Exciting Opportunities

It was 1992, my second semester as a freshman, when I was able to set foot into the time honored high school wood shop class. The room was nestled over the metal shop and auto body shop in the back of the school. It was a hidden treasure. Hidden from the rest of the school, it was separated by an auditorium that could host 1,500 or more students, and the only reasonable way to get to the class, was by following the long path of a decadent hallway. It was located off the beaten path so to speak.

Two large, red, almost burgundy heavy steel doors, gated the entrance on the west side of the room. It greeted students to the treasures inside. The room was very large and the floor laden with wood flooring. The south side, right side of the room, had cabinets storing block planes, wooden mallets, hand saws, chisels, etc. The east side, or back of the room, had huge industrial looking aluminum windows that allowed the sun to glisten off of the varnished floors.

A few large lathes with metal guards rested near the N.E. corner of the class. The west wall had a door to the finishing room. The room contained the shop’s dust collector and air guns for finish spraying. The rest of the class was filled with two heavy duty table saws, a large gear driven planer, two jointers, router stations, and many wood working benches, etc. This place contained exciting potential.

Mr. W. was the teacher that semester. He had been an industrial educator for many moons but this year would provide to be his last; at our school anyway. Before he was fired, our exposure to woodworking equipment was limited to dull, kludgey block planes and old hand saws. Using these tools was a right-of-passage before being allowed to use the power tools. It was boring. The lackluster tools made it so. We couldn’t wait to cut square boards with the table saw. That was suppose to be the next step after we received our safety training. It’s interesting how things can quickly change.

The day that almost ruined my woodworking passion, was the day that Mr. W. kicked another student in the groin. That was the beginning of woodworking hopelessness. It happened earlier in the day—In the hallway. Apparently, a student grabbed him on the shoulder from behind, and Mr. W. turned around, and kicked the student in the jewels. That was the rumor anyway. I’ve never known the true story because it was never revealed to us by the educational staff.

If the story is true, my guess is that the student partly deserved it. That might sound un-politically correct these days, but I went to a school where many of the students’ traits weren’t much different than the block planes we were using. I find it hard to believe that a respected teacher with 20 years or so experience would frivolously jeopardize his career. I think it was self defense. He was gone nevertheless.

At this point, getting access to the power tools was about as hopeless as trying to smell a fart in a hurricane. Those dreams flew right out the window after that incident.

Tragic Disappointment

The rest of the semester that followed was tragically boring. There were very few substitute teachers in the district certified to teach industrial education. Therefore, we could not use the power tools. Everyday involved reading woodworking textbooks and submitting assignments. Sometimes we received a break by watching a video of someone else working with wood which was probably calculated torture derived by the mind of our substitute teacher. The tools just sat there begging for us to use them.

In protest, a paper airplane was thrown at the sub while his back was turned towards the class. That’s right, it was me! I admit it. I couldn’t take it anymore. Luckily for him, and especially for me, he dropped something while the paper protest was in flight. In the nick of time, he bent over to pick up the dropped item, and the paper airplane flew right over his back barely missing him; site unseen. The students giggled. He peered at us with a dumbfounded look. In all honesty, this behavior wasn’t like me; I was just overtaken by boredom.

That semester ended with summer break coming upon us. I signed up for wood shop again, for the following school year, in hopes that our school would’ve hired a new instructor. Not so. Another disappointing semester going through the same workbooks and videos ensued. I think I could’ve had more fun playing with led balloons. It wasn’t until 1993, my second semester as a sophomore, that the school hired a new instructor—Mr. H.

New Beginnings

What a blessing he became after that Christmas Break. He already had plans for us. We were going to build a night stand with a raised panel drawer and door. As the project progressed, he would give us new safety lessons on the tool that we were about to use. Table saw first. Miter Saw Second. Router Third. Jointer somewhere in between. That semester turned my woodworking experience 180 degrees in the proper direction.

I remember vividly working on the raised panel face for my top drawer. I was meticulous. I made sure that any checks from the router blade were filled with wood putty. I sanded it smooth. I remembered every minute detail of the face. I inscribed my name very hard on the back of the panel, with number 2 pencil, prior to attaching it to the drawer. I even wrote my name on the drawer itself. It looked good. Professional even.

