If you haven't had the opportunity to use one, a featherboard is the most common member of a family of mechanical hold-down devices designed to help hold stock up against a tool's surface or fence while it’s cut of otherwise machined. In its simplest form, a featherboard is a shop-made device cut from a piece of straight grained, 3" - 6" wide scrap. To make one, you simply crosscut the board at approximately 30 degrees and then make a series of stopped cuts in the direction of the grain roughly 1/8" apart. The end result should be a series of flexible "fingers" running across angled end of the board.

A featherboard actually serves two purposes. As mentioned, it helps hold the stock up tight against the surface of tool or fence while you run it through. In most cases, a featherboard is able to do a better job than a human operator of keeping the stock on track. A featherboard has just one job – to apply and even, consistent pressure. It doesn't have to worry about such things as changing hand positions to keep the stock moving, or keeping up the appropriate feed rate. Along with that, a featherboard can be positioned closer to the action than human finger should ever venture, applying pressure where it is most effective and least likely to be overcome by vibration. Together, these advantages make a featherboard or other mechanical hold-down device just about indispensable for delicate edge forming, grooving and rabbeting operations.

Using a featherboard also offers safety benefits. Because of the angled orientation of its fingers, when a featherboard is set up to apply a gentle pressure, it will allow stock to move easily in the direction of the cut while all but preventing movement in reverse.  And while it should be noted that they are not a replacement for the riving knife and anti-kickback pawls that now come standard with most table saws, featherboards do provide significant kickback insurance. 

Should you make your own featherboards, or buy them ready-made? Making your own is a viable choice: A shop-made featherboard can work just as well and a store-bought model, and of course they're virtually cost-free. But like most things, there are a couple of tradeoffs:  Featherboards aren’t particularly hard to make, but they don’t make themselves. Depending on your how much enjoyment you get out of making jigs, and how much shop-time you have on hand, you may decide that the chance to get on with your work outweighs the modest cost of a store-bought model.  More to the point, shop-made featherboards are typically much less user-friendly than ready-made varieties. If you’re planning to simply clamp a basic shop-made featherboard in place, remember that you have to do that while you hold it in a position that exerts a slight pressure on a representative piece of the stock.  That, in itself, can involve a bit of surprisingly awkward one-handed clamping.

Getting the featherboard secured in the right place can be especially difficult when the goal is to clamp it to the surface of the tool; most table saw beds and router table tops just weren’t designed to make the process easy and convenient. Rockler Table Featherboards, on the other hand, side-step the clamping problem. Their miter slot hold-down bars expand to clamp the featherboard firmly into a standard 3/4’’ x 3/8’’ miter slot and secure its position simultaneously, with the turn of a couple of knobs.

Rockler featherboards also make more involved set-ups much easier. One featherboard isn't always enough; occasionally, you need "stacked" featherboards.  When you're running stock vertically along the fence - as in the case of cutting raised panels with a vertical panel-raising bit - you need the extra support of a second featherboard up near the top of the fence. The second featherboard ensures that the entire face of the stock will stay in contact with the fence, and not just the bottom edge. A perfect companion to our popular Deluxe Router Router Fence, the Rockler Double Featherboard Kit lets you position two perfectly aligned featherboards one on top of the other with the same quick and easy turn of a knob. And if you already own the basic kit, the Rockler Retrofit Double Featherboard Kit lets you do it for considerably less.

This beautiful wine cabinet was built by Barry Semegran, who reviewed of our Polyurethane Satin Gel Finish, a product we've had on the shelves for decades. According to him, this wipe on poly is so easy to use and forgiving, it's almost like cheating. It doesn't look like Barry cheats or cuts corners very often to us - in either design of execution. We especially like the painted images on the inside of the doors - a nice surprise when you open the cabinet.

We'd guess that the skills acquired in an auto body shop would transfer well into the woodshop, and here's proof. Built by Mike Leslie for his shop in Sundance, WY, this service cart looks too good to use. Mike was kind enough to include the image along with his review of the Accuride 3832 Full Extension Drawer Slide - which he seems to have worked out very well for him. Later, he got a chance to use the slides again in a matching tool chest. A great design and, judging from the picture, a masterful finishing job. Again, we're wondering how he can bring himself to actually  use it.

 

 

Here's a solid looking toy box with a couple of nice touches. Its builder, Dennis DeMorest, used our Antique Brass Piano Hinge and Toy Box Lid Supports as part of the clever fold-down chalk board lid design. We also like the inlaid blocks in the sides and front. 

 

 

 

We often wonder what becomes of some of the more obscure hardware items we've had on hand for years  - such as our Leather Case Handles. Things couldn't be better if they all ended up the attached to items of comparable quality to this handsome walnut and elm burl briefcase. Brad from Austin TX built it for a client in the early 1990's. Fifteen years later when the handle finally wore out, he was happy to find the exact same part still in stock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to David T., from Cypress, CA for this impressive image and his kind words about our Wine Box-Elder Burl Pen Blanks. You'll find several images of finely crafted turned pens in our customer reviews. We chose this one because it's an exceptionally well-made example, and because of the format, which really brings you up-close-and-personal with what a great pen looks like. We admire the confidence David must have in order to show the world his work with such bald-faced clarity.

 

 

The art of inlay is a branch of woodworking that you can take to high levels of craft, design and expertise without owning a huge shop and tons of expensive tools. As a matter of fact, if you choose "marquetry" (in simplified terms, using thin sheets of veneer instead of the comparatively thick pieces of wood stock used here) you can do the most interesting and demanding parts of the process while sitting at your kitchen table. If you'd like to give it a try, we hope this example will both inspire you and give you something shoot for.  The maker, Bob Shultz from Los Gatos, CA, used our thin stock Padauk and Purpleheart lumber for the flower petals.

We could go on and on. But more than likely, you have some tool testing, set up or assembly to get on with. So here, in parting, is a departure for Dave Miller, a canoe and kayak builder in Juneau, AK.  Dave sent this along with his review of (and general praise for) the Japanese Dozuki Saw, a tool he says excels at accurately cutting the thin, narrow slats he customarily applies to the building of watercraft. We've never seen anything like it. Our only regret is that we haven't seen the completed project. So, if you happen to spot a uniquely decked-out teardrop camper in the wilds of Alaska, please snap a picture and send it in post-haste.

And please keep your own pictures and reviews rolling in. We can't wait to see what you're working on. Merry Christmas from all of us at Rockler.

(Editor's note: please notice the date of this posting - the products mentioned may no longer be on sale)

1. The Rockler Heavy Duty Flip Top Roller Stand would be a welcome addition just about anywhere: a home shop, the back of a carpenter’s or even a professional cabinet shop. This shop standard performs such a variety useful functions that it would be impossible for a woodworker not to want one. This particular model is especially useful, as it combines the two common styles of stock outfeed stand. It converts in a matter of seconds from a 14-3/4” standard roller, which is great for very narrow stock or just holding up the dumb end of a board, to a support comprised of 8 ball bearings, the best arrangement for most power tool outfeed applications.
 
