NO.

30

NOTES FROM THE SHOP

ROUND DINING TABLE

GALLERY (ROUND) CLOCK
CHEVAL MIRROR
SPECIAL REPORT:
OIL FINISHES

$2.50

W 'IX smith
Number 30

Noy/Dec, 1983

Sawdust
ABOI;T1'IIlS ISSUE. Alllhree projeet..<in thill

issue use spline joinery. The splinea arc

used to join mitered pieces togelh,'r
EditOl
to form frames, which, for these project.,
Donald B. Puehko
are then routed into circular shapes.
DesIgn Director
But we also used splines on the Cheval
Ted Kntlleek
Mirror stand to join the legs and stretcher
AsslstaJ11Editors
to the uprights.
Steve Krohmer
So what's the big deal! You make it
MIc"-1 P.$cott
sound like you discovered a new joint.
A$$lstanl All DlrectOl
Not. new joint, just a replacement (or
Key Mulde,
an old joint that I've always had trouble
with. In the past 1might have used dowels
Technic41 IlluatrarOf&
to make joint..~ like this. But dowels can
David KreyUng
create more problems than they're worth.
Mike Henry
Granted, dowel joinery sounds easy Subscripllon Manager
just drill two holes, stick a dowel in them
Sandy J. Boum
and the joint is made.
Subscription A$$lSUinr.
But using dowels to join two mitered
Chr1$1e1Miner
pieces is (in my opinion) one of the most
VIcky Roblnse n
d'Ulicult operations in woodworking. The
Jockle Stroud
problem is that either the ....ood or the drill
Shirley Fellman
bit has to be angled to drill opposing holes
in each mitered edge. And these holes have
Computer Operstlons
to be perfectly aligned. Not just in one
Ken Miner
direction, but in a full 360-. And that's
Clrculalion MaJ1ager
what causes problems.
Jeff Farri$
Question: So, if you don't like dowels,
AdminlslJalM> Asslsuinl
what's your alternative?
Cheryl Scott
Answer: I prefer to use splines. This
joinery
technique doesn't receive much
BuIlding Malntenence
attention. But it's an extremely versatile
Archie Kreu.e
joint
that I find my,;elf using more and
WOOOSMITIf (ISSN 0164-4114) Is published
bimonll1ly (JaJ1uary, March, May, July, Sep- more - particularly to replace dowels.
This all started about four years ago
tember, November) by Wood5m1th Publishing
Co., 2200 Grand Ave Des MoinB$,towa50312. wben 1was building an octagonal frame (or
WOODSMITIf Is regIStered Iredemart<01111. clock, I used dowels to join the mitered
ends of the frame . . . and had a lot of
Woodsmith Publishing Co.
problems.
'Copyright 1983 by Woodsmith Pubflshing Co.
Imagine, eight pieces with miters
All R/ghlS ReseMd.
Subscription.: One year (6 Issues) 510. Two On both ends. That's 16 miters and each
yoars (12 Issues) S18. 54nglocopy price, $2,50 miter with two dowel holes - S2 dowel
holes that all had to be perfect, Igot that
(Canada and FOIelgn: add S2 pet year.)
Change Of Addresl: Please be sure 10inc:ltJde frame together, but I had to "cheat" more
boIh your ok! and new addr.ss 101chenge 01 than once.
Now Iuse splines. This requires grooves
eddtess. Mail 10:Woodsmlll1. 2200 Grand Ave..
which can be cut with relative ease on with
Des Moines, Iowa 50312.
Second cl... postage paid at Des Moines. the new jig we're showing on page 22Once the grooves are cut, the splines are
iowa.
cut
to fit, and glued in place. At this point
Pootm_r: Send chango at address notice,
FO<m 3579, 10Woodsmith Pubiishing Co.. 2200 the splines ran be thought of as lIatt.enedout dowels ... but with more surface area,
Grand Ave.. Des Moines, Iowa 50312.
which provides more gluing surface and
BACK ISSUES
makes the joint much stronger.
OILFlNISIIES. When it comes to finishing
A fist 01!he conlonlS 01 aU back iSsuas appears
on !he wrapper of II1Is iSsue. If lI1e wrapper Is a project, there's an old proverb: One
woodworker's favorite finish is another's
missing. you can send lor booklet doson'blng
mayonnaise.
the contonts and prices 01 all back issue$.
NOLtoo long ago a reader wrote in to say
SAMPLE COPIES
be'd diseoverd the finest finish of all time:
"you have friend whowould like 10see. COPY a mixture of mayonnaise and cigarette
ashes. We had a good chuckle. Then it
01Woodomlth. JUSt send !he nameand addrass.
dawned on me that the reader wasn't all
and wo'U send a sample (at no cost).

that far off 1arJIe!.

He was \l1Iing finishing technique that
4>5t'entially relied on ull lin the case o(
mayonnais, ""fl',tablc 011), some solids
in the mayonnaise to ve the finish some
substanee, 1.111> ogarette ashes to add a
Ilttl" ... Ior.
Although I probably wouldn't use
mayonnllillc (\'''Il''table oil will tum rancid), I :un "cry fond of oil finishes. This
really hit home when I was ready to fmish
the round table shown in this issue.
In the past, Iprobably would bave used
a "normal" polyurethane finish on this
table. And there would have been the long
wait ror the finish to dry before I could fIX
all the usual problems: bubbles, brush
marks. and drips.
But instead of i'Aeingthose old problems,
I decided to use Sutherland Welles' tung
oil and polyurethane mixture. ~ Iapplied
It, there were still bubbles and brush
marks ... but Ididn't have to wait to fix
them. Apply the oil. then wipe it off along with all the problems. I have a lot
more confidence in the way the finish will
turn out now.
NEW FACES. B8A:kin October, on the day
we moved out o( our old offices and into our
new building, Mike Henry happend to stop
in to see if we had a job opening in the art
department.
AL the time, there was much confusion, I
was tired, and the only job we bad available involved moving box after box o( whoknows-what. We gave Mike a copy of
Wood.m!itlt, and asked him to come back.in
II few days when the dust settled.
Mike came beekfour days later, By then
he bad designed and built a trestle table,
drew 16 pieces of artwork showing how the
table was built, and managed to layout
everything the way we need it (or an issue.
w. hired him, and immediately put him
to work on some of the art for this issue.
Mike is already proving to be 8 good
addition to the staff.
ANOTHER NEW FACE. In the last issue we
ran a picture of the outside of our new
building. The inside is even nicer - thanks
in large part to Kay Mulder who designed
the office layout. It's an "open pian"
arrangement or modular offioe system
(Herman Mmer).
For six months, Kay worked with US on
every detail of the new office. ~ soon as
she was done, we asked her to join US full
time. Now she's putting her skills to work
on the artwork in the issue, photography,
and will be in chnrge o( preduetlon (getting
the issue to the printer on time).
NEXT IOlAILING. II'ood.'Imi(h No. 31 will
be mailed the week of February 20, 1984.

\VOOOS~tlTH

T_ips & Techniqu_e_s __

__

THREADING

THREADED INSERTS

1read with interest how you used threaded

inserts on the modular storage units in
IVoodsmitk No. 22. Sinee then, I've used
them for several differeht projects - with
\'arylng degrees of SUcee5S.
The problem I'm always faced with is
how to prevent the threaded inserts from
veering off COUl'Se
as they're threaded into
the workpiece. By the Limethe inserts are
completely embedded. they're angled so
far off to one side that they can't even be
used.
Finallr, I came up with 8 method fOT
installing threaded inserts that works
every time - using a drill press. Fil'st, 1
chuck a a" long machine bolt in the Jacobs
chuck on the drlU press. (Most Jacobs
I

Robert Drake
Keysto". 813., Florida
A SABRI SAW TABtE

Due to the limited size of my shop (and the

limited size of my budget), [ need to have
my tools perform multiple functions whenever possible. So after 1 built the router
table in WoodsmUiI No. 20, I decided to
add two metal brackets under the table top
for attaching my sabre saw. Now, with the
sabre saw securely anchored to the table
top, Ican do many of the operations which
previously could only be done safely with a
jigsaw.
AJthough the setup varies depending on
the model of sabre saw used, the basic idea
is the same. First, I nipped the router

chucks wiUopen wide enough to accept the

head of the bolt. yet atiU allow the jaws to
wrap around and tighten on the shank of
the bolt itself. If not. simply cut off the
head of the bolt.)
To install the insert, thread it and a nut
on the bolt, and tighten the two together.
Then align the short unthreaded shaft of
the insert into the pre-drilled hole in the
workpiece. Apply tight pressure with the
control arm of the drill press, and rotate
the chuck in a clockwise direction to thread
the insert into the workpiece.
When the insert is completely embedded, look the spindle in place, and back off
the nut from the top of the insert. Then
unloek the spindle, and unthread the bolt
from the insert while slowly releasing
pressure on the control arm.
Jim Knowles
AUanta, Goorgia
SIZING IT UP

out unstaeking the entire pile above the

piece in question.
Mter my most recent episode of unstacking these random pieces, it finally
occurred to me how to eaminate this problem. By ~imply writing down the usable
measurements on the ends of each piece
with a fell tipped pen, it becomes easy to
locate a piece close to the size needed.
And I've fOllnd that by using my own
special codes, Ican even identify burls and
other unique pieces.

I just recently completed stacking some of

the random length pieces of wood that
always seem to collect around the shop.
Unfortunately. more times than not this
effort is useless. As soon as the pieces are
slacked, il's often impossible to detcnnine
the actual size of any individual piece with-

WOODSMlnt

PlAIE

,.=~),~
.
'\

....

'7

~~MEN~;
f,

. CC

!""

'./

table top upside down, and positioned the

basse of the sabre saw over the coUethole so
there was enough room to easily change
the blade. Then I used two I" x 10" mending plates (available from any hardware
store J as brackets to sandwich the base of
the sabre saw to the bottom of the router
table top.
The mending plates (and the sabre saw)
are secured to the top with v... machine
bolts countersunk in the surface of the
table. Then the bolts are secured with
wingnuts to make lightening the brackets
easy.
Since the router table was designed for a
router, there's a V," deep recess for the
base of the router. To mount the sabre
saw, I shimmed out the recess so that it's
Oush with the bottom surface of the table

top. This shim prevents the base from

tilting as the brackets are tightened.
Granted, this setup isn't much competition fora truejigsaw. But with only aS2 to
$3 investment, and the space limitations in
my shop, it works like a charm.

IIfo.,k B1'1fcn
Enid, Oklahoma
ROUTER TABLE INSERTS

I've completed the router table shown in

IVood81nith No. 20, and there's one change
I've made to the original design that may
be of interest to some of your readers. I've
found that there are some projects and
routing techniques that require a smaller
opening around the router bit than the 1"","
collet hole specified in lhe plans.

.....
PlYWOOD 8ASi

To solve this problem, I cut a 3" square

hole (located directly over where the
router recess will be cut) in the Masonite
top before gluing it to the "'I' fir plywood.
Then the router table top was constructed
in the normal manner.
After the top is assembled, J cut out four
y,,' Masonite inserts to fit the 3" square
hole in the top, Preferably, tbe inserts
should be CUI from the same piece of
Masonite as the top,
Then a different size collet hole is CUtin
each insert. 1 U$C 1%"', 1~. 1", and ~"
diameter collet holes, but any size will
work. Secure the insert. to the top by
ccuntersinking' screws in each comer.
Elvin Car~oll
Topeka, Ka,,$os

1-------------1
SEND IN YOUR 'DfAS

Ifyou'dlikeID share a woodwo,'ling Upwitholhe<

readers 01 Woodsmllh. send your Idea 10:
Woodsmlth,TIps & TecIlniques. 22.00 Grand

Ave.. Des MoInes.Iowa 50312

Wa pay a minimumof SIO fortips. andS1Sor
more for speciaJ techniques (that are accepled

lorpublication).Please give 8completoexplanation of your Idea. If a sketch is needed, send it

along; we'" draw a new one.

Cheval

or

A NEW SLANT ON YOUR IMAGE

One of the biggest problems with II
full-lengtb mirror is that it's never at
the right height. No matter where
it's hung on the wall. it', almost
impossible to keep from looking
either "headless" or "legless," or
both. To remedy this problem. I
built a cheval mirror - a full-length
mirror that swivels on a stand.
This mirror consists of an archedtop frame that's attached to a twopost stand. But the fun part is
building the frame for the mirror.
THE ARCHED

\\'hen using a trammel attachment, the ph"t puint must be at tbe

same heIght as the workpiece itself.
SQ I attached ~mall piece of 514
scrap to the plywood to serve as a
base, see Fig. 3.
Then locate the pivot point by
using a !<lraight OOgeto extend the
joint line. to the base. The point
where these lines meet marks the
location for the pivot hole for the
trammel attachment.
1~.JOfl RADtl'S.Set the trammel
attachment to rout an g" radius on
the inside OOb~of the assembly. Be
sure to measure g" from the pivot
hole to the ollt$ick edge of the router
bit. Then I routed the Inside radius
o( the arch, moving in a clockwise
direction, and tnkingseveral shallow
passes..... fig. 3.
O~'TStDERADIISo Next, reset the
trammel auaehmen; to rout a 10\11'
radiUS on the outside edge of the
frame. (This time measure 10\11'
from the pivot point to the ;n$w,
edge of the bit.)
Shop Note: In order for it to cut
through the I h.thick stock, I had
to pull the I' bit I WAS using out of
the collet about I'M.This won't cause
any problems as long as the bit is not
over-extended,

rop

The mirror &arne is built with nine

separate pieces: a four-sided arched
top. a three-sided bottom, and two
straight sides. r started with the
most difficult section, the arched
top.
The arched top coosists of (our
pieces of6l4 oak (1 iii, thick) that ore
mitered and joined with splines, see
Fig. I. To assemble these pieces, rip
a board Sv,' "ide, and 37"long. Then
cut this board Into rour 9',long
pieces.
MITERING. To form the arch, miter
both ends of all four pieces at 22Yc'
so their final length is S,' from
point to point, see Fig. 2.
Cl'T GROQVF.;S. Next, eut grooves
(for splines) in the mitered ends o(aU
four pieces. To do this, rout a
l'Y....long by y,'-deep slot in the mltered ends of all four pieces. see Fig.
2. (I used a Y,' straight router bit
and the routerjigshown on page22.l
Then hardwood splines are cut to
fit the slots so the grain of the spline
runs at right angles to the joint. (For
more information about this joint,
see Shop Notes on page 9.)
LA..."SF:MBI,\'.After the splines are cut to
fit, the four pieces are glued up, two seclions ata time. Apply glue to the miters,
insert the splines. and hold two pieces
together for two or three minutes.
(Clamps are not needed; hand pressure
alone will produce a good joint.
TRIM ENDS.At this point, the arch should
form a half circle, with mitered ends perfectly aUgned in a straight line, refer to
Fig. 3. UnfortWl3tely, this rarely is the
case. UsuaUy,when a straight edge is buttoo across the ends of the arch. only the toe
or the heel ofthe miters touch the straight
edge.
Correcting any error on the ends of the
arch is important. Unless they're perfedly

THf MIRROR BOTTOM

After the top arch was routed. I

worked on the three-piece bottom
assembly.
CUTl'lfleES. First, rip enough
stock to form two 4',"ide corners
(C), and the 2~'-",;debottom (1).
Both corner pieces are mitered to 45'
SO they're 10*1' long from point to
-' point.
aligned, the long sides (B) of the mirror
frame "ill either be toed in, or toed out.
To correct the alignment of the miters,
tack the assembled arch to a piece of ply.
wood and use a table saw III remove only
enough material to produce a fre,;h cut
completely across the miters. (For more
information, see Shop NOlA!s, page 9.)
ROUTING THE ARCH

To round out of this mitered assembly, two

radius cuts are made using a router with a
trnmmel point attachment. When doinjr
this, it's best to leave the arch tacked to the
plywood. and clamp the plywood to a work
bench to seeure everything during lhe
routing operation.

