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Microwave/Serving

Cart

A RADIANT DESIGN FOR COOKING OR SERVING

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?licTO\\'a\'c ovens are a hot item: Every-

bod)' wants one, but. nobody knows \\ here to put it. And if your kitchen i. anything llke mine, counter space is more ,alliable than ocean front property. W~ decided the best selutlon to this )lrvbl~ln was t(l build a .'UII·a",und microwave cart that could fit into almost any kitchen. and at the same time. be u.
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THE LEGS

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Tbe legs (AI on the cart shown here are made uf cherry wood - each leg I. J square and 28" long. To get thi~ size legs, you ean cut them from 8.14 stock (lY.'thic:k) and rip them LO size. Or, they can he made by laminaLJog two layers of I ·1 stock ( .,.' thick) and then trimming them down to I'A- square. \Vhiche\'er method is used. the flrst step is to cut four legs to Si7£. Then a total of three mortises are laid out all what will be the two inside faees of each leg, see fig. 1. Two of these mortises (at the very top and bottom of each leg) are (or the shelf support frames. They're both lJOl'itioned slightly off-<:enl<'r- 'I,. from the inside corner of the leg - to allow a little extra overhang for the top and bottom shelve s. After Imarked the position ot these two mortises. I arranged the legs in their final position and marked the proper (acefor the third mortise - for the side stretcher near the bottom shelf. (Arranging the legR in their final position. as shown in Fig. helps elear up some of the confusion as to which face is which.) This third mortise is also slightly off-

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center, but this time it's positioned ¥II;M from the outside corner of the leg. (This position is eeeessary so the side stretchers are far enough apart to get the bottom

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shelf will be attached to th~ cart with adjustable shelf support brackets that are mounted inII. holes. ( went ahead and drilled 8 seri •• of four holes (2" apart) on each leg. HOLES FOR CASTERS. Finally. I drilled • hole in the bottom of each leg for 2" Shephard casters (No. 93Oll). ( bought these casters at a local hardware store. The same type (or something very similar) should be available at any goo
Alter the legs are completed, the next step is to cut the two side stretchers (B) that fit in the "middle" mortises. These stretchers help hold the cart. together, but their main shelf in plaee.) purpose is to prevent stuff from sliding off Once e'erything is laid OUl, go ahead the bouom shelf, and cut the mortises, 1 used a drill press First, 1 cut the two stretchers (B) to and a to" brad-point spur bit 10 drill OUt final size - 211. "ide by 18Y? long. (This most of the waste for the mortises. Then I length measurement includes the 1".long cleaned up the cheeks of each mortise with tenons on each end.) Then the tenons are cut to fit the mortises in the legs, The II chisel. (See lI'ood8mitli No, S for more information on cutting a mortise and tenon finished shoulder to shoulder length of joinL) these stretchers should be 16Y., see ' _. ? IIOL£S FOR ADJt:STABLE SIIELF. The FIg, WOODSMITH

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two "Ik'lf ~ul'I,..rt fram e- However. the 0,11' mo ...• thing. The shen that tht- moruses \\ e're !'bo'''ing in Fig. 2 top frame xexr, I Martl' of Alwin monil-e andl.nonjomlshould be for the leaf ""I'I',n sy.t.m. l:iimply cut a two long -tretchers Cr.) and two short u'l'(l h~1'\'C""~11',~,J"mi'h :-:0. 12). BUIIO o¥..· rlft·p. 1 t. wid. notch at the center of stretchers (II) .• s shown in fig. 2. .implify constructlon, I used a single the $hort ,tn'teher. Note: the depth ofthi, • NonnaUy. all four of these stretchers mortise, and then added a corner glue notch cov...") .heruhl1l13teh th~ thickness of would be atUtch,'d directly to the leg. of block. Thi. Itill. black add, two gluing the w ",,,1 u",·d for the leaf "uPPOl'tarm CE). th,· cart. Rutl hlld t(l change thing. around surf,LC~'tlnd cr,'al., a fairly slrong joint t'Utl>'Tt:t(llUK>:. nt'Fore final ... sembly of a bit on thiN cart. The two long stretchers (even though it'. not technically correct). the cart, I di,1 two more thinl(S. First. I 1lI'I' mortised into the legs of the cart in the sHORT STllt:n·IH:KS. Next comes the counterbored pilot hole. In the shelf normal way. But the short stretchers are .hl)rt.tr!'lrh~r. el)) for the frames. These franw. for th,· I'Cre", that will hold the top morti_1'd into th,' lerng stretchers to allow .t«·tehe ..... hould be "CUI 10 fit" .0 they're and bottom .hel\,e. in place. see detail in room between th" leg> for the fold-down compatible \\ Ith the ,ide stretchers CB). rL",g. .,_. In order ter ,h''''rmm,' the final length of For the oounll·rhore. I ""I'd a bit. s, ".., Fig, :!. the ,oon >l1'I:t\('parate frames. and stretchers. Then 1 took the shoulder to enough 'pare (or the shank of a II." ,houldrr Irngth o( the sid. ,tretcher (BI. >CI'I'''') :-Ie" the pilot hole.- are drilled. then 3\\",h"llh"m 10 th" Iep. Tilt: l.U'G ~TRETfU&RS The long added the iIJIlOOntof orr-,..,t of the long The,"" hol,'j mU'1 be drilled oversized to -tretch~1"!ICCl nn the front and back of the .1...·ln and eentraenon of the l'Drt are the C~lt:~l.rl~tthe)"_'re cut to 3). and finally added on the length of the top. (A. the top moves \\ itb seasonal ",idth and length. and then tenons are rut tenons. changes in humidity the screws can to mall~ \\;th th(' mortises on the legs. see Now th,' ~hnrt ,t""tch,''''' (01 can be -\', in th,' long stretchers. MORTI"t.S. ()nc~ thp tenoo. ha\'e been )lOTI'II t"111 LEA.. SU'I'QRTS. At this picte the b'fllicrArt ioto roulld o\'er all four cut, Lh~n~'( ~tep iNto cut the mortises fo.· point you hll\'c sUthe ba$ic Iliec"" ror lhl' edl(('s••• well lUI the tOl) and bottom <,orTHE SHtLf

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ners of the legs: all four edges of the side stretchers: and the bottom outside edges (the edge that, will show on the outside of the cart) of all eight pieces for the shelf SUPI)()rtframes. I did all of this with a corner-round bit 011 a router table. ASSEMUI.Y. Before assembling the cart. I fini$hetl sanded all pieces. (It'S a lot easier to do It now than afLer assembly.) Then to assemble the cart, I glued-up the shelf support frames (making sure they were nat and square Ill! they were clamped together). Then I glued these assembled frames and the side stretchers into the legs. This completes the basic cart .

