NO.

26

NOTES FROM THE SHOP

$2.50

Sawdust
Number 26

MarJApr., 1983

ABOL'TTillS ISSI). I tend to vie" cabinet-

making as a series of connected steps; each

step important and each leading toward a
eclltor
goal. \Vhile the goal might be to build a
Donald B. p...,hke
nice-looking. functional cabinet, completing that gOldi~ not the real reward of
Design Dlreetor
woodworking.
Ted Kralicek
To c'lioy woodworking you have to enAssis1an1 Editors
joy the steps along the way - the process
Steve KIOhmer
and the detail. \Vhen the process is comMichael seen
pleted (and the goal is reached), the reGre,phlcDes!gners
ward is simply the satisfaction of knowing
David Kreyllng
the care and patience thaL it took to make
Marcia SImmons
all the details work to!l(eLher.
Okay Don, what's the point of all this
Sul)sc;rlPuonManage,
wonder(uJ philosophy?
Sandy J. Baum
It has to do with the Curio Cabinet in
SubscnpllOnAssIsI8nIs
this issue. "It's a handsome cabinet, but
Christel Miner
I'm not sure I could build it." That was the
Vicky Robinson
reaction ofthe newest addltion to our staff.
JaCkie SlToud
~1ike Scott.
But Mike was at a disadvantage. He first
Shirley Fellman
Pam Dickey
saw the curio cabinet when it was completed. and r admit that it tends to look a
Compuler OperationS
little intimidating,
Ken Miner
1 was more fortunate. I saw the building
process - all the individual steps I took as
Admlrustratlvs Assistanl
I IV9$ building the cabinet. When it'.
Cheryl seen
broken down into step. like that, It's not
intimidating. It's just a lot of work.
The key to most of this work is the
ISSN: 0164-411.
joinery .pecifically making a mortise and
WOODSM1llI1s pubflShedbimonthly(January, tenon joint. And here again, it's all the
March. May. July. September. November) by detail. that make the di(ference. Eacb
WoodsmllhPublishing Company, 1912 Grand joint is like a small project in itself ... a lot
of individual step" that lead to one goal.
Ava.. Des MoIoes. Iowa 50309
Yet once this joint is assembled, no one
WOOOSMITH Is a reglsletod trademarl<of the
will
ever see it. Only you ,,;11 know tbat it
WoodsmlthPubfishingCompany.
lits just right and that it will lust a long
. Copyright 1983 by Woodsmllh Publishing
time ... secretly doing its job. That's the
Company.AD Righls Reserved.
real reward of woedwcrking.
Subscrlplfons: One year (6 Issues) S10. Two
ROlTIn .""IITAKI.E SAW.[fyou've been
yea's (12.ssoos) $18. Single copy price. 52.60
reading
lI'ooo8mith for a while, you know
(Canade and Foreign add 52 per year.)
that the two basic power tools we use are a
Change Of Address: Please be sure 10Indude
both your old and new addrass tor change 01 table saw and router. These two tools,
addfess Ma~to: Woodsm.th. 1912 Grand Ave.. coupled with a drill press (to cut some
mortises). are all that's required to build
Des MOines. Iowa 50309.
Second cia .. postage paid al Des MoInes. any o( the projects in this issue.
That's nice. but what's the point o( menIowa.
tioning lt~
Postma.ter: Send change 01 address notice.
It's JUSt that I'm constantly amazed at
Form 3579. to Woodsrnlth PublIShing Co., 1912
what you can do with a few basic tools. For
Grand Ave. Des Moines, lowe 50309
example. all o( the fancy moldings on the
BACK ISSUES
projects in this issue were made with "
A lIStof the con!4nt$ of all back Issues appears couple of standard router bits and a router
on the wre,pperof this Issue. n Ule wrapper Is . mounted to a router table, o( COUI'S(1.
So once again. I'm giving the old sales
_ng.
you can send lor bookie I descnblng
pitch for building a router table. \It really
Ule contents and pnoos of all bad< ISsues
is helpful to make these moldings.) The
SAMPLE COPlES
plan. for our version o( a router table
appeared
in Woodsmirh No. 20 (and the
t! you have a f neoo who ",,,uJej Iilte 10
copy
stand
was
in No. 22). Or. if you want R
ofWoodamlth. JUst send thename and address,
six-page plan booklet for the Il'oodsmif/.
and we11send a sample (at no cost).

s"""

router table.just send $1 and we'Jlj!et itin

the mail to you.
SOURCES. Starting "ith this issue, we're
adding a new regular (""lure to Wood
$I/Iith; 8 "Seurees" page. This page is an
attempt to give complete information on
the tools and hardware needed for the
projects in each issue.
As space permits, we'll also use this
page to include references to a varlet)' of
general source information: mail-order
catalogs, books, shows and exhibits; as
well as local woodworking clubs and stores
that specialize in hardwood.
\Ve'U be dependent on you for some of
this information (particularly the clubs and
stores in your 't?1I). Steve Krohmer has
volunteered (that means no increase in
pay) to manage all this information.
To start things off, we thought we'd
tOUt'CLinformation on woodworking clubs
around the country. If you belong to a club
or guild, and would like other wood.
workers in your area to know about it. let
Steve know.
:<EWfACt:S. ~likc Scott has joined our
group to help write and edit the articles in
n'uoo$mith. Besides woodworking, his
"other love" is musk. and he's managed to
combine both passions by refinishing several grand pianos.
Mike's first project here was to build the
antique wall mirror (featured on the
cover). Then I learned another one of hi.
hobbies is photography. So now he's organizing a new photo studio and taking the
pictures. (As time goes on. I hope to saddle
him with more and more tasks.)
THE &JAILINGLAJJL. \Ve've decided to
change the mailing label a little. \Ve used
LOput the dille of the last issue in the upper
righthand corner o( the label. Starting
with this issue, we're putting the iS8id
n'HI.btr of the last issue you should
receive. This should give a better idea of
when your subscription will expire (and
when you have to send more money).
l'o'U)IOt;R0:01IS BACK. In addition to the
label. we've also changed the protective
cover. And in the process we brought old
issue No. I back to life.
A few months ago I dropped it from the
back issue offer because I wasn't completely happy with the d"~ign and consrruetion technique 1I""1l for lh" Trestle
Table in that i"_ue. Then one ofour readers
wrute us to say that w.c ~h"u1dalway> keep
that i""ue around. , if only til n'mind us
to do better in the future. So.
b:tck. and
we're trying to do better

:>O'EXT
~L\ILING. The next issue of Wood
smith should be in the mail dUring the
wI!(>k of June 6. 1983

i",

V.'OOOSMITH

__

T_~s& Technigu_e_s __

fiNDING CENTER ON SPINDLE STOCK

I've been using a simple way to rmd the

center on the ends of spindle turning stock
that might interest your readers.
All I do is use the band saw to cut the
"cress- hair" slots on both ends of the stock.
To do this, I position one corner of the
stock in the table slot (thaCs used to
change the band saw blad.:;). &l.d line up

screwed to the side of one of the 2x4'~.

Then the piece being mortised is placed
between the 2x4'~ tbutted against the spacer. and nush with th~ top edge), and the
Whole arrangement is clamped tojtether
sandwich style. Cl clamp the end with the
spacer block in a vise. and the oppo.;it(!end
with a C-clamp.)
To cut the mortise, I use a router
equipped with an edge guide that ride, on
the outside of the 2x4's. and n router hit
that's .Iightly smaller than the mortis se.
After the length of tbe mortise is
marked out. J make the first cut usjng one
side of the fixture Ill; a guide. And then.
without changing the setting on the edge
guide, I make another cut using the opposite side of the fixture for the guide. This
assures that the mortise \\;11 be exact I"
centered on the stock,
.
if more than one identical mortise is to
be cut. a set of stops can be tacked to the
top of the fixture. This set-up can also be

COMMON CALIPERS

ROUTER CUT MORTISES

I have an idea for those readers of Wood

smith who want to make exactly centered

mortises, but who don't have a drill press.

1 use a simple jig and a router.
To make the jig, I trimmed two 2<1'8 to
exactly the same thickness. Then I cut.
spacer to exactly the same thickness as the
piece bei ng mortised. This spacer is
WOODSMlTH

WASHER

I~~~~USf NAil

FOR lRAMMEl

POI'"
OCAMfEIt

CAI.1AG f

fOGES

I(N.T

groove.

Robm IV. Zil!9l~

WhIte" Haren; Flu/ida

JOhll H. Aletzgrr
Port \4'oshillyt.m, Ohiu

WING Nut

straight bit on the route.' table to CUt the

the opposite corner with the band saw

blade. Then Imake the diagonal cut about
1/,' deep. and rotate the stock to repeat tbe
CUl between the remaining t\VO comers.
The center is marked where the two cuts
cross, and the v.' diagonal cuts also provide a good seat for the spurs.

I tame 3C'J"OSS an idea while I was turning

forty identical spindles for a swinging
cradle that may be of some help to someone
else. To keep the diameter of the round
tenons on the ends of each spindle consistant, I used open-end wrenches as a
gauge, rather than the outside calipers.
First I turned the tenons with a gouge
close to the right size, Then 1used a parting tool to trim the tenon down to size until
the respective wrench would slide over the
tenon as it was turning. Often with a little
pressure, the ends on the opening of the
wraneh would actually cut the tenon down
to the exact, size.

dovetail grooves on the outside edges of

the beam. To do this, I .imply used a
dovetail bit in the router table (S<'<! Wood
lft,,;tlt No. 20).
Tbe next step is to cut 8 ..."-\\'ide
stopped groove (centered on the beam) to
attach the adju.table heads. To mark the
starting and stopping points "fthis grUllve.
I drilled two t,' holes, centered I" from
both end, oC the beam. Then I used a

used to cut a groove along the piece to

accept a panel.
This method may be of some value to
those "router nuts" who want more information on how to use the router.
Jerry Schlltllcr
l\'i"QtlU . If i)t'llesoitl

SDITOR'S NOTE: For more ifljontlaliofl

OJI Cllfti"g mortise and tentms, see pugtS

for a ",,';81U of mortisillg bits.

",cited",!! router bits. see pogr~.
7-11. lInd

To make the adjustable heads. Cut the

shoulders of the dovetails (on the router
table I so that they're slightly closer
together than needed to fit over the beam.
Then remove the waste between the dovetails to fonn a large dO"clail woov~. (By
removing this waste. r could actually test
the heads against the beam fOI'[mal flt.)
fiuaUy. th. distance between the dovetails is widened until it fiLSon the beam.
After the heads are cut. 1/," holes are
drilled forlocking bolts tI used a V.x IV.
carriage boil). Then I made two holding
brackets with custom- fit grooves to hold.
pencil in one bracket, and a trammel point
in the other. (The trammel point is made
by grinding a sharp point on a #8 finish nail
with the head removed.)
Finally, I used a chamfer bit on the
router table to take 011 the corners (If all
the edge:<. To finish this beam compass, I
used \Vateo danish oil, and 3 couple of coats
of Wateo satin W8.'<.

Kenneth. Gyl<lc"",,"d

BEAM COMPASS

There are times when I've needed a larger

compass than is commercially available. To
solve this problem. I made a simple. and
very functional beam compass that ineorporates a sliding dovetail joint. By using' a
sliding dovetail, the head, of the compass
can be easily adjusted along the beam,
while automat ically remaining at a 90'
angle to the beam.
To make the compass, I used. piece or
... oak, 2" wide, and 36' long (any length
will work). Then the first step is to cut

Des Moi71".~.Iowa

f----------------l
SND IN YOUR IDlAS

f----------------l
II YOU'dlike 10share 8 woodw""'ing tip Wilh othOf
readers
Woodsmlth. send your idea to'
Woodsmflh. TIps & Teclmlques. 19.2 Grand
Ave.. 0 .. MOInes, lOw. 50309.
We pay a minrmumof$10 torllp$. and $'50r
more for $peCIaltecMiques (illal a'e accepted

0'

to< publicallOn). Please give. completeexplana

lion of yom Idea II a sketch Is needed, send It

along; we'U draw new one

______
D
_i~by_C_~
_

IT'S EASY,NO SPOOLING

Maybe I'm [ust behind the
times, but just the other day I
learned that thread 110 longer
comes on wooden spools.
Nowad8vs aU thread is wound
around PtMtic spools. As u resuit. wooden spools have become somewhat ofa collector's
item. And wllrthy of a display
C3-<;e.

We've had a lot of requests

for plans for a small display
cage for t hirnb les. pipes.
spoon". commemorative coins.
and small car replicas. I don't
have any of those thing, but
pack rat that I am. I OO"e all
sorts of wooden spools, So I
decided this was a good opportunity to build a display cabinet
for them.
THE BASIC BOX

The cabinet use, straightforward box construction: the

top and bottom are joined to
the ~ide.with a rabbet/dado
joint, and all three shelves are
dadoes into the sides. This requires a total of five dadoes on
each .ide piece. see fig. 1.
I knew these dadoes had to
line up perfectly on both side
pieces. But rather than trying
to cut identical dadoes on two
individual pieces. Icut only one
set of dadoes ... in one doublewide piece. Then after the dadoes wcre cut. I could rip this
double-wide piece to get the
two piece. for the sides,
-----------------------By thL. lime, I \\'3. really getling inlo Fig. J.
making things easy. To eliminate five indillAoor.s t'OR CORN'f:RJOll\'TS. Next. I cut
vidual setups for cutting these five dadoes,
the dadoes for the rabbet/dado joint (used
1 decided to space the dadoes for the three
\0 auaeh the top. bottom and two sides of
shelves equidistant frum both ends, This the cabinet). These Yo',\\ide dadoes are
way. the ""I-UP for Ihe top shelf could also positioned so the bottom edge of the dado
be used for the bottom shelf by simply
is equal to the thickness of the top.bottom
flipping the piece end for end,
pieces. see Fig. 3.
To <tart this process, 1 cut the doubk~
RU' TO SIZE. After all the dadoes were
"ide piece IS"long by 4Y,' wide. <This is a cut, Iripped the double-wide piece into thc
little wider than needed 10 allow for trim
two 2"-wide side pieces (A}. Then I cut a
cuts if any chipout occurs as the dadoes
Y,"-\\ide by V.-deep rabbet on the back
are cut.)
edge of both sides pieces for the
plyOAOOESFOR SIIE(.\ES. I cut the dadoes
wood back, see Fig. 4.
for the shelves first. The dadoes for the top
and bottom shelve. an! cut3" from each
TOP AND BOTTOM PIECES
end oflhe double-wide piece. And the dado This same basic procedure can be used to
for the center shelf is centered on the cut lhe pieces for the top and bottom ~B).
length -71'<" from either end. All three of First. I cut a double-wide piece to a length
these dadoes are v,' wide by vo" deep. see of 9'1,'. (This length allows for 9' between

V.

the side pieces, plus Yi' for the

two V.-Iong tengues.)
Next. I cut a rabbet on the
ends of the double-wide piece
to leave a tongue that fits the
dado in the side pieces. This is
the rabbet half of the rabbet!
dadojoint. (Although it's called
a "abbot/dado joint. the only
purpose of the rabbet is to
leave a longue to lit in the
dado. see Fig. 3_)
Finally, I ripped the doublewide piece to get the top and
bottom pieces (B). These
pieces are ripped Vo" 1Iarrower
than the cabinet sides to allow
room for the Yo' plywood back,
NO'l'CUES FOR I1I1<Gt:S. To
mount the door. notches have
to be cut for the hinges. But
rather than waiting until the
cabinet is assembled, I decided
to go ahead and cut the notches
now (while the sides were still
easily accessible),
To 1<implify things, I cut
these notches to a depth equal
10 tbe full thickness of the
knuckle of the hinges. see Fig.
Then the hinge nap on the
door frame could be surfacemounted (no mortise is needed
on the door frame. refer to
Fig. S on page 6.).

a.

