It is going to be a long two weeks for your favorite Tool Potentate.

This weekend I will be demonstrating a couple of new things, showing a couple of new prototypes, and meeting customers–one of which I am certain Fred West is going to nominate for next year’s Sh!t Bunny Award.  This should be fun even though I am sure to develop a whopping case of writer’s cramp…you know, from orders…

Then I am off to Indianapolis for a Tool Making class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking. That should be fun. There are still a couple of openings for those who live in the area.  Speaking of which, I am thinking of teaching a week-long class on tool design next year at MASW–we need more people making cool tools. Really–rising tides raise all boats.

We were going to close the order window for the DJ-1 Universal Jaws this week but have decided to wait until after WIA to include those orders as well. As you may know, we were recently able to reduce the retail price well over $100.

Speaking of which, sometime today we will update our website with the prices for the extension jaws that several of you think you need. Actually, I have a couple of really cool ideas for pin wheel gears with these jaws.

We really scrambled the past couple of weeks to get a Jointmaker Pro SW ready for this show. If you have manufacturing experience, I invite you stop by and figure out how we are able to sell this for $795–consider that good handsaws are now 3-400 smackers. Here is a pic of the unit we shipped off yesterday;

I will also have a JMP with the new ball bearing rails. We are getting real close to filling all our orders and yes we are late–so I expect an assassination attempt (or eight) in Cincinnati. If you find me prone in my booth go ahead and loot–money clip is in front left pocket.

For those of you who have a table saw and do not own a KM-1 Kerfmaker, please see a doctor… or me, I will trade you cash for one. Live. In real time. No waiting.

If you are going to WIA, please stop by and say hello!

–John

Last week I actually made something.

Sounds weird I know, but I get almost zero shop time—Hollywood starlets are cat fighting over my availability (those old black and white films I starred in just won’t go away), my dogs eat golf balls when I am not looking, and I have a such a terrible way with words (domestically speaking) that I find myself in cheap motels…

For example, NEVER say this to your wife when she serves you dinner;

“What is this, a placebo?”

So, last week after I got kicked out of the house, I was kicked out of the motel (I only paid for an hour). It’s not as bad as it sounds as I have a thing for shag carpets.

I ambled down to our prototype shop and made the parallelogram sled and tenon attachment posted earlier. The tenon attachment was made almost exclusively using the table saw and the KM-1 Kerfmaker.  It was my first REAL project with the KM-1 and it was shockingly easy. Fun. Amazing. Did I mention I love this tool! (Yes, this is an unabashed plug, but an honest one.)

We needed the sled and tenon attachment to film the TM-1 Tenonmaker video which is coincidentally, or miraculously (considering Michael worked on it) posted below.

As you can see in the pic below the mortise and tenon joints are flawless .  These are through mortise and tenons and they are the hardest because… they are the hardest.  And I know you know this.

Here’s the video;

Yes, I used to make furniture. Some of it actually sold. But I can honestly say, in all these years, going way back to the mid-1960’s, I have never made more perfect fitting joints in such a short period of time.

Actually, forget the time, these are dead perfect in every respect and I can’t remember doing this in such an easy fashion. Ever.

Furthermore, I have not made a mortise and tenon joint since 1982!

Easy perfection? That is no oxymoron.

The TM-1 will prove it.

–John

PS: Last night I came up with a new line;

“I don’t know how you did it, but this is the best canned soup I have ever eaten! Besides the Spam, did you add some salt?”

Didn’t work–But I was close!

Oh, one last thing. Please tell all your friends about the TM-1 Tenonmaker. Just once I would like to stay in a Holiday Inn after dinner.

Two weeks ago we introduced the Universal Jaws for our DJ-1 Drilling Jig. After the announcement, I spent four days in Atlanta that could best be described as “unproductive” financially. Little did I know what would transpire a couple of weeks later…

While in Atlanta I met with one of our suppliers who really wants to do more work for us. So on a whim, I asked them to quote the Universal Jaw project since we are still in the pre-order phase.

Over the past three decades this has NEVER happened but we are able to dramatically lower the price on this amazing kit based on a new cost structure. It’s a big deal. This is approximately a 30% savings totaling over $120! (For those of you who have ordered, your second installment will be reduced accordingly).  FYI, the pre-order phase closes on Oct 1.  We are thrilled and think you will be too!

As mentioned, this has never happened before and we don’t anticipate it happening again. As insurance, sometime tonight (after happy hour I presume) I will stuff a big spud in a knee sock and flagellate myself for an hour while wearing a hair shirt tucked into my moleskin pants. (For those that don’t know what flagellate means, it sounds like something it is not.)

Now for Something Completely Different…

By Monday we will have shipped all of the Special Edition (limited to 50) shoulder planes. They really came out nice and sexy and work awesome. As in, holy moleskin, did I just make that shaving?