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Now that the cart is complete, all you need are the three work surfaces- the top and leaves, and the two shelves. r made all thr ee of these SUlfates by gluing up strips of 4/4 stock ("Y •.' thick) to give them a butcher block appearance. Note: 1 did not use dowels or splines when gluing-up these three "planks." Just a straight edge-to-edge gluing and clamping prevides enough strength. THE Srn)LI'F,s. The bottom shelf (F) and the adjustable shelf CC) are the easiestjust out 24 su-ips 10/,," wide, 26112 long. (This length allows a little Waste at the ends of these planks. They're trimmed to final length later.) Glue 12 of these strips tngether to form the bottom shelf, and the remaining 12 strips to form the adjustable shelf. Then set them aside to dry overnight. THE TOP ,,-"0 l.EAI'ES. To iorm the top and the two leaves (H). cut 12 more strips 1%' wide, but this time 5O~' long. Then edge glue these 12 strips to form one long plank. Once again this rough length is more than is needed. In effect. you're gluing up all three piece. (top and two leaves) at the same time so there will be 3 continuous grain pattern across the enure surface when the leaves are up. After the glue bas dried (overnight) on all three planks, plane them Oat on both sides (see page 20 for more information on planing large surfaces). TRill TOSIZE. Next. the bottom shelf and the adjustable shelf can be trimmed to final width (19V,"). To cut them to final length (25y,;·). I used the panel cutting jig shown in lVoodsmitil No. 22. The plank for the toll and two leave. is also trimmed to 19y,;' wide, but then it's cut into three pieces. First cut. 25V. section out of the middle of the plank, see Fig. 4. Next. cut the two 12"-long leaves from the two 'waste" pieces that remain. These leaves are trimmed down to a width of 16Yo"(which is less than the distance between the legs of the cart). When doing this, I trimmed an equal amount oCfboth

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t.ho.c on the middle -UQn~ tbe leaves are auath<'. .'j~ 5 shoW!< bow tilt> 00."..'" of the top, bou.om, and adjusu.ble ,lK>hes are notched .0 that they wrap around the legs, Each of these notche, are marked out W' larger than needed to allow for seasonal expansion, Then I rut them out by hand (with a back

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CUIto size, the leaves are attached to the middle ...><:tionwith &tandard 2"x3" butt hinges (two per leaf), Tum the top and the two leaves upside down and line Upthe edges of the leaf with the notch." A fter marking the position of the four hinjte mortises I chopped the OUtrather deep 60 the pins would be par. tWIy ,.....,;ed belo" the surface. see Fig. 6. Go ah<"adand mount the hinges to make sure th~y fit properly. But then remove them until alter tlK>fini:;h is applied. Nexl, the.>outer two corners of the Iea ves are tot to 1 ," radius, see detail in Fig, I And finally, the edges of the top. the leaves, the bottom .helr. and the adjustable .h~lf.", all rounded over with the v. COI'n<,r·rountlbit, (Once again, I used the router tAble to do !hi•. ) Note: 1)0 not round over the edges where the hinge mortise are. These edges are lef\ square so there is only a small gap betw eon the top and the leaves when the I,,\,e. are in the "down" position.

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hold. Thp,·dg. ofthL' hole is rounded over \\ ith It conl4'r'l"OUndbit. \I(lt "T1'(; TIlE.•1<'1... s, The support arm, a,.,. mounted to the underside of the top ,nth twu .", I • ial! bot!>. The po.itiun of Lh<~boI~(SC(. Fi~ 'l;_, """h that they act ..' a .top to limit how far the "'"port arms can IX' pulled out. AL-o. lhey h('lp k,,,,p til,· arm_ mOling in a .traijtht line. It'or no". ju.t drill the pilot holes for the lag bolt •. They'r~ not screwed in until later,) To I.re\,ent the two arm$ from colliding 3.< th~y're pu,h,,,, in, 1 mounted a Yo- dowl'l pin at the e,mtcr of the top. !;ee Fig. 8,

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The .upport 'y~tem fm- the leal'e« t, a simple system (of ,liding ,uppor. arm.< (EI. n.c k.')' to tru- "hole lbinl: is that the depth of the not the lrockne"" of th~ arm, (E), You need • good tijtht fit here '0 th,· "'an" don't.alr when they're raised to thl' "up' pesition, • Aft"r th~ arllll\ are cut to size (see Fig. 7).• y.' -wide stopped groove is cut down the middle of the arm. (1 drilled a Yo"hole at both ,·nd•. nnd lhen used. Vo" stnught rout~I' hit on the router table to cut thi. groo\'e.) Then I drilled a V{ diameter hole

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THE LlA' SUPPORT SYSTfM

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fiNISHING Bero", final _('mbly of the cart. I applied tV,'ll ~t$ ... r Il..·fthane Ip"lyurethane) to the rart, and ttl th~ top. the leaves, and the 1"0

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M('r lhl' Ii"i.h ":II! dry, I mounted the hing". to th ~ tIIll and two leaves. Then I attached thi • a,..sembly to the top frame. To 1/:1'( it pr (01)('rlynlil111ed,clamp the top (with the 'VI"MUlched) to the frame so the leaye, an-centered between the legs. Then drill l'illlt holes in the top. using the eoumerbored hoi.. in the stretcher!' as guido". Filla lIy. the InJl can be screwed to lh,' lth till , I '. wood screws, l\cxt. attach the bottom shelf to the bot, tom fromt· u"lOR tilt>""'"" procedure . An.lfinall y. thl' lear ,upport arm:; can : 110" be Ii<'<'U"'" u,.ll·meath the top \\;th til.. Ia~holu and ,. ,,~hen,. Then the adJu.tabl" , h~lr., In:.talIl-d"ith L.shaped ,helf ,UPI.'rt ,11M. The Io..,t(and mQ..~tcritical) step is to put the micro"R ,~ on the cart, wheel it next to the T. \'., h cAt up a double tbl'eRe pizza with aneh", ·je,. and AAuerkraut.. and ~it baekand wa toh thc Monday Night football

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Trestle Table

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A CONTEMPORARY VERSION OF AN AMERICAN CLASSIC Trestle tables have been a popular pan of American home- ever since there w~ an America. And with good reason. The unique design oHhi. table was comfortable in Colonial homes two-hundred years "go: and whhjust a (ewehange.<. it fits right in with contemporary surroundings loday. In short. it has stood the test of time. \Ve decided w take a tat her contemporary approach to the design of the trestle table shown here. Yet. to build it, we went back to the old-time methods: the table top is planed by hand. THf TA8LE TOP

Besides being hand-planed. the table tOP presents some real challenges from u construeticn .LUndpoint. First, We wanted to have the traditional end caps (or breadboard end. as they're also called) on the end. of the table top. These caps are a nice design teature. but a real hassle to mount. (111 get into the details later.) The other problem was simply a mauer of money. I wanted the top to look thick ragged 8l1'angement of end. tMt had W be and sturdy. but I didn't want to spend a trimmed square. To do this, fir
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These end strips are also ripped 2''''· wide. bUI the length should be about le$$ than the distance between the side thicknesser strips, Pig. 3. This allows. Y' space between the side strips to allow for movement of the table top. After the end strips are cut to size and screwed in place, I planed them flush with the ends of the t",ble lop.

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As mentioned above, the end caps (or bread-board ends) are a traditional fealul'e on trestle tables. but they're a real hassle to mount. The problem has to do with the direction of grain. The grain of the end cap runs at a right angle to the grain of the table top. Thus. the table top will move (in width) much more than the end caps (in length). \\'hat this boils down to is that the end caps can not be glued in place. They must be mounted to allow for the movement of th. lOp. There are several methods for mounting end caps to allow for this movement - some !rood. some not so good. But the one we're showing here is one of the best ways we've come lip with to provide the strength needed at the end or the table. The mounting procedure Iused is a combination of sleued serews and a tongue and gTOO\'ejoint. This is a rather typical approach. But Teel earne up with the idea of adding the end strips (C) to add strength. The real purpose of these strips is to serve as extensions of the end caps under the table. refer to Fig. 7. Since the grain of \VOODSMITH

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these strips run" parallel to the b...... in uflhe RGUAE 1 $6 caps, the end eap can be glued to the end ~ S S. strip to add a considerable amount of ~strength. (Normally. no glue at all •• used on end eaps.) 1 tONGtJ E. \'I THtClC TifF.TONGI;.:. The first step in mounting the end caps is to cut a tongue on both ends of the table top. This tongue is actually the result of cutting two rabbets - one on the top and one on the bottom side of the table top. see rLV,g. ·1. 3$ I.ized these rabbets in order to leave a longue that's at least \1:" thick, (\Vhkh means that the depth of the rabbets will vary depending on the thickness of the C table top after il', been planed.) END CAP END CAl'S.Onee the tongue. art! formed. -++i-lWO "ECM OF " • LAMINATED work can begin on the end caps (D). Both end caps are glued up of two ~'4boards. Then tbey're ripPl'
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THE TRESTLES