Next, determine the final length for the

bottom piece. To do this, measure the outside diameter of the topareh (which should
be 2OV,,,>,then subtract 9' (or the two
I",'radius pieces used on the corners).
see Fig. ~. The res ult "ill be the length of
the bottom piece (II Va" in my (!....se).
ASSEMDLl. Once these three pieces are
c:tIl,join them by c:tItting slots on the both
ends of the mitered cerner pieces and on
the ends of the boltom piece. Then cut
splines to fit the slots and glue the three
pieces together, SCi! Fig. 5.
TRI)! ~lITERS. Next, true up the mitered
ends that will be joined to the frame's long
sides (B). To do this, first use a hand saw to
remove the extra "ears" extending below

WOOOSMlTH

lhe bottom piece, _ f'ilr' .>. Then use

table ..... 10 trim the mitered ends (keepIng Ih. bcttcm preee ughl apinsl the
(~nce)"" the ~mbly is 41!" wide,
TE."pun;
Alter the nutered ends are
trimmed, Ih..y", cut into rounded eom<:'"
on a band ........ To do thi$, rul OUI a tern-

I flOUtl , CUTTlfrrfOou.c;lAM
or--

JI\

an

fOIlOf' AI04

A\

21'1\ auTllS OM 10TH

(HOS Of lACHNCl

plate ..~th an inside radius o( 2Yo" and an

outside radius o( .j",,'. see Fig. 6.
Then hull the bottom assembly against
the top .roh (8A shown In ~'ig.7), and
J)O$ilionthl' template so. 1) the outside
edge of th,' template line. up with the
oUI..idr cdj(e o( lb, tOj) arch, and 2) so the
t.emplate i. nUllh with the mitered edge
that'a butted again,1 the top arch.
Aft.r Ihe radiu. i.traced on both corner
pieces. rut OUllh., roult<!corners on a band
saw. Then sand the MItl" .0l00ll! usinn a
drum .and<r on a drill pre, .
TIlE~lIlt:' X"XI. the
long side.,
B) ~ ad.l .. l To determine the length o(
these sf,"., butt the bottom assembly
again.t Ih~ top arch. and measure the
eombmed height o( both ....ssemblies. Then
rubtraCl tru. me.. urement from the 5:l"
h~il1htof th. frame, ..., Fill'. i.
Cut both ~.de. 2'" wide, and to the final
length, Then roUI ~IQu.(for splines) on both
ends of each pl,'ce, !I('" rig. 8. finally, the
entire mirror frame ran be assembled and
set aside to dry,

rn.me',

71
,

J
GIilAtN OI.ICflON

10\1".

lO'~"
I.

r ' ,"

J. ,.

sr
r

10

THE MOLDED EDGES

2.','

lAOIUS

All (OUT edlt(,. on the mirror Irame are

molded wilh a router in (our ""paratc CU!>.
nR"T (IT. The 1i""1 cut 1$ made TIDthe

, 0

~j

tonQM STa(tCHU

r"'

t1'it-

oul.<tde edee of th. (""" .ide o( the frame

U>lTlj{. ".' rounding-O\'er bu "ill!. pilol.
Set the depth of eut to produce a oy",. shoul-

der (see St~1'I In rig. 9,. and rout the

trame In a clock...1.,,! direction.
sscovu ('IT. Then switch to Y,
rounding-<>\'erhit" ilh a pilot to rout (in a
C'oN"'trclorkI~f' direction) the inside
edltl' of Ih,' !'rame. leaving a ~. shoulder.
_ Step 2 in ~ig. 9.
TlIIRII('I'T The out.ide lodgeon Ihe back
side o( the frame i. also routed with.
rounding-ever bit (moving clockll:i$el but this lime there', no shoulder, see Step

ttMOVI EAtS

WITH HAND lAW

Y,

3 in Fig. 9,

THIN CUfOU1 rv.-PLAJ,

M'lOot )
SI

.....

.,,'

Oft." ,.

Mi Of $10
SlOl

10' ..

SlfP -t), routinJ( c(lf~"'Ircl(ICInM8~

\\;th
'er;' lighl plI.''''' Thi- rabbet "hoold be
jU>1 .lightly deeper than the groove (or the
plill(', see Dclail ;; in fi~.
9.

.".

AQUI'

final cut is to rout a

rabbet for the rmrror itself, This rut i~
made u"ing. 'ISo. rabb<:t bit with a pilol (_
I
f'()I'RTIi C('T. The

....YOvt 2' ." ANO .......

IACM' ON CA.DtOAlD.

~
t

"

"

.. t()UNC)JHG QVfI

,.

,. "

II'

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lit

NO SHOULD

\\'OODSMITH

At thi" point. the mirror frame looked

sharp enough by ilbelf that I was tempted
t~justhangitonthewoU.
But itdidn't t.ake
long berore 1ran into lh~"how high to hang
it" problem. and dedded (apin) that the
swivel stand was really a good idea.

ROUI( 10

THE UPRIGHTS
The first step in building the mirror stand

is to laminate two pieees of 1/4 lumber

('v, thick) 10 produce the a~'
thick

flGURf 11

LAMlI'tATt

rwo

to ....aDuel

"eelS 4/4 C~~

THtcC,

1""1lflCK

STOOC

eUTAW.Y DETAil
Of U'*IOMl' SlOYS

clOnOM VIEW)

MUll

12

,.

FIGURE 13
aonOM

END OF UPSlIGHT

MAlJ(

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ON ONLYrHE'2" ,,,as

AT STAI'iSTOP POINtS, -er,__

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BOTTOM
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IOnOMtHO
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OKORAT1Vf

aunONS

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USE

I
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2 -

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CENTER

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OlES ON SlOClC

stock needed for each upright. Then the

laminated stock i. eut to the final size fot
the uprights. see Fig. 10.
si.or ~IIlKTIS.:S.A doubl.,.slot mortise
and spline joint is used 10 join both the
center stretcher and the legs to the
upright.;. This joinl it; similar to a mortise
and wnon. except 5101.< (mortises) are cut
in both pi(!CCS being joined. rather than in
only one piece. Then the two halves are
joined with a spline. which aets as a tenon.
Using the router jig shown on page 22. I
routed two mortises (for attaching the
legs) centered on the l%"'wide faces of the
uprights, see Fig. 11. Then 1 cut another
mortise (for the streteher) centered on the
2"-"ide face.
MOLDISGTUE I.'PRICII'IS. After the mortises are cut. all four edges of the uprights
are routed wilh a ""'- rounding-over bit.
These molding cUU;stop 3" from the lOp
end of the upright. and 6" (rom the bottom
(mortised) end. and have a 'I"," shoulder on
only the 2"-wide races. see Fig. 12.
Making the uprights requires two different setups on the router table. The first
step is to attach a long Lshaped auxiliary
renee to the router table. see Fig. 13. Then
slop blocks are clamped at both ends of the
fence. One block is 2T' to the left of the
center of a ~" rounding over bit. and the
other is 30" to the right or th e bit. see
t'ig. 14.
With the stop blocks in these positions,
the molding will slop 20/. from the top of
the uprights, and Wo'- from the bottom.
To rout the first edge, position the
upright on the router table with the
2",wide edge race down. and the bottom
end of the upright against the stop on the
right. Keep the top (left) end oflhe upright
several inches away Cromthe bit. and ~t.art
the router. Then use a kiss and run movement so the router bit doesn't burn the
wood. To do this. swing the top end of the
upright into the bit, and immediately start
sliding the upright toward the left stop.
Next. rotate the upright so the opposite
2"-wide face is down on the router table,
and rout this edge.
At this point, only two diagonal edges
have been routed. see Detail, Fig. 14.
Routing the remaining two edges requires
reversing the position of the stop blocks.
and flipping the uprilt end for end, see
the second setup in Fig. 14. Rout the
.-emaining two edges in the same manner

WOOOSMITH

as the first two edges, again, keeping the

2"-,,;de (ace down on the router table.
ROt7IlNDS. After the edges are routed,
the top and bottom ends ef the uprights are
routed using a eo rounding-over bit. see
Fig. 15. To help keep the upright st90 to
the fence, I used a square piece of scrap
stock to guide the upright through the bit.
DRILL BOLES. The key to making the
frame swivel is a fancy piece of hardware
called a ';swivel mirror screw and insert.. "
This is just an ornate thumb screw and
threaded Insert, see Sources on page 24.
In order to mount the screw, drill a Yo"
hole on through the 2'-wide side of the
uprights. see Fig, 16, While 1 was at it, I
also drilled two e" holes. Yo" deep at the
bottom of the uplights for decorative buttons, refer to Fig, 16.

RGUIl18

fIGURE

17

flAclE NOAlE ON BOlM ENDS

OF STtETC:Hllt

'C'CONNECT RADIUS

1t.

fO END
WfTH OENrl1 CUM

GUll 10

FtGUIE

.-

THE STRoeHER

A single stretcher is used to join the lWO

uprights on the mirror stand. To determine the correct length of the stretcher.
measure the outside width o( the mirror
frame. and add twice ((or both aides) the
thickness o( the flange on the threaded
insert.
The center stretcher is cut from 514
stock so it's 4" wide, and to the lengtb
figured above (this should be 20V."). Using
the layout shewn in Fig. 17, make a template and trace the curve al both ends of
the stretcher. see Fig. IS, Then band saw
the profile, and sand it smooth.
AgainJ rout. Y.all x 2Yt" Riot mortises in
the ends oCthe stretchers (see Fig. 19), and
cut hardwood splines to fit. Then the lop
and bottom edges on the stretcher are
routed using a ". rounding over bit. producing a 0/.. " shoulder. see Fig. 20,
ASSEMBLY. Finally, finish-sand the
uprights and the stretcher, Then assemble
these pieces SO the bottom edge of Lhe
stretcher is "," from the bottom of both
uprights, see Fig. 21.

U'IlG+fT SJlliTCHfa

...

lOUNOING

DONor lour INDS

OVER

$tReK"E.

FlOUIE"

~....
SAND C01lNEaS UNTil
-?;>" A'o".,. ... -...AlfGNEO -:;--..

<P'

.c.,/~ /

THE LEGS

To help eliminate waste. and to prevent

weak spots due to improper grain dlreetion. the four curved legs o( the min-or
stand are cut at an angle on (our 5"-wide by
2O'long pieces of 514 stock. Miter both
ends on each piece at 45, so they're IS"
long from point to point, sec Fig. 22.
Cutting all four legs to exactly the same
shape requires using a template. To make
the template, first copy the profile shown
in Figure 22 onto a piece of cardboard.
Then cut out the template and trace it on
the leg blanks, see Fig. 22, Once the profile
is transferred to the blanks. the legs are
band sawn and sanded smooth,
Then clamp the legs together to cheek
the consistency of the legs where the
curves will meet the upright. These ends
must be of equal size so the legs can be
positioned correctly later,
\VOODSI-oUTH

10,'"

'I"
20

I.

.._---

.~
-

!'OsmON ' ......... n FLUSH

~
ON ENOS Of 'LANK

A.ftH the legs are cut to size, rout ~" x

~. slot mortises on the end of each leg
that attaches to the uprights. see Fig. 23.
(Again, I used the router jig 00 page 22 ~o
cut the mortises.)
1IOLOINC. Then using a ~ .. rounding.
over bit on the router table. rout only the
top edge on aU four legs, see Fig. 23.
ASSt;!II8LY. After the legs are routed,
they're finished sanded and glued to the
uprights. Then cut splines to lit the rnoruses, and glue the legs
Cramthe bouem
of the upri~hl, see Fig. 24. You can use
hand screws and pipe clamps (see Tips and
Techniques. Woodsmilh No. 29), or hand
pressure to clamp the legs in position.

Y'

AGUlI '2"

'23

- lout

AII:HAHO

I~;~~n."n
I
ON

'~

(0

HAJtOWOOO
""'HE

ON ROUTtIt TAau ~

OFltG
-1''. tONG.
I....
OlfP SlOT

w,," rii,g:u alf

i ";'*1(;:\
,F;&M

LlG

,.

FIG\.IItEU

UG'f'OSfT

\ ___,

EN Of

flGUl126

"'toN HOU ONnAT

Stot Of MlKItOR
iFaAM.E.
MUk HflGHt
FOI: INSI...,

--L""""'G

f-

U~HT

"'OTtOM SIDE

THE FINAL finiNG

At this point, both the mirror frame and

the stand are basically complete. The only
thing that needs to be done is to position
the mirror frame on the stand and install
the threaded inserts.
POSITlO~ THE FRAME. To position the
mirror frame, place a 'Y,- spacer block
between the bottom of the mirror frame
and Lhe top of the stretcher. see Fig. 25.
\Vlth the frame in this position, mark th.
location for the threaded insert on Oll~side
of the mirror frame. see Fig. 26.
To be sure the insert on the other side is
located in exactly the same position, measure the distance from the mark to the
bottom of the frame. Then use this disranee to lind the location for the insert on
the other side.
The ~. holes for the threaded in..
serts
are drilled v,,' deep. centered on the flat
spot on the outside edge of the frame ('Ii.
from the back edge). see fig. 27. Note, As
[ was inslAlling the inserts. [ decided to
coat the outside threads with epoxy to help
prevent them Cram rotating in the hole.
TlUPIIRROR UACK.The IYi.. -deep rabbet
that was routed on the back of the mirror
frame provides room for. ""'",thick mirror, a v..'thick Masonite back. and a nex
ible rubber stop.
To make the Masonite back. rip a piece
of Masonite to the same width as the dis,
tance between the rabbetss On the back of
the mirror frame. Then lay the frame over
the Masonite. and trace the inside profile
of the top arch and both bottom corners,
see f'ig. 29. Using p sabre saw, cut the
radii on the \i,' Masonite to fit the frame.
At this point. [ took the unfinished mirror frame to a local glass store and had
them cut a V.-lhitkrnirror to fit the frame.
PIXISlI. To [mish it off, I stained the
frame and stand with two coats of Minwax
Early American stain. Then 1 applied
three coats of MjDWax Antique Oil finish.
MOUNTINGTIlE MIRROR. Finally, I positioned the mirror in the frame, covered the
back with the ~. Masonite, and tacked a
flexible rubber stop in place to secure the
mirror in the frame, see Fig. 30.

