Computer desk
It has been estimated that within the next few years 50 of homes and nearly all small businesses will have at least one computer. This desk has been designed so that it is ideal for computer use as well as for writing letters, doing homework and household accounts, and many other aspects of home office use. When planning a desk, the height from the floor and the height of the desk top in relationship to the height of the seat must be considered for the comfort of the user, particularly if it...
Dowel Jig
A jig combined with a power drill, this tool provides an accurate method of making dowel holes both quickly and reliably. A small amount of time will be spent in setting up, but once this has been done accurate joints are guaranteed. Jigs that can be used for both ' tin 6mm and 3 sin 9mm dowelling are available. For some jigs it is possible to obtain extra-length rails that facilitate making the long rows of holes required for jointing boards edge to edge. For a number of years I obtained...
Headboard Frame
1 Cut the wood for the two upright posts to size and plane all faces square. Using a router with a 3 8in 10mm core-box cutter, form the three ornamental flutes on the face of each post see Fig 10.3 and then clean up with glasspaper wrapped around a piece of 3 sin 9mm dowel see Fig 10.4 . 2 Cut the top and lower rails to length and mark the long, smooth curve on the top of the top rail. To draw this use a piece of flexible plywood about the same length as the rails. Hold it near the top of the...
TOP Oxr
1 A wide board is required for the top of the cabinet, but this time it is not made from tongue and groove board because the tongue and groove would be visible on the end grain of the top. Instead, join a number of planks using dowelled edge-to- Make the second cut in the same way. Plinth construction and cutting the mouldings. Make the second cut in the same way. Plinth construction and cutting the mouldings. edge joints see page 21 to make a slightly oversize board. When assembled, cut it to...
ASSEMBLY AND FINISHING Dgj
1 Fix the top to the carcass with four long screws. As the screws are fixed into the end grain of the top, which is not as secure as fixing them across the grain, the extra length will compensate for any weakness. The top was not fixed in place earlier because it is easier to get the extending shelf and the drawer to fit correctly if the top of the carcass is open. 2 Fix the four castors two of which lock into position to the base of the legs with screws. 3 Apply three coats of cleat matt...
ASSEMBLY AND FINISHING Gdw
1 To position the drawer runners, invert the desk and hold the runners in place in the drawer. Put the inverted drawer with runners in place on the inverted desk and mark the position where the screws will go by pushing a bradawl through the holes in the runners. Fix the runners in place with,, screws. There are no handles to facilitate opening and closing the drawer - it is simply pulled by hooking your fingers under the front edge. 2 Finish the entire desk with three coats of clear matt...
Barefaced Housing Joint
Used for joining the corners of any box structure and occasionally for fitting shelves, this joint is simple to make using hand or power tools. When a carcass has to be made simply and quickly, and strength or decoration are not the overriding considerations, this is an acceptable method to use. A rebating plane will cut the shoulders accurately, while the rebate housing can be cut with a tenon saw and chisel after first scoring it across the grain with a knife. A router with a straight bit...
Dowelled Joint
Using a jig, a dowelled joint is an accurate, quickly made alternative to a mortise and tenon joint, although not quite as strong. To ensure that the post is not weakened when the dowel holes meet in the centre, it is a good idea to stagger the holes. This makes setting up the jig a slightly longer procedure, but enhances the strength of the joint. Apart from this minor variation, the method for making this dowelled joint is the same as for any other. Dowelled joint for rail and post...
Halving Joint
Halving joints are used in frame construction where simplicity rather than optimum strength is the prime consideration. Wherever an easy method of uniting two rails or batons anywhere along their length is required, these are a practical option. 1 Lay one rail on top of the other at 90 and draw a line on both sides of it. Use a try square to make sure these lines are square, and then project them around all four sides. On the edge, use a marking gauge to find the centre and then scribe a line...
Tongue And Groove Joint
If the size of boards required corresponds to the standard sizes available in your DIY store, planks that have the tongue and groove cut in them from stock are a useful and a quick way of making up wide boards. Standard sizes of x 5in 18 x 127mm and x 6in 18 x 152mm are widely available and usually sold for floorboarding. Some are also available at 3 sin 9mm thick and are sold as cladding. The tongue is shorter than the depth of the groove so that the joint will not have a gap when the two...
