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Editor's note: This month, Rockler Woodworking and Hardware is
pleased to introduce the Pock-It Hole Clamp™, a versatile new method of
clamping pocket hole joints for properly aligned, tight fitting results when
using pocket screws. We had Ralph Bagnall try out a couple in the shop, and here are his thoughts on the new clamps.
If you have a need for a mobile base in your shop, you know the important role these bases play. Having a decent base can mean the difference between using and not being able to use your heavy equipment (because there's no one, or not enough people around to help you move it). This week we're sharing some of the five-star reviews of our Rockler All-Terrain Mobile Base. And it's worth noting that all of the reviews for the All-Terrain Mobile Base are five stars!
In the world of tools, what makes for an instant success? One sure course to tool stardom is meeting an old challenge with a truly innovative and successful solution. You've seen it happen: once in a while, some new gadget hits the market and people everywhere grab it up, wondering why someone didn't come up with such a thing long before. At the risk of seeming immodest, that's exactly what happened to the Rockler Sure Hook cabinet door hanger.
If you own a router table and a router lift, we're guessing the trajectory went something like this: you started the collection with a basic, serviceable router and a few router bits. Then, possibly, you graduated to a better router and expanded your bit collection. Later, you took the plunge and bought a router table and added still more router bits. And finally, you topped it all off with a swanky new router lift. What more could you possibly want? How about a digital readout that lets you dial in the router bit height with almost flawless accuracy? In their most recent offering, Wixey Tools gives you just that. The new Remote Digital Readout makes crucial height adjustments luxuriously easy and unbeatably precise.
Measuring, measuring, and more measuring. Sometimes it seems like all a woodworker does. Get this blade set at the right height, double-check the length of that cut, make sure this dado is the right depth, spec the thickness of that pile of lumber... And it’s important. Anyone who’s ever tried to build anything approaching geometric precision out of wood knows that a couple of casual “close enough is good enough” measurements can haunt a project to the end. So, when you’re allocating funds for tools and equipment, it only makes sense to give a nod to the measuring department. And with that in mind, here are a couple of specialized tools designed to make quick and accurate work out of common measuring challenges.
When the conversation turns to the best in shop vacuums, two names invariably crop up. Both Fein Tools and Festool have taken the “shop vac” concept to levels that have actually earned their machines a new designation: Fein and Festool “dust extractors” not only run circles around the typical shop vacuum in general clean-up mode, they’re also designed for woodworking dust collection, and do a bang-up job of catching the dust and debris put out by bench top and hand held power tools.
A solid bench vise is like an extra set of very strong hands, and having one can actually improve your work: As long as it's attached to a sturdy workbench, a bench vise will hold a workpiece in a still and relatively vibration free state and help you make smoother saw cuts, more steady plane strokes, or even get your sanding done faster.
Even though many woodworkers would rate a bench vise as an indispensable tool, it’s an easy one to put off buying. You can get by reasonably well with an arrangement of handscrew clamps and c-clamps for a while. But eventually you’re bound to conclude that a vise will help you hold you work steadier, in a greater variety of positions and will let you set up so much faster, that the investment is worth the price. In case you're just beginning to realize how central a bench vise is to woodworking, here’s a little information to help you pick the one that makes the most sense for your shop.
There are two basic types of bench vise: the “front vise" and the “end vise". A front vise, like the Rockler 9’’ Quick Release Workbench Vise, is most often stationed at the left corner of the long edge of the work bench. A front vise is great for holding a drawer side upright while you cut the tails of a dovetail joint, or holding a board edge-up horizontally for hand planing, or for any number of other tasks that require a solid hold on the workpiece and for both of you hands to be free.
One of the most common and reliable choices for a front vise is the cast iron variety. A cast iron front vise has two jaws made of – you guessed it – cast iron and a steel screw to move them closer together and further apart. Most also have two steel rods to keep the jaws aligned and help to prevent flexing inward of either side of the outer jaw when only one side of the vise is used. Some, including Rockler bench vises, have a quick release mechanism that makes it easy to switch among a variety of clamping widths. A quarter turn of the handle counter-clockwise releases the screw and allows that vise to be quickly positioned anywhere along its opening range.
Usually, the width of the jaws is used to describe the vise – Rockler's 7’’ Quick Release Vise has 7’’ wide jaws, for example. You’ll also almost always find the maximum opening capacity of the vise and the screw diameter also listed in the specifications. Look for a vise that opens wide enough to accommodate the thickest piece of stock you can imagine yourself working on, and remember that you will need to subtract the thickness of the of the wooden pads that you’ll be installing on the jaw faces. A 9’’ capacity vise with 3/4’’ thick pads will give you 7- 1/2’’ to work with, which is plenty in most situations. But the odd occasion does arise when more would come in handy. A 13’’ opening capacity vise should have you covered for just about anything you run into.
The screw diameter and the diameter to the alignment rods make the most difference when it comes to keeping the vise’s jaws parallel with one another when you tighten it down. A 7/8’’ diameter screw and equally husky rods offer enough rigidity to keep the jaws from flexing outward at the top under any normal working condition. Also, it’s important to note that Rockler bench vises, and most other quality vises, use a “toe in” design, meaning that the outer jaw tilts inward slightly to account for outward flexing and to apply the greatest pressure at the top of the jaws where it is most needed.
