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.

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.

Woodworking is all about taking a raw material and creating something new, especially in different shapes and sizes. As woodworkers, we spend a lot of time shaping wood by removing what’s not needed.

But, many projects are created by moving the wood into shape. Bending wood is almost a craft unto itself. Water is often used as a way to do this, either via steam or by simply soaking the wood to weaken the fibers and then secure the wood to a form. Another method is laminating thin strips and clamping them to forms and jigs.

Another method is kerf bending, and it’s a method we’ve used on a couple of Woodworkers projects. Check out the Demilune project, and the Art Deco Vanity Dresser. Both incorporate this technique to create curved fronts for these projects.

It’s a relatively simple process. You are doing nothing more than making a series of cuts that are the width of a saw blade (kerf). Do this across a span on a piece of plywood stock and you have created flexibility.

Now there are a couple of rules. One, you must make the cuts deep enough, but not too deep. In a 3/4-inch sheet of plywood you can slightly cut into the last ply before the veneer ply.

Two, you need to space the cuts properly. About 1/8-inch apart works well.

Three, you can’t bend the plywood too much without taking additional measures. What does this mean? Look at the two projects mentioned above. With the Art Deco Vanity Dresser we‘re doing a very tight bend, so we first remove about 1/3 of the thickness of the wood in the area we’re bending using a dado blade. Doing this keeps the back of the remaining sections of plywood in the bending area from touching each other as the stock is flexed. If those sections were to touch there would be too much force placed on the remaining ply in the kerf cut areas, resulting in visible lines or cracks in the wood.

Four, you need to secure the stock to a form. With the Demilune we’ve created a substructure for the apron and with the dresser we attach the cabinet waterfalls to cleats.

Follow these tips to make successful kerf cuts:

• Make several test cuts first. Practice on scrap plywood to test your technique and get a feel for making these cuts.


• Use your miter fence or a crosscut sled. Go here for a miter gauge fence extension project, and here for plans for a crosscut sled.


• Do not use your rip fence as a guide.


• Handle the stock with care. The plywood isn’t as strong after you’ve made the cuts so you’ll need to carefully move the part. Carry it with the cut side down and don’t bend the stock the opposite way you intend to bend it. You could split the remaining ply.

Use the Right Glue

Like a saw blade or a chisel, adhesives are tools, so the “right” one often depends on the circumstances or materials involved. Still, there are some basic guidelines that apply. Let’s look at glue for outdoor woodworking projects.

First, don’t rely on conventional white (polyvinyl acetate, or PVA) or yellow (aliphatic resin) woodworking glues that aren’t specifically labeled as “weatherproof,’ “waterproof,” or otherwise intended for exterior use.

It’s unlikely that your projects will ever experience stresses as extreme as the test procedures used to rate exterior glues, which can involve repeated cycles of water saturation, boiling, and oven-drying. But these tests help define useful labeling standards. For example, a Type II adhesive such as Titebond II Premium is considered a “weatherproof” glue appropriate for outdoor furniture and similar projects but not for load-bearing structural applications such as large glue laminated beams.

Titebond III Ultimate is labeled “waterproof” because it has passed more stringent requirements for a Type I rating, though it too is not recommended for load-bearing structural assemblies or for below-the-waterline marine use or other submerged applications.

Polyurethane glue adds a little more versatility because it is a waterproof woodworking glue that also bonds non-porous materials such as metal and plastics, so if your projects feature mixed materials this is a good option.

For extreme applications or load-bearing structural use, you would probably have to rely on specialized two-part industrial adhesives such as phenol resorcinol or various epoxies, which require mixing and sometimes careful handling because of their strength and toxicity.

Dust Diligence

The bane of all woodworkers is sawdust. Some revel in its mass and have pride in the mess at their feet, thinking "Look at what I've done!" While it is impressive to see those massive piles, it is quite dangerous. Piling up on your shop floor, it can cause you to slip or trip. Piling up on your workbench, it can cause you to err in assembly. Piling up in your tools, it can be hazardous.

One area that is often neglected is the inside of a table saw. On a contractors saw the sawdust collects (if I don't hook up a vacuum) in the body of the saw. Yes, you should have the vacuum ported to the saw, but it's easy to forget, especially if you move the saw around your shop quite a bit.

Woodworkers always kick themselves when they think about the sawdust piling up in there, especially when they open the back panel and see what's going on. You could almost pick out the projects you've done by identifying the layers of sawdust!

It's funny on the surface, but really a serious issue. Looking at the inside of the saw, there are so many things that can be affected. Take the gears for the angle adjustment of the blade, for example. Sawdust piling up in those can make it difficult to tilt the blade. No matter what the effect, it's just plain messy.

What can you do? In addition to connecting a vacuum or dust collection system to your tools, try to clean up as you go. At each stage of a project, take stock and clean up the dust, chips, and cutoffs. For example, when you're done ripping a set of boards, go ahead and clear off the top of your table saw, and clean up anything on the floor. Piles of sawdust on a shop floor tend to make your footing a bit slick, so it's a safety thing in addition to being tidy. Plus, you don't have to worry about it later.

If you're freehand routing, clamp the end of your vacuum near the work piece and run the vacuum while you're working. It won't take care of all the dust and pieces generated while routing, but it will keep some of the particles down. Then you can just use the vacuum to gather up the remaining particles when you're done routing.

You can also use a box fan set up next to your workbench when you're sanding to draft the sawdust away. Tape a furnace filter to the fan and you've got a makeshift dust collection fan.

Hanging with Cleats

Used frequently for kitchen and shop cabinets, a French cleat is an easy, yet strong way to hang large items on the wall. We've used it several times for varying projects, including headboards, a window cornice, a TV cabinet, and a window box.

This type of cleat consists of two parts, each with a 45-degree bevel cut along the length of an edge. It's a snap to create on a table saw; simply rip a board near its center at 45 degrees. One half of the board will be attached to the wall, the other half either is used as the back rail of the roject, or is attached to the back of the project.

If it isn't used as the back rail, you'll need to attach an offset board the same thickness as the cleat near the bottom of the project, as is the case with the headboards mentioned above.

Positioning the cleats is key, and confuses some people. For the cleat attached to the wall, position the narrow face of the cleat against the wall. The thin edge (point) of the bevel should be away from the wall facing up. This creates a pocket for the beveled edge of the project cleat or back rail. For the project cleat or back rail, position the narrow face of the cleat against the back of the project with the thin edge of the bevel away from the back of the project and facing down. Think of the two cleats as puzzle pieces designed to fit together.

Attach the wall cleat to the wall using appropriate fasteners for your wall type and use a level to make sure the cleat is aligned properly. On a typical wall with drywall and wood framing, attach the cleat to the wall studs using wood screws. For example, on a cleat cut from a 1x board (3/4-inch thick) and 5/8-inch think drywall, use a 3-inch wood screw. You can countersink the screws as well.

The project cleat or back rail needs to be securely attached to the project as well. We use a couple of methods on the projects above, but generally glue and screws.

You can then place the project on the wall cleat, making sure the project cleat is fully seated into the wall cleat.