(NOlt!,

!
.

~
"

.....w,

2QVw'

-.;:

MAlIC lOCATION Of

....lOt
SlOE

THREADEDINS,.T

-ON

't"
1":-

ONi SIDE

111

hi)

AGU., 21

.,'

MEASURE OtSTANa
FItOM
IOnOM STanCHER

~-1'

'. OfEP~0lE Fol

S'MVlL ntUAOtO
INSBt

'-.

...

ClHTU lNSUT HOU ON A.At Of

,-,...k ...

'"."

MC)lOO

lOGE-

'.',
I

31V.-

UPliGHt

SWIm MAlaOI SClEW

AND l ... EADlD INsear

SlACE. ItOCIC)

~
~

t
0'

J_

'll

, .

I--

~~;

-,

"

,I

~-"

n<lUI e es

tltAC'.OR~
8onOM COtNEts,.l

FlGURf 30

Of TOft.ICH AND

z--,

....J.

-'

_!.

MIRRot
SID.

I;;..,

cut'. ~MASON." to sn

IlTWEtN 1tA&6ETSIN FlAME

...

_3..PllGKT

'.....mete: MIRItOI

K'~n

_:.

....... ~. ntlCl(

MAS-~Tf-

_os

fAce
WITHiN fIlAC!

,
IUMn STor

'<V

MATfRIALS LIST

lYt. ~ lv,. ~
A Mirror Ann P'.," (4)
a Mtrror Sid, Pjtc (2)
1VI. 'It lY ... 3"1.
e aottom MUeMPi.~ (2) 1VI. x a , 10lJ'.
o Min'Ot FrameSMither (1) 1V.. x 2'/. 11'1,
f Upright S",.tm.r (1)
1v.. ... - 2071.
F Fo.t (4)
l'A S-19
G Upright Blann (4)
,, ... 2 - 33