The Heavy Duty Flip Top Stand is made from heavy gage square steel tubing, and has a hefty 220 lbs. load rating. It comes with Rockler’s own unique cam–style leveling system. With a turn of the specially designed foot pads, the stand can be quickly de-wobbled and made to stand up straight on a wonky basement floor or uneven ground at a jobsite. At the regular price of $99.99, it’s a lot of work support for the money. Now, at $59.99 (40 percent off) it represents an uncommonly good deal on a premium version of this wood shop essential.

2. Designed specifically for woodworking applications, Forstner drill bits fill a unique niche in the woodshop. Unlike most other types of bit, they can be used along with a drill press to bore angled holes, holes that partially overlap, and holes on the edge of the material. And they’re just about the only choice for clean larger sized holes, where the alternative is either an inexpensive spade bit or a hole saw - neither of which are especially well known for producing the smooth, crisp-edged holes that exacting woodwork projects call for. In the end, they’re really the only bit suitable for a variety of woodworking tasks.

In the world of woodworking tools, Forstner bits  are an interesting case. The need for their special capabilities and their especially precise, clean holes doesn’t come up all that frequently, but when it does, nothing else will do. Most woodworkers would love to have a full set on hand when the need arises, but many don’t, because they’re focusing on acquiring the “bread and butter” tools they’ll use most frequently. Consequently, Forstner bits are the perfect gift for a great many woodworkers. Right now, you can pick up a set of 16 of the most common sizes for a mere $39.99, or a starter set of 7 for just $11.49 – a whopping 52 and 58 percent off the regular price respectively.

3. As their careers progress, most woodworker develop and ever greater appreciation for fine tools. Interestingly, for most, it really doesn’t matter what the tool does, just so long as it’s exceptionally well made and performs its function – however humble – in a way that sets it apart from the rest of the pack. With that in mind, we’d like to recommend the Felo 5-Piece Screw Driver Set as a gift that’s almost guaranteed to please.

Crafted to the highest standards, these German-made classics are without a doubt as good as screwdrivers get. Their super-hard black tips are ground to precisely fit the screw sizes for which they are intended, will keep their crisp, screw-gripping shape through years of service. And because the shaft is anchored through the entire length of the handle, will stand up to an incredible amount of torque. The ergonomically designed boxwood handles complete the design, in keeping with a tradition that dates back to early Felo models beginning in the 1870s. All in all, this is a very handsome gift, and at $19.99 (42 percent off) a steal.  

4. Of course, these days there’s more than one way to screw in a screw. Our next pick goes to the all encompassing Irwin 41-Piece Fastener Driver Set. A perfect gift for DIYers, cabinetmakers and installers, carpenters and anyone who routinely deals with various types of screw, this handy kit covers fasteners from A to Z. With 39 drivers for the most common sizes of Phillips, square drive, slotted and hex head screws, the handy person on your list will be armed for just about any fastening task that comes along. Not to be neglected, the included soft carrying case provides a valuable organization system, and helps prevent the typical search for the right driver tip that seem to only crop up at pivotal moments in the course of a day’s work.   

Finally, if the woodworker on your list has been especially good this year and you feel inclined to spend a little more. The Rockler Portable Router Table has been a favorite for years. Recently upgraded, the new bench top table comes with features you’d look for on a floor standing router table: a solid aluminum plate, a plate leveling system, a steel stand, and a 1” thick top.

5. The Portable Router Table is great for small home shops. Measuring a diminutive 24” wide x 16” deep x 16” high, it stores easily under a bench when not in use; the compact size also makes it the perfect jobsite companion. The table comes with an adjustable aluminum/MDF fence of the same basic design as the one that accompanies our extremely popular full sized router table. The 1/8” thick steel frame is predrilled for an optional safety switch, and you also get four adjustable four levelers, which make it easy to keep the table planted firmly on an uneven surface.

If you’re looking for something that the big woodworking kid on your list will have put together before the wrapping paper’s cleaned up, the Portable Router Table could be just the ticket. And right now, with a price cut of 30 percent to $139.99, you’ll get a great deal on a table that does everything you’d expect from a full sized floor standing model.

These are just a few suggestions. If you don’t see it here, you’ll find lots more in our Holiday Gift Guide. Or, if you’re looking for an exceptionally good deal, browse the 200 or so items in the Rockler Outlet. Whatever you choose, don't delay - as of right now you still have time, but you won’t for long.

The Wixey Digital Angle Gauge is an excellent example. This unassuming 2” x 2” square box transforms the common and often frustrating task of accurately setting the blade or fence angle on power tools into a foolproof 30-second procedure. The gauge works by electronically comparing a reference angle of zero degrees against an opposing angle anywhere over a range of 150 degrees. To use it, you simply attach the magnetic edge of the gauge to a saw blade or fence and adjust the angle setting until the digital readout tells you that you’re in exactly the right position. It’s that simple. Compared to the usual routine of hunching down and squinting at a T-bevel or a square until you’re pretty sure you have the angle setting just about right, it’s an amazing luxury.

Wixey’s 8” and 3” Digital Protractors work in much the same way, but instead of using an external plane as a reference, they take their reading based on a comparison of the relative position of their two blades. For a woodworker, the benefits and uses are obvious. These “intelligent” squares make it easy to measure and mark off virtually any angle with absolute accuracy. As importantly, they take dead-on readings of the real life angles of wall intersections, existing casework, cut-and-fit constructions and whatever else happens along. Both models have a blade lock-down mechanism for repeatable angle marking. And both have magnetic strips on all blade edges, which means they’ll work equally well for setting up power tools.

The 3” protractor is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, and works great for quick, accurate tool set ups, marking angles on small parts, and reading angles in tight spaces. A trim carpenter, on the other hand, might appreciate the longer blades of the 8” model. The added blade length is better for reading real-world angles for trim cuts, and can, of course, be used to measure and mark angles on larger stock. Either way, the ability to quickly and accurately measure and mark any angle from 0 to 180 degrees has countless woodworking applications. 

Measuring the height settings of saw blades and router bits is another extremely common woodworking task, and almost always a crucial one. Rockler’s Digital Height Gauge makes the process quick, easy and more accurate than virtually any other method. With its heavy steel foot, the gauge rests flat on the surface of the tool of its own accord. Setting a particular blade or bit height is a simple matter of resting the gauge’s measurement arm on the tip of the blade or bit and raising both until the digital readout confirms the exactly correct height.

The gauge’s reach is another important feature. One of the main drawbacks of other height measuring methods is that they make it difficult to measure based on the guaranteed flat permanent surface of the tool - a much more reliable reference point than a table saw throat plate or router table insert. The digital height gauge can take a measurement based on a surface that’s a couple inches away from the blade or bit, on the plane that’s actually supporting the workpiece. The overall results are fewer test cuts, less frustration, less scrap wood, and in a majority of cases, a happier woodworker.

Finally, here’s a digital tool that’s almost guaranteed to have universal appeal. Sooner or later in almost every woodworker’s career, an accurate method for measuring very small distances – the thickness of veneer, the depth of a groove, etc. - becomes an absolute necessity. The tool for that is, irreplaceably, a machinist’s caliper. Fortunately, calipers are now available in two varieties: the traditional dial caliper, which gives its reading via a small circular scale covered with tiny, not-so-easy to interpret numbers, and the modern (vastly preferable, if you ask us) digital caliper, which offers every bit as accurate readings on a large, easy-to-read display.