The other common type of workbench vise, an “end vise”, is stationed at one end of the workbench. Typically, the primary function of an end vise is to hold material flat on the surface of the bench, pinched between one or more “dogs” sticking up from the top surface of the vise’s jaw and corresponding dogs fitted into holes in the bench surface. But the most useful type of end vise is arguably one that’s set up like a front vise, with the same screw-and-two-rods design, like the Rockler Quick Release 12’’ End Vise pictured on the left. End vises of this type are usually sold with just the screw and guide rod mechanism, which attaches to one end of the bench and is outfitted with a wooden jaw equal in width to the workbench.
Which type should you buy? In truth, we suspect that most woodworkers need the type of clamping arrangement a front vise was designed for more often. Many front vises, including the Rockler 7’’ and 9’’ vises, also have a pop-up dog on the outer jaw, which lets you hold a piece stock face up across the width of the table.
But if you have to pick just one, keep in mind that it’s awfully handy to be able to quickly and easily secure any of a variety of lengths of stock face-up on the bench. The Rockler Quick Release End Vise, along with a set of Rockler Bench Dogs, will let you do just that. The extra sturdy 12’’ on center guide rod placement and 13’’ opening capacity of the Rockler end vise mean that it will also perform “front vise tasks” admirably, giving you the best of both worlds.
How do you tell when a new tool has a chance of sticking around? When it actually does something better, or makes doing something useful notably easier. Here are two new clever new gadgets we think have an excellent future.
The UFO Tool and Flashlight
Most of us have been there: shoved into some cramped, poorly lit space struggling to form a workable engagement between a screwdriver and fastener, working mostly by feel. True, many tool manufacturers have responded by equipping their cordless drills with a single, often greatly appreciated, “headlight” for low light fastening and drilling situations. Now, thanks to the UFO Tool and Flashlight, you can have illuminated drilling and driving on a variety of hand and power tools.
The aptly named UFO slips onto the end of any typical screwdriver or cordless tool driver tip and lights up the work area with three shock-resistant, wide beam LED lights. The compact 1-5/8” by 5/8” disc is small enough not to interfere with your line of sight and so light (.77 oz.) that you barely notice it’s there – except that you’ll be able to see what you’re doing. It’s powered by three replaceable 1.5v button cells, has a no-slip, weatherproof plastic housing and features three magnets on its back side for convenient storage
The UFO is great for screwing in the back-end screws of drawer slides, installing closet hardware, or just random driving and drilling in a dusky recess of your basement. Portable to the extreme, the UFO fits comfortably in a shirt pocket and makes a great all-occasion mini-flashlight. Notwithstanding a resemblance to the favored transport of little green men, “UFO” here stands for “universal”, “functional” and “original”. That’s a lot to say about a tool, but this case, it seems true – especially the “functional” part. And with a price tag of less than $10 it’s hard to think of a reason to pass.
The Picture Hanging Level
If you’ve ever had to hang something on a wall that requires two anchor points – a shelf, a heavy painting, a large mirror, etc. – you’ve probably noticed that the procedure leads to something of a catch 22. To get the object hung in the right spot, you need to mark off the distance between the two hanging points, and you also need to make two level marks for the height. Unfortunately, unless you’re comfortable with scrawling pencil marks willy-nilly across a pristine expanse of wall, you run into a problem: to know where to discretely mark of the distance between the hangers, need the height marks in place first. But to make two inconspicuous marks where the hangers should be height-wise, you need know in advance where the hangers need to be horizontally.
The Picture Hanging Level neatly sidesteps the conundrum by combining the two operations into one simple task. Along with inch-scales on both edges, this level/yardstick combo features four slides with pencil holes for marking off the exact location of hangers or fasteners on precisely the same level-line. To make matters even easier, one of the scales has a standard linear layout from 0” to 31” inches, and the other is split in two, with zero in the middle. So, whether hang-ee has two, three or four attachment points, and whether you know where it needs to be centered or where one edge should be, you’ll be all set.
The Picture Hanging Level makes marking off the hanger locations of just about anything you’d ever want to stick on a wall a two minute process. And its other uses are many. Use it, for example, to mark off both a level line and 16” OC stud locations for a cabinet installation in one fell swoop. Just like a standard level, the tool measures both level and plumb, and so works great for marking off any type of cutout where the end result needs to be plumb, level and (consequently) square. And, of course, the leveling and layout functions can be used independently of each other for various tasks. Whether you build houses to people who just live in them, just about anyone who uses tools at all will get their (approximately) thirty dollars worth out of the Picture Hanging Level in no time.
Looking for a perfect, modestly priced item for the woodworker on your holiday shopping list? Here’s a tip: as a gift, digital measuring tools have a lot going for them. For starters, they have great gadget appeal. They’re also surprisingly affordable and much easier to wrap than a table saw. But most importantly, digital tools bring incredible accuracy and almost revolutionary convenience to a host common woodworking tasks. All in all, they’re pleasure to use.
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.
Since receiving a significant makeover a couple of years ago, the Rockler Dovetail Jig has earned a reputation as a solid, easy to use jig and a great value. The new jig, in its basic form, is offered as the “Complete Dovetail Jig” – the operative word being “complete”. It comes with everything you need to make the most popular types of dovetail joints. As long as you own a router and have a couple of pieces of wood, you can start making dovetails a few minutes after taking it out of the box.
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.
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| Through dovetails above; half blind dovetails below. The Rockler Dovetail Jig makes both. |
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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.
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| Distinctive Series Dovetail Templates add a hand-crafted look without difficult set ups. Style A shown above; style B below. |
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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.
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.
