Extremely Average

There were several readers who asked for a more detailed description of how the dust collection was created.  I do like getting feedback, so here it is.  I hope it is descriptive enough.

The fence is two pieces of 4/4 wood, one of hard maple and one of oak, which sandwich around two pieces of 6/4 hard maple.  This creates the gap in the center.  The wood fence is then connected to a couple of Rockler multi tracks.  Once I had the fence figured out I started putting the little gray cells to work trying to come up with a way to connect my rather weak little shop vac to the fence.

I wanted to create a piece that could be slid into the gap, from the top, and be interchanged with another vac connector, should I ever get the Festool shop vac I have my eye on.  So requirement one was to make it a connectible piece.

I did this by taking a piece of rectangular hard maple and chiseling out a shallow mortise the same size as the gap.  I then drilled a 1 inch hole in the center of the wood, all the way through.  Into this mortise I glued two triangular pieces.  The triangle was a right angle and close to a 3:4:5 in ratio, just to give you a mental picture.  I glued them with the 3 unit side into the mortise, so the diagonal of both triangles focused upwards.  My theory is that I would be reducing the area in the gap and thus improve sucking force.

Once the two triangular pieces dried, I tried out the fit.  I should mention that the triangular pieces were cut from the same 6/4 wood that made up the pieces forming the gap, so the fit was perfect.  The scraps were actually left over from when I built Teri and Tracy, the saw horses, for those who follow the blog.  But I digress.

Now that I had the connector portion figured out, I needed to be able to connect the hose.  I didn’t want the hose to go straight down, as that would look dumb.  I wanted it to enter at 90 degrees from the back of the fence.  My first idea was to create a box, which I did, with hand cut dovetails.  My dovetails, which were only my 4th and 5th attempts, were ok, but when I placed the box in position, I realized that it just didn’t look sexy enough for my router table fence.

So I decided to get out my french curve and design a more pleasing shape.  I came up with the curve and then rough cut the 4 pieces with my jigsaw, Marey.  Marey did a really nice job, but the pieces needed to be sanded until they looked like one.  I did this with my 3″ belt sander, 50 grit belt, and when I got the shape I wanted, ran through the 80 and 120 grits as well.  All 4 pieces were clamped into my vice for the sanding.

The next step was to drill a 1 1/4 inch hole in the center of three of the pieces.  The 4th piece I cut a light bulb shaped mortise in the fourth piece, the one that faces the front.  The idea is that the hose fits snugly into the first three, and the gap in the 4th allows the dust to be sucked up.

Once I got the 4 pieces shaped and the opening created I glued it up.  It turned out pretty good, so I then glued the curved connector piece to the other piece with the triangles and it was done.  I immediately threw some dust under the opening and sure enough, it sucked it up.

So that is how I built the connector.

The sound of the router running made me smile.  Tonight I attached the table, using a piano hinge, and installed the safety switch.  The table is now in working order.  Is it done?  Not yet.  I still need to design a device to hold up the top when I am changing or adjusting the router.  I have a few other small details which I may add.  I haven’t decided.  The important thing is that if I need have a router table, I now have one.

If one thinks they I am unbiased in my appraisal of the router table, they would be sorely misinformed.  I think it is the most beautiful router table ever.  I remember the week after I decided to take up woodworking.  I was visiting my parents and mom saw an ad for the Woodsmith store.  After a breakfast, which included eggs, an English muffin, and some turkey bacon, expertly combined to create a sandwich.  I programmed the address into my iphone.  The maps app got me to the store.

Walking into a place like the Woodsmith store, for a neophyte, was like a kid in a goat food store.  There were table saws, band saws, Japanese hand saws, and other things that were not saw at all.  All of them were shinny and called to me.  They said, “You have found your destiny.  Here in this place, you may trade legal tender for tools, and when you do, you will feel joy.”  It was a delight.

