Black Desk, Part 1
Black Desk, Part 3

Just a minor update here.

I got a detail shot of the leg "carving" with the two coats of Minwax Waterbased Stain in Onyx. I didn't realize there was so much dust on there when I took the photo, sorry.

The white wood is some 3/4" x 1 1/2" curly maple. I found that maple at Lowe's in the common maple rack. I need to go back and find another one for trimming the top of the desk. They only had one in the entire rack.

It is attached with 8 1/4" dowels, and a small bead of glue along the length along with the glue in the dowel holes.

I have found that the use of dowels signifigantly improves the strength of the joint, in addition to making alignment much simpler. While I don't doubt that a biscuit joiner would also make the alignment simple, there is a massive price difference.

• Dowel Centers: $2 for 10
• 1/4" dowel: Free if I cut my own with a plug cutter, or 40c for two feet.
• 1/4" drill bit: Comes in every set of drill bits I've ever purchased. So I have plenty.

This last photo is the maple clamped to the bottom shelf. The clamps were more for drawing the dowels into the holes than for actual clamping. But I'll take the clamping as a bonus!

Once this is dry, I'll put some pieces on the sides of the shelves, then I'll apply the finish.

It's now time to put in the lock. Tommy shows how to mark the position on the lid and then goes to work cutting out a hole. He then demonstrates his fine chisel skills before putting the lock in place. After he attaches the lid, it's done!

My wife and I have 4 cars, but one of them is my baby. However, like any baby…it requires a lot attention. It's my Mercedes SLK 320 (with AMG Sport Package).

I don't want to discuss performance; otherwise I will get carried away talking about mine being the fastest time of the day at our MBCA (Mercedes Benz Club of America) Autocross event three weeks ago. (Note the trophy plaque in the photo below....braggin in your own blog...how pathetic.)

Instead, I want to finally clear the air about how much work it is to operate the radio while driving with the top down. I live just off of US31. US31 is a 55 mph 4 lane highway, but it has crossroads and stoplights. That means that each time I stop at a light, invariably someone pulls up next to me, causing me to scramble to change the radio to something far more hip than what I was really listening to.

While passing long lines of cars at very high speeds, I can be belting out "Looks Like We Made It" right along with Barry Manilow. However, at the next light I have to quickly punch up a station that is playing something more along the lines of Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher." 5 seconds after the light turns green, with the car back up to 60 mph, I can jump back to Barry for a strong finish to our duet.

This morning, though, something different happened when I switched to Sirius Radio's Classic Rewind while stopped at a red light. I hit the radio preset and found Night Ranger. Immediately an entirely different set of obsessive compulsive activities started. Sister Christian is a trigger song for me. Like the folks who would act out The Rocky Horror Picture Show down in front of the screen on Friday nights back in college…I do a one man production of Boogie Nights every time I hear Night Ranger's Sister Christian. Here is how today's show went.

I immediately went to the glove box, grabbed the firecrackers, started lighting them off, and tossing them in the air.

Next I grabbed my long-hair wig and bathrobe from under the seat and started doing air keyboard, transitioning into air drums, followed by full-blown windmill air guitar each time the song would crescendo toward "MOOOOTTTTTTOOOOORRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I suppose that I should mention that even though my one man show starts with the Sister Christian scene, once the song is over I actually turn the radio off and play out the full film from there. (We've established it's obsessive compulsive behavior, folks…I cannot control it.)

Normally, it goes pretty well, but today was different. Because just as I got ready to roll the credits, having given myself a pep talk in the mirror as I vainly tried to convince myself that I am still a star…I looked up to find my only audience member was an Ottawa County Sheriff.

If anyone in West Michigan knows a good bail bondsman, please have him give me a call. I am currently in the Fillmore Detention Facility under the name of D. Diggler.

I left off preparing the four panels which comprise the carcase of the cabinet. Since then, I've spent more time on the four panels and in particular the top and bottom panels. After some final smoothing and scraping of the faces I began preparing the edges. I hand plane the edges at the ends of each of these panels with a block plane set to a light cut. This leaves a nice, smooth edge at the ends as opposed to a slightly fuzzy edge before hand planing. Once I have this edge planing complete, the top and bottom panels are checked to confirm that they are the exact width and length and perfectly square to each other. The profile I have decided on for the edges of the top and bottom panels is an approx. 3/32 inch wide 45 degree chamfer which I accomplish with a block plane as shown in the photo.