THE SHELVES

T deeidl'(l tel make the shelves

for this cabinet \<:" thick so
they wouldn't look too bulky
and detract from the relatively
small collectibles. 'l'his meant resawiag
stock ior the shelves down to II:!'thickness.
Before resewing, cut to length the three
pieces of stock for the shelves. 1'0 determine the length needed for the shelves.
dry-assemble (no glue) the top, bottom and
two side. to form the basic shell of the
cabinet. Then measure the distance between the bottoms of the dadoes. and cut
the stock 10 this length.
Next, rip these three plt'('(!.l.<I II width of
Iv.... (This is v.-I'".lhHn Ihe \\idth of the
sldes to allow for the ply\\'<>Odback)
Finally, the three sbelves can 00 resawed hipped on eclgelto fit tbe h dadoes
inthecabinet$ide,.It'sb<:slhereto>ellhe
en 10 $lilZhtlyover \1," because you need
just a little extra thickness '0 the saw
mark. can be removed. II used a cabinel
scraper tel remove the marks, but they
WOODSMITH

could also be sanded off.,

TRIM PLATES

3'

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. ! ....

AJ.1 OADOS
'. GEEP

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EOGE

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7' .:

At this point the cabinet is.just a plain box.

spice things up I added decorative
trim plates (D) to the top and bottom orthe
cabinet. The leng! IIof these plates is a total
of .: longer than the width the cabinet.
(Thi. allows a "1'." overhang on the outside
edges. see Fig. 5.)
The width of these plates is E'qual to the
depth of the cabinet (2"), plus the thickness
of the door (rame (lY,.). plus VI' for the
overhang' on the front. This totals 311,".
But since the door frame isn't built yel. I
cut them to rough width of 3Yt for now.
and trimmed them after the door \VIC' built.
l'ILUlFt:KEIJ(:t~" Finally, the edges of
these plates are chamfered (on the router
table) to leave an V. -wide chamfer on the
front edges and both ends. (The edges on
the back of th~ cabinet 8''1> I.n square, see
<."
")
rIg. a.

So to

.....,,/,....

',- mwooo

"
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or

,'. .

I .~~

used for spools. a series of V,"-deep holes

need to be drilled in the shelves for the
pI!g>o. I used a spacing of lV.- for the smallsized spools on the top two shelves: and a
IY.'" "pacing for the large spools on the
bottom shelf and the bottom of'the cabinet.
see Fig. 2.
Pt:GS. Then the peg>; for the spools are
cut l' long. I chamfered the top edll<' of
the.se pegs by mounting them in the drill
press (SOl at a slow Rpeedl, and u""d a file
10 knock off the edge.
"S$E~I8I.Y_Next, the Y," plywood back
(H) i,cut to lit bot ween the rabbets in the
cabinet sides, and equal to the full height of
the cabinet.
Finally. the cabinet (lop, bottom, sides .
and shelves) C31l be glued tugt:th~r, with
the plywood back lacked in place to help
keep everything square.

' _..!

~i'

HOLES t'OR 001\ El.S. If this cabinet is

_j_1 ',.

flGUIE 2
1

T 1

LAYOUT FOR SMAlL SfIOOlS

o
04AMfEl
TOP EDGE

o
I

~WEl

0 -

"
~,.'i
I

~--------,

lAYOUt FOR WG

SPOOLS

PIG DE'All

MATERIALS LIST
0"'111 Olnowns,fon,: 19'1. H xii "W ~3 '0
A Sid<t.(2)
8 Topond80ttom(2)
C SMlv., (3)
0 Top/S'm. PI.... (2)
E Ooor Stiles. (2)

Door Roil. (2)

G OecotV'tiv. SUoII (1)
H PfywoodBo,k(I)

':Y,.x2IS

'V".I.a.9th
In. 1...9~

-::v,. x 3'1

11'/ ..

'V, l'I.15
,~. xlII ... 9';'
'Vl.x3-8"~
\{..101S

CUTTING DIAGRAM

.;;r

',1. .. v.. OAOO--""

OEPtH Of' NOTCH
EQUAlS THICKNESS
Of M!.NOt: XNUCICU

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1i.,

"

lAC.

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rr,.X1lr , ~

I0

c
8

t. ,zJ:;;;,z,;;JL...zu;?uJ
,

> :

,~ .... .s 11\" .. 36"

WOODSMITH

THE DOOR FRAME

The door on he spool cabinet is constructed

with simple mortise and tenon joinl'l1.
(See pages 7 to 11for a detailed description
on cutting this joint.)
THEl"IL&S The first step is to cut the
stiles and rail. 1100wide. Then the >"tile,
can be cut to length to equal the full height
of the cabinet.
This dimension is actuall~' a little too
10111(- the door would fit too tightly between the top and bottom piat('<. Rut since
the plate'S aren't mounted yet, 1 cut the
stiles to full height olOt, and trimmed the
door to size after it was assem bled.
Tllf: IlAlloS. The rail re out to length so
the final width of the door frame is equal to
theoutaide width of the cabinet, see Fig .,.
(The sheulder-m-ahoulder length of the
rail. equal. the outside \\ idth of the eabinet. minus the combined width of the two
'lile"- Then to get the tctal length of the
rails, l added I~" for the two tenons.)
After the rails and stiles are CUl to size, 1

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cut Y."-v,idemortises in the stiles, and cut

the tenons to fil the mortises. When all th~

jclnts are cut, glue the deer tagethel" making su.re it'. "quare and tlat.
Once the
door was assembled, I backtracked and
found the final width for the tOl>and bottom pl"le~ (0). Then these two plates are
trimmed to width nnd !(Iued to the cabinet
&0 they're centered on the width. ami nu.qh
with the back I'd!:e.
Finally. ltrimmed the height of the door
frame to allow clearance between the
plates. t'Irim a hairnffboth the top and the
bottom of the door frame, SO the width of
the rails remains equal.)
R.\BIlF.T FOR Ct. ...sss, To illstaU the glas..
in the door frame, I routed a ...-wide by
.",.-deep rabbet on the back of the frame.
see detail in Fig. 7. (The routing technique
I used tn eliminate any ehipout on lhe edj!e
Clf the rabbet is de;:ribed on page 22).
CII.I)It"ER. Pinally. 1 sanded the door
frame, and then routed a stopped chamfer
en the outside edge of the stiles, see detail
in ~ig.
6.

STIll
15

TRIM f)ECORATIVf. l'I.ATEs.

THE SCROLLWORK

Now for the trieky part: th~ scrollwork

with the inlaid srarburst. Although this is
not completely necessary. it turned o!'t to
be a 10l of fun. (That is, once I got 0"." my
initial fear of screwing it up.)
The r,,,.t step is to mark the outline of
the scrollwork on a piece of stock 2\', wide
by ~~... long. (All of the neeessary dimen$inn~ are shown in Figure ;. I When the
outline is marked. be sure to include (h.
center l)Ointof the circle for the starburst,
Then CUI the outline on a band saw, and
sand the edge;; smooth with a drum sander
(bn a drill press),
cll\) ...;R.:I)(:~", To soften lhe edges of

..L

d,- __

'__

...JP

the scrollwork, f routed a ,,~'-wide chamfer alcng it front edge. The easiest way to
do this is on a router table \\ith a chamfer
bit equipped with a pilot guide.
Unfortunately.lhe pilot prevents Ihe bit
from completely chamferine the inside
corners of the prome. So I wound up using
'harp chisel to touch up the areas missed
by tho router bit.
norxr TIlE INLA)-. Next, a circular rea
cess is cut for the starburst inlay. Since
this inlay is a circle, the recess is relatively
easyto cUtwith an expansion bit all a driU
press. lThe details for cUlting the recess
and mounting the inblY are described in
Shop Note e, page 22.)
MOl-:''T TO C,II!IS&T. After the jnlav is
mounted. the scrollwork is glued to the tOI'
of the cabinet.
DETAilS. DETAILS
At this point. all that'S left are the little
details that alwavs seem to be left until lh~
last moment (not necessarily because it's
the natural time to do them. but because
l've finally finished all the fun parts.)

.' '.

GlASS!

Sf'"
11..j,....o;,tACI( STOP

WITH a!tADS

The first of these fini.u.ing details is to

CUl the stops to hold the glass in the door
frame. see Fig. 8.
to: ext, f installed the hinges. I used brass
buu hinges on this cabinet and mounted
them in the mortises cut on the edge of the
cabinet sides.
Finally, I mounted a magnetic eateh in!tide the cabinet. and installed a ceramic
knob on the door.
I finlsbed this cabinet with two coats of
Minw8.,\;Antique Oil Finish.
WOOOS~UTH

_loine~

.Tenon

THE BASICS OF BUILDING A FRAME

Alth.Jugh 1All'\,t !'hf)\\'n several variauoreThing ~t'l <l lilt lo complicated when
ur morli~(an(llt'nnn jOints in past issues or figuring th( !"ngth of the tenon. In gen11"0<,,1'"11111. th .. tim" we're ,howins: only eral, th., tenon should be at least Y" les
the basi" joint. ' . but we're including all than th, "illth or th,' stile. That is, you
tho' tlick. oflh, trade" we've learned to "antt'l Ie'a\', y,. between the bonom of
achlow' ~ood ,",ult.,.
thl' morti-e and the outside edge of the
The I'rocl~lu,,' we follow I. not intended .tiIt'. If the .lllc" IlJ'\! IV." wide, the, would
to cut f)ll<' I'rl'll~' jUU1\[ust to show off. mean '" tenon It.'ngth of J V.....
R.!th,r. th~ pcim Is 10 cut four joints to
Hcwcvr-r. ""oth"r limiting factor for the
form a ~~ I. 'lunly frame ... one that', tenor IS th,' depth of the mortise, I like to
squarv aItt'1 h:tl no ''''I1't to it. .----------.:....--------------..
BUIIdIIl~' mortise and tenon
I.
I.
(rame "1\ 01\ ~8 ~\'t'ral t('('h_ 1 _
,.
... ...
I\IqtI'OS. )tt the entln' I)~""
dell(n<lson (our h3.sa< rul.>,
I) U~)lOOllllt""j(hllumber
LL_
2) Plan all eurs ,0 you're
r"' SHOUU>l. 10 _
workIng"
IIh ",land.rdpi~ and l'~ttln~!' ..., That is.

r-r--....

it cut, don't
t.'hangt' it. <,CI8)'<'8.1 and rut all

3. ( lTT(J "t:\,; ru TIJstart, I CUl rough~

length "'I~(."tlt)ns(flr the ~titt'~
and rails tllonger than n",.I",I, TllI'lI th,' section for
the -tiles I. eut til ronal l,ngth, t'The rails
ar,' cut to finllll"IIJ.(1hlnter.)
\\Th"n <uttUlI: 10 final length, I use a
dllul>l,""'1II'"...lu re, trimming one end of
each l..J81'tl..quare, and then trimming thtl
other "",1 10 th. final length.
To make th,,,,c "UU, I 11>(' th,' panel
cut t Ing JIM t"ho" h in l" uod
'" Ih :\0 :!oj, This jil: help
hlld the btJaJ'rl ~J"OU (2.Il make

1:00'1
~I""'" NI:.

,.

I lUI' lYl wurrn :-;,,~'t I ...

t
uJ> thft "' .. to nf' the ,ul"" and
rails to final Width III{," wide),
A... in. all prece-, arc d vuble-

cut. First "I' them about ."uh'r than needed, and then
tnm tht.'nt to final width, This

once you 8ft ul' for

TO'ALUNOfH Of snlf =

pl('l'r, with exactly the same

M,ttinj.~.

12'

3) Milk, 11;,,1out. each step

orth~ way,
4)1l,' p8ti.nt.
There', no

~.

..

snl,(
.(

UNO."O.n_cn

ru'h 10 It,t thml:' done.

Th. tull rll'!'n).tlun of this
pfOC(odun.'ma~' seem overty detaiI(~i-like lht're'~ atremendOlL.amounl IIf tIme and "ork
....
AB
'"'01\,',1, Hul once \'I.u.... in
.L l...:....;;1
L-J
IhI! .hop and IICt1Jall~'&t.art rut
ling the JOint. things mOve
aJongMII)""ll~ 1(00<1
p3re. .
fa.,t """ugh II) I(ct lbe job done. bUl ean~ u,p So'an< n~.rt~ bit> which drill c:umfort
fully "nough III lIel it done right.
ably to a deplh of I". So I redu~
th..
THI INITIALPItOCIDURI
len~'1hofth~ 1<'l1onfor lho ""mple frame to
I" (which .. al.a an e"en measurement
that'"
~lU<y to work \\ilh !lO lhere's Ie...
\\'h,'nevrr I "'" oul 10 build a frame, lhe
fiJ'Rt t'trlJ i!ol ttl dt"ttnnlnc tht! final size I ~han'"e or a me.,uJ;".r error.'
want lh. f..Amc to b., There are two
Back to the "'Ilia lion. Th~ fin:.1ou,,"idt
choice.: you ~.n huild the frame ~o the dim~nslon or the fram~ i. II". Minu. 3"
n"tslflt riiml'n~iol'~are a ~rtain size, or (which i. 2 limp, tho' widlh of the slile.)
build it .0 lh,
dimeliliioru;. are Plu" 2" (" hi~h i, 2 lime. lh. lenJ(lh 0{ the
cert8in .i .. . A. an example, I built.
t<'n"n). Thus. tht I'81llenglb equab IIr.
..ampl.. rram,' "ilh out,ide dimen.,;on., of
: (nons"" Tnl: IIIKIIJ. \\Then choo.inp;
th~ \\ ",.1 to build a fr.me. it'. important to
12" hil!laby II" WIde.
I. !"Io'TI .. t:s \'1; R\II..' Tu build a frame chuuM~...'" 'tnU)!hl lum11<r- no warp,
thi- aU<'. the Ilil,, ("ertical pi"""") "ill be no t\\U,l. rtfl C'Uf'~ :\0 malte-r ho\\~,,elltht
12' lo"g .... hleh ISIhe final outside heilt of join ...' an' eIlt. If the "ood i. warpt-d. (Or
I.... (nune. The I('n!(th ofthl! r..iL<(horizon l.'>p(dallyI( 11'&t\\ i-ted. the frame "ill be
tal pi.... os) it< delermined by this .impl" goof<'<Iup.
I a!so try t., c:h()oo..t a pi{"l"("thal~'" o\'er~
tquation' raallen~h :5(1 tht.n- \\ 111
be ~omescrap lefl o,'er
(fanal ou,""ide "idth o( (ram<') ~iud
minu~ 12time. the width of the .tile) for Inal ~\lt.\\h,n lh ernp come. from
plu. (2 tim~" the length of the tenon). the"""e hoanl a. the' raib antl.til.".. you
To uto('thi, equation I had to fill ill tile know till' ,(tling on the tlial cuts "ill apply
two \'aMable", the width of the stile. and to the "",,,1" piece. I~"orthe .ample frame
the length o( lhe lenon. I chose a wiolh of I cho.~ n piee~ or hardwood 3Y,t wide by
I y,. (or the $til.
86 lonl(.)