The next day I returned to class only to find that all of the night stands had been moved to make more room in the class. I was to begin working on the raised panel door but needed to find my nightstand before proceeding so that I could obtain measurements. I finally found my night stand but my heart skipped a beat. The drawer was gone leaving a dark empty hole in my work. I asked Mr. H. what might have happened to it. He didn’t know of course, but told me to look for it because it may have been misplaced during the move.

I scoured the room. All of the orphaned drawers did not have the characteristics of my hard work. I was utterly disappointed to say the least. I did not want to make another panel. It occurred to me that someone may have put my drawer in the wrong night stand or even worse, someone may have claimed it as their own.

I looked at almost every drawer attached to every nightstand worried that I wouldn’t find it, but I found one that looked like mine. It had all of the characteristics of the router checks that I had fixed with putty. It fit inside my night stand as well; although, it had someone else’s name on it. By this time I was furious that someone thieved my drawer and sanded my name off of it. But to be sure, I looked at all of the drawers two more times. Yep, that one was mine. I told Mr. H. about the situation. He asked me questions to verify my confidence. I told him that if we separate the panel from the drawer, I was confident that my name was written on back of the face panel. We did, and it was! Thank goodness!

I didn’t know the student who stole my drawer and it was probably best for both of us. He had wood shop in a different period and Mr. H. handled it anyway. I had hoped the school suspended him but I doubted it. It didn’t matter so much now as I was able to proceed.

I finished the door and then the top, stained the finish piece with Minwax Golden Oak and finished it with three coats of Deft semi-gloss polyurethane. The top of the night stand also has special significance because I made it using oak that came from old bleacher seats from the auditorium. I don’t know their actual dates or ages—I wish I did. They were tongue and grooved and still had the old finish on them. Since they were stained a different color than I wanted, I planed them down to the bare wood and attached it to the top after routing the edges.

Great Rewards

Later in the semester I submitted the night stand into the high schools’ area technology fair. This is where all of the students of the school district are allowed to compete with one another in the industrial technology fields; including, metal shop, wood shop, and auto body. About eight schools get involved with several students from each school participating. I won a large trophy that read “Best of Show” and that is what stamped my love for woodworking.

From then on I’ve made many other items. Some better than others. I’ve debated whether or not I should submit them to this site because I made them to so long ago. We’ll see. The only thing that has kept me from making even more projects was college and lack of a woodworking space and lack of tools. Things have sure changed. No excuses now.

Contact cement stinks – Ventilate!

Before I cemented the two surfaces together, I cut the formica to a size larger than the substrate. This is very important because after the two surfaces marry with contact cement, it is virtually impossible to separate them if the contact cement has dried properly. I was going to use a router with a trim bit to remove the excess material later anyway.

Wear safety glasses when cutting formica as the material will chip and the shards are very sharp.

Formica can be cut using heavy duty scissors, a carbide tipped blade, or a a fine toothed plywood blade. Using scissors is the least desirable method for cutting this material because the scissor handles may pinch the material and crack it (this happened in my test). I would’ve preferred to use my table saw but formica is very flimsy which would’ve made it difficult to do solo. I used a circular saw instead. I’ve also read that scoring the formica with a utility knife and then breaking it at the score is possible; however, I’ve never tried that method myself.

I used contact cement to adhere the formica to the substrate. I applied the contact cement to both surfaces but did not let them touch each other until the contact cement dried for about 20-30 minutes. This seems counter intuitive at first because we’re normally used to putting two pieces of wood together before glue dries. Contact cement should be applied to both surfaces using a synthetic brush or roller. I used a roller because it’s faster.

After the contact cement “sets” it is very sticky and this is when the spacers are put onto the substrate. As stated earlier, when the two surfaces come into contact it is virtually impossible to separate them. This is why the spacers are used. After I applied the spacers, I put the formica on top of the spacers. I was careful to position the formica so that when I removed the spacers one by one, the formica would overlay all edges of the substrate.

Take note that the contact cement can be too dry or too wet. It might be useful to practice the procedure with some scraps before attempting to do this on your router table top.

I probably used too many spacers but after I removed each spacer, I applied pressure to that area with my formica laminate roller. I made sure to apply even and firm pressure to the formica—rolling the roller back and forth as to remove any air bubbles that may have become trapped between the two materials. I kept removing spacers as I went until the two surfaces were one.

I allowed the two materials to dry a little more before trimming it with the trim router because the contact cement would gum up in my bit.

My next post in this series will describe the installation of the t-tracks and router table insert.

