I built this jig a while ago & find it indespensible, figured a few other folks might find it useful as well. While it’s not really a new idea i haven’t seen one that’s quite this versatile. It’s basically a jointed piece of 3/4” mdf with a sliding fence. This jig can joint/mill anything from 1/4”-14”. I simply set the fence with a combination square & run it past a bottom bearing template bit. What makes it so versatile though is that the fence allows you mill lumber with two perfectly jointed sides as well as cut tapers. I only own a circular saw & bandsaw, which makes getting a really clean & jointed edge tough sometimes. I recently took the plunge on an 8” jointer but still find myself reaching for this guy quite a bit.

I built these stairs for my mom whom recently got a new brussels grifon puppy. The carcase & internal compartments are 1/2” red oak ply with edge banding on the exposed surfaces. The treads & trim are solid red oak. The joinery is mostly biscuits with a few pocket hole screws where not visible. The top & bottom stairs are hinged/cleated to allow for storage space for all her little toys & treats. The bottom has a through door for a indoor dog house if you will(& you will!). That’s where i made a bit of a flub. I made mouldings that wrap around the 1/2” ply & decided to miter them. Unfortunately i realized half-way through that you can’t get the last piece in if you miter them. So if you look closely you can see i cut the last piece in half leaving a small gap where i wedged in a piece of molding to fill the gap. If i were to do it again i’d probably just but them or make it a design element & use a contrasting wood to show of the flub. I finished with a minwax natural stain 3 coats of polyurethane. Right now i’ve got the carpet just taped down with double sided carpet tape. This keeps the carpet in place okay but the edges tend to curl up. If anyone’s got a better idea on how affix the carpet, please do tell.

I can’t take credit on the design of this. The Idea came from Al Ladd’s webpage. It’s made of Purpleheart, maple, english elm & walnut. Strips were milled to 1/2” then laminated. I then jointed them on a router table & planed them to 2” thick. After which i cut rotated & glued the main panel together. Then i framed the main panel with the outer panel of walnut & purpleheart. Not pictured in this photo but i rounded the corners with a 1/2” radius roundover bit on the router table. It was finished with Walnut oil.

This a small recipe card box made of Black Limba i made as a gift this past christmas. Box joints were cut on a shop made router jig. The top was cut off on the router table with a 5/64” slot cutter. I finished this with 2 coats of hand rubbed polyurethane.

These are a set of Cherry & Maple trivets is made this past christmas. They were made with template, a 5/8” router bit & 3/4” bushing. Finished with 2 coats of hand rubbed polyurethane.

I apologize for the photo’s on these, the mirror made it tough to get shots without a wicked blinding flash bulb. This is a Maple hall mirror with Wenge inlays i made for my brother & sister in law this past christmas. You can’t really tell from the photo but all the maple mouldings were resawn by hand from 8/4 stock then shaped & glued back together. The wenge was resawn by hand as well then book matched before inlaying into the maple. The joinery is mortise & loose tenon. The mirror is held in place by a double rabbet cut in the back with a sheet of 1/4” maple ply. I finished with 4 coats of hand rubbed tung oil & a final coat of paste wax.

These were some coasters i made as a gift this past christmas. They’re made of some scrap maple, cherry, & walnut i had lying around. They were shaped with a router & finished with 3 coats of hand rubbed polyurethane.