Almost any woodworker will find endless uses for a digital caliper. They’ll use it for everything from checking the thickness of planed stock to measuring the distance between drawer pull bores. If you do decide to go that route, consider a Fractional Digital Caliper for anyone who’s used to fractional notation. The fractional readings are supplied down to 1/128ths of an inch, which is plenty accurate for most measuring tasks. A press of a button switches the readout decimal form for greater accuracy, or to millimeters.

Finding the perfect gift for a woodworker can be a challenge, especially if you’re buying for someone who already has an elaborate tool collection and strongly held opinions about what counts as a worthy piece of equipment. Even for a veteran woodworker, digital measuring tools are a pretty safe bet. Harnessing modern technology, they offer something every woodworker wants: absolute accuracy the easy way.

But that’s only the beginning. Also since the debut of the new jig, the tool designers at Rockler have been hard at work developing add-ons and accessories that make the jig even more useful and versatile. Now, the Rockler Dovetail Jig is really a dovetail jig system: you can have it in it’s basic form, and be satisfied with a very serviceable set-up for making the most common dovetail joints, or you can transform it, with the addition of new template guides and accessories, into a dovetail jig that will do just about anything you could ever want it to do easily, cleanly and efficiently.

We think it’s a good approach. We’re not knocking jigs that come standard dripping with bells and whistles. But they do tend to be a little spendy. Not everyone needs the ability to cut 24 inches of pins and tails, each pair cut to a custom size for added visual effect. And not everyone is comfortable shelling out big bucks for a tool that, in the end, they’ll probably only use occasionally. With the Rockler jig, you can start making basic through and half blind dovetails affordably (especially right now) and later on, if you want, build your jig into highly versatile and comfortable-to-use system. To give you an idea of what we mean, here’s one possible trajectory for a “building out” of the Rockler jig.

 

Through dovetails above; half blind dovetails below. The Rockler Dovetail Jig makes both.

 

Start with the Complete Dovetail Jig package. You’ll get the jig, a guide bushing that attaches to your router base plate and guides the router through the cut, the three router bits necessary to get started, and a collet adapter that fits 8mm diameter bits into a standard 1/2” router collet. (A note on the bits: they’re are a non-standard size because an increase in shaft diameter from the usual 1/4" to 8mm significantly reduces vibration and chatter, which can in turn cause tear-out and affect the fit and finish of the joint.)

With the jig package, you’ll also get two guide templates, which attach to the top of the jig and serve as a guide when you cut the joint. One template is used for both parts of a half blind dovetail, the type of joint where the pins and tails are only visible from one side of the joint. With this template, you’ll be able to cut an entire half blind dovetail joint with one pass of the router. The jig comes equipped with a handy offset stop, which automatically positions the stock so that when you’re done, the two parts of the joint line up flush with one another at each end. The joint you’ll get is the very same one that currently holds together countless drawer boxes in high end commercial cabinetry.

 The second template is used to cut “through” dovetail pins. A through dovetail joint is one where the tails project completely through the receiving piece of stock. Put another way, the pins and tails are visible from both sides of the joint. Through joints are considered more decorative, and are often used for boxes and chests where a distinctive look and a high level of craft are desired. Through dovetails are always cut one piece at a time. The Rockler jig simplifies the transition from the tail to pin cut with clearly marked settings and instruction on the jig and template for setting up the joint and adjusting the fit.

Dealing With the Dust

No matter what jig you use, you’re sure to notice one thing: cutting dovetails with a router is a dusty business. You’re first couple of projects are sure to have you looking for a solution to the problem. You won’t have far to look. The Rockler Dovetail Jig Dust Collector neatly and affordably solves the problem.  The dovetail jig dust collector attaches in minutes to the Rockler jig, where it virtually eliminates the dusty mess router dovetailing usually produces.

In a unique arrangement, the dust collector uses a sweep brush to contain the air flow from a shop vac or dust collection system. The sweep focuses the suction on the cut, but lets the bit pass through as you move from one pin or tail to the next. For a better idea of how the system works, watch our video of the dust collector in action. For a better idea of how well the dovetail jig dust collector works, we recommend a quick peruse of our customer reviews.

 

Distinctive Series Dovetail Templates add a hand-crafted look without difficult set ups. Style A shown above; style B below.

 

Expanding Your Dovetailing Repertoire

With the dust under control and a little dovetailing experience under your belt, you might start looking for new and exciting uses for your jig. The evenly spaced pins and tails the basic jig produces are perfectly sound from a structural standpoint, but the ability to alter the look of the finished product would add visual interest and give you the chance to further expand your skills.

With any of the Distinctive Series Dovetail Templates for the Rockler jig, you’ll be able to do just that – with the same ease as you’ve enjoyed when cutting standard dovetails. Available in three styles, distinctive series dovetail templates are made specifically for the Rockler Dovetail Jig. They set up in the same way as the standard templates, and give you three options for varying the look of your dovetail joints.

Distinctive Series Template Style A is designed to produce the classic wide pin and narrow tail joint typical of hand cut dovetails found on fine furniture. Template Style B allows you to cut dovetails of varied spacing for a one of a kind look. It’s set up to work perfectly with stock widths commonly used in making drawers, but you can also get creative and create your own spacing patterns. Template Style C is another classic, this time with wide pins and tails for a more hand cut look.

Tiny Dovetails

And here’s still another dovetail template option. The Miniature Dovetail Template and Bit Set will allow you to make perfect dovetail joints with pins that are a mere 1/2” apart on center. Still using the same jig and the same basic set up procedure, you’ll be able to make small, intricately joined decorative boxes out of 1/8” to 1/4” thick stock. As with the Distinctive Series Templates, the miniature kit comes with both pin and tail templates. It also includes a 1/4” dovetail bit, a 1/8” straight bit (each with a tiny 1/8” shaft) and a collet adapter to fit them to your router.

A Place to Keep It All

Now you’ve really got a lot of dovetailing equipment. Wouldn’t a place to keep it organized and handy be nice? The Rockler Dovetail Jig Stand is designed to accept a shop-made drawer large enough to accommodate all of your various templates and bits, with room to spare for a few related pieces of equipment. It’s also designed to hold your jig firmly in place, and to elevate it 6” above the surface of your workbench, which makes for a much more comfortable dovetailing stance.

Pick and Choose

If you decided to “go for it” and bought everything mentioned above today, you’d still pay less than you would for any of a number of other dovetail jig packages. But it’s good, also, to have the option to pick and choose just the components that you’ll find most useful, or to build up your collection slowly over time. Right now is an excellent time to get started. With the Complete Dovetail Jig, the Dovetail Jig Dust Collector and the Dovetail Jig Stand all on sale, you can make a great three-component start and pay just $5 more than hundreds of happy campers did for the jig alone.

