Simple and Easy Box Joint Jig

This is my box joint jig based off Woodfather's design which is used with a single rip blade. It has a pin that matches your blade's kerf and a set of spacers in a 1:1 ratio to the fingers of the box joint. You can easily change the size and spacing of the box joints by changing the width of the spacers. Want 3/8" fingers? Use 3/8" spacers. Want 8 mm fingers ... you know the drill. For simplicity I used 1/4" plywood for my spacers which lets me cut each finger in two passes using my 1/8" blade.

Mine follows the original plan closely with a couple of minor modifications. I added a tab to the back of the fence so it clips over the jig and stays in place on it's own. The tape acts as a spacer allowing the fence to slide freely.

I added edge banding to the fence where it rides along the jig. The mating face of the jig also has edge banding and both are waxed. The fence travels smoothly left and right.

The pin (pic above) is a screw 3.17 mm in diameter with the head removed. The kerf of my Freud rip blade is 3.19 mm. The resulting joints are snug but allow room for glue.

The block on the far right is glued in place and never changes. I used cyanoacrylate in case I ever need to remove it. Below you can see the edge banding along the top of the jig.

The spacers are held in place by a scrap of wood approximately the right length, then a small wedge is inserted to keep everything snug.

Mine is a wee bit taller and the sides come farther back. This allowed me to attach a handle. I tried first without a handle but my left hand kept searching for a hold. I find it more comfortable with a handle.

The strip of ply along the front of the fence (red arrow below) is only 3/4", not sure what I was thinking, but it will have to be replaced with a deeper version that will accommodate more than a couple pieces.

An unplanned change which didn't work out, are the runners being short in front (see above). The wood took a funny bow and were binding so I had to cut them down but now the jig wants to tip forward. Definitely leave them long in front. Adding the handle stopped the tipping so I'm not sure if I will bother replacing the runners.

An Improved Leg Vise: Kiefer meets farm vise

Update: new links, video fixed.

A clever fellow, Klaus Kiefer, saw my post on the angle brace leg vise and made incredible improvements. Kiefer ditched the two side brackets in favor of a large center brace and added a quick release. Kiefer's farm vise is simple to build from common materials.

Sketch Up Model
Leg Vise - Lumberjocks Page
Leg Vise Blog Post on LJ

Dulcitar or Stick Dulcimer

I don't play guitar but I love making noisemakers. The process for building cigar box guitar (CBG) type instruments is well known and covered extensively on the web but achieving a highly playable instrument can sometimes take a little practice. This is my third and definitely best, stringed instrument.

The dulcitar is held and strummed like a guitar but like a dulcimer has diatonic frets, 2 melody strings, and 2 drone strings. These are often called Strumsticks*.

Feel free to post about your own instrument builds in the comment section.

Specs:

Scale: 25"
Tuning: DAdd
Fretboard: 1" wide
Box volume: 140 cubic inches
Sound hole: 1 1/4"

Ingredients:

Bering cigar box
Honduran mahogany
Macassar Ebony
Padauk
Bone
Fret wire and tuning heads from CB Gitty
D'Addario dulcimer strings
Sweat

Neck and headstock are mahogany laminated with ebony. The bone nut in this photo had to be replaced because it didn't allow for spacing the strings. A little heat and the super glue gave way, replacing it took less time than filing string slots in the new nut.

The Bering box is quite plain and I may go back and decorate it. You can see the heel cap made from American holly and a thin layer of walnut. The copper fret markers are hard to see.

Video of my daughter Brenna playing the dulcitar.

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Notes and Resources: 

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/
http://www.cbgitty.com/
http://www.daddario.com/DADMobileProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3757&productid=268&productname=D_Addario_J64_4_String_Dulcimer_Strings&sid=7db807cc-9880-4142-96c2-04299fb525dd
*Strumstick® is a registered trademark of McNally Instruments

Chip deflector for Easy Wood Tool or other carbide tools.

One night after turning I washed up and my hands were on fire. Wood chips flying back at my hand and fingers had left hundreds of little paper-like cuts. You couldn't see them but I sure could feel them. The next day I made two chip deflectors. Video at bottom on how to make your own.

You'll need a piece of scrap hardwood, some small rare earth magnets, and 2"x4" piece of plexiglass.

Watch this video for step by step instructions.

