Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PWW - 12.2011
PWW - 12.2011
12 Rules for
Tool Chests
All Your Tools
In Easy Reach
‘Arch’ Table: Make a
Shapely Base with
Bent Laminations
Got $50 & a Lathe?
Make a Disc Sander
Krenov-inspired
Keepsakes Box
Achieve a Flawless
French Polish
Brian Boggs on the
Myth of Originality
US $5.99
12
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C O N T E N T S DECEMBER 2011
32 40 44
F E AT U R E S
48
COVER PHOTO BY AL PARRISH; ARCH TABLE PHOTO BY JEFF MILLER;
SHARPENING PHOTO BY ROBIN MACGREGOR; DISC SANDER PHOTO BY ERNIE CONOVER; MEMORIES BOX PHOTO BY TED BROWN popularwoodworking.com ■ 3
C O N T E N T S DECEMBER 2011
16 24 60
REGUL AR S
8 From Concrete 16 Veritas Bevel-up 58 Gent’s Chest
Bunker to Smoothing I CAN DO THAT
BY M EG A N FI T Z PAT R I C K
Light-filled Plane
Workshop
ON THE LEVEL
TOOL TEST
BY T H E ED I TO R S
60 French
BY S T E V E S H A N E S Y
Polishing
ONLINE X Tool Test Archives Myths
10
We have lots of tool reviews on our web site, FLEXNER ON FINISHING
Brass Stock for free. BY B O B FLE XN ER
LETTERS
64 The Myth of
FRO M O UR R E A D ER S
20 Why Design? Original Design
14 Adjustable
DESIGN MATTERS
BY G E O RG E R . WA L K ER
END GRAIN
BY B R I A N B O G G S
Thin-strip Jig
TRICKS OF THE TRADE 24 Chisels Through
FRO M O UR R E A D ER S
The Ancient Eye
ARTS & MYSTERIES
VIDEO X Tricks-in-Action BY A DA M C H ERUB I N I
Watch our free videos of some of the best
tricks at work.
popularwoodworking.com/tricks
Canadian return address: 2835 Kew Drive, Windsor, ON N8T 3B7 Copyright 2011 by Popular
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C O N T R I B U T O R S
For nearly 30 years, Brian has been designing and DECEMBER 2011, VOL. 31, NO. 7
making award-winning chairs and other furniture; popularwoodworking.com
solving problems in chair production led him to design EDITORIAL OFFICES 513-531-2690
Deneb Puchalski has been working with wood for F+W MEDIA, INC.
more than 25 years as a carpenter, boatbuilder and CHAIRMAN & CEO ■ David Nussbaum
furniture maker. His first exposure to woodworking CFO ■ James Ogle
PRESIDENT ■ Sara E. Domville
was in his father’s boatbuilding school when he was a
CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER ■ Chad Phelps
child. Later, Deneb built houses in Alaska (where he SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT,
also worked on fishing boats), then moved to Florida OPERATIONS ■ Phil Graham
where he got back into boatbuilding – including work SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT,
ADVERTISING SALES ■ David Shiba
on a replica pirate ship. More recently, he became inter- Jim Kuster
IT DIRECTOR ■
ested in furniture building and attended the Center EVENTS DIRECTOR ■Cory Smith
for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT ■ Peter Costanzo
CARD #9 or go to PWFREEINFO.COM
O N T H E L E V E L
B Y S T E V E S H A N E S Y, E D I T O R
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A
For all editorial questions, please write to Popular Woodworking
t about the time you receive this The landlord is springing for ply- Magazine, 4700 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236. Or
issue, we’ll be busy packing up wood sheathing to cover the concrete- e-mail popwood@fwmedia.com.