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This table gets its name from the "trestles" • that support. the table top. Each trestle consists of an arm (E), two uprights (G). and a base (Fl. (Figure 16shows what this final assembly looks like.) To build these trestles. I started work on the arms and bases. ARMS "Nt) BAS.:!!. The arms and bases are identical - a total of four pie<:es.each one consisting of three 414 boards )'(lued together. To build them, first I ripped 0 total of 12 boards to rough dimensions oC 2¥.0' wide and 30" long. MORTISES.I'd like to say that I chopped out the mortises in these pieces the oldfashioned way - with. mallet and chisel. But that's just too much work. so I opted for a much easier method. Before gluing these boards together. 1 cut notches in the "middle" board of each three-board assembly, see Fig. 8. When these middle boards are "sandwiched" between the outside boards. the notches automatically form mortises. Although this method is a lot easier than chopping OUtmortises by hand, there's still some careful marking and cutting to do. First [ taped the four middle boards together with masking tape. Then I marked a center line on this assembly, see _l.'1ig. 9. (Taping the boards together allows you to • cut all four pieces at OJlC(! to yield identical "mortises ..,) The notches must be spaced to allow room for the rail that ties the two trestles together. To get the proper spacing. I used a piece of scrap that was the same thickness as the boards for the rail. and marked off this thickness on both sides of the cente.· tine. sec Fig. 10. Next j wanted to allow for a II."shoulder Onthe tenons (on the ends on he upright,). SOI marked another set of lines Yo" to the outside of the first two. see ~lg. II. Finally. I wanted the tenons to be 2wide. so I marked these lines, see ~'ig. 12. This was the final layout for the notches. Then it was just, a matter of wtting out the waste on a table saw. Once the notch es were cut. I glued and clamped each middle board between two outside boards. After the glue was dry. I trimmed the arms and bases to their final dimensions. see Fig. 13. C~G THE'l'APE1!.All four pieces are gently tapered from the ends to where the upright will be. ThL, taper .tarts I" down from the top edge. and ends 'Y." out from the mortise, see Fig. 13.To eut this taper 1 used a taper jig set at 5'. Finally. I rounded off the outside corners on a band saw. 'THE LFl6S. Each of the four uprights • (legs) are also glued up of three board s. Once again. I wt a total of J2 boards to a rough length of 25". Shop Note: It would seem much easier to WOODSMITH

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cut the outside boards 2" short and simply leave the middle board "long" 10 fonn the tenon. But this can cause more problems than it's worth because tbe boards arc bound to slip around as they're glued and clamped together. THE TE:-I01<5. After the uprights are glued up. I CUtthe tenons at each end. The cruieal thing here is the "shoulder-toshoulder" distance between the tenens, Thi, distance (2414")mum be equal oil all (our uprights, see Fig. l4. ,-=",fter the tenons were CIIl. I lipped (al'tually resawed) the uprights down to 8 2" rhickness (taking 1',." oITeach taee). This makes the uprights about :y.. thinner to allow for the chamfered edge on the base and arm. The last step on the uprights is to oounterbore two holes in each upright for the carriage bolts that hold the rail in plaee, sec detail in Fig. 14.

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The .rail IB) tbat ties the two trestles together 6 glued up of two 'I'~ boards. see Fig. 15. Aftel' the rail was trimmed to final length and width. I dry-assembled the trestles (the arms, uprights, and bases I, and clamped the rail. in place. Then I marked and drilled the pilot holes for the carriage bolts. When the rail is mounted between the legs, you may find the fit is not exactly correct. If there'~ either too much or not enough space between the legs. the tenons can be shaved down a bit and moved one way or the other to compensate. Before linal assembly. I knocked off all the edges on all of these pieces (arms, uprights. bases and the rail) "~th a 45' chamfer bit. Then I finish-sanded everything (including the table top) with progressive grits of sandpaper (starting with IOO.grit and finishing with 320-grlt). FIXALASSEAlBIS. Now the uprights can be glued into the bases and arms, Aftcr the ,Iue is dry. the mil is bolted between the uprights and Ihen the eounterbo res are capped with vI' oak buttons, sec Flg, 17. ~101'~'TII
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Bench Planes ANOTHER LOOK AT A CANTANKEROUS OLD FRIEND will do much (If anything. In

No motorized tool can even come close to the quality of work a hand plane will do. )llghty slnmg word•• you say. (or a 1.001that'. been around (ur the po,t 2,000 years. Rut it'. true. And I think it'. kind of re(reshin~ to know there's at least one 1001 in the shop that doesn't have to be "plugged in" to do Itsjob. Y ~t,hand planes seem win· timidate man}' \\'OOC'J\\·orkers. This (ear is usually based on the feeling that hand planes require a tremendous amount skill to use. Actually, il just takes a lot ofelbow grease. The real skill involved with a hand plane is adjusting it so it doe. what you want it to do.

fact, a brand new plane is little more than an intricate assernbly of expensive steel, In most ease!' it needs some work befort' it becomes a tool. The fil"l;t step is to dLllmantle the plane to get aU the pieces working the way they're supposed to, \\'hen you start tearing it apart, what you end up with are the five basic pieces shown in ~lgureI. These five parts are: the lever cap, the cap iron, the plane iron, the frog, and the body of the plane.

CAM LEYEI

NOTCH FOI ~. 'tOKE

OE'tIi AOJustMEI'IT

or

TYPES OF PLANES

I(EYoHotE SlOT

e»

FOR IRON SCREW

-PlANE

FtOG SC'REW

The entire family of planes conOEPTH ADJUSTING .NOl sist" of hundreds of individual !l1.ylc,~.But all or these planes can be grouped into two basic categories: bench planes and specialty planes. HANDLE Specilliity planes are made for specific pUI'JX....s (culling rabbets, or grooves, or molded flOG ADJUsnNG edges). Although some of'these SCROW plane. are still manufactured THaOAl (MOUTH) today, they are, for the most port, collectors' items. Bench planes are the ones used to smooth the'sul'l'ace nr edge of 3 an-purpose hand planes. However, the I~\\' pitch of the blade board. (Nowadays that means most of the (about 2(0) makes them ideal rOT their inwork done by hand planes.) Bench planes are divided lnto foul' basic styles (lengths). tended purpose (planing end grain), but The only real difference among these four useless as an all-around plane. S.:I.P.(..-rI()X.or these four basic styles styles is the length of the plane body (Ihe wi.). and to some extent the width of the (lengths) of bench planes, which one is the plane iron (cutter). The four sryles are: best? The ideal situation (if you really want smooth (lW,' long). jack (1'1'), fore (18"), t.O get serious about this business of handplaning) would be to have 8 selection o( and jointel' (2'2"). Note: Although there are many varia- three sizes: smooth, jack, and either a fore uons on the length (and the width) of eacb or jointer plane. heneh plane, the lengths given above are If you're not quite '0 serious, the best the current "standards" for the two largest choice (01' an all-around plane is the jack full-line manufacturers of steel-bodied (jack of all trades). The jack plane in OUI' bench planes: Stanle~' (U.S.) and Record shop gets the most use by far. In fact, it's used for everything from smoothing down Ridgeway (Ellglandl. relatively small panels to planing the surBlock planes arc SOrtof a "lib-category of bench planes made specifically for plan- (ace of a large table. ingend grain. The~..'re also the most widely PARTS OF A BENCH PLANE misused of all planes, Becanse block planes No matter what style (length) the plane is, arc small and relatively inexpensive, they're sold in almost every hardware the key to the whole thing is that it must be store and generally th~ught t~ be goon properly sharpened and adjusted before it

16

• •

THE LEVER CAP

The first part of the plane that can be removed is the lever cap. This isjust a lalX" piece of nickel-plated east iron with a cam-action lever at the top. The sole purpose of this lever cap is to hold the next two pieces (the cap iron and plane iron) fU'IIdy in place. Since that's iL$sole function, the lever cap doesn't seem lik~ a big deal. But this little gizmo is the one thing that transformed the entire planemaking industry. In 18511 when Leonard Bailey patented the lir.;t camaction lever cal' to hold the plane iron in place, it replaced the old method of using a wooden wedge, and forged the way for "modern" steel-bodied planes used today. Enough history. From a functional standpoint. very little eve" goes wrollg with tbe lever cap, It anything, it only needs 1.0 be oiled for smooth act ion. The lever cap is held in place with the lever cap screw (actually it's a machine bolt). There's no need to remove this screw; its main function is as a fulcrum for the lever/cam. If the movement of the lever/cam is too loose or too tight, JUSt loosen Or tighten this screw (about a quar ter turn usually doe. it).

