January Contest Reminders

January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | 4 Comments 

Holy sawdust Batman! I almost missed my reminder about the contests! Well here it is. Below is a reprint of both the Wood Whisperer Giveaway and the Fescool Giveaway for this month. Only 3 days left!!!

For the Fescool Giveaway, we have another ETS125 Random Orbit Sander up for grabs. So check out the Challenge Question on the FesCool Giveaway Page and get that entry in today!

workbenchesFor our Wood Whisperer Giveaway, we have two great prizes for two lucky winners! First is Chris Schwarz’s book Workbenches. This is a fantastic book that every woodworker should read. You can check out my recent review for a more in-depth analysis.



Katz1Second is a 2-disc DVD set from Gary Katz. Its called Mastering Finish Carpentry, Mastering the Miter Saw. Stay tuned later this month for my review of Gary’s DVD’s. For more information about Gary, his videos, and his seminars, check out GaryMKatz.com

Remember, if you’ve already entered one of our Wood Whisperer Giveaways in the past, you do not need to enter again. Now if this is your first time, you can enter by sending us an email at TWWPromo@gmail.com and you will be good to go for this and all future Wood Whisperer Giveaways. Good luck everybody and be sure to explore both Gary’s and Chris’s sites.

Biscuit Depression? - Question of the Week

January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Question of the Week | 13 Comments 

This week’s question comes from Jim. He writes:

“I just finished watching all your videos and I have a question about the table top you did in Episode 11. A little while back I saw a episode of New Yankee Workshop where Norm said he stopped using biscuits in table tops because they found that later, depressions showed up in the tops from the biscuit slots. Have you seen this or heard of it happening before?? Oh, and love the videos and all of the site. And now I’m on Lumberjocks as well…thanks to you. Keep on keeping on :>)”

And here was my reply:

“Hey Jim. I have heard Norm say the same thing but I have never actually seen it in my work. As I understand it, the theory says that once the joint is closed up, you essentially create a nearly air-tight pocket. This means the glue takes a long time to cure and the wood fibers around the biscuit swell. Then of course, you do your final sanding for the top and flatten everything out. As the glue cures completely over the next few days (weeks?), the wood fibers shrink down a bit and create a sunken area visible from the top surface of the table. I will occasionally pass that warning on to my students as a “heads up”, just in case. But in reality, I have never seen it happen. So I still use them for alignment now and again. Hope that helps.”

So this week’s question is more like a survey than anything. I want to hear from you, the readers, about your experiences with biscuit depressions. Are you a victim? Tell us your story!



Queen Anne Table - Project of the Week

January 26, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Project of the Week | 15 Comments 

This week’s project comes from our buddy Bob in NJ. He did a heck of a job with this piece.

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“After searching for a design, I found great plans on the “New Yankee’s Workshop” site. Thanks Norm! The video and plans are wonderful. In Norm’s version, he bought the legs since they take a lot of time and are much more elaborate than shown here. After seeing the prices for the legs, ($$!!), I decided to experiment and make them myself. I found plans for a simple design in Fine Woodworking and enlarged them on a copier and made a template. After gluing up ¾” x 3” wide stock, cutting them on a bandsaw is very fast and easy. The blanks come off the bandsaw needing a lot of scraping, filing & sanding. Making “one” is easy, making “four” to be exact replicas is a challenge. These legs are close. The initial 4 blanks and smoothing took about 2 hours each but then I spent an entire Saturday trying to get them as close in size as possible.”

“This was also my first attempt at carving which is needed for the shell design on the drawer front. The one on the table is my 4th effort after trying out the various carving tools and techniques. For this work, I borrowed a friend’s “Flexcut” chisels. Nice tools! I found it’s like other types of woorkworking. Get a plan, be willing to experiment, be patient, practice and you’ll finally get something you can use. I’ve since bought my own set of Flexcuts and am now practicing on ball and claw feet. These will take LOTS of practice if my first attempt is any indication. The mini drops were made on my lathe. Again, it took 2-3 attempts to get the design right and making two the same takes some practice but relatively simple to do.”