Carcass
To simplify the construction nearly all the carcass pieces are joined using dowels see Figs 9.5 and 9.6 see also page 19 . 1 Start by cutting the four legs A to the correct length, from planed 2 x 2in 50 x 50mm pine. Cut out the deep back rail B , the deep side rail D and the shallow side rail C and, using a jig, make dowelled joints to fit these to the legs. Cut out the long front and short side top rails G and E and form dowelled joints on the ends of these also. Where these two rails fit...
Mortise And Tenon Joint
Mortise and tenon is a traditional joint that has been used for centuries and can be seen in medieval houses, usually employing pegs or tusks. The tenons are not usually very long 4in 102mm is the maximum length for furniture. There are many variations of this joint for different applications. Tusked tenons are used when the furniture is knocked down i.e., can be taken apart for storage or sometimes for decoration often they are reinforced with pegs for strength. A 'stub' or 'stopped' mortise...
Dowelled Corner Joint
Dowelled joints were originally invented for the mass-production furniture industry. Because making some joints in the traditional way is labour intensive and does not lend itself well to mass-production techniques, dowels are more cost effective. By far the easiest way to make a dowelled joint is with a jig which, with care, will make an accurate, well-fitting joint. Effectively, it is a butt joint reinforced with hardwood pegs. The dowels can be made by cutting them from a length of...
Types Of Pine
Trees are divided into two groups deciduous and evergreen including coniferous trees . The former shed their leaves in winter while the latter do not. Coniferous trees are also categorized as 'softwood'. This refers to a botanical classifi Warping tendencies of planks cut from different aged trees. _____ Extreme growth ring pattern in plank. Minimal growth ring pattern in plank. cation rather than the working properties of the timber, as some softwoods, for example yew, are harder than some...
Corner Bridle Joint
A corner bridle joint is similar to a mortise and tenon and is used to join two rails at the corner. It has all the strength associated with this type of joint, which is derived from the large glued area. The tenon is generally one-third of the thickness of the wood being joined. 1 Lay one rail on top of the other at 90 and mark the width of the top rail on the lower one. Use a try square to extend this mark, and project it around all four sides. On the edges, use a mortise gauge to scribe...
Through Housing Joint
Through housing joints are used mainly for fixing shelves and partitions into cabinets. When used for shelves, as in the projects in this book, they require a housing to be cut into the uprights. This can be done with hand or power tools. Unless glued securely, the simpler versions of the through housing joint do not have much mechanical strength. If the joint is used for a long shelf, which carries a lot of weight but is not supported in the middle, the shelf can be pulled from its housing...
Dowelled Edgetoedge Joint
The planks for this joint are prepared in the same way as for the simple edge-to-edge joints, and the dowels are added to assist in keeping the boards in line when they are clamped. As the dowels do not add to the gluing area, this joint is probably no stronger than the simple edge-to-edge joint. A dowelled joint is simple to make with a jig, but can be very difficult to put together accurately without one, as it is not easy to get the holes to line up. If a jig is not available, a small and...
About the author
Since giving up his day job in the electronics pre-press industry, Dave Mackenzie now divides his time between lecturing - on graphic design, DTP and magazine journalism -and woodworking. This is his first book, following a couple of hundred magazine articles on woodworking and DIY published over the last 20 years. These articles range from furniture design to kite making and much else in between. Dave Mackenzie is married with two children and enjoys painting, walking and twitching.
Screws And Pins
Where appropriate, screws and pins are used in constructing the projects. A small selection of screw sizes is adequate and most requirements will be covered by lin 25mm , l in 32mm , and l' 2in 38mm No 8 steel wood screws. For fixing the backs into cupboards or the bottoms on to drawers, I usually use glue and panel pins or a stapler. The pins come in a variety of sizes, but 2in 13mm and lin 25mm will suffice for most projects. If the pins are used in a position that can be seen, I punch the...
Strengthening The Headboard
When a headboard is being used, it is frequently leant against when the occupant is reading in bed or drinking a beverage. It is important that the headboard is strong enough to be used in this way. 1 To strengthen the headboard, fix two battens to the back with screws and glue. The lower end of these battens also strengthens the sides of the slots in which the bolts, fitted to the bed, are held see Fig 10.2 . 2 The position of the slots depends on the arrangement of these bolts on the bed....
Pine Furniture Projects
Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd First published 1997 by Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd, 166 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1XU Dave Mackenzie 1997 Reprinted 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002 ISBN 1 86108 035 2 Photography Dave Mackenzie, except photographs on pages 28, 29, 30, 37, 50, 57, 66, 72, 81, 90, 95, 102, 107, and 114, by Ray Highnam Illustrations Dave Mackenzie The right of Dave Mackenzie to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with...