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On The Cover: Oriental Style Display Stand

By: Michael Kampen (Oct/Nov 2008)
This Oriental style stand looks just as good displaying your favourite indoor plant as it does a more traditional bonsai. Bonsai is the ancient art of growing trees in a container and through careful cultivation techniques, training them into a miniature form. Bonsai can be any species of tree, but there are several species, including Japanese white pine, Trident maple and Chinese juniper, that are favoured for their ability to adapt to the traditional appearance and form of the bonsai. These are not genetic dwarf specimens, but rather are the same as the full size version found in the wild; they have been trained through the years to resemble the full size version in potted miniature. Michael gives great step-by-step instructions and seven full colour photos of how it all goes together. He also provides a detailed illustration and materials list outlining all of the parts and measurements.

Router Skills: Mortise and Tenon Joinery

By: Michael Kampen
Mortise and Tenon joinery is both attractive and structurally solid. Because of that, it is one of the most widely used joinery in woodworking, with uses ranging from traditional frame and panel doors to furniture. There are a wide variety of M&T joints, with the most common being the ‘stopped’ (blind) joint. Other frequently used joints include the through, wedged, pinned, haunched, double (twin) and offset (barefaced). All of these joints share two common features: a ‘mortise’, which is simply a square or rectangular recess into which a tongue, the ‘tenon’, is inserted. The typical configuration is that the mortise is cut on a stile, and the tenon on a rail. The tenon itself is typically smaller in width and thickness than the rail on which it is cut. Once you know how to make a stopped mortise and tenon joint, you can apply the principles to any kind of M&T joint. If you don’t currently make your M&T joints on your router, then this is the article for you. Michael leads you through the process and teaches you about: Cutting Tenons; Cutting Mortises; Choosing the Right Bit; Proper Routing Techinques; Floating Tenons; and Mortising Jigs. He also gives you 20 full colour photos showing you exactly what to do, and a detailed illustration showing full details of the joint.

Shop Essentials: Pocket Combination Squares

By: Carl Duguay
A pocket combination square is pretty much a ‘do-all’ marking and measuring tool. In addition to fitting easily into the palm of your hand, and storing handily in your shop apron, it is incredibly helpful for a variety of shop tasks. Carpenters and cabinetmakers require large capacity measuring tapes, large framing squares, and oversized straight edges and levels. However, for those of us who primarily build small and moderate size projects, proportionately sized tools are much more convenient to use. Carl has found that a pocket-sized combination square is just the right size for the majority of his measuring and marking needs. It provides the same functionality (albeit in smaller format) as a try (or engineers) square, double square, mitre square, depth and height gauge, and ruler and straightedge (by removing the blade). If you already use a pocket combination square, this article will fill you in on the various features offered by several manufacturers,. If you don’t use one already, this article will explain how and why you should be using one, and which one is best for your needs. Combination squares that are looked at include: Bridge City; Empire; Johnson; P.E.C.; and Stanley.

Tool Picks: Leigh FMT Mortise & Tenon Jig, Veritas Surface Clamp

By: The Editors
If you are looking for something new on the market that will help your woodworking along, look no further. In this issue our editors pick out too great new products. The Leigh FMT Jig is the easiest to use and most versatile mortise and tenon jig on the market. The Veritas Surface Clamp is a really beauty that can be installed vertically or horizontally. Check them out.

Home Improvement: Window Shutters

By: Carl Duguay
If you are looking for a window treatment that adds style, character and beauty to your home, look to shutters. While shutters do offer a measure of privacy, and control the light entering a window, their primary function today is to enhance the beauty of your home. Shutters can be placed on the inside or outside of a building. The simplest shutters are comprised of an arrangement of boards and battens. There are also ‘frame and panel’ shutters; these are essentially panel doors placed over a window. You often see either of these kinds of shutters fixed in place on the outside of a window. This article will have you up on the ladder in no time, and no sooner than that you’ll be out on the street behold your new look.

