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Woodworking 101--Tools and Tips

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jimreed2160

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How about a WW 101 on the various uses/purpose of trammels. Thanks.

What a great question! Please assume your seat of honor in the front row.

The most common use for trammels is to describe arcs and circles. Just go back to your HS geometry class and remember all of those compass exercises--intersecting circles, bisecting lines, etc. The radius of a circle is the distance from the center to the edge and our trammel set IS that radius. Small radius means small circle and large radius means large circle.

So our first demo is showing what a trammel set is known for--describing arcs. But this is a broad arc. First, I drilled a small hole in a scrap and clamped it in the end vise on the bench. Then I attached one trammel on a piece of cat shredded door frame moulding and put the point in the wood scrap. Next I attached the trammel with the pencil at the end of the moulding. For this demo, I drew an arc on cardboard. As you can see, it describes a nice broad arc. Of course, you can reduce the radius and make the arc tighter.
 

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jimreed2160

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More trammel fun

I like to use a trammel set to locate guide holes for handles. First I locate the lower edge. In this case, I am using a yellow ruler but sometimes I use painters tape. I set the first trammel from the edge of the beam to the first hole. Then I measure the handle and set the second trammel. The resulting story stick shows me how far to indent the handle and where the two pilot holes go. At this point, I align the trammels with the baseline and press the points into the wood to mark the drill holes.
 

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jimreed2160

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New project--Tavern Table Top

This this run of warm weather means QST is here. I have projects stashed in every corner of the house and shop. Today I brought out one of the BIG ones. This project has been lingering for 12 years. Lemme give you some background.

Well, it began back in the 1970s, nope, let's back up a little more. This story all started sometime around 1820 when a country cabinetmaker made a tavern table in the Sheraton style. It had nice walnut turned legs and a drawer. This nice table was used and loved for decades but ended up in a chicken coop. Our story might have ended in the fireplace but some kind soul rescued this table at the 100 year mark and had it reworked. New feet were turned to replace the four rotted feet, the missing drawer was remade and a new cherry top was applied. But the good life was not to be and our table found itself back in storage. This time, the top was badly weathered and rats chewed a passage through one side.

And so it found itself in an antique furniture storage barn in Centerville, Ohio in the 1970s. Turns out I was antiquing with my mother in law and her daughter, The Plaintiff. Having very little money, I inquired about "rough furniture" and was directed to the dark barn. And there was the little table in the corner. It was rough alright. The table was dirty and the top was separated and split. But it was a real beauty. The lines were great and it was a perfect example of a post colonial tavern table. The 5/4 walnut skirt was pegged into the nicely turned legs with pegs the size of my little finger.

So the plan was hatched. I would remove the bulky top, knock out the pegs, and put the pieces in the car. For $25 I would have a nice project. The top came off easily into three convenient pieces, but the draw bore pegs would not budge. I managed to get the frame inside the car with three legs in the back and one on the front bench. We drove back to MILs home in Virginia like the Clampetts going to Beverly Hills. MIL and I took turns driving while The Plaintiff was stuck in the back seat with the bulk of the table. She never did like it and that is why I ended up with it during The Settlement.

The refinishing job was easy. I did not have clamps so I farmed out the top repair to a local cabinet shop. Their strict instructions were to simply glue it up and leave the grey patina top untouched. When I got it back, the top was glued and the top had been belt sanded. My heart sank. Poor little table got bashed again.

The top had originally split because it was attached with nails into the frame. I attached glue blocks to the top and held it in place by friction. That worked well and also made the table much easier to move about. When we moved 12 years ago, the movers used the antique cherry top as a ramp and kept it on their truck. By the time I recovered it, the top had split again. So here is the project--fix a 100 year old split that finally cracked apart.

Most of the crack should glue together OK, but I need a few Dutchmen on one end.
 

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R_einan

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Wow, those trammels look like a handy thing to have around!

