I buy virtually all of my lumber for furniture projects in the “rough”. By rough, I mean that the lumber has not been processed in any way since it was sawed into planks and then dried. The bark is gone, but the faces and the edges are rough and in need of surface and edge preparation as well as dimensioning.
Lumber can be purchased in several different states of readiness. For example, S2S lumber has been surfaced on two sides (actually, on both faces) but the edges are still rough. The hardwood lumber that you find in the big box stores is actually S4S, meaning that both the faces and edges have been prepared before it leaves the distributor. Sometimes S2S lumber has had an additional step of straightening one edge so that it can then be readily ripped to width when the buyer so chooses.
Looking past the obvious benefits of purchasing prepared lumber (i.e. less work to do to the rough stock before it can be used on a project), there are several advantages to buying rough stock. Some of these advantages are:
- Rough lumber is always available at a significant discount to surfaced/prepared lumber
- Rough lumber of lower grades that includes some defects and/or sapwood can be obtained at even greater savings – all that is necessary is to work around the defects and sapwood and/or to highlight them as design elements
- Rough lumber is purchased at full thickness or greater (4/4 = 1″, 6/4 = 1.5″, 8/4 = 2″ thick, etc.) so you can get the most out of every board. Surfaced lumber is usually 3/4″ – 13/16″ or less in thickness so, design options are often limited
- Once prepared, rough lumber will be straight and true with square edges. This will make any downstream woodworking operations and assembly much more predictable and accurate, resulting in better finished products
One of the false economies of S4S lumber is that its benefits outweigh its costs. However, I have rarely seen a piece of S4S stock from a big box store that can be worked without some additional preparation. There is always something that must be done to either flatten or square the wood before it can be used (I speculate that this is because of one of two reasons: the wood was prepped incorrectly to begin with or, the wood was improperly stored/transported) . Either way, because the stock is already thicknessed to what would usually be a finished dimension (3/4″), there is not any room for further preparation. Ultimately, this already expensive stock becomes even more expensive because more must be purchased to accomplish the same task!
Of course, all of this talk of purchasing rough lumber assumes that you have the tools to properly prep the stock as necessary (a table saw, jointer and planer at a minimum) . While this work is certainly easier to do with power tools, it (or parts of it) can be accomplished with other tools as well. I can assure you that I won’t be giving up my jointer or planer anytime soon however, I can tell you that before I had both of these tools I edge-jointed on a router table with a split fence using S2S stock and used a hand plane to tweak the faces of boards that were not flat. To do this, I cut work pieces as close to final dimensions possible before doing any additional preparation. The smaller pieces minimized any deviations from flat and straight and what remained could be taken care of with a hand plane while maintaining maximum thickness.
If you have not tried designing and building projects starting with rough lumber, I would urge you to give it a try. I think that it offers the most in flexibility, economy and variety of choices. Most distributors of rough stock will have a much larger selection than what you’ll find at the big box stores. Additionally, you’ll be able to obtain different cuts of lumber (like quarter-sawn) to provide a more unique or authentic look for a project. The full thicknesses of stock that you’ll get will also afford you the ability to break out of the “everything is 3/4″ thick” mold that seems to accompany store bought furniture and limit design possibilities. Finally, as I mentioned earlier, stock purchased with a “defect” or variations in color and grain can be used as design statements to break away from the more mundane while adding unique elements to your designs.
Please feel free to e-mail me at thecraftsmanspath@gmail.com with questions or leave comments here using the comments link at the end of the posts. I’d like to hear your thoughts!
Tags: benefits of rough lumber, dimensioning rough lumber, rough lumber
Recently there has been a lot of buzz in the woodworking community about the new Festool Domino joinery system. If you have not yet seen this system, it’s kind of like a Biscuit Joiner on steroids. However, different from the small circular blade on a Biscuit Joiner that cuts a football-shaped groove, the Domino cuts a rounded mortise with a router-like bit. The unique aspect of the Domino is that the bit both plunges into the work and also oscillates from side to side creating a very clean and precise mortise. Just like a Biscuit Joiner, the Domino is used to mortise both work pieces that are to be joined. The Domino joint is completed the by gluing loose tenon stock (specifically designed and supplied for the system) into the mortises.
