After I enjoyed making the Box Joint Box for Jeff, I decided to make a more permanent box joint jig for the workshop. I wanted a jig that didn’t depend on clamping it to a miter gage on the tablesaw, that would accommodate different thicknesses of wood and that would be easy to make very fine adjustments with. Borrowing ideas for box joint jigs from several different sources, I designed my own jig in SketchUp.
The most informative video I found was William Ng’s YouTube video, Make an Accurate Box Joint Jig, Simple and Fast. I’ve linked William’s video below. William runs the William Ng School of Fine Woodworking an Anaheim, California and based on his videos, I think he is an excellent instructor with a good sense of humor, too!
I also borrowed some concepts from Phil Huber’s YouTube video, The Ultimate Adjustable Table Saw Box Joint Jig! I’ve also linked this video below. Phil is Executive Editor of the Woodsmith Shop, the video extension of the woodworking magazine, Woodsmith, which I’ve had a subscription to for many years. While William Ng used a quick box joint jig clamped to a crosscut sled, Phil Huber’s jig had it’s own integral runners that fit into the miter slots of his tablesaw.
The photos and captions in the gallery below will give you an idea of the box joint jig I came up with!
My box joint jig design features three adjustable, removable fences to accommodate 1/4″, 3/8″ and 1/2″ material thicknesses
Adjustable Box Joint Jig and Instructions, designed in SketchUp and Layout
A challenging part of this build was fitting the 3/4″ plywood runners and doubled base layer to the miter slots of my tablesaw so the jig moved smoothly and without any side-to-side play
After fine tuning the width of the doubled base and attaching the side rails to it, I still had to use sandpaper and just working it back and forth in the miter slots to achieve smooth movement
Finished sled assembly
The stop block and adjustment screw concept for fine fence adjustment was meant to use feeler gages but I ended up using my mag base dial indicator instead
The two 1/4″ carriage bolts in the adjustable fence go through 3/8″ diameter holes in the sled to allow for side-to-side adjustment of the fence in the thousandths-of-an-inch range
Operator view of the box joint jig
Each one of the adjustable fences will be matched with my dado blade stack set for 1/4″, 3/8″ and 1/2″ box joint finger widths. The corresponding indexing keys will also be matched to the actual finger widths my dado stack cuts
The first test pieces of the 3/8″ finger joint width fit almost perfectly after the initial adjustment was made, based on caliper readings and dial indicator settings
The first box from this box joint jig, made from cherry, will be the accessories box to use with this jig
The accessory box glued and curing in quick clamps
Painter’s tape on the inside of the box joints prior to assembly helps to prevent excessive squeeze out on the insides of the box
Operator view of the finished box joint jig with accessories box and dial indicator set up
A tung oil finish on the legacy cherry of the accessories box highlighted the end grain of the box joint fingers
Beautiful rays in the cherry grain are highlighted by sunshine in the finished accessories box
After almost ten years after making the first two sets of JOY yard signs, Stephen requested another joint effort to create two more sets. One of these sets would go to Andrew and Megan, and the other set would go home with Stephen, as a surprise early present to Katie. The plan was to finish them in time to present them after our family Thanksgiving dinner.
Stephen and I worked for nearly a whole Saturday, from acquiring the plywood at Chelsea Lumber through getting the first coat of red and white paint on all of the components. This time, Stephen brought his own jigsaw, so our cutting out time was literally cut in half! The signs ended up being completed in time for the Thanksgiving day presentation!
A full scale layout in SketchUp showed that a whole sheet of plywood would be needed for each set of JOY yard signs
3D view of full scale layout
Measurements of existing JOY sign letters for scaling in SketchUp
The ten year old Mahan set of JOY sign letters still look good and were used as patterns to reproduce this year’s sets
After disassembly, Stephen traced the existing letters onto a fresh sheet of AB fir plywood
Climbing up on the workbench provided a better body position to cut out some of the letters
Sharp blades in the jigsaws made quick work of the 3/4″ plywood sheets
Stephen is very artistic and handled cutting out all of the small details
A bit of sanding and all the letters and other components were ready for their first coat of paint
Closeup of Stephen’s handiwork on the detailed figures
A small foam roller and foam brushes worked well for applying the paint and made for simple cleanup afterwards
Applying white paint to the components that will be attached to the “O” letters with stainless steel wood screws
Almost ready to flip everything over on painter’s points and start painting the front surfaces and edges
It was satisfying to see all the letters and components with their first coats of paint on the same day that we brought the raw plywood into the workshop
I am determined to me more discerning about what scrap wood gets to stay in the workshop after every project
Fortunately, there was enough red and white paint left over from other projects to complete these two sets of JOY yard signs
Second coats of paint complete and after some drying time, ready for final assembly
Final assembly of the “O” letters and an example of the 3/4″ conduit clamps to hold the letters on the 1/2″ round steel concrete forming stakes
The final presentation of the JOY yard signs after a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with nearly twenty loved ones at the table!