Beginning with the edges at the end and finishing with the long edges, I create these very small chamfers. Some judicious, careful hand planing is necessary here to maintain the correct chamfer width along the length of the end and long edges of each panel, both top and bottom. It's actually easier than I describe once a rhythm is established. I find the 45 degree angle is easy to visualize and set as opposed to any other angle between 0 and 90 degrees. The profiled edges are important to create at this stage since the next steps involve attaching the side panels to the top and bottom panels. It will be virtually impossible to create the profiles afterwards.

Next, I will complete preparing the side panels, confirm they are square to each other and identical in length and width and begin to mark their orientation to the top and bottom panels. The side panels will be set back approx. 3/4 inch from the front edge of the cabinet to allow for the doors. The doors are veneered panels with a finished thickness of just under 3/4 inches. The side panels are to be attached to the top and bottom panels with a series of dowels and the creation of the doweling template jig specific to this cabinet is also next in the sequence of steps to be performed.

Another of the next steps is to create a rabbet for the back panel. This back panel, a frame and panel and yet to be created, will be housed into both the top, bottom, and side panels.

We have just finished shooting the 'Precision Plane Tuning' DVD, after three days of hard work. This concentrates ...

This past weekend, Jill and the boys and I traveled to Erie PA for the Mid-West Tool Collectors meeting. It was a short drive for a change - only 4 hours each way.

The usual suspects were there - Jim Leamy, Paul Hamler, Patrick Leach, Don Rosebrook and Martin Donnelly to name a few. I also had the pleasure of finally meeting Roy Underhill. He gave a talk on Saturday night. Early in the show he was walking around in the tool display and demo area and I had to do a triple take to make sure it was him - he was not wearing his hat.

Paul Hamler is just finishing up what I believe is his last set of miniature planes - a Sandusky Center wheel plow. There were several different configurations - Ebony with ivory arms, Rosewood with ivory arms and even a few solid ivory versions. It was a little overwhelming trying to keep track of them all - and when Paul sent me this photo a week ago - I missed “it�.



On Saturday morning, Riley walked over to me at my bench and handed me a small bubble wrapped package. He said “Happy Fathers Day dad�. As I unwrapped it - I found myself holding a very small African Blackwood bodied, left-handed Center wheel plow. Riley answered my question even before I had a chance to ask it - “I got it for a buck�.

I knew something was up, and judging from the smiling faces around me - their plan had worked.

The plane is magnificent to say the least, and if it you left out familiar objects to give a sense of scale - it could pass for a full sized plane. Paul, my deepest thanks for this stunning and personal tool.

Here are a few photos of the pair of left-handed center wheel plows.






And a few shots to try to give some sense of scale. The rebate plane is 1/2" wide and 3-3/4" long.





And some detail shots as well.







That little brass thing the skate is sitting on... one of the bronze buttons I insert into an infill cap iron.

Paul was also delivering some of his scraper plane inserts and gave a talk on Friday night about its history and evolution. As a fellow toolmaker, it was very interesting to see how it evolved, the prototypes and those “aha� moments that happen at the weirdest times. The spring is the (brilliant) key to this insert - and turns it into an elegant and highly functional tool. I can’t wait to get a No.6 so I can use it.

For me, finger joints have always been the nerdy, square cousin to the dovetail.

Finger joints are immensely strong when glued properly. But they are usually used by beginning woodworkers in places where a dovetail would be more appropriate, such as on a piece of 18th-century casework.

Add to that the fact that finger joints are tricky or dangerous to make on wide boards (without a commercial jig) plus the fact that gluing them with yellow glue is stressful, and it's a wonder that anyone uses them at all.

And so we decided to tackle finger joints for the Summer 2008 issue of Woodworking Magazine, which will be shipping to subscribers next month. It took us a few months to really pin them down (pun intended), but I think we nailed it (and no, cut nails are not involved).

Here's a small taste of some of the problems of the joint we solved after three months of testing in our shop:

Appearance: Finger joints are a product of the machine age. Using them in styles before circa 1900 is just wrong to the eye. So consider the joint for more contemporary pieces only.