So it’s Saturday about 10:00AM and the sprinkles are lightly falling. I take five broken-down boxes to the car while my boy takes one “BIG” box. I take another five boxes and he tries to take three. His little hands can’t handle that many so two of the boxes fall behind. I get them later. We finally head out to the recycling center and it begins to poor. After we arrive, he of course wants to get out of the car and help unload. I didn’t have a problem with that because the genius in me put him in a rain jacket before we left but forgot to wear one myself.

The bin is too tall for him to really help so he becomes easily distracted and jumps into puddles while I finished discarding boxes. After I was done, I had fun with him when I stomped in one puddle to splash him. I would’ve stayed longer but I didn’t have a coat and was getting wet from the rain. It’s kind of ironic that I could jump into a puddle but left because it was raining.

Our last destination was Home Depot. It is very difficult to have a toddler while shopping at a store I like. He likes to grab everything in site. First it was the individual bolts. Then the screw packages and of course hammers. He’ll grab everything that can either get lodged in his mouth, fall on his foot, or change the color of him and the floor beneath him. Sometimes he doesn’t put things back where he found them. So, if you’re ever at a hardware store and a five inch lag bolt is in the wrong bin, you can thank me. All of these actions require a reprimand from me by mostly repeating the word “No!” five hundred gazillion times.

We arrive in the tool aisle and I see a roll of rubber padding (to grip wood while routing) that I’ve been wanting. I pick it up and ask him if he’ll help me carry it. Of course he will because he loves helping Dad and then he can have something to hit me with too. We begin walking out of the tool section and he whacks me with the mat. He didn’t hit me hard of course but I’m not going to let him slide on this one so I gave him a choice, “You hit me with that again, I’ll take it away.” I say this with little regard to those around me.

We turn the corner and he decides to make the wrong choice. He hits me again. I grab the mat out of his hand and reminded him about our deal. He whines and moans for a few seconds as we begin walking again. A woman, who was probably 20 years my junior, walks up beside me and compliments me by saying, “I had to laugh back there watching you with him, good follow-through Dad!”

She didn’t look at me when she said it but she said it in such a way that she was trying not to embarrass my boy. She was completely polite about it. She was very subtle. She had a proud grin on her face. I responded, “Thank you.”

I still don’t know why that compliment meant so much to me. I have no idea who she was—just a nice stranger. I don’t expect compliments from people. I usually don’t take compliments well as I am reserved and don’t think much about the compliment itself. I don’t seek compliments either but for some reason, the way she said it made me melt. Out of all the time that I spent with my son on Saturday, it was her compliment about discipline that made me feel like a good Daddy. It wasn’t even playing in the puddles with him or letting him carry the rubber mat.

That woman, although she probably doesn’t know it, made my day. Every time I use that rubber mat I will think about that moment. It will remind me to be a good Dad.

I’ve concluded that our society doesn’t do enough to compliment people about how well they are disciplining their children. We either criticize how bad their kids behave or we criticize discipline in general. The next time I see someone positively correcting their children, I will feel motivated to tell them that they are doing a good job because as a parent, it doesn’t feel good to discipline in itself. It’s something we have to do. It’s more rewarding when it feels like we’re doing it right.

I started cutting one of the two pieces from one sheet of 4’ x 8’ Baltic Birch. Since I do not have an assistant to help cut the plywood on my table saw, I laid the sheet on two saw horses and made the initial cuts of the first piece using a circular saw guided along a straight edged clamp. I made the initial cuts a little larger than necessary because I later squared them up with the table saw.

Like the first piece of the substrate, I cut the second piece a little larger than necessary but this time I didn’t square it off with the table saw. I would do this later using the router after the two pieces were laminated together. I chose to square it up in this manner because glue’s slippery nature makes it difficult trying to align two identical pieces together.

I then sandwiched a layer of glue between the two pieces making sure that the larger piece was properly placed so that I could trim off its edges with a flush trim router bit after the glue dried. I put clamps on the two pieces where I could and then laid Olympic weights on top of the rest of the wood. I did this all on my table saw because it is flat and sturdy.

After the glue had set up, I put the substrate back on the saw horses with the larger half of the substrate on top. I ran the flush trim router bit along the sides to make everything equal.

This weekend I will round off the corners with my oscillating spindle/belt sander and apply the counter top laminate on both sides. Hopefully, I can also install the t-track and miter slot hardware and have the top completed. I have pictures but need to get them off of my camera, and I need to find an online place to store the photos. I’ll also try to get that done this weekend as well.