Does Popular Woodworking Magazine offer group
our offices and woodworking shop block walls, so hanging cabinets and discounts?
for a move of less than a mile from our tools will be a breeze. About the only Group discounts are available by special arrangement with the
publisher. For more details, send an e-mail to Debbie Paolello at
current location. You might say we lost thing we’ll be lacking in the shop debbie.paolello@fwmedia.com or call 513-531-2690 x11296.
our lease. While the rest of our Cincin- space is running water. Maybe we Our Privacy Promise to You
nati-based parent company is relocating can catch rain water on the roof and We make portions of our customer list available to carefully
screened companies that offer products and services we believe
to a new office building, the Popular install an on-demand water heater! you may enjoy. If you do not want to receive offers and/or
information, please let us know by contacting us at:
Woodworking Magazine editorial crew is (The real problem is there’s no drain List Manager, F+W Media, Inc.
4700 E. Galbraith Road
moving into a new to tie into.) Cincinnati, OH 45236
home in the same A shop move Safety Note
building as our always feels like Safety is your responsibility. Manufacturers place safety devices
on their equipment for a reason. In many photos you see in
company’s photo a chance for a Popular Woodworking Magazine, these have been removed
studio. fresh start. We’ll to provide clarity. In some cases we’ll use an awkward body
position so you can better see what’s being demonstrated. Don’t
We’ve carved sor t t h rough copy us. Think about each procedure you’re going to perform
beforehand.
out about 1,500 all the stuff
s q u a r e fe et for we’ve accumu-
the new shop and lated over the
I’ve h anded of f 10 years we’ve Highly Recommended
my shop layout been in the
“The Craftsman” (Yale UP), a book by
and specifications for the landlord to current location. There’s probably Richard Sennett, was not written for
improve the space. (As the photo shows, enough to fill a dumpster. And we’ll those who practice a craft. But for those
we started with a sow’s ear.) likely find a bunch of stuff we for- who do, it is a particularly fascinating (if
This will be my third new shop setup got we had. The new space ought to sometimes difficult) read.
for the magazine over the years, and my prompt ideas for new shop-storage In many ways the book is a mirror of
our motivations and pleasures derived
fi fth during my woodworking career projects and different ways to set up from craft. It describes the impact craft
– not counting home shops. It’s always benches and equipment. Don’t be sur- has had on society throughout the ages
exciting, and a bit nerve wracking, but prised if you see a handful of such – not just in producing goods, but in
I’m convinced it will be our best shop projects in the magazine and online making good citizens. It amplifies the
yet. For one thing, it’s somewhat larger in the coming year. basic human need to do a job well for
its own sake. Examples abound, such as
than our current space and the rect- Now I have to get busy with my last the inner workings of Stradivari’s shop
angular footprint will leave no wasted shop-related planning chore – “engi- and how craft guilds were run.
areas. We have a large roll-up garage neering” the ductwork for our dust- Even if you decide to skip the discus-
door to move equipment and supplies collection system. Then there’s the sions on Kant and Wittgenstein, you’ll
in and out – and it’s on ground level. layout of the our workstations in the enjoy the book for its rich detail. I liked
it so much I did a second read – a rarity
Hooray! new office space. Let’s see … where’s for me. Paperback, $18.
We’ll have all-new wiring, lighting, that hat? Was space planning on the — Steve Shanesy
heating and air-conditioning. Holes job description? It’s a good thing that
were knocked in walls and windows one of the joys of woodworking is the
were installed in what would have been allure of problem solving. PWM
a cave of a space. And most of the win-
dows are north-facing – the best natural
light there is.
8 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING MAGAZINE December 2011 PHOTO BY THE AUTHOR PHOTO BY THE AUTHOR
YOU SHOULD BE LIMITED ONLY BY YOUR
IMAGINATION. NOT YOUR TOOLS.
To be the best woodworker you can, you need the right tools.
Like our 24" Horizontal Double Drum Sander with 3HP motor and
dual v-belt driven sanding drums. Our steel frame and heavy-duty
base provide maximum stability. The parallelism between the
drums and table is easily adjusted by two convenient screws.
And unlike competors, we found that a high quality conveyor belt
provides for longer service life. Imagine that. To learn more about
our enre line of woodworking tools, visit your nearest dealer or
go to www.general.ca.
