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On The Cover: 14.4 Volt Drill/Drivers

By: Hendrik Varju (Oct/Nov 2007)
One of the most useful tools you can own is a drill that can both drill holes and drive screws. Drill/drivers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, both corded and cordless. They are equally useful in a workshop, on a construction site, or out in your yard where you are building that new deck or fence. In this very informative article, Hendrik takes a look at some of the features that you should consider when selecting the right drill/driver for your needs. He covers: Corded vs Cordless; Weight and Power; Variable Speed; Chuck Size and Style; Clutch Settings; and Battery and Charger. He also gives a list of sources where you can find drill/drivers and accessories. Drill/drivers covered in this article include: Black and Decker; Bosch; DeWalt; Hitachi; King; Makita; Porter Cable; Ridgid; Craftsman; Skil, and Milwaukee.

Skill Builder: Router Basics III: Straight Bits

By: Michael Kampen
The ability to quickly change the bit in a router is one of the features that make it such a versatile tool in the workshop; in a few moments you can switch from a joinery bit to a decorative edge-profiling bit. The variety of bits available is impressive, and if you purchase bits from a leading bit manufacturer you can be confident of getting a high quality product (see A Bit on Bits sidebar). When it comes to bit quality there are two general categories – ‘hobbyist’ bits made for the DIYer, home handyperson and woodworking hobbyist market, and ‘professional’ quality bits made for production shops and professional woodworkers. This article gives you the information that you need to know about straight bits and covers: Fluted Bits; Hinge Mortising Bits; Bottom Bearing Flush Trim; Top Bearing Flush Trim; Flush Trim with Double Bearings; and Spiral Bits. Michael also gives some great tips, including a chart showing the maximum speed (rpm’s) for various bit sizes. He also supplies six detailed illustrations showing all of these bits and how they are used.

Turning Project: Sierra Wooden Pen

By: Lilian Schaer and Bill Collier
It’s relatively easy to get started - if you have a mini or full size lathe and a set of chisels, you’re halfway home to making your first pen. You won’t have to invest in a lot of expensive tooling, and it provides almost instant gratification - you can finish a simple project in a couple of hours. Lillian and Bill cover: Getting Ready; Preparing the Blank; Turning and Finishing the Blank; and Assembling the Pen. They give easy-to-follow instructions along with 10 full colour photos showing important steps in the process. The also give you a detailed supply checklist and sources for everything that you will need to make this project.

Carving Project: Porcupine Toothpick Holder

By: Cal Isaacson
Sharpen your carving skills with this fun little project. The idea for this carving project came to Cal while cleaning up broken caragana branches (see Sidebar) in his mother-in-law’s garden a number of years ago. He wanted the design to be simple as he had just started carving a short time earlier, and his tools consisted of a V-tool and two gouges. Cal gives a full colour photo of the finished project, easy to follow instructions, a pattern to trace, and a list sources for everything that you will need to complete this project.

Furniture Project: Bunk Bed

By: Derrick Bryans
Bunk beds make for fabulous sleeping accommodations for younger folks. They are easy enough to build, and take up less space in a bedroom than conventional single beds. Derrick made this bunk bed at the request of his young son, who is making new friends and would like to be able to invite them to sleepovers. This bunk bed fits the bill. As with a lot of the furniture in their house, it’s made in the Mission style, for which the words ‘big’ ‘square’ ‘quartersawn’ and ‘white oak’ immediately come to mind. However, instead of using harder to find and more expensive quarter-sawn white oak, Derrick opted to use rift-sawn and plain-sawn red oak. Derrick gives straight-forward instructions on how to build this bunk bed and supplies a 3D exploded view it, showing all of the parts and joinery, a complete materials list, a full colour photo of the completed bunk bed, a supply checklist and a sources list for everything that you will need to make this project.

