Woodworking 101--Tools and Tips

[ScottsGT]

Well, just found a Delta mortise cutter on CL for $200, never used. It's about an hour and a half drive, but I told the seller I'll take it if he still has it Saturday. This might buy me time on needing a floor drill press and I'll see if I can make do with my old bench top press.
Haven't heard back, ad is 23 days old. Hope he still has it.

 

[jimreed2160]

The Delta is good. I think you are safe--mortise machines are not fast moving items. Good luck.

 

[jimreed2160]

Well this is kinda ww related. I was cleaning up a #77 dowel machine die today but the cutter screw was stuck. In the past, these things have been real issues. I had one around the shop for a year and just could not get the cutter screw to budge.

But one day I remembered that I have impacts now. The easy solution is to slap in a flathead bit and hit the switch. Those screws just jump out--and without damage.

I ran over it with a brush on my Milwaukee multitool and then sharpened the cutter using AO sandpaper over a large screwdriver shaft. Once the cutter was sharpened, I put the die in my #77 for a test run. It ran off a 3/4" walnut dowel just like I was sharpening a pencil.

 

[ScottsGT]

Why not just use a router and a jig - there are tons of plans out there or if you want to spend money you could probably find a Leigh FMT pro or their Super FMT on craiglist/eBay. I never did like those drill press attachments... But if your going that route, I saw a great deal on a Fisch 3/4" chisel set for $18 in the Amazon Warehouse (normally $120)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B008KIUMJI/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all


Example router jig:
http://www.woodsmithtips.com/2016/02/18/router-jig-for-perfect-mortises/

Just the idea of telling my wife I'm buying a machine that can drill square holes is worth it!

Just got off the phone with the guy. Going to go pick up the mortise machine and a brand new Delta tenon jig for $250 tomorrow afternoon. He retired, got into woodworking and discovered he could not afford retirement so he went back to work and lost interest in wood working.
I hope this isn't the story of my life.

 

[ScottsGT]

Done! I now own a mortise machine and tenon jig. Funny though, Delta tenon jig won't fit the slot on my Delta table saw.

 

[rlitman]

Done! I now own a mortise machine and tenon jig. Funny though, Delta tenon jig won't fit the slot on my Delta table saw.

It fits the 3/4” slots on iron top cabinet saws. Do you have a tabletop saw?

 

[ScottsGT]

I do. All I've got room for. Might have to make a new track out of hard wood or modify the aluminum guide that came with my saw to fit it, although it was a very sloppy fit.

Or maybe a new benchtop saw?? Anyone put on out with a standard guide?

 

[jimreed2160]

I would make one from hardwood and see how it does. You might find this "temporary" fix still in place years from now.

Good score.

 

[cheechi]

second vote for hardwood. Assuming the slots are parallel to the blade & fence you don't want to mess with that.

 

[rrich1]

Sorry guys...I've been away for a bit. I have made significant progress in the wood whisperer guild chest of drawers and night stand. My last update I had just rough cut all of the pieces out.

The plans called for loose mortise and tennon construction. To speed up the process I borrowed a friend's domino and used two Domino's instead of one larger tenon. Epoxy was used to glue the cases together.

For the panels I resawed some air dried walnut that I had. The pieces were approximately 11" wide to begin with and my jointer is only 6" so I ripped them and then resawed them. This gave me 4 pieces to glue into a panel and ended up working really well. I used a cabinet scraper on the glue lines (which worked awesome) and finished them on the drum sander. I love how the grain turned out on all of the panels. The back panels are brown painted plywood. Just like the hamper I made earlier this year.

For the web frames I used the domino again to glue them all together. To attach the frames to the cases I had to build a jig and used a router to make a mortise for the tenons to fit into. The jig worked really well and was fast to do.

Up next were the drawers and where I currently am at. To aid with the box joints on the front of the drawers I made the box joint jig from I build.ca. very nice jig. I used the bandsaw to establish the box joints then used the jig to hog out most of the waste. For no real reason I left just a little bit for me to use a straight edge and chisel to finish the joints off. Right now the fronts of the night stand drawers are done. Today I will start the box joints for the chest of drawers.

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[rrich1]

Continued

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[ez-duzit]

1--nice job.

 

[jimreed2160]

rrich--Nice work. I love the walnut and the way you matched it up.

 

[jimreed2160]

Found tool

I found an unusual tool during my recent cleanup. It is part of a Stanley screwdriver set but has an unusual point. Those in the know will recognize it as a modern version of a gimlet that has been adapted for starting screws. I like to use an awl but I guess this one works almost as good.

 

[jimreed2160]

New project

I have a new lamp project underway. The deadline was Monday week, my surgery day. But the new deadline is Wednesday when the hurricane will come straight over my house (!).

This Asian jar/vase came from a yard sale and the odd shaped top limited it to dust catching duties. But one day I saw it as a lamp with a square shade. Today's project was to drill a hole in the bottom and fashion some wood pieces.

