The Tool Gathering Odessy #3: I See No End in Sight!

Have you tried pocket hole joinery? Great way to join wood and you can get the jigs for relatively cheap.

Kreg have some really nice ones – http://www.kregtool.com/

Mine is a cheap Vermont American.

-- The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them

I’ve thought about it, but I’m not a real big fan of it myself. I’m actually looking at trying BeadLock instead. At least until I can get a feel for real mortise and tenon joints.

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

I would go with a wall mount chest. two door, easy to transport and if you keep it open you have a open rack system.

-- Do it right the first time. Becuase fixing it is a wast of time.

Good point Partridge. Sort of the “Best of Both Worlds” type of thing.

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

Hmmm . . . never seen BeadLock before. Interesting.

I use pocket joinery for a lot of my stuff. Now Im trying hand cut dovetails with my 2×4 on Porject X.

-- The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them

Rockler also has a “Pro” jig that is more versatile than the basic set. If you plan on using loose tenons much, it looks like a simpler way to me.

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

Tom:

I’ve got the Beadlock and the router bits to make my own stock. But, let me give you a clue on using it.

You are suppose to draw a line across two boards and then line up the jig to each line and drill the holes. The problem is that when you do that the jig is misaligned. Especially if you are trying to put in aprons etc. One side will be high and the other side will be low. And when its across two ends then the board is not sitting at 90 deg maybe 90.5 or so but enough to make you want to curse and wonder why is this happening.

What is happening is the pencil line is too wide and not accurately enough.

The only way that I’ve found to do it accurately is to use a marking knife to mark the line. I then put the tip of the knife in the mark line and slide the jig up to the back of the knife. When you do that they will align OK.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Great tip Karson! I was planning on using the Beadlock to build a storage bench to serve as my sister-in-law’s hope chest (she’s 10). I definitely don’t want to screw it up, and I would probably have cursed until I was blue in the face if I didn’t know in advance about that tip!

I owe you a big one!

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

So that’s why I said all those bad words at the Beadlock!! thanks. Karson. Tom, there is no hope for you, you are on the slippery slope.

-- Thos. Angle

You could buy another tool and get a Festool Domino cutter. The best of both worlds.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I second the kreg pocket screw as a great starting joinery sytstem. There are still lots of challenges in squaring stock, grooving for panel, glue up, etc, that you will have to deal with in learning woodworking.

I use the kreg for jigs and quick shop projects, window screens, attaching table tops. It is a good product.

A biscuit joiner or bicsuit blade for a joiner or slot cutter is a simple way to do a many starter projects.

I recommend for you the Getting Started in Woodworking series. In particular, Aimme Frasier and Mathew Teague each have great books. The series is excellent. The projects don’t suck, the advice is clear, and there are lots of “skill builder” articles.

Good luck.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Now you need to look at a Dowelmax!

Cheers!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Gary,

I don’t even want to go into how bad I want a Domino. I offered to trade my wife for one…no takers ;)

Gizmodyne,

I’ve already got that series. In fact, all four books are something like 8 inches away from the keyboard right now ;)

Tom,

I’ve looked at the Dowelmax. It’s just the price that keeps me from pulling the trigger on it right now, you know?

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

I got into woodworking heavily about 3 years ago, and I quickly figured out there there are more tools I want than I have time or money enough to ever acquire. :-)

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Nows the time to start using those tools Tom. I know the feeling, can’t resist buying new tools. What a great past time.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Thanks Karson. I’ve had my beadlock set-up for over two years and mostly stopped using it. I couldn’t figure why the guy demoing it could get good alignment and I could not. You just might have fixed my problem.

Actually Grumpy, I’m not in the house with the shop yet, so I have to wait a bit first.

I’m glad that mentioning the BeadLock has helped so many folks! Definitely a good thing :D

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

Tomcat – Sounds like you need a better wife :-)

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Nah…she’s doing good so far. She actually sounded a bit disappointed when I mentioned I didn’t have any packages waiting for me when I got home ;)

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!