General® International USA Inc., 760 Jessica St., Murfreesboro, TN 37130 www.general.ca
CARD #17 or go to PWFREEINFO.COM
L E T T E R S
FROM OUR READERS
the October 2011 issue, #192)? Raking Light Can Help Find
John L. Wohlgemuth Glue Spots Before Staining
via e-mail I read with interest a letter in the August
John, 2011 issue (#191) responded to by Glen
John Economaki, the author of that story D. Huey, who said he wets his projects
and the founder of Bridge City Tool Works, X 1 ⁄16 " x 1" 360 brass bar stock, before final sanding so he can bet-
recommends McMaster-Carr (mcmaster. #8954K44 ter see and eradicate any remaining
com) for the brass. Here are the McMas- X 1 ⁄ 4" x 1 ⁄ 4" 360 square stock, scratches.
ter-Carr item numbers he’s provided for #8951K22 I use a lot of alder. One problem I
the square supplies: X 1 ⁄ 8" drill rod, #8893K18 have after glue-up is that there often
X 3 ⁄16" brass round stock, #8953K43 are spots of glue and fingerprints on
X 1 ⁄8" x 11 ⁄2" 360 brass flat stock,
Megan Fitzpatrick, managing editor the light-colored wood that I do not see
#8954K251
prior to staining; these then appear in
the finish as white spots.
I’m wondering: Would wetting the
project before staining it identify these
How is the LVL Bench Holding And while it’s not a huge problem, the glue spots?
Up After Two Years of Use? force of the leg vise has pushed the top off the Mike Millikin
After a few years, how is the LVL work- left front leg about 1 ⁄8". We “fixed” this for a via e-mail
bench (from the November 2009 issue short time by inserting a “bullet” to connect Mike,
of Popular Woodworking Magazine, the top to the left front leg, but that hole also Glue spots are a real disaster when found
#179) performing? Is there anything has been stressed by the vise; so, again, the during stain applications. Wetting the sur-
you would now do differently? I haven’t top is no longer flush to the front of the bench. face does expose some sanding deficiencies,
read any mention of it in the magazine It still works fine, but it bugs me. and it also can help to discover glue prob-
since it was originally presented. I ask So I heartily endorse LVL for the top (with lems. However, it is better to sand and/or
because there are a lot of us out here who an edge band of a hardwood front and back prepare your surface for finishing using a
can’t afford to build a bench out of hard to keep the fragile edge from getting knocked raking light. Light highlights glue stains due
maple and could use a less-expensive off), but the compression issue is why I’d use to the variations in sheen. I have a regular
alternative. something else for the base. shop fluorescent light attached to a 2 x 4 post
Louis Armstrong I’ve heard from readers, however, that on a wheeled platform so it’s easy to move
via e-mail not every lumberyard carries LVL – though around the shop for just such a use.
Louis, they can all order it. Glen D. Huey, contributing editor
The LVL top is awesome; it’s still dead flat Christopher Schwarz wrote a “real-
after two years of hard use, and there’s hardly world” review of the LVL bench (that is,
a mark on it. how it performed in use) in “The Work- Thank You, Toshio Odate
However, were I to build it again with the bench Design Book” (Popular Woodwork- I commend you for publishing a fantas-
same knock-down joinery, I’d use Southern ing Books), as well as a review of the other tic article by Toshio Odate in the Octo-
yellow pine or some other relatively inexpen- eight benches for which we included plans. ber 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking
sive lumber to build the base. Why? Because Megan Fitzpatrick, managing editor Magazine (#192).
in its intended orientation (that is, glued Odate managed to put into words
up into thicker stock without ripping and the often indescribable feeling that I
re-orienting the laminations, as we did to Kudos to a Classy Toolmaker get as a woodworker when holding a
create the top), the LVL compressed a bit What an incredible article by John quality-made tool. It’s nothing less than
– especially in the bolt holes. Economaki (“Try for Your Best Work,” the inspiration to make something as
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
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