Woodworking Tip of The Week - Shop-Made Pull

When it’s time to choose drawer or door pulls for a project, there’s an option that’s often overlooked. Rather than buy something off the shelf or order from a catalog, save the cash and make you own pulls.

Shop-made pulls have some neat advantages. I like the fact that you’re not limited to what’s commercially available. When the work stays in the shop, you can better match the style, size, and wood of the pull to the project. You use up some scrap wood and get unique-looking, custom pulls out of the bargain.

So to get you started, here’s the step-by-step process for one great-looking, easy-to-make pull.
The real key to making this “cut-out” pull is doing things in the right order. I started by laying out the pulls on an extra-wide blank and drilling pairs of holes (upper drawing). You’ll get two pulls from each section. After ripping the blank down the center, the cutouts are completed by removing the waste between the holes on the band saw (left lower drawing).

Then, before cutting the individual pulls from the blanks, you’ll want to bevel the sides on the table saw, as shown in the lower right drawing.

Have a nice weekend,

Phil Huber
Editor, ShopNotes

Woodworking Tip of The Week - Adjustable Assembly Table

Projects come in all different sizes. So I found that a one-height-fits-all assembly table was not very practical. To solve this problem, I built an assembly table that can be adjusted to suit the project, as shown in the drawings below.

My simple design features two-piece legs that are hinged in the middle. At its full height, the legs are firmly locked in position with barrel bolts. When a shorter table is needed, the top can be lifted off and the legs folded down (Figure 2).

The construction is simple and solid. I used 4x4s for the legs and 2x4s for the stretchers. The removable top is cut from 3/4″ plywood.

Have a nice weekend,

Ted Raife

Editor, Woodsmith

Woodworking Tip of The Week - Rattle-Free Doors

When building and assembling raised panel doors, I’m always careful to account for normal expansion and contraction of the panel in the frame. The precaution involves leaving a small gap between the edges of the panel and the bottom of the frame groove and then allowing the panel to “float” in the groove without glue. But this technique can lead to another problem. As the panel shrinks in dry weather, the loosened fit can cause it to rattle as the door is opened and closed.

The fix I came up with is very simple and effective. Before assembling the door, I put small dabs of silicone caulk in the bottom of the groove and allow it to dry. Once the door is assembled the caulk cushions the panel in the frame, both keeping it centered and rattle-free.

Have a nice weekend,
Ted Raife

Editor, Woodsmith

Woodworking Tip of The Week - Reading The Grain

Jointers are a great tool for straightening an edge or flattening the face of a workpiece. But it’s not unusual to get a cut that’s rough in some areas. Instead of a nice smooth surface, the wood has patches of lifted grain or areas of chipout or tearout.
In some cases, this may be caused by dull knives or working with highly figured woods that are difficult to joint smooth no matter what you do. But most often the problem is the result of the orientation of the grain in the workpiece.

EDGE JOINTING Determining the proper feed direction of the grain is easier when you’re passing the edge through the jointer. Simply examine the face of the board and determine whether the grain slopes up or down. Then feed the piece in the direction that allows the grain to slope away from the knives. This keeps the knives cutting with the grain, as shown in the drawings below, instead of against the grain, which leads to tearout or chipout along the edge.

FACE JOINTING Jointing the face of a board can be a little more challenging. That’s because the grain pattern may appear to be going in one direction on the face and actually run in the opposite direction, like you see in the drawing above.
If there’s a V-shaped surface grain present, it’s tempting to look at the face of the workpiece and then feed the board into the jointer with the V-shaped grain pointing away from the knives. But you’ll actually get a better picture of grain direction if you take a look at the edge.
In a similar manner to edge jointing, you’ll want to check out the edge to see if the grain is rising or falling. But this time you’ll want to feed the board into the jointer in the direction that keeps the knives cutting with the grain direction visible on the edge of the board. You’ll find these same principles apply when you use your planer.

CHANGING GRAIN DIRECTION The grain direction may also change within a single workpiece. When you see this, you can sometimes avoid rough cuts by slowing down the feed rate when you get to the point the grain makes a change in direction. This way, the knives take smaller “bites” and you’ll be less likely to end up with any chipout.
Determining grain direction is the best way to get better results with your jointer. The nice thing is it only takes you a few extra seconds, but it’ll save you a lot of sanding time in the long run.

Have a nice weekend,

Phil HuberEditor,

ShopNotes

I would like to Appoligize for lastweek, I have gotten busy, and I lost track of time and the day and I didn't get out my Tip of The Week. Well not actually My Tip of The Week, but Tips Submitted by others to www.woodworkingthips.com and I get them in email and I submit them here with no credit at all, just helping out fellow woodworkers that may not of heard of the site and all.

Handi

Woodworking Tip of The Week - HandSaw Rack

I own a small but very useful collection of handsaws. My problem was finding a handy and safe place to store them. The answer was a simple wall storage rack that keeps the saws out of the way but still easily accessible, as you can see in the photo.

The design of the rack is shown in the drawing below. Basically, it consists of a couple of pieces of hardboard that sandwich a series of beveled blocks. The spaces between the blocks hold loose sections of ¾″-dia. dowel. And a kerf cut through the outer face allows entrance of the saw blade.

The rack works by pinching the saw blade between the loose section of dowel and the fixed block. To hang up a saw, you simply slip it into the kerf from below and then let the saw drop until the dowel grabs it. To remove a saw, you push it up and out of the kerf.

Good Woodworking,

Ted Raife

Editor, Woodsmith

New Nail Gun by Dewalt

New Nail Gun by Dewalt - It can drive a 16-D nail through a 2 X 4 at 200 yards. This makes construction a breeze. You can sit in your lawn chair and build a fence. Just get the wife and kids to hold the fence boards in place while you sit back, relax with a cold beer, and when they have the board in the right place, just fire away. With the hundred round magazine, you can build the fence with a minimum of reloading.

After a day of fence building with the new Dewalt Rapid fire nail gun, most wives will not ask you to fix or build anything else for a very long time.

This was Sent to me by a Cousin of mine in Texas. I thought it was pretty funny and thought it would be a great addition to my blog for a little Woodworking Comedy!

Enjoy

Woodworking Tip of The Week - Custom-Fit Dadoes

Routing dadoes or grooves to hold a plywood panel can be a challenge. The problem is it measures a little less than the stated thickness. Whenever I need to rout a perfectly sized dado to match a piece of plywood, I turn to a pair of guides like those shown in photo at right.
The guides consist of a hardboard base with a fence on top. I use the router and a 1/2″ straight bit to trim the base of the guide.

Once you’ve made the guides, using them is straightforward. You can use a combination square to set one of the guides square to the edge of the workpiece. Then place a plywood spacer alongside the guide and clamp the second guide against the spacer.
Now, you can rout along one edge guide then turn the router around and make a return pass to complete the dado.

Have a nice weekend,

Phil Huber

Editor, ShopNotes