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I asked associate editor Randy Maxey why hand planes are an important part of a modern woodworking shop? Here is what he told me:

“I know a lot of people think I use hand planes just because I’m old-fashioned. The truth is, I love my machines. But if you want to do quality work in your wood shop, you need to learn to use hand planes. I use at least one of the three planes I’m demonstrating almost every time I’m in the shop. It has changed the way I do woodworking. I really agree with a line I read once in an old, old issue of Woodsmith magazine. It said, ‘…no machine can come close to the quality of work a hand plane will do.’”

Get the seminar guide here: Three Hand Planes Every Shop Should Have

 

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It’s time I finally addressed this topic. The seminar podcasts are NOT being discontinued.

As you know, August Home Publishing has branched out into television. The Woodsmith Shop just started its second season, which means our video production crew has been extremely busy taping and editing the shows that you’re now watching. Unfortunately, this means that podcast video production has been put on the back-burner.

We have been taping the seminars at the Woodsmith Store though and as soon as we get caught up, the podcasts will begin again. Thanks for your interest in the podcasts and I apologize for not keeping everyone up-to-date on our progress. Look for a new Woodsmith Seminar Podcast within the next few weeks.

The woodworking shop here at at August Home Publishing can be a very busy place. It’s where all of the projects for Woodsmith, Workbench, and ShopNotes are built as well as the props for the Woodsmith Shop television show. Now, all of the projects that come out of our shop have to hold up to the uncompromising standards of magazine photography. If there’s a scratch, drip, or chip it’ll show. So our shop craftsmen put a lot of effort into choosing the best lumber, matching it carefully, building to very high standards, and applying a flawless finish.

Most of the equipment in our shop any hobbyist would recognize and might well own: table saws, drill presses, planers, and workbenches covered with parts and hand tools

There’s one item that we have that the home shop might not is a dedicated finish room with a professional spray booth. With the volume of projects that get built around here, it’s an important tool in our shop.

I am in awe of this thing. Some people love to apply a careful, flawless finish and they’re great at it; I’m not one of those people. I find it all to be a bit tedious and frustrating. A spray booth excels in applying a final finish (clear or paint) evenly and smoothly. The booth also has the advantage of providing a clean and well lit environment. It’s a much better place to apply finish than in the corners of a dusty shop.

The spray booth arrived on several pallets stacked with all sorts of galvanized sheet metal parts and fasteners like an Erector Set spilled on the floor. Piece by piece it was bolted together. This was followed by a parade of sort. First came the contractors for electrical work, plumbing the compressed air lines, running an exhaust duct to the roof, and setting up the fire suppression system. Next came the inspectors from the city, fire department, and insurance co. You don’t have one of these installed on a whim.

The front of the booth consists of two large doors for easy loading and unloading. The doors also act as pre-filters to help trap dust. In the back of the spray booth are filters that catch overspray as the air is drawn out by the fan. And it has a big fan. There’s no doubt when someone is using the spray booth because it’s actually hard to open the exterior doors to the shop due to the suction created by the fan.

All of the electrical equipment is explosion proof (no sparks please). There’s one switch to turn on the lights and a second that simultaneously turns on the fan and opens a valve that lets compressed air flow to the spray gun. You can’t spray if the fan isn’t on.

With all of the use this spray booth gets, there’s a bit of overspray, so, the interior has a peel away coating. When the overspray gets too thick we can peel it off and apply another coat. We typically keep the gun full of clear lacquer and ready to spray. Lacquer has the advantages of being clear (color neutral), easy to sand, and very fast drying.

For my projects at home, I’m still a fan of simple wipe on finishes. They’re easy and almost (but not quite) foolproof. But here at work, nothing beats the spray booth for fast, quality, no- hassle finishes.

Regular Woodsmith readers will recognize the Classic Cherry Bed in the photo. It complements several bedroom furniture projects that have been published by Woodsmith. But wait, something is not quite right. Can you guess?