!.RON

•

THE CAP IRON

Once the lever cap is removed. the cap iron and the plane iron can be lifted out. The'. two "irons" are held together wuh a cap iron screw which rides in a long "key-hole"

slot in the plane iron. (Thi. assembly is

sometimes referred to as • "double iron. ") WOODS~UTli

•

•

•

~tI"

Before the iron came 310ng, the plane iron (cutler) was one thick piece of st ... 1 that had a bad habit of chauering. The "riginal purpose of the cap iron was to add stability to the plane iron. But the shape of the cap iron is such that it also serves as a "chipper" (M it's sometime. called. 01' a chiporeaker). The rounde-d "nO:lC" at the end ~fthe cap iron presents a steeper angle which breaks and deflects the shavings .....they're sliced off the board. On most new plane. the tip of the cap iron is not properly finished. In fact, on cheap planes. the cap iron i. just a squareedged piece of~teel with a bent "nooe" 011 the business end - no further machining ha.' been done. This causes problems. If the traiting edge (heel) of the nose is the only part that actually touches the plane iron. a smail""" cavity is create-d, see Fig. t. A.., the shav ings peel off the CUller, they jam in this cavity. ~

.lIGHt

~

W.ONG CAP IliON

PlANE It ON

-

"V" SKlION

The cap iron is supposed to be forme-dso the leadillg edge of the cap iron rests firmly on the cutter, and the tl'allinll' edge is slightly raised off Ihe surface. \\'ith this shape, the shavings will deflect smoothly ()\'(!I. the top of the "nose ." To work it into shape. iii. a sli!'(htly negative angle at the end ofthe cap iron to form a poimed edge, Since a liIe leaves a rather rough surface, ir's best to take it one step further and hone the tip (on a fine India stone) to get a smooth surface. After all thill work, ~'oumay find that the tip of the cap iron no longer comes in contact \\~th the face of the plane iI·on. If this happens, put lbe nose of the cap iron in ~ viS<'and bend it to a sUghtly grealer 81'<, I try to bend it just a littl~ ,'too far" to PUt 8 little spring in the cap iron so when it's mounted to the plane iron, you'll be&lre to Itet II good, snug fit. THE PLANE IRON

•

Before the advent of steel·bodied planes, the entire plane wa.' made of wood , , , \\ilh the one e.ception: the cutter. II was only natural to call thi$ thing the "plane iron," since it WII$ the only metal pan of the plane. Now that term can be • little confusing (but I slilllike to use it anyway). And to add to the confusion, it's also called a cutter or blade. No matter what you call it, the whole WOODSMITH

key to the plane iron can be summed lip in

one word: sharpness. lf it's not "harp, the plane won't work. The next two pages arc devoted to the methods we usc to sharpen 3 plane iron (so we won't get into it here). THe fROG

Now we're down to the f1'Og,The main purpose of the frog is to act as a mounting platform (with a pitch of .15°) COl' the plane iron and cap iron assembly The frog is attached 10 a raised platform on the plane body ...rith two machine bolts (called frog screws), These screws fit through two slotted holes at the base of the frog. The one problem you find with the frog is that it nee-ds to be cleaned. Usually the "loping face (that the plane iron rests on) i. coated with some sort of finish (either paint Orlacquer) to prol(>('tit from rusting. )lore likely than not there are runs (drip marks) in lhis protective coating. Thi. creates an uneven surface fOl' the plane iron (which means the coating is doing more harm than good). I scrap nIT.II ef this coating and then use some steel wool to polish it to a smooth surface. Then to get a really good surface, I clamp the frog in a vise, and use a fine India stone to hone (flatten) the surface se the plane iron rests on a Oat (unobstructed) surface. Attached to the Cragare two more thin~ that trunsformed the "modern" steelbodied plane into an extremely useful tool: the depth adjusting knob, and the lateral adjusting lever, DEPTH,U1J I.'ST)t£:'of the "Y" straddle a 1(I'00veon the shank of the adjusting nut. The other end of the yoke fitS in a square hole in the cap iron. As the brass knob is rotated in and out, the yoke moves the cap iron (and thus the plane iron) up and down, to adjust the depth of cut. Although this mechanical arrangement docsthejob it'. supposed to, there is often an exce.'Sive amount of slack in it, Thus, the knob has to be rotated an inordinate amount before the yoke actuaUy starts mo,;ng the cap iron. Some of this slack is the re.wl of too much distance between the legs of the "Y" and lhe sides of the grooVe in the brass knob. To take up the slack here, remove the bra.
most of this problem is at the other end M Ihe yoke (where it enters the square hole in the cap iron). You call go throullh a lot of effort to make this work more effici.ntly, but I don't mess with it. Partly because I'm used to the hassle, and partly because the procedure Iuse to adjW
Now that all the other parts have b....n removed. all lhat's left i, the steel body, This is one piece of CMtiron that forms the sole and sid es of the plane. OJ\ some the better planes, there's a frosr adjusting screw located at the real' of the raised platform that hold. the frog. A> the name implies, thi~ screw is used to arlju't the JIOsiUonof the frog, TII~;TllROAT.In Iront ufthe platform for the frog is an opening in the sole of the plane called the throat (or mouth) where the plane iron pok... through. On some new planes lhe front edge of this upening is out of square, or slightly rounded. Since the plane unn is often set vel)' dose to lhe front edge Ill' the throat, you can run into a lot of problems lryin)!, to gN the iron aligne-d i( the throat i. not perfeclly straight. It .hould be filed down until it's both .traight and square to the sides Qfthe plane.

or

TII~ SOL1-:, Now we're down to the bot-

tom line: the ""I~ of the plane. 011 .tcel planes the sole can be either smooth or corrugated. A corruj!"~tcd ,;ole means that n series (If J,,"'OOVtlS hS\'e lwen ground into the length of the sole. Pre:;umably, these grooV". l'educe the amount of friction and ""ction bet wecn the plane and the wood, thus providing a smoother (calliel') planing

actiolt. No mutLer what kind of sole lhe plane bas the erilicallhing is lhal it ;" absolutely nat. A. it tun",out, many 1)lane~tenri to be aliule on the wavy sirie, Thi. is sometimes the I..,sult of poor machining at the factory, and sometimes a natural movement of the ,teel If the >,teel hal; not been given

C!-nough lime to cure befol'eo the :\ole j:;. machined flatt the "green" steel call \"arp. Iflb. $Oleis not nat, getting it that way can be a real ha.ed in Shop Notes, see page 22.