“This project took about 80 hours over the last 4 months to make. I have no idea how Norm knocks out so many fine projects so quickly! Construction is solid cherry with cut off pieces I bought as surplus “shorts” from a cabinet shop selling on ebay. Drawers and made of poplar. The legs are laminated together although the Fine Woorking plans by Lonnie Bird suggest making legs thick legs like this from solid stock to avoid differences in grain, color and different rates of wood shrinkage I found 3” thick cherry is about $14 bd ft which would have added $180 to the price of the project. All in all, with the plans, wood, hardware and finishing supplies, the project cost about $300.Norm’s video suggested using a Gel stain which helps smooth out the colors of the cherry. I used Minwax mahogany. Then I added 5 coats of “rub on poly” and finally a coat of Johnsons paste wax. So, in summary, the challenging parts of the projects are the legs, drops and carving, the rest is just a big box with 4 smaller boxes (the drawers) but I’m glad I tackled it.”

Episode 39 - End Table (Pt. 3)

January 24, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Projects, Video | 32 Comments 

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High Resolution Version


In this episode, I start by gluing the leg blanks to the aprons. I then cut the rough shape out on the bandsaw. And finally, I use the template and a flush trim bit in the router table to get the exact shape we’re after. I also spend a good deal of time discussing the dangers involved with this routing operation. And finally, an nice treat for everyone: a Nicole Break!

New Comment Avatars

January 21, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | 36 Comments 

Many of you have already noticed the new avatars next to your names in our comment threads (the default is the Wood Whisperer logo). I have installed a new plugin that works with Gravatars. Gravatars are Globally Recognized Avatars. It’s a super simple way of personalizing your comments on many websites around the web. If you leave a comment on a Gravatar-enabled site, it will automatically recognize your email address and assign your avatar to the comment post. It’s free and all you need to give them is your email address and a picture to use as an avatar. Sign up here.

Dust Extractor or Cyclone? - Question of the Week

January 21, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Question of the Week | 16 Comments 

This week’s question comes from Jay. He writes:

“I’m having a dust collection dilemma. As with a lot of entry level woodworkers, I’ve blown my tool budget on power tools many times over. (I just bought a new Powermatic PM2000 table saw for Christmas) For the past few years, my only form of dust collection has been a Delta air scrubber and a shop-vac to clean up at the end of a project. I’ve been debating between investing in the Festool system or a cyclone type stationary collector. I see the benefits of both. However, I only have the funds for one of the two right now. Would you recommend trying to collect the fine dust of sanding and routing or the larger dust from stationary tools first?”

And here was my reply:

“Hey Jason. The first thing I would do is pick up a $35 respirator. That will then take the pressure off of the next purchase. If the dust cant get to your lungs, you are one step ahead of the game. Now, as you said, you definitely need both in the long run. But, you already have a shop vac that can be used as a dust extractor for sanding. It might take some clever fitting, but you should be able to get it to work. If you can put a HEPA filter on the unit and use vacuum bags, you are even better off. So that should do just fine until you have the funds for a high quality system like Festool. So, my suggestion is get the large tools taken care of first. Then build up the system from there. But keep that respirator on anyway just to be safe. It might be overkill, but you do plan on doing this for a long time, don’t you? Good luck Jason. And congrats on that PM2000!”

Note** - I have already received several emails asking me which respirator I recommend. The 3M 7500 is my favorite.

LumberJocks Tool Review Challenge

January 19, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | Leave a Comment 

Martin over at Lumberjocks recently launched a new section of the website devoted to user tool reviews. Check it out! I think it’s going to be interesting to watch this develop and hopefully it will become a great resource for solid reviews and honest opinions about the tools. To help kick it off, Martin and I are offering t-shirts to 4 lucky reviewers in the month of January. So if you get a review in before the end of January 2008, you are automatically in the running. So head on over to LumberJocks for more details.

