I am asked the following question a lot – that usually means I should answer it.
Question: I am building a trestle table based on the one you built. I have a dumb question. I was lucky enough to find 5/4-thick, 18″-wide walnut for $4/bf. I can most likely get a two-board top, but both boards are too wide for my planer. When gluing up the 32″-wide top, should I flatten the face of the boards then glue? Or should I first glue and then flatten?
Answer: There are many ways to do it. Here’s what I do.
1. I scrub/fore plane both faces of the boards so I can see the grain and select the best faces.
2. I select what will be the show face of the boards and decide on their arrangement. I try to get all the grain running in the same direction, but appearance is more important than grain direction.
3. I flatten the show faces, joint the faces and get them ready for smoothing. Then I joint the edges.
4. I glue up the top, taking every precaution to line up the seams on the show faces. I ignore seams on the still-rough underside (except to make sure the seams close up under clamp pressure).
5. After the glue is dry, I fore plane the underside so it is roughly flat — flat enough to sit flat on the table’s base. I leave the traverse marks from the fore. I consider it texture.
6. Then I dress the show face of the top so it looks good. Not flat — just pretty. If I did a good job of lining up my seams, I can start with the smooth plane. If I had a bad glue-up, I start with the jointer set rank, or (shudder) with the fore plane set for a small bite.
With the promotion of Megan Fitzpatrick to editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine, I have been besieged with e-mail about what this means for the future of the magazine.
My response: Do I look like a redhead?
So I decided to ask Megan about her plans for the future editorial content of PWM. Here is an abbreviated transcript of our conversation as she was driving us both to Columbus, Ohio, Saturday morning to speak to the Woodworkers of Central Ohio club.
Chris: So one of my favorite internet comments about your promotion was this: “Great, now it can be a mediocre magazine with a feminine touch.” How does that make you feel?
Megan: Well they are half-right. It’s going to be an excellent magazine with a feminine touch.
Chris: Uh, really? What do you mean by that?
Megan: Our demographic data shows that more than 90 percent of our readers are men. If we can add women to our subscription base, we’ll be expanding the craft, instead of just pandering to the same customers we’ve served for years.
Chris: You’re going to attract female readers to the magazine? How?
Megan: I call my program: “Put a Heart on It.” We’re going to ensure that 20 percent of the projects in the magazine incorporate a cut-out of a heart, a goose or a pineapple (which as we all know is the universal symbol for unbounded hospitality). If this program works, I’m also working on proposals for “Add a Drawer for Doilies” and “Secret Compartments for Feminine Products.”
Chris: You lie.
Megan: No. I’m serious. Chuck Bender’s upcoming William & Mary spice cabinet will have a scrollsawn heart nestled into its tombstone door. Chuck – always a team player – has also agreed to some tole painting on the interior.
Chris: Tole painting?
Megan: You know, small images painted in oil paints using a palette of soft pastels. I think Chuck said some gnomes in Elizabethan outfits could adorn the drawers. Perhaps a gnome with his pants down could be on the inside of the secret drawer behind a Quaker lock.
Chris: Wait. Wait. What do the other editors think of this? Bob Lang? Steve Shanesy? Did you run it by them?
Megan: Au naturellement. Bob has a ponytail. Steve has a beret. They are actually much more in touch with their sensitive sides than you ever allowed them to be. They…
Chris: You are totally making this up.
Megan: I say this without any prevarication.
Chris: Wait. I have to look that word up.
Megan: I also plan to reverse the years and years of the patriarchal, hegemonic craft language you promoted under your term as editor.
Chris: Hege-what?
Megan: “Crafts-man” will be “Craftsperson.” And “brad-point bit” will be gender-neutralized to “pat-point bit.” A drill “chuck” will be called the more gender-neutral “charlie.” “Crotch wood” will be called “Tender wood.” “Cock bead” will be “poultry bead.” “Glue creep” will be “glue Crispin Glover.” And “bastard grain” will be…
Chris: OK. Got it. Any new columns in the works?
Megan: Absolutely. We’re going to have a column called “Nurture and Grow Your Wood” about raising small saplings and using their tender shoots – harvested without killing the tree – to make beautiful necklaces, bracelets and charms. A column called “What Color is Your Wood?” about using color theory to influence your grain selection. I think that Sam Maloof was a winter; that’s clear from his choice of walnut for many chairs. James Krenov – obviously a spring. Look at his olivewood. Many woodworkers have never explored how their own skin tones influence their choices at the lumberyard. Plus, my editor’s letter in every issue will cover must-know hair and makeup tips for looking your best in the shop.