We'd like to help you get started, and that's why each year we put together our Holiday Gift Guide, where you'll find something for woodworkers of all skill levels and interests. But if you’re still puzzling over the myriad of woodworking gift possibilities, here are a few tips and best bets in various price ranges, beginning with the modest “stocking-stuffer”.

(Editor's note: please notice the date of this posting - sale prices mentioned may no longer be in effect.)

Gifts Under $10

In the “gifts under $10” range, you could hardly go wrong with a pocket sized diamond sharpening stone that comes with its own leather pouch. The 1" x 3" fine-grit stone is perfect for touching up the edge on everything from router bits to kitchen knives. It makes a great jobsite companion, and would be especially appreciated by a woodworker/outdoorsman type. A patented process produces these diamond matrix stones and insures that the sharpening surface will stay flat, very sharp and ready for use for years.

If you have a cabinetmaker who’s set up for spray finishing on your list, we can’t think of a better stocking stuffer than a couple of Sure Hook 360 tool-less cabinet door hangers. This Rockler exclusive has been a huge success since the day it hit the market, and consistently wins glowing customer reviews, like this one from professional remodeler Bill Nunez:

"One of my roles as a remodeling contractor is cabinet builder, and I've forever been trying to figure out how to fabricate something like this to allow me to spray both sides of a door without leaving marks or making holes in the workpiece. These are a dream come true.

There's nothing I'd change about them based on my first use yesterday to spray 30 doors...To whoever figured out how to make these things affordably, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

(Right now, the Sure Hook is more affordable than ever. You can pick up a starter set of three without pushing past the $10 mark.)

$10 - $20

The Four Foot T-Track Kit is once again our top pick in the $10 – $20 range.  Here an understanding of the woodworker’s mentality may be required. The T-Track Kit may strike the uninitiated as an un-giftlike box of miscellaneous hardware, but to the average woodworker, it’s a treasure trove of future shop-built jigs and fixtures.  We could go into detail on diverse uses woodworker’s everywhere find for this stuff, but we couldn’t give you a better idea of how much they like it than you’ll get from the T-Track Kit’s 77 customer reviews.

Also in the $20-or-less category, we’d like to suggest any of three Crown Tools angle measuring devices. All woodworkers need to measure and mark angles on a regular basis, and with a Crown Try Square, Try-Miter Square or T-Bevel, they’ll do it in classic style.  With solid brass rub plates, handsome rosewood handles, hardened steel blades and unsurpassed accuracy, these woodworking standards make common angle-measuring and marking operations a pleasure to perform.

$20 -$50

The All-In-One Clamp Guide is great place to start in the $20 to $50 gift range. This popular tool is something that just about any woodworker can use, but woodworkers with limited shop space and tool collections tend to be the clamp guide’s biggest fans. It gives them an easy, accurate way to achieve professional-quality cutting and routing results on larger materials - without having to own an industrial-sized shop. Craig Maynard sums up the benefits in his review of the 50” All-In-One:

“This all in one clamping guide is the best guide that I have ever used with a circular saw or router. With the 50" Clamp and a circular saw I can now cut a sheet of plywood perfectly straight and square. When using the clamp with a router I can put an edge on a board straight enough without any flaws that can be joined together. This clamp is one of the best tools I have invested in.”

$50 - $100 Gift Ideas

If the woodworker in your life is dropping hints about dovetail joinery equipment, have we got a deal for you.  A great value at the regular price, Rockler Complete Dovetail Jig comes with everything you need (except a router and wood) to start making perfect dovetails. You get the jig, two templates, the necessary guide bushing, the three router bit you need for both half-blind and through dovetails and a detailed set of instructions. In other words, you can start cutting dovetails as soon as you take it out of the box. Best of all, with the price knocked down by a third, it’s an honored special guest in our $50 to $100 gift price range, and our top pick for the category.

When you think of really great woodworking gifts, the term “extension cord” may not spring immediately to mind. But in truth, anyone who’s spent a few too many clean-ups engaging several yards of electric cord in much the same way they would a giant python will love a cord management system that actually works. Again, our customer reviews bear this out. Here are a few thoughts on our 12 Gauge Electric Cable Reel from Mark, in Anaheim Hills, CA:

“I purchased this item for my garage. Got weary of always yanking out extension cords and then coiling them for storage after a chore. What a great feature of just reeling-in your extension cord! After my first purchase...promptly went out and bought another for work!”

A long time favorite and a gift of truly universal appeal, this extra-heavy gauge, 30’ self retracting time and hassle saver earns its usual spot as a top pick for a gift  priced around $60.

Gifts for $100 or More

Once you pass the $100 mark, the sky’s the limit. But you don’t have to lug home a 700 lb. table saw to make a woodworker very, very happy. In keeping with the sense of frugality that seems likely to prevail this holiday season, we’ll stay close to the lower limit in our suggestions for the $100 plus category, beginning with our top pick: the Pack Rack Clamp and Tool Storage System.

Priced around $150, the Pack Rack neatly solves an extremely common woodshop problem: the lack of orderly and convenient clamp storage. With this robust rolling storage system, your woodworker will be able to keep a variety of the most useful woodworking clamps - along with glue, rags, dowels, biscuits, and other clamping related equipment – organized and close at hand. Every woodworker uses clamps – lots of them. In a small shop especially, a storage solution that keeps them all together and out of the way when not in use is truly something to get excited about.

Finally, we’d be remiss if we didn’t include at lest one power tool. Here’s one we think will be a big hit this season and won’t set you back too terribly much. The new Cordless Max Multi-X Tool from Bosch is a great choice for a carpenter a DIYer or just about any woodworker. This multipurpose tool performs a variety of handy functions. Built like a detail sander, the Multi-X can also be outfitted with attachments that saw, scrape and rasp in tight quarters where other power tools can go. But unlike other popular multi tools, the Multi-X is cordless and powered by the latest in lithium-ion battery technology – an interesting added convenience, we think. All in all, it’s a great tool, reasonably priced and an excellent value for the money.

Don’t see the perfect gift here? You’ll find lots more in our Holiday Gift Guide. Or, if you’re shopping for a bargain, check out the 200 plus items in the Rockler Outlet. As always, you’ll find everything a woodworker could possibly want – and this season, some especially great deals – at Rockler.

Last week

With the hinge cup holes drilled, you’re ready to begin laying out the location of the hinge mounting plates on the cabinet. The goal of this step is to lay out the hinge mounting plate locations so that they correspond correctly with the location of the hinge cup holes on the door. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. With the help of the hinge instructions and a little arithmetic, you can measure and lay out all of the hinge mounting plate screw locations in advance. As an alternative, here’s a fairly easy method that requires almost no math, very little measuring and is guaranteed to work:

 

Here's a typical layout for a face frame overlay hinge. Most face frame hinge mounting plates have tabs that align the plate with the edge of the face frame. Either the edge of the cup hole or the center can be used as a reference for the vertical position of the mounting plate on the cabinet. The fractional approximations given are perfectly adequate for the purpose of installing hinges.

To begin, you’ll need to recall (or measure) the position of the top hinge cup hole-center in relation to the top of the door. Once you have the measurement, measure down from the top of the door and make a light mark on the back edge (for overlay doors) or front (for inset doors) of the door corresponding to the center-point of the cup hole. To avoid having to erase a pencil mark later, stick a strip of masking tape in the general location of the hole beforehand.