Interesting refinish job Jim, interested to see how that comes out.
 

drivesitfar

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Jim: thanks for the trammel lessons and love to see more as you have time to. nice story on the old table and best of luck with that project.

BJ: we usually gave our pets the run of house, but i'm sure you have a reason for keeping yours out of certain areas and that gate looks like it will work a lot better than the baby gate it replaced.

ALL: a friend of ours like to distress and paint to make a few cool looking signs and my bride liked this saying so she made us one.
 

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jimreed2160

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Shop organization

My workbench has two stringers which hold the legs together. When I first acquired the bench, I made an open plywood box that fit the space so I would have extra storage. Eventually the woodscrews found a home there. BUT they were thrown in haphazardly. That worked for years but the shop organization elves finally put that area on their list. I like the organized version much better.
 

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ALLFAST

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Jim,Reed....here is the photo I mentioned. That's a fine idea, swapping parts across.
 

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jimreed2160

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All--Those are nice looking planes and they seem to be similar vintage from the picture. The parts should swap just fine. Those early low knob #4 1/2s make really nice smoothers.
 
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jimreed2160

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Workbench woes

I love my workbench but sometimes it lets me down. Like today when I have to work on a table top that is 31" wide. And the workbench tops out at 24". So I made a run to HD for a piece of 48x48 25/32 plywood. I locked it to the top with four dogs and cut a foot off one side. Now the table top fits and there is room for clamps. Score!
 

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bj383ss

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All this trammel talk and 101 lessons and I don't have any to try out.

Bret
 

rrich1

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Last minute cutting boards for gifts. 50f6d4c36ca9a13744e5668f20912dc5.jpg

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

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cbacres

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What a great question! Please assume your seat of honor in the front row.

The most common use for trammels is to describe arcs and circles. Just go back to your HS geometry class and remember all of those compass exercises--intersecting circles, bisecting lines, etc. The radius of a circle is the distance from the center to the edge and our trammel set IS that radius. Small radius means small circle and large radius means large circle.

So our first demo is showing what a trammel set is known for--describing arcs. But this is a broad arc. First, I drilled a small hole in a scrap and clamped it in the end vise on the bench. Then I attached one trammel on a piece of cat shredded door frame moulding and put the point in the wood scrap. Next I attached the trammel with the pencil at the end of the moulding. For this demo, I drew an arc on cardboard. As you can see, it describes a nice broad arc. Of course, you can reduce the radius and make the arc tighter.

Please reseat Shorty somewhere else, I can't see with him in front!:beer:

Thanks for the little lesson, I especially like the use for the handles.
 
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jimreed2160

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Please reseat Shorty somewhere else, I can't see with him in front!:beer:

Thanks for the little lesson, I especially like the use for the handles.

Thanks for your kind words. And don't worry about Shorty--he won't be in the front very long because he cannot sustain this good behavior. He will probably be back on the Group W bench before the end of the week.
 
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jimreed2160

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Project time

It is a balmy 70 degrees in the COMFORTABLE shop this morning and I got busy on projects. I had to work on a rush order on a blade box. It was a little cramped because the table top is hogging the main workbench. And then I remembered that I have another bench that is open for business. WooHoo! Shop organization and cleanup pays yet another dividend.
 

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rrich1

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Cutting boards coming along nicely. Also making a wall corner shelf for our bedroom. I'll get a pic once it's up on the wall. 3e7f0148dfbde727a1df500d97013cfe.jpg4a41a8c027dc64da778ceaf5146ee523.jpg

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jimreed2160

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bubinga--Small steps in shop organization pay big dividends. My shop is still a mess but less so than a year ago. At least I can get things done now.

rrich--It sure is good to see that new vise working and paying its way.
 

BMR24

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Does anyone have any advice on making stopped rabbet joints using only hand tools? I've thought of multiple methods but I'm curious what works best for others
 
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jimreed2160

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Does anyone have any advice on making stopped rabbet joints using only hand tools? I've thought of multiple methods but I'm curious what works best for others

When making stopped rabbets or stopped grooves, I always consider the project. It is sooo much easier making open joints. Often the project allows a little fudge and I made an open joint and then glue a block of filler to stop it up. If I cannot cheat a little, then I make a stopped joint by stopping short and finish with a chisel.