Cutting them Accurately: Right now there are basically two different ways to cut the joint: A shop-made jig for the table saw for narrow boards, and using a router jig that costs several hundred dollars for wide boards. We set out to develop a simple and safe shop-made jig that could handle both wide and narrow boards. Senior Editor Robert W. Lang had a stroke of genius on this and solved the problem forever (in my opinion).

Gluing Them Easily: You can assemble small boxes with finger joints fairly easily when using yellow glue. But at a certain point, you hit the wall because the glue sets up before you can close all the joints. So the solution would seem to be a slow-setting glue. Well, that's one way to go about it. But we found an easier and faster way that is super-strong (see the photo of Managing Editor Megan Fitzpatrick's boot on a sample joint). In the end, it took an anvil to bust up our sample joints.

Also in the Summer 2008 Issue
The finger joint is just one of the major themes running through the issue. Here are some of the other stories you can look for in the coming issue:

Building a Better Chest: Most woodworkers build chests using the most convoluted and fussy assembly imaginable. After reviewing hundreds of historical models, we settle on a method for building a chest that looks more complex at first glance, but actually saves an immense amount of shop time, requires less fussing around and allows more design flexibility.

Crackle Finishing: Many woodworkers who try a crackle finish have inconsistent results. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. And predicting how much it's going to crackle is almost impossible. Senior Editor Glen D. Huey cracks the code of crackle finish and finds out that the easiest and most predictable way to do it is also the simplest.

Trimming End Grain: When you have to cut back some end grain so it's flush with some face grain, it's always an opportunity to mess up the project. We show you two (actually three) methods for doing it right every time with a block plane, sander and pencil eraser.

And one more thing about the Summer 2008 issue: This issue is going to be mailed out to subscribers in a protective plastic bag, which will reduce the chances that the postal service will mangle it. If the plastic bag works for you, let us know so we can encourage our manufacturing division to continue using it.

And if you're not a subscriber, you can easily remedy that here.

— Christopher Schwarz

People have written me asking for more information about the little osage orange plane in the side bar, so here are some images and measurements in case you would like to make one yourself.

Body: 4.5" long ? 2" high ? 1.125" wide
Opening: .84375" wide (13.5/15")
Wedge: 2.625" long ? .8125" (13/15") wide ? 12 degree bevel to fit
Blade: 3.625" long ? .8125" wide ? .125" thick

Bed Angles:
45 degree bed ? 57 degree shoulder (the portion of the sides that hold the wedge in place) ? 52 degree front bed

The plane is one piece of wood, so the most difficult part is chiseling out the wood inside the opening and being careful to ensure that the bed is perfectly flat. Layout your angles on the outside of your workpiece and transfer the angles across the top, down the other side, and on the plane's sole. Then, just keep an eye on your progress to make sure you maintain those angles as you chisel out the opening.

Other woods that make good planes are applewood, maple, bloodwood, cocobolo, and many other dense hardwoods.

Growth ring orientation, according to David Finck, author of Making & Mastering Wood Planes, is unimportant.

We played with some saws on Friday, the tenth day of my 12 week course.

As usual some of the students had turned up ...

Tommy reviews how he will create boards to cover up the gaping space in the front, back and upper boards. After they have been shaped into a curve to match the pattern, the blocks are put inside the opening and Tommy shows how they are attached. He then uses a scrub plane and French curve scraper to smooth the surface, being careful not to bash his finger as he did earlier.

Sometime back in 1996 I took a piece of cloth that was cast off from my wardrobe. I cannot remember what the garment was. A sweatshirt perhaps? Long underwear? It’s a bit stretchy. And I soaked the sucker in WD-40.

Since that day, I have soaked that rag with every kind of oily substance you can imagine. Here’s the short lubricant list: Camellia, 3-in-1, Jojoba, mineral spirits, thread-cutting oil, spray-on “dry� shop lubricant and oil from various recesses of my personhood (yes, it’s true, and historically correct. Ask me over a beer sometime).

I use this rag to wipe down every tool after I use it. I lubricate my plane soles with it while working. I use it to wipe off the sharpening slurry from my tools after honing them.

And what I’m about to say will upset people who know anything about chemistry: I have never suffered any ill effects from this nefarious mixture when finishing my projects using any of the known finishing compounds: shellac, lacquer, oil, varnish, wax and all of their wacky combinations. No fish-eye has ever appeared in my finish. No orange peel. No silicone contamination.

