When it comes to ripping thin strips of wood on the table saw, safety should always come first. Having a thin piece of wood too close between the fence and blade can be dangerious. Not to mention, it probably won't be every actuate. So i made a simple jig to rip thin strips on the opposite side. It was made from a few scraps and took no time to make. Watch this video and see how it works. If you would like a drawing of my jig, you can contact me at stantonfinefurniture@gmail.com

The 17th century oak stool is a great transitional woodworking project to step up your woodworking skills. In times of old chairs showed power and social status. People of power had chairs with carved arms and legs. Backs and seats with comfortable cushions for the royalty to relax in, while the common folk sat on simpler object such as stools and even the floor. In the 1600’s the stools were made from just 5 boards. It was a simple and effective way to create a place to sit. In the 1700’s the stools improved in style and construction. The legs could be simple or turned with fine coves and rounds. The bottom of the legs were connected with stretchers with mitered tenons and mortises. The rails also had the same joinery and they were all held securely with a dowel and draw bore method. I thought it might be fun to build one of these stools. It was a chance to express myself in the design of it. What i enjoy about owning this stool is it has versatile uses. At 22” high, it’s comfortable to sit on and also makes for a nice end table beside a reading chair. I’ve found it’s a nice place to set a laptop on and work from it in my chair. And with the laptop, it’s even enjoyable to watch movies from. The stool isn’t just limited to inside the house. Make a pair of these and they can be used in the workshop as saw benches. I’ve been told that in times of old, a pair of these were used to create a makeshift wake, placing the coffin on top of them. What i enjoy about making this stool is it increases your woodworking level. It is the next step up from making a table with straight legs, to a chair with compound splayed legs. This stool is right in the middle. The legs from the front are straight. But from the sides the legs are splayed at 8 degrees. The mitered tenons might be too much of a jump in woodworking skills for some, but it can still be done with a simpler method using dowels. The legs could be finely turned on the lathe with the beauty of the shape and curves adding elegance and style. Or they can be just simple straight legs to serve as an utilitarian piece of furniture. Either way, this is a fun and rewarding project to push your skills, your creative abilities and connects you with woodworking of old. Not to mention, it gives you a truly versatile piece of furniture for your house. Try making one today and enjoy the joys of woodworking. And when you are done, do a little dance to celebrate! Chad Stanton Stanton Fine Furniture Wood Choppin’ Time. com

Every good woodworker needs sharp chisels. If you use a guide you constantly are adjusting the postion to get the angle just right. Well here is a simple jig you can make to assure you get the angle right every time. Using a chisel guide is a great way to keep the chisel at a constant angle for sharpening a razor edge on it. But when you change chisles you have to go through the whole procedure again of setting it up to get that exact angle. This can be time consuming. This video shows you how to make a jig that sppeds up that set uop time. And it sues scrap wood you have laying around your shop. It's fast. It's easy. And most of all, it works! Thanks for watching chad stanton- stanton fine furniture

This is the conclusion to the Country Style Cabinet that i built for American Woodworker Magazine. This episode focuses on the handle that when closed, fits flush with the other half. It's simple to make, but has unique steps that must be followed to make it work properly. It could bind or stick if the steps or over looked. But this video takes all the guess work out and will live you with an interesting handle that also functions as a lock. Hope you enjoy it. chad stanton- stanton fine furniture

The Professional Remodelers Organization approched me and asked me if I could do demonstrations at their show. Over the three day weekend I did demonstrations on glue and clamping tips, how to make an end grain cutting board, how to make EZ cabinet doors, basic guide to stains and finishes, how to hang door casing, and how to install base boards and crown molding. There was a nice turn out of people. And everyone was so kind and really enjoyed themselves. I especially love how the kids would be there with mom and dad enjoying the demonstrations and having a good time. Thanks to everyone who came out.

Recently I did an article for American Woodworker Magazine. It was titled, "The Learning Cabinet." issue #164. It is a good subject covering the basics of building a cabinet with inset doors. However, before i did the article I did the video. The cabinet was for soe customers of mine and I filmed it as i built it. I held offf on posting the video until after the article came out. So here it is. If you misssed the issue you can now watch the video. It also has links showing you how to make cope and stick doors and well as fitting inset doors. Next week will focus on the flush fitting handle to complete the project. I hope you enjoy it. chad stanton- stanton fine furniture

