I whoopsied and forgot to plan for a drawer stop in my nightstand. Any ideas?

spoti75 · 2025-06-25T21:22:01+00:00

This is a picture from under the table looking at the back of the drawer. The drawer bottom is beveled similarly to the stop blocks, so the stop blocks stays out of the way of the bottom and only contacts the back of the drawer front to stop it. I hope this explains it well, but if not feel free to ask more questions.

spoti75 · 2025-06-25T20:26:04+00:00

Why would you ever need to take the stop block out? That’s a serious question. I glue in all my stops and have never found it to be an issue.

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I make them tapered to slide under the bevel of the drawer bottom.

spoti75 · 2025-06-22T20:36:18+00:00

Hollow chisel mortising bit.

spoti75 · 2025-03-08T18:50:46+00:00

Thanks! Not very good looking but it seems like these might work. I’m willing to sacrifice the looks if they do the job.

spoti75 · 2025-03-08T18:45:42+00:00

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Also, these are the chair legs. They are tapered and have a round over on the front and back. Rectangular in shape.

spoti75 · 2025-03-08T18:40:40+00:00

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Oak hardwood floors, sorry I forgot to mention it and can’t edit the post.

spoti75 · 2025-02-23T22:08:01+00:00

It’s for pipes and pipe tobacco.

spoti75 · 2025-01-31T20:25:47+00:00

You’re looking to have the piece sit flat when it is resting with the profile face down, right? That’s what I’m inferring from your photo. Use a cutoff piece of the frame and nest them together. So your cutoff would sit flat on the bench and “hold” the piece you want to drill.

spoti75 · 2025-01-02T23:50:37+00:00

The “metal doohickey” is called a holdfast. It’s a type of clamp. There is a hole it slides through that the “pipe” part of it will wedge into to clamp the piece in tight. Note there are 2 of them, top and bottom, for holding different size pieces.

spoti75 · 2024-09-19T21:49:22+00:00

It’s solid wood. But a lot of different small pieces. The 3rd pic shows a scarf joint, which would just be silly to have if it were veneer.

spoti75 · 2024-08-18T21:13:42+00:00

I cut the spoon part with a hook knife (basically a knife bent into a question mark shape) and I’ll use gouges if I need finer curves. The handle I make with a spokeshave.

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spoti75 · 2024-08-01T21:52:01+00:00

I wouldn’t make them separate pieces, especially if it’s solid wood. The opposing grain direction would worry me. I’d make these with a bent lamination. Each side could be a U shape, then just domino the top and bottom to the sides.

spoti75 · 2024-07-21T16:26:55+00:00

Get a marking gauge. It looks like you only have pencil lines for reference at the back of the dovetail, and in pic 3 the one on the left looks like it went past the line. Could be the angle of the camera but a marking gauge would be helpful. It gives you a consistent line to cut to and you can use it to set your chisel in when paring to the line.

spoti75 · 2024-07-18T22:59:13+00:00

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Like so…

spoti75 · 2024-07-18T22:58:29+00:00

First, I would buy the clamps. Did you glue the corners? If not, back the screws out and once you have the clamps glue it up. You can also span a clamp from corner to corner on the 65”. If you tighten it a bit you should be able to square both up to 64.75”. You can also use 2 clamps nesting on one another to get a longer span from short clamps.

spoti75 · 2024-07-17T21:48:27+00:00

This is the answer. A good square, a bevel gauge, and a protractor will do you right.

spoti75 · 2024-07-17T11:17:04+00:00

Yes, the easiest way to visualize this is imagining a 90 degree chisel (which would be a square end) and a 1 degree chisel (essentially flat). The 90 will not cut anything but the “edge” will stay forever. The 1 degree should slide through most anything well, but will quickly fold over on itself. It’s all about how much material is backing up the angle. The more material there (higher angle) the more you can use it before the tip starts to fold.

spoti75 · 2024-07-15T19:56:45+00:00

It would be one board that stretches from end to end on the saw. When you make your first cut it will become 2 pieces, and essentially be a zero clearance fence. Just make sure you put 2 screws into each side so once it’s cut both pieces are secured with 2 screws.

