Making a Cross Cut Sled for the Bandsaw

A cross cut sled for band saw is a very useful addition to any shop and will make it a lot easier to get straight cuts on the band saw. This particular jig features a very useful clamping system which makes it easy to hold the wood in place, and make mitered cuts too.

So let's go over how to build this jig!

This cross cut sled is designed for my Laguna 14-12 bandsaw, however you could utilize the same concepts and adapt them to whatever bandsaw you have. I wanted a jig with plenty of support on both sides of the blade. This jig also has a stop block underneath, so it stops right at the leading edge of the fence.

For this build I'm using half inch baltic birch plywood. So first I'm going to need the main piece, this one measures 20 by 20 inches. For the runner I'm using a piece of tropical camaru wood, but any hardwood would work. Then I need a couple of additional pieces of plywood for the front fence, the back fence and the bottom sled stop. I'm also going to need some 1/8 inch, 3/4 inch angled aluminum, the clamp bar and knob, which I'll go over how to make as well as some screws.

First of all, let's prepare the wood for the fences.

So I'm going to cut some of the plywood up so I can glue two pieces together, to get thicker pieces for a more stable fence. Then gluing and clamping.

I need a piece for the stop block, so cutting one of the glued up pieces on the table saw and the miter saw.

Then I'm going over the concept here by bandsaw. So I have my piece of camuru that slides in the track.

So bringing the main piece over to the bandsaw and seeing where I want it positioned. This is not critical, it's more for balance. So I want to makw sure it's straight, and I'm marking out where the blade is as well as where the track is underneath.

I want this jig to be very precise, so it can cut very straight lines lines which is why the runner needs to be very square with 90 degrees to the front edge.

It's important that you figure out the right position for the fence. So here you can see when I'm cutting, the front fence lines up with the blade. And once I'm done with the cut, the jig is stopped by the stop block underneath. So the fence needs to be positioned at the same point as where the blade stops cutting.

So planning out the where the fences should go, and also seeing how far in they should be so they don't interfere with the blade guards when they are all the way down. If you'd put the fence all the way to the blade, then you'd have to have raise up the guards to the height of the fence which does not leave as good of a cut.

After making some marks, I brought it back in the shop. I find it useful to mark everything as clearly as possible, ideally on both sides of the piece. So bringing down the lines here of where the track needs to go, as well as where the blade will end up, and then carrying those lines to the underside.

But before attaching the track, I'm going to pre-drill holes for where the front fence is going. So predrilling on the top, where I have marked out the position, then turning it around and countersinking, cause you don't want any screws scraping the top of the bandsaw table.

Next I'm clamping down the back stop first, and then gluing the runner in place, clamping, and putting down some screws.

Then countersinking, gluing and securing the back stop down with some screws.

Now time to mark out where the back fence will go. And as you can see here, the position of the back fence is related to the length of clamp.

So I have marked out where it needs to go, and then just drawing the lines here so I can pre-drill and countersink from the back.

Then after marking & predrilling the fence pieces here, I'm attaching them to the board with some screws.

And now the basic concept of the jig is finished and I can take it out to the bandsaw and make that first cut. Now, let's work on the clamp feature. So for the rails I'm using angled aluminum. And as you an see on the cross cut sled here it's important that the rails are up a bit so you have that space in between the plywood and the metal. So drilling holes in the aluminum and making sure to drill on the bottom side to account for that. So I start with presinking the holes with a large bit. Then I drill all the way through with a smaller bit.

Now I have removed the fences from the board, and I'm attaching the metal to the plywood, making sure to raise it up a bit from the edge to provide that lip. And you need plenty of room so you can move the bar freely. Then I cut the aluminum on the bandsaw, and I'm just using a regular 1/4 inch blade for this.

Then once they're cut to size, I screwed the aluminum back on the fences. So to make the knob, I'm using one of the glued up pieces of plywood here. I made a circle using a compass, and then I'm using angle bisecting to create an octagon for a nice knob. Then I mark out the head of a 5/16 inch bolt, drill a 5/16 inch hole. And then I chisel out the head for the bolt to sink it in. Making sure it fits and then I cut the octagon to size on the bandsaw.

Now I need a smaller knob for the bottom of the bolt, so I have another piece of glued plywood here, then marking and chiseling out a space for a 5/16 inch nut.

Next I'm drilling and chiseling a hole in a piece of plywood for the bar for another 5/16 inch nut, and here you can see the pieces for the clamp feature.

Then I'm epoxying in the bolt in the knob, the nut in the holder, and the nut in the bar.Then I have two small pieces of aluminum measuring the width of the plywood bar, and I'm securing those on the ends, again making sure to leave some extra room in between the plywood and the metal.

So now the bar can slide in in between the two fences here. And it's easy to secure something in position. This also makes it a lot easier to make angled cuts since you can draw your angle and then secure it in place with the clamp to follow that line.

To protect the jig, I'm putting on some shellac. And to protect the bandsaw and making the jig slide better, I'm putting down some mineral oil wax polish. Also giving the bottom of the jig a nice coat.

So the cross cut sled is finished, I can move it in, it's nice and balanced on both sides, and I can secure any material with the clamp. I can also make angled mitered cuts really easily using this. And then of course you can also just hold the wood to the fence without the clamp to gain support for a nice straight cut.

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What's The Best Wood To Make a Mallet Out Of? - Shoppe FAQ

When should you use which type of mallet, or wax - what is it like to use which wood? In this shoppe faq I go over that and more.

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Make: Three Ways To Make a Mallet

This video was published on the Make channel.

