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ROUTING DECORATIVE ACCENTS

 |  March 18, 2016 |  ADVANCED ROUTING

Carved accents and ornamentation have been a feature of fine furni­ture for centuries. Traditionally, these details were etched with painstaking skill by master carvers wielding a bat­tery of gouges, chisels and files. While a router cannot duplicate the finely detailed work of a skilled carver, it can still produce impressive results with far less effort and training. With the right setup and techniques you can use your

TAPERING A LEG

router to perform a variety of decorative cuts, from tapering legs and cutting flutes in quarter columns to shell carv­ing. The flutes shown in the quarter col­umn in the photo at left, for example, were cut in a cylinder wrhile it was still mounted on a lathe; the router was fixed to a simple jig that rides along the lathe bed...

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. LUMBER STORAGE RACKS

 |  March 18, 2016 |  SHOP-MADE JIGS AND FIXTURES

A VERTICAL PLYWOOD RACK

. LUMBER STORAGE RACKS

. LUMBER STORAGE RACKSConstructing the rack

For long-term storage, stacking plywood on end saves valu­able shop floor space. The rack shown at left is built from furring strips, threaded rods, and wing nuts. Start by screwing two l-by-3 furring strips to the studs of one wall, 2 and 5 feet from the floor; first bolt two threaded rods 41/ feet apart into the top strip. Cut a third furring strip and bore a hole through it at one end and saw a notch at the other end to line up with the rods. Both openings should be slightly larger than the diameter of the rods. Place two wood pads on the floor between the rods and stack the plywood sheets upright on them. Holding the third furring strip across the face of the last panel, slip one rod through the hole and the other into the slot...

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MOBILE CLAMP RACK

 |  March 18, 2016 |  SHOP-MADE JIGS AND FIXTURES

Подпись:Подпись:MOBILE CLAMP RACKПодпись: Median rail 1 Vz" x 3 Vz" x 23 Vz" Подпись:MOBILE CLAMP RACKПодпись:MOBILE CLAMP RACK1 Cutting the stock for the jig

The large collection of clamps in most shops—and their awkward size and shape—can stretch even the most organ­ized space to the limit. The mobile clamp rack shown at left can be stored against the wall, then rolled to any part of the shop where clamps are needed. Start by cut­ting the pieces to size, referring to the illustration for suggested dimensions. The six rails (top, median, and bottom) the two stiles, and three crosspieces are all sawn from 2-by-4 stock. Cut the four skirt pieces from a 2-by-4 and the base from VLinch plywood (inset).

MOBILE CLAMP RACKMOBILE CLAMP RACKMOBILE CLAMP RACKAttaching the rails to the stiles

Prepare the rails for the joinery by cutting end rabbets that will fit into notches and dadoes in the stiles...

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DOWELS AND WOODEN THREADS

 |  March 18, 2016 |  ADVANCED ROUTING

Making your own dowels provides for a great deal more flexibility in your woodworking projects than if you rely solely on commercial dowel stock. The principal advantage of cus­tom-made dowels is that you can use any species—one that matches the sur­rounding wood or one that contrasts. Another benefit is that you can size the dowels precisely to suit your needs. The simple shop-built jig shown on page 118 describes how to use a router to transform square stock into dowels.

Woodworkers have been cutting wood threads for more than 2,000 years. The Romans used wooden screws

in presses for olive oil and for wine. For the modern woodworker, wood threads have more pedestrian uses— in screws and bolts to embellish furni­ture or in shop-made clamps and vises...

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ROCKER JOINERY

 |  March 18, 2016 |  BUILDING CHAIRS

Подпись:

T" he greatest stresses in a rocking chair occur where the legs meet the rock­ers. These joints need to be strong and solid, otherwise the seemingly gentle act of rocking will eventually pull the chair apart. There are several effective meth­ods for attaching legs to rockers. The simplest way is to turn a blind or through tenon in the ends of the legs and fit them into round mortises bored in the rockers (page 134). The tenons can be wedged for extra strength.

