Charles Neil in Tucson this Weekend

Woodcraft in Tucson is hosting a woodworking show this Saturday October 15th, 2011.  Charles Neil will be in town at the show then doing a series of classes this weekend.  Classes include "Best of Finishing", "Making the Flame Finial", "Scooping a Chair Seat with Ease", and "Compound Mortise and Tenon Joints Made Easy".

I'll be attending and helping out for all the classes (you know, the gopher!) and would love to see you there.  Living in Chandler, Tucson is just 90ish minutes away and a pretty easy drive... so if you are in Phoenix, make a day trip out of it.  If you want to car pool any of the days, write me at HalfInchShy at gmail dot com (you have to know the spam scanner can figure that out, but just in case...)

Recoveries - Heat Gun and Glue

Back when I was making the dovetailed drawers for my vanity, I did something dumb and one drawer got glued in place crocked. I thought I was going to have to bandsaw the drawer off and go through a lot of scraping (all the while creating new enhanced vocabulary), but a simple heat gun trick took it apart despite the fact that the whole thing was glued up for 2 days.

Here's a short video showing it in action; hopefully you'll file it away in your head and never have to use it.

Sculpted Mahogany Vanity - Reinforcing the Drawer Handles

Back from a great weekend at WIA '11... so glad this video was ready to go!

We shaped the integral drawer handles last episode, but it seems like a good idea to reinforce those rabbet handles to keep the fibers from eventually pulling away... especially on that bottom drawer where I plan on hiding my stash of bowling balls and anvils.

I've used variations on this technique on a number of projects, none of which look like any of the others.  That said, I think you'll find it useful when you need to reinforce something clandestinely.

In the next episode, the drawer fronts get applied and finish applied.  Then all that's left is hanging it up, which is great because I'm tired of having the granite top in the hallway!!  Actually, if you watched the Domino SCG-10 review video, it was to the point of applying the finish in the background.

Domino Self-Centering Guide SCG-10

Awhile ago, I blogged some preview information about the forthcoming Domino Self-Centering Guide SCG-10.  The product has come out and looks very useful.

If you've followed my podcast at all, you've seen me use some third-party narrow-stock spacers that are fitted to the front of the pin-style Domino.  The pin model is harder to find these days so the fast pencil-free registration offered by the spacers hasn't been available for everybody.  The SCG-10 solves that problem.

In this video, I'll show you the product, how it fits to the Festool Domino body, and how to calibrate it easily.  I then do a series of demonstrations to show forming a 90º joint (like a rail/stile joint) using the SCG.  One demonstration shows using the SCG for its centering function and the other emphasizes the equidistant offset provided by the SCG and how you can use that to offset mortises.

The key to a Domino is getting your reference surfaces correct and these demos try to show that briefly.  If you want more detail on reference surfaces, you can catch the fourth episode of my sculpted Mahogany vanity series or you can look at the third video of my four-part Domino review.

The calibration procedure shown in this video isn't the same as the one outlined in the manual. The manual's procedure assumes the center line on the bottom of the Domino base is reasonably accurate.  For my Domino, it is considerably off, but I calibrated my cursor hairs exceptionally well.  The basis of my calibration is to use the cursor hairs to get it done in one try.

I think you'll like this product.  For a pin-based Domino user, it provides more flexibility than the narrow-stock spacers (of which I'm a huge fan), and for the paddle-based Domino user, well, now you can put your pencils down :)



Addendum:

In the comments, someone said that while viewing the last demo, the joint didn't look flush. Admittedly while editing the video (way late at night), I thought, "that looks bad", but I knew I had felt it and it was flush.  Well, that someone else noticed and asked, I went to verify.  Yes, it is flush on the top edge where I glided my finger, but the back had a gap...

The second demo was an impromptu idea while recording so I didn't prepare that stick, as was pretty obvious by the burn on that end of the stick.  In this picture, you can see how there's a visible gap near the back; burn is embarrassingly visible, too.

I cut that board in half, put the SCG-10 back on the Domino, set it to the width of the stock "plus a little" to offset the Domino and replunged.  This is the result.

The outside edge of the frame is very flush.

Here you can better see how flush the side is.  The surface has a small step mostly because the cross piece (one with the Domino 2 pictures ago) is at the limit of what I'll hold to plunge so I don't think I pressed as hard on the top fence as I should; it's minor, but usually I get the surfaces more flush.  Really, don't do pieces this small without using a holder.  :)

Benchcrafted Moxon Vise Kit - Hanging It Up, with a French Cleat

Since my posting on building the Moxon vise using Benchcrafted's Moxon vise kit, I've had a number of questions about the table I put on mine, so I thought to roll a quick video.

If you've watched my project podcasts, you know that this vise has been center-stage for most everything ever since.  Best money I spent in a long time.  The thing is, this is intended to be a temporary vise you put up on a bench, do your work, and put away.

That said, I'll show you how I hang my vise to the side of my assembly table for quick easy storage and fast to take out.  You'll see how I had a  small storage box on the side there before the vise so even if you don't have this vise (com'on, everybody's got a vice... :) that storage box idea might be useful to you.