Popular Woodworking 2007-11 № 165, страница 16

- Letters -

from our readers

Horns on Doors Help Eradicate Blowout

| have been reading in your blogs (popularwoodworking.com/blogs and woodworking-magazine.com/blog) and elsewhere about mortising by hand. I have noticed that the stiles ofyour assemblies have been left long so they do not blow out during hand mortising. My question is: What is the best way to trim the long stiles when it comes to fitting the door? Would you cut them with a handsaw and plane up to the rail, or try it on the table saw, cutting from each side?

—John Borgwardt, Eau Claire, Wisconsin

The extra-long stiles are called "horns." They're removed after assembly. The traditional way to remove them is with a fine crosscut backsaw. You press the saw plate against the adjoining rail then trim the horn flush.

Then you fit the door to its opening with a plane, which should remove any additional ragging or tearing on the ends.

You also can de-horn the door on a table saw with a sliding table or miter gauge with a fence. I'll do this as part of my typical regimen of squaring a door (or any other panel) after assembly.

— Christopher Schwarz, editor

Eradicating Odors in Wood

I recently "rescued" my late grandfather's Euro-style woodworking bench from my brother's basement where it was stored unused for 30 years. I suspect it is 100 years old or more.

My grandfather was quite a wood craftsman, and I fully suspect he made the bench around 1900, shortly after immigrating to the United States from Poland. He spent his career as a woodworker in the furniture factories of Grand Rapids, Mich.

The bench appears to be made of very hard maple and is heavier than I expected. I added casters to get it around my garage.

I have a few questions. First, how can I reduce or get rid of its musty basement smell? And, because the bench is covered

with various paint and glue spatters and other assorted oily stains, should I try to use paint remover or something else on it?

The top surface is gently used and is not as true as my assembly table that has a replaceable plastic laminate top, but I'd still be delighted to use the bench to make gifts for my grandchildren and eventually hand it over to another family woodworker.

— Don Golembiewski, Spring Green, Wisconsin

I've had good luck cleaning oldfurniture (inherited from an old maiden aunt with four cats) by scrubbing it with a solution of trisodium phosphate and rinsing with clear water. Wear rubber gloves and work outside. This is effective at

removing grime and odors and will often loosen paint spatters. There's a good chance this will raise the grain in the wood and make it rough, so be prepared to go over all the surfaces with a Scotch-Brite pad after it is dry. Globs of glue and stubborn paint spots can be removed by carefully scraping them with a sharp chisel.

Your next steps depend on how nice you want it to look, and if you want to flatten the top. You could sand the whole thing down to bare wood, but you would lose the patina it's developed. I would clean it up, remove any paint or glue that is on the surface and plane the top flat. A coat of Danish oil will help the appearance and provide some protection.

— Robert W. Lang, senior editor

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

14 ■ Popular Woodworking November 2007

ILLUSTRATIONS BY HAYES SHANESY