This is really about efficient use of existing space. To actually make more space would involve things such as moving to a new building or knocking down walls – difficult options for most of us. So to make the most of what you’ve got, think beyond the square feet of floor space, look up, and think vertical and volume.

Loving wood as I do, my small shop was getting cluttered with the lovely stuff and I was no longer at ease in my little playground. After a few minutes of sitting on my workbench and staring at the walls, I began to discern where empty vertical space could open up after only minor rearranging.

I installed two inexpensive Portamate wood racks after being reassured by a structural engineer that the wall studs would easily take the 500+ pound loads. Instead of the shorter screws that came with the racks, I used 4″ TimberLok heavy-duty wood screws (and grade 8 hardened washers) since about 1 ½” of the screw length is taken up passing through the brackets and spacers. The top photo shows a rack installed in a small alcove that was previously underutilized.

Because most of my woodworking is not large scale work, most of the wood I have in storage has been crosscut to about 4 feet long or less. However, the capacity to store some long boards for a long time is still necessary. In the photo above, notice the two utility hangers toward the right, near the top of the wall. Without interfering with anything else in the shop, they make use of the space above the door to allow storage of boards 8+ feet long. The Portamate rack has also opened up more space for the scaffold-type rack that is below it (beyond the frame of the photo).

I am once again at ease in my space. This helps clear my mind as I am working and makes the work more pleasant. Ahhh, the shop.

The yellow sheet, thumb-tacked to the wall near my sharpening bench, saves a lot of time and guesswork. On it, I’ve listed the primary and secondary sharpening bevels for each of my edge tools.

Writing or scratching this information directly on each tool is awkward and often hard to read. It’s much easier to keep this sharpening “recipe” list. It is written in pencil because I sometimes change the angles as I get to know the performance of the steel in a new tool, or if I prepare a tool for working different woods. It pays to observe the edge wear and feel of an unfamiliar tool, taking note of any chipping and the resistance of the tool in the cut, and account for these in the next sharpening. Thus, the recipe develops from knowledge of the type of steel and feedback from the performance of the specific tool.

I grind the primary bevel on the Tormek, setting the angle from the recipe using Tormek’s proprietary gauge. I prefer to grind to just short of the tool’s edge which avoids unnecessary clean up on the coarse/medium waterstones. With the exception of most knives and some carving tools, I do not like the Tormek’s leather wheel for honing.

The Kell bevel gauge is handy to check tools, particularly since the Tormek gauge can sometimes induce inaccuracy if a lot of steel is removed during grinding. Most of the time, though, I just work directly from the recipe and try to get back to woodworking as soon as I can.

If your shop is large enough to set up a tennis court after clearing out all the equipment, you may stop reading here. On the other hand, if you’re like most of us and could use more shop space but are limited by the building, such as your home, where your shop is located, here is an approach that may help: overlapping space.

The volume of a major machine itself is much less than the space required to use it, which includes the infeed and outfeed pathways. Thus, the functional depth of a portable planer is not just the two feet of the machine, but is about 12 feet to plane a 5-foot-long board. By altering and coordinating the table heights of the machines, shop space can be surprisingly expanded by effectively overlapping the working areas of the machines.

The photos show the DW735 planer with an attached 3/4″ plywood platform sitting on a Workmate. The additional height raises the planer bed so boards will clear the table saw and the workbench, as demonstrated with a long straightedge. The second photo below similarly shows my bandsaw table is slightly higher than the table saw. 

Of course, there is a limit to what can be accomplished with this – everything cannot be higher than everything else – but it pays to strategically work out shop systems with this idea in mind. Some heights cannot be easily changed, such as my bandsaw, but others are custom made, such as the router table. All of my major machines are on wheels except the DW735, but some are easier to move than others, so this also must be taken into account. The walk-around space also is a factor, such as being able to freely get around the planer from the infeed to the outfeed end.

When working this out, use a long straightedge, such as a jointed board, because the slope of the table tops can vary surprisingly, even in a shop with a level floor. Using only a tape measure to compare heights will be misleading.

Each woodworker will have to work this out for his own shop requirements, but the main idea is to think not just of the plan view of the shop layout, but also of the vertical relationships. Therein, more shop space can be found!

Look at the lovely curly maple above. #%$@! sticker stains – the shadowy bands of discoloration across the width of the board. They are seen at the regular spacing where stickers are placed in a stack of boards prepared for drying.

Whatever their cause, perhaps wet stickers and/or slow drying, they are common only in light species, especially soft maples, in my experience. The stains are not usually visible on the rough-sawn surface, but only after planing, and even then they may go unnoticed until the board is viewed from several feet away. The discoloration can penetrate surprisingly deep. Fortunately, in this board the discoloration is shallow and there is thickness to spare.

As evil as it gets, is honeycomb. I do not have a photo to share because I cannot stand keeping such wood in the shop. These are splits oriented along the rays in the core of the wood that reveal their hideous grin on the end grain after a board is crosscut. Honeycomb is basically an extreme form of case hardening caused by poor drying, usually in thick wood. I once brought a gorgeous 8/4 curly koa billet into the shop only to have my thrill doused to disappointment after crosscuting revealed extensive honeycomb.