My nice 5/16 diamond drill got ruined in the process. Drat! This $3 vase is made from glass like porcelain and is hard as nails. But three batteries later I declared victory. It took the Milwaukee multitool with abrasive sharpening bits to finish the hole.

Now I need to replace the prototype top with a better version for show. Also need to order some threaded rod and nuts.

 

[cheechi]

I really hate how awesome the Domino is. No other biscuit machine even comes close. Do you think 3-5 dowels could have created as strong a joint as those two Dominos?

 

[rrich1]

I really hate how awesome the Domino is. No other biscuit machine even comes close. Do you think 3-5 dowels could have created as strong a joint as those two Dominos?

I'm sure it would be. If not pretty darn close.

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[rrich1]

Ez and Jim: thanks!


Lot of work done the past two days.

I got all of the drawer fronts and sides of the dresser marked out and cut. First the band saw to establish the outer lines of the cut and the the box joint jig to cut the waste out. I didn't get a chance to chisel them out until today. I don't like hammering that late at night. These joints fit PERFECT! A nice snug fit and essentially flush. So much happier with these joints than the joints on the night stand.

The only thing I goofed up on was each of the sides of the drawers had at least one end with no saw blade burn marks. Before marking the cut lines with the marking gauge I had them turned the correct way so the burn marks were in the back. Somehow I turned some around. I was trying to save myself some sanding later but I screwed that up. Oh well.

I also filled some knots and splits in the wood with epoxy. I used clear for the cherry pieces and tinted it black for the walnut piece. Pics of before and after I scraped the epoxy with a card scraper.

Today I cut the dados for the backs and trimmed the runner guides to width. My dado stack wasn't quite a 1/2" for the back dado so I used the drum sander to finesse them to the right fit. Having the drum sander for this build has been awesome.

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[jimreed2160]

rrich--Good progress. That is really nice walnut.

 

[jimreed2160]

THIS IS NOT A DRILL--ALL WW ACTIVITIES ARE SUSPENDED

So the hurricane is headed straight for my house this time. May arrive as a Cat 2 or 3. We are far from the coast but still at risk for rain and wind. And this time we get two days to prepare! Since I have surgery scheduled for next week (?--weather permitting), I have already done most of the prepping. My mission today is to round up all the batteries and charge them as they have been requisitioned for storm duty. I have USB charger adaptors for the M12 Milwaukee and for the DeWalt 20v batteries so my phone and the USB flashlights are all taken care of.

I guess I really need to clean out the gutter in front of house. Ugh. That's a nasty job that I put off all summer.

The grocery store parking lots are full but I picked up bread at Walgreens when I went out to gas the car. PO is closed(?). Time to break out the emergency supplies and set up the radio.

 

[Craptain]

Glad you are taking it seriously Jim. Shorty is also on top of it.
Good Luck to all in the path of Michael.

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[rrich1]

Good luck jim

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[Bob Heine]

Stay safe Jim!

 

[rrich1]

Simple fix to a dumb mistake. I managed to move my marking gauge when I did the scribe line on the nightstand drawers. This made the sides short of the face of the fronts.

To make this a simple fix I got the depth needed for my router bit from the recess on the front. Then I used a marking gauge to sever the word on the back side. I then took the router and routed out the wood needed to make the sides flush with the front. This worked amazingly well and took no time at all.

I also got all of the drawer bottoms cut. I started to sand and sanded all of the interiors of the drawers.

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[shortykorte]

Well cut my board short, I forgot to clean shop gutters and they are full of leafs. Hopefully we don’t get a lot of rain. Tomorrow will be interesting. Jim, I hope none of the trees near you volunteer to be material for a future WW project. Be safe my friend.


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[jimreed2160]

Well 90% of town is out of power and that includes both me and Shorty. Cell coverage comes and goes. Charging phone from tool batteries. Hope they last because power may be out a long time.

 

[Toolfool]

Good to hear you guys are OK.

 

[rrich1]

The last drawer is currently in glue up. I planed and sanded some of the drawer joints. Didn't turn out too bad. I didn't get some of the bottom cherry sides pushed in all the way so there was a decent amount of planing there. Overall happy so far.

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[jimreed2160]

rrich--Nice and tight joints. Good work.

 

[jimreed2160]

Storm Update
Hurricane Michael knocked out 100% of the power in Tallahassee but we were lucky because we just had minor wind damage. Those to the west of us are suffering with property loss and devastated towns. Shorty got power restored quickly, probably because he has juice with city hall. Up in the north end of town power was out for days. Our outage was going on six days when the lights mysteriously came on yesterday evening. I have been doing laundry and watching tv ever since.

Life during the extended outage was very easy for us. I charged my phone from tool batteries and distributed out the lanterns and flashlights all over the house. We had plenty of dried food and other stuff so both of us probably gained weight. It did get a little hot during the day but we were able to open windows at night and cool things down.