Dust Collection: Cyclone Dust Collection for the Small Shop

By: Marty Schlosser
Cyclone collectors provide an efficient and effective alternative to conventional dust management systems for professional and dedicated amateur woodworkers. After expanding his shop and adding some additional machinery, Marty realized that he needed to upgrade his dust collection system. At the time his table saw and planer were connected to a shop-built cyclone dust collector, and he used a shop vacuum to collect dust at source from his other machines or other power tools as needed. In this article Marty walks you through the process that he followed in selecting and installing his shop’s new cyclone dust collection system. The transition from an unhealthy and sometimes unsafe environment, to one that’s virtually dust free, took a fair amount of research, more money than a shop built system, and a lot of hard work,but the end result was well worth it. Find out for yourself how a cyclone dust collection system would work for you. Marty covers in detail: Considerations; Shop Layout; Preparing Machinery for Hook-up; Ducting; Installation; and a great list of resource for all of the necessary parts.

Book Picks: New Masters of Woodturning and Workbenches: From Design and Theory to Construction & Use.

By: The Editors
If you are looking for a good read, our editors are always glad to recommend books that they have enjoyed, and feel that you may benefit from them as well. This issue we look at two books: New Masters of Woodturning, a collection of groundbreaking work from 31 masters including noted Canadian turners Michael Hosaluk, Stephen Kennard, and Marilyn Campbell. Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use covers a wide range of practical issues in workbench design and construction and gives lots of tips and practical advice. Both books are available from Fox Chapel Publishing.

Wood Finishing: Applying Stains

By: Carl Duguay
Try using stain to make even the most ordinary project look extraordinary. Choosing a stain can be a confusing experience, as there are numerous types of stains and quite a few different manufacturers. Basically, a stain is any liquid that contains a colouring agent (a pigment, a dye, or a combination of the two) and a binder that bonds the pigment or dye to the wood. Pigments are finely ground insoluble natural or synthetic materials suspended in a binder, which is why they typically settle to the bottom of the can of stain. Dyes, on the other hand, are coloured soluble substances that dissolve in the binder, which is why you don’t get any goop at the bottom of the can. Synthetic dyes are referred to as ‘aniline dyes’; they use solvents rather than binders. Read on as Carl de-mystifies stains and the staining process. His article gives you the basics to determine (and apply) the right stain for what ever project you are working on. Carl also offers some awesome photos, comparing unfinished wood with the same wood after having applied: oil; gel; and water based stain.

Turning Project: Chess Set (Part III)

By: Bruce Campbell
In this final article, Bruce shows you how to decorate the tops of the queens, rooks, bishops and kings. Once you’ve done this part you will have the entire set ready to go. Bruce makes it especially easy with his easy-to-follow instructions, full colour photos, and detailed illustration. If you haven’t already started this project, it’s not too late. The three part series started with our June/July’08 issue.

Turning Project: Custom Designed Ear Jewelery

By: Paul DeBruyn
Stretching ear lobes (and other body parts) has been done by various peoples around the world for thousands of years. Now it is becoming popular in our culture. If you don’t believe me, ask the younger adults in your family. Chances are you’ll find that most people know someone with a stretched lobe or two. For the past six years Paul has been creating custom designed ear jewellery, called plugs, in all shapes and sizes. He’s used exotic woods such as Gabon ebony, amboyna burl, pink ivory, olivewood, bloodwood and many others that he imports from around the world. While he has around a dozen standard styles that his customers can choose from, he revels in creating custom plugs where he can let his creativity flow. In this article Paul will show you how to create a set of 1" ‘inlayed eyelets’ made from two of his favourite woods, bloodwood and amboyna burl. This project is great for closing the generation gap. (Publisher’s note: Believe me, I got points from my daughter just for publishing this piece). Paul makes this into an easy project, no matter what you level of turning you are at. If you do decide to try this project,be sure to make extras, because this new jewelry trend is really catching on.