.,0

LE

MlRIOI

1CV1.-

~t{
I

CUTTING DIAGItANl
1'~.
..~''l '", n'

~~~z~!d,I;Ai[
'i,~,~,tkA1
1\-..... S'h 6(1'

3... ,E,:.. !a
; 11~
sv." i
::3

1'1,. S ....a ... ,

I"

''t%.-

1(

1?'

;l!,.. , ... 1......

fi ,,;; ~
\VOODS~UTH

___

S_h_o~Notes

.\J; .. e "c'Tt1 bUlldmg the proj..,ts far

thi>

issue, IJlltt'd tlU\\ n some note> eoncernine

mner and 1'i~llinc
juilll'r')',
CUnlNG

MITERS

AlthoUJ(h cUllinJ( miter. seems like a

.implc ollCrntiulI, thcl"'~ ",ally more to it
than jU"t cutting the workpiece at the correct angle, In (net. even when the angle i.
""t correctly, lh., cut can "till be ofT. The
probl('m i. that Ih., ... " blade often t~I\(!'
to .ith~r pull ur push the workpiece. This
erwping make, II IUll'oNlible to make a
<tl'3ll!'htcut.
t:Rl.:II't', Tht t.&i'i~t".,." to prevent
the w ork",~ ("'lD "",,,PIDJ( is to at"""h a
ply"ood f"I"'" 10 the miter gauge to support the WOrkpll...e aUth.. way to the blade.
TIlen clamp 8 stop block to the fence so
eon'tant p........re can be applied to the
workpiece to J)u",hIt ;l~a)'from the blade.
see tig. I.
RGUI. 1

(IT ~ln'HS ~O\\. to cut the mitered

picees, l use th~ follo,,;nl{procedure: fir-I

I eut .ach of the 1""""" for the framl:

III roul(h ~ngth (u.",aUy liz' to I' lung"r
than 1I('",1,'<lI.
Th('n I've found .t'. be.t to sneak up on
the miter by makinK two cu.....The first cut
tle3n 8\\Ol' most 1)( the Y..aste, Next. a
trim CUt ill mndp which Ju>t barely skim>
orr the end of the miter, This cut should be

l(Iluged so no more than one-half the thickneft. of th~ ~n"blade actualls make' th~
cut. Tlli. way there'. much less chan,.., of
th" blad~ pulling "r pu>hinl( the workpit""
OUI of lin...
tuniNG

GROOVES FOR SPLINES

Mer

thl' mill'r.I are cut, the pieces .....

Joined and alw aIi~'Ilt...t\\;th the .._'" of
,plinL'$. To k....p the PI("'." aligned. th"""
groo"e. mu~t be .,ther, IJ <entered on
each miter, or 21 they mu>t be the .am..disWll'(' Crom the C...... <ide of each pi_.
Back In lI'ood.o",ith Xu 21, "e <ho....ed
how to cut th.,p !(rOO"e>;
on a router table.
Thb method clnl" a nice job of keeping the
groIl"._ th,' ....m. dc.tan"" from the face
,id,' of the mitered pit'Ce. Howe,'er. one
groove on each pll't'" must be started ,,~th
a plung~ cut.
\VOOOSMITII

To 1:, around this problem. I used the

jiJ,t ..hewn un pag~22 in lhls issue to cut
gJ'OO"OS that Ill'\' purtly centered on each
miter. Th,. ehrrun.tc' the problem cf making a plunge cut, yet still provide>; perfect
alignment fur thl.' ~1)linc~.
CUnlNG

or (''OUnt4.'.onCt~thv

hal\'es fit together perfectly.

Ifyou'", "arking WIth a sis-sided frame.
the open end. can be tnmmed on the table
<3"', ~. Fil{. :la, If the ~
u, eil(ht

SPLINES
f(I"OOve~are cut. the

>T,line. han' to 1><. CUI to match, The key

h~r,' is to cut the splines so they have a
good frirtion fit in the !(rOO\'e.
ROUtt 2

""11100.
IOUAlS WIDTH01 G'OOVI

For gI'\18te.t strengtb, the spline should

be CUI110till' groin i. running across the
joint line, see Fig. 2, This requires two
cuts, The fin<t cut I,made by setting the
rip fenCt' th,' "proper distance" from the
blade, Thi. di'lance i" equal to the width of
th( b'l'OO\'" in thl' mitered pieces.
for the ",,'CUnd cut. set the rip fence
about ~. '" vo.d the bouom of the first
rut, anel Wlldp the workpiece with the
miter gauge to make l W'O s.halIo\\: cuts
Then siml'I)' anap olr the .pU"", and sand
0(( the raw"! ...
1.,-.
GLUING UP MITEIIED FRAMES

it must be mounted to a pi~ or

plywood fin;I, -ee t'il(, 3b,
ROUTING ROUND fRAMES

The ~eCr\'t behind cutting a round frame i.<

simpl,', UKe n router with a trammel
attachment. I use a Sears router and Lhe
Seal'>' 1\'0. 2S17!1 multi-purpose router
guide a",1 trammel attachment
WING NUl AND
WA.SHE.

CUT STIlI' TO
'" Gti>OV'
SlAtS IOUTrl

GUIDE
COUNTII.saNK

If th(' spline fit, well, the mitered pieeeIIlll~ MIdi"" f the CIrcle is ~" (a.. on
can be glul"(1 logt:'lher 1'''flrtJllt ('lnl"pitl!1. the round tahl~ in IhL<issue), an extension
Hand-p.......ure alone will produce a good arm can be added, 'CI' Fil(. 4
til(ht Joint. Thi. i>< because the strength of
SMOOTH ItAIIETS
a .plin~ jllint i.between Lhespline and the
side. of lh., ~"""\'c~
between the \Vh~n I ", .. building the frame [or the
cheval rmrror shown in this i.. ue, [ CUt a
t\\IO Inil<'rl~1
t.'(IJ{(!~.
If the ."Ii"~ fits tight in the groove, it Mlboot on Ih(' back side of the frame with a
will pick up moi.tu", a:< glue is applied, ruuter lind rnhllCt bit. However. t~ere's a
.",eU, ItIl<I produl'!' a very til(hl joint.
problem with thi. t)'PI' of routing.
One .hould,r of the rabbet (where the
Hold th. jUlnt 10llelher for a minute or
"", and th(n &<'1 It down on a flat .urface to boltom ofth., Mlbbo'l bit cu"" alway. clul'''
dry. In 8 f~",nunu!<',. it "ill be alJno.t out. l'nfnnul\lOlI'I\', lhlt' i, the .;boulder
im""""ihll' 10 get th" joint apart - e,'en if that "ill b\' ren'-eled III the mirror.
To p,..,\'~nl ch'fH'ut on thi.- .houlder, set
)'00 "ant('d to.
the rabbet bIt to the fInal deplh of the rul.
MAl(ING ADJUSTMENTS ON
Thf'n make' a light 8COrin~ pa&.....mo\.ingtbe
MITEIIED.RAMES
router in a lOU "t~rc/(Xki.u rotation
If y"u'r~ building a frame with these around the U1~ideedge of the CramI'. This is
mItered 1"('', don'l lry to glue them aU actually the "wronl(" direction, but it protogether at onCl'. (They almo.! ",,"fT III dute!< a .mooth, clean shoulder.
Then to complete the rabbet. reset the
togt!ther ptrl"ctly.)
In.<t('ad, glue ,'airg togetber to form two depth of CUIand make .ucce"l;ively deeper
halffrnmes, Then the open ends of the cuL.~in the correcl (r/Ol'k,l'i.e) direction
reached.
frame hah'c> elm be trimmed so both until the tICOnngcut i~

,,,,I

Round Clock Frame

ROUTING 'ROUND THE CLOCK
How do you make a round frame? This is
one of the woodworking techniques that
has always intrigued me. Although there
are several ways to go about it, the method
[used for this clock produces a sturdy. and
quite handsome frame. One thai should
stand up to the test of time.
However, in order to build the round
frame for this clock. it's best to first order
the clock face and bezel (the gla;oa dome
that fits over the face). because Ihey will
aifect the final size of the frame.

$:
$

$
$

(>

(>-

$
$

$ Oc
v

$
$

$
$

$
$

$
$

e ~

$
$.

s...

MAKING THE fRAME

The bezel I purchased (see Sources. page

24) has Q diameter of9Y... so 1 built a frame
with a diameter of 13" to provide 3 Ii's" rim
around the frame. This involves building a
hexagonal (six-sided) frame first: then
routing it (with the aid of a trammel
attachment) into a circular shape.
RIP STOCK. To build the hexagonal
frame. rip a 6<r-long piece of5l4 stock to a
widlh of 3.". Then CUI off six sections to a
rough length of 9".
Shop Note: As I was cuiting the rough
lengths, I numbered each piece and indio
eated the grain direction so when the
frame Will; assembled. the grain would run
continuously around the frame. A nice
touch.
CUT MITERS. To join the six sections
together. I used miter and spline joinery.
The details of making this joint are given
on page 9. But it basically involves cutting
30" miters on both ends of all six pieces so
their linal length is l!' from point to point.
see Fig. I.
JOINERY. After the miter>; are cut, the
next step is to cut grooves in each mitered
end for the splines that hold the joint.
together. These y,"-wide grooves are
Slopped so they don't show on the outside
perimeter of the frame, see Fig. 1. (To cut
stopped grooves, I used the router jig
described on page 22.)
ASSEMBLY. After the grooves are cut,
V."-thickhardwood splines are Cut to fit the
grooves.
Then the frame can be
assembled. I did this by gluing up two
"half' sections consisting of three pieces
each. Then I glued these two halves
together to form the six-sided frame.
(Shop Notes on page 9 describes how to
join these halves to form a perfect frame.)
SETUP fOR TRAMMEL ATTACHMfNT

After the frame is assembled, it's formed

into its final circular shape using a router
and trammel attachment. However. to
hold the frame in place while routing. I

10

()

fil'l\l tacked it to a circular piece of W'

plywood (cut to a 6" radius), see Fig. 2.
(Make sure the brads are placed where the
router bit won't strike them.)
Then I nailed a piece of scrap 2x.4 to the
bottom of the plywood so the whole
assembly can be held securely in a bench

vise.
PIVOT POINT. In order to use the trammel attachment, th.. pivot point bas to be
at the same height as the frame. I glued
and nailed a piece of 514 scrap to the plywood- approximately in the center of the
frame. see Figs. 2. 3.
Then to locate the pivot point, place a
straight edge across the three opposing
joints and mark tines on the center block,
see Fig. 3. The point where the three lines
intersect is the pivot point for the trammel
attachment. (The Sears trammel attachment I used requires a
pivot hole at this
point.)

v...

ROUTING THE fRAMi

At last, the frame can be routed into a

circular shape. Doing thi~ involves three

basic steps and five different routing cuts.
(Note: In aJJ cases, the routing is done by
moving the router in a CO''''J....docklUise
direction.)
OUTSIDE ClIiCU)IPEIiENCE.
The first
step is to rout the outside circumference of
the frame to a radius or 6~"(diameter of
13").To do thiS, first mark a line 6~" from
the pieot point and drill.
pilot hole so it
just touches the outside of the marked line,
see Fig.~. Thi. pilot hole makes il easier to
lower the router bit when routing the
circumference.
Then use a Y' carbide-tipped straight
bit and the trammel attachment to rout
through the frame in several (countereloekwise) passes, see Fig. 5.
ROt;T RABBET. The next step is to rout a
rabbet on the inside or lhe frame. (This
rabbet is for a y." plyv.'ood insert which
will hold the quartz clock movement and
the clock face.)
Re-set the trammel attachment so the
outside edge of the router bit is 4W' [rom

y.

WOODSM1TH

the pivot point. see Fig. 6. Then rout a

groove as deep as the actual thickness of
the plywood you want to use for the insert.
(Since the depth of this cut is shallow,
there's no need for a pilot hole.)
After routing the gl"OOVC, there "ill still
be waste sections left on the inside edges of
the frame. To remove these areas, use the
router (without the trammel attachment)
and a ~- b"traight bit. This will leave 8 wide
shoulder (or rsbbet) on the in_.qdeoi the
frame for the plywood insert. see Fig. 6.
MOLDINC
C(,"!'S. The basic round frame is
complete at this point. Now all it need. is a
couple of molding cuts to dress it up.
1used a W' corner-round bit with a pilot
to form a corner-round profile with an 'V.r
sheulder.see Fig. 7. Because a pilotisused
with the rou~ bit, this operation can be
done ireehand (without the trammel
attachment). 1 made two successively
deeper passes to form this molded edge.
CORE BOX BIT. Then I softened the
square shoulder by switching back to the
trammel attachment and used a \1," eore
box bit to rout. cove tQ a depth of 'I.- (in
two passes), see f'ig. 7. Wben finished,
there should be a Vi cove with a d'
square shoulder remaining below the cove.
INSTALL BUn

AGUi 1

..

,.),

j_

3...

...

'/

j .
I'~"
SIXPtKlS

~
fIGURE 1
TAO( ~

fIGURe 3

TO

PlYWOOD 'ACE SlDE UP

~~
ClNTI.

alOCK

SCRAPb4
RGU~4

DJUu. FOR TltA/tWIl 'OINT

fGUllE S

oaJu. ,,,.. 'U.Ol HOl-

AND CLOCK FAC(

&lTTOUCHtS OUTSIDt Of" LINE

After the frame is routed, the bezel, clock

face, and clock movement can be installed .
PLYWOOD
Il'ISERT.To support the clock
movement, I cut a ""- plywood insert to fit
the rabbet in the frame. (This circular
insert can be made the same way as the
frame: mount the plywood to the base used
earlier and rout it with a trammel

auachment.)

Next, drill a Y," hole in the center of the

plywood for the stem of the clock movement. And finally, glue the plywood insert
in the frame, using "C" clamps to keep it
nush with the race of the frame.
BEZEL HARDWARE.for stability (and
looks) I wanted to hinge the bezel at the
top of the clock instead of the side. So I
decided which part orthe frame was going
to be "12 o'clock high. "Then I centered the
bezel all the frame (with the hinge at 12
o'clock) and marked lhe location for the
two hinge screw holes.
I also marked the position of the slightly
larger hole for the catch at the 6 o'clock
position, see Fig. 8. Drill these hoIes, and
eounterbore the backside of the frame for
the fastening nuts.
FINISH. After the holes were drilled for
the bezel, J finish-sanded the frame and
applied one coal of Sutherland Welles
polymerized tung oil sealer. Then I rubbed
in five coats of high gloss polymerized tung
oil.
INSTALLMO\,EME~'T.\Vhen the finish is
dry, attach the clock face to the plywood
insert, and install the bezel. And finally,
mount the clock movement..
WOODSMlTH

RGURE.

.CUI

El<ass
WASTt.._
AGU. 7

RGUREI
OUR
HINGE

DRIU CENTQ FOtt WORKS

--i

1'--,.."

......1-':"-'11.. v.. pt. YWOOD tNSot

11

Oil Finishes
FINISHING ISN'T AS BAD AS YOU THOUGHT
Using oil to finish and protect wood isn't
anything new - oil finishes have been
around since the first woodworker spilled
bear grease on the top of his table and
watched the raindrop<>roll off. Even back
then it was obvious that an oil finish was
relatively easy to apply. provided some
protection against water, and made the
wood look better.
Over the years, wood finishe"" have created thousands of variations in an attempt
to improve on the fil't't crude oil finishes.
Solvents such as turpentine or mineral
spirits are added (0 give the oil better
penetrating ability; driers are added to
make the oil dry faster; resins and waxes
are added for surface protection. and even
the makeup of the oil has been changed by
"cooking" itorcombiningit with other oils.
The result of all these changes and
enhancements is a type of finish that has
struck a responsive chord with moderndsy woodworkers. Although the good 01'
surface finishes (paint. varnishes, lacquers, polyurethanes) have their place.
there's nothmg quite like the feel of a piece
of wood that's been finished with oil.
Whieh is eX8cLly the point. \Vith an oil
finish. you can feel the wood. and not a
layer of somet hing orer the wood.
But. what exactly are oil finishes? The
most common oil finishes in use today are
linseed oil. tung oil, the so-called "Danish"
oil finishes, and the relatively new oil and
varnish combinations.
Each of these oils and oil combinations
has advantages and disadvantages. Perhaps the biggest advantage (at leMt the
one lhat's promoted by all lbe manufacturers) is lhe ease of application: Put it on.
wipe it all, and you're done. But the best
way to achieve the "hand rubbed, oil finish" everyone wants is to spend some time
understanding how oil finishes work.
HOW THEY WORK

au.

Not all
can be used to finish wood. In
fact, there are basically two kinds of oils:
oils tbat dry, and oils that don't dry. Tung
oil and linseed oil will dry or "CUJ'e"to a
relatively bard finish. However, other
types of oil (mineral oil and motor oil, for
example) won't dry at all. It's all a matter
of chemistry.
Since Idon't know much about chemistry, I asked someone who does - Dr. Bill
Feist, a research chemist with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. Here's what he had to say
about drying oils:

12

"The term 'drying' means that the oil

reacts - usually with air - to form an
essentially new material which is no longer
dissolvable in the original solvent. ThL, is
basically how a drying oil differs from a
product like lacquer or shellac.
"Lacquers or shellacs do not react
chemically - they merely lose their solvent and the material is left behind in the
form of a discrete film. That film can be
redissolved by putting the same solvent
right back on it.
"The best example of this is when an
alcoholic drink is placed on a shellaccovered table and it spills and leaves a
white ring. The alcohol in the drink is