This is the second half of the craftsman style frame video. In this episode I'll show you some details in routing and how i make diamond pointed pegs. The pegs do give the frame added strength at the joint. But mostly they are a decorative addition. One of the biggest surprises is the stain glass is not stained glass. It's actually a sticker that i purchased at Home Depot. And it's not even on glass. It's mounted to a fluorscent lens cover at the fraction of the cost. Not to mention, safer too. I mount the stricker with some adhesive and a trick for doing countertops. Then the whole thing is finished off with stain and shellac. Now an insider note. I made a classic mistake And if you go to my facebook.com/woodchoppintime page there is a video showing the mistake and how I fixed it. chad stanton- stanton fine furniture

This is a craftsman style frame I made out of some scrap wood. It was an old desk top that someone threw out. Hating to see good wood got waste, I decided to make something new out of it. This is a fairlt simple project with an easy and strong joint, the half lap. You can read about this half lap joint in my blog entry. I do two different methods in this video to show you how to make one. One way is with hand tools such as a crosscut saw, chisel and shoulder plane. The other is with the table saw and stacked dado. It first part of the video will take you through the frame construction. The second part will deal with the routing of the details and installing the "stain glass". chad stanton- stanton fine furniture

I’m going to do a half lap with a cross cut, chisel paring, and followed through with a shoulder plane. Now if you didn’t know better, you might be thinking I’m an Olympic diver getting ready to execute a stunning high dive. But alas, I am not. I’m a woodworker, and this is a structural joint and the tools I will use to make a simple, yet strong woodworking joint. The Half Lap is a joint used to connect two intersecting pieces of wood. Each piece of wood is sawn to half its thickness. When the two are then overlapped, the two are now again the thickness of one. In times of old, this might have been considered as an inadequate means of joining two boards together. In early time glue was not available. I imagine to secure this joint, the boards would have had to be drilled through and fastened by dowel rods. Or maybe they nailed it? Either way, it would not have been a good joint to hold up against any rugged usage. However, with today's modern glue, it has the ability to adhere to the wood with incredible strength. If you would try to break it, the wood would snap before the glued joint would fail. Wood has three edges in which glue can be applied. Face grain, the large, flat surface area of a board. Edge grain, the smaller side of the board running length wise. And end grain, the ends of the board, running width wise. Yet, end grain gluing is an inadequate means of bonding two pieces together. I’m going to begin with making my boards. I’ll have one horizontal on my bench and the other standing vertical. With a sharp pencil I’ll mark the vertical piece on the face and sides using the horizontal piece as a gauge. Then i’ll reverse the two pieces and mark the same on the other board. Using a marking gauge, I’ll set it for half the thickness and run it down the sides of the boards. With a square and a sharp knife, I’ll scribe a line across the face of the board following my pencil line. I continue to make a few passes with my knife. Then I angle the knife, removing a small amount of wood, creating a shoulder or trench on the waste side for my saw to rest in. I’m going to do this for both pieces. I’ve picked up my crosscut saw and using that trench as a guide, I’ll saw down to my marking gauge line. I’ll move my saw over 3/16” and make a series of saw cuts repeating this until I come to the edge of the boards. Now comes the fun part. I use a ⅞” chisel and place it in between the saw kerfs. Pry the chisel and most of the wood will snap out. I love doing this. It’s fast, easy and there is something fun about it. Maybe it’s the sound of the wood breaking like the sound of knuckles cracking on fingers. I’m not sure, I just know I enjoy doing it. The mating surfaces are still rough at this point. So I’ll smooth them out with a shinto rasp. I’ll do a test fit to see how the joint fits. If the half lap isn’t quite wide enough, I’ll use a shoulder plane to carefully shave the joint so the fitting is exact. From there it’s just applying the glue. I’m going to spread the glue evenly on both mating surfaces. I want to make sure that I’m using all the surface available to me to get the maximum holding power. Then I apply the clamps and let it set overnight. If you would like to see an example of this joint being made check out my videos at www.youtube.com/bigchopperoo and watch “Craftsman Frame- part 1” Chad Stanton- Stanton Fine Furniture

Almost every cabinet door manufactured today is made by a cope and stick method. And there is a good reason for it. It's been a method that has proven to be fast, accurate, and reasonable strong for decades now. If you are thinking of making your own cabinet doors, Cope & Stick is a good choice for you. Cope and Stick is a set of router bits, typically sold together. One makes the proflie and groove to accept the inner panle. (the stick) The other makes a reversed profile and a small tenon to go into the groove. (the cope) Put the two together and they fit like a match made in heaven. There are a few steps that should be followed when making cope and stick doors. This video will show the order in which those steps are done as well as a few tips to go along with it. chad stanton- stanton fine furniture