Take the advice of a seasoned professional; avoid unnecessarily tough methods of building furniture. Here are some shortcuts and handy tips.

Although there are many ways to build good furniture, some requiring skills and equipment well beyond the reach of the average home workshop hobbyist, advanced techniques are not absolute musts in the construction of sturdy and at­tractive furniture. Here are the basic con­siderations in home projects, and some special tips to make your job easy and in­expensive.

Why Plywood?

To build a piece of furniture of solid hardwood throughout would be an expen­sive deal. However, you can get much the same effect without sacrificing strength by using plywood or lumber core having an outside veneer of the wood you want your piece to be. Plywood is a laminated product consisting of 5 or more plys of thin wood bonded together with glue and pressure to form a panel of uniform thickness and con­siderable strength. The strength is due to the plys being laid with the grain patterns alternately set at right angles to each other. The top ply is a veneer of select wood and this is the surface that will show in the finished piece of furniture.

Lumber core differs from plywood in that it has a thick center core of butt-joined strips of solid wood sandwiched between four thin plys of veneer, two on each side. The top plys consist of the finish veneers which can be of any type of fine furniture wood while the plys directly underneath are laid with their grains running at right angles to the core and top plys. Lumber core is much lighter than plywood and is highly resistant to warping. The glass-hard glue that bonds plywood and lumber core tends to dull tools, and since less glue is used in bonding lumber core, that ma­terial will be found to be easier on tools than plywood. For the same reason, it is easier to work with and is less inclined to splinter.

Clown outline is then sketched on Duraply while reierring to the graph-paper drawing alongside.

In some cases plywood is more expensive than solid wood, but this is not usually the case. In fact, in the case of fine hardwood plywoods of 3/4-inch thickness, the price is usually less. In any event, the home hobbyist usually finds that money-saving is not the important factor when he selects material for his project, since materials sel­dom exceed one-third of the value of the average cabinet or piece of furniture.

In almost all of his furniture projects, Bill Baker gears his instructions toward the use of plywood rather than solid wood, not only because of the factors of wood strength and outdoor durability, but also because of the simplicity in cutting out necessary pieces. There is usually little waste, there are less operations required for the home hobbyist, and plywood is available in a very wide range of beautiful hardwoods. New techniques for edge treatment, such as Wood-Trim in matching veneers, also add simplicity to the job.

Duraply is plywood with a special overlay surface; it is non-porous and is, there­fore, easy and economical to paint. When finished, Duraply has a handsome appear­ance.

On other projects, full-size paper pattern is cut out Use wrong side of plywood for cutting board.

Edward DeLong photo above & at left

Burt Murphy photo

Nakora is the most handsome of econom­ical plywoods for indoor furniture, par­ticularly for modern furniture. Birch plywood is one of the strongest hardwood plywoods available and it is especially suited for colonial furniture. When it is stained—which it takes nicely without fill­ing—it can be made to resemble most any wood finish. Since it isn't porous, it lends itself very well to painting and is especially good for children's furniture.

Drawer bottoms and cabinet backs in this book's projects were usually 1/4-inch gum plywood, which is cheap and non-porous—therefore having the advantage of not being a dust-collector.

Most plywood comes in 4x6-, 4x7- and, most predominantly, 4x8-foot sizes. In various projects, 4x4- and 3x4-foot sizes were mentioned; nowadays, many lumber­yards—especially those set up for the do-it-yourself trade—carry smaller pieces or even cut them to size. If project layout diagrams call for, say, a 4x4-foot sheet and that size is locally unavailable, the solution obviously will have to be to buy the next larger size-—the leftover plywood can al­ways serve for future projects.

Buying Lumber

One of the unhappiest experiences the home furniture maker can run into is buy­ing a piece of wood and then finding it's just a little too short. Because of shrinkage and varying standards of mill planing, there is a difference between the actual "net" size of dressed lumber that you get from the lumberyard and the nominal size that you order. However, plywood is sold in the exact dimensions as offered.

Board lumber nominally 1 inch thick will actually measure from 3/4to 7/8 inch (usu­ally 13/16inch). And its actual width will be 3/8inch less than its nominal width, in pieces between 2 and 6 inches wide; in wider pieces the difference will jump to 1/2inch.