After wondering around for a bit I started to chat with one of the helpful people working.  I was told that investing in a router would be helpful in beginning to learn about woodworking.  He also showed me a very sexy Kreg router table.  For many months I lusted after this table, but there was still a part of me that thought I might like to build my own.  The Kreg table with the goodies I wanted is around $500.00. I spent around $100.00 on wood, $40.00 on the Rousseau 3509 Deluxe Router Base Plate,  $30.00 on the Shop Fox template, around $80.00 on various Rockler products, $40.00 on the safety switch and probably $20.00 on sand paper and other miscellaneous stuff.  So in the end, I have spent close to $300.00 building my table.

If I were to assign a value to my table, I think a reasonable number would be $11,237.15.  I love my router table.  I love it so much I can barely stand it.  I am going to enjoy building jigs to use on it.  I am going to enjoy using it.  The best part about the whole project is that I learned valuable lessons each step along the way.

Today I realized that using an awl to mark the spot where I would drill a pilot hole for the screws, makes it easier and saves time.  Before this project, I would have just tried to screw in the screws without the pilot holes.  Adding the awl step makes starting the pilot holes more accurate.  After I had connected the hinge to the underside of the table, flipped it over, and fastened it to the legs, I looked at the top.  There were several dents in the wood, which I had caused when I flipped it over.  Little imperfections can be found on this table, and I have grown to accept them, but these final blemishes were quite simply frustrating.

I considered sanding them out, but that would leave the table less flat.  I worked really hard to get it flat, and I wasn’t willing to tear everything apart to sand the entire top down.  Then, a tiny voice, perhaps the one who told me about the joy I would receive buying tools, said, “Try putting a few drops on the dents and maybe they will soak up the water and look a bit better.”  I read that this works somewhere, but until one tries it, it doesn’t really seem possible.  I moistened the dents and when I checked a little while later, the dents were completely gone.  Of course, I had raised the grain, so I grabbed some 220 grit and gave the area a quick touch up, and the blunder was gone.  Up until the very end my little router table kept teaching me.  I would write some more, but I think I want to go downstairs and hug my router table.

“A man’s errors are his portals of discovery.”

     James Joyce

I spent many hours traveling through my own portals of discovery today.  The quest is to create a device that will hold the hose for my shop vac.  Yesterday I spent considerable time working on cutting some dovetails, which would be part of a box which would hold the hose.  That was the plan until I set the first three sides on top of the connector piece and realized that it wasn’t at all pretty to look at.

I am definitely a form over function sort of guy, and I really couldn’t stand to have an ugly shop vac hose connector.  I mean really, what would the neighbors think?  It was obvious that a more pleasing shape would be needed.  With a piece of hard maple, my compass, and a French curve I laid out the shape that would be my next design.

The smooth curve appealed to me and I took my board down to have a chat with Mary the jigsaw.  Mary looked at my board and quickly chewed the shape out of it.  With one down and three more to go, I let Mary hang out in the shop as I went back upstairs and laid out the remaining three.  Using the first one as a template I made quick work of the task.  Next I ate a bag of popcorn.

When I let Mary cut the second piece I realized that skills at making Mary follow the lines, left a bit to be desired.  Mary is quite fetching and I haven’t quite figured out where to train my eyes to get the best out of her.  I have tried looking at the outside edge of the guide and the inside edge, but I suspect that I need to try to keep the line in the center.  Like everything, the more time I spend with Mary, the better I will become.

So now I had two pieces.  If they were large boards I would route out the excess with my bit that has a guide bushing.  I have gotten pretty good at it.  It took only a few minutes to realize that the pieces were too small to clamp, and that I would have to create some sort of jig.  I recalled seeing an article on using the shop fox templates, and it seemed like they might do the trick.

I have lots of magazines now, and I spent a couple of hours flipping through them, without any luck.  I went to bed.  When I got up today I had a couple of more ideas.  But careful consideration found a flaw in each one.  When I was about to give up, I decided that I would try clamping them all together in the vice and with the 3” belt sander, try grinding away the excess.  Twenty minutes later they were all smooth and identical in size.  It took me 4 hours of fussing about, trying to find out a way to avoid grinding them down, when in the end, it turned out to be really easy.So now I needed to drill holes in them, for the hose.  I quickly made work of the first two, drilling a 1 1/4 inch hole.  My batteries were dead, so I did the logical thing; I put one in the charger and went to Milo’s Sub shop.  It was beautiful here in Iowa today.  The drive was a joy and the Italian club sandwiches were extremely tasty.

