Techniques

Wood Selection:

A good overall hardwood for furniture is birch. It is relatively inexpensive, takes stain well and you can match it
with birch plywood for larger projects. Most of my furniture projects can be made with birch and birch plywood.
A second good choice is red oak. Red oak takes darker stains well, is very rugged and can be finished with just a
clear finish or Danish oil. Red oak is slightly more expensive than birch in most areas of the country. My own
personal favorite is cherry. However cherry is on the pricey side and cherry plywood is very expensive, but when
finished with Danish oil it displays a beautiful grain pattern and character. Black walnut is also a very beautiful
wood with good grain character. Depending on the area of the country, black walnut can be moderate to very
expensive.

Whichever type of wood you select, be sure to be very selective. Be sure that you buy wood from a yard that
allows you to go through the pile and pick out the best pieces. Be patient and very selective. Pick out straight
stock by sighting along it's edge to be sure that it is straight.

Jointing Edges Without a Jointer:

Once you have ripped all the pieces and wish to joint any edges to make panels or to final size the pieces, you can do
this without a jointer. You will need a very good saw blade like the Forrest blades. This technique does not work
well with inferior blades so do not waste your time with bad blades! First site along the edge of the board and
determine which is the edge that is concave (curves inward towards the center of the board). THIS IS
IMPORTANT!! Place this edge against the rip fence and adjust the distance from the saw blade to remove the
minimum amount of material from the width to produce a finished edge. If you place the convex edge against the rip
fence you will not have a striaght edge, just a nicely finished curved edge!! If done properly this edge will be straight
and parallel to the rip fence. If you use the Forrest blades this edge will be perfect! Now flip the board over, place
this now straight edge against the rip fence, and readjust the rip fence to again just remove the mimimum amount of
material to create the final finished edge. You should now have a board with two finished parallel edges. This will
work on most all boards of any length that you can run through the saw. Unfortunately, this will not work on the rare
piece that has convex edges on both sides. Of course a jointer works best, but even eith the jointer I normally only
run one edge through the jointer and finish the other edge with the tablesaw. In some cases as with boards with wild
grain, I bypassed the jointer entirely to eliminate the chipout left by the jointer blades that encountered grain running in
the wrong direction to the cutter blades.

Basic Assembly Techniques:

You should start with the basic carcass or simply put the BOX. This normally consists of two sides, the top and the
bottom. The top is normally attached to top edge of the sides with a rabbet joint in the tip edge of the sides. The
width of the rabbet is normally the same as the thickness of the top. (Nominally 3/4") The bottom is normally joined
to the sides in a dado joint offset some distance from the bottom of the sides. The dado width is set to the same
thickness of the bottom. If you use plywood for the carvass construction, you will have to carefully adjust the width
of rabbet and dado to match the plywood thickness. The Forrest dado set comes with thin plastic spacers that allow
you to match the width right on to the thickness. Cheaper sets do not have these.

Cutting Plan and Layout:

After you bring the stock to the shop, lay it out and plan your pieces. This is called making a cutting plan. I assume
that you will have a plan with all the pieces listed on a cut list. (Note: All plans sold on this site will have cut lists
included with the plans.) Make a diagram of each piece of stock and label each stock piece. This minimizes
confusion later.

Begin cutting out the pieces. I normally make all rip cuts first on the tablesaw and then do all cross cuts either on a
radial arm saw, miter saw, or with a circular saw. You do not have to cut all the pieces at one time, but I think
about the basic carcass first, then face frames, then doors or drawers.

Use a good quality wood glue iin the dado and rabbet joints and toenail the pieces together. Toenailing a dado joint
is done by driving the nail at an angle through the bottom or shelf into the sides. The nail goes through at an
approoxinate 30 degree angle. This can be easily done with a pneumatic nailer, but very dificult by hand. This
method hides the nails and eliminates the need to fill the holes later. Be careful not to drive the nail at to steep an
angle so that you do not go through the sides.

An alternative method is to make a rectangular plywood cradle that holds the stock while you run it through the table
saw. Cut a rectangular piece of 3/4 plywood approximately 12" wide by 4 feet long. Mount several hold down
devices along one of the long sides such that they do not overhang the edge. These devices could be almost
anything, but the cam action holddowns you can buy at any good woodworking store work well. It is also best to
have several mounting positions to accomodate stock of varying widths. Place the stock to be jointed on the cradle
such that one of the edges overhangs the opposite edge of the cradle about parallel to the cradle edge. Adjust rhe
blade height and rip fence so that when you place the other end ot the cradle against the rip fence, the overhanging
stock can be run through the blade removing a small amount of material. Hold the crdle tightly against the rip fence
while you run the cradle/stock combo through the blade. You should now have one straight true edge. Remove the
stock from the cradle and place the true edge against the rip fence and proceed as above with the other edge. Again
you need good sae blades like the Forrest blades to do this!!