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Well, I got my first commission, sort of. I mean I was asked to make something for free. A friend wanted something that would cover an outlet in their kitchen. They used the outlet to plug in a number of devices like cell phones and a clock radio. They wanted a box that would allow the cords to come out and they needed to be able to remove the box from time to time. And… they wanted it to match their existing cabinets.

This was great since I have never made anything this small. I have spent my time making large cabinets for computers and tv’s. I also have some great curly maple sitting in my shop begging to become jewelry boxes, so this was a chance to practice. I recently took the plunge and bought a moving fillister from Lee Valley. I got a discount from being at the Woodworking in America conference. I have a Record Rapier plow plane which works great, so the moving fillister was the next big thing. With these two planes I was able to plow the groove for the top panel to sit in and I used the moving fillister to raise the panel.

The first task was to decide on the thickness of the parts. I decided to try and get close to ¼ inch in thickness as I thought anything thicker would make the box to heavy looking. Since the thickness was going to be ¼ inch, I decided dovetails would not be the thing to do. While writing that sentence, I am thinking I could have done dovetails couldn’t I??? Well, anyway, I did mitre joints, on the table saw. I wanted to clean them up on my shooting board but the mitre attachment is not right to hold the work in place. Chris suggested a Donkey’s Ear, I heard Donkey’s Ass, and took it as a reference to my work… Well I got straighten out and will make one soon.

Anyway, here is a picture of the box. I left the bottom of the box open; see pic below. I say bottom when looking at the box mounted on the wall. Not sure if “bottom” is the correct term for this part. Sorry to confuse. It is one side of the piece that is a different width. Now the electric cords can pass through the box onto the counter. I used a French Cleat to hang the box so it can be removed easily. I didn’t spline the mitres, just glue. I did reinforce them with a very small glue block however they were surprisingly strong with just glue.

One last thing. I proudly gave the box to my friend who seemed impressed. He had it with him the next day at work. Yup, I made it a hair to small, so I quickly made another.

– John

Thomas Lie-Nielsen sidled up to me with a drink in his hand, a sportscoat on his back and a sly look across his face.

He opened his green jacket to reveal… a stick.

I repressed my urge to pluck it from his jacket because I stank like a monkey’s armpit after hauling four workbenches all over the campus of Berea College for our Woodworking in America conference.

But Thomas (who raises horses and must be accustomed to large, malodorous hairy things) nodded that it was OK for me to grab the stick. I did. Then I squealed like a little girl.

It was a brass Warrington hammer and looked just like my favorite hammer of all time, the little guy shown at the top of this blog entry. I use the round end of this hammer for adjusting all my planes. A few subtle hammer taps adjust the lateral position of my iron with more accuracy than any lateral-adjust mechanism.

I’ll also use the round end to advance the irons of my planes that don’t have mechanical adjusters. Oh, and I drive small pins with this end, too.

The flat end, called the “cross pane,” is ideal for starting nails. You pinch the nail with your fingers and use the cross pane to sneak through your fingertips to strike the nail’s head. Very handy.

There are probably 100 other uses for this little hammer because I take it with me whenever I travel with my tools.

So here’s the news: Lie-Nielsen Toolworks is going to begin making this hammer in both steel and brass. I don’t have information on pricing or availability, but who cares? I’m getting a set (or two) the minute they come out.

You see, I have a hammer problem. I probably have 20 or more of them, all different. Most of them came into my hands when I wrote about hammers for Woodworking Magazine a few years back, but for some reason I can’t seem to get rid of them.

But the Warrington’s size and weight have made it my favorite shop hammer (followed quickly by my 16-ounce Maydole hammer). And soon – thanks to Lie-Nielsen – you are going to be able to see if you agree with my assessment.

— Christopher Schwarz

All I’m saying about this photo is that I’m glad it’s not scratch ‘n’ sniff.

This is a picture that my wife told me to get or not come home! Nice to have that kind of support. I don’t know how the kids would feel about her statement since my youngest is the only one that has ever said “no mommy, don’t kick daddy out!” Why tempt fate? So I made sure I got the photo.

This picture is of the second night at the Woodworking in America conference. I was un-stressing from the day. My first assignment was to introduce Mr. Michael Dunbar. Yes, that Mr. Dunbar. A person of legend whom I have never met. I hope I didn’t mess it up. On Sunday, I was slotted to introduce Mr. Frank Klausz another legend I have never met. After hearing him answer a question with “because that is stupid!” I was glad I called him “Mr.” Klausz.

One of the great benefits of being Chris’s apprentice is being able to help out and go to these events. WIA was spot-on fantastic. It was hard to pick which seminar to go to. On day two, I was privileged to introduce Brian Boggs. Wow! I had no idea of how much there is know about wood. I sat in awe as he explained things about wood that I had never heard before. Hearing the meticulous way he monitors wood moisture and applies hide glue twice, it is no wonder his chairs don’t come apart. In fact one of the people asked him about joint failure on his chairs, to wit he said with sincere humility, I don’t know because I have never had a chair come back.

I got to hear about 18th century chisels from Adam Cherubini and watch him use his four-foot plus bowsaw. He had to look behind him before sawing so he didn’t take someone out. I watched an attendee from Idaho round the corner and spy Adam. Her mouth opened and her camera came out. I bet that picture was a keeper.