When I got home I swapped out the batteries and ate dinner.  Next I drilled out the third piece and then took a chisel to the 4^th, as I wanted a half blind light bulb mortise.  I am not sure that there is technically a thing called the half blind light bulb mortise, but I am fine with that.  You get the idea.  Using a 3/8^th inch chisel I quickly dug out a light bulb shape and the more I played with the chisel the better the shape.I don’t have a band saw, table saw, drill press, lathe, jointer, planer, nuclear powered saw mill, or any of a dozen other really fun looking tools that I see in the shops of the big kids in the magazines.  I realized today that they are mostly offer efficiency.  I have spent a dozen hours flattening my router table top, where a planer could have banged it out in a few minutes.  I spent 20 minutes grinding down my curvy pieces, where a band saw and some sand paper could have achieved the same result in 19 minutes and 47 seconds.  My belief is that many projects can be completed with a basic set of tools, a bit of patience, and the desire to solve problems.

I love the challenge.  When I was building my workbench, I recall thinking this would be a good deal easier if I had a workbench.  I have used my router half a dozen times while building my router table, each of them would have been easier on a router table.  That being said, having the workbench to build the router table has been wonderful.  I expect that the next project will benefit greatly from the router table.  Though each mile on the journey of woodworking takes me across foreign terrain, full of mysteries and dangers, the lessons learned make the continuance possible.

I cut mortise and tenons and this helped cut the dovetails, which gave me the skills to cut the half blind light bulb, and now I feel confident that I could cut almost any shape.  There are teachers who make their students learn hand tools first.  Though I don’t have a teacher, following this principal seems to be leading to great discoveries, and the progress fills me with happiness.

In every journey there is a point where one needs to find their way.  One can use a map to find their destination, unless; well unless they are a man.  We men prefer to use the force.  In my woodworking journey I decided to find my way by using a compass.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy using one.  Now that I have a try square, it is the perfect time to revisit this powerful tool.

I needed to make some square pieces of wood.  I could have used a ruler and measured the width of the board and then marked out the same distance along the length.  But I choose to find my way by drawing an arch and then using the try square to draw my cut line.  This was a simple and enjoyable exercise.  I marked out six squares.

I hadn’t thought about it since I started doing woodworking, but the compass is the perfect tool for dividing a board in half.  Imagine that you have a board that is trapezoidal in shape.  One could measure each end and do the math to figure out where the middle point is and mark it.  Or simply use the compass to find the center of each end and connect the points.

If it has been a while since you have found the center of two points with a compass, I will give a quick refresher.  Place the pointy end of the compass in a corner, stretch the compass until it reaches past the half way mark, then draw an arc.  Move the compass to the next corner and repeat.  The point where the arcs cross is the center.  If one then opens the compass a bit more and repeats, followed by connecting the two points, one now has a line that is centered.  Creating a perfectly centered line without a ruler is almost like magic.  I won’t go into deriving an octagon or solving the proof for Euler’s circle, but I will say that geometry is cool.  You may not think so, but once you start to use a compass and straight edge to solve measuring problems, it may become magical to you too.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog piece on my router table fence.  The fence needs to be able to have an attachment for my shop vac.  After considering several options I decided upon a design.  The first step was to chisel a mortise that matches the opening in the top of the fence.  Before I started the mortise I gave the chisel a good sharpening.  With my sharp chisel in hand I created a shallow mortise fairly quickly.  Actually I don’t really know how long it took.  It was such a joy that I didn’t really pay attention to the time.  It might have taken quite a long time; I guess we will never know.  Into the mortise I glued two triangular blocks of 6/4 hard maple, which were cut off of the feet of the saw horses Teri and Tracy, and had been waiting to be included in a project.  Before I glued the blocks into the mortise I drilled a one inch hole.

After the glue had dried sufficiently I tried the connection and it was really wonderful.  A nice tight fit, which I will be able to remove, should I get another different shop vac, and replace with a connector designed for it.  This was an important consideration in the design.  I know that this isn’t my last shop vac and I wanted the option to be able to switch connectors.

