Custom Beginner

So, while I was building an E-desk (more on this later) I made a sort of rookie mistake with face frames and biscuits. I guess its not really a rookie mistake, I just was not paying attention and thinking of things before I was doing them. Anyways, I wanted to use face frame biscuits to attach the rails to the stiles; for some reason I think pocket screws, although great, or just too much for this - I might re-think that. Anyways, in this first picture you can see Ive laid out the lines for where I want biscuits to go; I like to put my two stiles together and lay out the lines together to avoid errors while transferring lines. You can also see in this picture that Ive cut the biscuits too, but I will show you what I did wrong.

From E-Workbench

Ok, it may be a bit hard to see, but this is how I laid the pieces out when I cut them with the biscuit jointer; can you see what I did wrong? Basically, I cut them from the same side, not opposite sides. What I mean by this is, I cut them out as I laid them out; what I needed to do was to flip one of the stiles end for end like in this picture.

From E-Workbench

If you can see in this one, my slots are now offset. Why is this the right way? Unless you have your jointer set to cut perfectly in the center of the board, you will, if you cut from the same reference side on both pieces, end up with an offset of your rail to stile however much your bit is off of center. See picture:

From E-Workbench

This maybe isnt even a 1/16th of an inch off, but its off and not easily fixed without causing other problems.

What you need to do, if you are using biscuits, is to mark the outter face on all your rails and stiles. This will help you understand to what reference point you need to put the fence of your biscuit jointer. In my example here, becuase I was cutting them as I laid them out, I was then putting the biscuit jointer fence on the face of one stile, then on the BACK of the other stile, causeing the offset. If I would have marked the face on both of them, and cut from that as a reference, then I would have been fine. Make sense? So, mark all of the faces of your rails and stiles and use that as the reference point for cutting all of your slots. I eventually got it figured out by doing another piece and got it attached.

From E-Workbench

Happy and safe woodworking!

#1: Woodworking projects with hand tools its good

Woodcraft - woodworking plans & tools | fine woodworking, Woodcraft offers over 20,000 woodworking tools, woodworking plans, woodworking supplies for the passionate woodworker.. Woodworking with hand tools, At last, the stool project that once began in the handtool woodworking class is finished. i finally fixed the top to the base and applied the last coat of.

Hand tool woodworking project - popular woodworking magazine, About robert w. lang robert w. lang is executive editor of popular woodworking magazine.. Rockler - woodworking tools supplies hardware plans, Shop for woodworking tools, plans, finishing and hardware online at rockler woodworking and hardware. find thousands of woodworking supplies like drawer slides.

Rockler - woodworking tools supplies hardware plans, Shop for woodworking tools, plans, finishing and hardware online at rockler woodworking and hardware. find thousands of woodworking supplies like drawer slides. The hand tool school an online woodworking school | the …, Step 1: hand tools and power tools. all of the projects pictured in this instructable were designed and made by me using only hand tools. at the time, my solar. Projects - popular woodworking magazine, Your source for the best woodworking projects! great plans, templates & wood shop projects for any level of woodworker. learn new techniques today!. Fine woodworking tools, Woodworking tools and products, including hand tools and axes, accessories for bandsaws and tablesaws, woodworking project glues and supplies by brands like fein. About.com woodworking - woodworking - free woodworking, Free woodworking plans and reviews of woodworking tools and machinery, plus woodworking tips from making your own jigs to safety in the woodshop. find free plans for. Fine woodworking - official site, Created by woodworkers for woodworkers. practical information about techniques, tools and materials for the professional cabinetmaker or those just starting out..

EXERCISE IN WOOD-WORKING: HAND TOOL LESSONS 1-8: The Woodworker's

Tool Chest Project Plan by Fine Woodworking - Woodworking - Designs

Woodworking Bench Tools | Woodworking Project Plans

Nice Woodworking projects with hand tools must try

Ive been experimenting with making my own stain; I want something completely non-toxic. Ive used tea in the past, but it really didnt seem to do much to the wood, but then I got to thinking about making it stronger somehow. Heres what I came up with.

I started with about two quarts of water. After the water got to a rolling boil, I added six teabags and just let it keep boiling. After about twenty minutes or so, I removed the bags and kept boiling the water down until I had about one cup left.

As you can see, it became quite strong tea:


To test it out, I divided a board into four sections:


Then I left one section unfinished and stained the other three:


After several applications, here were the results:


The first section was left unstained, the second section had one application of stain, the third section had three and the fourth section had five applications.

Conclusions/Thoughts:

• Well first, it obviously works. Cool.
• Second - since its water based, I realized that you have to wait for the previous application to be completely dry before adding another. If you dont, the wood doesnt absorb the stain and not much happens. I think I could have achieved similar results with fewer coats if I had figured this out sooner.
• Third, the blotchy spots are due to my sloppy application and could easily be avoided.
• Im curious about what might happen if I strained the tea through a coffee filter. Would it act more as a dye rather than a stain?

Next steps:

Ill oil part of the test board and see how that looks.

Also, now Im curious about coffee...

A Wall Shelf

I built this wall shelf a couple of years ago using hand cut dovetails and solid Mahogany. The drawer is Flame Birch and made using half blind dovetail joinery incorporating side runners to give the appearance of it floating.It was a fun little project to make and will help you hone your dovetailing skills. If youd like to learn the details on how I built it as well as a complete cut list and specs, you can pick up the next copy of Canadian Woodworking Magazine (Dec/Jan 2010, issue #63) Its one of the featured articles.

Speaking of woodworking magazines, if youd like to see a nice little slide show of Made by Hand: Furniture Projects from the Unplugged Woodshop, Popular Woodworking has just uploaded one here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/popularwoodworking/sets/72157622472483565/show/
Enjoy!