The bed was built by WoodNet Forums member Borderline. He says, “This bed is a combination of many plans I have seen. Many of the features are from the Woodsmith plans (classic cherry bed), however, I did not curve the upper rails and all of the slats are real M&T joints. The side rails are 1.5″ thick and attached with KD fasteners (the mortise type, not surface mount). The rails on the headboard/footboard, the side rails and the legs are all laminated from 4/4 stock and “veneered” with 1/16th shop sawn ‘Veneer’, the rails are also capped with a decorative piece that hides the lamination.”

We’ve offered several TV cabinet projects to our readers over the years. They’re handsome, sturdy, and… obsolete. The new flat screen TV’s don’t fit in the openings of the old projects. So this time, the designers created a media center that won’t go out of style or become obsolete.

The center begins with a base cabinet that can accommodate a 42″ television and all the boxes and cables that go with it. This can be a stand alone unit. Or as your space, time, and needs allow, you can add the side cabinets and the bridge over the TV. The cases are built of plywood with hardwood edging. Frame and panel doors complete the project.

Woodsmith is calling No. 180 the Special Storage Issue. It also includes a weekend project: Hanging Wall Shelves, and a designer series project: Snack Tray Cabinet. And it includes technique articles on making cove molding on the table saw and tenons on the router table.

Subscribers will see this issue in the mail boxes very soon. You’ll also find it on the newsstand, and you can visit Woodsmith.com to check out the issue and ask for a free preview issue.

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:

When gluing up a mitered assembly, I often rely on band clamps to pull the joints together. They’re easy to apply and provide the even clamping pressure needed to keep things square.

The only catch is that the sharp mitered corners of the assembly have to be protected from the pressure exerted by the band. My clamps came with metal corners meant for this purpose, but they often damage the corners they’re supposed to protect.

My simple solution was to substitute more forgiving, corrugated cardboard pads for the hard metal corners, as shown at right. The cardboard pads provide plenty of protection without leaving any unwanted evidence of their use.

You’ll find more great project tips, techniques, and plans at PlansNOW.

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 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:

It always breaks my heart when a project gets its first scratch. But I know that even with the best of care, it’s bound to happen. So rather than stew over a minor blemish, I came up with an easy way to make it disappear.

My repair system started with an investment in an assortment of touch-up markers. You can get these from many woodworking and finishing supply companies. My set includes about a dozen different colors and this gives me a good shot at finding a close match to the project. But the trick is finding the best color match without relying on a lucky guess.

To help make a more informed choice, I created a sample sheet on a piece of clear acetate. The sheet contains a small, labeled swatch from each marker. As you see in the photo, I simply hold the sheet up to the project to find a good match. After choosing a marker and performing a quick touchup, the project looks as good as new and I feel a whole lot better.

For more helpful project tips, techniques, and plans, visit PlansNOW.

Good Woodworking,

Ted Raife
Online Editor, Woodsmith

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:

Whenever I use screws to assemble a project, I hide them under wood plugs. Cutting the plugs and gluing them in place is the easy part of the job. The bigger challenge comes once the glue dries — trimming the plugs flush to the surface.

For me, this is a two-step process. First, I use a small back saw to trim off the bulk of the protruding plug. Then I sand or plane the remaining portion flush to the surface. But my lack of care with the back saw often led to problems. If I tried to cut the plug too close, I would scratch or gouge the surface, making more work for myself.

But as is usually the case, a small problem had a simple solution. I dug up a scrap of plastic laminate and made a flush cut shield. The laminate shield has a hole drilled through it slightly larger than the diameter of the plugs. You place the shield over the plug flush to the surface and then saw away without worry (Figure 1). The thin shield allows you to give the plug a very close trim and all that’s needed to finish the job is a little sanding (Figure 2).

For more helpful project tips, techniques, and plans, visit Plansnow.com.

Good Woodworking,

Ted Raife
Online Editor, Woodsmith

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

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