The next step is to create a top to the connector that will take the hose.  This is where the six square blocks previously mentioned will come in.  I have an evil plan which I will work on tonight, after this post, and show it to you tomorrow.  Unless it fails miserably, then I will try something else.

I am finding my way, with the help of my trusty compass, and enjoying all the sights along the way.  Now back to the shop, at least until the Cornell game tips. 

Can you have a post script in an email?  I am not sure.  Let’s give it a try.

p.s. Yes, it seems to work.  The proof is created with only a pencil, paper, straight edge, and compass.  Euler’s Circle is a 9 point circle that can be constructed given any triangle.  Originally he theorized that this proof would be a hit at parties and would wow the ladies.  Sadly this turned out not be true, though there are still a few of us who dare to dream.  I constructed the pictured version a few years back, it took me 45 minutes, and as of the writing of this post, has yet to cause a single woman to swoon.

“A deadline is negative inspiration.  Still, it’s better than no inspiration at all.” 

~Rita Mae Brown

There isn’t a deadline for finishing my router table top.  I love working on my project and that joy is all the inspiration required.  So this quote doesn’t really apply at all, but I still like it.  Not because I agree with it, or because I know what it is like to be an author with a manuscript due, but because Rita Mae Brown has a co-writer.

She writes, among other things, the cozy mystery series, which she has co-written with her cat Sneaky Pie Brown.  I find her books delightful.  So when I saw this quote, I simply had to use it, if for no other reason, because I couldn’t find a quote from Sneaky Pie.

Though I don’t have deadlines per se, for my projects, I do have my own daily blog deadline.  It is not carved in stone, but I like to try to get the blog up by 10 pm central time.  If I can get it up earlier I do.  If I am distracted by snacks or something shinny on the internet, it can be a bit later.  The important part is that I do it every day.  I wouldn’t call my daily deadline a negative inspiration either.  I would call it fun.

I do create mini goals each day.  As I get better at understanding what is involved in projects I am able to set my sights on what is possible, given my time constraints.  A couple of months ago I would routinely underestimate how much time would be involved for something simple like sanding.  Today I wanted to get the router fence sanded and the hole cut.  I spent about an hour sanding and around 40 minutes on cutting, using the micro-plane, and chiseling the opening.

Of course I cut the opening with Marey the jigsaw.  She did a really nice job.  This was the first time I had cut a serious arc, and there was a bit of burning, as I wasn’t moving quickly enough.  Marey can get really hot if she sets her mind to it.  I have no doubt that I will get better at making Marey do my bidding in the future.  [Editor’s note:  In the interest of full disclosure, the name sake for which my Festool Jigsaw is named would not do anyone’s bidding.  It is important that we make this clear, so as to avoid any repercussions at the next Sauerkraut Days in Lisbon.]

After cutting out the opening, I tried to use my micro-plane, with the curvy blade.  I had purchased it some time ago, when I was overcome by the need for an impulse purchase.  This was my first chance to use it, and I was foiled by the handle.  It has a bit on the end, which rendered it useless in this instance.  I would not be tin foiled or saran wrapped and took the micro-plane blade out of the handle and used a piece of 1 x 2.  This worked tremendously and filled me with a great sense of accomplishment.  It is the little things you know.I was able to plane away the bits that hadn’t quite made it up to my carefully marked line.  After that step I used a file to clean it up a bit more.  I stopped and took a picture, then cleaned up the saw dust and took another one with the fence in place.  It is not connected yet.  I still have to think a bit about how I am going to approach the track I intend on installing on the face of the fence, and the shop vac connection piece, but that is for another day.

I really enjoy nights like tonight.  I felt I was efficient in my woodworking.  I didn’t have any terrible mistakes.  And I got to do lots of sanding.  I do love the feeling of a finely sanded router fence.  Now I need to sit back, possibly with a cookie, and form my game plan for tomorrow.