So what gives? How have I cheated the finishing gods for 12 full years?

Probably because of the cutting action of all tools. When I wipe down a tool – a sawblade or a handplane – I leave the thinnest coat possible behind. This thin film is all I need to protect the tool from rusting. Then, when I apply the tool to the work, there is little doubt that some of this lubricant winds up on my work.

This first cut removes the lubricant from the tool. Then my next pass with the tool removes the wood that has the lubricant on it. Problem solved.

In addition to my magic rag (Lucy, my wife, calls it my “woobie�), I also am very fond of the Sandflex blocks from Klingspor to remove rare and errant spots of rust or staining that show up on my tools. These spongy “rust erasers� are like rubber that has been impregnated by a mild abrasive. The blocks will abrade your tools, but only slightly – in most cases less than steel wool. One block (I like the “medium� and “fine�) will last for decades of normal use.

As a result, I have had few problems with rust on my tools, despite the fact that I live outside a humid river city (Cincinnati) and my home shop is in a basement.

The bottom line is that diligence is far more important than the brand of lubricant.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. Below is my latest project with a shellac and lacquer finish with no finishing problems. Maybe next project....

Back in the day when I did power tool woodworking (at the exclusion of hand tools), I never did feel the need to cut a mortise and tenon joint. Somehow, using hand tools, it just feels right to do it.

However, there is a problem. I have never done it and didn't know how to do it properly - with any kind of tools. I started to work cutting tenons for the base on the workbench I am making and somehow, it just didn't seem to be coming out right.

I took a break from that and started a little stool for my daughter to reach the kitchen sink. Somehow, it just seemed right to dovetail the legs into the ends. Also, I felt like I needed the practice before going any farther on my bench.

I was right. I DID need more practice. As it turns out, the stool will be usable for children, but it will hardly be pretty or even that strong. I realized that I needed more help. A LOT more help.  read more »

After three more hours of CAD work last night, I finished up the preliminary drawings for the next cover project for Woodworking Magazine. We're calling this project "An American Wall Cabinet." But right now a more apt name would be "An R-5 Wall Cabinet."

This morning I spent about 45 minutes building the face frame, tombstone door and drawer front of the cabinet using the pink ½"-thick Foamular insulation board. I taped up the joints with packing tape. Then I printed out the hardware from the Horton Brasses web site, cut it out (Horton scaled it full-size!) and taped it in place.

If you ever wonder how woodworking magazines get away with coverlines like "Build a Bench in a Weekend," this is it. It's our trade secret. We just build it out of Foamular.

After a dry-fit of all the parts (no tape), I determined that the mediary rail in the door was too wide. So I shaved off ½" with a ruler and a knife and it looked much better. Then Senior Editor Glen Huey and I placed the rattail hinges on the stiles so they would work well and look good.

This short exercise also drove me to plan on adding some stopped chamfers on the stiles of the face frame when I build it out of walnut. So all in all, it was worth the $10.

If you've never worked with Foamular, it's a cinch to cut with a knife and a ruler. I used my Tite-Mark gauge to first score the foam's plastic film. Then I followed up with the knife. To make the curve in the tombstone door, I drew it with a compass. The pencil lead didn't cut the foam; it made a furrow in the film. Then my knife could easily follow that furrow to complete the cut.

And what are we going to do with the leftover foam? Easy. I use it for slicing up plywood with a circular saw. I lay the foam down on the driveway, put the plywood on top, and set the sawblade to cut through the plywood and slightly into the foam (and not the concrete). Works every time.

— Christopher Schwarz

Tommy and Al discuss the photos that two viewers sent in of their projects: Rick, who made a desk, and Keith, who made an armoire. Check out their photos on the forum. Next, Tommy and Al talk about the question of the week: What is the best way to attach legs to a column? Tommy had actually shown Al how to do this for a mahogany drum table Al made for his wife, which they show off proudly. Check out BobVila.com/AsktheMasters for full instructions.

Preparing the stock for the pigeonhole dividers isn't as easy as it looks. The stock needs to be milled to a 3/16" thickness, but in making it that thin it's way more likely to crack or split. The solution: support the wood as it runs through the planer. Tommy does this with a piece of MFD clamped down to the planer which provides the support the stock needs to stay in one piece as it passes through. Once Tommy has the stock milled to the correct thickness and the sides of the cabinet routed at the precise height, the dividers slide in "like butter."