BUT here is how I like to make rabbets:
1. Use a 1/8 cutter in Stanley #45 to cut a groove for the corner.
2. Use a #140 or a #289 to cut out the waste and form the bottom.
I like this method because cutting a small groove is easy and it makes a nice corner. The second plane job is fun because the edge does not have to be precise since the corner is already cut. Bonus is that the groove leaves a nice depth mark so I know when to quit.
 

BMR24

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Thanks Jim, it's for a picture frame with what I would refer to as "open mortise and tennon joints". I had more planned but the stopped rabbets are making me reconsider future designs. I don't much care for the mitered corner look because it is so common on everything now
 

drivesitfar

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Rich: nice looking cutting boards. it looks like your new vise is working nicely too!!

are you going to sand after planing? what oil do you use for a cutting board?

WELL DONE!!

ALL: MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL YOU WOODWORKERS and WOOD BUTCHERS TOO!
 

Farmerjonathan

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Northwestern Indiana
gentlemen, I'd like some help.

All of my tools have dust ports meant for a 2-1/2" shop vac hose. So far I can't find an adapter that will go into that port, and the other side have a 4" dust collector hose clamped to it. The 4" side is fine, the 2-1/2" side for the ones I've tried are meant for 2-1/2" dust collector hose (which I don't have any) to be clamped outside it.

whatever experience you guys have would be appreciated.

I am mainly lurking on this thread, ran across this post and thought I would suggest. http://www.rockler.com/dust-right-universal-small-port-hose-kit

I bought this a year ago or so and it has made it easy to get rid of all the bags that come with my hand held tools and hook them straight to my shop vac.
 
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jimreed2160

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BMR--You might be on to something with your picture frame idea. I recommend some on line research on cabinet doors. Most of them are made with M&T joints or some variant and they avoid stopped rabbets and stopped grooves. I'll bet you can adapt some of their ideas for your frames. Good luck.

Drives & Bob--Thanks for the well wishes and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all. :rocker:

The only thing that could beat shop time on Christmas Day is being stuck inside with family spreading cheer and swilling egg nog.

FarmerJ--Thanks for the tip. As a former employee, I have a soft spot for Rockler and those adaptors look like just what I need to wean myself from my redneck aluminum (duck tape) adaptors.
 
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jimreed2160

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Biscuits but no gravy

I got out my DeWalt biscuit cutter but could find only 0 and 10 biscuits. The largest size is 20. That's good to know but the bad news is that most of the on line sources want to ship them in qty=700. Ouch!

But then I remembered my biscuit run from 20 years ago. About the time I talked my dad out of his Ulmia workbench, he sent me home with a load of biscuits. Seems he got carried away and bought a 1000 pcs box of each size. He did not have that many projects and wanted to get some clutter out of his shop so I came home with about 2700 Freud Lamello biscuits. I have been carting them around ever since. He had nice cases for storage so I moved the boxed biscuits into the spare storage case. There is a great picture of the box he packed and the box I just packed. I think he might have had a touch of OCD.
 

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jimreed2160

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More biscuits

The plastic cases are OK for long term storage but I wanted more convenient storage for my working supply. Deli meat containers came to my rescue. I used three different sizes so I could tell them apart and I also hot glued a biscuit to the top of each so I could see the size at a glance.

I really like those deli meat containers in the workshop because they fit into shallow drawers and they have a tight top that keeps the contents dust free.
And they are just right for storing the hot glue sticks.
 

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jimreed2160

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My buddies think I'm crazy because I have three zip lock bags in with the biscuit jointer. Labeled bags...

Well, labels are helpful and when you fight memory issues, you need all the help you can get. I put labels on the light switches a few years back. I don't use them much but guests have a much easier time.
 
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