A few months ago Chuck Bender of Acanthus Workshop posted a video of how he makes his stringing. (See below)

Well I tried that out and it worked like a charm. I even posted something on the blog about it and I’ve used the heck out of the stringing I made.

Then I needed more. (Seems I didn’t make enough!) So I decided to take a few minutes this weekend to cut some. The only thing is while Chucks way works, it’s a bit to set up and I’ll admit I’m lazy!

So knowing I was going to make my string Sunday afternoon, I went out in the shop around 10pm Saturday night and built a quick jig. This jig is really nothing more than a wide push stick that keeps my hands away from the blade and pushes both my string and cut off away from the blade.

Now all I do is clamp on an auxiliary fence so the stringing wont get caught in under my stock fence. Then set my fence up for a 1/16″ and cut away using my new jig.

Here’s a couple of photos of the jig in use.

And a video of how easy it is to use.

Popularity: 15% [?]

When I’m woodworking & working with a design (or modifying an existing one) it seems the project always comes up with “opportunities” (I call them problems) to work out.  Sometimes they are very simple and sometimes they require a lot of thought.

With that, I’m a visual person; especially when it comes to working out problems.   And it’s not only in woodworking, I’m like that at work too.

Last year my boss & coworker started to chuckle when they saw me hang up a 3’ x 4’ whiteboard in my cube.  Asking questions like “whats that for?” & “who paid for that?”  They figured it was just a toy and after a week the $70 work spent on it would be for not.

But several months and several of their worked out “opportunities” later they figured it was time both of them get one for their cubes as well.

Well at home this had me wanting (I call it “needing”) to put a couple of whiteboards in my garage/shop but I wasn’t willing to spend $140 for them!  (I mean come on, that’s going to cut into my music, DVD & book fund.)

So while surfing the web at lunch one day I was looking at whiteboard paint and reading the horror stories of it and having to apply it and whatnot so I clicked on. Then just a few clicks later I came across what I considered gold.

It was a Mythbusters shop tour where they asked Jamie (the owner of M5 Industries, where MB is shot) about all the whiteboards everywhere.  He went on to explain that he and alot of other companies make their own whiteboards from the same materials as glossy melamine shower/tub boards.

With that I grabbed a whiteout pen and went to Lowes to test this out.  Once I found the boards (located in the paneling section of the store) I did a small test on the corner of one and it worked perfect.

After smiling at the fact that it worked (and looking over my shoulder to see if a worker noticed my “test”) I went and grabbed a plywood cart loaded 2 of the 4’x 8’ sheets, had them cut in half & picked up some construction adhesive.  $30.52 later I had 4 whiteboards & the means to hang them.

So far I’ve hung 2 of them up in the garage. Where the other two will  go is still a guess at this point.  (Maybe I’ll mount them to some fiberboard to make them study & portable.)  But the next time I can’t figure out my “opportunity” I won’t be able to say that I can’t visualize it!

(Forgive me for the photos.  It’s a 3g iPhone.)

Popularity: 8% [?]

Remember in my blog post “It’s All Done With Mirrors” when I wrote that when I open up a package of sequenced veneer that the first this I do it number the pieces?  Well this is when I explain a bit more of why I do that.

When veneering surfaces you can pick many different styles.  You can use one big piece of veneer or one of the following:

• Straight book matching
• 4-way book matching
• Radial matching (in the case of round pieces)

Here I want to address a potential problem that can happen with both 4-way & radial methods.

When we start laying out for both of these styles we tend to go in numerical order (1, 2, 3…).  But this can come back and bite you is when the seams from veneer piece 4 matches up to veneer piece 1 (in the case of 4-way matching.  Or the seams from your last piece of veneer butting up to your first piece in the case of radial matching.

When companies cut & sequence veneer they slice and stack it in the order it was cut from the log.  The further down the pile you go the more likely your grain patterns change.  Sometimes this differs slightly but sometimes it’s quite drastic.  It all depends on the tree.

So to try and reduce the chance of dealing with this I use The Rule of 2.

The Rule of 2 says that no piece of veneer shall be butted up to another piece higher than 2x from the number you gave it in the beginning?  (Confusing I know but take a look at the two examples below.)

As you can see, at no time does any piece of veneer butt up against another piece of veneer that has a number higher than 2x it’s given number.

Popularity: 3% [?]

First off, this tip is  most beneficial when you have in large sheets of sequenced veneer.  But since I did not have any in hand I pulled out this Woodcraft mini-pack to use for my demonstration.

Indexing: When I open up any pack (large or small) of sequenced veneer the first thing I do is grab a pencil and number the pieces in one of the corners.  Since the manufacture has sequenced the veneer this will help you keep the the pieces in the order that they were cut from the log.  If you intend to do any book-matching with your veneer this will help you in the layout out of that so your growth rings match more closely.  (That we’ll expand on in another posting.)

Book-matching: When I start with a simple book-matching project I like to play around and see what pattern will look best for my project.  Since most burl is brittle and I don’t want to damage the sheets flipping them over trying to find a good match I simply grab a mirror.  This way I can position it anywhere on the top piece of my veneer stack (2 pieces) without worrying about  damaging them and I’m able to visually see immediately what the resulting match will be.

Once I find a match I like I use the mirror as a guide and grab a pencil to put a couple of registration marks on the veneer.  From here I  go to registering the pieces, taping them together, and start cutting them to size to use  with the project.

Quad Book-matching: If I’m going for a really cool look on say a table top I’ll grab 2 mirrors (oh and 4 pieces of veneer) and hold them at a 90 degree angle and can see visually see what that will look like.  By doing this I’m able to move all over the piece (remember the note about large pieces of veneer) until I find the pattern that really pops!

Other Uses: Also by using two mirror you can bring the angle in (under 90 degrees) and use the same procedure to get an idea of how a radial book-match would look.

Popularity: 7% [?]

This past week I ventured over to Glen Huey‘s shop to use his jointer (mine is in dire need of blade sharpening) to make tapered legs for the federal card table I’m working on. The next day I was chewing the fat with another woodworker at work who asked how I did it with just a jointer.

After several drawings & step by step directions on the white board in my office he looked at me and said “I just can’t see it!” So I told him I’d go home an take a few step by step photos and that’s when the light bulb went off. I remembered that Popular Woodworking posted a video online of the very technique.

So we logged into the web and did a quick search for it so he could “see” it. After viewing Glen demonstrating the technique he looked at me with that “you have to to be kidding me” look. But before he could speak I said “yes, it’s that damn easy and works every time!”

I believe it was Troy Sexton who first came up with this method and shared it with Pop Wood but prior to learning it from Glen I can say I used each and every jig I could find to make this operation easier. It didn’t matter if it involved a tablesaw or a bandsaw it was a pain to set up and get done. But this, it’s super easy, accurate and CRAZY FAST!

So using the code provided by Pop Wood’s player I embedded the video of Glen demonstration the technique.

Give it try cause once you do you’ll use it every time you need to taper legs!

If you’re not a believer yet maybe you’ll enjoy this video of Orianthi featuring Steve Vai performing: “Highly Strung” instead?!? They’re both phenomenal guitar players!

Popularity: 20% [?]