Sept./Oct.1986 , No . 60, $3.75 Chairs ® UJ11M THIS SIDE OUT N __...._ ZIllHItI Call Us Toll Free! Item Description List Sale FOR THE NAME OF YOUR LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR: In Calilornia • II You Live • II You Live LU72M010 10 x40 Gen. PurposeAT B $ 68.58 39.90 Call Toll Free: In This Area: In This Area $ 1 824-0141 -8CJO. 1-8CJO.824-8045 Call Toll Free LU73M010 10x60 Gen. PurposeAT B 79.95 44.90 (Outside NC) LU81 M0 10 10x 40 Gen. Purpo se TCG 69.30 42.90 1-800-334-4107 LU82M010 10 x 60 Gen. Purpo se TCG 86.50 47.90 LU84M01 1 10 x 50 Co mbinatio n 4 & R 74 .51 44.50 LU85M010 10x80 Fi neCutOff ATB 11 0.88 73.50 �as� LM72M010 10 x24 Rip FlatTop 64.85 44.50 PS203 7% x 24 Gen. Purpo se ATB 27.45 18.99 PS303 7% x 40 Gen. Purpose ATB 32.97 24.99 US Virgin 1 Islands- OS306 6" Dado Max. Width of Cut 716" 146.90 109.50 . - OS308 8" Dado Max. Width ofCut1716" 179.90 119.50 •• • � Puerto Rico NOTE: All Saws= and Dado have %' Bore Hawaii � ATB = Alternate Top Bevel 4&R = 4Teeth&1 Raker Tooth TCG TrlpleChlp Grlnd 218 Feld Ave., High Point, NC 27264 W®JirQ](919) 434-317 1 SALE ENDS 1570 Corporate Dr. , Suite G Costa Mesa, Cal. 92626 DECEMBER 31, 1986 (714) 751·8866 Fine __________ cIw orking September/October 1986 Editor DEPARTMENTS Paul Bertorelli Art Director 4 LeUers Roland Wolf 8 Methods of Work Associllle Editors Wired tambours; grinder misting system; featherboard variation Jim Cummins Roger Holmes 14 Questions & Answers Dick Burrows Laminating curved steps; water-repellent finish; taming Osage-orange David Sloan You could think oj a be­ 108 wildering variety oj jigs Events and Jixtures Jor the myr­ Copy Editor iad off-angle cuts in a Nancy-Lou Knapp 112 Chippendale chair, but ac­ Books Assistllnt Art cording to Gene Landon, Director 114 you're better off without Notes and Comment them_ He explains how to Kathleen Creston Designing for the disabled; Design Book deadline; tenon terms do the job in the article beginning on p_ 38. Editorilll Secretllry ARTICLES Cindy Howard The Taunton Press 38 Contributing Editors Making the Chippendale Chair by Eugene E. Landon Paul Roman, publisher; Janice Tage Frid A. Roman, associate pubUsber; The way to a chair is to mind your flats and squares Tom Luxeder, business man­ R_ Bruce Hoadley ager; Carol Marotti, personnel Michael S. 46 manager; Lois Beck, office­ Sliding Bevel Gauge by Irving Sloane services coordinator; Jean Podmaniczky Gracing function with form Oddo, executive secretary; Mary Ann Colbert, secretary; Simon Watts Roy Sanderson, maintenance. 48 Wood Screws by George Mustoe Accounting: Irene Arfaras, Consulting Editors manager; Mary Ames, Marie The basics of the basic fastener Seno, Elaine Yamin. Art: Roger George Frank Bantes, design director; Vickie Otto Heuer Joy Stansberry, art assistant. 51 D all screws: who needs pilot holes? Books: Leslie Carola, publish­ Richard E_ Preiss ryw er; Heather Brine Lambert, as­ Norman Vandal by Paul Bertorelli soci ate art director; Scott Lan­ dis, Christine Tinunons, as­ sociate editors; Nancy Stabile, Methods of Work 52 Pilot bits, another view by Michael Podmaniczky copy/production editor; Mar­ Jim Richey tha Higham, secretary_ Fulfill­ ment: Carole E. Ando, sub­ 53 Chasing Large Wooden Threads by Richard Starr sCription manager; Terry Thomas, assistant manager; An alternative to tap and die Laura Lesando, custOlner ser­ vice coordinator; Gloria Car­ son, Dorothy Dreher, Pamela 58 Filling the Grain by David E. Shaw Kaswer, Peggy leBlanc, Denise Pascal, Heather Ricca.rdl, Nan­ Making wood as smooth as glass cy Schoch, MarcheUe Sperling; Ben Warner, mail-services clerk. Robert Bruschi, distribu­ 62 by Robert Vaughan Testing Pad Sanders tion supervisor; David Blasko, Mary Ann Costagliola, Linnea You can't judge one by its cover Fine Woodworkillg (ISSN 0361- Ingram, Lisa Nacinovich, Aar­ 3453) is publishcd bimonthly, Janu­ Oil Nathensoll. Manufactur­ ary, March, MaY,July, September and ing: Kathleen Davis, director; 66 Jigsaw Puzzles by Steve Malavolta November, by The Taunton Press, Gary Mancini, manager; Bar­ Inc., NewtOwn, CT 06470. Tele· Brain twisters can be works of art ba_raBabr, David DeFeo, coor­ phone (203) 426·8171. Second-ciass dinators; Deborah Cooper, DI­ postage paid m Newtown, CT 06470, nah George, Margot Knorr, and additional mailing offices. Copy­ 70 Karen Truchon, production as­ Thomas Moser by Paul Bertorelli right 1986 by The Taunton Press, sistants; Claudia Blake Apple­ Inc. No reproduction without per­ Marketing is as important as making gate, system operator. Mar­ mission of The Taunton Press, Inc. keting: Dale Brown, director; Fine Woodworking® is a registered Rosemarie Dowd, trade sales trademark of The TaunlOn Press, Inc. 76 by Ernie Conover coordinator; Barbara Bucka­ Turning Balls Subscription rdles: United States and lew, secretary. Promotion: posseSSions, $18 for one year •• 34 Jon Miller, manager; MOUy Tur­ 77 by Samuel Butler nteUe, assistant manager; Clau­ for two years; Canada and other Mortising Machine dia Allen, circulation assistant; countries, $21 for one year, .40 for A shop-built combination of router and precision sliding table Anne Feinstein, associate art two years (in U.S. dollars, please). director. Video: RJck Mastelli, Single copy, $3.75. Single copies producer/director; Don Goff, outside U.S. and posseSSions, $4.25. 