#HTE

An Epic Workbench, Complicated Joinery Made Simple, a New Hardware Invention and More

The Workbench to End All Workbenches

WOW. Jesse de Geest finally shows the video of him building his epic workbench, and it’s every bit as awesome as it was hyped to be. For those of you who haven’t been following, de Geest was determined to build his workbench like a fine piece of furniture, an heirloom that would be passed down to subsequent generations of his family. And his intention shows:

A New Type of Hardware for Fastening Tabletops

Pretty cool: Izzy Swan has invented a piece of hardware that is now being manufactured and sold by FastCap. As Swan walks you through an end table build, he shows you how his Izzy Skirt Washers can be used to securely affix a tabletop while the slotted design allows for wood movement, permitting your tabletop to seasonally expand and contract without warping or cracking.

Experimental Lathe-and-CNC-Made Bowl

In order to become good at making things, you need to develop a mastery of skills through repetition. But it’s also equally important to explore techniques you’ve never tried before. Hence Frank Howarth experiments here with cutting concentric rings out of a single board, then glueing it up into a bowl he can turn on the lathe before adding some details on his new CNC tilting end table:

Mallet Madness

Depending on the kind of work you do you’ll find a mallet either handy, for the occasional persuasion-fit, or indispensable, for driving chisels. Here Jay Bates shows you two methods for making your own. The first method relies primarily on hand tools, while the second method is for those that prefer power tools:

Making Elaborate Joinery Simple

Another from Jay Bates: In this one he demonstrates a classic joinery technique for keeping tabletops flat over time, while still allowing for expansion and contraction: The breadboard end. Bates adds his own twist by incorporating a through-mortise, and we get to see the meticulous nature that makes Jay Bates, Jay Bates as he agonizes over an error that resulted in a visible wedge being 1/16th of an inch off. (Bates, no one will notice, the piece is beautiful!)

Wood and Steel Bathroom Cabinet

Using nothing but common big-box hardware store materials, Steve Ramsey builds an improbably handsome bathroom cabinet. Just goes to show you what some stain and spraypaint can accomplish. He also recovers from a mid-project error, and has a piece of good luck with the final distance of the door swing:

Angle-Top Cabinet Install

Being able to use the awkward space where an angled ceiling meets a low wall, as in an attic, is often challenging. Here Sandra Powell, a/k/a Sawdust Girl, shows us how she got the most out of it by designing and installing angle-topped cabinets to fill the void:

Lego Build Table

Jeez Louise. Bob Clagett already had our Father of the Year award for his epic arcade cabinet build, but here he goes the distance again, this time crafting a well-designed Lego Build Table for the Clagett brood:

Ipe-Topped Media Cabinet

Here Linn from Darbin Orvar bangs out a mightily impressive media cabinet, with an Ipe top and self-turned legs and knobs. As always, she helpfully highlights which products and tools she’s using, and why. (I’ve gotta say though, watching her using the doweling jig made me want to call Festool up and beg them to give her a Domino!)