"",dr

snu

tOW HIIGH' Of ...... C12

TOTAlUNGrM OFtAllOU.SlDE WID'" Of , ..... Cll,
MlNUS 2 TIMIS WIO," Of STIlE (31
PlUS 2 TIM"

WOOOSMITH

double cutlil1l(allew you 10rip

bt,th (dg('~of each )iectt so Y01J
know you're workins:with two

clean ,,11(1'"

&, I 1If,1 ~ FUll \1 AIIP AI

lhllujCh I 11'1' gO<lnstraight
luml>tr at lh. cutset . ome
tim('s internal st ress in the
t""~nlc:au~'~
tht" f,it"l"t."!'- Lo J:!'O
"frazy as \ht>y're lil'ped.
Th, "or:;! lbin)! 10 conl"nd
"ith Is pteff' that are t"i'tM.
TI, C'h('('k (()r twi..;;t. la,' each
"orkl'l:!' on a nat <u,1_ II
lL.... the top of thetable saw). and , ... if you
""" ,,"'k ,t b) al'pl~'"l( pre,..'u,"" to' Ol~
",,,,!t. <111"'.... If lillY or th. pi""..". are
t"bll'd ,t lh"In a.id~ and eIlt repla<~.
men", that "", lruly flat Hno >tl'3ight
0.1,,1\ nITI. ", l'I'IT~Il~ At thi,; point
bolh tho' ,tile' and ".il, h.\'~ hL-encut til
",tandal",I" widlh ond lhe ~Iil~<have been
eutto linal len~"h. ('fhl' mIl>are cullO fmal
I...n~h lall'r
wh,'" tla, Woon, are (ut. J
Th. ''''xt 011'1',. 10 layout aU of the
pi,,,,.,,,'" th,'" ". p.xli\~ I"'''ition.. to rorm
th~ fram,' TI1l'n 1 .tarl d"'ffiin~the I'i_,
until lhe\' ha,. th.,r 1",,1 f"", (ormml.

and thp),If'e' .,rran~('C1'Alth a nice J!T'3in

pailI'm.

an

'I\Rk I II III'IU I. \\ben

the pi""'"
are amml:",lth. "ay I """tlh"",.
1 mark
each PI('("C80 th(,n.';oo,
no ronfu~if'D later. I
u:iu:tllyju.,t (Iray. an ar1"O\\" on the ra~ tiiQE'
(the >ill,' thut
fac. Oul). Tbi, armw
poin"', to" &nltlle UI.itle
of the frame.
I ru.I) mark each I"t",e 80 I know which ;,.
right (R). I~" II.). 'op IT), and bollom (8).
Then I'm rcady to cuI the mQrti~ and
ten"",,.
_

",II

l"~.

Slot Mortise
GmlNG

ITCENTEREDIS THEKEY

The difficulty in cUlling a mortise and

tenon joinl is that it's two separate operations. Yet the end result must be one
perfectly matched joint. This problem i,
maJllliJied when building 8 frame simply
because there are four joints to contend
with.
The key W making four good joints is to
make each mOI1i!'C and each tenon with
standard settingll- so they're all the same
and don't have to be "euswmized.
So which do you ('lit first, the mortise or
the tenon? I think it's best to cut the mertise first because one of its dimensions (the
width) 6 Umited to the size of the bit used
to drill it out. The tenon, on the other hand,
is exposed and relati.~ly e-",,~'to get to if
its dimensions need tc be altered,
l.AYING OUT

The first step for cutling a mortise is to lay

out the dimensions (the width, length, and
depth) on the edge of the stile. I make
these layout marks on only one stile. Then
this stile i8 used to set up a fen~'(!arrangement on the drill press to cut all the
mortises with standard settings.
I. DETERMINE InDTB. The width of a
mortise is limited lo lhediameter of the bit

you're

using. In general.

thE'! mortise

should be one-third the thickn ess of the

stock you're working with. ~'or 'VI' -thick
hardwood, I cut a Y'-\lide mortise.
z, 101
I~" LE)lGTIJ. As for the length of the
mortise, once again there are certain limitations. The mortlse should stop far
enough from the end of the stile so it
doesn't split out lhe end of the stile.
Usually
from the end i" enough to elimi-

v.problems.

nate an~'

The other end orthe mortise is limited to

the width or the rail. (Si1l<.'e
the tenon can't
be any wider than the "idth oitho rail, the
mortise is also limited to this size.) I mark a
boundary line on the stile equal to the
width of the mil, see Fig. I.
Now the other end of the mortise can be
marked. This. is where some consistency
pays off. Since the first mark WA!; made 'I."
from the end of the stile. the second line
should be marked 1'.' from the boundary
line, see Fig. 2, (This will simplify cutting
the tenons later.)
3. )l~RKDEPTH.Finally, the depth of the
mortise is marked on the end of the srite.
sec Fig, 3. 'or the sample frame, I marked
the depth at 1". (Note.' when the depth of
cut is set On lbe drill press, it's OOt to
lower the bit just stightly more than this
line to be sure the bit actually CUIS to full

depth.)

SmlNG

UP THE FENCE

All o(these layout marks are used to set up

the fence, stops and feather board used to
hold the stile in place as the mortise is
drilled. An overview ol this setup is shewn
in Figure ~, (The construction details (01'
this fence are described at the end of the
article.)
Shop Note: The bottom corners of the
stops should be chamfered to allow a sawdust relief. AI-o the feather board is raised
up with. small block so it exerts pressure
on the lop edge of the stile. This is where
all the action is, so you want the most
support here.
I. ('E~"'ERSTILE OS SIT. To set up the
fence. the first step is to position the fence
so the stile is centered On the bit. This is
the critical step. Although it's possible to
make alterations later, things will go
whole lot smoother from here on if the
mortise is exactly centered Oil the stile.
To get the proper setting, I use apiece of
flGUIE.
LAMINATf THREE

'fECES OF

Pl'I'WOOOFORflNeE

owfi

BOlT.lKi TO
PRESS lA8ll:

r: DIIU

scrap W make trial cuts. Place the scrap

against the felice and a(lj\l.5t the fence so
the bit is approximately centered on the
thiekness of the scrap.
From here, the procedure
varies
slightly depending on lhe bit used, (For a
review of five mortising bits, see Tools of
the Trade, page 20.)
The bit I use most enen is the Sears
Mortise Bit. The procedure in this case is
todrUl a shallow tesr hole in the scrap piece
- just deep enough so the bit forms a
complete circle. Th~n flip the scrap piece
around so the other face is against the
fenee. Lower the bit 1<>see if it drills in
exactly the same hole, ~ee Fig. o. (Thi.
may take quite a few trial cuts, but the
effort spent 11011' will payoff later.)
If I'm using one of the routing bits (like
the inca mortising drill), I've found it's
easier 10 rout a shallow mortise at lhe end
ofthe scrap. Then flip the scrap around and
lower the bit to see ifit knieks one gid. or
the other, _ Fig. 6.
,j. IlfUU.. ~Duoi.es, !'\o\\r you're read)'
1.0 drill uUlthe mortise. I start by drilling
the two end holes to deline the linallenglh
ofthe morti se , see Fig. 7. This is clonewith
the face side (the side marked with an
arrow) of the stile against the fence.
6. t'I,E";< OUT. After the end holes are
drilled, lbe rest of the waste IS removed.
When I use the Sears liortise bit, I drill a
series of barely overlapping holes between
the end holes, bee J>'g. 8.
After this fll'St series of holes is drilled.
there will be small V-shaped shoulders
along the checks of the morrise, I center
the bit ever each "\0"' shoulder and drill
"traight dOWI\on them. The bit may tend
to argue a liltle when removing the Vshoulde rs, ~o I make repeated, shallow
cuts until the V's are drilled 10 full depth.
1. ~IORTlSEOTHER ESD. Up to this point
all of these steps were for drilling one
-fENCE 36 LONG 8Y 111.. W10f

-,_

-W1NGNUT

- WASHEt

PlYWOOD

&tOCIt TO

_I It 2"
__..CAJlalA.GE IOU

aonOM Of JtG
~

r--

_WA$HII

tOCK WASHfI

WOODSMITH

mor'W( on one nd or the.tiIe 'Ilu:- .tile

W8.< 1... ,tlOned ,,,th Ill; faee -Ide (the -ide
marked ",th an ""11\') al(llin.t the fence.
Til cut the othrr end the stile ha.< to be
turned around, But th15 pUI~the faa! "d.
0111.A,.i IIlh bIt II not e~tl); centered
OIlthe tllloimr:;s of th e sule, the mort,,,,,,,
.t each end" III be of(,ee nter in diffprent
directions.
J\Ii"t to maintain rc1r\tlj...teney. I cut on))
one ('nel or 01l.t ill'!' n"'t twith the face "ide
Rl!lIm.t tlu- f,ltc,). Then I reposition the
",of' bloek o I ran kes-pthe faee side ofthe
!'Ilill' 1~again~t lh4 (l'llC'" when cullinft the
mort 1st'S Rt the Ilt her (ne-I.
, (IIUI' "It IIl1. When all the mortises
are cut. ) ou hould M\'C perfect slot merliM' on all the .lill'll. from Moreyou hal e
one of t" (I ehoiees
I) I. " the ends of the meruse

reunded, antI round over the tenon to

matm
:!l :-;quare up the eerners of the mort se
",th
.'Ome",

marv
chisel to aeeept the square
or the tenon. To do tlti,. ,!.JUt b~

chOPPtnKdow" on the end. f the mertise

pieees are SO" long. and lhe bottom piece i8G" long )These three pieces are glued and
clamped tosrether \\ hen the glue l> dry.
np 8 dean edge on both faee- Also, cut 3
chamflr on the bottom edgeo{thf> fenee a...
a 03" dust re c!
To nltndl th,- f.'ne,- to tilt' baec, drill a

with IIsharp ch I, see Fig. 9 Make tight

taps and Jlr) 0 ,t the
until you read! series fir , hoi., lit each end of the
th.- bottom of the meruse, Then dean u~, ftn('(lr to fllrt'l 2'"lf'n~ f;h,t~. anti anoth(r
St>ril"S or I 41 hoi\::-.. Kt each end of the base to
lh, Cf.1"1I4'1"bh~' ,Iarin}l down on the-cheeks.

",._,t.

filrm h ..I"ng tllot!oi.

Then clean out these

FENCl 'Oft DRilL PRESS

sl018with n ~lIh.. ,'aw andllle. And finally,

Th.jig I u "ror drilling out the m(lrti.e><i. US(' l'llrri.;'J.:'ttHJll8 t(1 rn~t(.tl thE' fenee to
.impl)' a 'Y. 1'1~'Wnodb ..se with a movable Ill< b asu.
To l'rulon~ the liflofthl ha.s,e. I cut a :i" x
i"n<~. To build t hi, fenCl-arrangement, cut
lh, base about 12" wide by -I.~long, Then ~~.foquart holc (with a ~hr(! sa", and
cut \"0 gn"'\'~on the bottom or the ba-e, el'3nM II' tho .. Ice with a "lUh-r). Then 1
anrll:lue 10 the twe $tlffe""!'>'....ee ~11!.A. glu.. 1 a backmg I ('CC 10tne bottom of the
:\t't. nil three more 1'_ of plywood ba; e and eut a "'I'l;u-eable "'IWiI'l' to filth e
"Ide for the fence ('1"" 0 of the se square hi),

Sl1l.l

Xt.ri, lI,rfinn! /,"glh of the "'01'i.~pi.

'h, d"I"/' uf ,.,,1 Ihl' "'Id(iflh~'
tl} '".
l'iI"itNl fu
1 1'1/4If
3."nrl.:
at
ali}l" 7'hl" #.", ~ftti,tg thl' drplJ, (if
II,, tllltl/1/9th".,dlh
of Ih. roil, So fh. jir!t 2 )lIllrk~ .\Ial~Ollt!
(lU

,'tOrifltt '"

"'fP

1$ II>/>01,1" ... raIl "I 0" flld

and ,,,ark a IIQIn,fary /",r.

(I

"I II>, st,fe I"'"

IIIIt'.

It'(l,fl.1 ~.

11

llU'" d '1) I/o,.Iik. TIl''' ",ark 1"<

o'~rrI ,1(,
Ih, lx.)Ulld(lry li1lf',

-,ra,'

('lit.

"",ff

Iou';"" 'h~ 1I11 a I,ttlt

thnn Illis
.-urI" llf" 1,II rltls lojl411 dFplI',

."lln 10~

,
snu

lJs,'lh .. filiI'.
4 bltJ('kHJ('f
fl,,.

011 Iltr

"",,1;.. , Tit,,,

piarr "_"'g

(1

Slil.IO 8., lhe Slop

,,10.t't)lt'(/"

IR'lgilr (lIllIe

f".,,./I Ih, jltllhfr

ht(I('k

to

t'(Jllt('

bJrd ill

il lip.

'St" ["rer oJ 1'1"111' 10 ccuter Ihe bot

5 1Plff("
6 7'(),,!t('II,rr"fl,'
tl,f' ~C'f'(lI'Qgoi,,3t '"e/ru", otld

""l~'~
a ,IInll,,"' 1",1, TI,t,,, /1;,1 aro" ttd il t,)
Btl

if

'(t'Nlrt({

Itf}l.. 111(,lr}tfSIht: first,

,II, 1l(,/tl

if

(J

rollfi"!l bil ill

,.',(11("", ,t./)rli,~,nn lIlt.

(tI(/ OJtlln li/,/,., 7'11(" jli/I xrmp Urc"111d to
SI't! if 'hI ",l k"'r~'!f u",. :-tidr 0" tJ,r olht'r,
n,;tl

II

(t4Of (NO SOUAIf

o
SllU

Plnrr Ihr .lllt Idll, lloe fart sid.

"yuill.,/II, f'lIe,-. Tpell ,,(a rl Ih~ marIi by dnl/illY lilt I"" ",d IIol.s 10drfill'
III. lulallenyth oll/,e nwrli8',

\VOODSMI1H

IlliOU
II" ,lid ,,,,'''. a" drilltd, drill
8 At1~
9
~'nr.''If'II'(',I11PP'''9 holf$ 10 c/",,"
Q

alll lilt ,,,,,.Ir TI'e" drill dOll'" 01' tilt II

tJllllIl(I~r3. and "'tIki' (,!il,al ro'fli)rg fXl.$s.

U,(",t a t""rlt.'(r lC:ti1l1 l'quarf

CO",11 r Inrl h!/ <I,oppillg straight

dOll'lI al 1/.. ,,,d. Tit". <Ira" "ll Ihe cor-

lIer! by p<lrillg

dill""

all

1/1' IIIorliJ;echfeks,

The Tenon

TWO PROBLEMS: THE SHOULDER AND THE FIT

\\'ben makinj( a mertise and tenon joint
there's a tendency to coneentnale on the fit

of one tenon in one mortise. However.

when buildinp: a frame, the rails have two
tenons, one at each end, And this situation
introduces another critical measurement:
the distance between the shouklers of the
t\\IO

tenens.