I’ve built router tables before; however, they were quickly cobbed together in order to meet a temporary need. Now I have the ability to have a permanent yet mobile fixture in my shop that I desire to be highly accurate. I would have preferred to purchase a complete pre-manufactured system to save myself time; however, I tend to be frugal and decided to meet cheap and efficient somewhere in between. I also discovered, through my research, that complete systems aren’t always complete and no particular router table system met all of my desires. Thus, I decided to “piece-mail” the system together.

Cabinets

The Bench Dog tables were my favorite tables by far. They are not made of metal, they have nice thick tops, and they come pre-fitted for their router plate insert. I also liked their fence and custom t-track. Many other “complete” systems on the market are built with metal legs requiring me to build a cabinet within/around the system. I didn’t feel it necessary to purchase a $400 system that required me to spend another $120 for material to achieve my desired result.

Although I liked the Bench Dog tables, I didn’t like the price. Their top Baltic birch cabinet costs around $550 but drawers and doors cost extra. Plus, their phenolic router plates do not provide different sized rings for different sized bits. This means that I would have to purchase about two additional plates so that I can fit my raised panel bit or other sized bits into it. These are even more reasons why I decided to build my own cabinet.

Router Fences

I thought about building a custom fence, but the fences that exist today have so many features and are so accurate that I decided it would be a waste of time to replicate them. I scoured over many options, but the router fences that really caught my eye were JessEm’s, Bench Dog’s, Rockler’s, Woodpecker’s and Rousseau’s.

Rousseau has a nice fence but only being able to see it on the web, it appeared that some of the adjustment knobs were in tight places. They were priced competitively though. I liked the Rockler and Bench Dog fences but compared to JessEm’s and Woodpecker’s fences, they were pretty basic.

I almost decided to go with the JessEm fence because I really liked its measuring track that sits to the to the left and right side of the table where the fence tightens into. However, I changed my mind when I found out that the front movable fence faces are tightened in the front rather than the back. It would become annoying getting my allen wrench every time I wanted to adjust the faces.

The Woodpecker router fence is just what I need. It uses aluminum angle “iron” that the face plates attach to which will keep it sturdy. Also, the aluminum angle has tapped holes drilled for leveling screws to keep the fence at a 90 degree angle. Like the others, the fence plates have t-tracks in them and most importantly, a dust collector attachment on the back.

The only complaint that I have about the fence would be the fact that Woodpecker company has decided to allow Woodcraft to sell their fences and in the license agreement, Woodpecker is no longer allowed to sell their fence online at their site. This was frustrating because I had to purchase my Woodpecker fence and router plate from separate companies.

Router Plate Inserts

I decided to go with an aluminum plate for this project. My Bosch 1619EVS is heavy and there were some concerns on internet posts that phenolic plates may warp a little with varying temperatures. These claims may be unfounded but why take the chance. Besides, this is going to be my special router table project.

To defend phenolic plates, I already have one which is manufactured by Rousseau. The removable rings make it nice for different sized plates. Likewise, the phenolic material is easy to drill through for different router bases. The only reason I didn’t go with this plate for my new table is because the plastic rings are not precisely flush with the phenolic plate. As stated before I want a large degree of accuracy for this table and aluminum plates seem a better choice for this reason.

I chose Woodpecker’s aluminum Plungelift router table insert over all other aluminum products for the main reason that the ring inserts are the easiest to remove. Rockler’s and other competitors’ aluminum plates would require me to remove screws to change the ring inserts. Woodpecker has innovatively allowed users to remove rings with a tool by twisting the ring and pulling it out.

Construction Material

For the router table top and cabinet I am using Baltic Birch plywood. It is a clean, sturdy, and professional looking material when finished. However, it is expensive but I have never used it before and it will last a long time. I chose this over 5-play and MDF because my shop’s climate changes frequently and admittedly I’m splurging a little.

I also decided to apply a Formica veneer to the top and bottom of the router table top. This will insulate the substrate from humidity and also provide a slick surface to move wood across while routing.

Miscellaneous

I purchased a combo t-track/miter t-track from MLCSWoodworking. Rockler has one but it is double the price and MLCSWoodworking provided free shipping.

I also purchased two 3” locking casters and two 3” standard casters for mobility.

Finally (or just the beginning)

Hopefully this weekend I can begin cutting the Baltic Birch for the top and get the Formica attached to it. My next post will describe the top making process.