Even common end checks can be tricky. Sometimes these can partly close, hiding the compromised wood that extends further than the open check into the length of the board. To be assured of using only sound wood, mark the location of a sizeable end check, then saw 1/4″ slices from the end of the board and observe where they break. When the slices are taken in sound wood, they can be snapped to break randomly, not at the location of the end check.

The two boards of curly red oak, below, are parts of batches that I bought at different times. They are both nice but the colors do not match. I will have to use them in different pieces or at least for different categories of parts in one piece.

In a perfect world, we could obtain all the wood of a species in a project at the same time from a single tree. The boards would be hit-or-miss planed to preserve thickness, reveal most defects, and allow for good color and figure matching. Skim planing and keeping boards organized by flitch are more work for wood dealers and add to cost, so, while available, they are not usual practices.

When new wood comes into the shop, I give it another once-over and then write on each board the date and moisture content as measured with a Wagner pinless meter. The boards get stored so air can circulate all around them. If the wood has particularly high moisture, is very thick, or is otherwise prone to end checking, I coat the ends with a wax emulsion such as Anchorseal 2. I then observe the wood for a few days to a few weeks, depending on the species, thickness, and initial MC, rechecking until the MC levels off.

When planning the parts for a project I think carefully before major crosscuts because those are usually big commitments. For thick stock, such as 8/4, I use a pin meter to check for any moisture gradient across the fresh crosscut.

So, while wood disappointments do come along, wood elations are much more frequent and they last a lot longer!

When I design a piece, thoughts of the wood come early in the process. Sometimes, the inspiration from very special wood creates the energy to initiate a project. The form and the wood work hand-in-hand as nature’s gift of wood animates the design.

Yet nature can be cruel. Over the years, despite my continuous effort to learn more about and experience more wood, I have run into disappointments. Sure, I am careful picking boards at the local yard or consulting on purchases from afar, but sometimes the eye, judgement, or just plain luck fails in the quest for wood. It is wood, after all, and we have to take the good with the bad. Here is some of the bad.

The top photo shows compression failures in an otherwise great slab of figured redwood. These are thin, irregular fatal compromises in the cell structure of the wood across the grain. They lurk invisibly on the rough-sawn surface only to reveal themselves after planing. They may occur when the tree is felled or from severe weather stress. I have also seen them in bubinga and mahogany, both large trees.

Below is a close-up photo of another compression failure in the same board, showing a characteristic wrinkly cross-grain split.

Notice the raised left side of the 5/4 cherry, above. It is easy for twist to go unnoticed in the commotion of the lumber yard. The full width of this board would probably be less than 3/4″ thick after dressing because the twist must be removed from both faces. To retain more thickness, this piece can be ripped into narrower sections – safely on the bandsaw not the table saw.

Similarly, thickness can disappear in surprising amounts when flattening a long bowed board or a wide cupped board. More commonly than any other problem, failure to retain the desired thickness, width, and length while removing distortion has destroyed my plans for wood parts.

A distortion that I stay away from is crook, which is fortunately easy to see – the board looks like a level road with a curve. Crook is a tip-off to the presence of reaction wood which is produced by tree trunks that lean. The pith is typically decentered which makes the widths of the growth rings markedly different on each side of a flatsawn board. These boards can unpredictably shrink along the grain and distort oddly. They are incorrigible miscreants that belong in wood hell, also known as the fireplace. Severely twisted boards should also be rejected because they certainly harbor some weirdness, with which you do not want to deal, that made them twist in the first place.

Sometimes, the wood and the woodworker just don’t get along. With great anticipation, I once started working with some beautiful curly makore. Within hours my nose and throat were scratchy and I felt strangely unsettled. Assuming that I was allergic or otherwise sensitive to this species, I decided to avoid unnecessary risk and get this wood out of the shop.

I’m afraid there’s more disappointments coming up in the next post.

Here is a two-part answer. Some reasons are clear to any woodworker, starting with the pleasure of working with a wonderfully beautiful and diverse material – wood. Craftsmen have a strong urge to simply make things, and, for some, there is the creative joy of producing original designs. There is also the primal appeal of skillfully working with one’s hands. Each woodworker has his own reasons.

However, I think for many of us, amateur and professional, there are satisfactions derived from woodworking which are especially meaningful because they are notably lacking in much of the modern world of work. Here I submit three such satisfactions. Can you relate?

1) Woodworking produces a product that you and others can see. Moreover, you can use and share it for a long, long time in the comfort of home.

2) A woodworker is responsible for, and controls, the process and the outcome. The limitations come from your skills and resources, not from “corporate.” Control and responsibility seem to be frustratingly unlinked in many occupations.

3) There’s no BS in woodworking: If you do good work, the result is a good product. If you do poor work, you and others will see it plainly. What you put in is what you get out; there are no “moral hazards.” Politicians probably should stay out of the shop, or at least leave it at the door.