17

Sha~ening Plane Irons

•

GETIING TO THE POINT

Although there are a 10l of a
A plane iron (just like a chise !) can be

warped (s_li~ht1)'concave or

COO\'t-'S'

across

its width), Also, there's usually u swirl or grooves len by the machining process used to transform a raw chunk of .Lelolinto a fiat surface. see Photo I. If the se woove$ were to remain on the plane iron, the ridges lind valley. would create a "saw-teeth" ~dJ!:e011 the cutting edge. So. the fir,;t step is to flatten th. face side (the Oat side) of the plane iron to gl?ta smooth, straight cutting edgo. 110'<1'1(;THE FACt:.In the past. I soh'ed both of these 11I'tlblcmsby honing the face side of the plane iron on a coarse Iridic stone. But recently, we bought some o( those new diamond stones. These stones have a plastic base with a layer of nickel that', impregnated with tiny bits of diamond dust. (See Shop Notes, pag,,::2. fur more on these stones.) As shown in ~'igure 1. I position the diamond stone on the bench M) it's at a -150

18

.ngl~ ta my body. Then the plane iron is placed on the stone ,0 only the Iast I" 01"0 (near lhe ClItting edge) is Oat on the stone. To do the honing. apply pressure Oil the end of the plane iron and simply move it back and forth. All of the pressure from your fingers should be on the lip of the plane iron. The rest of the iron (hangingoff the Slone) i.held lno;;ely in my other hand. The k~ything here is to apply pressure straight down, so )'OU don't drive the leading edge of the iron into the stone and create a rounded surface. l'OLl~ItINCruz FACE. Although a diamond stone does a good job of "hogging off" • lot of Sleet, it leaves a rather tough texture. (E\'en the "fine" diamond stone b still rather rough compared to the india stones.) To polish off this roughness, I switch to a fine India stone and then pollsh it on a soft Arkansas stone. AtI of this i.a lot of work. But the result is the smooth. Oat surface shown in Photo I, above. Once the face side illworked into shape like this. you shouldn't have to worry about it (or a long time to come. GRINDING

AND HONING

ANGI£S

The next step i. to grind the beveled side of the plane iron to the proper culling angle. All plane manufacturers recommend a 25° grinding angle on plane irons. Although this exact angle is not entirely critical, you should be fairly close to 25° (and certainly

no mOI'l1Ihan 30') to allow "clearance" behind the cutting edge of the plane iron. This angle has lOdo with the anltle of the plane iron as it's mounted to the frog. On bench plane. th;' angle is ,ISO. If lhe plane iron is ground to • 25° angle. you're len with • 20" "clearance" angle behind the cuuing edge of the plane iron. If. microbevel is honed un the cutting edJ:(>of the plane iron, the net effecl isa corresponding reduction in the clearance angle. \\'hat all this boils down to is that I tend to suck to the recommended 2.';' glillding angle. As was mentioned in \I'Qod.",iU, :-10. 20. 1 usc 3 Norton :JSA, f;Q·grit grinding wheel to grind both chisels anel plane irons. Once the plane iron is hollow-ground to the PI'Ope"angle (see ~·ilt. 21, the next step ill to hone the cutung edge. HONING

•

THE CUTTING EDGE

There are a lot of ways to hone the cult ing edge. In fact. Ted and I have a running tlebale going as to \\'hieh way is "best," "'e get into heated discussions about the "theory" or honing angles, the way the plane iron should be held to achieve those angles. and even the effect the se various methods have on the stone. Although we each a different method of sharpening'. Wedo "wee on one point. ~o matter what way you choose to hone a plane iron. the whole purpose is to ~ct it sharp.

""'e

Houow.1 GROUND aFV£L

1

J tt~e (I dio IJIOlld I"lour"" It) hone fart

side of plane iron, Apply tt",,, pres Itre (almost .lroigiIJ don.. ) at .rld of iTOll "lid honr back alld/nrlil until il'.flal.

Plane iron« ~h(pl
2 culti>19a"glt. (slighlly

The edg~ will bt hollo»: the final a>Jgle is measnred from lip to iJrel.

gmr"ld

('OllfQVC)bill

WOODSM1TIi

•

method I use is vero' • imilar 10 Ihe one I use to hone a chisel. Ba.it'lllly, I start lh~ honing procC:'o on a fine I"dia .tont>. First, ( place the hollow"round edge on th e stone and rock it back and forth until both the heel and point are resting Oat on the stone, see }'ig. 3. Then (lill. it .lightly (probably about 2' or 3'), and move the plane iron in a slight are. as shown in Fig. 4. r continue honing (it u;ulI.llyonly tak.,..Sto 10strokes) until I feel an even burr on the face side. Once the burr is formed, that's as far as you have to go. (Anything more is just an exercise in removing metsl.) Next, Dip the iron over so the face side of thp iron is nat on the stone. Theil r pull it toward me to snap off most (if not all) of th~ burr, Since the line India leaves a somewhat rough edge. I take it one step further and polish a micro-hovel on the honed edge using a soft Arkansas stone. The process here is exactly lhe same as before- move the plane iron in a shallow ru-e until you feel a slight burr on the face side (u"uaIly about & or G strokes). Then plat\' it Oat en the ~tonp and pull it toward )'0\1 to remove the burr. REltO\~£rue B1'RK. Af-rer this initial poli$hing- process on the :;01\ Arkansas stem". ii I can still feci a burr on either the face 01' beveled side of the plane iron, I ..imply repeat the polishing precess one or two rimes. Then ( remove any traces of the bun' b~' stropping the cutting edge on a leather pad coated with jeweler's rouge. (The result of all this is shewn in Photo 2.) Now here's whore Tefl and I get into a friendly disagreement. Ted argues that there's no way for me to know if I'm holdingthe plane iron at exactly the same angle on these successive passes on the India stone, then the sol\ Arkansas stone. and finally on the 5lropping pad. Thus, I could be creating a series of micro-bevels. all at sliJl'htly different angles. I agree •.. in theocy. Hut I also think that the micro-bevel i. so sm.ll Lhat it really doesn't make much difference. Besides, the only way to know for sure if the iron is sharp is to te~t it out. But [u'St. Ted's method. I)()~'S~tt:TIIOl).The

•

•

TED'S METHOD

Ted goes about things a little differently. 'We"grep with the method ofnatteninJl' the face side on • diamond stone. nut then 'red likes to use Japanese water stones to hone and polish the roughness leit by the diamond SLOne. (A discussion of these stones is !(i"en in Shop Note-s. page 22.) He starts the honing process with a lOOO-g>itstcne and thun polisbes the ;111" face with a finishing stone. The results are impre~i\'e. Aficl' the plane iro n is polished

on a fini:-:.hing water stone. the surface is SOsmooth it has an almost mirror finish, (After seeing this finish. I'm about to change 111;\' ways, and switch over to the

Japanese stones.) GRl'lOC"G A.~I)HOSTS(;. Once again,

we

agree on the procedure for grinding a bollow-ground bevel at. :l;). angle to (orm the cutting edge. From there on. Ted • different technique. He holds the iron with both hands, app1)ring pressure to the very lip of the iron with a. many fingers 3$ possible. Then he reeks the hollow-ground bevel back and forth until both the tip and the heel are resting firmly on the stone. (Once again. Ted uses Japanese WBU>rstones. starting with the lOOO-gritstone.) Now, instead o( lilting the heel of the hollow-greund bevel (a. [ do). h. keep. both heel and tip on the stone and pushes the plane iron forward, refer to Fig. fi. Al the end of the forward stroke. he pause. briefly to make sure both the heel and tip are Onthe stone, and then pulls the iron back toward him. This action is continued until he feels an even burr 011 the face side of the plane iron. R£~IOVL"Grue DeRR. 1'0 remove thi. burr, Ted takes a much more serious approach than I do. First, he flips the iron over to the face side and hones with the same motion shown in Figure I. Although most of the b\lTl' is removed ,,-jth this honIng, some of it remains, and i.actually bent back onto lhe beveled side of the iron. On"" again, be finds the honing angle by rocking the bevel until both lhe heel and tip are firmly on the "lon('. Then he starts

