For a recent woodturning project I required a spindle steady rest. I couldn’t find anything locally that would fit my lathe and the ones I found for sale elsewhere were lathe specific or way above what I was willing to pay so I decided to build my own. Boy, was I glad that I did because it was really easy to do!

A spindle steady is used to steady a long spindle while turning. The smaller the diameter and the longer the spindle is the more likely it is to vibrate and ‘whip’ back and forth, making it pretty much impossible to turn. The spindle steady, using clamping pressure with a series of wheels, tames this erratic motion allowing you to turn your piece as normal. Basically it minimizes the distance of support on your workpiece.

Making your own steady rest is rather straight forward and easily finished in a day, though an afternoon and a few hours the following morning is preferred since this will give time for the glued pieces to dry.

Here’s how I built mine:

Continue reading 'How To Make A Spindle Steady Rest'

Well, I couldn’t ignore it any longer. I had to make a new zero clearance insert, or throat plate as it is also called, for my table saw. My old one was worn so bad that it no longer offered the safety and esthetic benefits that a zero clearance insert offers.

If you are not aware, a zero clearance insert’s saw blade opening is cut to the exact width of the saw blade’s kerf. This helps prevent thin slices of wood from jamming in between the blade and the insert, as well as helps to reduce the amount of tear-out that can happen with the stock insert that comes with your table saw.

Being able to cut thin strips of wood safely and minimizing tear-out are enough reasons to install one of these throat plates on your saw. While I use the term, ‘minimizing’ in reference to tear-out this is only to err on the positive side of a statement. My own experience has shown that tear-out is virtually eliminated.

You may wonder why a zero clearance throat plate isn’t a stock item on your table saw but this is because a wider opening is required for different blade angle cuts, and since a zero clearance insert is not required for most general construction use the added cost for including an additional throat plate would be cost prohibitive.

But this is really no problem because making your own zero clearance throat plate/insert is such a simple process that you’ll be surprised that you didn’t make one sooner. Let me tell you how I made mine:

Continue reading 'How To Make A Zero Clearance Insert'

I recently made my own beeswax finish that incorporated beeswax and mineral oil.

This was a very straight forward process that created a quality product at a very, very low cost.

I purchased the mineral oil at the grocery store in the pharmacy section and I got the beeswax from a local honey maker. The total cost for both was under $3.00 giving a cost per ounce at roughly .24 cents. This is 1/10 of the cost for similar commercial products!

The recipe that I used is simple and it took less than 15 minutes to make it.

Here’s the recipe that I used:

Continue reading 'A Beautiful Beeswax Finish For Cheap'

In addition to the Crosscut Sleds I also had to make a jig to cut the slots for the splines on the Maple And Padauk Box that I made. This is basically a cradle that holds your workpiece at a 45 degree angle to the tablesaw blade.

This was pretty simple and quick to build. It is just two pieces of 1″ X 4″ cut with 45 degree ends and then screwed to a piece of plywood so that two ends meet and are level with the bottom of the plywood.

To use it’s just a matter of setting your tablesaw fence to the depth that you want the slot cut and then cradle your workpiece in the jig and run it through the saw while keeping the back of the jig against the fence.

You can use this jig to put splines in boxes and picture frames.

Back to the shop…