Similarly, dimensional lumber of 2-inch nominal thickness actually measures 15/8 inches. So be specific about the size you want, and check the extent that the dressed lumber varies from the rough-cut size.

Construction Methods

To simplify construction procedure with­out sacrificing strength, dowel assembly is avoided in favor of screws and glue. Nails should never be used in the main assembly to hold basic sections of the furniture to­gether. Only screws, which pull and hold the pieces together in a firm tight grip, should be used here. Nails can be used for fastening light drawers, attaching edge trim and other decorative features that have no bearing on strength.

To make a strong permanent joint, spread a thin layer of glue on both sections to be joined, set them together, and immedi­ately tighten with screws. The best method of working with screws is to pre-drill screw holes in the top piece; the diameter of the hole is equal to the diameter of the screw being used. Countersink these holes (if the screws are located at the back or underside of the piece where they will not be visible). Then, after setting the two pieces together, drop screws into all the screw holes, hammer them part way into the undrilled wood beneath (unless it is hardwood), and tighten in the usual man­ner. In the case of a long row or ring of screws, don't tighten them in consecutive order, but skip around, tightening first one at one end, then one at the opposite end, then back to one midway between, and so on until all are tightened. This will in­sure the pieces being evenly brought to­gether and keep them from getting out of line while assembling.

Bill Baker assembles "T"-shaped pieces first, "L" pieces next. Project is wardrobe-chest of drawers.

Units shown in photo at left are assembled. Glue hardens better this way and assembly is easier.

Bun Murphy photos

Screws driven into the end grain of ply­wood should be long enough to take a 3/4-inch bite into the wood. Longer screws will not add materially to the strength of the joint and may split the wood. Screws driven into core stock or solid wood should take a 1-inch bite—but to prevent splitting, a pilot hole, half the diameter of the screw, should be drilled first in the solid wood.

Screws driven into exposed surfaces of the project should be concealed with long-grain wood plugs as shown in the photos. These plugs are cut as needed from the sides of scrap wood with a special 1/2-inch plug cutter. They differ from dowels in that their ends have the grain pattern run­ning across the surface, while dowels have an end grain. The advantages of long-grain plugs are many. They can be cut from wood that matches in color and grain pattern the surface being plugged, and when properly matched and fitted they be­come almost invisible in the finished piece. Plugs take stain finishes in the same shade as the surrounding wood, while dowels, with their end grains, soak up the stain and appear considerably darker than the sur­rounding wood. Dowels used as plugs may in time distort due to their failure to shrink and expand in the same direction as the wood which holds them. Plugs, however, will expand and contract in the same way as the wood. Finally, if for any reason a plug must be removed later, it can be chipped out easily with a 1/4-inch chisel, while the only way a dowel can be re­moved is to drill it out.

Where screws are to be covered with long-grain plugs, first bore a shallow 5/16 inch deep by 1/2-inch diameter hole for the plug with a 1/2-inch bit. Then, through the center of this hole, drill the screw hole all the way through the wood.

When building complex pieces of furni­ture that have curved lines such as the rocking horse or garden "heart" bench, the best way to insure an accurate job with a minimum of mistakes is first to make a full-scale layout sketch of the piece on a large sheet of paper tacked on a piece of plywood. Such a drawing will graphically reveal in full size all angles, bevels, miters, curves, assembly points, and true measurements. In fact, full-size patterns can be cut from your layout on heavy paper. Since, in many cases such as the rocking horse, patterns of parts overlap each other it is ad­visable to cut out one pattern at a time while leaving the rest of the layout tightly tacked in place. Then, after using the pat­tern, place it back in its original place, tape it with transparent tape, and continue cut­ting out patterns. All templates must be cut carefully with a sharp knife.

Bather than dowels. Baker uses long-grain wood plugs cut from same wood as used in project.

Handy plug culler does the job shown at left; it is sold by various large manufacturers of bits.

Milton Salamnn photos this page

To prepare for wood plugs. 1/2-inch holes are bored 5/16 inch deep; then 3/16-inch screw holes inside.

