February 2007
Issue 169

A set of parallel-jaw clamps, like those in the article on page 8 of Woodsmith No. 169, can really make glueups a lot faster and easier. I was able to get the Woodcraft parallel-jaw clamp, Gross Stabil PC², and Bessey K-Body clamp from Woodcraft.  The Woodcraft clamp is available through their stores and from their online website.

The Bessey K-Body clamp as well as the Jet parallel-jaw clamp can also be found at the Woodsmith Store.

The Jorgensen Cabinet Master clamp was ordered directly from Amazon.com. Contact information for each of these sources can be found below.

The storage center on page 12 of Woodsmith No. 169 stores items and looks great on the wall. And best of all, it doesn't take a lot of material to build.

A few pieces of hardware are all that's needed to complete the project. The double coat hooks (BH-13), the 1¼"-dia. maple knobs (WK-6), and antique brass dropleaf table hinges (H-500) that allow the drop-front door to open all came from Horton Brasses.

You'll also need a 3/8"-dia. rare-earth magnet (32907) and washer to hold the door closed. The one I used came from Rockler. They are also available from Lee Valley and the Woodsmith Store.

Finish information: First, I stained the project with a dark walnut stain. When that was dry, I sprayed "Barn Red" spray paint over that. After sanding the piece to distress it, I restained any bare wood with the walnut stain again. Finally, to protect the finish, I sprayed on a couple coats of a clear semi-gloss polyurethane.

The TV cabinet on page 18 of Woodsmith No. 169 is large enough to support most flat-panel, wide-screen television sets and would make a great addition to an entertainment room.

You'll find almost all of the materials needed to build the cabinet at your local lumberyard or woodworking store. But there are a few items you might need to order from mail-order suppliers before you begin the project.

Pocket screws were used to assemble the base of the cabinet.  These screws can be found at almost any woodworking store.  I used #7 x 1¼" fine-threaded screws (38502) from Rockler.

You'll also need some hardware for the drawers and doors. I used Blum full inset 120° self-closing hinges (00B15.24) to mount the doors. And installed a set of 32mm (01X43.22) and 96mm (01X43.24) pewter double bar door pulls for opening the drawers and cabinet doors. A pair of black 16" full-extension slides (02K36.16) was used to mount the large center drawer. All of this hardware was ordered from Lee Valley.

The campaign chest on page 30 of Woodsmith No. 169 features solid wood construction with a little plywood for the drawer fronts, case backs, and drawer bottoms to help avoid wood movement. To complete the project, you'll need some veneer to apply to the back panels and front of the drawers. The plainsliced mahogany veneer (18168) we used came from Rockler.

To give the chest a fine furniture look, you'll want to add some nice-looking brass hardware.  The heavy-duty campaign chest corner hardware (00A17.02), flush drawer handles (00A19.02), and case handles (00A19.03) all came from Lee Valley.

You'll also need some stem bumpers to keep the drawer operation straight and smooth.  These are available from many woodworking suppliers. I ordered the stem bumpers (28373) for my drawers from Rockler.