Mallets are incredibly useful when working with wood. This video shows three different ways to create a mallet for your woodworking projects.

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Vintage Style Storage Boxes w/ Splines

I wanted to build a couple of really nice looking boxes that I could use for organizing and storing some art supplies. For the boxes I decided to use cedar wood, as well as maple for splices. I also used some card holders and they turned out just great. Let's see how I built them.

So I started out with measuring the length of my shelves and they measure 17 inches. I'd like to be able to put two boxes on shelf, so I figured 7 1/2 inches would be a good length for each box.

For wood, I decided to use some cedar I had around, so I re-sawed it on the table saw in batches to get thinner stock.

Once my pieces were cut I ran them through the planer a couple of times.

Now to cut the wood up I set up a stock block on my miter saw and I cut a bunch of mitered pieces. Once I was done with one cut, I changed the stop block to get the second size done.

I want the bottoms to sit inside a rabbet in the boxes so I'm using the router table here to make a groove the thickness of the wood which is about 1/4 of an inch. 

Time to glue the boxes together. I'm using some masking tape here to secure the sides together, then flip around, put down some glue, and fold the box together. This technique works really well with mitered corners which can be a little tricky to get right. Then just checking for square and repeating with the remaining two boxes. 

Now, I'm going to use a spline jig here to add some splines, I added eight splines on each box. I set the jig up with a 1/4 inch bit.

For the splines I'm cutting up a piece of maple for strips. So putting one in, measuring and then cutting up a bunch of small pieces. Then gluing them in. Some were just a touch too thick, so I'm sanding them down so they go in a littl easier.

For the splines here I was first planning on using walnut, but then I was thinking and cedar darkens quite a bit over time and as you finish it, so I decided to go lighter instead with some maple. 

For the bottoms I'm gluing the end grain, to account for wood movement over time, and then just adding a couple of tack nails.

Once the glue had dried I used the Japanese saw to cut the splines off, and the trick is to try to not cut too closely, but give yourself a little room to sand down instead so you don't scratch the wood.

Then I sanded the boxes. And here you can also see I glued on a couple of maple pieces for feet as well to match the splines. 

Now to finish the boxes I decided to go with shellac. I think shellac is a little under utilized. It's a natural finish, it dries really quickly, and it always comes out nice. 

Once that had dried, I applied some wax polish with steel wool to completely smoothen out the surface and add a soft finish. And then buffing it out.

For a finishing touch I'm adding some label holders, and just measuring out the center here. Then pre-drilling lightly and screwing in. And that looks really nice. 

Now it's just a matter of bringing them in and filling them up.

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Making Unique Handles for your Tools

Making your own tool handles on the lathe is a really fun projects. I'm going to be making some handles for a couple of different kitchen tools, however you could use the same concepts to make handles for chisels, files, knives - or whatever you need. By gluing up different woods you can get some really cool designs, and it's also a perfect opportunity to use up scrap wood!

So for this project I looked through my scrap bin and I found a couple of pieces which I thought would be cool to utilize. When you glue together pieces of wood for the purpose of turning, you can get really creative and make all sorts of patterns and cool designs by gluing wood together. While in a block, it might not look like much, but once you start turning, your patterns will emerge.

I decided to use some maple and ipe scraps, and I also have this piece of plywood. I created it by cutting Baltic birch plywood in thin strips, turn them on end, and glue them together for a cool affect. I cut this board up in a couple of pieces.

I wanted to create a kind of striped look one, horizontal design and one verical. So I cut up the wood in smaller pieces, and then arranged in a few different ways to glue up. 

I used regular yellow glue, made sure I got good coverage and I made sure to clamp all the blanks really well. 

Once it had dried, I cleaned up the blocks on the bandsaw.

First step here is finding the center on both sides and making a mark, so it's easier to put them on the lathe. 

At that point I was ready to start turning, and this first one is maple and ipe. After a little rough turning, I made a tenon, so I could put it in the chuck for some extra support. 

I like to start with a roughing gouge first and then move on to a square bit tool. I'm using carbide tools and they work really well.

The handle for the ice cream scoop comes with a ferrule, so I'm checking the interior diameter of the ferrule and then working on getting the wood down to that size.

Then for making rounder shapes, I'm using the round carbide tool here, which works really nice and for marking the end sections as well as creating some decorative lines I'm using the parting tool. 

Here I'm working on the plywood block, and this one was a little trickier to turn, it chipped quite easily, so I moved to the round bit quite early on and it did a much better job, plus I also sanded this one quite aggressively and that worked much better for this material. This handle is for the pizza cutter.

I really like to finish pieces on the lathe, and this time I decided to go with shellac. It goes on so nicely and it also dries super quickly since it's spinning so fast.

And finally I'm turning the piece meant for the opener.

Working on the lathe is so much fun. It's one of those tools that you didn't really know you wanted or needed, until you actually try one out and start playing with it. I've been using mine now for a couple of months and I've turned lots of little accessories, knobs and things like that as well as handles and even a baseball bat. So you don't need a huge lathe to be able to make lots of cool things with it.

Once I had all the handles turned, I used a compass to find the center.  Here I'm marking out the depth of this threaded insert which is meant to screw inside the handle, so the tool can attach to it. 

So drilling holes in all the handles and then screwing in the threaded insert. And it creates groves on the inside so it grips to the wood, and then simply spinning in the attachment. 

For the ice cream scoop I simply epoxied in the ferrel and the scoop part, and then set it in a clamp to dry.

After sanding all to handles with some fine sand paper, I applied some of tung oil wax polish to bring out the color and add a nice feel. 

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