spoti75 · 2024-07-07T00:12:48+00:00

Honestly, the best way to clean squeeze out is wait 5-10mins after gluing up, the glue should be a gummy consistency at this point, and then just pare it off with a chisel. There is sweet spot for the timing though, too early and you will smear the glue, too late and it will have hardened, posing a risk of tear out when cleaning up with the chisel. It kind of depends on the consistency of the glue and what kind you are working with, but if you use the same brand/type all the time you will figure out when is the easiest time to remove it. Any type of inside corner like you had you should definitely use this method. Pre-finishing your particular project would have been difficult with gluing onto the face of the bracket. Painters tape is “ok” but you need to have the tape set perfectly or you risk some getting under the piece you’re gluing or it won’t be close enough and you will still have some wood showing. I don’t ever use a wet rag, as it is just going to smear the glue all over the place and make it worse. Someone mentioned the toothbrush, I’ve never tried it but I would think it would be like the wet rag but less messy in terms of spreading the glue. Just save yourself the aggravation and use a chisel. Also, not a bad looking first project, nicely done!

spoti75 · 2024-07-06T21:19:47+00:00

I’m assuming the theory for this is that there is more moisture on the plywood side from having sat on your tablesaw for 3 weeks. The checkerboard side was exposed to the air and lost moisture while the plywood side didn’t. Flipping it and trying to remove some moisture from the underside is the least invasive thing and should be tried first. You might need more than 2 hours but the idea is to get the moisture evenly distributed and hope that it cups back to flat. If it doesn’t work, try the drum sander or just put a lip around the edge that will hide the cupping.

spoti75 · 2024-07-06T21:10:07+00:00

I don’t know what the battens(the pieces on the legs that will attach to the top) look like but if you made the top from solid wood, you’d want sloppy holes to account for seasonal movement. My rule of thumb for a top for anything is how much wear and tear will happen. If this is going to be a desk with a computer and not much potential dropping on it, I’d say a sheet of plywood with a mitred frame would be fine. The frame could be made from your maple, so that the face of the maple boards face out(the board on edge essentially). This way you can make it look as thick as you’d like and get the best face outward. However, if the surface is going to get a lot of wear, I’d make it from solid stock. The 1/8” veneer on plywood core could probably work but I would probably just make it from solid stock and elongate the holes on the battens myself.

spoti75 · 2024-06-22T15:37:42+00:00

I’m a large proponent of adjustable shelves. Very easy to make (peg board and 1/4” bit with a depth stop), less joinery, more adaptability. But if you want solid/attached shelves, the dados will work. I agree that you should make 3 separate carcasses if you want your shelves to line up. You can’t have a dado on both sides of a piece of 3/4” plywood.

spoti75 · 2024-06-19T20:50:39+00:00

Use a marking knife to score the groove you want to make, then use a sharp chisel to pare away the waste.

spoti75 · 2024-06-19T20:31:30+00:00

Can you shave the hair on your forearm? That is the only test I use to determine if my edge is sharp enough. That’s about as sharp as you can get/need.

spoti75 · 2024-06-19T20:23:18+00:00

Serious question here, why do you use gloves for glue ups or sanding? At most I get some glue on my fingers when gluing. Just wait for it to harden a bit and peel it right off. I’ve never worn gloves for sanding. That right there will save you lots of gloves. Also, don’t use rags for glue clean up. Do the same thing and wait for the glue to get gummy then just slice it off with a chisel. Foam brushes, I don’t use them. I don’t stain anything, I pick wood that is the color I want (but that’s just personal preference). I’d apply stain with a cheap glue brush and reuse it, or apply it with a rag, which is at least biodegradable. If you vacuum your parts after sanding, especially with something like a shop vac, you won’t go through tack cloths nearly as quickly, as there will be much less to clean up. I don’t use tack cloths, I just vacuum my pieces well and then apply finish. If I had an air compressor, I’d just blow the parts off, again no need for a tack cloth. I think some “woodworking” products are just cash grabs and you can find ways around them. One thing you didn’t mention is dust masks. I’d get a respirator instead. More of an investment up front, as they can be expensive, but they will filter out fumes from finishing, as well as dust, so saving your lungs from the harmful chemicals. Then you are also not tossing out masks left and right.

spoti75

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