Using Spacers in Project Assembly

Often in projects you’ll see identical parts needing to be positioned an equal distance apart. You can drive yourself crazy measuring and marking reference lines to place these parts, or you can save some sanity, and a lot of time, by creating a spacer.

For the Shop Class Garden Bench project, we designed the back as a series of 1x2 rails and stiles. Instead of a series of half-lap joints, the stiles are spaced 1 1/2-inches apart to accommodate the rails. To make this easier, we created a spacer jig from a 1x2 that simply butts up against the stock. It’s shaped like a “T” and was made square by using a speed square as a guide, and is simply glued and nailed together.

Later in the project, we attach seat slats that needed to be 1/4-apart. No need to make a jig for this - you can either use a piece of 1/4-inch thick stock, or rip a piece of scrap to 1/4-inch. You can cut spacers as you need them, or do as many woodworkers do, and keep a series of spacers around. Many times you'll have leftover scraps from ripping boards. Instead of tossing these in the firewood pile, keep them in a special stack.

I like to keep a lot of these around, especially after I've ripped 8-foot long boards. For example, a lot of projects call for 2-inch wide boards. After ripping a 1x3 down, I'm left with a 3/8- x 3/4-inch strip. I keep this at 8-feet, waiting until I need the spacer and cutting it to the length I need. If I’ve ripped a 1x3 to 2 1/4-inches, then I’m left with a 1/4- x 3/4-inch strip. You may have varying widths depending on the kerf of your saw blade, so be sure to double check the measurements of this scrap before you use them.

You can also use spacers as stop blocks during awkward assembly. Simply clamp them in place or temporarily tack them to a project part.

Accurate and Safe Miters on the Table Saw

By Bill LaHay

The table saw is probably the most versatile machine in any woodworking shop, but that’s not to say it does everything really well. Crosscutting lumber, especially long boards, can sometimes be a difficult balancing act. Things get even tougher when making angled or miter cuts because the workpiece will tend to shift under the pressure of the cut.

The standard miter gauge on most table saws is part of the problem; it has a smooth metal face that isn’t long enough to support the workpiece adequately through angled cuts. Fortunately, you can improve the situation with just a few shop-built accessories.

First, mill a straight piece of hardwood such as maple or oak, at least 2 or 3 inches wide, and attach it to the face of your miter gauge. (The gauge face will have holes already provided for screws.) Let this wood auxiliary fence extend past the blade, then set the miter gauge for the angle required and make a cut to trim the wood fence to length. This will give you a precise end with which you can align your workpieces.

For even better results, you can modify the auxiliary fence by gluing a strip of sandpaper to the face, and/or by adding a stop-block feature that will prevent boards from shifting while they are being cut. The photo above shows an example of this.

An even more versatile accessory is a miter sled, a wood platform with runners that slide in the miter slots of the table saw. Make the base from quality plywood or medium-density fiberboard so it will stay flat, and use hardwood strips for the runners on the underside. The runners should fit in the table slots with no side play. Attach front and rear wood rails (on edge) to the upper side of the base, making sure they are heavy and tall enough to stay intact when you cut through the plywood. (Be sure to keep any screws, nails, or other metal hardware out of the path of the saw blade.)

At this point, you’ve got a crosscut sled for cutting board ends square. Turn the saw on and raise the blade just high enough to cut through the plywood base and a workpiece, then move the sled into the blade to make the first cut. For miter cuts, screw removable wood cleats to the sled base at 45 degrees (or whatever angle you need). Using cleats on both the right and left side of the blade will make the jig more versatile. Keep in mind, however, that perfectly square corners are virtually nonexistent in a house, so if you are cutting trim moldings, adjust the angles to get the fit tight, whether or not your cuts are a true 45 degrees.

Aside from these useful jigs, there are a few other tips for getting good miter cuts:

• Cut twice, first to make a through-cut within about 1/16” of the finished length, then a light trim cut for the final pass.