This system has a lot of advantages. Some of the major ones are:
- Joinery, layout and execution are fast and straightforward – just mark the center of the mortise on each work piece and cut
- Work pieces can be cut to exact lengths – there is no need to add extra length to account for the tenons on the ends of pieces
- The mortises need no additional work, they are very clean and the loose tenons fit snugly into the mortises
- The joints made with the loose tenon stock are much stronger than those made with biscuits. In fact, loose tenons create a joint that is arguably as strong as any traditional mortise and tenon joint
- Making multiple mortise and tenon joints where required for strength is as simple as laying out and cutting another mortise in each work piece
- Unlike with biscuits, there’s no evidence that loose tenons will telegraph their shape to the surface of a work piece (this sometimes happens because biscuits swell when the get moist with glue – if the surface above them is sanded or smoothed prior to them drying out, a depression in the shape of a biscuit will often show up above the joint on the surface of the work piece)
So, with all of these advantages, why would you use anything else? This seems like the holy-grail of joinery! Well, if you have the means to purchase the Festool Domino, I would say: go for it! It looks to be an extremely well-engineered tool that excels at what it does. I may even add one to my shop in the future. However, if you are looking for loose tenon joinery on a budget, you should realize that there are alternatives. In fact, I have been doing loose tenon joinery for years using a basic plunge router and a simple jig.
Loose Tenon Joints on a Budget: The Router Jig
I often use loose tenon joinery in the construction of furniture projects. The system that I use involves a basic plunge router, an edge guide for the router, an upcut spiral mortising bit and a shop made jig. Because most woodworkers already have a plunge router and some scraps around the workshop to make a jig, this technique can be accomplished very economically. Better yet, all of the advantages of loose tenon joinery listed earlier are also realized when using this system.
The jig that I use for cutting mortises with the router is a relatively simple affair. It is adapted from a jig in the book: Router Magic by Bill Hylton. As shown in the picture, the jig is basically two pieces joined at a ninety degrees. The horizontal base component is for the router to ride on and the vertical riser component allows the jig to be clamped to the workbench. The work piece is secured to the jig with a toggle clamp that is mounted on a component that is attached with basic hardware through slots to allow for variable sized work pieces.
The only other components of the jig are lateral stops on the top that limit the travel of the router. These stops have a slot down the middle to ride over a piece of 1/4″ dowel for alignment. In the picture you can see the stops and a center line that is is scribed on the horizontal base for aligning the workpiece to be mortised.
Using the Router Jig: Marking and Alignment
The router jig is simple to use. Once I know the location and size of the mortise to be cut, I can mark the work pieces. In this example, I have two pieces acting as a Rail and Stile in a frame, though the same ideas apply to other kinds of work pieces.
I mark the Stile by striking a line indicating the center of the mortise and I align that point with the center line on the jig. Then, I can mark the corresponding Rail by marking its center from that point while aligning the edges of the two pieces.
You’ll also notice that on the Stile I’ve marked the extents of the mortise. This is only necessary on the first mortise. Once the stops have been set, only the center line of subsequent mortises will need to be marked. This feature makes the jig very efficient to use to cut batches of the same sized mortise.
Using the Router Jig: Position the Bit and Set the Stops
Before you can cut a mortise with the jig you need to set the location of the router bit and then set the stops.
To position the bit, I put the edge guide on the router and position it to ride against the back of the jig. Using the edge guide adjustment I position the bit roughly in the center of the thickness of work piece – it does not need to be exact, as long as I keep the same side of the Rail and Stile against the jig, the joint will be aligned when completed.
To set the stops I align the edge of the bit with the marks on the work piece that indicate the extent of the mortise. On each side I slide the stops against the edge guide bars and tighten the hardware to secure the stops. A this point, I’m ready to cut a mortise.
Using the Router Jig: Cutting the Mortise
Cutting the mortise is straightforward. I set the depth stop on the router to about 1/16″ more than the desired mortise depth (this extra space is to allow for a glue reservoir) .
