I have been channeling my inner David Marks recently, by making routing templates from MDF. They aren’t anything special, just 1/2″ MDF that I rough cut with the jig saw, and then sanded fare with flexible sanding sticks. I have one template left to make, and that’s the one for the “racks”, and it’s going to be the hardest, because it doesn’t have a single strait surface on it. Check in next time to see how i did.
3 of the 4 templates I need
Two of the template are so small, they need a jig to hold them.
My next project is for the kitchen, and will be my first project that incorporates lots of curves, and mortise & tenons. That’s right, I have yet to make anything that uses mortise & tenon joinery. My design is based on a photo I found on woodstore.net. My design will be a little more complicated to make, but I think it’s more aesthetically pleasing. I’m going to use Peruvian Walnut for the vertical boards, but I’m not sure what wood I’m going to use for horizontal boards. Right now, I’m considering either Purpleheart or hard Maple.
Image courtesy woodstore.net
SketchUp Rendering
So what do you do when you when you have a project that requires mortises and pattern routing in a splintery wood? You buy yourself some solid carbide joy. Seriously, spiral bits do an excellent job at taming chip out, they work just like a helical cutting head in a planer or jointer. They attack the wood with a shearing action, so they remove material quietly & gently.
I don’t have much to say in this post, but I do have a lot to show. Last time I showed the jigs I use to make picture frames, This times I have some frames to show. Over the last couple of weeks, I have made the two frames pictured below, They where both made using simple router bits, and wood left over from other projects. The first one is made from Honduran Mahogany, with miters reinforced with Mahogany keys. The second frame is made of Jatoba, one of my favorite woods. It’s miters are reinforced with Jatoba keys.
Honduran Mahogany frame
A simple profile
keyed miters
beautiful grain
more awesome grain
A Jatoba frame, I love the color of Jatoba finished with oil.
I’ve been to busy with work lately to get much time in the shop, but now that things are starting to settle, I plan on getting some serious shop time in. I have a lot of projects planed for this summer, and the first one is to make picture frames for some posters I bought this spring. I’ve been avoiding picture frames for a long time, because they usually involve miters. In my opinion miters are one of the most difficult joints in woodworking, because small errors are very visible. After some research, I have decided to use the following jigs to get perfect miters. Continue Reading…