Rocket Ship: Summer's Woodworking 2x4 Contest 2014

A retro style rocket ship made from approximately half a 2x4. Two pieces cut and glued then turned on the lathe make the rocket body. The nose cone comes off to reveal a space inside. The fins were cut to shape then resawn to thickness on the bandsaw.

The fins were colored with dye made from padauk and lacquer thinner. Then I routed shallow grooves on the rocket body for the fins to set into.

Making a maple microphone stand

A bent clothes hanger had been serving as a microphone stand for too long so I tossed it and turned a new one from silver maple. This is part of the maple tree that fell in our yard over a year ago. The black plastic holder came from a clamp-on microphone stand I had no use for. See the videos for details on how it was made.

The wood for the base was spalted (dark bands of color cause by a fungus) and bug eaten. I filled the bug holes with a padauk dust and super glue mixture (red) and gasket sealer (black). Dyed epoxy was the plan but it had disappeared so I used what was on hand.  The gasket sealer worked okay but I didn't get it deep enough into some of the holes.

Yes, that is a halo sticker on my file cabinet and yes that is a Guitar Hero microphone, I am a gamer. The mic is actually a decent USB microphone so I kept it when we sold Rock Band and Guitar Hero. 

Video

http://youtu.be/DKIY6MwD_-0

Part 2

Swinging Articulated Lamp

A local thrift store had a box of desk and wall lamps for $1 each. This one had a round base, hung on the wall and pivoted up and down. Useful, but too short for task lighting. So I trashed the base and built an arm that would reach my grinder on one side and band saw on the other. The individual arm segments are 1/2" thick and 1-1/4" wide.

video

Two shots of the hub, turned from scrap pine. The tenons on each end are slightly smaller than 1". At first the bracket was all one piece but got in the way and stopped the arm from swinging all the way left. So I cut the bracket in half and reversed each piece as you see below. 

I started with a 200W incandescent bulb that made a very bright task light but melted the plastic! So I switched to a 13W compact fluorescent (equivalent to a 60W incandescent). Next trip to the store I'll pick up a brighter one.

See the silver clamp light over my lathe, another $1 special.

Articulated camera arm

An articulated arm for holding my cell phone when shooting video or taking photos. Why use an arm instead of just a tripod? The arm allows me to position the tripod out of the way and yet have the camera close for filming. I can also move the arm over a machine or task and point the camera straight down for an overhead view.

I began by ripping three 3-3/4" wide strips from 3/4" birch plywood. Each strip was cut to length then ripped again into three 1-1/8" wide strips.

A 1/4" hole was drilled approximately 1" from each end and centered.

The ends were rounded on the disc sander.

Two bases were made, one for the phone and the other for attaching to the tripod. I cut a 1-1/8" wide dado across each base and drilled two holes.

From the extra 1-1/8" wide strip I cut four pieces around 2" long, drilled and rounded one end, then glued them into the dado. A screw through the bottom helps hold them in place.

The tripod attachment base got four 5/16" holes. I probably won't ever use the extra holes but they are there if I should want them.

The walnut tripod has a 5/16" threaded rod sticking out the top, the base slides over this and is temporarily secured with a wing nut.

The arm joints are linked with 4-1/2", 1/4x20 carriage bolts.

I made a phone mock up from MDF for testing the mount. A rubber band secures it in place.

The walnut tripod has adjustments for height and angle.

Jan 2017 Update: I still use this arm but have since mounted it to the wall to save floor space. Dimensions are between pivot holes.

Russian children's video on how to build a lathe

From what I gather the plan comes from a Russian magazine, pictured below. The video is based on the magazine and features a young boy, maybe ten years old, building a lathe from wood and bicycle parts. At the end he turns a chess rook. The lathe pictured below is a little different than the one in the video. You won’t need to understand the words to follow the build. The design is solid, with a little more care you could build a decent lathe this way.

From their website (translated via Google):
Yunost.RU – children TV channel that is broadcasting short films, which are a good tool for a better understanding of some school subjects. They are taught to carry out personal leisure and fun with good, believe in themselves, learn how to do something yourself.
(editor's note: sounds good to me!)

Back in 2007, Don Weber wrote an article for Popular Woodworking on building a more sophisticated treadle lathe from wood and bicycle parts.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/bicycle-lathe-plans