Wood Chuckle: Collectors Are A Strange Breed

By: Don Wilkinson
Walk into any woodworking shop in any basement or garage, and you’ll notice one inescapable fact – woodworkers are inveterate collectors. In this article, Don exposes the collector in all of us. This is one article that you will want to keep.

Shop Jig: Mortising Jig

By: The Editors
This versatile jig enables you to rout mortises for furniture construction and hardware installation. Any jig used in the shop will enhance your woodworking, but when building a jig you must always come to a compromise somewhere between ‘simple to build’ and ‘versatile in use’. Make the jig too all-encompassing and it becomes overly complex to make and use. Make it too simple and you may find it of limited utility. Make it the way we show you in this article and you will have the perfect jig for the perfect mortise.

Shop Essentials: Powered Face Shield Respirators

By: Michael Kampen
For maximum eye and lung protection nothing beats a powered face shield respirators. In the shop, while your body presents the largest target for injuries because of its sheer size, and the fact that your hands are often in close proximity to sharp edges, it is an injury or damage above the shoulders that can have the most debilitating and lasting effect. We should all be in the habit of wearing eye protection any time we are working in the shop. When you fire up that noisy planer or sander you should already be wearing proper hearing protection as well. To complete the picture, and to protect your lungs from fine particulate found suspended in the air in every wood shop, the final piece of personal protective equipment you should be reaching for is a good quality dust mask or respirator. In this article, Michael tells you what you need to know about face shields in general, and the Triton and Trend models specifically.

Scroll Saw: Yellowknife

By: Marcus Cutler
The capital of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, is home to about half the territory’s population of 40,000. It is located on the north shore of ancient Great Slave Lake near the outlet of the Yellowknife River. While originally settled by First Nations people, the town grew in response to natural resource exploration and extraction. The NWT is home to some of Canada’s largest rivers and biggest lakes as well as the great Mackenzie Valley. As with its cousin to the west, the Yukon, the NWT exists within the boreal forest ecosystem. The official tree of the NWT is the Tamarack Larch, a small to medium size deciduous coniferous tree (it has needle-like leaves which it sheds in the fall.) reaching about 60´ in height with a trunk of about 2´ in diameter. The shield at the top of our pattern is from the territorial coat of arms. The wavy line at the top, which should be blue, represents water, while the white above and below the wave represents ice and snow. The bottom left part of the shield shows gold squares on a green background (standing for the mineral and forest resources of the south part of the NWT), while the right part shows a fox on a red background (the fur resources of the northern tundra).

Woodworkers Gallery: Stilted Cabinet

By: The Editors
This quarter-sawn, white oak stilted cabinet was made by Chris Delaney of Pickering ON. Chris spent the better part of six months refining the design of this cabinet on paper and collecting the perfect materials before beginning construction. When you see his finished product, you know that time was well spent. You can see photos of this and many other projects made by our readers on our website’s photo gallery (which is a part of our Woodworking Forum).

Shop Tools: Dust Collectors for the Home Shop

By: The Editors
There is one thing that all woodworkers share, no matter what aspect of woodworking they participate in – as long as you are working with wood, you need to clean up a mess. A dust collector is designed to be the first stage in your dust abatement program and must be able to do three things well: it must move a sufficient volume of air to capture the material generated at each machine; the air must travel at a sufficient velocity to transport even the largest chips and debris; and it must have filter media sufficient to capture and hold the finest (and most damaging) particles. Without the ability to capture and hold particles 1 micron in size and smaller, a dust collector becomes nothing more than a system to recirculate the dust and keep it airborne. In this article the editors tell you what you need to know to keep your shop healthy and dust free. They cover: Small Shop Options; Conventional Bag Collectors; Design Ductwork for Maximum Efficiency; 240volts; Impellers; Bags and Canisters; Noise Levels; and Warranty and Pricing. The cyclones covered in this article include: Craftex; Delta; General; King; Samona; and Steel City Tool.

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