A brief recap of the May meeting is on the Bulletin Board. After you log in, Click Bulletin Board on the Members Menu then click on Here's What You Missed (at the last meeting).If you have not Registered, Click Register at the Log In screen and fill out the simple form. That way you can access the Members Only features.

So, as promised, here she is!
And what a pretty plane - I really want to keep this one :)
Santos Rosewood, 60 degree pitch, super tight mouth. I hope the new owner takes good care of her ;)
Cheers
Philly

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:

Drilling a centered hole in a dowel can be a challenge. It?s hard to get the drill bit centered and keep the dowel from turning as the hole is drilled. To make it easier, I built the jig shown below.

Build the jig by first drilling a hole the diameter of the dowel in a piece of hardwood. Then just cut a saw kerf through the hole from the end to make a clamp.

Using the jig is simple. Begin by centering the dowel under the bit. To do this, clamp a piece of scrap wood to the table and drill a hole to fit the dowel. Then change out the bit to the size needed.

Next, slip the dowel into the hole in the scrap wood. Then slip the clamping jig over the dowel and squeeze the kerf together with a small clamp. Now you can clamp the jig in place and drill the hole in the center of the dowel.

To learn more essential woodworking tips and techniques, just go to: http://www.plansnow.com/basics.html.

Good Woodworking,

Phil Huber
Online Editor, ShopNotes

Tommy demonstrates how he is cutting the shell. Using a chisel, he shows how working with the grain poses a unique set of challenges. He then utilizes the V-tool on the design and laments his lack of carving skills.

How you dress your windows is an important piece of your overall design and a lot of thought should go into the style and fabric used for your bedroom window treatments.

How do you know which window treatment is right in your bedroom?

There are 3 basic types of window treatments that can be used alone or in combinations. Here?s some tips on these basic types and what style of room you might choose them for.

Curtains and Drapes

Curtains and drapes are a style of window treatment that most of us can recognize but there?s many variations on this old standby. If your bedroom design is simple, you might choose just plain sheers as these will go well with many themes including a romantic theme, a modern theme and anything in between.

Valances can be used to soften the top of the window. They are great if you don?t want to cover up a great view but also don?t want the window to look too bare. Typically valances are made from fabric but you can build them form wood and decorate them with an aged or stencilled paint to go with your Tuscan or French country design. Fabric valances can go with almost any bedroom decorating theme depending on the fabric you choose and can be used in conjunction with sheers to give you a bit of privacy.

Drapes are an elegant bedroom window treatment. If you have a romantic, French or Victorian theme some heavy drapes in rich fabrics can transform your bedroom into one fit for a queen. Heavy drapes look best on tall windows, but if you short squatty windows like most homes built in the 60's - 80's don?t let that deter you from using great drapes. You can always just keep them closed to hide the window behind and no one will ever know the difference!

Wooden Shutters and Blinds

Indoor wooden window blinds are a great way to add privacy to your bedroom and can be used alone or with curtains, drapes or valances.

There are 2 styles of shutters - plantation shutters and café shutters.

Plantation shutters cover the whole window and have louvers which can be opened and closed to let light in or provide privacy. These shutters go great with a plantation style look, a country look or a coastal cottage look.

The café shutters are the kind that cover only the bottom half of the window and swing open to let light in. These also look nice in a country or beach style bedroom and are perfect for a Paris apartment style as well.

Fabric Blinds

Fabric blinds add a nice touch to any bedroom and can be decorated and embellished with whatever you want. Fringe, pom-poms and ribbon are just a few of the great ways to make these bedroom window treatments stand out.

Roman blinds work well for childrens rooms and informal styles such as cottage or beach style decor. These shades fold up to expose the window during the day and roll down at night.

Festoon blinds are puffy with lots of fabric. They are quite ornate and work best in a romantic style bedroom such as a Victorian, French or Italian motif. Festoon blinds look best on wide windows and might not be good for small rooms as they can tend to be a bit overwhelming.

Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.bedroom-designs-and-decorations.com where you can learn more about popular bedroom decorating styles.

Given the heat and sunshine in West Michigan, I just haven’t been in my woodshop. Instead, I have been out in the car switching from Barry to Van Halen at each stoplight (see previous post).