This shoulder-to-shoulder distance must

be exactly the same 011 both rails, or the
frame will be out of square. The method we
use to cur the tenon is intended to get the
tenon to fit the mortist>, 3$ well as produce
the correct shoulder-to-shoulder distance,
1. LES(''TIIOF RAIl.. First, the rails have
to be cut to tin...) length, (The rails were
only em to rough length earlier./ The final
length of the rails is determined by the
shoulder-to-shoulder distance, plus the
length of boll< tenons,
Going back 10 the sample frame, the
problem i. to build n frame with an outside
width of U-. If the stiles are I"'" wide.
then their combined width is :1-. ThUR,the
shoulder-to-shoulder distance of the ralls
must be 8". The othe,' variable (the length
of the tenon) is equal to the depth of the
mortise (1" deep).
Adding the;;e variables together (8" for
the shoulder-to-shoulder distance, plus 2"
for the two tenons) equals the final length
of the rail (10"). Trim the rails to thi.<final
length.
z. IIErTII OF Ct'T. Once you have this
measurement, the basic technique fOI'cutting a tenon is to lay the rail nat on the
table saw and make multiple pa.ssses over
the blade to clean off the face of the tenon.
The first step here is to Set the heighlof
the $IlW blade to cut the tenon to the proper
thickness. To do this, I use the mortise as
a gauge.
Ideally. the mortise i~ ceJlt~red on the
stile. so it shouldn't matter which face of
the stile you lay down on tbe table to set
the blade height. But just in case the 0101'
rise is off-centel', r work from the face Fide
of the stile to begin with. (The face side is
lhe side that was marked with an arrow at
the beginning of all this.)
Place the face Side of the stile d01l'1I on
the table and raise the blade until the high
est point of one tooth lines up with the
cheek of the mortise, see ~'ig. l.
3. TKIALCt'T. Since the mortise is used ""
a gauge, (his setting should be right on the
money. But it's always best to make a trial
cut on a piece of scrap to check it out, see
Fig. 2.
Place the trial cut next to the cheek of
the mortise to sec if the depth of cut lines

10

up with the mortise, see Fie. 3. It may take

several trial cuts to get the COl1'C<:t
height
for the RaW blade.
I. snour.nes
Sl:'I"I'IS(;, As mentioned
earlier, the tenon is cut br making multiple
passes over the blade. The important thing
here i. to stop right at the proper shoulder
line, . , on all pieces. To do this, I use the
fence ()nthe table saw as a stop to limit the
length of the tenon.
Shop Note: There is a rule in woodworking that the fence and the miter gauge
cannot be used tOl!:ether.This rule is true if
you're mshing a through cut thal will leave
a chunk of waste between the blade and
fence. But in this case there's no waste for
the blade to throw, so the fenee ean be used
as a stop.
For the sample frame, the shoulder setting is 1-(which is the length of the tenon),
Al.iju$tthe fence so it's I" from the uut.nde
lien) edge of the blade.
5. CL'TFACEor TESOl'. At this point, the
depth ofcut is established, and the fence is
set for the shoulder distanee. Now the
tenons arc read)' to be cut.
Start by placing the rail with the face
sidedow>lon the table SlIW. Note: Since the
depth of cut was established \\~lh the face
side of the slile down (the side with an
arrow marked on it), the rail should also be
cut with the same face down.
Cut the tenon (with multiple passes) by
guiding the rail with the miter gauge. The
last pass \\~11be the shoulder cut (when the
end of the rail is against the fence). see
Fig. 4.
6. SMOOTII TilE r AC";. As the face of the
tenon is cut, the RaW blade will leave a
rather rough surface. To smooth the face

(after it's completely cut), po.ilion the rail

over the ape x (highest point) of the blade.
Then gently move it baek and forth over
the blade while slowly mO"ing the miter
gauge forward and baek. The hij(h points of
the blade will remove the roughness from
the entire face of tb. tenon, see Pig. 5.
1. (TTOTltER exo. When one end of the
rail is complete, turn it around (end for
end) to work on the other end. (Ap:ain,
keep the face marked with the arrow down
on lhe table.)
When the other end is cut. the rail
should look like it ha. two haIClaps, and
the shoulder-to-shoulder distance should
be what you want (8" for the sample
frame), see Fig. 6.
S. CL'T OTHERsms. Before cutting the
opposite faces duplicate these fin<tcuts all
a piece of scrap. Then nip the scrap over
and make a narrow cut out at the end to
make 3 sample tenon. see Fig. 7.
If the sample tenon fits the mortise after
this cut, go ahead and tilt the other two
faces of the tenon.
lithe sample tenon is either too tight or
too )OOHe. it means the mortise is not
centered, In this case you have to cut the
tenon off-center by the same amount as the

mortise,
To do this, adjust the height of the ",1W
blade and mako trial cuts on the scrap piece
until the tenon fits snugly in the mortise.
tlt's better to have the iit a little on the
tight side, than 100 loose.)
9.3RD ANI) 'Til SII()IUIERS. The thickness of the tenon should be perfect now.
All that remains is to cut the 3rd and 4th
shoulders so the tenon filSthe length of the
mortise (all the "'ay to the rounded ends).
I usually just sneak up on this cut by
making trial cuts out at the end of the
tenon, see Fig. S. When the 3rd shoulder
lines up, flip the rail over and cui the 4th
shoulder.
10. FI~AI. 1'1'1"1'1:-1(:. xow for the final Iittlng. If the ends of the mortise arc round
and you want to leave them tha~ way, you
have to round over the corners of the
tenon. I do this \\itl! a fnUI'inhand rasp,
see Fig. 9.
As you're fitting the tenon into the mortise. the ideal situation is that the tenon
will slide in with hand pressure only. However, there's usually a little chunk of something in the way.
Before I get OUl the chisel. I try to
gently tap the tenon home with a hammer.
If$[Cudetapping doesn't work, den't try to
pound the tenon in (this may split the
cheeks of the mortise). Instead, use a
WOOOSMITH

<h ... I to clean out the mort iso, or

,I.. w n tho raa! of the tenon

pan'

5qWU"!

GLUING UP THE fRAME

11C5S
or the fnme.1 You only n<('<1
a

bar or prpe damp at eaeh end of the franl<'

Since thb joint is blind, you can't se'" Al th" POlOtall four JO'"t~for the frame - clamping the stiles aga;II:I1the ~h,,,,I
\\'hat'~ )toing on when it'!, a~S('ml)I('fi.and should fil perfectly, 1'\0" for the big ques- rl~r>Oil Ihp rails.]
1'1.. ce the clamps On anal .unace and
"n,bll'lll>' arc difficull 10 find Rn.1 ,"... rect. tion: b the framl' tl<JlI"'" and Oat? To check
Intuition i. the best 10<'1. I try 10 imagine OUlthe framl', drya.",'mhlc the rails and JXl"ltion the l,w. and stiles. Thvn lib the
my",,, inside the joint lookin~ amunt! for stiles. (AI this "IAR'" don't use
and clamp" art' lilthlent'll, don't apply 100 much
,.roblem areas. Then I take u slow A littl. don't apply any glue,)
1"'I'l<!IUI'l' (thb can twis the (ram,,). U.. '
bit of rom.'(tinl( can go 8 lon~ \\'a~.
tKECK FOR1'\\ 1'1 Lay Ihe frame on a try "'IUltT\' to cheek the framo fer "'Iuare.
()nce the tenon does .lid, m, chl"<'k 10lee jl41 surface and try to rock it at OPPOSIW
(.1.1 f: II'. If it all checks OUI, I""", n Ihe
it the .boulden! rest finnly on lhe edee of corners 10 see If II Is t....
isted. Twist i, the .lamp" and ""I,ly alittlt glu,' in lhe m"rwe
Ih,' stlk If there's. a Jill'" gap, cheek worst thinl!'to contend with, But it tmJa!Iy II use a Ql1p). And Irru<h on a little on lhe
.round Ih. b"". of lhe tenon to see .f doesn't occur If the wood t, ,;nighl 10 It! Oil. Then 1.llhten the rlam, ... Ru>hing
lhem's a lillie chunk ofwa.-t" that needs 10 b;,gin \\lth.
at thissUIj1Ccan goofupa 1,,1 of"ork Tak e
hi' rh.'11.'<!away,
Once again, use intuition to correct any n,..\ much ume 8."" needed to make sure thtt
If Ih, base of the tenon i. clear ann Ih,' problems , .. and tak. il .10",
frnme 18 square as: the clam", 3rt!
holll"c,.. still don't rest on the .dlll' of tho
~Ht:CKw'TII t I.'>II'S. When .\erythinc:
IIllhlln<'<l .
goes
together
like
iI"
supposed
to,
the
\Vall ,IOOUI2hours for the glup Itl el8nd
.111", lhe tenon is probably jU"1 " hair too
long, Trim about
off the I'm! of the frame can hi' dry-clamped (no glue yet) 10 lh.'n .. -move the clamp". You should have
test the eff,'Cl the .Iam,,~have on tho a J'('ri."t mortise and tenon fntm,.
tenon and try the fit a!:8in.

clam""

v,.

UN[ UPTtlr tUI

WI'" MOlliS.

To ", lit' d<'plhof .tI(,plarr

lite ,.,ile

jur,. dmen on the tablt' Ru ;~("tIlt 1,ladt

/i",.
"1'
I.'.

II" /"91t"" 'oolh

111mrltftlc ,{lit, marl
I<J

,'i,1t ti" bot.

.4lthollgit 11,.. d.pl" Irllmg MuJlIld /)I

2
P , rr
dcpt}! uf nil. Ilakt

$C'rop 10 tP-3t Iht

0 ('WI III t}lt ."d, guidi. g
tM ~p ,"th 1M
ga~gt
f077'{'ft* IfS(

(J

(If

m,'"

IIw dtpl" $(lIjll9, [1111'"'f

3Tu dlerlt ,,('n
tnt'
,''(,tI,
ifthi'

'nnt rlit
to
",orliHI ((OCf
1'/' Oil '",,11aPfl'('f'lf) 10 UI'
rltt 11/1(" "P

",tI, Ih~,n,c/( oltl"

mort.1<

...1- ...

, ,
$1,.101.All lAC.
AND

fOIl"

In,lt7Ice .... (he dIAI".r,

Toclt(JN offlht flUt "III" kiln", p h
TUMllh, m,l t71dJor-'71dIIcp'"'' Ih.,
4$('
6J'arf'.,dt
",,'.tid, lit" blad~ 'quala Ih~Il'Ifglh
5
,,,. mil baric andforl" o......th.IIighnt
ONd
01
P"rl of tJ" blod., h.l,
tit. filii..,. DlIt, r .. .I Clt~k th. $howldf'TI"..I",.ldrr
10 ,'"

0(

dOI<? )

oflh, It.0'1, Th". mak,"P""'Y/ pa"u

nIl Ih..fact of lite ItTlm.

II

/0

gaugt/OMroni 0'1.1

'/I(llte

.(J/'(C

t"Nt

tlW.,,1I1

"",It.

dlatallr~ MI'I'ft'"

the le"o",'4

'ltD SHQULOlIt

Tooompl'It th.ltnOIl, turn il~''''''(8''

Toc"'lhtSnlaltd~lh,ltouldeT$,'u",
7
8
~idfi8 "p)and "ptol Sltp.~ lid
th~ milo" .dg. ,wd ~Ileak lip
the
.~,Rlarl;rt9 ""t 1M e1.dollllc Irlll! "tid c.d.s ,n,lil lit, width of Iht lello" ",al,hea
a

Illet

011

at

fndill9 al tile shold;kr fill.

\VOODSMlTH

thtlulllt71{/tI'

0/ tI', ",orli~..

9//11011

lefl the end. of In, 1II0rt".~

"",nd. '''ecornl!1'8oflhfl,",,,,

"'''lin

be "" .. ".It'd /{) ",okll, ('sea10llr.ill.hOlld

ra.." to grlllly I"OltndOl/III'
tltt CorJlera,

-------------------------------II

Curio Cabinet
A CABINET THAT'S WORTHY OF DISPLAY
There are two ways to look at

curio

cabinet. To someone who has valuable collectibles. a cabinet like this is a nice way 10
show them off. while keepIng th.m out uf
harm', reach.
A woodworker. however. mighl very
well ignore the item on display and concentrale on the eonstruerien of the eabine;
itself, H.,'~he wouldn't open the door to get
a better view of the collectibles, but rather
to see how the gla..~was installed. or to see
if the joint 1"",. on the back of the door fit
as well II; those on thl' front.
When you s .,1 out to build a curio eabinet, you know that the cabinet itselfwill be
on di>pla, jll61 all much AA it" content s,
Thi. just means laking a Iitlle extra time to
make sure things are done right.
To simplify things, the construction of
this curio cabinet Is based on only two
things: building fram es, and cutting
molding strips, But to complieete thillf:S,
the sequence of con-rrueuen is a little
backwards, (The reason fer the "backwards" approach \\ill be clearer as thi.
swry untolds.)
THE DENTI!
)lost of tbe visual impart of this cabinet is
the result of Ib~moldina - c specially the
dentil (the <trip of evenly 'I>aC,-dblocks at
the top of th~ eabiner),
This dentil (I) is marie hy tutoop: 8 series
of Vi-wid. kerfs alon!!. board to produce
the
-wide block.,. (A complete deseription of the cutting procedure ls given on
pal(e 22.1
THEPIlOIiLEll. When this dentil strip is
cut to length. it looks best ir there's a
full-width block At each end. see Fig. I.
But this creates a problem. Ifthe cabinet is
built first, it', almost Impossible to cut Ihe
dentil with the proper spacing to zet a

v.

full-width block on each eOO.

Tllt;SOI.t"l'IOS Instead. I cut the dentll
fir:;l.

and

u:;OO it ~ 11 "measuring stick" LO

gauge the cuts for the rest of the cabinet.

The dentil for the front of the cabinet is the
key one. This piece should be 22V, long

. ir everything work> out Jl('rfe.:t1y.

However. the actual length of the dentil

may have to be altered stightly to make
sure there are full-width blocks at each
end. (There should be a total of 30 fullwidth bloeks.)
The dentil strips for the side>; of the
cabinet are not quite so critical. I CUI them
to rough length at first, Then, during the
final assembly stages, they ran be trimmed
to fit the cabinet.
OTHERMOLDISli STRU'. After the dentil

12

WOODSMITH

It
11

I.
11

is made, Onemore moldingsllip (,J) should

be ~ut- the one that fits below the dentil.
The tOP edge of thi. strip is rabbeted to
accept the dentll, Then the bottom edit" is
cut with a 'I." corner-round bit, leaving II
",,' shoulder, see Fig. 2.
To gel the final length of this molding
strip, U-'Ie the "heel-tl>-hecl" distance of the
dcntil (the distance between heels of the
miter on the backside of the denul), and cut
it to length, see Fig. 2. When this molding
strip and the dentil are cut to final length,
you can start on the web frames.

ROUtt- 1

AlaN' DfHTll HAS 30 ruli...wtDTK MOCKS

II

WEI FRAMES

'l1\k curio cabinet Is built M two separate

units. And in keeping with the odd sequenee of consrrueticn, I built each unit
inside out. That is. 1 started with the web
fr3m"" (the lop and botlom of each unit).
There ere foul' web frames in all (IWO for
each unit). The key one i,: the top web
frame (for the tOP unit). It must be ,i7.<'(i
according to the final length of the dentil
and molding piece tha; were just cut. Then
the other three web frnm~~ arc CUt to
match the tOI) one.
RAILS "'~tl
STI"'~:S. The rails (front and
hack pieces) and Lh e stiles (side pieces) are
ripped to a width of 1""'. To determine the
lengths of these pieces takes a little
figuring.
To get the length of the rails, measure
the distance between the shoulder. of the
corner-round on the bottom edge of molding piece (JI. see Fig. 1. (Thi.. should be
21'Y'.) Then subtract a lOIlt! of Ph" to
allow
on each end. (Thi..... is for the
v.,. overhang, plus "rIO for the thickness
ofthe stock used for the side frames, minus
'f.for the longue on the edge of the web
frame. see fig. 3.)
The stiles (side pieces) are 11 long to
make the web frame a total ofl.j" deep.see
f'ig. 4. (This I I" length for the stiles a110\\'S
for a 10'1,' shoulder-to-shoulder distance.
plus W' for the two 'Ilong stub tenons.)
CROO\''':S. Next. a y~"x ~t" deep groove
is cut along the inside edge of all 16of these
pieces. This groove is for the plywood
panel insert, and it also is used to join the
web frames.
To join the frames, cut stub tenons on
the ends of tbe stiles to fit the thickness
and depth of the groove, see Fig. o.
PLIWOOI) PA;.iEt,S. Fj na l l v, drl"
...semble (no glue) the web frames u~d
measure the distance between the bottoms
of the grooves to get the dimension of the
plywood panels (R). Cut the pan~b to th~~
size. and then cut rabbets on both the top
and bottom faces. leaving tongues to fit in
the grooves. Kow the raili;. stiles and panels can be giued tOl!l'ther to form the web

~NG

O'IERHAHGS CASE ~

WOODSMITH

ON fAct( 510

I".

CotNU

lOUND

wnw ~

SHOV1.DE~

J
'.

COINfI ROUND
WlIH

~.

SHOUlDtl

MOLDING

fWU FlAME

DfHTll

,,.
OVElHANQ

SIO FRAME

19-'..

-----"w.

U,.,.c- c". - p. , i
x Yo

mil

'.'

,,

Fl,
~._

16....

' ..

".' GftOOvt

ON STOCK

~. "'YWOOD ",NR
II

-SIDEClOSS SKTtofoI

10'..,
~ )I; ',_ G~OOlJl
CENnll-tO ON StOCK

CINltRlO

10...

fRONt/lACK
CROSS Sf('fK)N

tENON

16?

