Follow our Facebook page for free woodworking goodness! - Stumpy Nubs Woodworking Journal is a multi-media publication designed for weekend woodworkers of all skill levels. Each issue contains a selection of articles and videos about woodworking techniques (hand and power tools), jigs and shop improvements, unique projects, skill building tutorials, tool reviews and quick tips.
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This machine was born out of frustration! Stumpy had a cheap hand-held biscuit joiner that he picked up on a whim at Harbor Freight. The problem with cheap units like that is the difficulty that comes with making an accurately placed slot without the tool rocking out of position during the cut! So, like any good woodworker, Stumpy set out to find a solution. And the result is a bench top unit that can make a cheap tool into something easier to use than even the expensive hand-held versions. The Bench-top Biscuit Joiner is fast and accurate, inexpensive to build, and has dozens of uses. It's great for edge gluing boards, strengthening any butt joint, cutting slots for raised panels and picture frames... you name it!
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Building box/finger joint jigs has become a bit of a hobby among some woodworkers, like marble machines or complex mouse traps. They are admittedly complicated, but fun to build and really useful tools. I've designed several, but this one is my favorite. It will cut any joint configuration you can imagine, without any complicated setup or attachments to swap around. You don't need a dado set to use it, though using one will speed up the process. It will cut a joint up to 18" wide, and is compatible with any 10-inch table saw.
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This is a tool Stumpy has wanted for a long time, but just couldn't justify the $1,000 price tag for the commercial version! It's a hand held mortising machine designed for loose tenon joinery- which is a lot like traditional mortise and tenon joinery- but WAY faster and easier! Inspired by the Festool Domino, this homemade version is a lot easier to make than you'd think, and it has more uses than you'd imagine!
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This is a detailed guide for cutting dovetails with a router table. It includes instructions for building the jig and for every aspect of the dovetailing process from layout to the final cuts, even how to fix your mistakes. (The pins are cut at the router table, and the tails are cut with either a band saw or a handheld jig saw.) It's eight pages of photos, drawings and detailed instructions that you can take to the shop with you!
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I designed a dovetail machine that can be made from wood, and has more features than most of the top of the line commercial versions. This machine is designed to be used with your router to make fast, even, beautiful through dovetail joints that look like you made them by hand. It is micro-adjustable so you can set how tight you want the joint to be, and it allows you to easily change the spacing and size of the tails and pins. It will also make sliding dovetail joints and router dadoes!
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This horizontal router has a few unique twists that make all the difference, like a tilting table, a micro adjustable router lift, a sliding table and much more. The machine is great for making raised panel doors, cutting miters and bevels, making splined miter joints for boxes, locking miter joints, half lap joints, rabbets, tenons... the list goes on and on. Plus it has excellent dust collection, and the tilting table makes it possible to cut unique, one of a kind profiles with ordinary router bits!
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This tenon jig is yet another example of how you can use a homemade incremental positioner in amazing ways! It provides a positive stop every 1/6" (which can be micro-adjusted to the tiniest amount), making it impossible to set up the jig wrong, and making it easy to make many tenons that are all exactly the same size without laying them out individually. The accuracy and repeatability of this jig is unique in any homemade or even store-bought version- just check out the video below to see! But the best part is, it's inexpensive and easy to make using our detailed plans, complete with lots of photos and step-by-step instructions!
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These two jigs are easy to make, and simple to use. One is for the router table, the other is used with a hand-held router. Both will cut through-dovetail pins (the tails are cut with a band saw, scroll saw or jig saw). The hand-held router jig will also enable you to cut half-blind dovetails as well. Both jigs are demonstrated in the videos below, and there's another video about laying out your joints.
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Router planes are amazing tools, but they are also largely misunderstood. And that's a shame, because they are extremely useful in both a hand-tool and a power-tool workshop. Rather than cutting profiles, as a modern router does, a router plane is for cutting to depth with precise accuracy. They can be used to make the bottom of a table saw dado perfectly flat. They can fine tune a rabbet or a tenon. They are the perfect companion to many power tools with nearly unlimited uses.
My version of the router plane is easy to make from a scrap of wood and some easy to find hardware. And unlike other homemade versions, this has a micro-adjuster to set the depth and shaving thickness.
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What started out as a way to safely hold small parts while working at the router table, became a multi-functional sled that will accomplish several tasks safely and accurately. It's a small parts holder: it's a coping sled for routing on the ends of narrow work pieces (rail and stile construction, tenons, half laps, etc.); and it's a circle cutting jig capable of diameters up to 10-inches.
This sled is surprisingly easy to build, and the plans give you all the information you need, including step-by-step instructions complete with photos. Enjoy!
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This jig is simple and inexpensive to make, but well thought out to provide a surprising level of functionality. It may be used with a plunge router and an edge guide to create accurate, repeatable mortises. You can cut tricky ones too, such as double mortises, parallel mortises and even mortises in round stock.
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There are lots of ways to cut miters, but most involve setting the angle of a guide or jig. If you set it imprecisely, you'll have problems. Why not have a sled dedicated to the most common miter angle you use, 45-degrees?
This precise miter sled excels at cutting the parts for frames and boxes. The dual fences are reliably fixed at 45-degrees and they extend for long workpieces. There is a system of stops to make repeated cuts accurately, and a micro-adjuster to fine tune your project parts. It's the best miter sled out there, in my opinion!
NOTE- You may also purchase this as part of our three-sled set at discounted rate in the "table saw jigs" catagory of our project plans store.
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This set includes ALL THREE of our deluxe table saw sled plans, including the large "Mega Sled," the more compact "Mini Sled," and the deluxe "Miter Sled", plus all the joinery jig attachments including a finger joint jig, a pair of dovetail jigs, a tenon-cutting jig, a jig for cutting spline slots to reinforce frames and boxes, and spring activated micro-adjusters to fine tune your cuts. It is by far the most capable table saw sled system around!
NOTE: The three sleds may also be purchased separately in the "table saw jigs" catagory of our project plans store.
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This is the larger of three table homemade saw sleds I use in my shop. I call it the "Mega Sled" because it will do it all including crosscutting large panels and cutting various types of joinery. It includes plans for a clever system of joinery jig attachments including a finger joint jig, a pair of dovetail jigs, a tenon-cutting jig, a jig for cutting spline slots to reinforce frames and boxes, and spring activated micro-adjusters to fine tune your cuts. It is by far the most capable table say sled system around!
This large sled will work on any contractor's table saw or cabinet saw. It will also work on many portable jobsite saws. It may be too large for some small benchtop saws. We offer a smaller version of this sled, complete with all the same attachments in our web store.
You may also purchase this sled, our smaller version (for day-to-day work) and our special miter sled (for 45-degree frames and boxes) as a 3-plan set at a discounted rate in the "table saw jigs" catagory of our project plans store.
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This is the every-day user out of of three homemade table saw sleds I have in my shop. I call it the "Mini Sled" because it it is a smaller, easier to pull out and stow away version of the big "Mega Sled" - but it is almost as capable. It includes plans for a clever system of joinery jig attachments including a finger joint jig, a pair of dovetail jigs, a tenon-cutting jig, a jig for cutting spline slots to reinforce frames and boxes, and spring activated micro-adjusters to fine tune your cuts. It is by far the most capable table say sled system around!
Note- the dovetail jig attachments are a little large for this sled. They will work, but they will hang off the edge. They work best on the larger version of this sled, which is available in our web store.
You may also purchase this sled, our larger version (for larger work) and our special miter sled (for 45-degree frames and boxes) as a set at a discounted rate in the "table saw jigs" catagory of our project plans store.
A truly unique digital publication for the everyday woodworker
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