep the mouth square when filing. A little honing of the iron and I was ready to put it all together and give it a try.

I set the plane to take a very thin shaving and took a few swipes on the edge of some oak I had lying around the shop. I was able to get a full-width, “whisper thin” shaving the full length of the board. I was impressed. This is a comfortable, sweet little plane. The only downside that I could see is that the sole is wood. As comfortable and nice as this plane is to use, it’ll get a lot of use in my shop, but that means a lot of wear on the sole. Now, because it is wood, that means that I can flatten the sole anytime I need to with a few swipes across some sandpaper. But that also means risking widening of the mouth. But I suspect it’ll be quite some time before I need to worry about any of that.

A coat of boiled linseed oil and a couple coats of Briwax clear paste wax added the final “spit polish.” Then I couldn’t resist…I had to take a few more shavings.  Like I said — what a sweet little plane.

I spent some time on Saturday putting together a couple of hand plane kits from the Woodsmith Store.  The first one was the chisel plane. The other was the small hand plane (more on that in another post). I love making my own tools and restoring old ones, so I was excited to get these home and get to work.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the package was the plane iron. Both planes use a 3/16″-thick x 1-1/2″-wide plane iron from Hock Tools. They’re branded “Woodsmith by Hock Tools.” These are quality irons that are almost worth the price of the kit. The hand plane kit also includes a nice cap iron.

The chisel plane was pretty simple to put together and finish. The wood sole and “cap” are pre-cut and pre-drilled. There’s a brass threaded insert that you need to press into the sole piece. Then all you need to do is form the radius on the back end to make the plane more comfortable to use. I put the two pieces together with the iron and clamped the assembly in my tail vise on my workbench. Then I used a rasp and sandpaper to form the radius. It went fairly quickly. The instructions also suggest making a “finger notch” in the cap to make the plane more comfortable to use. I used a round rasp to start this notch then finished up with a half-round rasp. I also took the time to lightly round over any sharp edges where my hands might come in contact with the body of the plane. I finished up the wood pieces with a coat of boiled linseed oil and a couple coats of Briwax clear paste wax. 

Then I turned my attention to the iron. A light honing and a couple of swipes to flatten the back on 400-grit wet/dry sandpaper were all it took to get a sharp edge. I assembled the iron into the plane (bevel down) using the included cap screw and washer. I then tried to adjust the depth of cut and realized there was a problem. The bevel of the blade matches the bed angle of the sole, meaning that the flat of the bevel was parallel to the sole of the plane! So the flat of the bevel just slid across the workpiece. I tried to shim the under the upper end of the iron with an old business card, but it didn’t seem to help angle the iron so its cutting edge would contact the workpiece. The only other solution I could think of was to slightly change the angle of the bed. I used 150-grit sandpaper face-up on my table saw for a flat surface. Then I went to work sanding the bed, concentrating the pressure on the “mouth” end of the bed. After quite a bit of sanding, I tried fitting the iron. It was a little better, but I ended up shimming the upper end anyway to get the plane to cut. Once everything was assembled, I gave it a try on some scrap lumber. It was a little tricky to get the exact depth of cut, but once that was done, it worked great. It’s good enough that I’ll keep it on my shelf of “users” for future projects. It’ll be great for getting into those corners to remove glue squeeze-out and general cleanup of a joint.

Every Thursday night this fall you can learn from the experts at the Woodsmith Store and Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and Workbench magazines. We’ll walk you through the basics of woodworking, tool techniques, safety, terminology, and everything you need to know to build great projects in your home shop. Reference handouts are provided. All questions are welcome.

Click here for more details including a calendar, seminar topics, and how to sign up!