Chippendale Side Tables - Viewer Project of the Week

January 17, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Project of the Week | 9 Comments 

This week we have a real treat for you. Two of our viewers, Brian and Jorge both built Chippendale Side Tables that were modeled after David Marks’ design from Woodworks. Both projects turned out great! Let’s hear from Brian first.

“I have been a hobbyist woodworker for the last 5 or so years but mostly around the house stuff - paint grade built-ins, crown moulding, etc. After years of watching David Marks I decided it was time to see how hard it was to build a quality piece of furniture. I called up my dad (who taught me everything about woodworking that David and Norm didnt) and told him it was time to get serious. We went and got ourselves a planer and a bandsaw to complete my small shop and decided David’s Chippendale Side Table was as good a place to start as any. I had seen this episode of Woodworks years ago and vaguely remembered it. Luckily, I found a link from David’s site that walked me through enough of the steps to get this project finished.”

“Some details of the piece: it is made from 2 pieces of rough lumber- 8/4 Honduran Mahogany for the legs and 4/4 for the aprons and the frame & panel top. The panel is resawn and bookmatched - I got really lucky with the figure of this particular piece of mahogany. The aprons are attached to the legs with integral tenons and the top is simply glued to the base. Wenge accents (courtesy of my Dad’s meticulous work on his scroll saw) were glued in place and the whole thing was treated with General Finishes red mahogany stain and Arm-R-Seal.”

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And now let’s hear what Jorge had to say:

“Like you, I am a big fan of WoodWorks and I have been fortunate to have taken two classes with the Great David Marks. The design for these tables is from one of the first Woodworks but I did change the table top. I used redwood burl veneer. For the first time ever I used the vacuum press (which I purchased more than a year ago). I think they look good and my wife and children like them. I have been woodworking for just a few years and truly I am not that good yet. Honestly, these pictures significantly over represent my abilities. The pictures were taken on my table saw covered with a white blanket.”

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Good Habits From Mama

January 15, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | 9 Comments 

Back in New Jersey, my step dad built a huge set of pantry racks in our basement for my mom. And boy did she take advantage of that space. Our basement was better stocked than the local 7-11, WaWa, Quick Check, Circle K, (depending on where you are from). Since my band practiced in the basement, the huge pantry became the subject of many jokes, including referencing it as a perfect bomb shelter. Food for months! To most, it seemed silly. But to my mom, a product of Depression-era parents, this made perfect sense. She would stock up at the local “can can” sale and do double coupons and all that fun stuff. Bottom line was, it was just smart shopping. Now I must confess that I am more likely to cut a paper snowflake than a coupon for cereal, but I apparently have incorporated some of my mom’s valuable lessons into my life. Where’s the evidence? In my shop, of course!

I get funny looks when people see my wall of sandpaper, my bottles of CA glue, my 12 rolls of blue tape, my boxes of gloves, my hundreds of acid brushes, and my gallons of epoxy. It may seem like common sense to stock up when there is a sale, but how many of us actually apply this to our shop purchases? Not only are you saving money right off the top, but you are saving yourself a few trips to the store. So with that in mind, I want to let you guys know about the not-so-secret sale that has routinely been my source for the annual “stock up”. It’s Rockler’s Stock Up Sale. Some of the deals in here are just too good to pass up, and you should NOT have to ever pay full price for any of this stuff? Why? Because they go on sale every year! Here are some of the items that I nearly always stock up on:


Episode 38 - End Table (Pt. 2)

January 14, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Projects, Video | 31 Comments 

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High Resolution Version

Finally, the continuation of our end table series! This is still old footage shot with the old camera, by the way. In this episode, I discuss sliding dovetails and show you how to make them. I also cover finessing the dovetail’s fit and some special techniques for creating a stopped sliding dovetails. Enjoy!

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