Popular Woodworking 2006-12 № 159, страница 14

Drill holes to delineate the ends of the slot, then nibble away the waste between them. A twist bit, of course, skitters off the wood into one or the other of the holes, but it doesn't take long to form a trench. Lock the quill and slide the work back and forth along the fence to tidy the slot.

With the right sort of screw, one with a washer-like head, you can use V4"-wide slots, which you can produce easily with a Forstner bit. This is a little less trying than using a twist bit, because a Forstner doesn't wander. Although I'm a dedicated router user, I don't view this as a router job. The diameter and length of bit necessary - ³/l6" to V4" - makes routing an iffy proposition, in my opinion. You also need two setups, one for the cross-grain slots, another for the long-grain ones.

Were I to tackle this as a router job, I'd rout the slots in a wide board, then rip the strips from it. Then I'd lay out the slots and use an edge guide to position the long-grain cuts and guide the router. Next, use a T-square to guide the cross-grain cuts. Just eyeball the beginning and end of each slot, and make each slot with a series of cuts, each plunged progressively deeper.

Screw Pockets

It's quite common these days to skip the blocks and just drill oversized pilot holes directly in the aprons. You can run long screws straight up through an apron's edge and into the tabletop, or through angled pockets cut in an apron's inside face. The latter approach works better for me, because it lets me use shorter screws.

Creating the pockets and pilots is easiest if you have a pocket jig and related accessories, but it's not the only way.

With a drill press and Forstner bit, you can make very tidy, uniform pockets. Lay out the pocket locations on the apron. Chuck a Forstner bit in the drill press - I usually use a 1/2" size. Hold the apron at an angle and bore the pocket. The design of the bit enables it to slice cleanly into the wood to form a flat-bottomed pocket.

The real trick here is setting and holding the apron at the right angle. You typically see the apron cradled in a nifty custom-made j ig. Is such a jig worthwhile for the occasional proj -ect? I don't think so. I use two fences: One is upright to lean the apron against, the second is a flat trap fence set against the apron's bottom

edge to hold at it the correct angle.

I establish the angle by laying it out on the end of a scrap of the apron stock. I'll usually put a small rule on the scrap's end and draw an eyeballed angle from the center of the edge to a spot 1V2" to 2" up the inside face. If you prefer to use a sliding bevel, set it to about 15°.

Chuck a twist bit in the drill press, lower the bit almost to the table, and lock the quill. Line up the layout line with the bit, setting the upright fence so the apron is tilted just right. Then slide the trap fence against the apron to keep the bottom edge from skidding forward and changing the angle. Change to the Forstner bit, set an apron in place, then bore the pockets.

After boring all the pockets, switch back to a twist bit and bore the pilots. Most of these pilots must be elongated, of course, but with pockets, this is usually accomplished by rocking the drill to expand the exit hole. You can't do this on the drill press so switch to a hand drill. Rock the drill parallel to the aprons that will be across the tabletop's grain, and across the aprons that will parallel the grain.

Buttons are Better

And there's yet another solution, and it's one I often use when constructing a table. It uses "buttons" spaced around the tabletop inside the aprons. A button, often called a cabinetmaker's button, is a small block, roughly 1V4" square and ³/4" or less thick. It has a tongue, which you stick into a groove cut in the apron. You then drive a screw through the button body into the tabletop. Over time, as the table-top expands and contracts, the button moves with it. As it does, the tongue moves along, or in and out of, its groove in the apron.

The apron grooves can be through or stopped. Some use through grooves in the aprons that cross the tabletop grain, because the button's tongue will move along the groove. But they use stopped grooves in the long-grain aprons, figuring that here the tongue is moving in and out. I tend to use stopped grooves all around. I'll divvy up a long apron's length for three or four buttons, but use only a single one in the center of a short apron.

Through grooves can be cut on the table saw or routed with a straight bit or slot cutter. Stopped grooves are a router proposition, or you could use a biscuit joiner.

How do I make those narrow slots, you ask? I bore a hole at each end of the layout, then nibble away the waste between them with the same drill bit. It's not particularly elegant, but it works.

The key to drilling pockets is attitude - that is, the angle of the apron in relation to the bit. Lean the apron against an upright fence, align the pilot layout on the end with a bit in the drill chuck, and trap it at the right angle with a flat fence.

The completed pocket is flat-bottomed and large enough for a screw with an integral washer.

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