Sometimes, projects in the shop are simple and quick, often to answer an organizational need. During a major shop cleanup and re-organization, I took down the shelves on the wall to the right of the tablesaw, as they were difficult to access and accumulating scraps that were hardly ever used. One function of a small part of the lowest shelf that I lost was keeping my tablesaw pushblocks, featherboards, angle jigs, etc., within easy reach.
Using plywood and a drawer slide reclaimed from my former office cabinetry and taking advantage of unused floorspace under the extension table, I built this small cabinet in an afternoon. Now, my most often used tablesaw accessories are back within easy reach!
Sized to fit the available space, this little cabinet keeps my tablesaw safety accessories at my fingertips
The repurposed drawer slide is from my former desk’s pencil drawer
The finished plywood is repurposed from my former credenza side cabinets
Shop view showing the empty wall to the right of my tablesaw
Mary was saddened when a sudden Arizona storm blew down a mesquite tree in her yard. Not long ago, Mary’s husband Boyd had passed away, and that particular mesquite had always been his favorite tree. As Mary’s friend, Deb asked me if they sent me a log from Mary’s fallen tree, would I be able to make some small item from it for Mary to keep. I replied that I would certainly try and that I would be honored to help preserve a small part of Boyd’s favorite tree for Mary.
It would be my first time working with mesquite, and I was a bit concerned that the wood, having recently fallen, would be green and require some time for drying. Once I received the log and started breaking it down into smaller pieces, I learned that mesquite is a very dry wood, even alive. This was confirmed by a bit of research, with my moisture meter and by the fact that the wood soaked up both oil and film finishes like a sponge.
As this project turned out, I was able to make five small items out of that small mesquite log that arrived in my workshop via UPS. Deb presented Mary with a pen, a rustic bowl, a small box, a rustic bud vase and a card / photo holder. I received a lovely email from Mary, who has experienced nearly ninety trips around the Sun, expressing her appreciation for the special mesquite keepsakes.
Mary’s mesquite log, and the first time someone has ever shipped me a log
It took over an hour of hammer and chisel work just to remove the bark
The first bandsaw cut, breaking the log down into workable shapes
One end of the log split into two small bowl blanks, one as a backup in case the turning went awry
Various half rounds, flats and other sections whispered the secrets of what they would eventually become
Some small, thin flats said they wanted to be a mitered box
Cutting box joint miters on the chopsaw
Box parts prepared for assembly
Using wide painter’s tape as a hinge makes gluing up small miter joints quick and easy
Painter’s tape and rubber bands are enough clamping while the glue cures
Small box ready for some finish
A Big Ben pen kit and a couple of sets of mesquite blanks
Drilling the pen blanks on the drill press using the scroll chuck from the lathe with pen jaws installed
Prepping a bowl blank on the bandsaw speeds up the turning process on the lathe
Pen parts nearing their final diameters on the lathe
Six to eight coats of Aussie Oil friction finish and the pen parts are ready for assembly
A fitting pen kit for the mesquite wood that I thought took on a tobacco hue with the addition of some finish
Completed Big Ben Cigar Pen from Mary’s Mesquite Log
Bowl blank attached to the lathe with a worm screw clamped in the scroll chuck
Outside shape of the bowl finished and prepared to flip around and clamp with the 2″ expanding scroll chuck jaws
Turned bowl I’m calling “rustic” because part of the rim near the log pith blew out
Sanding the bowl on the lathe with an inertial sanding tool and compliant Velcro pad
Small bowl finished with walnut oil and beeswax
Drilling for three bud vase inserts
The angled end section of the log inspired the idea to attach a small ledge and make a photo holder
The Marietta Wood Works brand was applied to at least one of Mary’s keepsake items
A clear lacquer spray was used on the photo holder and the end grain of the log soaked up a bunch of coats like a sponge
Mahoney’s walnut oil finishes are food safe and easy to apply. His beeswax and oil finish provides a lustrous sheen, as well.
Mary’s Mesquite Log keepsakes, ready for Deb to deliver in person
Mary’s Rustic Mesquite bud vase has pride of place on Mary’s countertop
With my MIDI controller keyboard at the center of a temporary recording studio in the basement and my Kawai synthesizer in the living room, I just wasn’t playing the piano as much as I would have liked. Linda and I talked about this on our trip to Jack Lake in Canada in the late summer, and we brainstormed on possible solutions. We decided that having both keyboards and all the recording equipment upstairs and in the same place would be ideal, but there was just no place we could think of that would accommodate that setup. It became apparent that my office would be the best place, but there just wasn’t room to add any more furniture.