partially di>solving the shellac again.
"Linseed oil. tung oil or the other drying
oils cannot be redissolved, in any way.
with their original solvent after they have
dried because they have changed their
chemical composition. It's sort of like
having a bowl of spaghetti dry out. Once it
has done ita curing bit. you just can't do
anything with it."
PESETIUTION. There is another diCference between oil finishes and "surface"
finishes. Most oil Ilnishes ate touted as
being-''penctrating'' finishes. When an oil
finish is applied to wood. Itsoaks in, dries.
and becomes part of the wood. instead of
Sitting on top of it.
To some extent this is true. But the
depth of penetration on the surface of the
wood isn't .11 that much - only a few
microns (a couple of cell Iayers) deep. Penetration on end grain is much greater anywhere from Ii,' to 2" depending on the
type of wood - but that's not usually
where you want or need protection.
To get better penetration on the surface,
the oil can be rubbed in by hand. or with
fine-grit sandpaper. This creates heat.
which lowers the viscosity of the oil and
helps it penetrate a little better. At least,
that's tbe "elbow-grease" way to do it.
But. there are other ways to increase
penetration. Most oil finishes are thinned
with mineral spirits or other solvents to
allow the oil to penetrate the wood. Then,
after the oil finish is applied, the solvent
evaporates, and the thin layer of oil that's
left behind begins to react with the air and
cures.
When an oil finish has cured, it provides
some protection for the wood. But the
degree of protection can be increased by
adding varnish or other resins to the oil.
And this is when all the confusion begins.
The type of oil that's used. the additives in
the oil, and the method of application all

affect the :.mount of p....t<'Ctionthe finish

provirl~~.
PURE Oil FINISHES

o..tennining what an oil finish consists of,

what it "iU do. and bow to use it can get a
tittle <o~ing.
&8ically. there are only
two deying oils widely available on the
market today: linseed oil and tung oil.
UNSP'F,OO'L. Linseed oil(made from flax
seed) is the granddaddy of oil finishes. In
fact. if you lookon the labebofmany paints
and varnish es, yuulI.till find linseed oil i~
one of the main ingredients.
Allhough raw Iinse.-d oil L. available,
usually what's -old ti"ls)' is boiled linseed
oil. But the term "boiled" is something of a
misnomer. You can't take raw linseed oU,
boil it. and expect to have anything usable.
It'. really ,..filltd lin,eed oil.
No matter what you call it. boiled linseed oil does It good job of penetrating the
wood, seaJinll it. and provides some protection against the cl,mtnl.,.
\Vben I was tAlking to Bill Feist, he
referred to boiled linseed oil as "sort of.
lovely finkh even now. 1 think the modern
finishes have gone more to the alkyds.
modified linseed oils, tung oil. or mixtures
of tung and linseed oils. But. when you talk
to some of the purl...... boiled linseed oil is
still it."
For the record, many woodworkers are
more than willing to give up this old standby. As one wood finisher told me. "lin.'Ieed
oil stinks to high heaven and it'!] keep on
stinking for about six months." Linseed oil
alse tends to turn woods 8 very dark,
almost undesirable ~0101'. It also tends to
give the wood a definite yellow tint.
Tl11<COIL. In recent years, tung oil has
attracted a 101 of active supporters (and
promoters) who prefer it to linseed oil.
Pure tung oil, polymerized tung oil, tung
oil varnishes, and LUng oi)/urethane finishes have become mighty popular product.s. But while there's renewed interest in
it. tung oil ill anything but new.
Tung oil has been around for thousands
of years. Marco Polo is said to have
brought tung oil back from his excursions
to China. And the story is told that tung oil
was used to seal the Great Wall of China
(certainly a testament to its durability).
Tung oil was also used as the base
ingredient for the time-honored oriental
lacquer fmishes.
The word tung is Chinese for "heart"the dark green leaves of the tung tree are
heart-shaped. The tree itself is about the
size of a magnoha tree. and produces a pod
WOODSMITH

r
l


I
I

about th. .i'fl of hesmut, That pod

eontain cluster of ..-naller nuts from
"hieh the tunll oil is equeezed.
TIlng trees ""'U;..., 'ery l!))et'ifk growIDII tondiuons (warm and moist). The trees
nOllJ'Uh in p.uu of China, and (or thoul'aDd. of yt&r1l were grown only tbere.
Now, however, several countries in South
America are .upportinl( groves of tung
trees for lhe commercial production of
lung oil. For a whilo (from about 1904 to
tOO!,) therv WIUI limit.d American produetion cf tung uil, but Hurricane Camille
wiped out the tunll lorn"es and American
production \\..... halted.
M""t of the tW'1loil we use comes from
South America, But before it hits the
.heIVE'S,It'O cleaned. refined, processed,
and then, If n"thlng L; addl'd, it's labeled
I~
pure tun~ oil.
\\'ben pure tung 011 i> poured from the
can, it', th1rk~r than ) au might expect.
)lost pt'Ople thm It "'th mill<'l'aispirits to
help ita penetration. eop<eially on the first
coat. Th e e rr,'CI of tunl: oil on wood ;,; a 10'1\
luster fini,h that', more resistant to water
and heat than linsee-d oil.
POt.'M.;RIZ~lI n 'C OIL. Even better
than pure tunll nil (nC<'ordingto its fans) is
polymerized tung oil Here's another
ins!.'U1ccwhen u degree in chemistry would
come in handy. Allhaugh it'. easy to see
and reel the 011 It'~ poured out orthe can.
what happeru<to It 8ft,'r it'. applied illquite
invisible - on the molecular level.
Bill ~'ciHexpI8in'lhat whenan oildries,
"it ehanR:~ rrom 000 molecular weight to
another. Everybudy call, thi, curing. but
the eerreet tenn i. ero. .. linking - II'S
actually a theml<a! cro......Iinking.
"By heaUnt; lh. oil. !.hi. croo;s!ioking
pro<e." i.,IlOlJ'tiallycompleted. The oil goE'"
from a stat{ "here It'~ a \'eT)' 10""cro...~linked matfriallo one that becomes a little
bit more rt'SlIlCIU',a lillie ea.<ier to apply.
Then alter it'. on. it dl>C<n'tha"e so far to
go to cure."
Polyml'riultion i~ another word (or that
chemical proccSlI. If a complete curing
cycle involves, say, 0 dozen or more chemi
cal cross.linklng change.. polymerizing
the tung oil may _peed up fi\'e or six of
those change" III advance.
To change pure tung oilinto polymerized
tung oil. it'o heated to about 360 degrees.
and oxygen bubbl,od through it. The end
"",ult i~ a ",lat('(), but new. product polymerized lung oil - ,.hich dl'ie$ faster
and with a higher Iu.ter than pure tungoil.
As ,,;th pure lung uil. polymerized tung oil
can be u..-ed "alraight" or mbed with ~ari-

a.

u.

OU~ \"arnj~htl"o.

DANISH OIL flNtSHES

TIlng oil and linseed oil both are used to
ereate a IIeCOndeRtegory of oil finishes the so-called "Ollni$h" oils and oil/,'arnish
mixlures,
WOOOSMITH

The "Danioh" part of the name relates to the "right" eholee, Or. you may "-anI a
the natural oil fini>h that was applied to relatively heavy preteeuve coat - which
Danish~lodem(lln"wreduringthe
190&. probably lDI'ana choo'!lllg one of the oil
Part of the "look" of Dani..h Modern fur \arnish mixtures.
nitu",,, ao the handrubbed oil finish (nota
It's really a matler or personal prefer.
.urr~finl.h ouch"" varnish or lacquer). enee, and a little gue ...... ork. 'I\'ben I set
AlthouJ.:hOani>h Modem furniture isn't
out to finifoha proj~, the reason Ichoose
a., popular u it 0_ wa.', there is no denyone product over another depends on the
ing thatth.> "Dani>h" oil finishes are at the
look I want the wood to have, how familiar
height of their popularity
With good
I am ,,;th the product, and (to be real
reason
honest aboet it) how the spirit moves me at
They're .lIlty to apply. almost foolproof.
the moment. Even then, I may alter lhe
they show off the natura! beauty of the
method or appliCAtion and the number of
wood, and they add a measure of pro- <OlIU to alTt'tl the outcome of a particular
wetion beyond that of a pure oil finish, One type or brand or fini~h.
olher advan18R'l'to the "Danish" oils (and
In (act. I enen apply a flnisb in ways the
for lhat matter, all oil finishes) is the abilmanufacture ... pecificaJly recommend
ity to repair the fuu~h simply by adding
apinst. But I like th. results. Even the
more oil to a IlCUlT"darea or minor scratch.
manufacturen; 1('11 me they're sometimes
Eric 0, nnis. the ~larketing Director for surpn,.,'" at the results their customers
the \\at>Oennls Corporation. says his ~t v.ith IheIT productJOw.ing preeedures
finn "came out ..,th 'Vatto Danish Oil batk
and te<'hn'qut8 Ihl') hadn't thought oi.
in 1967; it'. baAed on a formula that came
\\ 'bOe there to "" 8i~e answer to the
f'r<>m
En~nd. \\'ecalM!dthe product 'Dan- que.U()n ""'bieh rll1kb should I use~". in
ish' oil, but it' trictly a generic term. the P""""'" of tl')ing 10"",,WCl' !.hi. que-.
There'. no .tandard for 'Danish' oil"
lion, I a.k my."lf (and with any luck.
CO\1p(),t,,.,_ The "Danish" oils and oil! answer) a number o( questions about the
\'ami.,h mixture. have three basic com- project I'm ~lIing ready to finish: What
ponents: lhe oil (obviously), solvents or do I want the wood to look Uke when I'm
thinners, and eesins, They also may eon- done? How do I want it to feel? Will the
tain drying agen"', and sometimes a pig. project be exposed to moisture (spilled
mem to adel color to the wood.
water, coffoe, 8Icoho!)?Will it be 8ubjeeted
In general, the addilion or resins and to rough wear and tear that may need
solven," to the 011is what makes it a "Dan
frequent touehingup? Do I want the wood
ish" oil fmish. Adding resms te oil is fairly to have a "natura]" look. or have a little
common practice. And resin. come in sheen'
many rorllU!. Bill Fe;"l oay<. "There are
E!<""nllally, lh. 6nilJ1 I seleet is deterliterally hundred. or po.sible resins 10 mined by my IlIIIIwer> to those questions
chooo<.-f'r<>m.and rrom too.o;ehundreds. of and palOtexperience. Here's what I think
coo....... there ...., million' of possible rom about >'<>"'" of the oil fini-he> I've used and
bmation.. boocau>!(l
many fini,.hes may have ...hat kind of fm;"h I expect from Ihem.
thn:to or (our diff.rent resms in Ihem."
Lin.efll Oil. Idon't u..<eboiled linseed oil
RF.~I'S But \\hal are re~iru.? Resint'
as final fini,.h very often because it never
OCCW'e'.,,),\\ here- e.peciaUy in the plant _eem. 10 dry tompletely - it always
world. The oap in a lree, ror example, is a remains ju,t bttle ".oil." Ihave used it
fonn of ft',in. And there are synthetic
(in comb,nation with pumice or rotten",.in. made by chemieal reaction or poly. stone)lo rub out varnished tabletops. And
meriultion. (Urethane and polyurethane
Bill Feist mentioned that he used it to
are examples o( $ynthptic re.iM. There's
r"furbi~h the old varnhlh finish on his son's
really no different(' between urethane and 55-year.old otring bass, (He mi.e. ~
polyurethane
the words can be used boiled lin8t'ro oil wilh 'K mineral spirits.
interchangably.)
and a touch of alcohol to soften the old
"Oani.h" oil fini.he., whate"er their
finish a Iitllel.
brand name. are simply one or those
In general, I tend to avoid boiled linseed
infimtt> combination. of oil. and resin.... oil bcca...., it dries very slowly and it has
'l'Myare pendrating oil finishes to which too mueh odor . and. I think there are
enough reoina (in mo.t cases. varnish or better producl$ on the market.
un>thane) ha\'e been added to gi~e the
Pu~ TIlnK Oil. I've ."~tched to tung oil
Oni.hed piece of "ood some surface
when I "1II1t to \I.e a pure oil finish. The
protectiun.
only problem here IS knowing exartly what
you're
buying. Some of the lungoil6nishes
WHICH TO CHOOSE
""ld today are thinned down. So, in effect,
When you ~t out to choose an oil or oil
you're getung lell8 oil.
"lII'IliAhfinish. there's no way to say that
ThUlisn't ~rily
bad. (In fact. thinone is better than another, There are times ning the oil can help the oil penetrate the
when you may want just a light proteetive
wood better.) But, It doeo help to know (at
coat on the wood. In lhill case. a pure oil or least (rom a price-comparison standpoint)
one of the "Danish" oil finishes would be if there's only tung oil in the <an, or if some

13

lbinners have been added. Hope's I~

applying a speciJl "Satin Oil," or "Satin

Pure Tung Oil (the one we use most often) Wax" LO restore the finish. There are also
versions of Watco Danish Oil finishes that
is pure (not thinned) tung oil.
Pure tung oil is easy to apply by rubbing have pigment added to color the wood.
it on with your hand or with a cloth. Al
Minwax Antique Oil. Another product
though it. can be applied straight from the I like to use is Mlnwax Antique Oil. This
can, most of the time. I thin it down "ith also has a linseed oil base and has a higher
mineral spirits (especially tor the lirst percentage of resins than \Vatco. Since
coat) to help it penetrate into the wood there are more resins in it, the Minwax oil
tends to give a little more sheen to the
better.
One or two coats otpure tung oil will dry wood - a sheen that seems to last longer
LO a soft luster that's as close LO" "natural"
than when \Vatco is used, but that also
finish as you can get. By adding more looks like something iij "on" the wood.
coats, you can get more of a "hand-rubbed"
Hope's Tung Oil Varnish. This is 8
look, or even develop a sheen that looks combination of tung oil and varnish. The
amount of varnish in Hope's product ;,;
like 8 matte varnish finish.
Polymerized Tung Oil. I've only used noticeably higher tban WalCOor Minwax.
polymerized tung oil a couple of times. But In fact, I use it more as a thinned-down
when 1did, 1was pleased with the results.
varnish than an oil finish- but one that's a
It can be applied by brush. cloth or hand whole lot easier to apply.
rubbing. And, the resulting' finish is
One or two coats of Hope's Tunj( Oil
classy.
Varnish gives tbe wood 8 low gloss. An
If one or two costs of polymerized tung even greater sheen can be achieved by
oil are applied. it's not.much dllfenmt than applying additional coats. Then the finish
pure tungoil. But. as the coats are built up, can be buffed with steel wool to a matte
it begins LO take on more and more of appearance.
sheen. In fact, it can begin LO look like a
Danish Oils With Urethane. Ever since
soft tustre varnish or lacquer.
"Danish" oil became popular, there has
The only brand of polymerized tung oU been a rash of new products. with new
I've used is Sutherland Welles, which sells combinations of resins. Deft, Sutherland
several different versions. Each version Welles, Bebiens, and even Homer Form shas an increased percentage of tung oil to by are all producing "oil finishes" (either
solvents.
tung or linseed) with urethane resins, My
When I talked to Frank Welles about the experience with them is limited. but I
difference between these versions. he said think they will be good finish es (or any
that it just makes it easier to get the surface that needs a little more protection
amountoflungoil you want.. Hyou want to than normal (such as a table LOp).
apply a sealer coat of thinned-down oil, you
fiNISHING TECHNIQUES
can use his "sealer" version instead of
thinning it down YOur.!eIf. For additional Once Ichoose the oUfinish. the only other
coats, you can switch to low lustre,
problem is how to apply it. Although this
medium lustre or high lustre (the higher may sound dumb, I think the best
the luster. the greater the the percentage
approsch 10 using oil finishes is to follow
of polymenzed tung oil),
the instructions on the can. Afl.er trying
One nice thing about the Sutherland
whatever technique is suggested, then I
\VeUes products is that the percentage of start experimenting.
oil is listed on the label along with clear,
However, there is sort of a universal
concise, and complete instructions for its approach to applying an oil finish that
use and application.
