Miller Falls Planes

WoodNet Forums member jacko asks, "How many of you guys have Millers Falls plans?" Turns out a lot of them do. And the well made planes are still in use.

Check out the comments and lots of photos of Millers Falls collections here.

Is It Woodworking?

Heck, I don't know. But there's plywood involved, so that makes it fair game for this blog.

From the Dezeen blog,

Graduate designer Laura Cahill presented vases and furniture made from unwanted books at New Designers in London earlier this year.

She calls the stool "Heavy Read." Make one like it and your friends will be talking about you for weeks.

Now you know what to do with those left over pieces of plywood in the garage, and that pile of old books growing mold in the basement. You're welcome.

Another Rare Cartoon

Last month I mentioned how rare it is to see woodworking depicted in a cartoon. But I did manage to find another cartoon. It was featured recently on the Shedworking blog. It's the cover of cartoonist Carl Giles 31st annual collection of cartoons. The detail is hilarious. Click on the image for a larger version.

Shedworking, by the way, is an interesting blog devoted to people who work at home, and apparently in sheds. Not just woodworkers, but as artists and writers, and in other professions that let one work in small structure in the backyard, or as the English say, in the garden. Check it out.

Step Stool with Wedged Through Tenons

Sometimes we get a little carried away with projects, but that's half the fun. WoodNet Forums member rausrh says,

Here are a couple of step stools I made for my son. They are mostly made from lyptus, but I ran out of that so I used some maple for the tops of one. I used maple for the tenon wedges. This was my first time using through tenons as well as my first time with wedged tenons.

I used a mortise machine to do the mortises and found that to prevent blowing out the back side I had to use a fresh area of the backer board for each plunge. This may have been because lyptus is so splintery.

More photos and comments here.

Drawer Joint Router Bits

Dovetail joints are a sign of quality craftsmanship because they not only look great and are fairly difficult to make, but they're also very strong. But the fact is that most of the time you just don't need dovetails' looks or strength. However, you do need a strong joint for a drawer front that going to get a lot of use. In these cases, routing a drawer joint on your router table will provide a strong joint with little hassle in a short time.
Digging through the ShopNotes Magazine video archives, I came across this video that shows the techniques for setting up and cutting drawer joints on a router table.
ShopNotes Magazine is loaded with techniques like this. Get a free preview issue and see for yourself.

Bamboo Bike

I have commented in earlier posts about the range of new products made in Bamboo today. But here's an unexpected (to me) use of bamboo--for bicycles. But since bamboo is strong and light weight, it makes sense.

Visit EnvironmentalGraffiti.com for more unusual wooden bikes.

Repairing Loose Tenons

It's frustrating when you cut a mortise only to find out your tenon doesn't fit snugly. Luckily, though, there's an easy fix that doesn't require cutting new mortises. The key is to build up the tenon instead.
A simple fix for a round tenon is to glue on a shaving from a hand plane. Then sand the tenon to fit snugly in the mortise.
For square tenons, glue a thin piece of wood veneer to each cheek. Gluing veneer to both checks ensures the tenon will be centered in the mortise. Orient the grain in the same direction to get a strong glue joint, too. Again, once the glue dries, trim the tenon to fit snugly in the mortise.

You can get more woodworking tips like this delivered to your computer each week from the editors of Woodsmith Magazine. Sign-up here.

Workbench with Padauk Details

Another terrific project posted over at the WoodNet Forums. Member Splinter has completed his new workbench--built of Maple with Padauk detailing. He says, "The red wood is Padauk. Really hard and different so that's why I went with it. The sides are shellac and the top is finished with BLO (4 coats) and then waxed with a furniture wax."

(Click on photo for larger view.) More photos and comments here.

iPhone Document Scanner

Wait a minute, this is a woodworking blog. Yes, that's true. And one of the fun things about being a woodworker is that you can you can create some pretty cool stuff that's isn't, strictly speaking, woodworking.

Case in point: If you're one of the many people who has an iPhone, Core77.com forum member kyleakoch has something for you--plans for a document scanner (we woodworkers would call it a document scanner jig). He made his out of corrugated cardboard, but I can see this lasting almost forever if it were made of say 1/4" Baltic birch plywood or some other quality, stable wood product.

I'm not sure, but I guess you could modify this idea to work with many cell phone cameras.

[Thanks BoingBoing]

Adjustable Height Workbench

Sometimes, your workbench just isn't the right height. Depending on what you're doing, it's too high or too low. Well, here's a solution on page 22 the latest issue of Workbench magazine (October 2008). Workbench reader Roger Bares suggests building an adjustable height bench using a motorcycle lift. The lift (Torin #T64017) allows you to adjust the height of a worksurface you make yourself from plywood and some hardware.

This is a terrific issue of Workbench with projects like building a platform bed, and more ways than I can count to save energy in your home. The whole thing is rounded out with some neat decorating ideas and how-to's. It's on the newsstand now, and you can check it out online here, and get a free preview issue here.