Testing Biscuit Joint Strength - Do Biscuits Add Strength To A Woodworking Glue Joint?

Submitted by Keith on Tuesday 26/09/2017

In this video I test the strength of various materials like melamine, plywood, MDF and solid wood with biscuits and without biscuits to see if biscuits add any strength.

I've heard people say that biscuits are purely for alignment, but others say that they add strength.

The results were very surprising to me!

Hifi And Vinyl Unit Commission

Submitted by Keith on Tuesday 26/09/2017

In this video I make a commission hifi and vinyl unit from some plywood.

I started by designing what the client wanted in SketchUp.

I ripped the pieces of ply in to more manageable pieces using my circular saw and a straight edge, and then I could make the finer more accurate cuts on the tablesaw.

I cut mitre joints at each corner of the unit on the tablesaw using my panel cutting sled.

I also cut housing joints for the shelves.

I also used the biscuit jointer to install the front panel, just to get it perfectly aligned.

THE CHESS SET (PART 3 OF 3) - THE BOX

Submitted by Keith on Tuesday 26/09/2017
So in part 1 of this video series I made the chess board, and in part 2 I made the chess pieces, and in this video I'm going to be making a box to hold both the pieces and the board.
 
I'd mainly use mahogany for the box, this was an offcut from a wardrobe panel that I used to make this mahogany box recently.
 
I started by ripping it to the height that I wanted the sides of the box to be and then I cleaned up the pieces using my thickness planer.
 

The Chess Set (Part 2 of 3) - The Chess Pieces

Submitted by Keith on Friday 01/09/2017
To make the chess pieces I'd use this offcut of sapele for the black pieces and some beech for the white pieces, so I started by ripping the beech to the same size as the sapele which was 27mm square.
 
This beech came from an old table frame that I found by some bins.  I also have the table top from the table which I haven't got round to using for anything yet.
 

The Chess Set (Part 1 of 3) - The Board

Submitted by Keith on Friday 01/09/2017
In this video I make a chess board.
 
In terms of materials for the chess board, I had four offcuts of mahogany, these are the feet from some salvaged hat and coat stands.  And I had a piece of what I believe to be Iroko although I might be wrong - I've had this for a while and I don't remember where I picked this up.
 
First I needed to prepare the two materials.  I started by flattening one edge and one face of the piece of Iroko on the planer and then I did the same with the mahogany.
 

Converting A Dining Table In To A Coffee Table - Habitat Kilo

Submitted by Keith on Friday 01/09/2017
In this video I convert a Habitat Kilo dining table in to a coffee table for a friend.

Handcut Dovetail & Brass Inlay Mahogany Wedding Box (Part 3 of 3)

Submitted by Keith on Friday 01/09/2017

The next job was to fit the piano hinge for the lid.  I cut the hinge to length with a hacksaw.

The hinge was around 3mm thick so I wanted to cut a recess for the hinge to sit in, in the rim of the box. 

I set up a straight edge and used my router with a straight bit to make the cut, squaring up the corners with a chisel.  Before adding the screws, I first glued the lid to the hinge using some epoxy so that I could ensure the placement of the lid was right.  After the glue had set, I could then fit the hinge with the brass screws after drilling some pilot holes.

Handcut Dovetail & Brass Inlay Mahogany Wedding Box (Part 2 of 3)

Submitted by Keith on Thursday 10/08/2017

With the four sides of the box assembled, I needed to flatten the edges ready for the top and bottom panels to be added.  I used some sandpaper stuck to a piece of flat melamine with sticky back tape for this.

I cleaned up the edges of the box and the dovetail joints at the belt sander.

Handcut Dovetail & Brass Inlay Mahogany Wedding Box (Part 1 of 3)

Submitted by Keith on Thursday 10/08/2017
In this video I'm going to be making a box as a gift for my brother and his fiance's wedding.  As it's a special occasion I wanted to make something a little special, so this is going to be my first attempt at handcut dovetails.
 

House Tour / Past Projects Re-Visited (part 2 of 2)

Submitted by Keith on Tuesday 25/07/2017

Tour of my house and some of the things in it - talking about past projects some which have been featured in videos and others which haven't.

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