I begin with the router against the stop closest to me. I cut the mortise by taking passes at a depth of about 1/4″. I continue making passes until I have reached the final depth. The advantage to using an upcut spiral bit on the router for this operation is that it is designed to plunge directly into the work piece and it also pulls the chips up and out of the mortise keeping the bit cooler as it runs. This results in a very clean mortise with precise edges and smooth walls.
Of course, this routing operation is the same for the Rails as it is for Stiles except for the orientation of the work piece. As I mentioned previously, once things are set it is as simple as aligning the centerlines, clamping the work piece and routing away. No further measuring is necessary!
Loose Tenon Stock
I usually make the loose tenon stock from scraps of the project that I’m building. I first cut some stock to the desired width of the tenon. The stock is then planed down to the diameter of the mortising bit. I usually use 1/4″ thick tenons for general joinery (in 3/4″ thick stock) and 1/2″ thick tenons for heavy duty applications – the only limit is which router bits you have on hand. At this point the tenon stock has square edges but the router cut mortises will have round edges. To remedy this, I simply pass all of the edges of the tenon stock over the router table with a round over bit installed (1/8″ round over for 1/4″ tenon stock and 1/4″ round over for 1/2″ tenon stock).
This may seem like a lot of work but it is actually very quick to do. I usually make a batch of tenon stock all at once in long sections so that individual tenons can easily be cut off to the desired length. Any remaining tenon stock can be used for future projects. Once the loose tenons are cut to size, I usually sand a quick chamfer on the edges so that they enter the mortises without issue.
The Completed Loose Tenon Joint
Once the matching mortises are cut into the two work pieces, the loose tenon is inserted and the pieces are dry-fitted. If all is well, I can spread some glue into the mortises and on the tenon and clamp the joint until dry. Because there is such a close fit of the tenon and the mortise with this method of joinery, not a lot of glue is necessary. I’ve noticed that if I’m careful I get very little glue squeeze-out. So, any cleanup is minor.
As long as I am diligent about referencing the appropriate sides of the work pieces against the jig, I have very little sanding or scraping to do to level the completed joint. The photo shows the results.
As you can see, this simple system has many of the advantages of the Festool Domino. The one thing that it lacks is portability. The Domino has the advantage of being able to be taken directly to the work pieces, whereas with this system the work piece must be taken to the jig. However, for the investment of a few hours time to make a simple jig, I think that this system performs very well.
As always, please contact me at thecraftsmanspath@gmail.com with questions and also please leave comments here using the comments link at the end of the posts.
**UPDATE**
In the comments, there were a couple of questions regarding the routing of the rail with the jig. So, here’s a picture of a routed rail in position in the jig.
As you can see the jig component with the toggle clamp is rotated to be in a vertical position. The clamp bar is attached via a couple of additional T-nuts in the jig to accommodate this (they were hidden from view in the original pictures). Hopefully this clears things up.
Tags: Festool Domino, loose tenon, mortise, router, router mortising jig
This weekend I was doing a bit more straightening in the workshop and I came across a box of older Fine Woodworking magazines that I had temporarily stored there and were in need of a better home. While sorting through the issues so that I could file them, I came across Issue #168 from February 2004 (…yeah, I guess they’ve been there for a while). In that issue there was an article by Graham Blackburn titled: A Guide to Good Design. I recalled reading this article in the past and thought that the information that it contained was very relevant to our discussions on design here at the web site.
Have you ever looked at the design of something – art, architecture, furniture, landscape etc. and thought to yourself that it just looks out of balance or awkward? Alternatively, when you see something that immediately strikes you as having a visually pleasing design, do you know why you like what you see? Whether it be in architecture or furniture design, even in nature and the human body, certain proportions are visually pleasing and balanced while others are not.
A common paradigm used in design is the Golden Mean or Golden Ratio (usually represented by the Greek letter ø – pronounced Phi). This ratio is roughly represented by ø = 1.618, and you can visualize a proportion based on Phi as a straight line divided into two segments: if one segment is length L, the other segment is L x ø in length. There is a corresponding application of the Golden Ratio in two dimensions called the Golden Rectangle and third application is the called the Golden Solid where Phi is applied to three dimensions.