Well today I listened to Right Now by Van Halen and realized that in contrast to the Video of that song, the radio version just has very long instrumentals because there is not text to read to occupy your mind.

So as a service to the Van Halen listeners I compiled a “Right Now� list below. Print it out, keep it in your car, and then read it during the instrumentals whenever Right Now comes on the radio.

One warning…some of these might seem a little dark, so if you are squeamish, please turn away…..

Right Now….

Someone is playing with matches

Someone just tripped carrying a tray of Drinks

Someone unexpectedly got sick in a public place

Someone said “I Love You� for the first time

Someone is standing over the body of his first victim

Right Now….

Someone started filling the engine back up with oil, not realizing they forgot to replace the drain plug

Someone just picked their loved one out of a crowd of strangers at the airport

Someone said “Goodbye� and meant it

Someone pulled out without looking both ways

Someone is admiring their Grandma’s new tattoo

Right Now….

Someone realized too late the car was moving way too fast

Someone just moved on to the Harder Stuff

Someone achieved total clarity, if only for a moment

Someone is waiting for the phone to ring

Someone stepped off of their porch for the last time.

Right Now….

Even in the midst of the pain someone thought, “Wow, it’s weird how you see the explosion before you hear it….�

Someone generated the courage to publicly admit their favorite band of all time is CROWDED HOUSE

Someone is discovering Boo Radley for the first time

Someone just realized his fly has been down for hours

Someone just lost their grip

Right Now….

Someone just shared their wife’s deepest secret with a stranger

Someone just took a joke way too far

Someone just cheated his own children while playing Chutes and Ladders

Someone was just told the cancer is advancing more aggressively than they previously thought

Someone convinced another person to do the dirty work for them.

Right Now….

Someone is driving on Snow Tires in the middle of Summer

Someone doesn’t know they are being messed with

Someone just lost their Security Deposit

Someone realized there was no movement on the ultrasound

Someone inadvertently mixed gasoline and diesel

Right Now….

Someone achieved the Dream of their Lifetime

Someone lost all hope

Someone just quit his day job

Someone just spoke at his best friend’s wake

Someone felt the tingle of true love

Right Now….someone just decided this shit was “Blog Worthy.�

(and yes...I do realize the title comes from Peter Gabriel...not Van Halen)

A crosscut sled is an improvement to the design of the typical table saw. It allows the "table" to slide over the spinning blade, taking the workpiece with it, rather than sliding the workpiece itself over the blade. It also provides a convenient place to mount stop blocks, T-track, and other gadgets, if so desired.

This allows for a safer and more accurate cut, especially on small pieces. No more needing to hold your hands close to the sharp blade, trying to control kickback, or needing a Rube Goldberg-esque configuration of blocks, clamps, featherboards, and fences.

First I cut a scrap of 3/4" birch cabinet ply from the BORG. It is only 5 ply, but works fine for many uses. I didn't measure the base of the sled, but it is around 30" x 18". For a sled the exact measurements aren't as important as squaring it to the blade is.

I next cut some 1/2"x4" reclaimed oak boards to make the front and rear fences. I like to use reclaimed wood whenever possible. Partly for cost and partly to preserve the good wood on the market for a little longer. These boards had some embedded nails that could not be removed. So I cut them out on the table saw, leaving several shorter boards. Two were more than long enough so I cut them to match the base.

I jointed them on my 4" Rockwell jointer, making sure the unfinished face and the bottom were exactly 90*. The bottom will be glued to the base, and the face will control the workpieces. I used a homemade pushblock for the face jointing. It is just a scrap of plywood with some rubber shelf liner stuff attached with spray adhesive. No fancy handles. Just enough to keep control of the workpiece.

Once the oak boards were jointed, I checked for square on the sled. My digital angle gauge is perfectly square, and makes for a convenient square when I'm too lazy to walk across the garage to get a "real" square. If the fence on the jointer is square, the workpiece will be too. And this jointer is perfectly square.

I cut some thin strips of oak 3/4" wide to use as rails. I placed these in the slots on the table saw and used shims to raise them just proud of the table saw surface. I then set my fence to fit the sled base so the blade is centered. A square table saw fence will also ensure the front and rear edges of the base are also square to the blade. This is critical because those edges will set the alignment of the fences!

