Comments on: A Memorable Father’s Day Gift – Viewer Project

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:51:50 +0000

Thank you so much for posting this project and story. A great inspiration. I am sure it is a gift that shall hang prominetly in your father’s study for years to come.

CtL

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:07:24 +0000

Beautiful work.

I am new to woodworking and seeing someone doing great wonderful work with not a wide variety of tools and having to improvise is just great. It just shows how GREAT woodworker’s are, and how they can take a piece of plain wood and make a spectacular piece of art out of it.

By: Carolynne

Carolynne — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:29:47 +0000

What a wonderful story and work of art – the birth of a family heirloom!

By: Chad Gehring

Chad Gehring — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:50:44 +0000

Good design and good craftsmanship will always get you farther than a shop full of tools. You seem to have both. Nice work.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:42:36 +0000

Proof positive that it’s not the wood, it’s the working. It should be a rule that any aspiring woodworker be required to execute at least one project using recycled, scrap or dimensional lumber just to drive that point home.

That said, I cringed at the thought of doing a “dropped, stopped dado” on the table saw. The only major injury in my school shop came when someone tried to lower a workpiece onto a spinning blade. Some suggestions:

* If you absolutely have to do a plunge cut on a table saw (and that’s a huge if), lower the blade, secure the work and then stand back while you raise the blade. Measure the final height and keep count the number of turns of the handle it takes to reach that height.
* That said, there’s a much safer way to do what you described. A stopped dado is nothing more than a through dado with plugs at each end. Keep the piece flat on the table, push it all the way through and then glue small slips of wood into the ends. You also end up with perfectly square corners inside the groove, meaning that cleanup is done with a flush saw and block plane, rather than digging stuff out with a chisel.

Start with ten. End with ten.

By: Andre

Andre — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:55:20 +0000

That was an amazing story. Gifts from the heart are always the best to receive. I do have a suggestion about how you cut the grooves in the sides though. I know you said you don’t have a router table yet but for a specific purpose like this it can be as simple as a piece of 3/4″ MDF with a hole in it (centered over the collet of course) screwed to the router base through the base plate screw holes. The fence can then be as simple as another piece of MDF clamped (or screwed) to that. Then you just hang the whole thing from a couple of sawhorses an follow the same procedure as you did with the TS. It’s inexpensive and a whole lot safer. Congratulations on making such a truly beautiful and inspiring project.

By: ShopMonger

ShopMonger — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:50:32 +0000

I really enjoy these viewer projects…..
Nice job on this… i like contrasting pins…… I think they will be in my next case work.

ShopMonger
KnickKnackwood.com

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:48:13 +0000

Jason – nice work and nice story!

As a new woodworker, it’s inspiring to see what can be done without many tools, or much on hand materials.

I think the “no finish” look works here with the worn Bible and woodburned inscription.

By: mark williams

mark williams — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:56:58 +0000

Very nice work. I like how you adapted Marc’s design.

By: Andy in England

Andy in England — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:34:36 +0000

Hey Jason, Great work there.

I’m only just starting proper woodworking (“good enough” stuff) and I also don’t have that many tools so this story was really inspirational and proves the old saying:

“Necessity is the mother of invention”

I know marc’s monthly giveaways are randomly picked otherwise giving this guy some more tools could only lead to good things!

Thanks for sharing!