(uplifting Americana music) - Hi, welcome to "The American Woodshop", I'm Scott Phillips and today we're going to make this beautiful arts and craft, riff cut oak stand together.

This is a mock up, don't go anywhere, we'll build this together.

- [Announcer] "The American Woodshop" with Scott Phillips is brought to you by... - [Woodcraft Announcer] Since 1928, Woodcraft has been providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

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- Sometimes in life, the best way to understand something is to take it apart and that's what we're about to do.

This is a mock-up of an arts and craft inspired stand, quarter sawn white oak right here.

And all the white oak I sourced earlier and I bought it, surfaced two sides on the wider flat sides and that's a great visit.

Let's go over to see a planer that anyone would die for.

Hey, we're back with Tom at Hartzell Hardwoods.

Now describe this.

- This is a Newman Whitney Planer.

The process here is it surfaces both sides of the board, a 37th of an inch.

It allows us to grade the lumber one more time, see it a little better, and set, and eliminate one step of the process for our customers.

- [Scott] You know how much time that saves, Tom?

And the set up here, the way it's stacked in and fed in, I timed it from the time it heads all the way around it takes two minutes to go through the planer.

How much wood do you process here in a day?

- [Tom] Approximately 50 to 60,000 board feet a day.

- [Scott] And that's grading it here too?

- [Tom] That's grading it, running it, grading it, surfacing it, packaging it, ready for shipment.

About 60,000 feet a day approximately.

- And look at this, always innovators.

They have these stickers now so instead of a flat sticker, these stickers leave no stickers stain, remarkable.

- Yes, yes, very good.

- Keep it coming, man.

I love your lumber, it's awesome.

- Thank you, yeah.

- Man, what a planer and they have it going on over there at Hartzell.

I'm proud that they're part of my heritage, I used to work there years ago, it's where I grew up.

Anyhow, we're using quarter sawn oak, rift cut, and I want to wipe this down with some water just to make that rift grain pop.

And this was really something that you saw on arts and crafts furniture a lot, this effect.

So we need to cut some oak pieces out that will give that to us.

White oak gives you more pronounced ray fleck.

Those are rays, those are like channels that breathe from the core of the tree to the bark to let it expand and contract and it's pronounced in oak.

Now to make this stand, let me take this apart.

Granite top so that you can see the assembly right here.

This is very simple, I have a total of 12 pieces in this.

It hasn't been pegged yet, that's the final step after we finish it.

But what I'd like to do is take this apart so that you can see what I consider to be the strongest joint in woodworking, which is the through mortise and tenon joint.

Now, these tenons are cut out at the band saw and these mortises are cut using a domino cutter, you'll see how that's laid out later.

But the first step in all of this to make all of this happen is the layout.

This is eight inches up from the bottom with this Cross X that's tenoned through and this is notched together.

And I don't think as tight as this is, I can get that... (hammer hitting) There we go, it's coming apart so you can see how all this...

There we go, locks in.

And out of oak, this is going to last forever so that's notched at the band saw as well.

But it all starts over at the jointer to joint two square edges, let's head there.

(jointer cutting) Okay, now let me turn everything off and let me show you something.

Now by using a jointer, I've squared up this edge to that edge so that now I can take this to a table saw and mill pieces that are square to each other, all edges are square.

Without doing this, this as you can tell, if you look at that end, that's not square so that's what the jointer does for us.

And whatever you do, be sure to read, understand and follow all the instructions that come with the tools and products you use in your wood shop.

Work safely, safety glasses, hearing protection, and then you're in business.

Follow those manuals and use your guards.

Now, outside to mill these parts.

Have I told you how much I love working outside?

And so that's why I built this outdoor wood shop here.

And (table saw cutting) through a lifetime of woodworking, I have enough tools to stock it too.

Now this is white oak, not a whole lot of stuff tougher than white oak.

Here's that ray fleck and that's going up against the fence 'cause I have it set up to rip the legs down right now.

Before I do that, I need to make sure that I have the way that I can guide that work piece through and this push block type of tool won't fit.

So I have to use this piece of wood on the edge up against the fence, carefully, thoughtfully to make these cuts so I'll just rip this down.

I'll tell you what (jointer sawing) use a good sharp blade, a table saw like this, get all your jobs done for you.

(sawing) Just rip this down and it's inside to make the joints.

(sawing) Now, turn that off and always use your guard with the anti-kickback pulse that way it doesn't have a kickback on you.

And that is a great burn-free cut, that's how you make the legs.

Now, let's go back inside and make those joints for the mortises and that through tenon.

These are the two identical work pieces you need.