works well for me.
Prepare I}t~..xod. The first step is to
OILVARNISH MIXTURES
smooth the wood. On large flat surfaces. J
[f! want more protection than the pure oil use a scraper blade Orplane LO smooth the
finishes provide, I switeh to one of the wood because these tools leave the pores
oil-varnish mixtures.
open to accept the oil. On smaller surfaces.
Wateo Danish Oil. WMCOoil is the fin- I use progressive grits of sandpaper.
ish [ use a lot when Iwanlthe wood to have
Without going into a lot of detail about
very natural look. This "Danish" oil is a this neceaaary chore, [ usually start with a
mixture ot linseed oil and solvents, to llJO.grit sandpaper and an orbital sander,
which a small amount ot resins have been and remove all the saw marks, planer
added.
marks. and burn marks.
The amount of resins in \Vatco oil is
Once the obvious marks and scratches
apparently less than in some other "Dan- are gone, I switch to 150-grit sandpaper
ish" oil finishes. and that aeceunts for its and a hand sanding block and finally go
''natural oil" appearance. Which is a nice over the surface with 22O-gril.
way of sa);ngthat iL looks "dried out" after
Apply thifl coats. After dusting off the
a few months. This is why Wat.co recom- project with a tack cloth, I apply the oU
mends maintaining the look otthe finish by finish. All oil finishes are designed to be
reapplying the product periodically, or by applied inthi" coats. Tbisdoes not mean LO

14

apply the finish spanngly. In fact, it means

just the OppOSIte.
When applying the first coat of an oil
finish, start by flooding thl' surface. Then,
if ['m using one of thc pure oil finishes or
the light "Danish" oil finishes, 1 rub the
finUlhin with a rllg. (On small projects. it's
nice to rub it In by hand. [1'$ aJso kind of
messy, but you get more of a feel [or what
you're doing.) \\'hen I'm appl);ng one of
the oil/varnish mixtures Iusually use one
of these polyfoam brushes to spread a
slightly heavier coat.
No matter what kind ofoil finish is used,
I alway. keep the .urface of the wood wet
(or whatever lenl1th of time the manufaeturer recommends. (This is usually
from to minute.. LO one hour.)
All of the. talk about noodingthe surface
and keeping it wet may not sound like I'm
appl);ng a thin coat. but the next step
takes care of that.
~VipeillJJJ Alkr the finish has had time
to soak into the wood. wipe it off. John
MoseroIWood Finishing Supply Company
says, "wipe It olT'tight' so tbere's no excess
lell at, all. That'" n term used in .Wning. I
apprenticed with a gentlellIan who was
stainer (or 50 years and that's a phrase he
always used. 'Wipe it o!ftight' meant wipe
it off clean: wipe it off completely."
John's advice is J!ood. Initially, you want
to flood the surface of the wood and keep it
wet LO give the oil a chance to soak into the
wood. Ailer the wood has absorbed as
much o( the finish lIS it can. tbe excess
should be wiped off "tight." This is what
produces the "hand-rubbed" look. Iftheoil
is not rubbed off, the excess left on the
surface will dry to a sticky mess.
Shop Note: AU of this wiping on and
wiping' Q!Irequire. a lot of clean rags. I've
long since exhausted my supply of old Tshirts. SO I finally had to break down and
actually buy some rags.
I looked in the Yellow Pages under
"Rags" and found a company whose sole
business is selling clean rags. The rags
they were selling are really remnants of
the same material used LO make T-shirts in
the first place. I was able to get 15 lbs. (a
Ufe-time supply) of rags for $21.
Let il dry. After the excess oil is "oped
off, give the soaked-In oil a chance to dry.
The length of time the finish needs to dry
,,;II depend on lhe type of oil it is and
weather conditions .
1 usually wait 24 hours before applying
the second coat. But if the humidity is
high. or the temperature is low, or there's
no air circulating, you might want to wail
-IS hours before applying another coat.
Woldl for blcedback. During the lime
the finish is drying, keep 3D eye out for
excess oil which may seep to the surface.
This irritating process is called bleedback
(more aboutlbis later) and it always seems
to happen when I usc an oil/solvent mix\VOODSMITH

ture or "Danish" oU finish on open-pored

woods (like oak and ash), but it can OCCur
on closed-grain woods as well (cherry,
maple. etc.)
If bleedback occurs. keep wiping the
excess oil away until itstops_pingtothe
surface. After one or two applicatioJl.<of
finish, the pores in the wood will be sealed
and bleed back won't occur anymore.
S,cOI.d CC<1I. After the first coat has
dried, the second and succeeding coats of
finish can be applied to achieve the look
you want. Each additional coat should be
applied in the same manner as the firstflood the surface, lhen wipe it "tight."
It's usually not necessary to sand or use
steel wool between coats. but again, check
the manufacturer's instructions,
The key thing to keep in mind with oil
finishes is LhaLyou are applying ve.ry thin
coats. Most of the first coat will soak into
the wood. The second coal will start to
leave a noticeable coat on the surface. 'Vith
succeeding coals. you really start to see
the effect of an oil finish on the wood. In
other words, be patient - don'l stop tOO
soon.
SOME !lUlES TO 8lUAK

Essentially, I take advantage of the fact

that this product is really a thinned-down
varnish. First, I apply a coat of Hope's
Tung-Oil Varnish in the normal way (Oood
the surface, then wipe it tight). For the
second and succeeding coats, [ use a polyfoam brush to spread the oil-varnish
evenly over the surface. Then, instead of
wiping it off. I allow each of the coats to dry
without wiping them off.
The result is a finish that looks like it has
a coat of varnish on it (and. of course it
does) bULmost of the problema usually
associated with finishing "~th varnish are
eliminated.
Since the Hope's product has more oil
and solvents than "normal" varnish, each
coat leaves only a thin coat of varnish.
Thus, the drying time is reduced, and the
problem of contamination by dust is reduced. Also. drips and runs are easier to
control (particularly on molded edges), and
brush marks "Oow out" easier. In short,
it's a whole lot easier to apply three or four
thin coats of an oil-vamish. than two heavy
coats oC regular varnish.
8LEE08ACK

Although the.re are a lot of advantages to

Although the procedure described above is using oil finishes. one oC the biggest probthe one [ usually use. there are some vari- lems is something tbat's called bleed back.
ations on thL, theme ... the kinds of thing>! This problem always seems to crop up
when I'm finishing with a thinned-down oil
that usually are not recommended.
One variation is to apply the oil finish finish or one of the "Danish" oil finish". with sandpaper instead of rubbing or particularly on oak.
brushing it on the surface. Any onhe pure
When bleedback occurs, it leaves spots
oils or the "Danisb" oil, can be sanded into of oil or varnish over the surface of the
the surface on initial application with Wet- wood. But it doesn't always happen right
Or-Dry sandpaper. (I usually use 320 or away. In fact, I usually don't discover the
appearance oC those spots until an hour or
400 grit.)
This procedure accomplishes two things:
two after the first application - when the
First. it creates friction which results in finisb has dried.
beat. The heal helps the oil penetrate into
No matter how weU I wipe the wood,
the wood better than if it'. simply rubbed
these spots keep appearing. I've tried to
in or brushed on.
lind an answer, or at least a reason Cor this
Second. thc sandpaper creates a fine annoying problem. I've probably asked 100
sawdust which mixes with the oil and/or 'people why bleedback occurs, and I've
oil-varnish to produce a sort of goop. Thls received about 200 answers, Some of the
goop acts almost like a paste filler and fills possibilities: bleedback only occurs on oak
the pores of the wood.
grown in certain parts of the country; the
When the first coat of goop is dry, n very tanins in the oak react with the chemicals
light sanding with 400-grit sandpaper will in the finish; moisture in the pores oC the
remove any roughness. The second and wood pushes the finish back out; dirt or
succeeding coats can be applied in the dust in the pores keeps the finish out;
normal way (without sanding during
trapped air escapes from the pores and
application.)
pushes the fInish out ahead of it.
The final finisb achieved witb this
The answer which [ think is the most
metbod is similar to what you'd expect plausible is that as the solvent in the oil
Cramfilling the wood with a paste fillerfinish evaporates and escapes from the
and it's much easier. The result is a very very large poresotthe wood (called vessels
in oak), it "eats" through the surface film
smooth, yet natural surface.
OlU\'AR~1SH~UJ(ruRES.When I'm fin- (from underneath) which has already
;shing a project that needs a little more started to dry. After the solvent has
protection, or that might look better with a escaped, the surface film has hardened too
more glossy finish. I like to use Hope's much to now back over the openings and
Tung Oil Varnish and a slightly different
thus there are little erupticns that form
procedure to build up, a thicker-thaneoncentrated spots of oil or varnish.
Unfortunately, there's nothing mucb
normal coal.
WOODSMITH

you can do to prevmt bleedback unless the

wood is filled with a paste filler. (But that
kind of defeats the purpose of using an oU
finish in the rlJ'St place.)
The best thing to do is keep watching for
bleed back to happen, and keep wiping the
surface when you see little blobs of finish.
If you miss any and find yourself with a
hardened, pimpled surface. simply let it
dry and then use fine steel wook to buff it

out.
If bleed back occurs while you're applying 3 pigmented oil-based finish, the problerns are different. If there are pigments in
the finish when it bleeds back. they can
result in a discolored ny-specked appearance. In short. disaster,
Again, all you can do is keep watching
for it to bappen after you've wiped down
the first coat. And then keep wiping the
surface dry. In other words, don't apply 3
pigmented oil finish (or an oil stain for that
matter) JUSt Wore you retire for the
night. 1 bleedback occurs overnight,
you're in trouble. Wait until you can apply
the stain during a time when you'll be able
to watch it carefully.
WHERE TO GET HELP

AU-ofthe people we talked to are nice folks.

NOLonly were they helpful to me, they
prorni1!edto help any ~Voodt"'itl.readers if
you want some advice about how to use
their products. Here'. where to write or
call:
The Hope Company, 100 Weldon Parkway. Maryland Heights. MO 63043. Telephone: (814) 432-5697.
Sutherland Welles. Ltd .. 403 Weaver
Street, Carboro. NC 27510. Telephone'

(919) 967-1972
Watco-Dennis Corporation, 1706 22nd
Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404. Telephone: (21.8)870-4781.
Deft, Ine., 17451 Bon Karman Avenue.
Irvine, CA 9271~. Telephone:
(711)
474-0-100.
Minwax Company, Inc . 102 Chestnut
Ridge Plaza, l\Iontvale. NJ 076-15.Telcphone: (1-800) 526-0495.
Wood Finishing Supply Co. (Behlens
Products). 1267 Mary Drive, Macedon,
NY 14602. Telepbone: (315) 986-4517.
SPECIAL THANKS

We talked to a lot of people to get the

information for this article. Special thanks
to Dr. Bill Feist of the Forest Service
Forest Products Laboratory; Hope Pinnegan, The Hope Company; Frank Welles,
Sutherland Welles, Ltd.; Eric Dennis.
Wateo-Dennis Corporation; Robert Floriani and Herb Croxton, Deft. lnc.: Robert
Aunann. lIIinwax Company; John Ebels.
Behlens; and John Moser, Wood Finishing'
Supply Company.
As they say on television, without their
help this story couldn't have been written.

15

Round

g Table

CONTEMPORARY DINING FOR FOUR (OR SIX)

for some unknown reason. I'm auraeted
to round table e, They seem in'iting and
comCortable. When Ifinally got around to
building this table. I decided to also malee
it practical by incorporating a sliding systern 80 a leaf could be added to provide
""ating for slx people.
I have to admil that this Will; not the
easie-t projf<:t I've ever bullt. The round
top itudy in I.. iienee and care. It ha.. 8
IS'-diameter ..,Iid"ood border with a
veneered ;_11 an the center.

THI IORD. flAME

The out,ide bonier of table top starts out

as a giant otUl!OnaI (eight-sided) frame. (I
used Honduras Mahogan),.) To get the
thiclmea Iwanted Cor the bonier. l rougheut 16 pieces of ,I I stock 6' wide by 21"
long. and laminated (glued and clamped)
pail'll together to Conn the eight sides for
the Crame,see f'ig. 1.
When the glue Us dry, trim the eight
pieces to a final Width of 4't4". Then eut
22~ mlLen! 011 both ends of each piece so
the final length Is 19~' fromlong point to

long poinL.
GROO' es, The eight pieces &rejoined by

cutting through grooVe.! on each mitered

end and then cutlinlr splines to fit the
greoves.
To cut the j!TOO"eo. I
used rout .. r tabl~ and a
V," straight bIt, _
FIg.
2, Adju.t the C.nee on the
router table .0 the bit
CUll a groove centered on
the thiekn~$.' of the .took.
Then mark the fare (top)
side of each piece and
keep this .ide against the
router fence. (This will
ensure that the top sides
of aU plOtes will be flush
when the hphnee are
inserted. )
SPLI'F.~ Next. eigbt
.plinetl arc cut to fit the
grooves, I made these
spli.,... long enough (S:;";
to .ti.k out of buth ends of the grooves.
"'cl:lIBIS. Trying to join all eight p;e.,es
atone time (whole makin!t.ureall tbejoint
line!>meet perfettly) tan be a nighunare.
Instud, I glu(od pain! together, and then
glued lh(... assemblies to form two halves
oCtheframe. Lay thesoas..-.embliesonallat
surface while lhe glue sets up and dries.
Then to make sure the two balfframes
lit together, I trimmed the open (mitered)
ends so they Conned straight line, see

16

mont and router

PI\'O'T P<)1\T, To provide Cor the ph'ot

point Cor the tramm.1 attaehment. I cut a

stretch.r twith point.od .neLI) to fit tight
between two ol'l>"-,inl(joint. of the frame.
see Fig. I. Note: The excess length of the
splines (on til('
orlhe frame) must be
pared off w~th a chi 1. I went ahead and
did thi. on all ("ght joints.
To find th,' pivot pomt, slide the frame
over the enda ofthe.tr.tcher.
Thenplace a
,tralght edgt' 011 op"""ing joint lines and
mark Joneson the stretcher. \\'bere these
Ii""" Intersect Is the center or the frame
uhe pi\'(,t point).
LMt~rin tim JlI"OOCSa. ) oull need to have
pivot poin\$ on boUI W top and bottom
sides of the 't~her. So, drill a small hole
,tnught do....n through the stretcher to
m:.rk both ~id~.
~XTF.'SIO\ARM In order to rout a circle
this ~,
Ihad to add an extension arm to
the trammel attachment (see Shop ~otes,
page 9). Alter this arm '" mounted to the
trammel attachment. drill a hole in the
other end oC the arm and screw it at the

",.,d,

f'ig. 3, To do thl.. tack each half-frame to a

piece of ply" ood "" the open (mitered)
enet. ju.,t be.n-Iy Wit o'er the edge. and
run them through th."." tolrimtheends..
F'inally, glue th~ two bah ... together to
Conn the eight.ided frame. (! used a ...eb
clamp to pull the two halves together.)

ROUTING THE flAME

This frame can no" be routed into its final

(circulkr) ~hape with a trammel attach-

WOOOS~{)TH

pivot point on the stretcher, see Fig. 5.

PILOT HOLt:. Before rouLing the outside
edge of the frame, I drilled a pilot hole $\'
the router bit could be lowered to make
successively deeper passes. The inside
edge of this hole is 23' frqm the center of
the pivot point, see Fig. 4.
OL'TSIOIlCIRct:~n'ERt:S(E. To rout the
outside circumference, 1 used a ~ ..
SLTaighlbit set to a depth of
for the
initial pass. Adjust the trammel attachment so the bit is in the pilot hole, and rout
the perimeter of the frame.
Alter the first pass i. made, lower the
bit in the pilot hole and make successively