It was 3 am and I was trying to fall asleep, but I kept thinking about the tracks for the router table fence.  I had installed them, by screwing the first track down, and then I made marks in a piece of oak.  I drilled holes for the little track peg thingies.  I reasoned that if I built a test piece, I could make sure that the other track was parallel, when I screwed in the final two screws.  It worked really well, but I also realized that there was enough play in the track that it wasn’t really necessary.  Next I started to think about the tracks I had installed.

 I realized that I had made a design decision that I realized had a dreadful flaw in it.  Each track was intentionally set about 1/32 of an inch above the surface of the table.  In my mind, this seemed like a brilliant idea, as my pretty blue Rockler bracket, which would be the foundation of my fence, would slide smoothly on the raised tracks.  It is true that the fence bracket does slide effortlessly on the tracks.

The problem, as I am sure most seasoned woodworkers have already surmised, is that though I can route the edges of boards quite nicely, the tracks will prevent me from sliding the track back and cutting dados.  No dados!  Oh my, this is certainly a fly in the proverbial ointment.  I love a dado, and really want to use my sexy router table to its fullest potential.

The first idea that popped into my sleepy brain was that I would just have to lower the tracks back to table level.  I didn’t like this idea, because it meant that I would be giving up the silky smooth sliding.  Silky smooth sliding is one of my top 29 favorite things, just between a perfectly executed double play, and Catherine Zeta Jones.  You can see my dilemma.

I was almost asleep, secure that my plan to lower the tracks was the best option.  Suddenly, as I was almost off to the land of nod, I remembered that I had broken off a screw in the track, and had been forced to flip it around and drill new holes.  In an instance, the thought of that screw in the wood, became a hazard for my router.  Of course, I could take care of it before I route out the extra depth, but my brain was now imagining me forgetting to remove that little bit of metal, and dying in a horrible accident.  So I got up and wrote myself a note and took it downstairs to the table and affixed it to the track.

I turned the light off and almost went back up the stairs.  Instead, I turned around and decided it would be better if I took the track out and gave it a look, which I did.  It wouldn’t hurt just to chisel a bit out.  Now wide awake, with chisel in hand I went to it.  It was such fun.  I am so glad that I bothered to learn how to use the chisel, because I succeeded in removing the screw.  While I was working on this, I had another idea, I could create an add on for my fence which would ride over the tracks and allow for dado cutting.  This idea was worth considering, but I really needed to get some sleep, and since I had averted my future power tool disaster, I packed it in for the night.

When today arrived I was well rested, but not at all convinced which solution was the best route.  I still don’t know, but I have, for the time being, decided to go with the add on.  If the extra bit on the fence doesn’t work out well, I can always lower the tracks later.This evening was all about building the regular fence.  I have an idea about how it will work and have included a gap for duct collection.  I have an exceptionally mediocre shop vac, but I think that with some brilliant engineering and a considerable luck, it just might work.  Though I have considered the possibility that it may suck, and by that I mean, that it won’t suck.  The first step is to glue a couple of 6/4 hard maple pieces, separated by 5 3/16^th of an inch, to a 36 inch piece.  You might wonder how I arrived at 5 3/16^th, well I took the sucking power of the shop vac, divided  by the coefficient of guessing, and then cut a piece of scrap hard maple in half.  After it is dry I will add another piece of wood, likely oak, to stick with the two wood theme, to the other side.  Once I have the fence together, I will figure out how I am going to work the connector for Cheapy McShopva.  Until the next time, take care and be good.

After a lovely weekend with mom and dad, I was eager to get back to working on the router table.  So when I was done with work today I went down stairs to install the tracks for the fence.  The troubles I had with my miter track, were still fresh on my mind, and I was determined to be doubly extra super duperly careful.

I measured, clamped, measured again and ran a shallow pass with my router.  Next I checked the fit and it was slightly too thin a dado.  Another quick pass and it was a lovely dado.  I unplugged the router, adjusted the depth of the cut, plugged the router back in and took another pass.  The other side was easier because the jig was already set.  Once both dados were cut I measured again.  They were very close to where I wanted them, but a little bit of work with a chisel and file improved the accuracy.