--

~U1

r- ,'.--1

t-" .-..j

'OIIGU. _
MATCH GROOVE:

-----

MUlt

+ff/~

'\....~ \-."IONGUE
(,NTr.REDON S10Cl

FIGURE- 6

--

frames.

edges ofthese frames to fil into the sides of

the cabinet, see Fig. 6.

-l

DIST,yICt

aonoM

'1'.

Later, tongues will be CUI on the outside

TO _

STU. f(NON
I. I.

TONGUl
CfNlfRED

ON S10CK

CUT IACie lONGUE

13

tHE SIDE FRAMES

- .... -

The (our8ide (rame' 11"0 (or each unit) are

joined w,th molded-edit" mortise and
tenon joints Th( molded edlte on the rails
and '1I1~' add. a little touch of class. and
also serves as a .IOp (or the gla.s,
wi (}Til \.", l.t"(.TII To build the side
frame . np the otile. (B) 2" "ide and :l3"
long. see Fig, 7. The rail, (A) are ripped to
width 0(2\10" and a length of 1214", (Note:
the 10lal width o( these frames is equal to
the web frame I -t", So the shoulder-toshoulder length o( the rails is lOW'. Then
add 2" (anh,' I wo I "-Innl!: tenons to geLthe
finallonjlth of 121',',)
"OWl'.1I f:II(.1 .!\cxt. CUI shouldered
Y,' corner-round molding on the inside
edg,' of each rail and stile Set thedepth of
eut of I"" roul~r bll to 1",,\. a~' ,hooIder
on the f_ slde o( ~h piece. see crosssection In f IJ.!. -;
R'BBT
After Ihe molded edge is
J'OOled.CIII a rabbet on the beck sideoft~
moldinltso the ~houk!.r of the rabbet Ii"""
up with the .hnul,ll'r of the corner-round .
The depth of Ih" rabbet i., %' (10 accept 11
piece of ijinltl(~1)3n. jtllll!-< and a stop),
\lORTI"t:A"" TI;NO'. f'mally. the mortise and tenon. can be CIII. (For details on
CUlling a mnlded~dl(\' mortis" and tenon
see \I'ood~milh No, 201.)
_E\IOI.I: A'III R.\UIlt;T After thejoints
are cut .. semble Ihe (our frames, Then
rot a
rabbet alanl! the back edge
(on lbe ,ul, I of ~aoh as-se mbled frame 10
~PI th.. "Iy" ood back, -ee Fig, 10.
OpIK'n: I used Y. walnut-veneer plywood for Ih,' baw of th , cabinet, However, another option is to use a mirror. In
thb ...... eut the rabbet to the lhiclcness of

1_!-_..1
_'\

.. --

..

II.

2'.

,
MOI1ISI t(NTI.'O
ON srOCK

,.

m;utf.

T~

-,

~j

'1

'.A

""""

V' ~

t'

_1001

"

baekinj! in plaee),

H-

1'0 1fT

-t

,1.

IlUaP lAt. EDGf

'.

,-

"'...,

.c -+

,..

I.

srolftD GlOOVE

STO' GlooVE
'10M fRONT EDGE

"GU.'IO

IN_IIU

-t.

_i~
:

\ 5fOfif'tO Gaoovt

.... Of"

\
\,

,I.'.

ROLES "OR ~1If.I.VE"

Later. two plate

glass .hel.es are mounted in each unit.

These .hellcft ore supported with Lshaped ~helf pin$ mounted in
holes,
If. important thaI these holes are in
exactly Ihe same IlO-,itionon all (our stiles
of each unit. I made a simple drilling jig to
align them. Ju.t mark and driJI theholes on
a piece of ocrap. 'pacinlt them as shown in
Fig. IS.Then u-e thi.sji~ IOdriJI the holes in
all eigbt 'Iiie"

Y'

ADDING 'HE WEI FRAMES

I

:';0" the

,
tllMWO
FIlAMI! RUSH WITH
SHOUtJ)(1l Of LUlfl

~lde frames and web frames can

be joined Iogt'th"r 10 make the two basic

units of th.. cab,nel.
ROt.,.OROO\ t:', To join the frames. use
router to CUI ~'.wide grooves on [he
insid... face. of the <ide frames. These
grooves are
from the lOp and bottom
edit<' of the frame. and stop \4" from the
front edge, see ~Ig. 9.

v,

_ ....w . '.'
~== __ :=====================~~====~======~===~=.=~=~==oo==o=",=u==~~~C~t~"'~TQ~NGus.Th_e_n_c_U_I_t_w_o_ra
__b_be_ts
__OD_

14

(JIO'lerboard). plus anorner y,' for the

push point (UM!<Ito hold the mirror and

I.....

the mirror. plus enoul(b for. backing piece

I. s~rlDo.ooI

:,"

WOODSMITH


"

the edge! c.f the" eb frames to form

wn!tU~. to fit in the greove-, ThL- may take
seme ex~n"",nttng to make sure the tol'
iee of the web framc lines up with th~ top
ed~.,o(
fram." _ Fig. 9.
00 'III [8 t K.\ 'tJ_....Aft.,. the tongue and
gr'IlOvt Joints""" cut. the bad< edj!e of th<'
web (rame.! Dt'ed, to be trimmed down a
bit so u's in li,1<'with the shoulder of the
rabbet on lh. back ,'(I~~oflhe side frame.
...... Fig. 10.
Option: If 8 mirror I~ used instead of
plywood. nobbel the Inside edges of the
web f,llnw. to match the rabbets on the
~id(.l Crnm(l!\.
~S.'f'''IIl.Y.Finally. dry-assemble the
web fhu",. and side (ram , to get the
dimtn.,,,,,. (ur the plyw cod baeks, and cut
the ,*k' to
Then !!iue and clamp the
rr:.me~ together to form the two unns.
ITack the 1.ly.. 00<1bark in place to hold
".I')tlunl( JqUlU'e "hill.' th.. glue dries.)

1.....

"tI"

"""

",
'-

__

- ".

THE
000. f~ES

o
rnu:

" ,

....J. Ii.

010 .....

~o'tNOH

no,.,...

no!!

WOOI)SMITIi

ClOSS SI(lION

w,.

Next, the frames (or the dOOM; can be built,

(ruml'S art' ~iZ<'dto allow a~'- overlap on aU (our l'<llles,
STILES.,\1) R.llt_~. ~;""t,rip the stDe.
and rail. to a width o(Z'. The length o(the
stile. i. equal to the opening in the
.. sembled eabinet. plus \10" (to allow for "
1'<" overlap on the tall and the bottom).
To flllllrt' th(I~ngth otthe rails. measure
th~ width or th, opening in the cabinet
tTh;" ~hould bt. 19 ... ) Then add I!.' (or the
overlap (to It'I the total width of the door
tramc). Subtract 4 fnr the two 2"-wide
stiles to (let the sheulder-te-sheulder
k-ngth of the 1'811,.And finally. add 2" (or
the t .. o I".rf)n~tenons. -ee Fig. II.
From here 011 the procedure for the door
(rames I' just like the "de frames: cut the
shoulders ...1 corner-round on the insideedge, then cut rabbet (or the glass. aM
finall) cut th,' mort;"" and tenon joint s,
RAII8ET. Wlwn the doors are asssembled
they .hQuld be a total of 'Ii' wider and
higher thnn the opt!ning in the cabinet.
Then cut n ~~.x 0/," rabbet on t he outside
edge of the frame 10 form the lip. see Fig.
11.(Note: The robbel i" ~. wide to allow
for the lit overlap, plus a,,' elearance
bet ween th,' rabbtt and the frame.)
rOR'f.R ROt 'I). Filially, cut a should"red "'nIf'r-round above the M1bbet,see
fil(. 15.
mal<h," the cuts on the inside
ed~. and makes a nice lip around the
out.,jd e o( the door.
I)(l()RIII'tit'" The dOOl'!'are mounted to
th~ .. binet with %"-<)(( se t hinges. Xormally these hmil'" are mounted without
cutting hlnf,."C
moruses, However, this ere-ale, a small gap on th" side o( the cabinet.
To eliminate IhL<)rap. 1 decided to cut
motU.....on Iht side frame 10 accept the
inside nal) of the hinge, see Fig. 16. The
other nap i. mounted din>Clly to the door
(no mortise i. needed here), see Fig. 17.

..

~Utll'

O(t.&Jt

/==r?,..........T't--'...,
IV.

i---' L 1---'

"
-,'----'

fIOutll)

AC;Ut, 12

ASSlMIll
fOAM!

ClHTtIIO
ON SIOCK''''' ftOM
Of SIltt
MOCf1S(

(No

..... c

~o01 ST1ll ANO

lAA ...wIT I. nUSH

AGUH , ..

OOUI"S

t ,

.'. ..un ON ALI. OUTSIDE(OGU

COINrl IOUHO

ON OUlSiOf fOGES

wmt

.., SHOUlOD

ROUU 16
2 '

W)tTtS( SID(

_0041'

I:--......
,,-J. ...
P05mOH

"

-".
fIOM

"'" "IOT1ONo
.,.CASf

TO'VllW
CROSS SftTtON

15

THi MOLDINGS

At this point the two basic units for the

cabinet are builL. All that remains art' the
molding pieces that make the cabinet
shine. I eut all of these moldings on a
router table using only three standard bits:
a 1'<. corner-round bit, a
eerner-round
bit, and a Y:" cove bit.
When routing the profiles for Ihese
moldings. it'. best to sneak upon the depth
of cut. That is. don't try to cut the final
profile in one pass. Instead, makt several
passes, raising the bit each time until you
reach tbe fuji depth of cut.

II,

MOLDINGS AT THE TOP

Me JAME

1---.'---1
"

v.

coaNER IOUNO

Wlrtf +'... SHOULOO ON IOnt EDGES

2.

,'---1 ~ cow

wta JIAMI

/
y.
CO'NfR
ROUND

There 81" four different molding strips at

the top of this cabinet. Two of the se were
made at the beginning of this project: the
dentil (I). and molding strip (J).
AIOLf)L"G!lTRU' (J), I started by gluing
and clamping molding strip (J) to the front
edge or the cabinet. Thi. front Strip was
already mitered to length SO the shoulders
of the comer-round overhang the side
!'ram." by v,," on each end. The tWO strips
for the sides were cut to rough length.
Now they can be trimmed to final length so
they're flush with lhe back edge of the
cabinet, see f'ig. 21.
THEIlt;~-ru.Ill. Next. the front dentil
strip is glued in the rabbets of molding
strip (J). Then the side dentil strips are cut
to length and glued in place.
~IOL{"G STRIP (11). To make the tbird
molding strip (H). rip a piece of stock to a
rou! width of 1liz'. Then cut a I "-wide by
l{,,'-deep rabbet on the tOil edge of rbiR
piece, and a 1/,' cove rilt below the rabbet, see Fig. 18.
Then rip this piece to final width so the
back edge is flush with the hack of the
dentil, and the front edge (at the bottom of
the cove) overhangs the dentil V,....
~fOLOfNG STRU' (G). The molding strip
(G)at the very top oft he cabinet is made by
resowing (ripping 011 edge) a piece ef stock
to a thickness of V.", Then one edge is
rounded with a tho comer-round bit. and
the top edge is rounded slightly by sanding. Then tbis strip is glued and clamped in
the rabbet of molding strip (H).
OUSTROARU. To finish off the top of the
cabinet. I added two filler strips 10 and P)
along the back of the cabinet, see Fig. 21.
Then J cut a Y. plywood dust board and
tacked it in place.

MOLDING 8ETWEEN THE UNITS

RUUSTRI'

/
~IA.HGU\.A"GLUI MOCK

16

At this point, the top unit is complete.

!'lext. J added a nngle muldingstrip (K) IA)
top of the bottom unit. This strip is made
by cutting a shouldered Y,' corner-round
on both edges of the stock, see Fig, 19.
The piece for the front of lhe cabinet is
cut to length so the shoulder of the comer
round overhangs the front and sides of the
WOODSMITH

cabinet 0/.". Then the two sid~ pieces are

added, and a filler Strip is cut for the back .
I'O$ITIONISGDOWEL. Since the two units
are not pennanently joined together (..0
they can be moved easily). [ added 8 small
dowel pin to position them. Drill. II.' hole
centered on the bottom edge of each side
frame of the top unit . see Fig. 19.
Then marl< the position of a second hole
on molding strip (K), When this second
hole is drilled, make sure the top unit is
positioned on molding strip (I\) just like
the bottom unit is.
BonOM

1fGUIE21

'4

Pl'r'WOOO tOt

....
FlUll STlrt
ON EOGl

..-

v-

THE FINISHING STEPS

r--'1'

Before any of the glass is installed, I finished this cabinet with three coats of
Hope's Tung on Varnish. This oil finish
hasjust enough varnish in it to protect the
cabinet, but it's also easy to apply and wipe
smooth so I didn't have any problems with
drip marks on the moldings.
CLASS.Finally. 1 installed the gla.."Sin
the sides and doors. (I measured the openings and asked a local glass store to cut
single pane glass to fit.) The glass i..held in
place with custom-made quarter-round
stops. (See Figure 23 for the cutting procedure.lTo install these stops, I chucked a
brad in a drill and predrilled the holes.
GI.'5SSJIELIES. 1 also bad the four plate
glass shelves cut to size (with nicely beveled edges). Note: The \\;dth of the shelves
Should be about .y,," less than lh. inside
dimensions of the cabinet to allow for the
L-sbaped shelf supports.
CURIOLIGtrrS. Finally, I installed special
curio lights. screwing them to the top of
each unit. Now it's just a matter of
arranging your favorite collectibles (and
showing off your favorite cabinet).
\VOODSMITH

<

:-:sl-,
;;

_-

RUSH WITH lACK

Of

-:

CUt Off MOtOfHGS

RU.U STlltlP

<:Ai'

'.~

-x

'-: /
RGUI;t 23

t-

~u ....
GWE BtOC"

flOUle ,.

". <Ct. ... > .OVOIO \

4Ll fOUR EDGES

1:._

QJ.:..

17

MUll
COItNtU....,

~i'.... '\
, ... STRlPS

'tJ31,1---""-

e
I(

,/
I"~

,....

.., Of!'

"NCO

FtNCf

;1

4/~

"1

CUnlNG DIAGRAM

Ovllf'Ofl Di:mttmion:s: 73V, .... 1t21lh'W-151.r."D

Side Ftomes:
A Roils (81
"/, l'h 12'/)
8 Sril..,(8'
x 233
Door ftornn:
CRain (4)
':VI, x 2 - laYs
o 5til., (4)
':If,. x 2 - 32

''ll.

Web Fron\lh:
E Roils (Fmtf8k) (8)
F Stiles (51"") (8)
Top Molding Sedionl
G Com:e, RCM'Id
H Gow with Shoulder

I o.ntil
J Comer-RoundJRobbet

Bottom Molding Section:

l Cove ~th Should.,

Dou:bJ. Comer-Round

N Kidt Soatd

Fl.'o "FIot (3)

'\'r TV.

!
I

It

'I 1. - ltV!.
',/,. x 1 11
1;. x

".1, .. 60-

'V,

114 - 60

'x 2 - 60't. x 2 ..60-

''I,.x 2 ..60
'-VI'

Ie

IV... ~

'..If., x 2~~..60-

P On Edge: (I'

1''\

ti,

11'1..

II

Plywood Ponol,:
Q fA" 80da (2)
'14 lOY. 33
R y.t Web frome PaneJ, (4) V. x 11 .. 1671.
$ V" T.., Panel II)
"" to flt
T Gkd, Stops(16)
'4 .. '/.... 36-This I4tnsth is for th,... pi.ut. aJt to (it.

;0

I
I

-)'r

t.v,L L,I:;,tJ;J,J.tj.!j
U2

til',,"1 ..""..1.""." .In. "."m

I ,..,; ,..,I"..",..!n, ,n,rn
IV,

1'/. _~.-

I ~ I~,1 U
bEE 1 ~ lin

.. ...-

v. PlYWOOD

$tri""

I~

-60"

:ci

.,.. , 71,.