Glue is placed in 1/2-inch holes and the long-grain When glue has dried, plugs are chiseled down and wood plugs are hammered into place; let glue dry. sanded flush. Plugs then blend into rest of wood.

Lou Hochman photci

For clampless assembly, homemade wooden wedge clamps are used. Tighten them by means af small wedges driven between pieces to be glued and the top of clamp. Construction is as shown in drawing.

Mike Bonvino photo Milton Salamon photo

After pieces have been assembled but before glue can start to dry, square up assembled cabinets by measuring with tape between diagonal points. If measurements differ, apply pressure on long corner.

Another method of full-size layout trans­ferred to wood is, when working with large surfaces such as in the clown slide, where the layout took all of a 4x8-foot sheet of plywood and a paper layout would require excessive time and be inconvenient, to make the layout directly on the top sur­face of the plywood itself. Then merely cut the plywood along the lines.

In assembling the pieces, too, the full-scale layout proves its worth. Points of assembly can be marked accurately on the various pieces by laying them in super­imposed position on the drawing and using the drawing as a guide in marking the points on the wood where other pieces are to be joined. Constant references to the full-scale drawing in this manner will re­sult in a well-constructed project with a minimum of mistakes and wood waste.

The assembly of a piece of furniture can proceed in many ways, some right, many wrong. The right way to assemble a piece is to break it up into a series of "T's" and "L's", joining together all the T's first, and then all the L's. A "T" assembly consists of two pieces that form a "T" when joined together; two pieces that form an "L" when joined constitute an "L" assembly. By joining your T's and L's first, you give each screwed and glued joint a chance for the glue to harden before straining it with an added assembly. Soon after a piece has been glued and joined, the glue forms a skin and begins to harden. At this crucial stage if the piece is mishandled enough to break this skin and separate the glued pieces slightly, the two separated surfaces of glue will form individual skins and thus destroy the glue's ability to bond For best results, surfaces to be glued should be well squared (use a large square to check this) and glued pieces should be given sufficient time to dry before working with them fur­ther Check the instructions on the glue container for required drying time.

Beeswax is far superior to candlewax or paraffin Before screwing members of a permanent assembly for lubricating screws for easy entry and removal. together, always use glue for increased strength.

Milton Salamon photos above, below left

Edward DeLong photo below, opposite page left

Wherever possible, save time and have better ie- Base trim molding for cabinets is beveled here on suits by marking, cutting several parts at once. radial saw. and joined as shown on opposite page.

Mitered base trim shown on preceding page is then mounted in place with glue. 3d finishing nails.

Limited rabbet is begun on edge by carefully low­ering wood onto blade. 3/8 of an inch from edge.

Biirt Murphy photo

When assembling with glue, it is im­portant to apply instant pressure to the two joined pieces as soon as the glued surfaces have been brought together. Screws should be fastened immediately to effect this pres­sure and, where necessary, clamps should be brought into play. An inexpensive sys­tem of clamping down a large area without going to the expense of buying dozens ot clamps, is to make the simple wedge clamps shown in the photos. These are made of 2-inch thick hardwood and function very efficiently by means of small wooden wedges forced under them.

To use the wedge clamp, slip it over the freshly glued and joined pieces, then force a pair of small wooden wedges under the upper iaw, driving the wedges in from op­posite sides until the desired pressure is brought to bear on the glued pieces. Do not force the wedges in too much or the clamp may break. The correct amount of pressure is reached when glue begins to squeeze out of the joint. To protect the surface of the wood from injury, slip a sheet of heavy cardboard between the clamp jaw and the good surface, and drive the wedges only on the underside ot the

P1 Having glued and joined all T's and L's, the next step is to assemble these joined sections together to complete the basic shape of the piece. It is best to do this without glue at first, assembling the entire unit with screws alone. Then, when it is together in good order and you are satisfied that nothing is out of line, take it apart, clean and sand all the pieces to prepare them for finishing, and reassemble the unit again, this time permanently with glue. Though this method imposes some extra time and effort on your part, it makes the sanding operation easier and better, and reassembly goes fast and accurate with everything fitting back into place like a glove.