Dowels (below) are not as sturdy as mortise-and-tenons, but they allow the legs to be trimmed to fine-tune the bal­ance of the chair. Using bridges (page 139) enhances a rocking chair’s appear-

DOWELS
ance and also permit adjustment of the chair’s balance...

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MAKING THE ROCKERS

 |  March 18, 2016 |  BUILDING CHAIRS

MAKING THE ROCKERSПодпись: ІГ.Подпись: 'Ml

Determining the right shape for a rocking chair’s rockers, also known as runners, is an exercise in experimen­tation and intuition. When designing a new chair, some chair makers try varia­tions on a basic curve until they arrive at a design that is pleasing to the eye.

To ensure stability, however, the rock­ers must do more than look good. As a starting point, use a radius of 36 inches to 40 inches to draw the curve of the rocker. This curve is related to the height

A laminated rocker is smoothed on an oscillating spindle sander. Laminated rockers, like the one shown at left, offer several advantages over rockers cut from solid wood. They can be made from nar­rower stock, which minimizes waste...

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ROCKER DESIGN

 |  March 18, 2016 |  BUILDING CHAIRS

W

hile the balance of a rocking chair can be fine-tuned at the assem­bly stage (page 132), a few key principles and dimensions are worth noting before you begin. As shown in the illustration below, these include the height of the seat off the floor, the angle between the seat and the backrest, and the shape and arc of the rockers.

The height of the seat depends on the needs of the chair’s user. Sitting com­fortably on the seat, users should be able to rest their feet on the floor and rock
the chair without effort. For most peo­ple, a seat height ranging between 12 and 16 inches will work well.

For a graceful-looking chair, design a 5° to 10° angle between the seat and the backrest. This will shift the weight and center of gravity toward the back of the chair...

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FINIALS

 |  March 18, 2016 |  CABINETS. AND BOOKCASES

Cutting the flutes

Make a blank for each finial that is slightly larger than the finished dimensions. Mark the top and bottom of the pommel on the blank and use Xs to indicate the waste section below the pommel. Use the dado head in a table saw to reduce the blank’s thickness between the two marks. Set the cutting depth at % inch. Feed the blank with the miter gauge, cutting away the waste with overlapping passes on each face (inset). The flutes are cut with a core box bit in a table-mounted router. Set the cut­ting depth at it inch. Align the pommel over the bit for the first set of outside flutes and lock the fence against the blank. To ensure that all the flutes will be the same length, clamp a stop block to the fence at each end of the blank...

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CROWN MOLDINGS

 |  March 17, 2016 |  CABINETS. AND BOOKCASES

The crown molding—or pediment—on each side of the highboy front is actually built up from four separate pieces of wood. The broken swan-neck face molding that curves upwards from the front cor­ner to the rosette is made from two pieces of molding glued together. With the help of a template cut on the band saw, the molding pieces are shaped on a pin router (page 125). The moldings on both sides of the highboy, called the returns, also consist of two pieces glued together. They are installed with dovetailed slides that fit into matching grooves in the upper chest (page 127).

A COLLECTION OF CROWN MOLDING STYLES

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Shaping the second piece of molding

The piece of molding that is glued to the first one to build up the face molding is shaped by the same process used in step 1...

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DRAWERS

 |  March 17, 2016 |  CABINETS. AND BOOKCASES

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Cutting the dovetail joints

Size the drawer parts to fit the openings in the chests, then rout the dovetails, cutting the pins in the front and back pieces and the tails in the sides. A set of commercial templates like the one shown on this page makes the job simple and ensures accurate results. Attach the pin and tail templates to backup boards following the manufacturer’s instructions. Secure one of the drawer sides end-up in a vise. Clamp the backup board to the stock, making sure there are half-tails at either end; the template and backup board should be flush against the work­piece. Protecting the stock with a wood pad, butt a stop block against the drawer side and clamp it to the support board to help you align subsequent cuts...

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