Here is a table that I built about two years ago for just inside the entrance to our living room. It is made of red oak and stands 31″ tall X 34″ wide and 11″ deep. It is finished with a light stain and polyurethane.

The legs are tapered when viewed from the ends. They were tapered this way because of where the table is located the ends are seen when in the living room or either entering the front door or coming down the hall.

Continue reading 'A Red Oak Hall Table'

I just picked up a 1/2″ three-jaw Drill Chuck with Morse Taper Adapter from Lee Valley. It can be used in either the lathe headstock or tailstock for drilling and in the headstock as a turning chuck.

Here it is mounted in the tailstock:

Continue reading 'Drill Chuck And Morse Taper'

1. To draw a line parallel to the edge of a board quickly, set the blade of a combination square to the desired distance. Position the flat side of the square against the edge of the board, and place a pencil at the end of the blade. Pull the square and the pencil toward you to draw the line.

2. To measure the diameter of a round object make a simple gauge with a ruler and two squared pieces of wood. Place the round object between the two blocks of wood and then measure the distances between the two blocks.

3. Wrap a piece of sandpaper around and old deck of playing cards to make a handy contour sander. The deck of cards will shape itself to the contours of the workpiece.

4. An old phonebook makes a great renewable work surface for small painting and gluing projects. Simply tear out the dirty pages to provide a clean work surface.

5. Although tack cloths are fairly inexpensive you can make your own by moistening a lint free cloth with equal parts of turpentine and oil-based varnish. Store homemade tack cloths in an airtight container.

These are just a few tips that I picked up over this past week. They come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newsletters, online and some from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Back to the shop…

Last night I turned a handle for a spindle gouge. The handle is made of maple and 12″ long and it was left unfinished for better gripping. I turned a large bead at the end and a smaller bead at the gouge end to accent the plain, sweeping curve of the tool.

The gouge itself is a 10mm (3/8″) spindle gouge made by Patience & Nicholson (P&N) of Australia. Their turning tools are made of hard-wearing, M2 high-speed steel and valued for their robust construction and ability to hold an edge.

I started with a piece of maple approximately 2″ square and 14″ long and mounted this between centers:

Continue reading 'Turned Spindle Gouge Tool Handle'