Mofdittg Section:

K DcM.IbI.
~ound

II

TACK S10'
tN P\ACEWJlH .aAOS

MATERIALSLIST

MKldI.

\..,'L..../GLASS

fOUR PIECES16 lONG

(J'

:;,

~~

v. P\'(WOOOlAor:

There are two molding strips and n kick

',4 P'tYWOOD lAO[

~,

MOlDINGS AND I(ICI( BOARD

board at the bottom of this cabinet.

'IOI.I)IN(; STRIPILl. Molding strip (L) is
made by euttinz n ,"-\\;de by 'Y"-deep
rabbet on the edge of a piece of stock, sec
Fig. 20. Then a ~" cove cut is mad. above
the rabbet. Glue and clamp this strip to the
cabinet so there's a "." nat space between
the web frame and the cove. Then add
these molding strips to the sides. and cut
another mler strip to fit along the back
edge of the cabinet. see ~'ig. 19.
)I01.0I'1G STRII' r'll. Molding strip (~f)
is
ripped to width so it's ~" longer than the
rabbet in strip (L). Then the top edge of
this strip is rounded with a 1(," cornerround bit, and the bottom edge is rounded
with a Yo" eerner-round bit.
KICKBOARD.f'inally, the kick boanJ is
cut to size and glued and clamped to the
bottom side of molding strip (M). To hold
th~ kick board steady, 1glued and screwed
triangular glue blocks on the back corners,
see Fig. 22.

AGU'Rl21

,.. 1."'t'. P'tYWOOD

...

~~

17

__

A_n_tigueWall Mirror

REFLECTIONS ON TIME'S PAST

Thin~ aren't alway. as t hey appear. Like
mirror images, the look$ of this wall
mirrorecat rack are 8 little deceiving. For
one thing. it looks like it might be difficult
to build. It's not.
For another, m~' natural incUllation
would be to build the mirror's frame and
then add on the decorative molding. But
just the opposite is true.
On. of the nlolding strips should be cut
before the frame is built, This "backwards"
approach is necessary to get the proper
spaeing for the dentil (lhe strip of evenly
spaced blocks at the top of the frame).
When thL~strip is mounted to the frame,
there should be a full-width block lit ea eh
end. The only way to make sure tbe end
bllK'ks are full \\';dth is to cut the dentil
first, then build the frame to fit.
THE DENTll

There are a total of three dentil pieces: one

along the top Qf the frame, and two short
pieces at the ends. To cut these pieces I
started with a piece of oak 1V'- widE'and
40" long. (fhis piece is longer than needed
to allow (or some waste when the three
pieces are cut.)
Then [used a cutting jig to CuIa series of
y,wide kerfs, le.,';og ..,-wide "blocks"
to (arm the dentil. see Fig. 3. (A complete
descriptio of this jig is given in '"Shop
Notes," page 22.)
CO">: err. After the kerfs were cut, 1
added a cove cut along the bouom edge of
the dentil strip. Place the denLilstrip race
down on the router table and make progressively deeper cuts with a .,. cove bit
until there's 8 )I." shoulder bet ween the
eeve and the back of the dcnril strip, see
r'ig. 3,
)lITERfNG TII.~CORNk:RS. At t.his point,

the den til can be mitered to length.

Ideally, the length of this strip should be
311{, and have a full .:" block at each end.
At least, that's the way il works out on
paper,
In realiw, it'. almost impossible to cut
the kerfs and blocks with perfeet spacing,
So the actual length of tho dentil will have
to be altered slightly to get a (ull\\';dth
block on each end.

mitered "heels" on the backside ofth~ dentil. To get this length, measure the "heelto' heel" distance between the miters, and
subtract 4" (or the two 2'wide stile s, This
gives you the shoulder-to-shoulder measurement for the rails. Then to get the final
length of the rails, add 2" for the two
I"long tenon s.
After the rails and stiles are cut to size. I
assembled the frame with mortise and
tenon joints, see Figs. 1 and 2.
RABBETS FOR ~llIlROR. After the Irame
was glued together. Icut a y,;"" 0/,( rabbet
on the back side to accept the mirror. (See
Shop No~s, page 22, for a description of
the routing technique used to do this.)
MOLI'EOL'1SIO0;1)(:':' Finally, I thought
it would be nice to spruce up the inside
edge of the frame by routing a shouldered
FKlU

Ir-

q,

earner-round
molding cut
4 and 5.

profile . topping this

from each corner. see Figs,

When making these cuts, it's best to

sneak up on the depth of cut to prevent
excessive chip-out, The final pass should
be made so there's a %."shoulder between
the face o(the frame and the comer-round,
see cross-section views in Figs. <1 and 5.
OTHE1t MOLDING STRIPS

To complete the frame, Ladded three more

molding pieces: a chamfered cap piece (C)
that's mounted above the dentil, and two
other mQlding strips mounted along the
bottom edge of the frame (E and F),
THBCAP. The cap piece (C) i$just a strip
with chamfered edges, see Fig. 4. The
length of this piece is a total o(
longer

0/,

2i.~

l~"'''

-II

't-

=p

THE FRAM!

Once the dentil is cut to final length, the

final dimensions o( the fl'ame can be established. The height of the fr.une is optional
- I made it 16', and cut the two stile.
(vertical pieces) 2' wide by 16" long.
However, the outside width oflhe frame
must equal to the distance between the

18

snl<

MOlOfNG SfOH'EO l4.

fROM IN,5,lO( CORNEl

... ItAIt

WOODSMlTH

bolh el.d.),
'!'he ",dth .. (this piece will ~\t!Rluan)be
1 of ",d..te) C'ft"ate a a.- overhang on the
front ffig., RUI in order 10 ha, e enou~
",dt h to ."m(, rtsblv rout the cbamf('l' on
th<' f",l r th,. !>Il~(',I CUIit2': \\'ld. 10
start, and Ihen trimmed u re size after the
ehamf, .... werv routed.
80lTO'i '101.111'(:, Tb" same procedure
i. us1 to cut th(' two molding piece. for
Ihe boll om "flh. frame. Roth pieces start
out 3' "ide,
Tb(,11cUI th,' eov,'<Imolding' strip (EI to
Icnj:th "I u "qual. 111t>
total length
the
frame, rlu5 I Y', (Tbi. extra amount
ali"". for V," on each end for the ~:" cove
cut and th.~" boulder, see Fij!\ 5.) After
il"rut 10h'nj:th. rout a ~" cove along the
front edJ(e and b...th ends,
The other .tnp (F) I' rut to length '" it's
a totnJ of t'," I.... than the fir<t one. (Thitreal.,; a 'tI.".houldcr between these two
J1lQldln~.tn!> , see FIg. 5,) Then rout this
strip with ~" corner-round bit. lea"n!! a
y.. h"\lld,'r
After the.. 1'1('l'('. art' routed. they're
lrimmed 10 filial Width: I ,." for the eoved
piece (E). 1 fnr th... bouldered comerround I'i('(:(' (t'),

ru

-l~-

I
,

STU

..

1~".M

Rtlf CUf

~ '"

',Of"

FlOU" ..
TOP MOlDING
DTAot

"I ~
~....

- _

~-

""
., eovs
_ - .....

"

~.-~~.,

1~

0' "NON

1>.- .~..."S.~
'1,..::JII

P'>..'
f: ...,.,

GIOOV'S

MO"I~I
SUO"'~Y ott,.,
fMAN UN01H

":"

,""""'"
Sttou~.

h'''''''L.>--"
... ...
cS!CONO ItOUT COVE

~I~~'='~~'.~::~~l...:..

TO,,"OVl,HANGS

' , ON SIDES
AND ftOHl

I"c.........

I :

......
rf,

,,

I ,

0Dftll

t_.(;UJf &lOCK

Of"
I

"'. C~t

- ...'-

'?'

\ .._.~l

1=,..'-

ATTACHING THE TRIM

'2,

v.

Aft.r nil th,' trim "icl"" WC~ finished, I

,tftrtcO attaching them to the frame,
To mount th,' t,,1' cap piece and the denul
-trip. glu. thl\,.pacer blocks on topof the
rranw, see Fill I;' Then glue and clamp the
(n.nt denlil strip ttl the frame <0 it's even
"ith th<' 1"1'~r
tbe '1'"-('('1' bloeks,
\\1>.." that', dry. mner the two corner
1" eees or dentil to length '0 ther're flush
.. llh the back oflhe f""me, And irlue them

1-

~f

IA,.n

STOll.MOtDtNG

- FIOM CORNESt

HGUle ~

in place.

",.;r",1. nl~ ( \I' tlnaU~.center the top

cap pi,ow ') un the <lentil. keeping it Ilush
with tht: back ufth,' frame. Glue and clamp
it on tot>of thl' r.:lu~blocks and dentil.
R(m'U'1 ,.,'HII'l;, Finally, glue ..nd ciamp
the two bottom molding slrip$ (E and F)
logNhcI', wnlcril1l( them on top of each
other "11h their back ed!1C$ flush, Then
j.~u~ thi. """'lIIbly to the bottom of the
fram, , "'t' FiK, ",
fiNISHING

"GUI'

MATERIALS UST

14(1 COIN"

.tAn

TOUCHES

A lod. (2)
I' SI,* (2)
C Top ... atm Copt;

After all tho ~Iu('

"lL> dry on the trim

I >and<d the entire frame and
stained It with "In"''LX X.tura! Pine rutin,
Then Ifinished II""h t\\'o coaU'of ~tin",ax
Antique Oil nn"'h.
I ru.d th,' mllror cut to <ize at a local
g'a"8 ('ompan)' an(1 In!'-talled it v.ith a
po.<ter board "".kiml and pu.h pm>. """
Fig. ti, Tb~n I ulI<talll>dthe "acorn" coal
hook. so they w.re .".nly spaced across
the width of the botlom mil. And finally. I
u.-ro two milTOl' hantl..... (see Fig. 6) to
hang Ihis mirror (I1\01e,
j>1<C('"

\VOODs\1 ITIi

o o...t..
f ~
F ~.-

1
MflltOl

MoWi,.
Mol-.

''', 2''1 - V~.

'if " 2 - 16
,~, 1"2.;,.- 31""
'v.." 11 40
'v. I~/" 30',

'V" 1' 30'."

CUTTING DIAGRAM

'f_ -

,"

I ....,
..S
"OT.cnYl
IACIING

..

E 1-'- 1- B; I
,,,,.' ,. JI'l [

ta;;1

19

Tools of the Trade

MORTISING BITS
Traditionally, mertises were cut by hand.
This required using some pruttv hefty
chisels, and a 10Lofpaticnec to chop out the

square-ccrnered

mortise.

Fortunately.

there are quicker, and easier methods to

produce a mortise.
On. of the best alternatives is to mao
chine cut Int mortise (which has rounded
corners, rather than square corners). This
variation on the traditional.tyle is not only
easier to cut, but it's also j\lst as streng.
(See page 7 for a detailed description on
cutting a slot mcrtise.)
'Vith the multitude or bits on the market, I decided to try driUing a mortise

using-the two most common bits:

t\ViKL

and

brad point bits. Unfortunately, neither

one is designed to overcome the unique
problems of cutting a SIOIDlO''1j~. And in
the end, they usually tum out being notbing more than a SOUl'l.'C of frustrarion.
\Vith this in mind. 1decided to test five
specialty bit. specifically designed for cutting mortises. And to make an "apple> to
apples" comparison between this wide
range of bits, I decided to test only tbe v.'
diameter bit from each group.
I also tried several different ",ethud. of
cutting the mortise. in an effort to 6nd,
and overcome, the individual quirks of
eaeh bit. Initiallr 1 used only Ihedrill press
and a fence, and tried cutung tb. morti se"
both with, and without, drilling the end
holes: and with completely overlapping,
~tightly cverlapping. and non-everlapping
hole.. to clean out the waste.
After trying all of these procedures. if
the mortise still wasn't up to par, Itried to
improve the setup by adding Slop blocks,
featherbeards, etc, And as each new aid
was added, I tried all of the cutting procedures again until I found the combina
tion that produced the cleanest mortise,
Each section listed below includes a description of tbe bits. and how they're designed to be used. '\\'e've 31.0 given the
results of our shop test s, including the
advantage. ant] disadvantages of eaeh bit.
SPIRAL END MILL ROUTER BITS

The spiral end mill router bits (AJ are

heavy duty router bitsdesigned for plunl!~
routing operations. Because they're designed for the limited up and down travel
on a router. they have. rather shallo\\
depth of cut (the V,j'diameter bit can only
drill. 1-deep hole).
What really makes these bit.; special is
the facl thatt hey can be used either to rout
from side to side. or to make a plunge cut
(drill), And because they're router - and

20

AI SPIRAL END MILL BITS

BI I.V(,A J.IORT1SE DRILLS

c) llfORTISE

.lflLLER HITS

D) SEA/iS .lfORTISING BITS

bits are measured in millimeters. rather

than inches), and are actually only one part
of a complete merrising' sys.. m that's incorporated into the Inca )0" table saw.
Although the mortise drill" are designed
for \I.'" at :~ H P!Il of the Inea table saw,
they actually look Iike a route)' bit (more so
than the end miU router bits. which aft'
router bits).
The mortise drills have two straight
flutes (similar to most straight router
bits), and shanks that are slightly larger
than the cutting diameter. The only obvious differenee i. their length (the 10mm bit
is over tWlong). and the obvious nicks in
the cutting edge.
"'Why in the devil are there nick; in the
cutting edge?" That was my Ii""t question
when I saw these bits. But until I eoniaeied Garrett 'Vade (whieh sells a complete line of Inca woodworking tools), I
didn't have the foggiest idea what possible
purpose they could serve. Garrett Wade
informed me that the nicks were actually
chip breaker> and were indeed intentional,
not accidental.
The mortise drills actually perform two
operations: drilling; and routing. But
they'>'. desi!(lled to excel when used to
drill out the waste of a mortise. rather
than trying to rmll it out. Nevertheless,
the drill' can be used to do a limited
mortise,
amount of routing when making the final
However. if a router;' used to cut the cleanup passes on a mortise.
mortises, these are the only bits I'd use.
IlKI!.!. J'RE$l;. Using the Seal's drill
press,
we couldn't duplicate the speed
THE INCA MORTISE DRILLS
(3800 RPM) these bits were designed for, :;0
The unique aspect oflbe inca mortise drills we settled on using the closest selting,
(Ill is that they're designed sololy for cUL 42-50 ItIM.
ting slot mortises. They're manufactured
Al this speed, the bits performed as well
by the Swi.. firm Inca (which is why the as we could have wanted. Our major con-

not drill- bits, there'. no center point to

get in the way atthe bottom of the mortise.
ROL'TERS. When I used thesse bits in a
router, they worked perfecrly, (Note:
Most end mill bits require a router with at
least a I't' chuck rapacity. See Sources. on
page 2-1 for more information.)
URII.I. PRESS. However. when I used
them in the drill press, there were a fe"
drawbacks stemming from the fact that
these bits arc designed to be used at
speeds from 20,00025.000 RPM. Unfortunately. the fastest speed setting on
011.-Sears drill press is 8-500 RPM. And at
that setling, it sounds like it's ,,,,,,ely for
taklH>ff.
At this relatively slow speed, the bit
develops a strong tendency to grab the
work piece. The best method I found to
eliminate this problem was to use both a
feather board to secure the piece against
the fence. and StOPblocks at both end. to
limit the length of the mortise.
CO)(CLI'SJO:'-S. Although the spiral end
miU bus cut an extremely clean mortise.
running the drill press at its rastest speed
ju.t plain scares me. And common sense
says if I'm operating a machine while
scared.jhe chance ofi!\illr)' increases dramatically. So in the end.I would,," use the
spiral end mill bits on a drill press, even
though they can produce a very clean

