Last October, David Mathias reported from Pasadena's Craftsman Weekend with photos and first hand accounts of the events. The only criticism we received was that these reports were too late for those who wanted to attend. Consider this as a wake up call, this year's events have been announced, and tickets go on sale in a few days. If you're a fan of the work of Greene & Greene, you'll want to be there. This is also the one hundredth anniversary of the Gamble House, and there are a number of special events taking place to commemorate this milestone.

Today, Phil Lowe set up a jig to waste out the front side of the bridle joint that the leg sleeves over in our demilune tables, and a niggling thought crept in to my head. Did I really keep the screws out of the leg locations when bricking the rim? I think I did, but… The last thing I wanted to do was hit a screw and set off the Saw Stop. For one thing, the Marc Adams School of Woodworking has only the one dado stack at the moment, and I didn’t want to keep anyone else in the class from getting their work accomplished. And it would be really embarrassing.

Just in case, I moved to the end of the line. I figured if I did set it off, I could handle the embarrassment – as long as I didn’t hold anyone else up. But as I waited, I decided I’d best chop out the waste by hand. The longer I stood there, the more I convinced myself that I’d misplaced a screw. But my handsaw skills are, shall we say, in the developmental stage. So at Phil’s suggestion, I clamped a guide block along my scribed line, and kept the saw blade pressed flat to that "training wheel" as I cut down to the shoulders at each location. Then I chiseled out the waste and flattened the bottom with a shoulder plane. Of course, there was nary a screw in sight.

This was the first time I’d used a chisel for precision work other than dovetails. Dovetails are small. This joint is not. I’ve struggled with getting things flat and even, and squaring the shoulders (among other things). Phil makes it look so easy.

I knew coming into this class that I was jumping into the deep end. In theory, I know why the blade is cambered in a smooth plane, and how to use that plane. I’ve read reams on how to hold and use a handsaw. I’ve watched editor Christopher Schwarz demonstrate plane us, and the three classes of saw cuts – more than once. (Chris makes it look easy, too). Heck – Chris has even stuck a plane in my hand and given me a lesson on its use. But I didn’t pick up the plane again until this class. Using these tools with purpose is very different than reading about it, watching someone do it, or taking a few desultory swipes at a board – no matter how good the instructor. Use it or lose it.

My table might approach mediocrity. My cuts aren’t great, my tenons are loose, and I got so excited about my plane shavings that I was overzealous – the ankles on my tapered table legs are very delicate indeed. But it will be the best darn demilune table I’ve ever built. The next one will be even better – and will use no screws at all.

— Megan Fitzpatrick

Read Part 1 of this series here. And Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here.

Friday, my fellow students and I got into a very sticky situation. That hide glue that Phil Lowe had us start cooking on Monday finally came into play. But first, we were directed to glue up our tabletops with a spring joint. I was elated – I actually knew how to do this (the first thing about which I felt truly confident all week). But after the glue set, Phil told us to flatten the top. With a smooth plane. My kingdom for a No. 5.

He then proceeded to use an 1-1/4� chisel to very quickly cut a deep chamfer on the underside of his top, then cleaned it up with a spokeshave in just a few minutes. Very impressive. My top isn’t ready for a chamfer. It isn’t yet flat (but it sure is thinner). I’ll have to go in before class on Saturday to finish planing and scraping, before I can band saw the edge, clean it up and cut the chamfer. Our final task before packing up will be to attach the top with buttons, and I want to get that accomplished – in large part so the top of my wonky bridle joints are covered up, and the guys won’t have an immediate and obvious target for mirth.

So I set my top aside as we moved onto veneer. This was a lot of fun – and a hot sticky mess. After cutting the veneer pieces a little oversized, I opened the glue pot and swatted at the dozens of flies that immediately converged on my bench, glue pot, arms and substrate. Then I painted a layer of glue onto the bricked poplar substrate, laid down the veneer strip, added another layer of glue, then squeegeed it off the top and out from the bottom with a veneer hammer (a heavy hunk of metal with a 3â€� - 4â€� rolled edge and a handle – it has nothing to do with hammering). The glue tacks very quickly – to everything. While squeegee-ing in the demo, Phil scooped and scraped the excess neatly into his palm and calmly and cleanly returned it to the glue pot.  While we were all squeegee-ing, we scooped and scraped the excess into and onto everything around us (my marking knife was at one point firmly attached to my forearm). But hide glue is easy to clean up – just a little hot water and my tools (and my forearm) were clean.

On Saturday, we’ll add the banding, and hopefully get through assembly. I’ll post of picture of my finished project on Monday – or at least a picture of however finished it may be. But I guarantee those bridle joints won’t be visible.

– Megan Fitzpatrick

Read Part 1 of this series here. And Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 4 is here.

Magazine_Cabinet.pdf (1.66 MB)

Here's what else you'll find on this CD, which is available in our store for $15 (that includes free shipping in the United States).

â–  42 Furniture Projects: We feature comprehensive plans and cutting lists for a complete suite of furniture for your home, including two Morris chairs, sideboards, side tables, bookshelves, outdoor furniture as well as home accessories, including lamps and wastebaskets. Every project includes step-by-step instruction and measured drawings.

â–  7 Technique Articles: Arts & Crafts furniture uses straightforward joinery like the mighty mortise and tenon. We show you a wide variety of ways to cut this essential joint, plus articles on achieving an Arts & Crafts finish with home-center materials and detailed plans for the jigs and fixtures that will make your shop time more efficient.