Tallahassee is mostly back to normal now and has become the resource staging area for this part of panhandle. There is a huge tent city at the airport with thousands of trucks and relief workers. The western part of the panhandle between Tallahassee and Panama City is rural and they got smashed. What little infrastructure they had is either gone or badly damaged so they need lots of help.

But all is not doom and gloom. As a woodworker, I have been amused at some of the interviews. It shows that rural folk are poor but not dumb. I heard comments like these:
"Well, a walnut tree fell on my shed and cut it in two and that holly tree hit my neighbor's trailer."
"That pecan tree fell over the road."
"The big oaks held up but those pine trees snapped like matchsticks."
"Yeah, lots of the magnolia trees went down."

 

[Shiftless]

Jim:
Thanks for the update. Even though we on the opposite side of the country were far away from the devastating Hurricane Michael, many of us were following along on the weather channel. I’m glad to hear that you got through the storm so well. Many of your not so distant neighbors didn’t.

 

[ScottsGT]

Thanks Jim. After living through Hugo in Charleston, my heart goes out to everyone in FL. Lives are going to be uprooted for a long time to come. Normalcy will not be the normal for a long, long time.
We went without power for 4 weeks where I lived. My parents had theirs back on in 2 weeks 25 miles up the road in Summerville. We kind of visited regularly to take showers and do laundry for two weeks. I was in the auto body repair business at the time. I was making bank being on commission.

 

[rrich1]

Drill drawer update.

My drill bit/12v drill storage is atrocious and I need to get it organized. I made a "simple" holder for the drills/impacts/batteries/and attachments for the flexiclick. Turned out alright. They still fit tight. I originally had them facing downward but it was too tall for the drawer that way. If I was going to do it this way I would have used the next size up in forstner bit. Oh well. I'll hit it with sand paper and a rasp.

Next was the forstner bits. Half of my bits we're in a case and the rest were still on the blister packs. Those of course do not store well. Using another piece of scrap plywood I cut it to width and then made a grid. I then laid out the pieces with approximate equal spacing. Much faster than mathing it all out.

Last was the bit storage for the self centering bits, countersink bits, and plug cutters. I had a good spot on the right side of the drawer for this. I elevated the holder for easier access and replacement of the bits. I made another grid and drilled an 8mm hole (just bigger than the 1/4" shank) and drilled out my spacing. I drilled more than needed so I can add more pieces and move things around if needed. There was a lot of tear out even with the Brad point bits I was using.

Overall I am MUCH happier with how this turned out. I had been scratching my head for the longest time about a solution to the drawer. I got everything back in except for the milescraft drill guide.

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[Bob Heine]

Looks like I need to make more drawers. Very nice solution.

 

[acer66]

Drill drawer update.

My drill bit/12v drill storage is atrocious and I need to get it organized. I made a "simple" holder for the drills/impacts/batteries/and attachments for the flexiclick. Turned out alright. They still fit tight. I originally had them facing downward but it was too tall for the drawer that way. If I was going to do it this way I would have used the next size up in forstner bit. Oh well. I'll hit it with sand paper and a rasp.

Next was the forstner bits. Half of my bits we're in a case and the rest were still on the blister packs. Those of course do not store well. Using another piece of scrap plywood I cut it to width and then made a grid. I then laid out the pieces with approximate equal spacing. Much faster than mathing it all out.

Last was the bit storage for the self centering bits, countersink bits, and plug cutters. I had a good spot on the right side of the drawer for this. I elevated the holder for easier access and replacement of the bits. I made another grid and drilled an 8mm hole (just bigger than the 1/4" shank) and drilled out my spacing. I drilled more than needed so I can add more pieces and move things around if needed. There was a lot of tear out even with the Brad point bits I was using.

Overall I am MUCH happier with how this turned out. I had been scratching my head for the longest time about a solution to the drawer. I got everything back in except for the milescraft drill guide.

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That looks great, do I see that right that the drills are standing on their batteries?

 

[ScottsGT]

Here’s a little project I’ve been working on to give to my wife for our 30th anniversary tomorrow. Guy at work introduced me to bandsaw boxes, so I knew I had to make this for her.

 

[ez-duzit]

GT--pretty cool design.

 

[rrich1]

Scott- that box turned out great!

That looks great, do I see that right that the drills are standing on their batteries?

Here is a better pic. They sit on the base of the bare tool. With the battery they were to high for the drawer to close. The batteries and flexiclick Chuck's are on recessed spots to keep them from rolling around.

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[acer66]

Scott- that box turned out great!Here is a better pic. They sit on the base of the bare tool. With the battery they were to high for the drawer to close. The batteries and flexiclick Chuck's are on recessed spots to keep them from rolling around.

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Thanks, I might have to borrow your idea.

 

[cheechi]

I like that drill holder and I'm jealous a little, the Milwaukee version of that drill still isn't available in the states.