\VOODSMITIi

cern was whether or not the bits would

create a lot of chattering, whipping. or
walking due to their extreme length.
But the only problems I en<'Qunt.red
eceurcd when r drilled overlappina holes,
Or when l lowered the bit into the wood too
quickly. Both these procedures pulled the
bit slightly off course. I eliminated both
problems by simply drilling non-overlapping holes. and reducing the rate of feed.
Compared to the spiral end mill bits, Lhe
Inca mortise dril ... produced very little
grabbing of the workpiece, SOstop blocks
or feather boards were not required. (But I
would still use them anyway.) More severe
pullinll did occur as the diameter of the bit
increased.
COSCI.tlSIO)lS.
Not only do the Inca morLisedrilb; produce a clean mortise, but they
also do it at.a reasonable price (the 6mm bit
costs $9.(0). And these are the only bits
capable of producing' a very deep mortise
(up to I:Y,).
PROFESSIONALMORTISEMILlfR BITS

The professional mortise miller bits (C) are

also manufactured (or U"-I' with the Inea 10'
table saw mortising system. But unlike the
mortise drills, the professional miller bit.
all have ~." shanks, and their diameters
are de.i~ated in inches.
The most unusual aspect, of these bits is
in the way they remove mate.ial. The mortise miller bits are clesigqed to remove the
waste in 3 mortise by routing (or milling).
rather than drilling (they can drill. but do
so reluctantly).
Since the bits are de;;i~ed for the slow
speed of the Inca mortising system (3800
RP)I,compared tj) the 2.5.000RPMof many
routers). II very unusual edge is used to
give them their routing capability.
One of lhe bit's two cutting edges is
serrated. It's this ser rated edge that aetually hogs off the waste as it's routing.
Then the second CUlling edge, which resembles the flute on a normal straight
router bit. follows lh"ough and cleans
things up,
IIMIt.I,PRESS.Because the mortise miller

bits are desil!"ed for routing. rather than

drilling, they pose some problems when
used on the drill press. First of all, the drill
press really isn't designed to handle the
sideways pressure of routing. If the bit is
used for routing on a regular basis. the
results usually show up <1$ excessive play
in the quill.
To use these bits properly in a drill
press, the chuck should be replaced with a
routing collet. (See page 2.1 for more information on Sears routing cellet.)
For fimited use on the drill press. however, these bits CULa very quick, clean
mortise. BUL<1$ usual, there are some steps
that help make the work go smoother.
First of all, J found that the bits produeed a cleaner cut if end holes were not
drilled. Instead, I routed the mortise by
making ~~. deep passes (starting on the
right end of the mortise and routing [rom
one end 10the other), and used stop blocks
to Umit the length of the mortise.
Although I thought the se bits would
have a tendency 10grab the workpiece, in
practice the cut Is smooth enough that a
feather board i.'nt required to secure the
workpiece against the fence,
CO'1CIXSIOSS.Unfortunately, routing
with these bits puts too much pressure on
the quill of the drill press to e..eate anything but trouble do" n the road. \Vith this
in mind, I CIUl't recommend Ulling these
bits for use on a driU press.
SEARSDRill PRESSMORTISEBITS
In the past, the ml\iority of mortises used
for the projects in lVoodsmitll have been
cut !illn!: the Sears drill press mortise bits
(D). One nice aspect of these bits is that
they're desi~ed specifically for dnlling
SIOlmortises on the drill press.
The cutting edge on these bits is rather
unusual. It's located on only the very outside rim of the tip - similar to a Forstner
bit. There's also a single Oute on the side of
the bit to provide room for chip removal.
The Scar. mortise bits are extremely
ea...oy to use. and require no additional jil!"
(such as a feathe. board) 10produce a very
COMPARISONS FOR

Bih
$pi101 E.d
Mill Bib

In~G
Mortise OriU.

McHti..

Min.r 8in
Soo,.
Mortiting Bitt

Seo" $quo,..
Chi ... lJli~

\VOODSM1TH

aHOmm,nclecJ

Mollimum

Shonk

Ov.mU
l ength

bep.h of Cui

25.000R~

'I,"

w, Of

3800 RPM

lV.

6mmlV.,

3800 RPM

111.-

'I.

3~-

'OOQ RPM

I'

V.'

6-400 RPM

1'/."

Oo.s Not

1/.-

Apply

SEARSMORTISINGCHISEL/BITS
\\'hile I was in 3 testy moon. I decided to
check OUL8 .ystcm sold by Seal'>!fOI' cutling a traditional square mortise USing a
drill PI'C<'S.The heart of this system is a
unique chisel that has bit running right
through its center. The idea is that the bit
removes the m'liority of the waste, leaving
the chisel to "cut" the corners square.
Although this tI)'Stem does what it's designed for (cutting a square end mortise), I
c:ouldn't get it to produce a mortise with
checks as clean as the other bits reviewed
here, And when the price cfthis system i~
c:onsidered (around $50.00 with all of the
extras), rei prefer euttinl( a cleaner slot

mortise and just pare

(10\'0"11

the corners.

CONCLUSIONS
The bit we preferred is the Scars mortise
bit. It's slow, but it gets the job clone. Our
second choice is the Inca mortise drills.
For cutting a lot of mortises, or cspt",ially
deep mortises, this is the bit to use.
The professional mortise miDer bits are
good, but require using the drill press in a
manner it's nOI really dcsi~ed for (routing). The spiral end mi.l bits are also good
bits, but the noise created while running
the drill press at 8500 RPMis more than
anyone here i. willing to put up with.
(However, they're the bits to use in a
router.) And when it comes to the Scars
square mortise chiselibil, to be honest, no
one here could justify its expense.

'I. MORTISING BITS

Speed

01ome'.'

clean mortise. In fact about the only complaint I have against them i. that they're
rather slow cut ling. (Part of this problem
stems [rom the slow speed - 1000 RP~I_
recommended for these bits.) If there are
several mortises to be cut, this can become
a real factor.
The method I found to produce the
cleanest mortise was almost exactly the
same as used with the Inca mortising bits.
CO)l('I,l'SIOSS.Not only do the Sears bits
produce a very nice mortise, but they're
also the least expensive bits we reviewed
($.'1.49 for the ~. bit).

3;'1.-

Sites
Available

s: ~,.: :J".4

1/

Stop 8loc:k,
Requi...d

Flt01h.r 800""

Pri(o

Required

1/.... Bit

YES

YES

$9.00

NO

NO

$9.35

In.-, ~.

YES

NO

$'8.50

2"

'I...., ~', I/i"

NO

NO

$.3_49

6-

'/'., ~.". y,,-

YES

YES

$51.97

."

I}J., ~ ..

6",m,8mm
10mm. l'2tnm

w,

'1-, Ji,"

21

____

S_h_o~Notes

SOME TIPS FROM OUR SHOP

ROUTING A CIRCULAR INLAY

A marquetry inlay is a nice way to add a

touch of ela_", to any project. The only
problem is getting it mounted. For th e
Spool Cabinet in this issue, I used "star,
burst" inlay. which is a circular shape and
is a little easier to work with,
This inlay comes mounted ill a recangular piece of veneer-s- sort of an inlaid
inlay. Th~ [U-,;I thing to do 's remove the
inlay itself by gently cutting around it.
perimeter (with an X,Acto knife). and
throllgh the paper backing, (This backing
is actually veneer tape that hold, all Lhe
individual pieces oflhe pattern together.)
crrnxc Tilt: R~:C.;SS.When the inlay is
removed, measure it~diameter and cut. a
recess to lit. Beeau..e th;" particular inlay

_PROlfCnVf

VENEER

=
IroUT OUT

is close to a true circle. Iused an expansion

<hill toscore the outside edge ofthe recess.
Then I removed the majority of the
waste in the recess "ilh a router and a v,st''aight bit. Set the depth of cut to approximately three-fourths the thickness of
the inlay and rout to within about \01." of
the score line. To remove the remaining
waste (out to the score line). I used a sharp
1'1" chisel.
)1Ot:l''TIN{; THE INLAY. To mount the in,
lay, apply a eoai of contact cement in the
recess and also to the "back" of the inlay.
(Note: The side with lhe brown IlaPCI' is
actually the front. or top side.)
Press the inlay into the recess (with the
paper side up) and place a ,;oftwood block
over the inlay and tap it in place with a
hammer. Then place a board on top of the
inlay to clamp it down (and even it out).
Finally. sand the inlay Ilush with the sur'
face of the board.
ROUTING RABBETS IN A fRAME

Two projects in this issue (the \\'all ~lirror

and the Spool Cabinet) have frames that
are built with standard mortise and tenon
joinery. Although this simplifies the join,

22

ery work, it creates a problem when it

comes time to rabbet out the back of the
frame (or the glass or mirror).
The easiest way to cut this rabbet is with
a router. But router bits have a tendency
to chip out the bottom edge of the rabbet,
which in this case is the edge that ,,;11 be
seen. Even taking a very light pass doesn't
seem to eliminate the problem.
To cut a rabbet with 8 clean edge. 1use a
technique that in"ol\'es,lighlly scoring the
edge ofthe frame before cutting the rabbet
to full width,
TIlE SCORING I'ASS. The first step is to
secure the frame to u pl)'\\'ood base by
tacking stops at all four sides. Then mount
a rabbeting bit (that has a pilot) in the
router. ann set the depth of cut to match
the finished depth of the rabbet,
The trick for the scoring pass is to move
the router counter-cloekuns around the
inside of the frame. Thi~ i. the oppo~ite
direction of what's normal. (Note: US(> the
router hand-held. This technique docs not
work well when the router is mounted to a
router table.j
The eut produced with this method is
very smooth (there's almost no chip-out).
The only problem is that the width of the
scoring cut is somewhat difficult to control
because the bit wants to bounce off the
edge as it's cutting, Try to make it about
Yo' wide.
Alter the edge is scored. cut the rabbet
to full width, but this time rout in the
normal direction (clockwise).
CUmNG

DENTll

There are two project,,; in this issue thaL

use a special molding called a dentiL This L;
simply a series of 1I,",\\;de kerfs cut along
the length of a solid pieee of stock to create
evenly spaced V.-wide blocks.
RII' ~'TOCK TO WWTII. The first step ip
making the dentil is to rip the stock to
width. I rip it slightly wider-than neededso
any chip-out on the back side of the kerfs
can be removed when the dentil is trimmed
to final width.
TilE CL'TI'ING JIG. Then a cutting jig is
made to space the kerfs consistently along
the entire length of the dentil. To make
this jig, cut a '1'<" plywood fenee approximately S" high and about 24" long.
Then cut a notch near the center of the
fence for an indexing pin. The width of this
notch must equal the width of the kerfs you
want for the den til. (Since 1 wanted
v.-,";de kerfs, this meant using a dado set
to cut a Y.-,wide notch.)
The height of this notch sbould be a tad

under the depth of cut you want (or the

kerfs. (I wanted tbe kerfs to be \01." deep. so
1 set the depth of cut fur- the notch to
approximately '1'.... )
Shop Note: The ''e8S0n for the lower
depth o( cut for the notch is to reduce the
oize of the indexing pin that fits in it. This
assures that the dentil will rest fiat on the
surface of the table saw. and not on the top
of the pin .
'IlIE PIN. After the lIoLCb is cut. tut a
1Yo,longinde~;ng pin to exactly the same
widtb and height a.othe notch. and glue it
into the notch.

"OSITIOS rue FE~CE. Next. clamp the

plywood fence to the miter j!auge, and
position it so lhe distance between the
indexing pin and the righlside oCthe blade
equals the width of the blocks you want for
lbe dentiL see Fig. r. (I wanted ;.It',wide
blocks. so 1positioned the pin "'. from the
blade.)
Check this measurement by nicking the
edge of the plywood fence with the dado
blade. If the distance between the nick and
the pin is correct, drill the pilot holes in the
fence and attach it to the miter j!auge with
pan head SCl'eWS and wsshers .
cer KEII~'SL" OE~T[L.To cut the kerfs in
the derail, raise the dado blade to a \l,i'
depth ereut. Then butt the end of the stock
against the indexing pin. and make a pass
over tbe dado blade. see Fig. 2.

For the next cut (and all the foUo"1ng

euts), place the newly cut kerf over the
indexing pin, and make another pass, Thi$
sequence is repeated for the entire length
of the denlil.
('Lt:,,,-.; UI'. The bottom of the kerfs ";11
probably be a little rough. I used a sharp
chisel to "plane" the bottom of each kerf.

WOODSMITH

gShop
Ta ..........

AN OPEN FORUM FOR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

------,-..,.......",...
'OUR.IN.HAND

RASP

I took,.d at

CONCENTRATlD STRESS

l'sn hn t't "9 a nurd lil/lt fi tldl fIg a" al'~u'e"

toa q'tl',~ti(llt,O)llllligltred ifa;lyon~(ou/(1
all~ft ...r it, !lUll <UIC/<I.AC/lwllll, it's ,.alher
.ifllple. 11'11111;8 a [lmrj'lhand TO.1P'
Richard Haas
('Iijlmt. ,'\'.". J.,.".y
A (ourmhancl ra'I' i. a combination
ra'p and file that h ... ono:Olit side, and one
CUI'\'M (e<>n\ex' side, On l'&Chside. there
an- two di(("T('nt tooth arrangements,
I?'\ mil the 1001 a total ef four diffeftot

"~"'II

,t

"lADfS

......

Aj1t'T rrad , g II" artcrl~ u \\'oodsmith

."0 . .:..; "" h"u' 9'.1(.1 fhl JO{JOII($t lrat~r
,ttmts IN''rr'. I 0"/. n: J tj" 12(WJ-grit, all(/
tltt SI fur IJr(lrpt. 'Iil'f/ ,tlY jtt/littlillg

kt,it,t!..
Ob)fr/. xlIrI, " 'l/,./ ch.p..
lViII, lA, 1.'00 grit .'one. Iher<'Cf'1' 110
A/ 1/,. /rig" Hilt tI'.3' r.mttT. lliT...
,,,obit mo, J
"sed it likr my <On tI,t" IS a ('(I;,~,(/I'f'(Ib/f ,'It rt'.(g [norl i,t (Ill'
""Iionulolm,t . Fil'$1 J luhricated it .<'ill, fall ,/rr, II) ,., 1I1.~til{/al a),d aerot/Yllami<
".. ,..... Ih,n I plate<l II" bladr Uti tI,t sloll' [UlTt. Wlttll (IIIobird impa<isolle oft1!e~c
"'il', II,,. rultlug ('llg' fi,rtI1'I'd, ol,d pr(Jthtd b/ad, 011 orldili,mul.trt3 . i& in/rot/ICe"d
f"r"'f,rrl '\'114:"tJ"'JIn<f .,d,. },ad prvJl{t1tt'd tI 11(1,,,,IY,.if't ,1"11 tIlt Ittrt'fll( ('(I'f(,~ltrciio".
o IC'IN' (,1,,1',I I",.., ({ 'hI" b/(llif" D(,,"';-,0",1 Tlt(1 'o'nl "t,.,,8 IUIlll tllf II Ix_'},;gh r;u(Jllghto

,,,.1

llflrd!4 "f ,

({f

f:,,",,,hg """,Il .. t I ,r ".,.1 J 11'" to

In, !'l "0' t .\0 "''''it' /01' 0'" t/~ tA~
blad, tI'CI& p.a)" tor
til, ,urfa,~ oj t}"
;;./, I rould"I helpbKlI ad up
..,rfw:,
oj til, .,"., TA, "'arp "'-0' oj rn~blad,
liar K.-pl d '(I9"'II,n to tlu! ,"rfau
Flnal/y. J Ji>"nrl that if I r"eCt'nll:d th,

f"~

pro< 0."'/

prrl/'d Ih~ blar/r tm'Ylrd "

'0"

bolh .i<lra 11I'tlle IH It I. /h, /,mhl,,, o[ th"

bntl dlY1l' "9 '"tn 11,('.tt"ifni'r o..f tile al0' r
11118 tl"nJ1I,r!NI.