Designing things based on this proportion tends to yield well balanced and visually pleasing creations. This is evidenced in everything from the Pyramids and ancient Greek architecture to the human body and the solar system. For example: on a human finger if the the distance between the tip to the first knuckle is L, then the distance from the first knuckle to the last knuckle is L x ø.
So, how do we as furniture designers make use of the Golden Ratio? The answer lies (as you might expect) in the proper use of proportions. This could be the proportion of the height of a table to its length or the proportions of a an individual element of a design such as the dimensions of a drawer. Of course, applications of this paradigm do not have to be exact, but prudent use will typically result in well-balanced and pleasing designs.
A follow on to the Golden Ratio is something called the Fibonacci Series. This is a sequence of numbers where each number in the series is the sum of the previous two (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, etc.) In this series, it’s interesting that any number divided by the previous one is roughly equal to Phi. Looking at this in practical terms, it becomes easy to see why certain dimensions are commonly used, such as 3 x 5 and 5 x 8 – they are based on Phi. This series is useful in many ways however, one very practical application might be to use it when designing how the dimensions of a set of design elements in a piece relate to one another – possibly like the individual heights of a set drawers in a case.
In spite of all of this, when we design a piece of furniture there will always be certain constraints to deal with – for example maybe we are designing a cabinet to fit within a specific space. Of course, we want form to follow function, but that does not mean that these design paradigms cannot be used. It just means that we may want to investigate using the constrained dimension to drive what the others are, based on the Golden Ratio.
Using this technique to define the dimensions of a piece of furniture may or may not be entirely appropriate in every given context. In the end, you will always want to make adjustments based on the utility and aesthetics of the piece. In fact, it would be a bad idea to constrain ones sense of design in order to conform to this technique. Symmetry is good, but asymmetry can also be very pleasing in a design – in fact an antisymmetric design could easily make use of the Golden Ratio in some areas. I usually think of these golden proportions as guidelines to help with the basis of a design and then I evolve from there. Just like any tool, you want to use this technique when it make sense while hopefully not stifling creativity in the design process.
In an upcoming post I plan to walk through and evaluate a recent design of my own. One of the things (among many) to be examined will be it’s proportions and whether they fit the Golden Ratio. In the process, I hope to solicit feedback on what you do and don’t like about the design. I think it will be an interesting exchange.
As always, please contact me at thecraftsmanspath@gmail.com with questions and also please leave comments here using the comments link at the end of the posts.
Tags: Design, Fibonacci series, furniture design, golden ratio, golden rectangle, guidelines, proportion
As I previously mentioned in this post, I always start the process of a furniture design with sketches of the piece that I would like to build. This helps me to explore what is in my minds eye and to evolve it to the point that I can detail it via computer and then ultimately build the piece. I’ve talked with many woodworkers about this and many say that they don’t have the skills to draw anything beyond stick figures!
I have to admit that I’ve always had some aptitude for drawing. I did it a lot as a kid and I also took a couple of years of mechanical drawing in high school. So, I’ve worked a little at both the artistic and the mechanical side of things. However, I don’t buy into the fact that you have to have innate artistic ability in order to capture your design ideas with the detail and scale necessary for furniture projects. Though you don’t need to be the next Leonardo da Vinci to be able to do this, it does help to have a little bit of knowledge and practice under your belt.
A couple of years ago I started to do some basic woodcarving. In the process, I wanted to improve my own drawing skills to help with the carving and I discovered a book called Drawing on the Right side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. I checked out my local library and found that it was available so, I picked it up and I read it.
In this book Ms. Edwards discusses her belief in a theory that there are two sides of the brain and that each is used for doing different things. The left side (or L-mode) is used for verbal and analytical tasks while the right side (R-mode) is used for visual and perceptual tasks. She states:
“Most activities require both modes, each contributing its special functions, but a few activities require mainly one mode, without interference from the other. Drawing is one of these activities.”