Hurt Murphy photo above

For rabbet cut into edge, set blade to depth and mark limits of blade's cut onto table; use square.

For rabbet cut in surface, set blade to depth and mark limit of blade's cut on tape on saw fence.

After assembly chisel is being used to clean out corner where rabbet ends in back edges of unit top.

Edward DeLung photo

Angle iron should be placed flush with back edge for added support, when no cabinet back is used.

Furniture, in order to have good lines and smooth working drawers and doors, must be squared up during assembly before letting the glue-joined sections dry. In many cases, a large square will serve to check the accuracy of smaller joined sec­tions. On larger cabinets with big rec­tangular compartments, you can check for squareness by measuring diagonally across the compartment opening from corner to corner. Note this measurement and then measure the opposite crossing diagonal in the same manner. If the cabinet is square, the two measurements will be the same. If the measurements differ, the piece is not square. To make it square, apply pressure on the corner that has the longer measure­ment until the cabinet has been forced into a square shape and both diagonal meas­urements are the same.

Having squared the cabinet, it is a good idea to tack the back panel on next before making any doors or drawers, or doing any further work. The back panel will serve to hold the cabinet in shape while adding the rest of the features and, if necessary, it can be removed temporarily whenever it interferes with work to be done.

Some pieces shown in this book have rabbets or grooves that do not run the full length of the wood from edge to edge. These rabbets start at a point inside from one edge, and end before they reach the oppo­site edge. To make such limited inside rabbets or grooves on a circular saw, use the method shown in the photos. First raise the saw blade to a height equal to the depth of the rabbet desired. (If a groove is being cut, a dado saw blade is used.) Next, with the fence set at the proper distance from the blade, use a square to mark vertical lines on the fence, one line indicating where the outside arc of the saw blade first emerges above the table and starts to cut, and the other line pointing to where the inside arc of the blade descends below the table and the cutting ceases. For cutting a groove, these lines are the only ones needed on the table saw, but for cutting a rabbet a similar set of lines should be drawn hori­zontally across the table surface to indi­cate these same limits of the saw cut.

Next, mark two short lines across the top of the wood directly over the points where the groove or rabbet underneath is to begin and end. Then, without turning on the saw, lay the wood over the blade and flush against the fence, back it up until the for­ward line on the wood is lined up with the outside line on the fence, and put a clamp on the fence at a point where it will hold the wood in this position and not let it slip back. Now, turn the saw on, back the wood against the clamp stop, holding it at an angle above the spinning saw blade, and then carefully lower it down on the blade until it is lying flat on the table top. Im­mediately advance the wood along the fence until the rear line on the wood comes into line with the rear line on the fence. Then stop and remove the wood. If a rabbet is being cut, turn the wood on end and re­peat the operation, this time using the guidelines on the table surface to start and stop the cut.

To finish the groove or rabbet, use a nar­row chisel to square up the ends of the grooves which were left in an arc by the saw blade.

With the advent of custom-made legs. modern furniture making has been given a big lift. Wrought iron legs simplify con­struction considerably and add a decorative modern flavor to the piece. The best type of wrought iron leg to use is the type where the leg is welded to a right-angle base plate containing the screw holes. This kind is sturdier, easier to line up when mounting, and will hold better.

The newest trend in modern furniture is the use of turned hardwood legs with brass tips. These legs are available in a variety of woods, and come equipped with mount­ing plates and allow you to mount the legs either on a slant or straight—both methods are desirable for modern appearance. The lengths that these legs are available in range from 4 to 28 inches (the last is used for dining room tables). These ready-made legs are excellent for the hobbyist because they save him the good-sized problem of turning legs, making aprons, etc. The price is approximately the same as for wrought-iron legs.

For appearance's sake, wrought iron or brass-tipped wood legs should not be mounted too close to the edge of the furni­ture. A good rule is to mount a leg so that the foot sets back under the table edge ap­proximately 2 inches for every foot of table height. Thus, if the table is 3 feet high, the feet would set back about 6 inches. •

To miter small wood moldings, it is best to use a fine-toothed backsaw and simple wood miter box.

For decorative cutouts, start with drill to fit shape of inside curves: 1-inch drill is used here.

Burt Murphy photo above

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