Chris: Indeed.
Megan: I have to say you don’t sound enthused about these proposed changes.
Chris: Naw, lady, I always like a little feathered crotch with my wood.
Megan: That is exactly the problem of which I am speaking.
It turns out that the Dutch Tool Chest I recently finished is a little larger than I needed.
Fully loaded with the tools I take on the road, it still had room for more. And it weighs only 116 pounds. That’s easy for two people to lift, and it is something I can lift with only a grunt or two.
The chest can also take a hard knock – the fully loaded chest tool a spill off the sawhorses today during weigh-in. The tools and chest took the hit with a lot of grace (yay, ductile iron!).
The top bin of the chest is where I’m sure most of you will be looking. The bench planes are separated by 3/8”-thick dividers. The till for the backsaws creates three compartments at the rear of the top bin. The left compartment is for tools you need all the time (pencils, knives, mallet etc.). The other two bins are for tools that might not see action every few minutes (feather files, dovetail markers, extra small drill bits etc.).
On the two shelves below are the rest of the tools – all the moulders and joinery planes, augers, hammer, carving tools, rasps, hand drill, brace and so forth. The delicate tools are protected by tool rolls. The other tools are cushioned by the tool rolls.
I’d rather have every tool have a discrete spot – wouldn’t we all? – but I know that the open architecture will be to my advantage until… whenever.
Also worth noting: Ty Black (my shop assistant) sewed up a canvas cover for the chest. I got that idea from my research into campaign furniture – chests would often have a fitted canvas cover. My cover is designed to protect both the chest and my car from damage.
The hinges are from Lee Valley and are temporary – I’ll replace them when some blacksmith-made ones arrive. I had to install these so the chest could make a trip to Columbus on Saturday morning to talk to the central Ohio woodworkers’ club. If you want to see the chest in person and are a member of the club, please stop by. I’ll have a special guest with me (it’s not Ty – he already has an obligation that day).
Several years ago during a breakfast with some woodworkers, I floated the idea of a workbench for the woodworker without a shop.
In essence, it was going to be like the Hammacher Schlemmer “Gnome Brand” of workbench – a nice piece of furniture that would unfold into a workbench and tool chest. But unlike the Hammacher Schlemmer bench, my design would be a bench that could be used for serious woodwork.
I was already making preliminary drawings. It was going to be a lot of fun to build.
In the end, I didn’t build that bench. Why? One of the woodworkers said the following thing while forking his scrambled eggs:
“Wow. That sounds like a lot to build for an apartment-dweller.”
Bingo. So I changed gears. This bench is that gear. Based on a historical example I’ve spotted in Europe and Australia, this bench will clamp to a sturdy table or countertop and give the woodworker a lot of functionality for something that is only about 32” long.
It will dovetail an 18”-wide case. It will hold almost any piece for tenoning. It will hold many reasonably sized pieces between dogs. It has square bench dogs, a wagon vise and a twin-screw vise that is like no other (details to come).
I made some small changes to the original design – simplifying the mechanism you use to clamp it to a stout surface, strengthening a couple points of the original that had become stressed during the last 50 years. And changing the material to maple – beech is hard to find at lumberyards in Kentucky.
I began the project yesterday and should be almost finished building a pair of these benches by tomorrow. One is for me – for traveling – and the other is for a customer.
More details in the coming days. And if you can wait a few months I’ll have an article on this bench in Popular Woodworking Magazine.
If you want to build a tool chest and you need some dominatrix-style “encouragement” to get it done inside of a week, then listen up.
There are about five spaces open in my tool chest class in August at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. This fantastic little school is located behind a Woodcraft store in Manchester, Ct. Run by furniture-maker Bob Van Dyke, this class attracts the creme de la creme of instructors. (This is code for: I should not be allowed to teach here.)
Take a look at the instructors.
OK? Wow, I know. So if you are ready to slum with me in Manchester, here’s what I can promise you: You will complete your tool chest. You will have some of the best dang pizza on the planet. You will have the opportunity to drink many adult beverages and talk shamelessly with other wood nerds about hand tools and woodworking.
Plus, the wood you use for your chest will be extraordinary. Bob Van Dyke, who runs the school, has the finest taste in wood and grain selection. The last time I taught there I was simply blown away by the stock we all got to work with.
So if you are free the week of Aug. 5-9 of this summer, give it some thought.
You can read more about the class here. You can register here.