Step into the shop, my fellow woodworkers, and enjoy the sawdust. If you’re reading this and considering getting started in the craft, consider the above.

Happy woodworking.

This continues the frame and panel construction. So far, the panel template has been made, and now we must position and size the grooves in the frame and coordinate this with the panel thickness.

Rout the grooves in the frame parts with a 3 or 4-wing slot cutter bit. Use the appropriate bearing diameter, which will ride the straight and curved parts, to create the desired depth of cut. Allow for seasonal movement when planning the depth of the grooves in the stiles. (A straight bit, standing the frame part on its side, would be fine to cut the grooves in a straight edge, and though passable for a shallow curve, it is not ideal.)

Position the template on the selected area of the panel stock and secure it with double-stick tape. The thickness of the panel stock will be determined by the frame thickness and the location of the groove. In sizing a frame and panel, remember that the strength is primarily in the frame.

For example, in a 5/8″ thick small door frame, it would be reasonable to use a 1/4″ wide groove, positioned in the middle of the frame width, and a 3/8+” thick panel, raised 1/8+”. This will leave the face of the panel about 1/32″ below the level of the frame which will allow for finish planing or sanding the frame after glue up. The panel, of course, is finished before glue up.

Raise the panel by hand-held routing with a square edge dado/planer bit or a short-radius bowl-and-tray bit which leave a smooth finish. These use a top bearing and have a short cutting length (1/4″ to ½”) to avoid the need for a template thicker than 3/4″. Examples of these types of bits are shown in the photo above. Adjust the depth of cut to yield the desired thickness in the panel edge. You are routing an outside curve, so go counter-clockwise (as viewed from above), cross grain first, and make the cut in two or more steps as needed. (I will not advocate climb cutting but I will do it for a final pass if the grain direction demands it.)

The result of the cut is shown in the photo in the previous post.

For a square-profile field, I round the corners. I pin the panel at the center of its width on the rails, from the back, with brass escutcheon pins and nip off the excess and file it flush. 

My method suits my designs – the beauty is in simplicity and the wood but with a degree of design flair. The frame members have plain edges and the field profile is simple. The curve in the rail can be created without a template or router, even freehand, because the panel template is made directly from the actual frame.

By contrast, curved-edge frame and panel work with a sticking profile on the edges of the frame and an elaborate profile around the field of the panel usually involves a pair of offset templates, one for the rail, another for the panel. Bearing-guided router bits create the rail edge and a fearsome horizontal raised panel bit creates the edge of the panel’s field.

In summary, this method is another approach to a traditional construction – the frame and panel – that is suited for clean, simple designs with the added interest of the curved edge. The method is direct and it works.

A curved-edge frame and panel, especially an asymmetric curve, adds a nice flair to a piece. The curve is typically along one or both rails which are tenoned at both ends.

In general, for a frame and panel in my style of work, the panel is the star and the frame is the supporting cast. The panel is a highly figured, special piece of wood or at least contrasts with the frame. I find that a simple square profile or a very small radius cove bordering the raised field is the most effective way to display the beauty of the wood. An ogee or wide cove or bevel is a visual distraction from the effect I am trying to create.

In making a curved-edge frame and panel, it can be challenging to match the curved edge of the raised field to the curve in the frame member. I will describe a simple, reliable method to create an even gap between the field and the frame. Basically, the frame is made first, then a template for the field is made using the dry-fit frame as a guide. The template is placed on the panel stock and a short pattern-routing bit creates the field. The photo above shows the template still on the panel stock after raising.

Start by making the curve in the rail according to your shop drawing. I do this by measuring the key points on the wood and drawing in the rest with an Acu-Arc adjustable curve, or by making a 1/8″ MDF template to transfer a layout line to the wood. [Tips for laying out curves.] Two parts can be made to match by clamping them together for the final fairing of their curves. For efficient production work, though not fundamentally necessary for this method, a plywood or MDF template can be made and used to guide a pattern or flush trim router bit.

Complete the mortise and tenon joinery for the frame. Dry assemble the frame and place it on top of a piece of 3/4″ MDF or plywood. Decide on a width from the inside edge of the frame to the edge of the field. Find a small washer with a rim width that matches that measurement. Trace onto the sheet stock with a pencil point held against the inner rim of the washer while pushing the outer edge of the washer along the contour of the frame.

Carefully cut to the curved line and fair the edge, keeping it square to the face. Use your eye to match its curve to that of the frame, creating an even width between the template edge and the edge of the rail; make minor alterations as necessary. Then cut the opposite end of the template. If you are building during either extreme of the annual range of humidity, alter the width of the template along the stile edges to anticipate the seasonal movement. For example, if you are building at a very dry time, slightly reduce the width (crossgrain) of the field because it will only be larger at other times of the year.

The template can be used to help in your selection of the panel wood. Draw around its edge onto the proposed wood to see exactly how the panel will look. The template can be used from both sides for two symmetrically oriented panels such as on a pair of doors.

All of this makes for a very direct way to control the fit and appearance of the panel.

The next post will discuss using the template to make the panel.