If I have learned anything about woodworking, it is that any moment can be one where things go awry.  I carefully measured my track, and cut the two pieces which I would install.  The edges of the tracks were not exactly a right angle, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and try out one of the bench grinders in the garage.  They are frightening looking old beasts, but I needed to grind just a little bit, so I decided it couldn’t hurt to look.

The first one had major scary issues with the cord.  The second gave me the impression that it wouldn’t try to kill me, so I plugged it in and it gave it a go.  I was surprised how well it worked, so much so that I may actually have a pretty good grinder for my shop.

I used my awl to mark the holes for the screws, and then drilled a pilot hole.  The first screw went in fine, but the head was just a little bit too big.  It must be perfect, or the track won’t work.  The time was 8:27 pm and Home Depot is open until 9 pm.  Could I make it?  I grabbed my keys, ran out of the house, making sure to bring the track with me.  I generally don’t like to speed, and I certainly didn’t want to get a ticket, but again caution was being chucked to the wind, but I felt an additional 4 miles per hour was justified in this instance.  I know what you are thinking only 4?!  Yeah, I know, but I really don’t like to speed.  I am really not very daring.

I arrived with a mere 4 minutes to spare.  The Home Depot folks were very nice and didn’t rush me at all.  There was another gentleman looking for screws too, and he indicated that he also had an emergency project that he really wanted to finish tonight.  I found my screws, went to Jimmy John’s sub shop, bought a yummy sandwich, and returned home.

I really wanted to get the tracks in, so I could take a photo and write my blog.  But on the way home I had an idea how I might make sure they are installed accurately.  The idea involves one of the boards I am going to use for the fence, a bolt, a couple of drilled holes, and a mongoose.

I realized that my idea for added precision would take a little while and didn’t want to break my consecutive blog streak, so I thought I would get it done and then go down and finish.  Also I really wanted to eat my sandwich.  So I guess you will just have to come back tomorrow and find out if my idea worked.

The scary router table plate has been successfully drilled and connected to the router.  Upon completion of this crucial step, there was a brief period of dancing.  This of course was followed by 3 minutes of cheering from the imaginary crowd, and when the aforementioned crowd demanded a curtain call, I happily obliged.

Historically, when I have approached the end of a task, the last 10% seems to be a dreadful pain to complete.  I can’t say if I have reached the 90% complete mark, but I am filled with a level of router table building excitement, that could only be compared to the excitement felt by Columbus, when he discovered the capital of Ohio.  After the cheering had subsided, I spent a couple of more hours of sanding.  The edges were smoothed.

As is the tradition, after a good sanding, I like to sit down and watch my alma mater, the Ames High Little Cyclones, play in the 4A state high school basketball finals.  At the half, the Little Cyclones lead S.E. Polk 29-20.  After seventy five cents, the Little Cyclones lead S.E Polk 41 – 28.  They are a mere 8 minutes away from winning their second consecutive state championship and allowing me to get back to working on my router table.  I am sure they will try to hurry.  For those of you, who don’t follow Iowa high school basketball, Harrison Barnes, was the number one recruit in the nation.  The Cyclones won, the final score was 47 -37.  Ames has won 53 consecutive games, dating back to last year.

So now that the game is over, I can get back to work.  The remaining steps include mounting the table top to the legs, building a fence, cutting off the ends and making them pretty, and installing the miter gauge track.   I am having so much fun and am very eager to get back to work, so I apologize for the short post tonight.

There is a Slovenian vocal choir group called Perpetuum Jazzile.  They do a version of Toto’s hit, ‘Africa’, which I find inspiring.  Music causes me to stir the pot of my imagination.  Music makes me want to grow, in all sorts of different ways.  Obviously I would like to grow in a way yield a thicker head of hair, and it would certainly be nice to be a bit taller, but those don’t seem to be options, so growing creatively will have to do.  Actually, becoming more creative is probably better than having hair, though not as good as being tall, but I digress.

So tonight I have spent much of the evening listening to the music of my youth, and some from my oldth.  There was some Pink Floyd, David Bowie, and Paul Simon.  There was also a smattering of Avril Lavigne, Jimmy Eat World, and a bunch of Jack Johnson.   I was not only trying to get my creative juices flowing, but I was also procrastinating.  I had used an awl to mark the spots where the holes would need to be drilled in the Rousseau router table plate.  The experiences I have had with drilling straight holes have been less than encouraging.