Robn1 E. Drt>III1UIl
Orlllad. Cali/anlia

r.~oJ-Si",iifJr

,,,,ti,

rtJtlllt n~f/J(,,.a' ""uftJIc;_bl(Jd~ \,'hNtlh'R

J,_(JJ'~t('&. ar f,,,bala,,~( OC"C'r,nt,,",ch II
lun ..... wlu n h 'II b",/O" 1,1,<,1.,jf th.'
ro tt, " >101.hul "11 qultklll, Thi3 ,,..
qu"
of
1$ ...... '11 d, 1",<1 ... to tJ,~
_I" 10"'II lA, It'IUI
A .oh/l on ",wid ~ had by;tlIRg a
.mall. IuJll "",ltd IITVO'" 01
b(a,J, Itub
.nt~,.t't't N. h ,t lleu 1.1aJ'II(J~/IlIJlIUJt ro.<.:'
~(J,("t, V' jor LA,. rol,trr II nn"Jactur~r. I
IlY/"I,1 , 01f"f'r',,) '", ,ufl Iti. J"r Ill' a fe-fOgt
"St", .at'''', ,", (e", """'/({ Itlltlt tt) bP d?/

u..

"(1"" ..,111(IXltll"t:f({

Rr<ll'n<to Bear!

. Califo""a

SlARS COLLETCHUCKS

received 8('\ eral letrers from

reader ... \Ii hu "ere having trouble obtainl!lj( Ih~ coliN chuck (or the Sears drill
'\'("'\,(!'

pre-s. Accnrclin~to one subscriber, the

catalol: dt'partm('nl at their local Seal':'
stor~ told thtm th~ part WQ, no longer
Q\ail"bl<,. Whl'll WI' <onlnewd our loc.,1
Scars cataloj!' ctefl::lrtrnf.!nl (\\'~ cVeJl pro-vided th{'m "ith Ih~ old part number). we
WOrt told they couldn't find any info.malin" :tl all un tht J,art.
So \\~ ,h'Ciclt~1tu track down tbe
facture:.' I.fthe &."", orilll''''$' w lind out
ifthc~' kn< \\ o(anolh(.r wure. (or the collet
chuck. Ac<t.rdmg 10 \'iki \ander(~rcl.
l'rocIucI ~Ianagl'r of the Emert'On Elt'Ctric
Co. ,Ihl' manufacturer- of the SeaN drill
pre,,), not onl) ., the part a,ailable. it',
e\'en Ibtod .n the :'.ar~ 19~2 I<o'l tool
c:u.al~~.

Anti ~urt t:ntnIJlh. it't~li!~t(.'flun page 75 as

" "lIoldin): Collar for Collet Chuck and
End ~lil"." Stock II !I CT Ufi7'l. $12.!I'J.

,v1(ru'Clrds.

1\'11,."J ,.,(~It't.1""1 """ Pnrier.cabl,

I[u"/Ilt rl/l R... kll'd/J "1Il1,r.'''eft ...' Ihillg

On(\ C)( I hp rt'U.:--4ln" itOH HO ca.I.(jJ)o,'erlooked

L, b<>c.... u... it'. not pictured. And to top it

orr. the d cription of lhe 11&1.implies that

it', only a holding t'OlIar, rather than Ihe

actual collet (hu('k.

Ju,;,t t(, bt~)'IU~ that this. \\"8S lhe same
f\'t.rt that \\"f.> rt"\'i~\\edin l\oot!sIJl,.ith No.
12, "ton:lt.rt:'d un,1 (n,m th(.' Se.a.r.; catalo,R

drl.artmvnl. f.\en though IhcJ originally

couMo't find an)' infonnatwo on it. they
.ure didn't ""'-iu.te talung our order. And
it ,..'"" .,actly the 1Wn<' a.. th~ one we
1'\'\;.\\('<1 ..... nh olie ex~ption;

the pnc ..

had jumped (rom &'.99 to $12.99 (1n I"",

th."nt~o )'pus).
1 can ~ee It noYt. t,\,O boat~ in the middle
of lh~ Allanll(" lock~ in a tight raCE'for
lht" ArT\f'nea'~ CUI" An(1 a~ if lO ease th~
ten...iont ont.I.e thf. ~ail()~ It'atlS o\'e.r and
whbllt''''', "My broker i. E.t'. Hutwn and
he ,;ay_ 'in\'(',l in drill pre:;s ac'('C"Sories...

--------------------~------------------~----\\'OOOSMITH

It

manu-I

SlltsS
COt<.lHtlATlOH

SMAtL CHISELS ON WATER STONES

1,ldUcf " Itl

tit, fan

"'ood-

tI',d '" ocna!""'u rou. ng 'h,u/ailu.re,.

I{'k"" I tramu"'- tAe "'U'n- cio&li/' I
C'UttlnJ,T !'urfal.."\: ....
dlMOt'rrrd a ,...~ poor [an dt g The [an
On the nal .. de of th e four-in-hand,
II
a <"tap P't(~ 0.1 $h,tt metal.
there', It coorse me on one end. and a rcn,yh11l rill a ,I 4It:" p"f Into the Ja,(
COII..f't'e nLf;J) on lhf' other, Then on the con-- .hllf'< At tJ. mol nJ ro,hj"t! blade (uhere
vex side, u ha~ 8 fint' file on one end and a
tlrq )(1'" tl,#' h.ull) '8 (I ftrll !'tharp COMf"
fine rasp en th~ other.
",1, "k C1Yfll'iI ,(Iul' ,~ kHOl17l as a stree
Anothl'r f"alurp of'the four-in-hand rasp
"fJllff ~,tntfl'I" (')1' '1\,~8 tt,ay"ifier), 7I,i.
i.. tht ..l1l'('nceof teeth 00 ils edges. [',.
r('t,.IJ3 rUUCt'Illmti"I# ll'ill n$ltit ill pM"Ul
found Ihal thi. is ~ally handy whenever
IIII't (iul''''r of I)" Jilll d lie 10IiIttlllllltigllt
I'm roun(lillR lhl' l'Omcr~of a tenon. I can ("''1'",' if ill "~'I"C"8trlt(k by [Ortig1'
ne.tle Ihl' r p riltht up next to the
~houlrl"r o( Iht If'non ,,;thout won;;nj(
about marring Ihe .houlder of the tenon.
And \\ hen you cOll>id(rthe cost (they're
u.'uaJly 11'111101>1,
from any lora! bardware
<tore (or ~-.$l<.(I(),.irs well worth ha\'ing
in the .hol'

jftJ."

d~it'!I,t tu fit .. .sft, r:c jll',. but tlu: lI'Qrk"lal~I" \Vnodl'lmilh \'1), 2":, a reader i,..IIOtl'l" $11'P i,Ik ttrr, (J u,l ,"U,oft , lIt IXlrto nlty, it halt
"ralk'lltrT :ihtlp" lCfctio)( tttclrfiol,ed tIlt IIIr pm';(//llI/" dr.'enbed ""/(It'eIl IItar tilt
tl'Ollhlr I" Ilmlwith hi. Srars ro"t er <lisi,, IlIIb. 1',0 t't ,'"1 11(,,1 (l"Y fl"'Jblem.
tI,is
lel1mlillY II'hi/< II< ;lIg I/ ,d It" II,.
routtr. 1111,1 I IIIlI'l' "'I'd il rDlIlIide'1'OOly.
~mith router tubtr, Thr 3(I/)lt $eqIICllC( of
E"(II /Iit/I Ilif illlprOt'fli./il (iNrigll. J
t'l'rlll.t J,ll/Ilk ,,~(lin "'~',SOI took the rout"
[N't tI,at a 10.'1/' ""Qr<yl> 1''OOd (hip tchunk}
'" [or r ,.,,,. ,1(1, r J gol il ha<k. it [ailrd collid ('a,'lfl (J 1j,,,,,/tJr l)roblr'Jf. For fJ,i.IIi
8i~/jilorly (ffl, r IJI "'g uli.d t)lf("rn ittentlll
n'U~ult. J /OJJ1rn fir,. hO.I((! [nnn 1111/
:-:/1(111
,'C'lrlif/t tir(lr 'n, N,.,t,r bcJ'l' SQ aJt to Illf";'
((I" ol",ul ("Ie ho"r.
.4. a n'NM,r,rol t'. qIJt, r $ptc-iali;fflg "'I:t tlu! ('},lp pn,bl,.",
I" ,tN'.u ataal .'13. J ~'1l. "y interJerry [Akt

23

Sources

SOURCES FOR HARDWARE AND TOOLS

The source page is anew addition to Wood
$1ll;ti The main reason for this page was
to centralize the information on ordering
all the little "extras" that are required for
Mob project.
\Ve Celtthe space required in each article
Cor listing sources could be put to better
use by expanding our description oC the
building procedures.
So in future issues thls page will be used
to list sources (or hardware, finishes, specialty items. tools reviewed in Tools ef the
Trade. and all of the little thinp that accompany woodworking, but usually end up
being II real pain to find.
The rOnnat for thi~ page will be in two
parts. The !1Ou~ for all of the hardware,
finishes, etc. that are required Cor the proj
eets shown in each issue will be listed first.
Then if there's space left over after these
listings, we'll use it to include general
source information on mail-order catalogs,
lumber sources, books. plans. and so on.
DISPLAY CABINET (PAGE 4)

We purchased aU of the cabinet hardware

needed for the spool c..bin~t from:
Tire IVoodu'Orkers' S/urt
21801 ["d,u/Mol 8(!U/eL'Orri
Rogers . 11ill"esota, 55;17},

Te/ephone: (612) .1$.~Jf}/

I. (2) Solid Bra.. Boll Tip Pin Hinges
#01209; IY.'W x IY,-L-$2.25 per poir
2. (l) Ceromi<Knob
#EI811; I" diome'er-$l.80
eoch
3. (1) ClrculorInloy
#A8002; 21/ ... diameter-$4.S0 each

the risks is the cheapest way to go. Plus it

eliminates having to figure out how to get
rid of all the oopses.)
ANTIQUE MIRROR (PAGE 18)

The haU mirror uses only one hardware

item, the acorn coat hooks. \Ve purchased
the four coat hooks from:

The Renooator' Supply

MiU"" rsu Ala88aciUl8"U8 01:1.9
1'c/ep/u",,': (~l$) 6S9oI96J
l. (4) Acom Hoo'"
#29136-$S.50 each
MORTISING lilTS (PAGE 20)

Listed below are the sources for all the

morti.ing bits reviewed in the Tool. of the
Trade article on page 20.
SEARSMORTISI;.1C
HITS. The Sears merUsing bits appear on page 7~ of the Sears
198'>..183tool catalog. (\Ve had to order all of
the Sears bils through the catalog department, because our loeaJ store didn't stock
them.) In the catalog, they're listed as
replacement bits for the drill press mol"
tising kit. But just to keep thing>' confusing, right next to their "lock numbers,
the bits are listed as being chisels. Why
they've called them chisels is beyond me.
because they really are mortising bits.
Listed below are lhe correct stock numbers for ordering these bits.
Y' dlo.; #9 GT 24251-$3.49 eeeh
dio.; 1f9 GT 2421~$4.79 each
'17' dio.; #9 GT 24217-$4.99 each
SEARSHOI.I.OW)IORT'S~ CIIISEI.JIlI'i'S.

11.

Highlolld Hardwar
J(M~/I.'. Highland A ... NE
Atla,tlo. Georgia ;jIM()6

Teley/,ortJ!: (800) .!~

167$8
Y' die., Yo" .han\; #10.45.07-$9.00
v....dia., 1/,'" shank; 810.45.01-$9.00
0/," dio., y,' shant.; #10.45.02-$9.50
'Vo' dlo.,1I0'shank; "10.45.08-S10.00
0/. dlo.,Yo .hank; # 10.45.03-$10,00
v.' dlo.,'I' .hank; #10.45.04-$11.50
0/. dlo.,Y,' shank; #10.4S.05-$24.50

I\'oodrroj'f Sltpply
41 AtlOl,lir .4.Lie.
Bo-x 4(1()(}

Woburn, Massachlue//8018/!$
1'tlcp/um ... (ROO) mlI:;'1
1/....dio., V,'" shank; #03K42-NT-$9.30
,"dia.jl/iO!shonk;#03K43-NT-$11.7S
'h"dia.,Yo:l"shonk;#OlKS2-NT-$11.85
'14"diG., 1/,l'Ishonk;#03KS3-NT-$30.S4
PROFES;;tONAL ~IORTISE lllLLR BITS.

Again, we found two catalog sources for

the serrated professional mortise miller
bits: Garrell
Wade. and Highland
Hardware.

Garrett IVade
lin A t'CI"'. Qf th Awmtlls

N~w York, S.". York loolJ

I,V,.".'."

1"'eplloo.: (800) ltl19!,:.!.

diameter; #250.28-$18.70
diameter; #250.29-$19.80
110' diome'.r; #250.30-$20.90
Yo diomo'.r;'l4'250.31-$22.60
",. diome'.r; #250.32-$25.35

High/a lid Hardwarr ttheir addrus i8

1i8{1'd aixn-e)

There are really three separate parts 10

'I." dlome'.r; #07.ll.~$18.50
the Sears mortising chisellbit system: the
'I,. diometer; #07.11.07-$19.50
CURIO CABINET (PAGE 12)
chisel housing. the square chisel, and the
%. diome'er; 107.11.08-$20.80
hit itself. (The chisel housing must be used
112"
diameter: #;07.11.09-$2..2.50
The curio cabinet use. very little hardware
yo," diameter; #01.11.10-$2.5.00
considering its size. The hardware that with the ehisellbits, but luckily, one size
was needed (hinges, knobs, and shelf sup- fiLS ali.) Again, the mortising chisel bits
Tiff; lNC.\ "ORTIS': DRU.LS \\'e found
ports) were purchased from The Wood are listed on page 74 oC the Sean; 19.~2183 only one supplier of the Inca mortise drills:
workers' Store (address listed above).
Garrtti lI'adt (their address is listed
tool catalog.
I,(4) Slmiconcool.d Hingo. (0/. offsOl) 1. Mortising Chisel Housing
#9 GT 2465-$21.99 each
'02542-$2.15
each
2. (16) Pin Style Shell Support.
2. Hollow Mortising Chisels
1....diameter; #9 GT 24206-$18.99
A'091 53-S.1 5 eoch
3. (2) Co<lKnob.
0/. dlomolor; #9 GT 24207-$18.99
'I,' dlame,er; #9 GT 24208-$19.99
#-E1803; 11/..- diamete,-$2.25
each
The (2) curio lights were pureh ased locally 3. MortiSing Bit.
from a lighting fixture retailer. The lights
'I.diom.'.r; #9 GT 24224-$10.99
we purchased totaled $44.00.
0/. dlomo'.r; #9 GT 24225-$10.99
y,' dlomoter; #9 GT 2422~$11.99
But the largest investment of the curio
cabinet hardware is in glass. To simplify
SPRIAL NI) M'LL ROt;TER BITS. The

things, we let a local glass supplier cut

single strength glass for the doors and the
side panels. The shelves are double
strength glass with round edges. The total
bin: $<iO.oo. (Although this sounds high.
I've found that letting someone else take

24

sprial end miU router bits are available

(rom two sources; Highland Hardware,
and \Voodcraft Supply. Although they're
manufactured by two different suppliers,
the bits purchased from both sources are
basically the same.

above),
6mm diome'er; #250.9-$9.35
8mm diome,er; #250.10-$10.15
lOmm diameter; -11250.11-$10.10
12mm diameter; #250.12.-$14.70
WOODWORKING

CLUBS

In the future, we'd also like this page to

include the names and addresses of woodworking clubs around the country. If you
know of a club in your area that's actively
seeking members and would like to be
mentioned in this space, send their address, phone number, and the name ofLhe
person to contact, to: Steve Krohmer,
%Woodsmith Publishing. 1912 Grand
Ave., Des Moines. Iowa 50309.

WOODSMlTH