Now, hold the door up on the front of the cabinet in the correct vertical position (with the top and bottom edge of the door overlapping the front of the cabinet by 1/2” for a 1/2” overlay door, for example) and transfer the cup hole center mark to the front edge of the cabinet.

 

Once the center point of the hinge cup hole is transferred to the edge of the face frame, determining the topmost screw hole position is just a matter of measuring up 16mm for most European hinges.

Next, you’ll need to know the location of the topmost screw hole in relation to the cup hole center mark. Thanks to the standardization of European hinges, you can virtually count on the mounting plate screw holes being 32mm apart on center. So, the vertical position of the topmost screw hole will be 32mm/2 = 16mm up from the cup hole-center. Measure up and mark the top screw’s vertical location on the inside edge of the face frame or cabinet wall (5/8” is a perfectly acceptable equivalent for 16mm, if you’re more comfortable with fractional notation). As you’ll see later, this is the only crucial vertical measurement you’ll need to make.

You’ll also need to know how far in form the front edge of the cabinet to position the mounting plates. For face frame cabinets, this is usually simple. Most Euro style face frame hinge plates/brackets have small tabs that align with the edge of the face frame. To position them, you simply hold them up on the cabinet face frame in the correct vertical position and use them as a template to mark the location, or to save a little time, as a pilot hole drilling template for a self-centering bit. If you’re installing face frame hinges, do that now, drilling or marking just the topmost screw hole for the time being.

 

For frameless cabinets, the distance from the front edge of the cabinet to the screw holes can be measured, following the hinge instructions. Here, a Rockler  Jig-It Template for mounting plates speeds up the process. Click and scroll down to see a list of Jig-It Templates and campatible hinges.

For frameless cabinet hinges, either refer to the instructions for the correct screw hole location, or use a handy Rockler Jig-It Template for Mounting Plates. In the case of frameless cabinets, it speeds things up to mark a line at the correct distance in from the edge of the cabinet in the general location of both hinge mounting plates at this time. Take a rough measurement of the vertical location of the bottom hinge and mark a line at the correct distance in from the edge of the cabinet for the bottom hinge plate screw holes. Then mark a "distance in" line for the top hinge and use a square to transfer the vertical position you've established for the topmost screw to the correct location on the interior cabinet wall. As with face frame hinges, drill the just topmost pilot hole of the topmost hinge for now.

Now it’s time to attach the hinges to the door. There’s nothing particularly complicated here, but you will want to make sure that the hinge arm is at a 90 degree angle to the edge of the door. Using a square to align the edge of the hinge cup plates with the top and bottom edges of the door works well (assuming the doors are square). It’s also a good idea to drill pilot holes for the screws using a #6 self centering bit. The self-centering bit ensures that the screws will be centered and won’t pull the hinge out of alignment when they seat.

 

With the door hung by a single screw in the topmost screw hole, the remaining holes can be laid out using the hinge plates. For an even faster installation, use the hinge plates as a template and drill pilot holes with a self-centering drill bit.

Next, screw the top mounting plate to the cabinet using the single pilot hole you’ve made. You can do this with just the plate (which is the easiest course if you’re using clip-on hinges) or with the entire door with both hinges already attached. Either way, what you want to end up with is the door - with both hinges installed - suspended buy a lightly snugged down top hinge plate screw. This will allow you to use the actual location of the remaining mounting plate screw holes as a guide.

You’re task is almost done. Swing the door into position on the cabinet and use the hinge plates to as a template to either mark or drill the remaining pilot holes. With all of the pilot holes drilled, all that’s left is to unscrew the single hinge plate screw and remove the door, erase any marks or peel off the masking tape, re-attach the door to the cabinet and make adjustments as necessary.

Once you’ve been through it a couple of times, you can zip through the door hanging process is a few minutes. And, using any of the hinge cup jigs mentioned in last weeks post, you’ll have no trouble moving from undrilled doors to the finished product in less than half an hour.

Luckily for all concerned, the vast majority of European hinge cups fit perfectly into single, 35mm-in-diameter sized hole. And the placement of the hole, while exacting, falls in one of two places for a great many popular hinges: centered on either 22.5mm or 20.5mm from the edge of the door. So, to install the cups of a huge variety of hinges, all you need to be able to do is consistently drill one size of hole in one of two spots.

In the cabinetmaking industry where time is of the essence, sophisticated methods for drilling hinge bores have long been in practice. For small operations and hobbyists, specialized jigs can yield every bit as accurate results in only a slightly longer time. Here are a few of our top choices, beginning with a system that’s been with us for a very long time.

The Concealed Hinges Jig-It System is available in its basic form for a total of around $40. This clever set-up consists of a drill guide outfitted with a long shank carbide Forstner bit and a steel template used to position the bit. Attached to the template are a 3/4” hardwood block, which acts a positioning stop, and a toggle clamp, which holds the template firmly in place.

The Jig-It sets up quickly. The steel template is predrilled on one side with screw holes that automatically center the cup hole at your choice of 20.5mm or 22.5mm from the edge of the door. On the other side of the template, two screw slots allow infinitely variable positioning of the hinge cup hole for anything that doesn't follow either of the two pre-set options. The drill guide comes with a 35mm carbide tipped Forstner bit already installed, a return spring to hold the bit up and out of the way until you’re ready to drill, and an adjustable stop collar, which comes pre-set to drill a hole at the very common depth of 13mm.

To use the jig, you position it in the desired spot along the edge of the door, clamp it in place – making certain that the wood stop block is up tight against the door’s back edge – fit the drill guide over the template and drill until the stop collar has fully compressed the return spring and you're prevented from going any farther. It’s that simple.

The vertical placement of the hinge cup holes – how far they are from the top and bottom of the door – is less crucial. For an average sized cabinet door, 3” from the top and bottom is common. Whatever you choose, it is important keep track of the distance from the top and bottom edge of the door to the center of the cup hole; you’ll need that dimension later on when you position the hinge plates on the cabinet.

When it comes to positioning the cup holes vertically on the edge of the door, it’s best to develop a system and stick with it. The Jig-It Multi Tool Rail, a modest upgrade from the original Jig-It system, can help with that. The Multi Tool Rail Master Pack comes with a 30” aluminum T-track and two drilling templates. The templates attach to the T-track with included T-bolts and knobs, allowing you to position two hinge cup holes at a time. There’s also a handy stop block, which is used to set the distance from the top or bottom of the door to the cup hole. It’s a great system for projects involving multiple doors of the same size. Just set the Multi Tool Rail up once and have at it. When it’s time to install the hinge plates, you’ll know that each and every door is set up with identically spaced hinge cup holes.

If a little extra speed and convenience are important, and you don’t mind spending a little more, the 35mm Euro Hinge Drilling Jig from Hettich offers a very slick system. The jig drills the standard 35mm cup hole and hinge screw pattern using three integrated, permanently mounted drill bits. All of the bits are powered by the same hex drive, so you can quickly drill all three holes without having to change tooling. The jig has indexed settings for a number of hinge cup tabs (“tab” is the term commonly used for the distance from the edge of the cup hole to the edge of the door). And it can be set up to drill either small pilot holes for hinges held in place with screws or the 8mm holes used with expansion dowel hinge installation.

