Simple Lathe Drum Sander

The drawer fronts in the Triptych Mirror build feature a reverse curve that requires shaping and sanding. The Woodcademy shop does not feature a drum sander large enough to work a 4” wide part.

So in this video, Ralph shows how to quickly adapt your lathe to the task using 1” cloth backs sanding roll from 2sand.com.

Between the grit selection and lathe speed control, this trick gives you complete control over the sanding process.

Folding Router Table Update

Our Folding Router Table plans from Season 2 have been downloaded more than 500 times so far, which is awesome, thank you!

But sadly, Rockler has discontinued the T-Track Hold Down Clamp that was specified in the plans to hold the fence.

Fortunately, we found a nearly-perfect replacement from Lee Valley Tools that requires no changes to the fence.

The plans have been updated with this new information, but for those of you who have already downloaded the plans, this video shows you how to adapt the Lee Valley clamps.

Lee Valley T-Slot Clamp

The Key to Great M&T Joints: The Shoulder Plane

Ralph prefers to hand-make mortises, cutting the tenons oversize and then fitting them using a shoulder plane. In making the Butterfly Leaf Table, Ralph relies on this technique for creating the mortise and tenons in Episode 7.

In this Bonus Content video, Ralph demonstrates what defines a shoulder plane and how to use shoulder planes to both fit and position the tenon accurately.

Three Easy Ways to Plug Pocket Screw Holes

The chairs we build in Woodcademy Episodes 5 & 6 now streaming on Amazon Prime, we use pocket screws pretty extensively. And although the holes are positioned so that they are generally unseen, plugging the holes gives the project a more polished, handcrafted look.

In this video, Ralph demonstrates three easy ways to plug the pocket hole screws to fully finish the look of your chairs.

Kreg Plug Cutter Kit 

Tenon Cutter Set