And we have two pieces like this where the notch is upside down but all four legs are mortise that's this hole, and this is two and a half inches up from the bottom there, this is eight inches to the top edge of that, this is upside down.

The eight inches goes to the bottom and I've transferred these lines onto this work piece from where these mortises are made, straight across to this other work piece that's dogged in.

Let me show you how easy it is to cut it using a domino cutter.

See that?

Watch this.

You lay out this line on those lines, that's secure.

Make your cut holding everything square.

(domino cutter cutting) And that's not an inch and seven-eighths but if I make the other cut up here, watch what happens.

So much (domino cutter cutting) decisions built into this Now that from curve to curve is an inch and seven-eighths and that is exactly how I lay out the mortises.

(domino cutter cutting) This thing in oak, it's tough, give that cutter a chance.

(domino cutter cutting) Now, whenever you're cutting mortises like this, there's always a bit of fine tuning where you have to go in and do a file to smooth that out but that's, again, that's going to be the base this is the top, the easy way to cut the mortises.

Now we have to make a cross brace, four of them.

Two identical with the up cut, two identical with the down cut.

Let's head to the band saw for that.

(planks whooshing) The work piece that I'm cutting out is 16 and a half inches, point to point, long point to long point.

And then these angles are at 12 degrees on the end so that it's graceful when you look at it.

This notch is right in the center, the same as the thickness seven-eighths on the cross pieces.

So I'll show you how to do all of this cutting the tenons but it starts by cutting the angles first, then these two long running cuts to the bottom line because I'll use the chisel to finish that cut.

So turn that on, get that done, and then I'll move the fence up to cut the tenons.

(band saw running) (band saw cutting) And I'll set this to zero, which will give me the 90 degree cuts relative to this edge, leaving the line for a nice tight fit.

(band saw running) (band saw cutting) Come all the way down to the bottom... (band saw cutting) Okay, once you have the side cuts made for that center notch, I can use a chisel to pop that right out.

And I want you to see this end, I've made two cuts here that define the square shoulder of the tenon.

Here's a block of wood clamped in place to the fence.

This fence gives me the length of the tenon.

Now watch, this is not a through cut.

(band saw running) (band saw cutting) Go until that stops, roll it over, make sure this end's against the fence that makes the shoulder square.

Go until it stops, now we have the square shoulder of the tenon in the length of the tenon cut.

I'll show you how to cut the rest of it out in a second but let's take the center notch out with the chisel, grains running this way.

And this is a half inch chisel and on white oak you make the first cut, the scoring cut, walk it in that groove right over to the other side of that shoulder like so, you can do that a little bit harder now and you walk this down.

Now the bevel is towards the notch, the flat edge is straight down to establish a square bottom.

(hammer hitting) And you walk this back and forth and (hand tool hammering) there you go.

That is out of there on white oak.

Now the reason you use white oak for this is it's very strong and there are no screws or glue in this project, there are some wooden pegs.

And the beauty of white oak is that ray figure.

Now, I can clean up the rest of that with the chisel, clean up the bottom and that's how you finish that notch.

Just like that, you never chisel towards your fingers, you always keep your fingers out of harm's way.

Now come back to the band saw.

And the reason I'm using this block of wood right here, is so it clears, the fence clears the guide block or guide roller assembly and I bring it right up to the edge and it's always good to have one go by to set your depth of cut, like so.

Okay, that's good right there and locked in place.

And now this roller bearing assembly and that's clamped tightly in place.

Is locked in, no longer need the miter gauge.

And as long as I keep this work piece down on the table and against the sacrificial fence or the walnut piece there, watch what happens.

Here we go, try to get that remote working again.

Here we go.

(band saw) Give that blade a chance to make a cut.

(band saw) There you go.

Okay, pull it over to the other side.

(band saw cutting) And don't be reaching in to get that small scrap, use your work pieces to drag it out.

And that's how you make the through tenon, left and right.

I'll finish this cut over here.

(band saw cutting) So much fun, so easy to do.

But you do want to use a good blade.

(band saw cutting) This is a silicon steel blade.

All right, now here you can see the beautiful quarter sawn oak through tenon.

Now let's go do some bench work.

Now each and every work piece, I use the low angle block plane to just break that sharp edge and that's all there is to it.

And that looks really good right there, and once I have those sharp edges knocked down... And I don't want it done too much, I just want it done so you can feel that edge without getting a splinter.

And then these shoulders, you take the right double cut woodworking file and you open up this notch just a little bit.

And whatever you do, never use a file like this without a handle.

That tine of the rat tail, if you're using it barehanded without a handle, well it can harpoon you so be careful with the files.

And it's really cutting on the push stroke, you have to learn how to use a file the right way.