If you own a drill press, you may prefer to use it to drill your hinge cup holes. The drill press method is quick and easy, and will insure that the cup holes are perpendicular to the surface of the door. The only thing that could possibly slow you down or pose a problem is the set up. You’ll need to position a fence on the drill press table that positions the door for the correct cup hole location. Rockler offers a number of handy UHMW plastic Hinge Cup Drilling Set Up Jigs that are designed just for the task.

Finally, here’s an option that doesn’t rely on a drill for cutting the hinge cup hole. With Rockler’s new Concealed Hinge Router Jig-It, you can buzz out 35mm cup holes quickly and efficiently with a plunge router. Like the Jig-It drilling jig, the Router Jig-It comes pre-drilled with screw holes to set up for holes centered on either 22.5mm or 20.5mm from the edge of the door.

Instead of clamping to the door, the Router Jig-It is screwed in place on the door using the hinge screw holes. While the screw-on template method may add a few seconds to the procedure, it does insure that the template will remain absolutely stock-still on the edge of the door, and because there is no clamping mechanism to contend with, you can lay the door completely flat and supported on your workbench during the process. When it’s time to install the hinge, you’ll have two perfectly aligned screw holes all set to go.

Which one should you get? If you frequently make multiple cabinets, the ability to drill two hinge cup holes with a single set-up afforded by the Multi Tool Rail Jig-It is a great thing to have. The 35mm Euro Hinge Drilling Jig from Hettich, although more expensive and limited to a single cup hole size, is fast, accurate and durable enough for thousands of hinges. For drill press owners, picking up a few Hinge Cup Drilling Set Up Jigs is the most affordable (although certainly not portable) way to go. And if you’re comfortable with a router, you won’t find a faster method for the actual cutting of the hole than Rockler’s new Concealed Hinge Router Jig-It. In the end, the choice really boils down to shades of difference in the procedure and the price. Whichever route you choose, you can expect the same results: perfectly sized and positioned cup holes for the most popular cabinet hinge on the planet. 

How do you get started? With most us watching our funds very closely right about now, we’re guessing the most useful information we can offer is advice that comes with a few un-glossed figures. Here’s everything you’ll need to start turning out pens - along with a variety of other turned projects - and a rough idea of what it’ll cost.

To get started with any type of turning you will, of course, need a lathe. A pen can be turned on just about any lathe, but for such diminutive projects, you’ll only need one of the smaller, more affordable varieties. The Excelsior Mini Lathe will only set you back about $250, and will give you the option to expand your woodturning endeavors to include spindles, bowls, plates and a variety of small to medium-sized turning projects.

For the price, the Excelsior is a surprisingly robust machine, with a 1/2 hp motor, vibration-absorbing cast iron construction, and a nearly 10’’ swing (the maximum diameter of stock that can be turned). It comes with everything necessary and important for most types of turning – five speeds, a bearing center for the tail stock, a spur center and face plate – and can even be lengthened with an optional bed extension to accommodate stock long enough for table legs and balusters. 

A standard lathe, like the original Excelsior, with speeds laid out in steps and a manual move-the-belt-form-one-pulley-to-the-next speed change method is typically the most affordable entry point into the world of pen turning - and perfectly adequate to the task. If you think you'll lake to woodturning with a vengeance, however, stepping up to a more versatile variable speed lathe is worth some thought. With Rockler's new Excelsior Variable-Speed Lathe, you'll be able to quickly dial in any speed you want from 760 to 3200 rpm. This simple convenience can save loads of time over the long haul, and will let you speedily jump from a slower speed bowl turning project all the way to a little high speed finishing on a narrow spindle. If a variable speed lathe sounds like the machine for you, here's a tip: Look for a great deal on the Excelsior Variable Speed Miniature Lathe at Rockler retail locations over this Thanksgiving weekend.

You’ll also need turning tools. Here again, you won’t need to spend a fortune (although you could!) An experience turner can turn a pen with nothing more than a skew chisel, but a beginner will have a much easier time of it by investing in a Pen Turning Set, which includes all of tools necessary for just about anything you’d ever want to do to a pen.

Beyond that, you’ll need the “raw materials”, a few specialized accessories and finishing supplies. The basic materials list consists of pen hardware kit and, of course, a pen blank. Rockler offers pen kits in varieties too numerous to describe in detail here. Each one contains all of the hardware parts the make the pen “go”. Look through Rockler’s selection and you’ll find a wonderful variety of single pen kits, sets and accessories, along with other turning projects that would be right up the alley of a mini lathe owner.

You’ll find an equally expansive selection of pen blanks, the basic building block of a hand turned pen. If you happen to own a drill press, in fact, you’ll find a selection of un-drilled blanks right at your fingertips that would take a very busy year to work your way through.

Before they are turned, undrilled blanks have to be sawn in two and then drilled through their center with reasonable precision to house the pen’s working components. The sawing can be done with a hand saw, but the drilling is a task best accomplished with the aid of a drill press. An indispensible woodworking tool in its own right, a drill press is worth considering for any aspiring woodworker. An affordable bench top model will easily handle the pen blank drilling job, and will pay endless dividends in any other area of woodworking you explore.

Even if a drill press isn’t in the picture right now, you’ll still have plenty of pen-turning options at you disposal. Ready-To-Turn Pen Blanks are pre-sawn, pre-drilled and have the requisite brass barrel liner already glued in place. In other words, they require virtually no preparation, making them a favorite among pen turners who prefer to skip right to the actual turning. They’re available in three pen sizes, and in a variety of colors and patterns in man-made acrylic material, and in bubinga solid hardwood.

Whether you choose the convenience of pre-drilled blanks, or the myriad options available in undrilled blanks, you’ll need one specialty piece of equipment to complete the package: a pen mandrel. The mandrel, together with a set of appropriately sized bushings, allows you to securely mount the prepared blank on the lathe. The correct size bushing is listed in each of Rockler’s pen kit offers, so there’s almost no chance of making a mistake. Together, the mandrel and a bushing set for any size of pen costs less than $25.

If you’re planning to cut and drill your own blanks, the Starter Pen Turning Kit is worth considering. It comes with everything you need to get started, including 3 hardware kits, a mandrel and bushing set, a drill bit, the CA glue necessary for gluing in the pen tube, and a pen mill, which makes truing up the ends of the prepared pen blanks a simple matter.

Once the blank is turned, it's on to the finishing process. For that, you’ll need a few supplies, beginning with sandpaper. As you develop skill with a skew chisel, you’ll find that your sanding cost and efforts will steadily decrease. But even if your first few efforts are a little rough, the size of the project and the fact that it is spinning on a lathe make the sanding process fairly quick and painless. The Woodturner’s Multi-Roll Sanding Pack contains 20 foot strips of 150, 240, 320 and 400 grit sandpaper – everything you’ll ever need for a small scale solid wood turning project.