deeper passes unlil you're about half-way
through the thickness of lhe frame. Then
Dip over this entire assembly (the frame
and the stretcher). and rout the other side
until the outside waste breaks free.
rssms RABBET. Next, the inside edge of
the frame is routed to form a rabbet to hold
the table top's circular insert.
To make this rabbet, the tirst step is 10
rouLa groove around the inside edge ofthe
frame. This groove should be about v..."
deeper than the thickness of the insert.
Shop Note: The reason for this extra
depth is to keep the surface of the frame
above the surface ofthe insert. Then late r ,
the frame can be sanded down without
sanding lhrough the thin veneer on the
insert. This also means you have to know
the exact. thickness of the insert before
cutting this rabbet. The insert is discussed
in the next section, but r want to finish this
part about the rabbet first.
When you've determined the depth of
the rabbet. drill a pilot hole to this depth SO
the out<ride edge of this hole is 2111," from
lhe center of the pivot hole for the trammel
attachment, see Fig, 5.
FirJally, rout the groove in successively
deeper passes. Altel' the groove is routed,
there will be waste sections between the
groove and the inside edge of the frame.
These areas can be removed using a router
free-hand (without the trammel attachment) and a y, straight bit.

V.

THE CIRCULAR

\
\

Q"ECllND

FOI: (ND U("NO

SAM" FACf.
,AGAINSt flNeE

tOUTtR IAa&t

ENOSRUSH
ftGUIE"

DRltl V." "lOT HOU

23" '.oM "VOT MOLf

~GURf S

ROUT H.A1f.WAY
RIP FaAME ASSfM8.LY
AND .OOT THROUGH
OTHfR seDl

V." StaAfGHl

I"

'---

INSERT

There are two choices for the table Lop's

center insert. The easiest VIla)' to make it it;
to use o" hardwood plywood.
But since I wanted to use a quarter-saw
white oak for the top (which is not usually
available as plywood), 1 bought a flexible
veneer and mounted it to a piece of particle
board. (I used Pliant Wood Veneer, whieh
is "cry easy to work with. One piece of
veneer 30~x 00" is needed for the table lOp
and the leaf, see Fig, 6.)
1f you want to make a veneered table
top. cut two pieces (24" wide by 48" long)
out of the sheet of veneer. (The "waste" is
used to make the leaf.) Then cut a 4',,4'
piece of . particle board. Spread contact
cement over the surface of the particle
WOODSMITH

FtGURf2./\

I"

13- A--

f-- TV,--t--1IY."

1-

17

RGUlltl6

R!XlW VENEEI
3'''.96''

4
1

.>

/'

fO.w.,~
...
-""

~r/

WOlltl'lfCf

101 TAal.E

t.

.r r

'AinClE

RGURf 7

AUGN 1M'"

OlTlIMINE OIAMfTU

80AltO

ON FUME

WnH SHAllOW GROOVE:

fO (Htcl fIT

THiN ROUT SHAllOW

TEST GIlOOVf

.......

OIAWJ.OONAl
TO AND CENTEI

FACEOOWN

CIitOSS SICTlOH

RGUtf

GtUE AND ClAMP'

INSEIT fNTO ,faAME-

board and the veneer with a roUer. Then

roll out the veneer, pl't!ssing it down with
veneer roller (or a rolling pin).
Cl,. L~SERT.\Vbether you use hardwood
plywood or the veneered particle board,
you should have a 4'x4' workpiece for th~
table top insert. To rout the insert, draw
diagonal lines on the bock 8id., of the workpiece LOlocate the center point, see Fig, 7.
Then drill a shallow hole for the pivot point
of the trammel attachment.
Next, set the trammel attachment to the
radius of the rabbeted area on the frame
(2114,,),and make a shallow trial cut on the
back (bottom) side of the workpiece.
Check this cut by la~~ng the rabbeted
side of the border frame over the scored
plywood to sec if the shoulder ofthe rabbet
touches the outside edge of the scored
groove, see Fig, 7, Make any adjustments
necessary so the outside edge of the groove
is just a hair less than the rabbet.
\Vben you've got the right diameter for
the groove, drill a V.- pilot hole OD the edge
of the trial groove so the bit can be lowered
to make successively deeper passes. Then
rout the circular insert, ('Vben you're
done, save the outer waste piece. IIwill be
used later.)
A5SE~IB\.\. AJ\er the insert is routed,
glue it to the rabbet in the frame, using
C-clamps I.<> secure it in place, see Fig. 9.
Note: Be sure to align the grain of the
insert with two opposing joint lines on the
frame, see Fig. S. When the glue is dry,
sand the Crame so it's flush with the face of
the insert.

CUT TABLE TOP IN HALF

MOUNT fJ.NI,f
_".TO WASTt "lCf
wffH FINISMNAIU

--

MAD ((Nft. UHf OF

10TH seers Of" WASTt

FlGURI 11

NOTE: CUT T.utI

LEAF CONSTRUCTION

TOP

IN HALf ALOHG GlAIN LINES

18

WASTE FIOM INSllr

Since 1 wanted to add 3 leaf to this table, r

had to divide the top into two halves. To do
this, use the outer waste piece left over
from routing the circular insert.
Mark lines on this waste piece so the
lines divide it in two equal halves, see Fig.
10. Then tack the table top LOthis waste
piec-e(tack from the bottom side), making
sure two opposing joint lines of the frame
are aligned with the lines marked on the
waste piece.
CUT IN ILIL.' This whole set-up can now
be ripped in balf on a table saw, Set tbe
renee so the blade splits the marked lines
on the waste piece, see Fig. II.
Adding a leaf to this table i. fairly easy,
Rip a piece of hardwood plywood to a width
of 181<>"and to length LOmatch the diameter of the insert, (If the insert is LObe
veneered, cut a piece of particle board to
size and laminate the veneer LOit.)
JlQROF,R. This leaf receives the same
laminated borders as on the table LOp.
Rough-cut four piece>;of 414 stock 18W
long and 3" "ide, and laminate them to
form the two borders, When the glue Is
dry, trim tbem to a final "id!h of 20/.".
WOOOSMITH

Then cut a 1',wide rabbet on one edge of

each piece, see Fig. 12.
Glue and clamp the leafinto the rabbets
of these pieces. Then rip t he entire leaf to
final width of 18". (Here it's best to rip an
equal amount from both edges to get two
parallel edges.)

--

TR,IJII. Off lOrn fOGlS-

ALIGNMENT SPLINES

Since the table top is split in half, some

pro,ision must be made to align the two
halves. and also to align the lea! (when it's
used) with the table top. To accomplish
this, 1used splines mounted in slots,
Mark the positions of four slots on each
exposed edge of the table top and the lea!,
see Fig. 15. (There are 16 slots in all.) To
rout the slots, Iused the jig shown on page
22. Clamp one of the sliding' winga to the
edge of the table, and rout the slots see
Fig. 13.
Next, cut splines to fit the slots so the
grain runs across (perpendicular) to the
joint lines. Gluefour of these splines on one
edge of the table top (to align the two
halves of the table). and glue the other four
splines to one edge of the leaf (to align it
when it'. used). Bevel the leading edge of
these splines so they slide into the opposing slots easily.

RGUItEI~
<;LAMP JtG TO EDGE

MOUNTING

V.

Nt'

fACE SIDE

DSWl'S

v..- Dfll'
AGUltl' 15

T
,3"
I'OSII'ION
OfS...... U

,..

+p

~IOUNDow.

CROSS SICTIOH

'''''''''''''''T'''l"","",'i3:===:;=;i

'3"
\

..,.. lOUNO OYER

~. ROUND OVEJ

ROOI'16

EXTENSION SLIDES

The last step on the table top is to mount

the extension slides. (J used a set of
wooden slides, see Sources, page 24.)
To mount the extension slides, place the
two halves of the table top face down on a
work surface, and push them together.
Then align the slides so they're 24' apart
and exactly perpendicular to the joint Jine.
see Fig. 16.
The slides J bought have pre-drilled
mounting holes. J marked their position on
the bottom of the table top, drilled pilot
holes, and then screwed the extension
slides in place. Note: As the slides are
screwed in place, make sure they're parsllei and exactly 90' to thejoint line. rr slides
at>! OUL of kilter, they will bind as tbe table
halves are pulled apart .
As a final check, insert the lea! and close
the table halves. I had to a<\just the slides a
little to get the top halve. to close light
against the lea!.
WOOOSMITH

~. SlOI MOmSE

US.NG ONLY ONt

WING AGAINST

ROUND THE EDGES

To complete the table top, I rounded all the

edges. Position the lear between the two
halves of the table and draw them
together. Then lay this assembly face
dow" on a work surface.
Now rout the inside edge of the frame
with a %' round-over bit and pilot. see
Detail in Fig. 15. Next. switch to a 1'0'
reund-ovar bit and pilot to round over the
outside edge of the frame. Then flip the
table top over and rout the top edge of the
border, aIi'O with a V? comer-round bit.

RGU~E

,,_

__ - ,..

2fI" EXTENSION SUDEI

1
I

scuw", crt.
fHlOlOrr~
Of TA.8lf '(OP

JOINT UNE.

........)
/--

-~/

NOTI: SUOES ~ST

'" ~AtA1L1\AND

At ~lO JOIHT UNE:

[9

......_

lASE UNIT CONSTRUCTION

,\-;_1

On<e the table tol' Is eomplete, all it needs

i..
a ba."t' ttJ rnt on. The problem here is to

J~C::::~~;;JT
1",~

....

141A01Ut

."

..

_L

DII.1 COUNTUIOWU
ANO JlftDT HOlfS

c:oru.truct a ba$t' that can be separated

when the table top ~ puUed apart (for lbe

.... COUHTI.IOt:.

2", Of.,

IH IAOIAIM

IdO.
Th~ ba! I m,,,I~ eonststs of four C-

l' s'

All. "laS CUT NOM

I.AMINATIOSlOCI(
1". TKlCIt

NOTt CUTfOUl
MlACHNCf

.u-

-s'
)

~
')--.

-...

lOUT

'11+~

....~DUP

CfHTlllO OH lAOC INfUm tfC)

,fOOl

J lIt
1~IADftfS ;.)

.I.

I-

,r

.....

AQUI' 1.
AlMAND fOOT

MUSTU 'AIAWl

--rt.AMlNAT. SToat
THIN I" INTO TWO

1v. ~UA.I' It.ANICS

cut '..... ."

usac-C~

TO o.AM1

COHNfCTO. TO UO UNIT

~-

GaOOYIS ClNTUlO
OH 110CX

LlO UNIT

COH"(CToe ,/

C-CUMI

Aim 'An RHCl

TO"fINCl
u.G UNIT tIDU

AlOHO THISfOG'
UO UNIT

20

shaped I"!runi!.' that an' Joined together in

pain; and then euacbed to the two halves
Ofth.l~bl( l<>p.refer til rig. 2.3.\Vhenlhe
table toJ>i,plI.hl'd together, the legs form
8 (our-Iell pt-<l, t81. And when the table top
is ti('panlt<-dto insert the leaf. the legs also
.eparaw to IlUpport the extended version
of the table. ref.r to Fig. 24.
CFR.\\U:S To build this double-duty
base,T made (ourC-fr8mea. Each C-fram"
C:Ol1$6laoflhn. ... 118l't6:an arm. an upright.
and a (001._ Fig I To !tel the lhicknes.,
1 wanled II ") (or t~
pani'. 1rough eut
two pieees o( ~ 4 .tk (or each part, and
laminated t bem logt-Iher.
('IT'IITF.I4-. After aU the pieces are
laminated, trim them 10 a fInal width oI
Theneull.; mite", on only one end of
lh. a.rm. and feet. and .traight-eUt the
other end so lh.lin.ll.n~h
of the arms is
II" and the (eet IU'\> 17" (m.""uring to the
long point of tho miter).
~'or the Upnghts, out In miters on both
end so the finol length is 28 from long
point to lOJlg Ikli.lt.
GROO,F,!I \'"
S'LI'~S.Then. to
assemble th~ (;'fnun,.,., juin tbe mitered
end. o( Ihe arm' and I"K' w the uprights
with 'rlines. f',,.,.I. (Ill .-wide through
gt'OO' ..... 'nItre<! un the mitered end. of
each (>ieee. cOne<' agam. 1 marked the faee
.ide or _b pil'<'<' and (Ilt the jmlO\ .es on a
rout e r t&bIe. k,'tl'tnlo! lhtaga;n,.'t
tbe (enCl' (or ('\'('1') rut. ",IeI' to Fig. 2.)
Then the 'phn,. are cut to fIt tbe
groove'
!l;oll Cut th~ splines so the
groin run JIt''1"'nrl,cular to the joint line.)
HOLt:.'"AR".
B.fore assembling the
C.fralllt'><.I c:ount.rbon.-d holes in the arms
(or (III' machine ""n'w, and w ashers, see
Fig. 17. (The machine screws will be used
later to hold Ih" table top to the base.)
ASSt:'"I1, \ Now the C(mmes can be
assembled. Th. importan; thing here is to
make .ure Ih. arm, and (''<'t are parallel,
To do thi CUI A 'llIICl>rpi...,. to fit between
the ann and leg, see F,It. 11'After lesttnlt Ihp fit (and the clamping I
preeedure), _"I,ly Irlu~to the miters and j
.phnes and use band damp to hold the

aVo.

I..~

OUlfl.
)

CtAMI" C-SHAPfD
RNClIO

T.......

S,AW

-1"'''-

r""".ide

L....
sembly

lOKl:IIM'rwhile the glue dries.

<,\.U:G,stHPt: Aner the jZlueis dry on

the (our 1C',Il'
uniu, I out them to their ftna1

prol\le, Th;' is .imply. mattero!roonding

the inside corners (\\he~ the splines are)
to a radius of 3~",
And I....n tapering the
arms and r~1
down to a width of 11'.', see
Fig. 17.
To ensere all four crrames would be the
same. I drew lh" rounded comers and
WOODSMITH

tapers on a piece of cardboard. cut it out,

and then traced the pattern on each Gframe.
Then cut the pattern on a band saw and
sand the edges smooth. Finally. round
over the edges on the in$ideofthe G-frame
with a 'iii' corner-round bit and pilot.
CONNECTING THE LEG UNITS

Now comes the tricky part. The Jeg units

are joined together to form twe 90'
assemblies. Thi. is accomplished I<ith a
connector piece between the G-frames.
(''O);NECTORS. To make the connectors,
laminate two pieces of 3...wide by
29long stock together. Then rip this
laminated piece into IwO IV,"square
blanks, see Fig. 19.
JOIN TO CFR.UIES. Each connector is
joined to two Cframcs with splines. To do
this, cut V.widegrooves centered on tIVO
faces of each blank. Then lout matching
grooves centered on the edge of the
upright on each Cframe, see fig. 20.
SPWNES. Next, cut Yo" plywood splines
to fit the grooves. Then glue and clamp two
G-frame. to the connector. As the damps
aretightened, make sure the G-frames are
at 90" to each other, and the top edges of
the arms and bottom edges of the feet are

flush.

Il&VEI. EDGE. The last step is to bevel rip

the connectors at 45'. This simple operation creates a real headache. Making ~
cut requires the use of an au;dJiacy fence to
guide the G-frame.
On a Rockwell saw (where the blade tilts
to the right) an L-shaped fence is attached
to the rip fence, see Fig. 21. On a Sears saw
(where the blade tilts to the left)a~epanlte
C-shnped fence is clamped to the left of the
blade, see Fig. 22.
After the auxiliary fence is attached, the
connector is bevel ripped at ~5'
so the
blade jusL touches the corners of the
uprights, see Fig. 20.
ATTAcn LEGS. Now the two leg
assemblies can be joined to the table-top,
\\lith the table top upside down and the
two halves pushed tightly together, center
the two leg units on each half of the top.
Then mark the position of the mounting
holes (that were drilled in the arms earlier), see Fig. 23. Remove the leg units and
drill holes for y.. threaded insert", see Fig,
25. Then mount, the leg unit;, to the Lop
with 11(,'machine screws and w.. shers,

MATERIALSLIST
for Tabl. Top:
A Tabl. ,",me (16)
lAoaf

VlOODSMITH

(4)

l'

For 80... :

Fool (8)

't. x 3. _ 17

F Uprighb (8)

'V 3"% .. 28
I~. lit 3Y. - 11
,~.
lit 1S,~- 28
1hz llhSYt
'",.2 .. 1''';

G Alms (I)
H Conn4Ki"cm (4)
I Ftame Spll.... (16)
J Tobl. SpUn (16)

CUnlNG

DIAGRAM

e<jrLz~z,:r:zzz,~a'Zrr12j0(L1

FINISHING

I used Sutherland- Welles '!\tng Oil Polyurethane mixture to finish the table top
and base. If t here's a void between the
table top's border frame and the insert, it
can be filled with a mixture of fine sawdust
and the tung oillpolyurethane finish. Then
1 applied three coats of the finish to the
entire table according to the instructions
on the can.

f",,""

C Tab'. Top In... "

D t..of InN'11

'V. ... 4V. - 19'.4

'-VI. lit 2V.. 0/.. )C '. - 48
V 18-48

~4'"

Air

'A. net( IOARO

E<"!_IZI'U.~JJ.~:'j:' ~zl?i:J
r ...:, .! I , Ie I 1
F
E r l' C ' I
I
I1".- .. F I I : : I 1
E =!2: t==riulOI~
F

~,

7Vi' 12

21

Router Jjg

A JIG FOR ROUTING CENTERED GROOVES

All three projects in this issue use miter
and spline joinery. The key 10successfully
making this joint is to cut the grooves (or
t.he splines in the proper leeatien, To do
this accurately. I used a simple routing jig
that can be adjusted to tit stock from 'f," to
3" thick and automatically centers the
groove on the workpiece.

FIGURE I

BUILDING THE JIG

The routing jig can be broken down into

Iwo rruijorparts: the plywood base, and the
two aQjustable wings, see Fig. I.

The plywood base is constructed with

'h"-thick plywood cui Jy," wider than the
diameter of the router base, and 13" long.
Then o/."widefences are attached to three
sides of the plywood base. Note; When
attaching the two side fences. they must be
parallel to each other, and the distance
between them must be equal to the diameter of the router's base.
Next, rout a double-stopped 'h"wide
groove in the plywood base. To do this,
plunge the router 80 the groove starts 4'
