Whilst working with HOW on making boxes, I think I invented/remembered a neat idea to use up small parts.
Short story, Max donated a tone of oak shorts (some as short as 4" long). Great parts for making little boxes.......
But, to use box joints and/or router dovetails, we needed some degree of uniformity in stock thickness best derived from the jointer/planer process.
Not so easy to run a 4" 1/4" thick piece through a powered planer
Throw in the mix, our shorts are all random size and thickness.
Then, during a time when I should've been paying attention (such as landing an airplane, operating heavy machinery or juggling Faberge Eggs), got a thought.
Goes like this....
1. Joint one face and edge on a jointer.
2. Square both ends (chop saw or table saw) and cut to width on table saw
3. Setup a straight bit in a router table.
4. Set the fence so it just touches the jointed board.
5. Set the bit height a scosh higher than your intended joint (dovetail or box joint)
6. Run the board vertically with the jointed face against the fence.
What the heck?
No, really. You end up with a short part of the end of board that is parallel to the jointed face!
The real key to all this is running the jointed (flat face) against the fence and have the router bit cut on the opposite face.
No need to power plane randomly thick small parts (some too short for the in/outfeed rollers)
Later, I thought another solution uses a tenon jig on the table saw.
We even tried it, so we know it works!
Jim
(no, I don't have any Faberge Eggs........)
Short story, Max donated a tone of oak shorts (some as short as 4" long). Great parts for making little boxes.......
But, to use box joints and/or router dovetails, we needed some degree of uniformity in stock thickness best derived from the jointer/planer process.
Not so easy to run a 4" 1/4" thick piece through a powered planer
Throw in the mix, our shorts are all random size and thickness.
Then, during a time when I should've been paying attention (such as landing an airplane, operating heavy machinery or juggling Faberge Eggs), got a thought.
Goes like this....
1. Joint one face and edge on a jointer.
2. Square both ends (chop saw or table saw) and cut to width on table saw
3. Setup a straight bit in a router table.
4. Set the fence so it just touches the jointed board.
5. Set the bit height a scosh higher than your intended joint (dovetail or box joint)
6. Run the board vertically with the jointed face against the fence.
What the heck?
No, really. You end up with a short part of the end of board that is parallel to the jointed face!
The real key to all this is running the jointed (flat face) against the fence and have the router bit cut on the opposite face.
No need to power plane randomly thick small parts (some too short for the in/outfeed rollers)
Later, I thought another solution uses a tenon jig on the table saw.
We even tried it, so we know it works!
Jim
(no, I don't have any Faberge Eggs........)