So many times in woodworking, we make boxes. Four sided assemblies with 90 degree corners can become drawers, cabinets and so many other projects.
But, what if you want to make something with a little more flair? More sides? More visual interest?
If you want to go that route, well, get ready to be introduced to the wild and wacky world of compound miters. If trigonometry isn’t your strong suit, well, you might be looking for a calculator to do the heavy lifting for you.
This site is a versatile calculator that allows you to plug in your known numbers and come up with angles to create n-sided boxes, n-sided pyramids, general compound miters and other brain-twisting math. Just plug in the info, set your saw and start cutting…
On Interstate 94 between St. Cloud and Fargo, you will find the small hamlet of Collegeville, Minnesota. This is the home of St. John’s Abbey, and the monks who live there turn out some of the most beautiful furniture from locally grown woods.
The men who live at the Abbey build exquisite furniture – from clocks and chairs to caskets and coffins.
Their woodworking tradition is based on Benedictine principles of spirituality, stability, and stewardship of the land. Local artisans—both monastic and lay —have been designing and crafting practical, durable, and beautiful furniture and architectural details for 150 years. Definitely worth a look.
Basically, it’s a design movement that started in the mid 20th century and broke with traditional furniture forms and sought to explore new materials. Charles and Ray Eames, a couple who worked as architects, film makers and furniture designers, stretched designed elements to give a radical new look to existing furniture forms.
This online gallery shows some of the radical design forms they helped bring to reality. Definitely poke around on this site to check out some of the more interesting furniture forms they worked on.
Routers are versatile tools, capable of cutting profiles, joinery and doing other useful tasks. While a hand-held router is useful, mounting it under a table makes it even more useful. But, even with these two options, there are sometimes you may need the bit held a third way – horizontally.
That’s why woodworker Ron Fox has designed this horizontal router table. Using simple MDF and commonly found hardware, you can build this table to get your router into a horizontal position. From there, your router can be used to cut mortises or use a vertical panel raising bit with the wood pressed firmly against a table.
G’day, mate! When many people think of exotic woods, the species that grow in Africa or South America come to mind. But, have you ever given thought to the variety of woods that come from down under?
The Australian Wood Network is an association of lumber harvesters, sawmills and merchants from the world’s smallest and most arid inhabited continent. While known more for its vast expanses of desert, the wood harvested from the forested areas is stunning in appearance and has outstanding working characteristics.
The site offers a thorough primer on the species found in Australia and details the efforts of the country’s timber industry to practice sustainable harvesting.
So, throw another shrimp on the barbie, kick back and take a look at what Australia’s sawmills have to offer.
Looking for a safe and quick way to rip boards down to size? Forget the hand, band or table saw… think splitting!
More accurately called riving, the process uses hammers and wedges to break a whole log down to manageable sizes, then using a set of specialized tools called the beetle and froe for more control and accuracy. Hatchets and hand planes perfect the piece.
While it may seem crude and low tech, the process produces good looking boards with a small number of hand tools.
So, when you need plywood for a cabinet project or you are looking for some sweet veneer, where’s a good place to start your research?
The Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Association isn’t a bad place to begin. This website for this organization of manufacturers and dealers showcases the environmental and economic advantages of using these products. There are also a number of technical publications offered at the site to help readers get a better handle on product specifications.
Visitors can find offers a list of classes and educational events as well as a directory of vendors.