We have less than 10 remaining, so if immediate gratification is your game, your lucky number is 800-253-3332.

Again, something different…

For those of you waiting for your JMP, we are entering the anodizing phase. This means we are getting close to delivery. I will have the new Single Wing JMP at Woodworking in America and don’t plan on bringing it home. This means come early and find out what the deal is…

The CT-17 is also a couple of weeks away.

And Lastly…

Before my flagellation begins, I must share that  next week we will begin taking orders for the tool that will make you a tenon guru. Wait until you see the video… square pegs in square holes has never been perfect for the uninitiated until now.

–John

Sometime in the late 1970′s I was commissioned by a San Diego couple to build a 21 drawer silver chest.  They opted for hand dovetailed drawers. It was a cool commission because they traveled a lot and requested that the back of the chest look like the front of a cabinet.

Prior to one of their jaunts, they had  some overripe teenagers turn the drawers to the wall. Presumably this would foil the “smash and grab” crooks that had them pegged as rich folks.

Because it is next to impossible to build one of anything profitably, I knew I was going to make two, one for them and one for the house–forget the fact that we did not own any silver silverware–had plenty of other less expensive stuff instead.

Combined, I had about 750 dovetails to cut. The parallelogram sled in the video below was my solution.  As you will soon see, it was not difficult to knock out the pins in a day.  Yes, I made the pins first, and then cut the sockets by hand. Pins/tails first–nobody cares–they just need to be spot on.

The sled in the video was made from stuff lying around our prototype shop. We had a couple of miter gage bars which was convenient, otherwise I would have purchased some 3/8″ x 3/4″ cold rolled steel bar. For the working surface we attached white plastic laminate to MDF with contact cement.

The four pivot studs (made from readily available 3/8″-16 threaded rod) are permanently attached (thread lock) to each end of the guide bars. The guide bars are attached to the top with 10-32 screws. Make the shank diameter of the 10-32 screws a bit over-sized and you will have no problem creating a smooth sliding table. You will need to know how to drill and tap.

The other two legs of the parallelogram are maple, with one hole and one slot. Once everything is assembled it is safe to cut the sled table in half.

The fences tilt about 30 degrees–any more and you risk the sled becoming unwieldy as the sled approaches the fulcrum point (the rear edge of your table saw top.)

The simple tenon jig attaches to the top via a “t” nut buried in the sled top. I was shocked how easy and fast this was to make using the KM-1 Kerfmaker.

This is a basic and really useful table saw accessory. You should see what you need to know to design your own version.  There are plenty of opportunities to improve upon this basic design.

Drawbacks?  You do lose a bit of cutting depth (thickness of the sliding table),  and cross cutting width (you can remove the rear fence if need be) which negates this issue.

You will see this sled in future videos and the first coming up is the Tenonmaker!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

–John

This video is short but informative.

Here’s a front view of the chest. The pulls were made  from steel bar, brass and rosewood.

This was from the ’70′s…the decade of exposed joinery.  (I apologize for the quality of the images, all of my slides are being eaten by mold.)

The drawers were lined with Pacific Silver Cloth, a fabric embedded with silver particles that really helped the silver pieces stay nice and tarnish free. The October Company (also still in business after all these years) made the Pacific Silver Cloth drawer liners–they have a complete array of liners and holders for custom builders–they can also screen print your sig or logo as I had done.

The advantage of side hung drawers is twofold, you get more drawer space in a given vertical space and aligning the fronts is easily accomplished by adjusting the rails from the rear (prior to attaching the back). Even though these are side hung, they pass the “one finger test”–drawers close with one finger from any corner.

Been out of town for two weeks and several members of the Drivel Starved Nation are in panic mode because of my lack of interest in my blog while I am on VACATION!

I am in panic mode because I am back….

So, time to be COMPLETELY HONEST…how many of you know what “spangled” means?

Remember, there might be a cherry tree nearby….I had to find a way to make this a woodworking related thread.

That said, please share the one time you heard our National Anthem and you were shaken to your core…maybe a tear or two…

Several years ago my buddy and I attended a USC/Oregon State football game at the Colliseum in LA. While he was out looking for beer (I think) I stayed behind to watch the largest marching band I have ever seen.

So you can imagine my surprise when everybody stood up to listen to a single trumpet for the first stanza. Each subsequent stanza employed a couple more instruments and at the end, the entire band was involved.

As I felt myself unable to sing, I noticed EVERYBODY around me was in tears. At that moment I knew, warts and all, that I was born into the greatest nation (no offense to Canada…played hockey for 20 years) and feel compelled to share that experience. There have been others, but this one sticks out.

So, did you really know the meaning of “spangled”?

Now share.

-John