Furniture Project: Entertainment Unit

By: Kory Larsen
When moving into their first new home, Kory and his wife decided to do away with much of the store bought furniture they had previously bought. This resulted in an ultimatum of sorts: “TV on the floor”, or “Kory into the workshop”. He didn’t need much persuasion. For this project Kory used materials he had on hand, and managed to be creative enough to make them all work together. The dimensions in this article reflect the size of TV and other gear he owns – you’ll need to adjust dimensions to suit your media collection. The overall design of this project is based on a quick sketch and then measurements taken of the components that needed to be housed within the unit. Kory did, however, give some thought to ventilation of these components and planned the dimensions of the carcass accordingly. He needed the cabinet to be assembled easily so he constructed it as two units, the upper one for the TV and the bottom one for the stereo and CD/DVD collection. To make this project especially easy, Kory shows you how to build two very helpful jigs that you will be sure to use again and again: one is a jig to allow you to cut thin strips of wood; the other a jig is for drilling holes for shelves. He also gives very helpful step-by-step details, a beautiful photo of the finished entertainment unit, a 3D exploded view showing all of the parts and joinery, a complete materials list, a supply checklist and a list of sources for everything that you will need to complete this project.

Easy Project: Wine Rack with Serving Tray

By: Michael Kampen
This simple to build wine rack will store up to eight one-litre bottles of wine. It has a handy shelf that you can use to store a cork remover, wine guide, white gloves and the like, and a removable top that does double duty as a serving tray. A bit too small for your collection of Mouton Rothschild 1945 ? No problem – you can easily extend the storage capacity by making the sides taller and adding more rails. However if you do build a taller rack secure it to the wall to prevent it from tipping over. Michael leads you through this project with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions, four full colour photos that zoom in on critical details, a 3D exploded view showing all of the parts and joinery, a full colour photo of the finished wine rack, a complete materials list, a supply checklist, and a list of sources telling you where to find everything that you will need to complete this project.

Woodworker’s Gallery: Sliding Door Buffet

By: By: Brent Smith
This project is chosen from (and by) our woodworking forum members. Greg Schlitt, a self-taught hobbyist woodworker from Chilliwack, BC built this sliding door buffet from Douglas fir and Black walnut. The doors slide in grooves in the oversized top and bottom rails. To see more of Greg’s work, or what other members are up to, check out our website’s Woodworking Forum.

Home Improvement: Easy Kitchen Countertops

By: Carl Duguay
Invariably, if you update your kitchen cabinets you’ll think about replacing the counter tops. While solid wood is ideal for cabinetry, it’s much less desirable as a work surface in a kitchen. For this you’re better to go with a natural stone or a man-made material - granite, quartz, marble, stainless steel, concrete, a solid surface (like DuPontís Corian) or plastic resin laminate (like Wilsonartís High Definition laminate). In this informative and practical article, Carl covers: Laminate – Easy to Use, Stellar Looks; Laminate in the Shop; Solid Wood Edging; and Backsplash. Carl gives some great tips, including using the right glue in the right way. He also gives a complete sources listing for everything that you will need to re-do your kitchen counter tops.

Scroll Saw Project: St. John’s

By: Marcus Cutler
Maybe it’s the fact of living on a rock stuck way out in the Atlantic ocean that makes the citizens of St. John’s just about the friendliest you’ll ever encounter. Or perhaps it’s because St. John’s has the most bars per capita in North America (or for that matter one of the lowest crime rates continent-wide). Whatever the reason, St. John’s is a wonderful city with an extraordinary harbour and waterfront. The provincial tree is the black spruce (Picea Mariana), known as the bog spruce. The tree is actually more dark bluish green. Black spruce wood is a soft, lightweight yellowish white wood with long fibres that produce a very high quality pulp. This scroll saw pattern shows the Cabot Tower with its 50’ octagonal tower, built in 1897, and located on Signal Hill overlooking the city. At the top of the pattern is the shield from the provincial coat of arms.