• Install the right blade: a crosscut blade with 60 or more carbide teeth and a full-width (typically 1/8”) kerf. Thin-kerf blades tend to flex more under side loads such as miter cuts and so can leave an irregular surface.


• If your saw still won’t produce clean miter cuts, use a manual (guillotine-style) miter trimmer or a stationary disc sander to clean up the ends. Be sure to allow extra length on the workpiece for this trimming.
  
  

Shop Tip. You can modify a miter sled to make it even more accurate. Instead of individual wood cleats for angles on the right and left side, mount a right (isosceles) plywood triangle on the sled. Align the long edge of the triangle against the rear rail, and have the 90-degree point aiming forward, centered on the saw blade. Then cut mating workpieces by positioning one on the left side and one on the right side. The advantage here is that even if the jig is off slightly, cutting from both sides will compensate for the error. The two miter cuts might be 44 and 46 degrees respectively, but they will still form a perfect 90-degree corner when assembled.

Wood Conditioners

By Bill LaHay

Wood conditioners provide a partial sealer coat on the wood surface so that stains penetrate more evenly and yield a more uniform color or appearance.

Why are they necessary? Basically, because wood is an inconsistent material. Two boards from the same tree, or two sections of the same board, can vary in porosity, color, and density — all of which will affect how the wood reacts when a stain is applied. Pine, fir, spruce, alder, birch, and maple are among the light-colored wood species that are prone to this uneven coloring, sometimes called splotching.

Wood conditioners are essentially thinned varnishes that fill some of the tiny pores and crevices between the wood fibers. These spaces are where the color pigments collect when a stain is applied, and they are not distributed evenly throughout the board’s surface.

As a result, areas with more porosity collect more pigment and thus take on a darker, more intense color. Also, areas where the wood fibers change direction tend to be more porous and absorbent.

When a wood conditioner is applied, the varnish solids settle into the wood pores and partially fill them, preventing excess amounts of stain pigment from gathering there later in the finishing process. Manufacturers and even wood finishing experts differ in their guidelines for how long you should wait to stain after using a wood conditioner, but as a rule, allowing the conditioner to dry or cure overnight will make it more effective. If you apply stain while the conditioner is still wet, the pigment is more likely to blend into or even penetrate the sealer coat. The photo to the right shows one solid board with half stained using a conditioner (left), and half stained without a conditioner (right).

If you can’t use a wood conditioner on your project or want even more control over the wood tone and color, you can use a gel stain, which due to its thicker consistency won’t allow the pigment to settle into the wood pores so readily.

By blocking pigment penetration, the use of a wood conditioner means the stained wood will not only appear more uniform but also lighter in color. As with any finishing technique, practice on some project cutoffs or scrap wood of the same species and similar density. Also, be aware that a hardwood-veneer plywood face will stain lighter than any solid wood trim you might apply along the edges, because the glue line behind the veneer will block pigment penetration. To compensate, you might have to apply a wood conditioner to just the solid wood edging.

Finding the Center of a Circle

Several projects for Lowe's Creative Ideas for Woodworkers have called for round edge-glued panels, such as this Child’s Nightstand project. For proper positioning, it's important to find the center of the circle.

On a square piece it’s quite easy – just mark a line from across opposing corners or center points on the edges – the intersection of these lines will be the center.

There are a dozen ways to do this, but we've found the following steps to be about the easiest and fastest way to find the center of a circle.

1. Position a framing square a few inches away from one edge of the circle, and use the square as a guide to mark a line across the width of the circle.


2. At the points where this line meets the edge of the circle, draw perpendicular lines using that extend across the width of the circle.


3. Beginning where the perpendicular lines meet the first line you marked, mark two diagonal lines that extend across the circle and meet the ends of the lines you marked in step 2.

As is the case with a square work piece, the intersection of these diagonal lines marks the circles’ center.