I applied glue to the rails and clamped the base down to the table saw. I was unable to get a clamp on the front left corner so I piled a bunch of weight on that corner. Surprisingly it worked well!

After the glue dried I trimmed the rails to fit and tested the glide. As is normal, the glide is too tight. I used a cabinet scraper to pare down the rails until they would slide in the slots on the table saw with just a medium amount of force. I want the fit tight because once the rails are waxed it's perfect.

I had debated about using mechanical fasteners to hold the fences on, as I have for my previous sleds. I decided against them because they would add complexity without much strength. For a sled this size there is no need for screws.

I set the boards on the sled base again and drew lines so I could easily tell how wide to make the glue on the base. I then applied a nice even layer of glue to both the sled base and the rail, one rail at a time. Several clamps hold it together to dry.

Check the square several times throughout the process. The clamps will often draw the fence one way or another (a good argument for "parallel clamps" that don't do this) and require adjusting. Small position adjustments will usually resolve any angle issues.

Once both rails have been glued and allowed to fully dry, use a card scraper to clean up any glue. Especially on the inside of the sled. Bumps of glue squeeze-out will throw off the perfect square you are going for!

Now is the time to apply wax to the rails. If you haven't waxed your table saw lately, this would be a good excuse to get that done too.

Smear the wax on liberally and allow to dry 5 minutes. Then buff with a clean cloth. I prefer microfiber cloths for both tasks, but any soft cloth will work just fine.

Check the glide again on the table saw. There should be zero side to side play, yet the sled should move smoothly the entire length of the saw surface with just a push from your pinkie finger. Feel free to scrape the rails a bit more and re-wax if needed.

Check your saw blade is a good one for plywood or laminate so you don't get any tearout when cutting the initial kerf. I forgot to check when building this sled, so I got some tearout from using a 24 tooth ripping blade. It may not be critical, depending on the location of the tearout. Luckily for me the tearout was in the middle of the sled, not at the fence.

Sneak up on the cut, moving the blade up just 1/8" of an inch at a time until the kerf is exposed in the sled bottom. Don't worry about making kerf cuts up into the fences. You'll do that automatically when you start cutting workpieces with the sled. Right now you just want a clean kerf to begin with.

Take your time, moving the sled over the blade slowly. There are no awards for speed, and you will just risk tearout of the plywood or fences.

Check that the rear fence is square to the blade. Use your square (a real one this time) and hold the edge to the face of the blade, not the cutting tips. If it is not square you'll have to cut it apart and start over. But if you followed these instructions, you should have a rear fence that is perfectly square to the blade. Do some test cuts to confirm.

At this point you can either be done and call it good, or apply a finish. For small "throwaway" sleds like this it really doesn't matter. the bed of the sled will be chewed up before the wood surface shows any signs of wear. So a finish will be just for appearances. My reclaimed oak boards had a poly finish on one side, I didn't apply one. And I saw no need to remove it either. On some of my sleds I apply two coats of shellac, especially if they're made from MDF to provide some moisture protection. Like, in case I spill coffee/tea/kool-aid on it.

But I'm perfect and would NEVER do THAT!

Hi Folks
Stopped by Yandles Saw Mill on my way home yesterday (yes, it was quite a diversion, but worth it) and was pleased to catch them at the "Just had deliveries in " part of their cycle. I much prefer this to the later part, the "all the good stuff is gone, all we have is this near-firewood until the next delivery" stage.
So I managed to find some of a timber that is very difficult to get hold of, Pau Rosa. It is a striking deep red colour, very dense and perfect for planes. The down side is getting hold of suitable stock. There were eight planks available - four of these were utterly useless. Let me explain - the timber seems to be very difficult to dry without serious checks and splits developing. It is also prone to rot (or insect attack?) from the centre. Take a look at the photo's of my chosen plank - it is three inches thick, 14 inches wide. It has checks running through a good third of the plank. And if you turn the plank over - bang! Look at that rot!! And yes, this plank was the best out the lot :)
But there is a lot of usable material left and it is such a pretty timber. I'm going to break it down into smaller, clear pieces and see what's left.

Remember the guitar photo's I promised? Yes, I know, I am rubbish ;)
I was stringing the Tele ready for its photo shoot when I realised the nut had gone missing. So I am learning how to fit (and cut) a new nut - not easy. Hopefully some photo's will appear soon :)

Cheers
Philly