Skill Builder: Patterns, Templates and Jigs

By: The Editors
If you are looking to make your woodworking easier, faster, and safer, then you will want to use patterns, templates and jigs. For a very simple project, such as the saw blade storage box (June/July 2007, Issue #48), all you may need is a basic sketch of how the parts fit together, along with a material or cut list. Then it’s off to the shop. For a more complex project, like Rob Brown’s Secretary Desk (Apr/May 2007, Issue #47) you’ll want to give careful consideration to the kinds of shop aides that can help you mill project pieces easily, accurately and safely. For difficult projects it is a good idea to draw, on paper, a full sized pattern of the whole project. You’ll more easily be able to work out (and understand) construction details; you’ll get a much better visual impression of how the completed project will look (enabling you to make design changes before you commit to the construction process); and you’ll be able to cut out parts of the pattern to aide you in milling individual project pieces. Some parts of a project might be fairly complex and time consuming to build. In such a case you could transfer the patterns for these parts onto sheet stock - these sturdier templates would stand up to more repetitive use and could also be easily stored for future use. In other situations there may be parts of a project considerably more intricate and time consuming to build, and you may have to construct many of these parts. You might even envision using these parts on other projects in the future. Using more robust sheet stock and some additional hardware, you can build sturdier jigs that will significantly increase productivity, accuracy and safety in milling. If you are serious about improving your woodworking, this article is a ‘must have’. It explains and details: The Pattern – A Basic Overall Guide; The Template – A Pattern Built to Last; and The Jig – Repetitive Tasks Made Easier. The article provides photos of all three, along with a sources listing for any/all necessary hardware.

Shop Jig: Shooting Board

By: The Editors
Normally you flatten a face and the edges of a board on a jointer, and flatten the opposite face with a thickness planer. You then square the ends on the table saw, or perhaps with a miter saw. Regardless of your method, the edges and ends of the board will more than likely show milling marks - those tiny concave cuts made by the jointer and planer knives. Sanding is one way to remove these marks, but you risk rounding over those crisp edges. Another way is to work the edges with a card scraper - a bit of a nuisance, particularly on a long board, or half a dozen of them. However, with a well tuned hand plane and a shooting board you can quickly and accurately true and smooth the edges and ends of boards. Shooting boards come in various sizes. In many shops you will find two: a long shooting board for edge grain, and a shorter version for trimming end grain.

Cross Word Puzzle:

By: Mel Sevindik
Mel continues her series with this, the third woodworking themed crossword puzzles. With this crossword puzzle you not only get to solve the clues and fill in the crossword, there is an additional ‘word scramble’ that is revealed when the puzzle is complete. Use the last clue to unscramble the secret word and you will have bragging rights as an accomplished word worker. For those of you who don’t typically do crossword puzzles, give this one a try. You’ll be delighted at how much you learn while trying to solve the clues.

Wood Chuckle: Tools of the Trade – Those We Hate and Those That Hate Us Back

By: Don Wilkinson
There is a maxim to do with woodworking that we all know, and must heed, and prepare for. Okay, it’s not really a maxim but it should be. It’s called: ‘Wilk’s Maxim of Woodworking’. Don’s maxim clearly states, “Anyone who works around sharp, and/or pointy things will sooner or later hurt themselves.” That’s rather to the point, and is very clearcut, isn’t it? Sooner or later it will happen to you, so prepare yourself for the eventuality of it. Sure, there are people out there that claim they have been woodworking for 156 years and they haven’t had so much as a bad splinter. To those people all Don can say is, “Liar, liar.” Either that, or they’re just not trying hard enough….

Shop Essentials: Bevel Chisels

By: The Editors
Planes, saws and chisels form the triumvirate of woodworking hand tools. Chisels come in a wide range of shapes, sizes and functions. While most building supply stores will carry only one or two styles of chisels, specialty tool stores offer a multitude of choices - framing, dovetail, bevel, skewed, sash, mortise, corner, butt, paring, firmer and gooseneck. Of all these chisels, there are three primary styles that you’ll find in most woodworking shops: mortise, firmer and bevel. In this article, the editors cover: Mortise Chisels; Firmer Chisels; and Bevel Chisels. They also cover: Tuning; Using; and Sharpening Your Chisels. The article ends with a sources listing, telling where you can get chisels, and a ‘related reading’ section that lists related articles that have run in Canadian Woodworking in the past.

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