79 Bits for horizontal milling by Rich Preiss Jr., production assistant. Send to Subscription Dept., The Taunton Press, PO 130x 355, New­ town, CT 06470. Address all corre· Advertising and Sales: Rich­ 81 Router tenoning jig by David Marshall spondence 10 the appropriate depan­ ard Mulligan and James P_ ment (Subscription, Editorial, or Chiavelli, national accounts managers; Vivian E. Dorman, Advcnising), The T:lunton Press, 63 82 Woodwork from the Southwest by Jim Cummins associate sales representa­ South Main Street, PO Box 355, New­ tOwn, CT 06470. U.S. newsstand dis­ Santa Fe gallery mounts a regional show tive; Carole Weckesser, senior sales coordinator; Nancy tribution by Eastern News Distribu· Clark, sales coordinator. Tel. (Qrs, Inc., 1130 Cleveland Road, (203) 426-8171. Sandusky, OH 44870. 84 Guilds for Woodworkers Postmaster: Send address changes to The Taunton Press, Inc., PO Box 355, Newtown, CT 06470. 3 Letters Jay Fisher FWW #58, Letters) does himself a disservice in tiful, expressive articles ...handmade fu rniture is no more ex­ ( believing himself a pretender. There are no pretenders, only pensive now, compared to earnings, than it has ever been. It's woodworkers and non-woodworkers. If he works with wood the U.S. economy which is "unwoven from the warp and weft frequently, then he's a woodworker. Everyone starts at the be­ of ... reality, ... estranged from the energy which steams in ginning and few become master craftsmen, so he shouldn't everyday life;" likewise all those people who live in it. But this be intimidated by inexperience or unfamiliar terms. They economy is a strange hiccup in the long history of humanity, a come with time. history in which the artisan has always had his or her rightful As for fear of butchering a hunk of expensive wood, he place. It's still there.The artisan's fine opportunity is to awake should practice techniques on pine and scrap wood, working to it. -Fletcher Cox, Tougaloo, Miss. with hardwoods when he becomes comfortable with the tech­ niques. A well-fitted and finished piece is "fine woodwork­ The article "Getting Squared Away" was very interesting. As ing," whether in pine or ebony, and mistakes are the birth­ much as I enjoy the beauty of a try square with a brass-lined places of wondrous details used to cover them up (and which beam, I think the Stanley all-metal No. 12 square has much to the observer usually believes to be intended decoration.) offer. Definitely not as high in quality or price as a Starrett, it's If Mr. Fisher takes the time to carefully fit and finish his still a very good tool. I have two such squares, a 6 in.and a 10 in. wood, it will be a work of beauty, regardless of what he makes As I don't do any carpentry or any large work, I don't own a or the wood he works with. "Fine woodworking" is a state of framing square. mind-a quest for quality in what one does. Exotic tools and When I wish to check my squares, I place the two squares expensive woods are secondary. I Sincerely hope that Mr. Fisher back-to-back along my 12-in. Starrett steel rule. Then I repeat stops being self-conscious and starts happily (and carefully) the operation with one of the squares and a third square. chiseling away. -Philip Wiener, El Toro, Calif. Checking each pair of squares this way ensures that the angle is 90°. Then, the inside of each square can be checked against I was fascinated by the article in FWW #58, "Ripple Molding," any one of the other two squares. by Carlyle Lynch. Some time ago I came into possession of an -Norman M. Wickstrand, Harwinton, Conn. old spinet-type melodeon, cased in rosewood. Missing was about 18 in. of intricately cut molding. When I inquired of I just finished reading your article on squares, which I en­ Fww, Jim Cummins referred to me Irv Rosen. In about a joyed. That, in spite of the fact that I'm more interested in the month I received an 18-in. exact duplicate in rosewood from history of tools than in tolerances in thousandths of inches. Mr. Rosen, together with a modest bill for making the cutters Some points regarding the article: You say the distinction and labor.