The final finish for your pens will depend in part on your finishing preferences and in part on the type of blank you’ve used. Solid hardwood pens can be finished in the same way that any other turned wood project is finished. There are a number of excellent turned wood finishes available, a few different techniques, and many, many opinions on which ones work best. For a tradition turned wood finish, we hear great things about Behlen Woodturner’s Finish, Hut Wood Finish, and Hut Crystal Coat.

 Acrylic pen blanks don’t require a film finish and only need to be polished to the desired sheen. Some of the most interesting natural wood blanks are “resin stabilized”, meaning that they are impregnated with plastic resin to make them dimensionally stable, and in most cases, can be simply polished to a high sheen as well. The polishing process involves sanding with successively finer grits of abrasive until the pen blank material itself develops a glass-smooth surface. Once you’ve sanded your way through the sandpaper grits, Micro Mesh abrasives will take you to the rest of the way. Essentially a “high tech” sandpaper, Micromesh is available in grits ranging from 1500 to 12,000, and is designed to produce a nearly perfect scratch pattern. The 2” x 2” Cushioned Abrasive Set is ideal for shining up acrylic pens.

Finally, there’s the assembly process, which simply means pressing the pen tip and other hardware parts in place in the pen tube. The assembly process can be accomplished with bench vise, or even a Quick-Grip clamp. Pressing the pen parts together isn’t complicated, but it does require keeping the parts in correct alignment throughout. Rockler’s Pen Press/Drilling Jig is designed help keep the pen parts in alignment, and to make applying steady, even pressure easier. You can make pens without it, but the added piece of mind it affords during the (literally) make-or-break assembly process – and the way that it streamlines the blank drilling process – make it worthy of serious consideration.

And that’s it, you’re finished! What’s the tally? The Excelsior Mini Lathe, the Crown Tools Pen Turning Set, a mandrel and bushing set, a hardware kit, a pre-drilled pen blank, a $50 finishing budget, and a Quick-Grip clamp for the assembly process can be done from scratch for less than $500. This basic kit will let you continue with a number of pen turning options using pre-drilled blanks, and give you a great start on general wood turning. Assuming you already own a few basic tools – a saw, a square, a few clamps - adding a bench top drill press will give you one of woodworking’s core tools and greatly expanded pen turning options without pushing you past $700. Make $850 your target outlay, and you can throw in the Pen Press/Drilling Jig, a pen turning book and have money left over for materials.

Now, you may be sizing this up – like we did – as the work of a veteran furniture maker or professional fabricator. Nope. That’s the best part. According to Bruce, this is the first time he’s ever made anything out of wood. When asked about the process, he was candid about the learning curve, citing the wood armrests as a head-scratcher for a time. Nevertheless, it sounds like he had a great time and extracted an obvious triumph, even if trial and error phases of the project helped keep a (non-dilithium compatible, we assume) stove fired over a couple of cool winter months.

However it happened, we’re very impressed here – but not entirely surprised. We think the project should serve as an inspiration not only to fellow devotees of the legendary TV series, but to anyone who’s ever wanted to take up a project and didn’t because they thought the necessary skills were out of reach. Here’s proof-positive that a first woodworking project can turn out great.

And we’d be happy to help. In our stock of tools, hardware and woodworking materials, you’ll find everything you need for a huge variety of traditional woodworking projects, as well as endeavors that are a ways off the beaten path. And if you need a little advice, our famously knowledgeable and accommodating technical support staff will be glad to help you find exactly what you need. Then, when you’re all set, we’ll bundle it up and ship it to your door as quickly as we can. If you’re anxious to get moving on a project, it’s the next best thing to whipping out your communicator and having Scotty beam you a board.

Thanks again to Bruce for the review and the pictures.

This is very good news, in our opinion. There was never anything wrong with doweled joints: they’re just a little time consuming to make and require a precision that can be difficult to attain with typical everyday woodshop equipment. That’s why the biscuit joiner was such a hit. Compared to a drill and a doweling jig, biscuit joints are fast and easy. Cutting the biscuit mortises required to edge join two boards takes only a few seconds. And while a doweled joint requires meticulous alignment and spacing of each dowel hole, biscuit joinery is forgiving of slight discrepancies in mortise alignment.

But for all its speed and user-friendliness, the biscuit joint loses out to the dowel joint on a couple of fronts. First of all, it’s much weaker. Most experienced woodworkers think of biscuits as little more than a joint alignment method. They’re great for keeping stock surfaces flush during glue-ups, but no one would ever trust them to hold on the legs of a chair or table. Secondly, there limited to joints that can accommodate standard biscuit sizes. Even Porter Cable’s miniature face frame biscuits work for joints where there’s at least 1-1/2” of material width to work with. A dowel, on the other hand, takes up only the width of small hole, and can be as short, long, fat or thin as the situation requires.

Enter the Freud Doweling Joiner. With one smooth, simple action it lets you cut two perfect dowel holes on the surface of a material, the edge of a material or at an angle with the same speed and ease a biscuit joiner provides. Building on the biscuit joiner’s basic design, the Doweling Joiner uses a more than adequate 6.5 amp motor to cut dowel holes from 3/16” to 1/2” in diameter at any depth up to 1-3/8”. A rack and pinion system makes fine tuning the bore height accurate and simple, and an adjustable fence lets you drill holes at any angle from 0 to 90 degrees. The tool accepts standard 10mm shank boring bits – the same as industrial line boring machines.

With two bits installed, the Doweling joiner produces holes spaced at exactly 32mm, a design feature that’s far from arbitrary. Not inconsequentially, it makes the tool compatible with the “System 32” spacing scheme, a cornerstone of the European style cabinetmaking philosophy and a practice that makes installing everything from shelves to cabinet hinges to slides a simple matter of fitting parts into neatly spaced rows of holes on the interior of cabinet walls.

The simple decision to adopt the 32mm hole spacing scheme - and the inclusion of an adjustable indexing pin, which allows the operator to make clean, perfectly spaced rows of  32mm OC holes in cabinet walls - is likely to double the tool’s appeal. System 32 cabinetmakers and installers can now replicate the action of a shop-bound line boring machine in the field, with huge time-saving potential for impromptu on-site custom work or covering the occasional “oops”. For small professional shops and hobbyists, the 32mm hole spacing set-up opens the door to the convenience of system 32-compatible hardware, and makes the tedious task of hand drilling shelf pin holes accurate and twice as fast as using a template and drill.

But the best thing about this new Freud offering is still its potential to revive the good-ole dowel joint. Used successfully by furniture makers for centuries, this simple joinery method is strong, versatile, familiar and unintimidating. And now, with the Freud Doweling Joiner (coming soon) and its do-able $330-ish price tag, we can add to its list of qualifications “quick”, “easy” and “attainable”.

The weeks leading up to the holiday season are also a great time to share the woodworking experience. Helping a young member of the family get started with their first projects is a great opportunity to spend time together doing something you both enjoy. As a bonus, it can help an aspiring woodworker fill out a holiday gift list with wonderful stuff on a very modest budget. And it’s easy to do, even if you have limited experience and very few tools. Here are a couple of excellent resources to help you get underway.