U"""

the honing process again, but this time just "nough to remove the burr . This is where T~'Il'smethod pay. off. He knows (or sure that on these successive passes he', at the same angle 8$ On the original passes. (This method completely eliminates the po;;~ibility of creating a series of micro-bevels as \\..-ilh my method). Then tbis procedure is repeated until no trace of the burr remains. The results are shown in Photo This photo also demonstrates" very important aspect of honing a plane iron, You can just barely see :t \\'8\'~'lillt' between the polished surface at the tip and the ,'Ough texture left by the grinding wbeel, This line is wavy for the .inl(>le reason that during the grinding .t.
a.

traces o( tear-out. The ultimate lest, of course. is to mount the iron in the plaJle 311(i rn.ike sonle sh'1\'ing$. J( you ean produce paper thin sha"ings that are clean and smooLh (a duU plane iron will produce ''hairy'' shavings). thell you know the iron i. sharp and read)' to do it.. job. Amy

PllSSVRf TO TI' ~CH1Sll

JAJ-ANfSE WAIf. SlONE

OOM'S METHOD

•3

edge (1,/1), both tip and hR.J ore/loLo" fhe Whe" Ted ho".a Ih. (lilting

Rio,,'. / roiSt Ihe heel )",.f slilllttly (right) 10form a mi(·ro·b.· •• 1 al iii. tip. WOODS~UTH

Don'$ ",eUlod: T .tart on an /"dw. 8to"e 10hOlle edge (i" sligllt arc) u"til I/ea a burrQ" tht/ace side. 7'1I~/ repeal this proces8 011a 80ft Arka".as sloll •.

4

1'ed.'smefhod: Bolh heel alld tip are flat 0" Japanese 100/•• • 8to"C. Moue iron forward. pa reseto check pollitioll. tire), pulllKuk. Rep.al 0" fini$hing .to>".

5

19

Using A Bench Plane

•

THE ROAD TO PAPER-THINSHAVINGS Alkr the plane iron is sharpened to perfeeuen, and all th~ other parts are adjusted and corrected, the plane can be reo essembled and pUl lO USe. Editor's note: 'Vhat (ollows "' a rather lengthy dis<:u
THE CAP IRON

For most general-purpose planing, the front edge of the cal) iron should be positioned about lev" to from the v~ry tip of the clltlinjl! edgv of the plane iron, However. this position can be varied depending on the kind of work you need to do. If you're working with highly figu...."1 wood (where there are frequent changes in the direction of the grain), the plane will have a greater tendency to chatter (and cause "tear-outs"). In this case, it helps lO set the cap iron as close te the end of the plane iron as possible. On the other hand. if you're doing rough work (with a rather deep depth-of-cut). it'. bcuer to gel the cap iron back • hute farther - so it's Iflfll" or more from the CUlling edge. This extra space permits 3 little more travel distant .. fOI' the Ihick shavings before they're deflected by lhe nose of the cap iron. One last point here. As you',,, working' with the plane, shavings may start Wjam up in the throat, If this happens, one solution is to move the cap iron back (aW3)· from the cutting edge) a liule more, You may also notice a lot of little sluff (small chips and parts of shavings) jam· ming up the cap iron and the plane iron. In this ca.se the tip of the cap iron may have to be honed smoother to get a good tight fit against the plane iron.

h.

bet,.,,,,,

ADJUSTMENTS

ON THE PLANE

AIler the plane iron and cap tron arejoined together, this "double iron" assembly can he placed on the frog. For now, the frog

20

screws (thaI hold the frog to the plane body) should be somewhat loose, '!'hen the lever cap is placed over the "double irons" and damped down. Once the plane is assembled, there are three basic a
THE THROAT

As mentioned above. the (rog i. only loosely fastened in place. Before the frog SC''Cws are tightened, the throat opening should be set. That is, the fl'Ojl!must be moved forward or back to a
get the opening you want. Either way it's done. make sure the cutting edge of the plane iron is parallel with the front edge of the throat. \I'hen you've got it posuicned where you Want it, carefully remove the lever cap anti the double irons and tighten the frog screws, Then put everything back in place, LATERAL ADJUSTMENT

Next. the cutting edge of the plane iran must be adjusted .0 it's parallel with the sole of the plane. This is a ~ighting adjust· ment and tough to make because it's only as J:ood 3.-; your "eve. >, (Which in m)' case tends to be a lad on the blurry side.) Lower the plane iron until lhe CUllinI!' edge is sticking OUt a fraction of an inch below the sole of the plane. Then hold the plane up-side down and "aim' it toward a light. reflective surface (a piece of while cardboard, 0" a fluorescent light). As you sight down the sole. the cutting edge of the plane iron should appear as a thkk clark line, All you have to do is move the lateral odju.
•

DEPTH ADJUSTMENT The easiest way to ruin a good piece of

wood is to set the plane iron tOOdeep for the first cut, I've read in some book. that you set the depth of cul by sighting down the sole and a
woooserra

•

• ridieuleus. The difference

•

between a "thin" .ha\·anR nnd a "thick" shaving is only 3 f,'''' thnUl®ldths of an inch. My eye is )U,I n(ll good enough to make such fine adjustments. ~t:'ITI~r. nlE DEI'TlL Isrart with a very fine CUt.In fact. [start \\~th no cut at all The CUlling edge of the plane iron is set completely abort the sole of the plane. Then I slowl)' lower the Illane iron .. ju_t a little at. time. With each small tum of the brass knob, I make a po"" Over the board until the cutting edge starts to make a shaving, This \\'S)r [ can sneak up on the depth of cut ( want, without nliniolt thp board with the very Ilrst paee, But there's another reason for this appruQch. A~ mentiuned in the article on IlI\lI" 16, t hCI'(!'Rsome amount of "play" in the depth adjusting mechanism. To compensate for this play. the depth adjusting knob should be on a forward movement (mo\;"g the plane iron down), and nOIon a "backing off' movement. Thls \\'U)' the "Y" )'okt! is exerting pressore on the plane iron and it .tays put. PUTTING IT TO USE

The ultimate test for all of thls _<\justin!!is to make some shavings. By taking a few strokes on a piece ofS<:,.. ..p wood you should know vcry quickly what problem. there are and if any further acljustments need 10 be made. These first few strokes will also give you • pretty good idea of the body motion thai'. required. At first there 1n.1Yb<; a tendency to use a plane with your arms only. (This looks like someone scrubbing clothes on an old washboard.) Instead. you have to get your whole bod)' involved. ( stand with my left foot forward and most of the weight of my body on my nght foot. Then I hold the plane any way that seems romfortable, as long as I've got a good grip on it. For the initial part of the stroke just mit the weight from your right foot to your left foot. Carry through with your shoulders and then with your arms to complete the stroke. The bodr movement here is \'er)' similar 10 those karate experts you see on T. V. the on"$ who split a board with their ti5LS. Stan \\ilh 3 gentle lunging motion (with your body). and then a good follow. through (\\~th your arm). This motion should be neither quick nor slow. \I'hat you want to do b gauge tbe force behind the initial ~troke so you're sure you can complete the cut (for the length of the board) in one pfUlS. "'hat about the P,..,"'Wl'C on the plane 3$ you begin and end the etJl! Most of the book~ I\'e read say that you should put pre ...ure on the front of the plane (the front knobla:< you begin th" CUI, and then transfer th" pressure 10 the bark

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WOODSM1TH

handle as you end the cut. This is technically correct. But if you actually try to move the plane this way, you'll probably "die out" before you get to the end of the board. (approach it a little differently. First. I have it in my mind that I'm going to make one smooth. continuous stroke all the \\'8\' to the end of the board (A nice fluid bod;' and arm movemem.)

