jointer fence

Creating the key board drawer front

After sawing the 45 degree angle, I double checked it.

Then I set up the jointer and gauge fence for clean up.

The fence helped keep the angle as I cleaned off the saw marks.

Then I did a final localized clean up with my block plane.

After I cleaned up, I double check the angle again.

Then I used my small router to create a mortise for the hinges.

One side of the hinge done.

Above is the process I used to create the fold down drawer front for the pull out key board tray. The drawer front is not yet cut to size so it will be significantly smaller.

A sneak peak at the desk top

13″ of quarter sawn african mahogany

planed edge

A friend of mine is helping me rout spline groove in the edges of my desk top pieces over the weekend on his router table. I’m preping the boards so that it’ll all be ready for the router and glue up.

Yippee! It actually works!

Tonight I got to test drive both my new re-furbed jointer and my bench. Both worked superbly!

What fun!

And here’s a close up of my new jointer (Thanks Mike! And Mike, this video clip below is for you if you’re still thinkin’ that you want you jointer plane back ;o))

For Mike

Cheating on my edges

No surprise, I have favorite tools. This is one of them. Its a Stanley No. 386 Jointer Gauge or Fence that I got off of eBay.

Some might think this is cheating, but I love it. It positions my hands perfectly and makes jointing a edge a ton of fun. I don’t have to be obsessive about checking my edges and it helps me move my jack or jointer plane with easy. Most importantly, it gets a square edge ever time.

It also works nicely on end grain.

The only bad news is that its kinda hard to find and collectors like them, which can make them expensive. If you’re willing to take one that missing a knob or otherwise not in perfect, but working condition, you can save some money.

Here’s where I found a few other options.
Hyperkitten – Center of the Table
ST. JAMES BAY TOOL CO. – under new products.
Fine Tool Journal