Now these 12 degree angles, the proud part is on top so this piece notches right in.

I need to open it up just a bit more (file shaving) and it's better to have to open it up than to fill it with wood glue or wood filler that should probably do it.

Let's see how that goes, right there.

That feels about right.

Don't want to force it too much (hammer hitting) but there we go, that's the fit (hammer hitting) (hammer hitting) I am looking for right there, flush on top.

Okay, (indistinct).

Now this is the bottom one, this is the top.

And I've zoomed ahead so that you can see how all of this is notched together down here like that.

Now before I can put it together though, you see these shoulders right here need to be worked a bit.

And the easy way to do that is to clamp the assembled X Brace down to the bench.

Then I can use a shoulder plane to clean this up a bit.

And this beats sanding, you could sand, but who wants to breathe that saw dust?

That looks good right there like that.

And then once you do that left and right, I can chisel this with a slight curve, this edge gets profiled down again.

What we do is we join this and watch what I do here to round that tenon so that it fits the round curve of the mortise.

It's the hand work in arts and craft style furniture that really sets it apart from machine made furniture.

And there's nothing wrong with machines, my goodness, I wouldn't be able to make all the things I make without my tools, my power tools but the hand work is the thing that really makes it shine.

So anyways, I'll get this perfected all the way around, then we'll put it all together.

That's looking really good.

(wood slabs clinking) So let's take a close look at the dry fit here.

All the joints look nice and tight, no glue ever in this project because what's going to happen once we get it all finished, we're going to peg these through tenons with walnut dowels.

And you'll see more on that in a second, but that's a perfect fit right there.

Okay, and now to really bring out the grain in this work piece, that ray structure, Suzy's got the special finish to make it pop.

And after she puts that on and that cures, then we top coat it with a special touch.

It gives us that nice old look.

So let's head out to see what she does with the finishing.

- So for this one, I'm using a Danish oil in a beautiful golden oak color and it's on white oak, and you get this beautiful finish.

And you just rub it in with the little all-cotton rag and it just really shines through and shows that beautiful pattern through there.

That's just gorgeous, can't get anything better than that.

Make sure you wear your gloves and safety glasses.

And once you're finished with the rag, never throw these in the trash can, they can combust.

So you always want to hang it outside to dry and then dispose of it.

So don't forget that, it wouldn't be good.

Woo, look at those rays going through the white oak, it's just gorgeous that's why you make those cuts.

- Check this out, Suzy does a great job finishing.

Now we can drill the three-eighths inch diameter holes all the way through.

And I'm using a pocket hole bit for one reason, it's three-eighths of an inch but watch what that very small point, that pilot point does, it pokes out the other side so now what I can do is drill from this side.

And as woodworkers know, what that does is that prevents tear out.

Three-eighths inch dowel rod and the easy way to round over the ends just a little bit of sandpaper like that.

But anyways, that dowel rod is a perfect fit and this is called a pegged through tenon then.

And I think you'll agree it's a very attractive joint.

So another little trick you can do is you can put the dowel in the drill and with the dust mask on, just do that to size the dowel a little bit more and round over the end and that's just perfect.

So I'll get this all pegged and then get it assembled, and Suzy can give us her verdict then.

This is the most nervous that I get in the wood shop.

What do you think?

(both laughing) - I love it!

- Is it for the office or is it for our home?

- I think I might let it in the house.

There you go.

- That's the tell right there.

- No, I love it.

- So it's an arts and craft inspired stand with a granite top and that's just a spare piece.

Very sturdy, no screws, just walnut pegs and through tenons.

- [Suzy] Beautiful.

- [Scott] That's what a guy works for right there.

- [Suzy] Yeah.

- Will work for compliments.

Thank you, honey.

- You're welcome, happy to oblige.

- Okay, well thanks for being with us this week.

See you next week.

- See ya.

I like the granite on there too that looks really good.

What do you think, Pippi?

Do you like it?

- [Woodcraft Announcer] Since 1928, Woodcraft has been providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

(powerful music) - [RIKON Tools Announcer] Pro tools for tool pros.

(intense music) RIKON Tools.

- [Woodcraft Magazine Announcer] Woodcraft Magazine projects, plans, and web links designed to help you make wood work.

- [PS Wood Announcer] PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf Swedish Silicon Steel band saw blades, and Super Sharp Scroll Saw Blades.

- [Furniture Bank Announcer] A bed to sleep on, a table to share meals, a house that feels like a home.

The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio, providing furniture to neighbors in need.

- For more information about "The American Woodshop", you can watch free episodes 24/7 on our website and you can find us on these social media platforms.

(uplifting Americana music)