In Woodworking for Kids: 40 Fabulous, Fun and Useful Things for Kids to Make, Kevin McGuire lays out a complete first course on woodworking for young people. The book covers everything from the basic properties of wood and practical woodworking skills to building shop furniture and a range of other woodworking projects. In language designed to be understood by kids, McGuire takes the reader in great detail through every step in constructing a workbench, a miter box, simple pieces of furniture, toys, folk sculpture, pet toys, and other interesting stuff.

None of the projects require the use of power tools, and most can be built with pieces of scrap wood, dowels and other materials available at any DIY store. As an example, a simple trivet project could be put together and finished in a couple of hours by anyone who can operate a drill and make a few basic cuts with a hand saw. The materials list consists of a 48” x 3/8” wood dowel, a 1 x 2 x 18” piece of lumber and wood glue. The tools required involve nothing more exotic than a coping saw and, a crosscut hand saw, a drill, a hammer and a clamp. Like the trivet project, even the more involve projects in the book steer clear of complicated joinery, difficult cuts, and all but the most readily available materials.

Carving for Kids, by Robin Edward Trudel, is another excellent starting point for young woodworkers. Beginning with projects safe and easy enough for very young children, the book covers a range of basic carving skills. Most of the projects can be completed with a single carving knife, sandpaper and small pieces of carving stock. Parents should be aware that some of the “roughing in” will require a coping saw and a clamp or vise, and may be too difficult for very young hands. Still, sticking with soft, easy to saw woods – such as basswood – will keep the preparation phase of nearly all the projects down to less than half an hour for nearly any adult.

Craft kits are another option, and often the best choice for kids and parents with no woodworking experience whatsoever. The Clock Making for Kids Craft Kit comes with everything necessary to complete the project in ready-to-assemble form, including the clock’s moving parts, a wooden clock face, self-stick numbers, traceable decorative patterns, and colored markers. In less than an hour, kids as young as ten can have the satisfaction of completing an entire project, and a handsome gift to show for their efforts.

Wood burning craft kits offer and easy introduction to the art of pyrography. Best for kids 12 to 14 and up, wood burning is easy to master and because the kits come with transferable patterns, don’t require a tremendous amount artistic experience or skill. Both the Woodburning for Kids Craft Kit and the Deluxe Woodburning Kit come with everything you need to complete projects, including two ready to use basswood plaques. The Deluxe Kit also includes four burning points for a variety of effects, and six colored pencils for added decoration.

Nearly all of the projects mentioned here require some degree of adult involvement, but that’s really the best part. Working together with an aspiring young woodworker is a great way to spend an afternoon and an opportunity to collaborate on useful, gift-able projects, each one invested with a personal touch that money just can’t buy.

Then there’s cost. While different makes and models vary greatly in price, the cost of a bench top router table is invariably lower than a floor standing set-up with comparable features. That's the important point to consider. The term "bench top" just means smaller and more portable; it doesn’t say anything (necessarily) about quality.

When you’re shopping for a bench top router table, it only makes sense to tally up the qualities you’d look for in a "full sized" router table and apply them to the miniaturized class. What you’ll find is that you really don’t have to sacrifice any of the most important router table features in exchange for the cost and space savings of a bench top table. You’ll also find an appreciable range in what you can get away with paying for a pint-sized router table that leaves nothing to be desired.

As is the case with floor standing models, there are certain basic components that a bench top router table just has to have if it is going to perform accurately and conveniently, and hold up over time: most notably, a solid and sufficiently sized top, a sturdy base and a reliable, easy-to-use fence.  Beyond that, it’s reasonable to look for a few of the perks available in better full sized tables: A standard 3/8" x 3/4" miter slot is a handy thing to have. A fence with split fence facings, which allow quick and easy bit clearance adjustments is, for practical purposes, a must-have. A router-to-table interface that makes installing, removing and leveling the router is also something to give serious consideration.

You won’t have far to look to find a bench top table that meets or exceeds all of these expectations. Here’s an option that we’d label a standout value in this diminutive router table class. The Rockler Portable Router Table is, in all important respects, a compact carbon-copy of one of our all-time most popular products: the Rockler #1 router table package. It’s also prime example of a case where "portable" is not simply another way of saying "stripped down".

The Rockler Portable Table sports a melamine surfaced top that’s a full 1" thick for heft, flatness and stability. The top includes an aluminum miter track and sits atop a substantial steel base. The base is outfitted with levelers to prevent rocking, and together with the weight of the MDF top, offers a stable, wobble-free workspace, even when milling long pieces of stock or working against the resistance of a featherboard.

It also comes with Rocker’s signature precision-machined, anodized aluminum fence, which slides along two T-slots in the table surface for easy adjustment and removal. Attached to the main fence backbone with T-bolts and easy-to-turn knobs are two 3" x 10" adjustable fence faces, which allow quick router bit clearance adjustments, and feature a T-slot for accessories.

Unlike many bench top router tables, the Rockler Portable Router Table uses an easy-in / easy-out solid ¼" aluminum router plate to make the router to table connection. At 8" wide x 11" long, the plate larger than the footprint of just about any appropriately sized router, leaving you free to pop the router out of the table for hand-held use without tools or awkward demounting operations. And it comes pre-drilled for a number of popular router makes and models, including the Porter Cable 690 and 890 series, Bosch’s 1617/1618, the Makita 1100-1101 series and Dewalt’s DW616, DW618 series.

Having undergone a recent all-around upgrade, the Rockler Portable Router Table now comes standard with all of the perks and parts that made our floor standing table packages such a success. But its defining feature is still portability. Measuring a modest 21" wide x 16" deep x 16" high, the Rockler bench top table is small enough to fit in the tiniest of workshop storage spaces. And while it’s equipped with bones sturdy enough to prevent the all too familiar bench top table shimmy, the Rockler table’s weight and size make it a comfortable carry up a flight stairs or out to the back of a truck.

Finally, physical stature isn’t the only thing that’s scaled down in the Rockler table. At around $200, its already available at a compact cost for a full featured bench top. Now, on sale for a limited time at 25 percent off, the Rockler Portable Router Table carries one of the most compact price tags in its class.

If you’re interested in woodworking, but are short on tools, time and free space, one of the best ways to get your feet wet is to put together a kit with pre-made parts. Rockler offers a number of woodworking kits, some of which take care of everything except the final assembly and finishing. The jewelry/music box pictured above, for example, is available in a kit that can be easily completed in few hours using nothing more than an inexpensive web clamp, sandpaper, wood glue, a screw driver, and a few finishing supplies.

Even a simple project like this offers valuable beginning woodworking lessens: You’ll get a feel for how parts fit together, how much glue to use for a glue-up, how to work quickly and carefully and how to finish-sand a project. It also offers an introduction to one of woodworking’s more challenging areas: finishing. Whether you choose an easy solution - such as a few coats of Rockler’s nearly foolproof WunderCote - or a more demanding hand-rubbed technique, you’ll get a valuable first course in the art of protecting and beautifying wood.

If that sounds too easy, a project that requires more woodworking processes but doesn’t have numerous or complicated parts is a good place to start. Game