I listened and thought.  I thought about creating a jig.  I thought about waiting until I had a drill press.  The overwhelming desire I had to precede eliminated waiting as an option.  It was during the song ‘Fox On The Run’, by Sweet, that I started to think about how much I had improved with my hand saws.  I have gotten pretty good at cutting straight, so I should be able to drill straight too, was my reasoning.  The difference between the two though, is that when I am cutting I have the reflection in the blade of the saw to use as a guide for me visually.  By making sure that the reflection and the board are straight and even, I am able to cut a straight line.  It was then that I had my Eureka moment.  The Rousseau router plate has a very shiny black surface.

I headed downstairs and drilled a pilot hole with the tiniest bit I had.  It was suggested by the instruction writers at Rousseau that I do this, to prevent chip out.  It worked marvelously.  Next a large bit was put in the drill and the results were the same.  I have drilled 4 holes that are quite lovely.

I have not yet purchased the recommended flat head screws.  So I can’t proceed any further tonight, but the part of the plate install that stressed me out the most, is over, so I am going to do some more sanding and start to think about how I will attach the table top to the legs.

A couple of days ago I decided to take a few days off from my router table.  The next step was to route out the edge that would hold the Rousseau router plate.   Was there fear and trepidation in my little novice woodworker’s heart?  There certainly was!  I knew that the slightest error in measuring or planning could result in a disaster that would reverberate throughout the greater metropolitan Martelle area.  It would likely be worse than the Tunguska Blast of 1908, and could possibly cause pole reversal and ultimately global extinction.  So it was natural for me to want to get in the right frame of mind.

I went and bought some two sided carpet tape from Ace Hardware in Mt. Vernon.  Dave was very helpful.  The people at Rousseau were nice enough to include instruction for how I should go about getting the edge routed.  I read the instructions, something that I am not proud of, but it seems a necessity in woodworking.  Actually it is much worse than that, I also dug out the instructions for my plunge router, and read those too.  I have no doubt that I have lost a lot of respect from my male readers.  I may not attend the ‘guy’ meetings for a while, just to let things blow over.

I was very careful to place marks where the edges of my boards were to rest.  I have not used carpet tape before.  It is very sticky.  I wasn’t sure if some of the adhesive would remain on the wood, and need to be cleaned off, so I chose to clamp the two longer pieces to the top, thus eliminating a good portion of the potential for tape residue.  Once the long pieces were in place, I cut a couple of pieces of scrap wood with my Japanese hand saw.  I know that I always talk about the Japanese hand saws, but it is because I love them.  It seems that with each time I use them, I get a little bit better at making accurate cuts.   So the scraps were cut.  I stuck them to table top.

The scary part was quickly approaching.  My instructions told me that I needed to make a cut of 3/16^th of an inch.  I made the decision to use my plunge router, because of the depth guide, and because I had yet to use it.  I zeroed it out.  Set it to 3/16^th of an inch.  The next fifteen minutes were spent checking and double checking the measurements.  I did a practice run, without the power on, just to understand how I was going to proceed.  Finally there weren’t any more precautions I could think of, so I began.

The first lap around the opening was pleasantly easy.  I expected it to go horribly wrong, but to my joy and amazement, it went smoothly.  I checked the plate and the long cuts were perfect, but the short side was about 1/32^nd of an inch too short.  Also the depth wasn’t quite as deep as it should be.  This was just fine with me, as it is easier to cut more, than to deal with a depth that was too great.  It only took me two more laps around and I ended up with a really nice fit.  I am thrilled with how it turned out.

The plate fits.  The next step is to figure out how to attach the router base to the plate.  I am far more frightened of this step than the last one.  I figured out how to attach the plate to the router base, using the Shop Fox template and the centering cone.  But once I get the whole thing on there, I am completely stumped.  Should I use some sort of awl to mark where I drill?  It doesn’t seem possible to drill the holes with the base attached.  Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ok, time to get a snack and to go back downstairs and look at my success.