~

Then, instead of worrying about the bes;nning 01' end of the stroke. I concentrate on the rniddle. Alter the stroke has begun. I bear 01)\\11 on the plane 11.' it'. in the middle of the board. It'. almost like tryin, to hollow OUtthe center of the board. The sole of the plane won't allow you to actually hellow-eu; the hoard. BUI thinking thi, way put, my attention on the longest part of the stroke, instead ofjust the beginning and end. Aren't you supposed to lifi up the plane on lh. return stroke sovou're not dragginl! the plane iron over the surface? Once again. I've read that thi~ is the ··COITeet"procedure. 1 t hink the reason is to prevent wear and lear an the plane iron SO il doesn't get dull. But this practice seems very Awkward to me. And I think it break. thP rhythm of planing. Instead, 1 just ease up on the plane and drag it back. Ih ior dulling the plane iron, I don't think it really makes much difference. If anything. dragging the plane probably help> the cutting edge last longer. Ineffect, you're stropping the cutling edge on the wood. PLANtNG A TABLE TOP

At this point the pian. is really doing it. job. And now I'm supoosed to talk about how to plane a board - or more properly. how 10 true a board with a plane.

This is needed lumber buy it. square,

8

niee exercise, but it's rarely

in woodworking today. Most of the we use is already surfaced when w e Then, once the edges are ripped the board "' very elose to b~ing

true. Besides. the vast majority of the time, a plane is used to true a large surface -one that'. been glued up of .. veral boards. I really don't see much point in truing each board, then gluing several board. to· gether. And then having to true the whole .urfaCe! all u\'e1' agnin. ROt:GHISGo()WS. Ifyou're working with a large sudac,; (3 table top, for "xample), tbat's been glued·up of boards. the fll'St gt"p is to rough il down. No matter how careful I am when gluing·up tbe

"".&at

boards, there's al,,'a~'s some "ariation at the joint lines. So the planing begins by smootrung down this surface to get all the boards 8t the ;;ame le\·el. Thi~ milial planing is done (1(:1'1)88 the grain of the wood. (I u,;e ajack plane for all this initial work.l The technique here is

nothing fancy. [just stan at one end of the .urfa ee and plane directly across the gruin. If. during Ihe initial passes, the plane starts tearing out in some areas, you ean change the angle of attack so you're at something more like a IS' angle. The important thing. however, is to start with a shallow depth-of-cut. Don't try 10 take all the wood off at once. Jm;1 keep going with fairly light passes until all the joint Iinc$ are knocked off.

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surface is fairly fiat. [ start plnninlt' along the length of the boards. The first strok e is made witb plane going in straight line parallel to this edlte. see Fig. 1. (I'm righthanded so ( start on the light edze of the

board. I Once again, the depth of CUt should he fail'ly Ught. All of the tirst 1)9.""0" aCI'OS, the surface "ill simply be skimming off the high spotaIt'sno; uncommon (01' the plane t~ cut for 3 while, and then skip over some areas (Ihe low SllOIS). Afier the inltial stroke along the edge, 1 tum the plane to a slight angle but "ill move u parallel to the edge, This, in effect, makes the plane very wide and gives you the best chance for levelina the entire sur,lace, see 1"'" 19. _. From here on, it's juf't a matter of work (funl. Just keep moving the plane across the surface with overlapping strokes. Then go back to the right edge and make another series of passes, After I've had enough fun for awhile. I check the surface with slJ'sight edge. (Here it h~II'" to pat a bl'ight light at the end of the surface so it's eRl'ier to see the low spotsl. \Vhen the surfate is just about perCect, I re·set the plane il'On for a very thin CUland make onc hlst series of passe,; over the entiJ'e- SUI"race . •'1"15111"(:. No matter how hard I lTV. the plano is bound to leave titll. rid~ e\-el1' once in ~l "'hile. To remO\'e these (and to go o\'~r areas "ith "wild" grainl, 1 use a seral>er blade Cor the tina! finishing. (Se~ Il'oud.",illl No. 15 for mQre on scraper blade •. ) One last thought. All ofthis sound. like a lot of work. But it's al,o a lot of fun. And in the end, there's no grealer thlill than 10 t'un your fingers over a perfectly smooth surfaoo that's been planed by hand.

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Sho~ Notes --------------------------

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SOME TIPS FROM OUR SHOP

FlATTENING A PLANE

,

\Vbe» you buy a new plane, it's reasonable to expect that the sole of the plane is perfectly flat. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. ln fact. most new planes have a little problem area right around the throat (mouth). This area is critical because that's where all the action is. lithe sole is warped (forming 8 high spot or low spot at the throat). it will affect the cuulng' action of the 1)lane iron (usually causing excessive "chatter"). lII(lH SPOT. If the plane has a high spot around the throat, it's usually not too much of a problem because all you have to do is flatten the high spot flush with the rest of the sole. This is relatively easy to do by "sanding" the bottom of the plane on some silicon carbide paper. T81>ea sheet of 22O-grit silicon carbide paper to the table of the table saw and take a few careful strokes. The high spots should become quite visible as shiny areas, Keep working the plane over the paper until these areas arc flush with the rest of the sole. Then switch to 320 and finally 400-grlt paper to smooth out the sanding marks. LOW SPOT. If the sole has a low spot at the throat. it's more of a challenge. You have to flatten the entire sole of th. plane to get this area flush. This is too much work for sandpaper. but it call be. done with silicon carbide "slurry." This slurry is made with powdered sllieon carbide powder mixed with enough water to fonn a thin paste. I start with 80 grit silicon carbide powder. and work to finer grits as the sole is flattened. (Note: Silicon carbide powder is available at lapidary supply stores. Look in the Yellow Pages under Lapidary.) Although lhe slurry does a terrific job of cutting steel. the problem is finding a nat surface to work on. What l wound up using was a cement block. Or to be. more precise, two cement patio blocks. (These are 11->· thick blocks, aboutg-\\'ide by 15V. long.) The surfaces of these blocks are almost (but not quite) flat. So first Ihad to flatten them. I smeared a little slurry on lhe two blocks, and simply rubbed the blocks together until the surfaces were tlat, Then I cleaned off the blocks and mixed up a fresh batch of slurry to flatten tbe plane bottom. AUyou have to do is rub the plane ever the cement block and the slurry to smooth out the sole. This will cut the steel sole of a plane quite rapidly, but it also tends to remove

22

the cement. In order to prevent a dishedout block. move the plane evenly over the entire surface of the block. Once the sole is flat, switch to silicon carbide paper (as described above) to poHsh it smooth. GRAIN DIRECTION

There's

8 lot of controversy conceming how to layout beards that are going to be. glued together. Some say you should alternate the grain (as seen from the ends of the boards) so one board is "up" and the next "down", etc. Others say you should pul "new growth" against "old growth." 1 can't really dispute any of these appreaches, But I go about it differently. Two things are important to me: I) The grain pattern of the finished piece should be. pleasing. even if it's not "technically" correct. And 2). it's more important to me that the boards are laid out SO the grain is going in the proper direction for planing, not necessarily (or gluing. (I should add here that we've followed this approach "'ith all of the projects shown in Wood.mith. and haven't had any problems.) Laying out th~ boards so they can be planed easily is a step that's rarely mentioned (and often forgotten). But if the hoards are not going in the "right" direction for planing, you'll be faced with a lot of tear-out problems. There's also a misconception about how to determine the proper grain direction for 1.laning. When looking at the face side of a board, the grain usually fonns a series of "Y" patterns that "point" in one direction. There's a natural tendency to want to move the plane in that direction - "with the grain." However, the only way to tell if the grain is going in the right direction on the face of the board is to look al the grain on the edge of lhe board.