from the open end, and continues until the
router base contacts the back fence.
WINCS.Next, the two adjustable wings
are added to the bottom of the plywood
base. These wings are constructed with W'
plywood, and solid wood "pinchers," see
Fig. I. The plywood pieces are sloued by
drilling end holes, and using a sabre saw to
remove the waste. Then they're glued and
screwed to the solid wood pinchers,
Finally, screw threaded inserts ill the
base, Fig. 1. and attach the ....ings with I"
pan head screws and washers.
THE

snup

Before the jig can be used, the wings have

to be adjusted for the thickness of the
workpiece, while at the same time. keeping the workpiece perfectly centered
under the ~" groove in the plywood base.
To accurately set up the jig. I used a
setup block (mode from th.esame stock as

1M uwkpiece it.self) that has a perfll"lly

centered tongue on one edge. Cut this
tongue by placing ahernate sides of the
block agsinst lhe fence of t.he table saw
(see Fig. 2). Sneak up on the cuts until the
tongue fits the groove in the jig.
Then to set the adjustable wings of the
jig, place the setup block between the
wings. with the tongue in the ~. wide
groove, see Fig. 3. Pinch the w>jngsagainst
the sides oflhe setup block with Cclamps,
and tighten the four screws,
USING THE JIG

Once the jig is built, make a trial CUtin a

piece of scrap to see where the router bit

stops when the router base contacts the

back fence. Marl< the end of this stopped
groove on the base, and position the workpiece using lhis mark. Then clamp lhe
entire assembly in a vise, see Fig. 4.
Filially. position the router on the jig
with the router bit in the groove, just
ahead of the workpiece. Start the router
and feed it into the workpiece until the
base contacts the end of the jig.
IJOlIlIl.E-Sl'OPPED CRooVES. To use the
jig for routing a double-stopped groove.
clamp an additional stop to the open end of
the plywood base. Then make a plunge cut
to start the cut, and slide the router back
and forth to complete the groove.

ALtEINATt SIDES AGAIN$!

FENCl TO CUT TONGUE
CENTEREO ON STOCK

2
-,

3
RNCf

22

WOODS)'flTH

Talking
Sho~
---------------------------------------------

AN OPEN FORUM FOR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

ncr

SHRINKING TIME MACHINES

llt-' .rlllreaders have written to tell

U$

thl' ('iu(.'kmovements we recommended

that
for

Ill<S<hoolh(>useclod< (IVood"mit/, No. 21)

,,,.11 hr Mantel clock (lVood8lnith No. 24)
.". I.,., IJIrge (aeeording to the dimensions
1(" "Il In the eatategs),
MOIIIor Ihe confusion about whether or
""I 111~movements will fit comes from the
r.rt
the catalogs don't always provide
t,h" ""mel minimum "inside dimensions"
Some of the measurements in
Ih, ('lIlaJogs are stightly exaggerated to
~""r."le<J enough room for a proper fit. or
th('l"t.verall" dimensions are given, rather
lh,' minimum inside dimensions.
1'0 ,liminate these problems. I've found
II', ",.1to purchase the movement first.
n" " il can be measured to determine the
ort 1I.lllimensionsneeded for the clock case
h<'(o~ the case is built.
Ih,we'cr. r did go back and doublech...-k all of the conflicting dimensions and
'4Jur.,t that the movements we recom ..
01",.1<<1 do fit the dimensions of the clock
01>'" n. shown in our plans.
~or the Schoolhouse clock. we listed two
'bllrc~s: the Klockit catalog. and the
)1"'",n and Sullivan catalog. The Kloekit
mevernent is a small battery operated
'I".ttl movement. #CS-16. with a 1614"
,ntfulum (which was ol'iginally listed as
I""). priced at $26.95.
Th e Mason and Sullivan movement is a
k,'y wind "Bim Bam" calendar movement.
':I:14IX, that comes with a 14\1:" pen,Iulum. and is currently priced at S67.00.
~'or the Mantcl clock, we used Mason
IUId Sullivan's Westminster Chime move-,
ment #3600X, (S89.00). Again, according
Ur the dimensions listed in Lhecatalog. this
movement shouldn't fit. But it does ...
v.ith room to spare.

'M'

.....,">rod.

uu.n

PLYWOOD TIPS

Could 11011 tell me wllal til lookfor whe"

lmyi1tg Iw.rd,oood Illywood?
David K/Q.tt
Uplalld. Indiana
There are several different things to look
for when buying hardwood plywood: the
rKCeveneer, the core construction, and the
""tual thickness. But after all the different
r~rtol'S have been weighed, choosing a
I,UU'IofU!n comes down to the quality of
Ih. face veneers.
\('.: \'8~'EERS.The veneers used on the
rIO" o( Ihe plywood are graded with a

w oons "11TH

standard grading system. The highest

quality veneers commonly available are
"AH grade. The next lower grades are
called #1. #2. #3. #4. respectively.
Usually. even the highest quality hardwood plywood has only one side that'.
raced with an "A" grade veneer. Then the
opposite side is faced with 8 veneer in a
sligbtly lower grade.
"Good one side" (GIS) is another desig-

nation that's commonly used on thin

(usually Vo" or less) plywood. This designation is most often used on imported ply.
woods that haven't been graded to U.S.
standards. In this ease. the quality of the
"good" side can vary (rom good to excellent. The back face veneer i<usually verv
low quality, and can even be of a different
species than the (ace veneer.
Another designation that's worth noting
is "Sbop Grade." which basically means
factory seconds. (They're priced accordingly.) In some eases. a high quality panel
is down-graded to "Shop Grade" (or a very
small defect, In other panels, there may be
a major flaw, But in every case, there is a
defect that mayor may nOI be visible,
Although tbe race veneers an> usually
the biggest concern, the interior core is
also important.
THe CORE COSSTRU('''l'IOS. There are

. -

several common methods of core construetion; veneer core, lumber core, partide. Veneer con>construction consists of
laminating individual layers of veneer W
build up the core. And generally. the more
plys (layers) thaI an> used, the more stable
the panel. This method of construction by
far accounts ror the majority of the plywood sold.

rarely the aelltal thickness that's designated. There are two reasons Cor this.
First, tbe industry has created a act of
standards that allows a certain amount of
variation in the actual thickness of hardwood plywood. This is usually the reason
for any variation in the thicker (0/."and up)
panels.
The second reason for variation in thickness is that most of the thinner plywood (in
f3C1.,75% of aU plywood) is purchased from
oriental manufacturers who designate the
thickness in millimeters rather than
inches. Although they're close to the inch

designations. the variation can drive you

batty if it hasn't been taken into account.
So to be safe, always measure the thickness of the actual piece of plywood that's
going to be

used, before it's too late.

FLYING CANISTERS?

After reading Ihe aTticle 0" stave con.t),'IlctU))I ilt Woods",ith No. f5, J feel tlw.t
you should tca1'1t yOltr Te4der8 IIU1t1M" is
an eo:t'N!mety dOllgerrnl8 method ofgl,Ung
"pH "ock for ,,'00<1 (uTlring .
The joi>!/$ Iw..., I;) b. well modt "d
p'l'Operlll c/ampM. not just held together by
hand. IU yo" 81l{10eBt.
Although sta.., constrt",tio" prod""".
beautiful pieces. and saves materio! and
"''''tell. the -risk of injury is very high.
Fred ZlIald
Gnnul Rapid$, ,\1/

Stave eonsrrucrion, in ow- opinion, doesn't

pose any excessive danger to a wood
turner. as long as a Cewbasic precautionary steps are taken. And the first step is to

Another common core construction

all/Jays wear a (ace shield. This alone can

method is called "lumber core." This

method uses narrow strips of solid wood to
build up the center. This type of core is
more likely to warp, and is more expensive
than veneer core plywood.
There's an advantage to using lumber
core plywood when the edges of the panel
need to be shaped. The solid-wood COn>
that's exposed is much easier to stain and
finish than the layers of veneer Cound in
veneer core plywood.
Another, even lower quality core eonstruction method is called particle board
core. This method consists of using one or
the many forms of particle board as the
con>.The problem with this method of core
construction is that it has very tittle stiffness. strength, or screw holding power.
TB1CKNJ>SS. The biggest problem with
buying hardwood plywood is that it's

prevent serlous injury if the staveconstructed cylinder happens to separate.

The other precautionary step is to be
sure the cylinder is built with good solid
joinl$. For stave construction, that means
wit/Will clamps, The problem is that if the
individual staves are clamped together,
the clamping action can actually pul! the
joints apart if the bevels aren't perfectly
cut. This can cause a serious problem if it
goes undetected.
I feel the best way to produce a solid
joint using stave construction is to use
hand pressure to glue the individual staves
together, because you can feel ifthejointis
off as the glue takes hold.
But the bottom line is this; Always be
prepared Cor the worst. I'm comfortable
with stave construction ... but 1 alwags
wear a face shield.

23

Sources
Wllh tNsissue, forthe.akeofconveni~

and spat'<, we've sl.arted printing the com

plere addre~.es for mail order supply
hou.<a only un"" - at the end of the page
instead of with the ordenng information
fot e~h 8pecille project, Here goes:

.,nishing

Garrett "'ade and Th.. Yt'ood

Supply Company.
Ir you're haVlnP: hard ume Ioc:oting A
speeifie brand, you can c:all the manu
r~urer or wholesaler - tbdr _
and

addre_.

an' Ii"~on paj(e 15.

ROUND TAllE

WOODWORKING CLUBS

I ordered all of the hardware for the

round table from the Woodworker's Store.

\\,ORLII O~' II ('011 ASSOCIATIO," CIt

WOOUIIORKIl<GThis group w,," rrnt,.,j by

The 2O"L x 2"H (26' maximum opening).

the Ganahll,umber Company or AnahI'lm,

California, for its eustome .....
~!embe ...h,p in W.O."'.A. """1.8 $10.00
per year and the benofits of mcmbc>rshil'
include dio<ounl8 at the lumber 51o,"", f,...,
adnU..l1onto a monthl) lecture kries, and
a tiubkription to 8 monthly no" 8Iet~,

wooden extension slides arc tatalog number 0-1500 (wood), $12.75 per set,
The nylon glides for the feet arc catalog
number C-1404", 3b<! oet of 4 (two !\CI.'

arc~edl.
I purtlwed the 36" x 96" flexible white
oak \ eneer at loea! hardwood store, but
similar prod~u arc a\'ailable from The
Woodworker's Store. Craft$man, and
Constantine's.
C"!VAL MIRROR
The hardware for the cheval mirror is

TM n'orld of Il'ood s~

BrK/.

For information about joinill, contact

Jim :oIL.h. Ganahl Lumbo-rC>mpany, 1:!20
Ea.t Ball Road. P.O. Box 31, Anahe,m,
CA 9'biOS or call 7H ..772-Ml-t.
YETTO lit;

',,-"ED WOODWORKI:>OC
CI.l'II:'.

We"'e heard from three woodworkinp:

from the Woodworker's Store. The order
clubs 60 newlyfonned they hadn't bad tinll'
number for the :W. long Swivel Mirror to pick 8 name ~'ct.
screW8 i. 07480, $5.95/pair.
811r/illglo .., IA. Dwight Mulch. PreslI also used a flexible plastic panel
dent or the club in Burlington, Iowa,
retainer strip (the staple type) to mount in\'ite~ woodworkers in Southeast low.
the mirror. The order number is D27().1for and \Vc.t Central llIinol$ to the group'.
Fruit wood. The panel retainer costs meetin~ every third Thursday at the Bur251! foot and you'll need about 12 feel.
Iinp:lon Public Library.
The rmrror it",,1( eest $32.00 at a loea!
D,.ight would alllO like to hear from
glAg.,",orc; \\ e thoUght it was worth $l2.00 other clubs 800Ut any .. <peel of fonning
labor c~ to have them cut the mirTOr "'ood"orking club. Con~
him at 263G
South Main, Burhngton, IA 52601.
to final .hape. Total COSt:S41.00.
\'411,OU',", II'A Don Scbie b one of
ROUND CLOCK
eleven m"mbers of a ne" woodworking
Iordered the quarU movement and the dub in Vancouver, \\'ashington. He say.
face and bezel for the round clock from they've had lIe'era! meetings to disc"",,,
Craft Product. Company.
tbeir goal. He'd like to hear from other
The 9"- braso betel/dial set I used is dubs about bow to get started.
catalop: number 2831K50 (Roman numer
They'd like help w,th their bylaws,
alR) and eoots SI9.90.
applications,
and some advice about
The Craft Ultra Thin Quartz Movement whether or nol to incorporate. Don's
is talalog number 2325-XOI (this move add .... iA1109NE 127 Street. Vancouver.
ment fltll the
plywood insert in the WA 98665.
project), S5.9S. The bands are included
St. l..o"i_, ,4'0. Finally, Bruce R. Den
!Tee with the quartz clock movements, but slow, the l'ffioidenlofThe Wood & Shop, a
you hav~ to Indicate which style you want.
St. IAUi. retail !ItOre ",,1Iinp:hardwood
We u..-ed catalog number 2t31K44.
lumbc>r,tooLl, and olher re1ated items is
trying to find cnouflb members to form a
OIL flNISHlS
"'oodworking club. Bruce ... ~.. if wood
Oil finW.~ arc easy to find - the~...... workersln tbe Il't'8 arc intHes~, bell be
""'d in hard",ood. lumber. and unfinished glad to h~lp ~t the dub .tarted.
furniture .tore~, a;; weD as national and
For morc Information, contact Bruce at
regional di""""nt centers. But, in a couple The Wood & Shop, 5605 North Lindbc>rgh,
of cue_, the oil finishing products we St. Louis. MO 63042 or call 31.1-7312761.
talked about are not generally avallable at
CREEl< COL":'oTIlY WOOI)WORKetI$ CLL'll.
retail outlel.ll.
'rbb Tuba, OK, club 11118
about 90 memo
Sutherland Welles tung oil products are bers, many of whom are Shopsmitb
available from the Garrett Wade Com ownen. There are eleven meetings and
pany. Bchlcns products arc available from newsletters each year -all included in the

v.

24

SII. annual mcmbc,..h1p fee.

The group ~U the fourth Thursday of
the month 01 tbe Tuw. \' <>- Tech School.

For m..re i"formallon evntact Dean HawIcy, 1'n'l"I~lIt, 111211 );outh Birmingham,
Tuw. 01{ 711116or call ~18-7-13-2024.
"OCIIM.It.~T~'1<I<Th,. club is I_~
in
Taml"' t'looi<l... ,.1 u.ually limits the size
or 118 nlt-rnl .. -r hlJI Now, however. there
....., ""11e ol"'lI1n,l(llfor members, The club
m'..u one IUlIhtI",r month at a locaIjWlior
IUl(h school .. ,... I.. onong shop,
~or more informallon, contact Presi ..
d<'llt (;. nlon I'almtt, :lIro Lawn Avenue,
Tampa 1'1 IIXIl
Tli.

"."M.Y.'."I\t::.a. ... t Ll 8 OF HOCSTOS~

IIIDlleW

18 I~nt
f this club v.'bich is
'- than a y..... old, but has already grown
from 23 to III()ft\ \han 40 ~mbers. Annual
0111< arc $7 00, and th group's monthly
m~etlnl:8 f,#tur~ A cia.. or a demonIttatlOlI
p ";uod,,orking wcimique.

or

......r tn"r,

Informallun,

contact

Bill

1l<.~I(',7:l<i7 ,\nIOl'" lIouston. TX 77088.

cc.,

k.It.""t \\\
'1 \ "'KlI.\\O,'I\'"ERS AS$().
(I.TII"
lI"b S\<Amm,Camden, SC. Is the

"'... I.ry1..'........r "r thi. group of 46

"",.1" urk"n! wbo KI'lI..;:,ther monthly at
th,' eou nt) \,,,,,,t

also Il' I to ..

oil'" to'ntl'r (where

tbey

III< to .. ll)
IIob 101'" h~'d tikc to h,'lIJ' from other
dub. 81."'t 1:",.11 TOI:rBm 1,leas. And ifyou
","nl to JOIn, ~taet Bob Stamm, 2109
Rach,u'll_ rt~,('amd,n, SC 29020.
fURf-ST IIlI

"',NIIN II ,nt:RS.

Bryan

" orthlDl!\OD ..."t.,. to aay thlll his 'iledg.

ling" ol'J:llllW1UOnof .. cod.... rkers in the
Rockford, IWoo ,area Is In """" of memo
bera and ututr IMIde,.., plus suggestions
for
but frft
JlTOJn'llllI material
If you'... puy o(the th~, c"nlM! Bryan
at 52.11 M~ri"" ,~\t"U', Roc:kford, IL
61lo.~ or rull ~Ir.::""'.(,,>;&1

1:<"'"

ADDRISSIS

TI,., l\'r,l()(/uv/rk,.,.,' ."'.''''.

trial Boul"\'ard,
Hog"rs,

~l Indu,s.
~I:-: 05374.

612-42.'<-4101.

CraflI".d.d. ('"" I"'R~, Mail Order

Di\;,10n, 221.1 U<Jln ~tn..,t, St (,harl,""
IL 60174, :1125."'90.."
Carrrllll'ad, ('cmtpanll, Int:, 161 An.
nue of the .\mericn,
:-;"... \ ork. XY
10013. 1...,,;)f~:!:!1~42(.\1{ III, and :-;Y
call212~lio7).
lIoodF",W. 11/1 'Nppl,lCompanll, 1267
Mary Ilrl\<-, .\lac,don, :-;\ 14502,
315-~;'I';lj

ern/I.ma.

1\'00,1 :>rrt'l<' Co., 1735

\Ve<t {'ortland ('''"Tt, ,\dd,>on, lL 60101,

3 12..w.1:11110.

Co".t,,,,t.,,"'., ~~J:'.o
b"-'t~ler
Road,
Bronx, r-;y 1I~lIll, 1!<IJ(jl!23-8087.
\VOOOSMITH