I think Linda said, “You really don’t use your desk very much, do you?” And the light came on. I had recently updated my computer setup with a cool standing desk, and if I repurposed some of my old desk into a music studio, there would be plenty of room to have everything neatly in my office.
The most challenging part of this project then became designing a music studio desk to hold two full-sized keyboards, a laptop, a display screen, an audio interface and two monitor speakers and all the accompanying power and signal cabling … and still have everything organized and tidy. The 3D modeling in SketchUp started with full scale mockups of the two keyboards and I was off tho the virtual races. The photos below, along with their captions, will lead you through the execution of this project.
All good cabinet projects start with the breakdown of sheet goods
Grafting on a four-inch bump out on the top shelf saved having to buy a second sheet of birch plywood
Assembly of the basic upper case, the heart of the music studio design
The old desk pedestals received new cleats to hold the music studio components. Using these two pedestals also preserved most of the drawer storage space from the original form of the desk
A temporary fit check of the main components, to make sure the Kawai keyboard was going to fit
A full extension Accuride drawer slide would allow the upper MIDI controller keyboard to be tucked away when it was not in use
The upper keyboard drawer sides with slides mounted prior to final assembly
The completed upper keyboard drawer slideout
New tops for the old desk pedestals had to be a-1/2 inches thick to add just enough height for a keyboard cover for the lower Kawai keyboard, which had to be set at a particular height for proper playing position
Aluminum U-channel extrusion, sold as 3/4″ plywood edging, made perfect tracks for pullout shelves on either side of the central knee space
Am I going to have to add “and Metal” to Marietta Wood Works? Maybe.
Because of all the large surfaces that had to be finished, I decided to use oil-based polyurethane instead of the water-based oil-modified MinWax product that dries almost more quickly than one can apply it to large areas
Rolling on the polyurethane made quick work of coating all the surfaces
Final assembly and setup day in the office
The unique pullout on the right is for use with the computer mouse in this position, and came be flopped upside down and stowed to provide neat storage for the mouse when not in use
The completed setup with a removable vanity panel that hides all the wiring (from the cat)
A closer look at both keyboards, with the upper MIDI controller keyboard pulled out
I saved building the lower keyboard cover as a separate step, after everything else was assembled
Test fit of the lower keyboard cover
Wiring panel with the vanity panel removed. I added some wire racks to this back panel to better organize the wiring, even though it was going to be hidden from view.
Rob’s Music Studio is affording me a lot more playing time!
Rob’s Music Studio 3D SketchUp model for comparison to the final product
Katie asked me if I could make two little stools, based on the one she already had. She also pointed me to a plan for them online. As always, well almost always, I created a 3D model of the stool from the plan, along with a few corrections and “improvements.” From the SketchUp model, I also produced dimensioned drawings and a full sized template for the stool sides. Conveniently, the template fit on a single sheet of paper.
After building the first two with square, mortised stretchers between the sides, I updated my SketchUp design to use round dowels for stretchers. This simplified construction, which came in handy when I learned that Megan might like one, too! So I made another one for Megan, and one for Makayla at the same time.
From the big smiles on the little ones’ faces as they sat on these kid-sized stools, I bet more of them will be coming out of the Marietta Wood Works workshop!
Some maple boards from the inventory in the barn
Roughing out a full size pattern for the sides from the printed template
Cutting blanks for enough sides to make the first two stools
Roughing out the sides on the bandsaw
A couple of strips of XFasten woodworking double-sided tape (thanks again, Emily and Lucas!) stuck the pattern to each blank for refining with a flush trim bit on the router table
Mortising square holes for the square stretchers of the initial design
Two pair of sides mortised and ready for the next steps
All edges were eased with an 1/8″ roundover bit on the router table
Dry fit of the sides and stretchers
Two pair of sides and stretchers assembled
Test fitting the setup for the seat slats
Cutting half laps on the seat slats using a tenoning jig on the tablesaw
Seat slats spaced evenly and holes transferred to the sides
Two stool subassemblies ready for backs
Roughing the full radius on the back arms that will be refined on the oscillating belt sander
One of the fussiest parts of this build was fitting the back subassembly to the seat subassembly without gaps
A piece of plywood temporarily clamped to the back arms assisted with positioning the back properly for drilling
The first two Katie’s Little Stools, done and ready for the little ones
Heating up the Marietta Wood Works branding iron
The MWW brand on the bottom of one of the seat slats
Updated design with round dowel stretchers
One pair of sides and stretchers assembled
Counterboring with a Forstner bit for the round stretchers was a lot quicker than setting up the dedicated mortiser
Two seat subassemblies ready for backs
The second pair of Katie’s Little Stools to come out of the Marietta Wood Works workshop
Inspired by the walnut inlaid amplifier that Kyle made for Beth for last year’s Christmas name exchange, I decided to make a simplified design, taking advantage of the lessons learned from Kyle’s build. I also took advantage of a piece of 2″ thick white ash left over from Kyle’s Platform Bed build.