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GRAIN CUlIVlS 1'0 THIS FAct/

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H you're lucky, the grain line. on the edge ,,;11 gently curve lo one fare or the oth .. · fo,' the entire length of the board. When gluing up a set of these boards, try to gel all of them arranged so the grain curves to the same side of the final gluedup surface. However. sometimes the grain pattern on the edge is wavy-c-It switches back and

forth, usually where a knot is forming. When confronted with this situation, [ try to make a demoeratic decision: the majority of the grain pattern "ins. That is. Itry to arrange the boards so the majority of the grain is going in one ~clion to reduce the lear-Out problems. In those areas where you do have problems, you may have to plane £rom two directions, or you can use a scraper blade (see Wood$mith No. 15), USING SPLINES Although 1 will admit that l enjoy working with hand planes, I try to cut down on a lot ofunnecessary work by getting the surface of the glued·up boards as flat as possible before the planing ever begins. If I'm gluing up several narrow boards to form a rather large surface, I cut p;I'ooveson edges of each board for splines. Although splines add some strength to the joint, their 1"C81 purpose is to align the top face. of all the boards - to get the surface of lhe glued·up boards as nat as possible right from the start, This makes • the planing operation much easier. However, the critical thing here is to cut the p;I'OO"es $0 they're all exactly the same distance Cromthe fate side (the top side) of the board •. To do this, place the Iaee side (the top side) of each board agaill.llt the fence oflhe table saw and cut the groove on one edge. Then "cartwheel" the board (nip it end-for-end) so the same face is still against the fence, and out a groove on the other edge of the board. \Vben the splines are inserted in these grooves. the top fares of all the boards "ill be Ilush, even though the bottoms may vary depending on the thickness of each board. 'eo drawing above. TOP FACES OF-6OAROS AA' FlUSH

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As for the splines themselves, 1 usually use plain old M," Ma.onite. It's cheap, and it always seems to fit lhe groove by saw blade cuts. SHARPENING STONES I thought there would be enough room on thi' page to gel into a discussion ofthe tWO new Stones we used to sharpen plane (the • diamond stone and the Japanese water stones). But. we ran out of space. We'll cover these stones in a full article in the

next issue. WOODSMITH

discontinued 6· model. they elimianted the extra step it took to grind the teeth of the I reeelved an interesting call the other day blade so that they'd cut a dado with a from one of OUT subscribers about a prob- convex bottom. Unfortunately, this was one or the main lem he was having with Freud's new 8" adjw;table dado blade. (The old 6· model reasons we were so impressed with the old we reviewed in lVtXXl$miil. No. 17 has 6"model. (I£you\'e ever tried to pare down been discontinued.) the outside corners of a concave dado, I'm The problem was that when he tried to sure you "know why we got excited about put the new blade on his 10· table saw. he the convex eut.) And after using the old couldn't thread the arbor nut because the model for over a year and a half. we arbor didn't even extend beyond the thick- thought that elimianting this feature just to keep from raising the price was Ii pretty ness of the blade housing. This was quite a surprise. It seemed poor trade~fr. incredible that Freud would chanJ(e the E .idenlly, Freud agrees. 1n fact, design of their new dado to the point that they're going to change back to the original it wouldn't fit on a ]0" table 53W. So grind that produced the convex bottomed we decided to call Freud to find out what dado. These new models "ill be available \\'8$ up. starting sometime around LIte first of the \Ve were told that the first several ship- year. At that time, there will also be a ments of the new 8" dado blade actually did price increase (of about $20.00) due to the have. design error that prevented them extra manufacturing step to grind the from fitting on a l(r table saw. E,;dentl~·, te<>th. the problem was just an oversight during I think when this new dado is available, the process of redcsil,,"ningth~ n<\ju"Ung it will be Well worth looking into. mechanism for the new S- model. UnRAI5fD PANEL ROUTER BITS fortunately. no one caught the oversight before the first shipment. of the new dsdos were sent out. I've been looking for router bits that can be Needless to say, it didn't take long be- used for raised-panel doors. Do you know of any sou",". for these bits? fore they found oul about the mistake. According' to Freud, as soon as the probGary Paris lem was discovered. they recalled the Farmviltc, \'irgiuia dados immediately. To eliminate the problem. they're mill- C
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\VOOOSMITI'!

DADO

Could you possibly give me a source for the grinding wheel you recommended that has a VI' arbor hole? Ken Slrei Cedar POI'k, Teras The only mail order source we know of for the aluminum oxide grinding wheels recommended in our article is Woodcraft Suppl!l. (Tbese grinding wheels are made by Bay Stal. Ab''(lllj''e8, but they're very similar to the Nortoll wheels.) The 6" diameter aluminum oxide wheels offcl'ed by Woodcroj! all have "'," arbor holes. If your grinder has a arbor. you'll have to use a bushing to reduce the ~~. diameter to V'. Doth the bushings and the wheels can be ordered from IVood~rnft Supply. Their new address is;41 Atlantic Ave .. Woburn, MA 01888. Catalog: $2.00.

v,·

CARBIDE ROUTfR

BITS

In IVtXXl~mi(h No. 21, you mentioned that you used a V,,'· carbide-tipped straight, router bit to rout spline groove s, After looking in all of my mail order catalog>', and checking with the local suppliers, I've been unable to locate a source ror a W' carbide-tlpped bit anywhere. Can you provide me with a mail order source?

If.

DUlleall G. Graham M.D. A-1e~a A riZOtla I

The carbide-tipped route I' bit we use is made by POI'1~rC"b(t(R(X'kll'~II).we purchased it at a local hardware store (that sells Porter Coble power hand tools), and didn't realize that there would be a problem obtaining one. The only 1':." carbide bit that we can find that's av ailablemail order is manufactured by Frtlld. It can be ordered from /ligh· uwd Harduar«; Stock # 10.20.O'l, price 510.80 plus $l.f,o for shipping charges. Their address is listed above. Another source for a v.· high-speed steel router bit (not carbide-tipped) is Sears. The stock number of their \>I." bit is 9-CT-2552, $2.09. They also have the high-speed steel bit that we used on the end caps of the trestle table. It'. stock number is 9-GT-25528. and it cost Sl.89. Editor's Note; Recently. both Ro
Y,.·

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Trestle Bench

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THE PERFECT PARTNER FOR A TRESTLE TABLE This bench is a nice companion piece for the Trostle Table in this issue; and it's also a good "warm·up" project. (Things always seem to go easier the second time around.) The same method of construction is used on this bench as on the table, with only

minor differences. THt: SEAT. The assembly of the top (seat) is the same. Glue up of enough boards to get rough dimensions of 14· wide by 48" long. Then trim the ends square to 8 final length of 47~" and cut the tongues (v." long this time) on each end. Next, the side thieknesser strips are glued to the edges. and the end thicknesser strips are mounted with the slotted screw method. To complete the top, the end caps are cut and mounted. Tllf; TRESTLES. However, the trestle assemblies On this bench are slightly di!· ferent than the table. First, the notches (mortises) in the three-board assemblies for the arms and bases are cut to allow for only a Single-thickness rail ("Y'OW). Second. the arms on the bench trestles are long enough to be mounted directly to the side thicknesser strips, which means their overall length i~ 12" - only 2" less than the width of the seat. Also, in order to provide a little more leverage for the bases, We made them the full width of the lop (N' long). And third, all four of these pieces are tapered, but this time the taper starts 'Yt down from the tOP edge, and ends Y," from the mortise. For the arms this means a 13' taper, and for the bases it's a 10" taper. Tilt: LEGS- The legs (uprights) are made exactly the same way as on the table glue up three boards, trim the faee sides to allow for a chamfer on the edges of'the base and arm, and finally, counterbore the holes for the carriage to hold the rails in place. TIlE lUlL. The rail has to be cut to Iinal length so when it's mounted, the trestles of the bench fit comfortably between the trestles on the table. Then to mount the 5",3t, drill holes in the side thicknessers (of the seat) for rosan inserts, and counterbore holes in lhe tresue arms for %" hexhead bolts. Ifound it much easier to finish sand all of these pieces (the arms, bases, legs. and the rail) before the trestles are glued up. And then before final assembly of rail and seal. Ifinished all the pieces with Minwax polyurethane. I also mounted adjustable leveling pads to the bottoms of the trestle bases to allow for variatiens in the Ooor. (1 figured it had to be the floor that caused the slight wobble.)

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