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Is there any trick to getting the nickers at the right depth? When I was experimenting they were too far out and I had trouble getting them set in a way that seemed to work. Finally I just removed them entirely to see how I would do.

I felt like "Rough to Ready" was in the category of references that basically just tell you to put the work on your bench and plane it until it's flat. He goes on for a bit, but you can certainly figure out that from books, or posts in this thread. Practice is valuable, but only in the...

I have acquired a couple of wooden dado planes and am wondering if it's necessary to do things like flatten the sole, or if there are other things I ought to do in order to get them working. I'm also wondering how to adjust the depth of the nickers to get it properly consistent with the blade...

I personally found there to be a great deal of subtlety in this task. The first time I attempted it I started with a board an inch thick that I wanted to finish at 1/2" thickness. But by the time I got the first face flat, parts of the workpiece were less than 1/2" thick. I have not watched...

I would say that I started with a Shaker table idea but I rounded things a little bit, which I guess gives it a modern look (though I'm hazy about these style designations). The long drawer pull mirrors the curved end of the tabletop. The top is marbled claro walnut, the rest mahogany, but with...

The drawer will likely be opened sideways by person a facing the drawer side rather than being pulled towards a person who is facing the drawer front. I think this means the user will prefer to be able to pull the drawer from the off-center position. Since I'm trying to design for the expected...

I'm planning a table with a drawer that I expect will generally get opened by a person off to one side of the drawer, so the person will prefer to pull the drawer open using a handle that is at the far side of the drawer front rather than mounted in the center of the drawer front. My drawer...

I think it may be better to start a new topic instead of reviving this ancient one. I have not gone back and re-read this thread and I don't recall the problem I was having with the persistent bump back then. With the vanishing camber I quit using the Clifton plane and haven't had that...

There exist mitre saws and shooting boards. Are you saying that I should, with sufficient practice, be able to dispense with these type of guides under all circumstances, essentially that they are crutches? This is the basic question that I was trying to get perspective on---when is the...

Actually the area where I'm having trouble is not in cutting the joint. I have high confidence that I can cut a satisfactory shoulder line for my tenons, for example. The problem is in cutting all the way through the 44mm thick square timber, basically the top end of the legs. Unless I'm...

Hmmm. Did I say cabinetry was simple? I didn't realize I was having "problems" in terms of marking. I thought my marking strategy was OK, though it does mean having the legs cut to length first. Note that I marked all the legs to length at once so a story stick would be kind of redundant...

So if I'm tapering two sides of each leg (the inside surfaces) then my plan was to set a marking gauge and mark one taper on the end grain of the bottom of the leg. Then I could connect the line to the start of the taper. When I go to cut the second taper I can repeat the process. This...

As noted earlier, if I don't cut them to length then I'll find it tricky to mark the taper consistently on the legs. I suppose I could cut them uniformly overlong and mark the taper with the expectation of cutting off a cm at the end.

I hadn't given a thought to the problem of fitting and the stresses the joint would get at that point. I have the legs marked with plenty of extra in most cases so I can leave it on until after I cut and fit the joints. It also just occurred to me that leaving that extra bit on would protect...

So I've got the apron stock cut and shoulder lines marked. And I've got the leg material marked and now I need to cut it to length. This is 44 mm thick square stock. How would you recommend cutting it? I've been doing practice cuts. I tried chiseling a V all the way around (though not...

Ok. I'm convinced. I'll knife in pairs rather than trying to cut to length with precision. Regarding the shoulders, I had reasonable success in a previous project where I marked the shoulders, then cut a V with a chisel, and then placed the saw in the V. I think I had to do some chisel...

I was planning to mark the shoulders using a marking gauge. Why would it be better to knife them in pairs instead? Of course, to use a marking gauge I need to get the cut ends to be square so they act as good reference surfaces, even if they will be hidden inside the mortise in the end. I...

So the deep V that you chiseled was just your planing mark. You didn't use it to set the saw blade into? In my case, the apron stock is around 20 mm thick and 100 mm wide, so it's definitely a shootable size and seems like it would be kind of small to try to plane freehand. I did the first...

I'm making my first table and have reached the point where I need to crosscut the legs and apron material to length prior to cutting mortises and tenons. I'm wondering whether you would expect to make these sorts of crosscuts right at the line and work directly from the saw, or would you...

I must admit that I haven't had much success with my scraper plane in general. I got it to actually cut by following Charlesworth's directions, but it didn't cut for long and I haven't really gotten the feel for adjusting it. What makes the tearout scary, by the way, is that it looks deep...