“Learning to draw, then, turns out not to be ‘learning to draw.’ Paradoxically, ‘learning to draw’ means learning to make a mental shift from L-mode to R-mode. That is what a person trained in drawing does, and that is what you can learn.”
The book has several simple exercises that help you see things differently and to better engage your visual and perceptual capabilities. I recall one exercise early in the book where you are asked to look at a sketch by Picasso and then to turn the book upside down and draw the (upside-down) sketch on your own. The result is pretty remarkable: because you are focusing on reproducing small discrete lines with the orientation and scale that you see (but not on the larger picture because it’s upside down) it is very easy to create a very close replica of the original drawing (there is actually an online version of another one of the book’s exercises on the website for the book).
The exercises in this book do help you to see things differently and to be able to reproduce what you see. Of course these are the same skills that are necessary to imagine and develop new and original designs. With these discrete skills and a bit of practice, I think that anyone can effectively capture and communicate their design ideas.
So, if you’re one of those that think you can only draw stick figures, you might want to hunt down a copy of the book and give the exercises a try. Even if you do not follow through with all of the books exercises, I think that you may find it a very interesting way to improve your drawing skills en route to developing future designs for your projects. I know that it was a help to me.
I spent some time this past weekend starting the process of cleaning up the workshop. I say starting because there is still a ways to go!
I don’t want to give you the impression that the shop was a total mess or anything. It had the usual areas of clutter and things that did not find their rightful homes after they were last used. Some dust and chips were still on the shop floor that needed to get swept up and some wood scraps left here and there from the times that I used the shop for quick projects over the summer. Oh, and there is that Table project that I alluded to in this post that is waiting for a final sanding and some finish. Really, nothing out of the ordinary though.
I spent some of the day Saturday and a bit of Sunday tidying up and getting some things put away and there is still a bit more of that to do. However, as I worked, it seemed that every step I took I saw another opportunity for improvement. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, there are some improvements to the shop that I’d like to make this year – maybe even some layout changes. Many of these involve making better use of space and organizing some of the miscellaneous hand and bench top tools that I have (i.e. hand drills, oscillating spindle sander, small scroll saw etc.)
My workshop is in the basement of my home and though not tiny, it is not expansive either. I need to make every square foot count so that I can maneuver with lumber and projects while they are being built. So, there are some simple things I think I can do in the next couple of weeks to make the space more efficient and functional. I say simple because I don’t want to get too caught up in this because there are furniture projects that I want to get on too soon.
While I was working on the cleanup I was joined by my son for a short time because we had a small task to cut and sand some new handrails for the stairway that leads down to the basement. While we were at this, we naturally went over to the workbench and used it to clamp and hold these pieces as we worked on them. Not that we were doing anything substantial with these pieces but, as I stood there watching my son sand the ends of the hand rails to break the sharp edges I thought about just how important a tool my workbench really is. I think back to the previous plywood bench I had with no vice or dog holes and time and effort that it took to build what I have today. Thinking back on how much I work at that bench each and every day I’m in the shop and what a pleasure it is to use, I can definitely say that it was worth all the time and effort. The picture is one of the bench just after I had completed building it.
I spent a lot of time considering what style bench I wanted to build and eventually bit the bullet on the hybrid design you see in the picture (it’s based on a plan from Veritas found here) and it has served me well. I think that the advice you often hear about building workbenches is true – do some basic research but don’t get too caught up in analyzing how/or what to build, just build one and use it. The reason is that no matter what you build, it’s likely to be better than a makeshift setup (like what I started with) and you won’t know what you want to change until you’ve used it for a while.
There are many potential designs for workbenches. One older resource that I found very valuable when building mine was The Workbench Book by Scott Landis but, there are others. Lately, Chris Schwartz at Popular Woodworking & Wodworking Magazine has been researching and building many workbench designs. In the latest issue of Woodworking Magazine he has an article about this process and he also is about to release a new book on the subject.
In summary I am just offering some praise to the workbench. I feel that it is the heart of the shop (no, not the table saw, the workbench!). If you are new to woodworking or do not have a solid workbench with a good vice or other holding capabilities you may want to consider building one. I can’t think of a better first project with a higher payoff to you in the end.