One of the lessons was the difficulty of holding all the pieces in perfect alignment for the final glue-up, so I incorporated 1/8″ dowels at the glue joint interfaces, using holes drilled before the side pieces were cut away on the bandsaw. The dowels just had to be strategically placed so they ended up in the sections left after the internal sound chamber was sawed away. Plus … who knew you can buy 1/8″ dowels at the local Ace Hardware?? Instead of filling in the dowel holes on the outside of the amplifier, I decided to leave them as a “feature.”
With a few coats of MinWax Water Based Oil Modified Polyurethane and a little branding iron work, these amplifiers came out looking good and they really pump up the volume when a smartphone is inserted!
Cross-cutting blanks from a 2″ thick white ash board
Blanks ready to square up
Drilling strategically placed 1/8″ dowel holes before the sides of the blanks are removed
Removing the sides in preparation for bandsawing the internal features
Removed sides showing how the pre-drilled dowel holes span across the future glue joint
Preparing the paper templates for application to the center portion of the blanks
Bits of painter’s tape to prevent the spray adhesive from fouling the dowel holes
3M Super 77 spray adhesive works great for adhering full scale paper templates
A 1’4″ 6 TPI hook tooth bandsaw blade will help with sawing around tight radii
The left and top right pieces with dowel hole positions indicated will be glued back between the removed sides
All the pieces, including waste, were carefully kept in order so the grain patterns matched on glue-up
The oscillating drum sander drum was just tall enough to sand the bandsawn pieces in one pass
A little acetone helped remove the paper templates and any remaining spray adhesive
After some trial and error, a quick little jig to cut short pieces of the 1/8″ dowel with a razor knife worked the best
Sanding a tiny radius on the ends of the 1/8″ dowels made inserting them much easier
A bit of dry fitting with the dowels showed that the glue joints were going to line up nicely
More dry fitting
Final dry fit of all the pieces. The bottom wasn’t doweled, as it didn’t have to line up perfectly
Transferring the internal profiles to the side pieces to facilitate finishing the internal cavity before final glue-up
A small artist’s brush made coloring between the lines pretty easy
Internal cavity surfaces finished and ready for final glue-up
Titebond III PVA carefully applied to avoid too much squeeze out to clean up
Y’all know what Norm says …
After cooking the clamps overnight, these squares will be ready to make the rounds
Laying out the final circle shape on the bottom surface, so the center mark won’t be too obvious
The circles were cut out freehand, staying just outside the layout line
After sanding the outside surfaces on the oscillating belt sander, an 1/8″ radius was added to the top and bottom on the router table
The Marietta Wood Works brands on the bottoms helped to hide the center point dimple from laying out the circles
More water-based poly on the outside surfaces brought out the attractive white ash grain
Four finished Smartphone Amplifiers
The glue joints practically disappeared on the final products!
Two things: I love wood with a story, and if you give me wood, you can almost always expect to get some of it back in a different form. One of Jeff’s customers requested Vertical Grain Douglas Fir (VGDF) for window parts, a species he hadn’t processed in the past. He gave me a few boards to play with and I decided to make him a piece that could sit on his desk as a representative sample of this new product.
A box is a common woodworking project to use a small amount of an interesting species, and to try out different joinery techniques. Box or finger joints have been around for a long time and make a really strong joint because of the large amount of gluing surface the fingers provide. I decided on a sliding lid to keep this box design simple, incorporating the 1/4″ spacing of the fingers. A tiny piece of walnut made a contrasting pull on the lid. A few coats of tung oil really brought out the beauty of the Doug Fir, and highlighted the end grain of the alternating finger joints, as well.
Note: Machining VGDF proved a little tricky, as the grain structure and orientation makes cross cuts quite spintery. Some painters tape for the cross cuts and a backer board for the finger cuts kept splintering to a minimum.