Last but not least is my new international drinking partner, Phil from Phillyplanes in the UK, which reminds me of the only downside to the event. The 8 a.m. starting time.…

— John Hoffman

Years ago, we performed a year-long survey at Popular Woodworking to find out what sort of projects appealed to our readers. We were interested in what furniture styles they liked, but we were also interested in what furniture forms (tables, bookshelves etc.) that they most liked to build.

So in every issue we asked the readers to rate which projects they liked. After a year of data, we were shocked at some of the results.

Here was the wildest finding: Our readers really liked and needed plans for over-the-potty cabinets.

It’s easy to turn your nose up at this pedestrian form of furniture. Heck there’s never been a woodworking book titled “Best Dang Potty-Cabinet Plans” or a juried exhibition of studio furniture makers titled “Fine Cabinetry in the Can: Poetry and Motion.”

But maybe there should be.

One of the first projects I was ever really excited about personally was a potty cabinet. I thought it was a million-dollar idea when I came up with it. It’s a simple but fine-looking wall cabinet with delicate rails and stiles. The real cool thing about it is that the bottom of the cabinet dispenses washrags like a tissue box. And the interior guts of the cabinet are clever – the washrags never come spilling out when you open the door. And it has a cool handmade wooden hinge.

My co-workers still mock that cabinet (which is why it’s never been published), though my wife and kids use it every day. I know I still have the router pattern for the opening in the bottom of the cabinet (that took some doing to figure out). And now that I’m editor….

In any case, last week I finished up a new bathroom cabinet for our master bathroom. This was the last piece of built-in furniture I’d planned on building for our home’s addition, which was a project we started on seven years ago.

Because this project was for me, I was free to design it without worrying about co-workers or readers. So I could add details I liked, such as the divided lights in the door, which are just slightly recessed from the face of the door. And I could snitch details from other projects of mine without looking like a Johnny one-note – the top cap of the cabinet is stolen directly from my tool cabinet at work.

I built the cabinet using offcuts from the shop at work. The best part of the project was finding perfectly quartersawn stock lurking in the knottiest and nastiest board in the shop.

For my family, the best part of the project was that I designed it to hold six (six!) rolls of toilet paper, plus toiletries.

Here’s a TP design tip: Design your cabinet around the 5” dimension. A 5” x 5” x 5” space will do a good job of holding a decent-size roll (no promises on the super-jumbo-mondo rolls of paper).

If you’re interested in a simple construction drawing, you can download a pdf below.

Master_Bath_Cabinet.pdf (15.26 KB)

Maybe there is actually a book on this somewhere. Let me first see what Moxon says about potty cabinets….

— Christopher Schwarz

I have spent almost a year or so using only the Nicholson bench. I am very fortunate to have both the Nicholson and the first bench that Chris made titled “The $175 Bench”. The $175 bench is similar to the Roubo in that the legs are flush with the top which is thick and stiff and there is no apron. I have kept a piece of hardboard on the top of the $175 Bench which turned it into an assembly table.

Some thoughts on the different benches:

Nicholson: First the length of the Nicholson is awesome. In the first picture I have 21 items on it which all fit on the 8 foot top. The ability of a bench this long is that you can move different parts of your project forward at the same time or in my case work many different projects at once and not get any done!

Vises on the Nicholson: These are great. The wagon vise combined with the length of the bench make working the face or edge of board a breeze. I move the dog where I need it and put the other dog in one of the two holes in the wagon vise and I am good. I have also used the apron and leg vise to hold a piece that would have been two tippy in the wagon vise set up. The holes in the apron were perfect for getting the board to the right height.

The leg vise has also been smashing! It has a bit of leather on the inside of the vise and grips like a pit bull on a hobo.It has been a superior means to hold work over the traditional face vise on the $175 bench especially since it is placed on an angle which allows the work to reach the ground without hitting the vise screw.

That said, the one major issue I have experienced with the Nicholson is the inability to use my holdfasts.I am the proud owner of two holdfasts from Phil Koontz. These are perfect and work extremely well. It seems that the thickness of the top does not allow the holdfast to work.I am not sure if another type of holdfast would work or not. Since the Nicholson doesn’t have holes in the top like the other bench, I have tried to work around this with varying degrees of success. The only other complaint I have is that the apron does not allow any clamping to the top and requires me to reach underneath it to push up the bench dogs.I have also noticed that hammering anything is best done over the legs of the bench, whereas anywhere on the top of the $175 bench works fine.

Yesterday I unveiled the $175 bench from underneath its hardboard coffin. I needed to put a card scraper to a thin piece of wood. The ends were mitered and I knew the bench dogs would dent the ends if I squeezed them in the wagon vise. Instead I used a piece of scrap and with a thrill I hammered my holdfast. I did one side then switched it around. This was awesome! I also had the joyous feeling of putting my hands under the top without bending over.That was so nice I felt an urge for a cigarette!

I think I have the perfect setup with the two benches. I am going to keep the Nicholson against the wall which I have found to be an “ok” thing to do. I like the ability to move around a project and have definitely had a time or two where I was in a physically challenging position because of the limitations that were caused by the bench being against the wall. I would like to know if anyone else has been using their bench against a wall and have had problems with this configuration.

-John