This CD is in stock and ready to ship. To order your copy, visit our store today.

— Christopher Schwarz

If you own a 14" band saw, then you know that you have a conundrum on your hands when you set it up.

You could leave it stock, which would allow you to cut material up to 6" thick. Or you could add a “riser block,� which allows you to cut stock up to 12" thick. Many woodworkers add the riser block in case they ever want to resaw veneer material on their machine. But adding a riser block has downsides: The machine is less stable, harder to tune and the longer blades cost more.

General International has developed a new band saw that allows you to have the best of both worlds. It’s a bit of a shock to see it work the first time. In essence, the spine of the band saw is like the post on a drill press. Turn a crank and you can raise the head up so you can resaw thick material with a 102"-long blade. Or crank it the other way so you can enjoy stable cuts with a 93"-long blade.

Changeover takes about two minutes, plus changing the blade on the machine. When we first saw this new saw at the International Woodworking Fair we just shook our heads thinking it was a gimmick. But after a moment of thought, we could see that it was a bright idea. Most woodworkers rarely use their band saw for resawing and would be best served by keeping their machine set low. But when you need to resaw, it’s a simple thing to raise the head and give yourself that extra capacity.

This band saw, which should be available this year, is fully loaded. It has a 1-1/2 hp motor, ball-bearing blade guides, cast-iron wheels, a laser, a rack-and-pinion table-tilt mechanism, rack-and-pinion guide adjustments, a quick-release blade-tensioning mechanism, wheel brush, a tall aluminum fence, two speeds and a nice one-piece base. The price? About $1,400.

— Christopher Schwarz

Two years ago if I would have mentioned the company Festool, more likely than not, you wouldn’t have known the name. Then the Domino was introduced and the name Festool jumped in popularity. The next year the company delivered two routers, the OF2200 and the MFK 700, along with Kapex, the Festool miter saw, and the company name is now well known throughout woodworking.

Of course Festool is here at the International Woodworking Fair. The main draw in the booth is the Kapex. That saw wasn’t at the big Las Vegas show last year. There wasn’t even a prototype to look at. So, even though we’ve all heard tons of information about this miter saw, this is the first look for many woodworkers.

For those of us covering the happenings at IWF, Festool scheduled appointments that were held outside the booth in a “secret� room. I think the team at Festool had a great idea. With scheduled appointments, the team met with everyone on a one-on-one basis to show us what was waiting in the wings from Festool – what the company planned to bring to the table in the next couple years. And we get to deliver to you that look into the future.

I’ve always heard Festool talk about “the system.� I knew a router or plunge-cut saw with a multi-function table (MFT) wasn’t the system. Today the concept of system came into focus. Festool envisions woodworkers setting up complete shops with Festool tools. That’s what was displayed in the secret room.

The big concept was a Compact Module system. The table for this system attaches to an MFT by way of the v-grooves along all edges. The top of the table, where you change plates in and out, is where the action takes place.

In one module the Festool team set up a router station. Simply mount a router on the bottom of a plate, flip the plate as you place it into the table and turn a normally hand-held tool into a router table. (That’s not a new concept until you add in a number of possible modules and plates, each with different tools). You can use an OF1400 up to and including the super-sized OF2200 routers and the setup comes complete with a fully functioning fence that allows quick-action movement for positioning and then a fine-tune adjustment so you can dial in the cut exactly.

Another module in the display held a Festool TS 55 EQ plunge-cut saw. Again the saw was attached to the plate then inverted and extended through the plate to form a small table saw. Included on this table saw was a fence ready to position and lock as needed, along with a see-through guard system and of course, a riving knife (which is part of the plunge-cut saw). The look and feel was that of a table saw.

What makes both these setups so cool is a sliding table that is positioned directly beside the saw and in front of the router. These sliders fasten to the Compact Module table using v-grooves and are very smooth in operation. Now you have a setup for crosscuts or, if the sliding attachment is used at the router module, you have a great way to mill the ends for rails and much more.

I think we can look for additional modules down the road. One that is in the works, but you might not see due to Underwriters Laboratory hurdles concerning guards, is a plate holding an inverted Festool jigsaw.

Also, Festool gave us a look at a couple new tools, one of which is a vacuum-clamping system. This system has a vacuum built into a systainer and it was as quiet as a church mouse. We could talk in normal volumes and easily hear what was said as the vacuum powered up to hold firm.

Attached to the vacuum is a stand that can be clamped to an MFT or can be held to a smooth tabletop via vacuum action at the base of each pod. At the top of the pods are interchangeable hard rubber-like platforms (four designs in all) that immediately grab most any surface. We watched as a rough-sawn, straight-from-the-sawmill chunk of mahogany was grabbed strong and tight. And with a smooth surface such as a piece of melamine, the hold was incredible. So incredible that using this as a mount for edge routing would be a walk in the park. Also, the platforms can be rotated and pivoted as needed bringing to mind the possibility of holding work while carving or shaping cabriole legs.

Additionally, Festool has two new T-handle drills about to hit the scene. These drills are well-balanced and very comfortable in your hands and there are interchangeable chucks designed for a variety of duties. The first is what Festool labeled a 12 + 3, which is equal to a 10.8-volt drill, and a 15 + 3 that’s equivalent to a 14.4-volt drill. Each drill comes with a lithium-ion battery made of the highest quality (what else would you expect from Festool?) and is backwards compatible with earlier Festool batteries and chargers. Look for these drills to come to market during the second quarter of 2009.

— Glen D. Huey