Resawing a Vertical Grain Douglas Fir board
Planing the resawn pieces to a smooth, uniform thickness
Painter’s tape helped reduce splintering on cross cuts
This quick box joint jig was set up for 1/4″ fingers and clamped to my Incra miter gage
My dial indicator and mag base allowed me to make adjustments to my jig a few thousandths at a time
The third try on my setup pieces yielded a fit that was close enough for who it was for …
Four sides with fingers cut, and showing the spintery nature of VGDF
With grooves ploughed for the sliding lid and box bottom, a tuned in the finger fit with a little hand sanding
First dry fit of the whole box and lid looked good
Marietta Wood Works brand on the bottom of the bottom
Lots of surfaces to get glue spread on in a timely manner
A “gravity clamp” on the walnut lid pull, attached with a few drops of CA glue
Y’all know what Norm always said …
Box joint fingers should be left proud to allow for sanding them flush … just not this proud
Six tiny plugs were glued in to close the holes left by ploughing the lid and bottom grooves
Tung oil brought out the beautify of the grain and highlighted the box joint finger end grain
Finished product with the MWW logo branded on the bottom … with a slightly too hot branding iron
With an upcoming wedding in the family, Ruthann asked if I would cut some logs from trees that came down on their property into discs to use as table decorations for the wedding reception. When I learned that the diameter of the larger logs would fit on my bandsaw, I agreed to the project.
With a little trial and error (and one bent bandsaw blade), I found that attaching a carrier board to each log was needed to prevent the log from rolling or twisting under the cutting forces. I also found that the logs still had a high moisture content, so a bit of drying time was needed once the discs were cut to their one inch final thickness.
After cleaning up any loose bark and applying a couple of coats of tung oil, about 35 large and 35 small discs were ready for the celebration.
After one trial cut by hand with a pruning saw …
… it was obvious that the bandsaw was the right tool for this job
The first cut revealed spalting that would add a lot of character to the finished discs
Attaching a carrier board to the uneven surface of each log was going to take a fair amount of time, effort and shims
The shortcut of not attaching a carrier board immediately proved to be unworkable
First few of the larger discs cut, all showing interesting spalting patterns
After just a short while on the workbench, I noticed a lot of moisture wicking out of the cut logs
Three painters points under each disc allowed air circulation on all sides, speeding up the drying process
The moisture meter confirmed what was already apparent … the logs were very green and wet
More large discs cut and drying, along with a crotch section that might be interesting with a little work
Smaller logs of a different species were going to yield discs with bark intact and a beautiful end grain pattern
A bunch of small discs
Small discs on scrap wood shop made drying racks
Hmm … could these logs have been an apple tree??
Some larger logs had to be chainsawn down to a size I could manage on the bandsaw
Using the 8″ jointer, I added a small flattened section to some of the bigger logs, to provide a stable place to attach the carrier boards
Shop overview with this project in full swing … and the ubiquitous cup of shop coffee
All discs cut and on standoffs for some drying time
Small discs drying
A test application of Mahoney’s walnut oil revealed beautiful end grain patterns
Wire brush cleanup of the discs that didn’t hold on to their bark
I decided to switch to sprayed on tung oil to speed up the finishing process
Ruthann came by to help with the finishing
Finished discs drying on the standoffs
Small discs after finishing
Packing the discs up for delivery
Bark, sapwood, heartwood and end grain brought out by a spritz of tung oil
After forty-some years in the family, an unfortunate encounter with the vacuum cleaner left Eddie without his hammer … and without his arm! Our friend Chris and her husband found Eddie on a Caribbean beach on the last day of their honeymoon. Eddie’s creator told them that he used shoe polish as a finish after he had carved Eddie.
The biggest challenge to this type of repair is coming up with a method to clamp the pieces back together while the glue is curing. Several elastic hair bands proved to be the ideal clamping solution for Eddie’s predicament.
Eddie the One-Armed Blacksmith was looking a little sad on the day he arrived in my workshop
Eddie’s hammer … and hand … a really clean fracture with no missing pieces made this repair relatively straightforward
The arm and hammer had two attachment points, one on the arm and one on the shoulder
I used a tiny rasp in the Dremel to add a few grooves it the fracture plane to give the adhesive more “bite”
Grooves on the other side of the repair
The JB Weld 4400 PSI two-part five-minute epoxy is the strongest adhesive I have ever used
Uniform squeeze out indicated a consistent layer of epoxy between the two pieces
Existing lines on Eddie’s arm made the repair joint look like it had always been there
Eddie the Blacksmith was back in business
It might just be me, but I think he looks a lot happier now
Some of the carving details
Eddie’s anvil and tongs, where he might have been making a spoon or a small shovel
Eddie the Blacksmith preparing for his next well-placed hammer strike
