Woodworking Made Simple for Woodworkers

A lot of the work in any machine-oriented woodshop revolves around creating and improving jigs. While I’ve used hold-down and F-style clamps in most of my shop fixtures, the Microjig Matchfit Dovetail Clamps offer a new means of integrating adjustable clamping into a jig, securely and out of the way of blades and bits. The clamps have a dovetail cross section on the top arm that fits into a 14º angle, 1/2″-wide x 3/8″-deep dovetail groove in any piece of wood that’s at least 5⁄8″ in thickness. This allows you to easily create a new guide for your circular saw or router, new table saw or band saw fixtures and whatever power tool paraphernalia you’ve got to make. The clamps run in and out of the groove tightly, without much slop – a little wax on the head might make it run even smoother. I’m not looking for slop in a clamping setup, though, so the tightness is appreciated. They have a clamping range of up to 5-1⁄...

This year, I finally decided to take on a Maloof-Inspired Sculpted Rocker and we’re building it right now in the Guild. One of the most elegant parts of the chair is the contoured back, consisting of seven sculpted spindles. In this video, I show you exactly how I shape those spindles using two rasps: a Combination Rasp (#5/#9) and a Small Modeler’s Rasp (7″, #13) rasps. If you’re looking for a nice “starter set” try this Auriou Rasp Set. Keep in mind, Auriou rasps are pricey and there are other brands out there like Nicholson that could save you a few bucks. Because I don’t consider myself very artistic, I make extensive use of guidelines whenever I do my sculpting. For the spindles, one simple guideline will do the trick. The line is drawn on the side about 1/8″ down from the front surface. I can then crown the front of the spindle to that line and follow that up with a heavier roundover that ter...

Cutting miters so they are ‘just right’ is a problem faced by all woodworkers. Here’s how to sneak up on the perfect miter with scrap wood and a plane. by Don McConnell You find yourself in a quandary. To ensure that you don’t cut a miter too short, you end up cutting it just a bit too long to fit. You wish you could trim it shorter by just a shaving or two, but the moulding is too small to plane, reliably, freehand. If you’re working with a power miter saw, you might be able to correct this cut if the moulding is held in place perfectly, but it is easy to cut too much off and the blade might deflect during the cut, spoiling the angle. If you’re working with a hand miter saw and miter box, it’s difficult to get an accurate cut that’s thinner than the width of the saw’s kerf. This is when you should turn to a shop appliance known as a miter shooting board. A shop appliance, you ask? Like a washing machine? No, I’m us...

One of the best parts about having woodworking for a hobby is that it never gets old. Every project (and I mean every project!) comes with its own set of challenges and small puzzles to figure out. But once in a while I like to take on an entire project that is a challenge. These two wrap-around corner picture frames definitely forced me out of my comfort bubble! But as with all projects, no matter how big, the individual steps are nothing I haven’t done before: These frames are just a series of miter cuts and bevel cuts. The part that concerned me from the outset is how to glue these odd shapes together and keep everything square, especially since each half of the frame would basically have just three sides. There is no support in the middle, where they “bend”. The acrylic would be another challenge to overcome. A simple method for this would be to simply cut two pieces of glass, one for each half of the frame, but I really didn’t want that seam to show. ...

Without a doubt, the best tool for surfacing thin stock and planing thin strips is a drum sander. But given the fact that even the smallest and most basic units cost over $700, it’s not a tool everyone can justify having in their shops. Thankfully, there’s a great alternative: the planer. But don’t run out to the shop and start planing veneer just yet. Most planers aren’t very happy running stock that’s less than 1/4″ in thickness. Once the wood gets that thin, it becomes very light and flexible and there’s a good chance it’ll be sucked up into the planer blades which will quickly turn your fancy planer into a wood chipper. Thankfully, with a little additional support, we can safely run thin stock through the planer for veneer, bent lamination, or anything else requiring surfaced material under 1/4″. All it takes is a shop-made sled consisting of a piece of 3/4″ plywood (or any sheetgood), and a couple thin pieces of solid stoc...

Miters are not the strongest joints, but we use them all the time for joining picture frames together. One method for strengthening this connection is to add a spline, a thin sliver of wood into a slot where the two miters join together.  A common way to make these is to cut a slot about halfway through the corner after gluing the frame together and slide in the spline. Standard spline that goes halfway through the miter. A better method for making splines In this method, the picture frame and the splines are glued up all at the same time. These splines are stronger because they run all the way through the width of the miter and the grain is positioned to run perpendicular to the miter. Making the slot-cutting jig is simple. It’s basically the opposite of my regular spline jig. Regular slot cutting jig (left) and alternative jig.   Making the slot-cutting jig Glue together two scraps of plywood. One a little taller than your rip fence, and the other piece squa...