Jig making is an essential part of wood art. Your designs will only be as tight as your jigs will allow and your ability to use them. Jigs also greatly increase your accuracy in design and safety by keeping your fingers away from the blade.  It may surprise you how simple and easy to make my jigs are.

Ripping jig assortment

Here is a sample of ripping jigs. Some are for specialized cuts but the center one can accommodate almost any shape and size. Below is one of my favorite, a simple sheet of plywood or MDF with hold down clamps located where ever I need them to be.  Hold down clamps are an essential part of jig making and the multi generational method. I have them for sale on the ‘stuff for sale’ page for much less than most would be able to buy them.

a favorite

The first order of events is to insure your ripping fence will not move by clamping it firmly in place. Then we cut an eight inch or so off the edge of our jig to within an inch or so of its bottom. Since our fence will not be moving we know precisely where the blade will pass in relation to the jig, ie: its edge.

By transferring the line to the board bottom we can align the cut precisely.

By transferring our line off the top of our board on both its front and rear,  to its bottom it will be easy to align our line to the edge of the jig and therefore the location of the blade.

Alignment of the blade to a true 90 degrees and alignment of the bottom line to the jig edge is vital.

Our blade is checked and rechecked for its 90 degree accuracy. Also in the bottom left corner notice the line on the design board is aligned carefully with the jig edge. Also, I use cut up pieces of sponge sanding blocks to help the hold down clamps hold the piece firmly.

blade fallows the lines

Care is taken with each cut, watching how the blade interacts with the top line. If it was aligned properly our cut should be directly above the jig edge and fallow our top line.

slow even consistent pushing

Care should be taken to have a slow consistent push of the material into the blade. I use extra hold down clamps as handles.

This had been the long way of saying something that is really quite simple and intuitive. This jig helps me get great results and keeps my fingers away from the blade. Try it , and I think you will agree.

Yours in wet glue.

Steve

I love it when folks write in with questions.
Paul from NH writes:

Hi Steve:  I attended one of your presentations at the Stratham Library last fall.  I couldn’t believe the beautiful work you do. I had just inherited my father’s lathe.  I have subsequently taken some lessons in how to turn bowls and am enjoying that a lot.  I remember one thing that impressed me was the finish you had on your wood. Someone asked you about that and you said that you put sanding sealer on and then sandpaper it off and that you do that five times.  And  then you use bees wax.  My question is, am I remembering that correctly, and if so, how do you apply the bees wax? Do you mix it with some kind of oil? And what do you use to apply it? Do you polish the work after applying the bees wax? And do you use fancy polishing systems like the Beall buffing system, or something more simple?  And during the five times that you sand, do you start with say 80 each time, or do you start with a higher grade each time, like 220, 320 etc? 
I guess what I am asking for is a lot more detail about how you finish your work.  Eventually my goal is to gain the skill to produce segmented pieces similar to what you do and multi generational laminated work as well. 
I just joined your blog using Yahoo because I had an account set up with them.  But I use Comcast.net for my e-mail. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. And if you ever decide to give lessons in how to do what you do, count me in! 
Yours, Paul

Dear Paul: 
Thanks for the great questions.
Although I feel my expertise is not finishes I am glad to pass along what I use an what I have learned. 

First my method for finishing continues to evolve and is very different than the one I used a year ago, and I trust next year it will be changing also. Your method of finish work is a journey in which you are always looking for new ways to get the best look and adapting to apply those new techniques.

One book well worth getting that helped me is ‘Wood Finishing 101‘ by Bob Flexner. 

My fall back tried and true is 3 or more coats of sanding sealer fallowed by 2 coats of a wipe on poly.
Finish is as much about feel as it is about look. Sanding sealer fills in and gives it that smooth feel. Sand between each coat starting with 120 up to 320 or a fine steel wool. 
On the lathe I will use a friction polish for smaller vessels. The friction polish ‘cooks’ into the wood giving you a wonderful long lasting finish. I will apply bee’s wax to a spinning piece on the lathe for the final finish. the speed of the lathe melts the wax as you touch the wax to the lathe. Fallow with a clean rag and get it as hot from friction as your fingers can take. The larger vessels I use the ‘tried and true’ method of sanding sealer.

I like the polyurethane’s also. I would never use it right out of the can but thin it with paint thinner. I have mason jars labeled 50/50 and so forth.


Recently I have discovered OJ Shine juice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taJbBmcaAZQ.

This is a wonderful easy to use and make finish.

Regarding lessons, I have been thinking of starting a ‘open shop time’. Say a Saturday in which I will be in the shop and it is open to anyone to come by and talk about wood and ask questions. If enough folks are interested that sounds like it may be fun. 
I will be lecturing in Epsom on Tuesday March 2 and would love to see you there.
Thanks for your support
Always yours in wet glue
Steve

Here is a great question from my friend Matt in Hooksett about hollowing tools

Matt

In the 50’s long before I was born ( OK, about the same time) the Seeley family presented a unique gift to their retired father and aspiring woodworker, my grand father, George Seeley. It was a Homecraft, Delta, Rockwell wood turning lathe. It passed from family to family after his death and ended up at our house as I was growing up. During high school I took an interest in wood working, winning a couple of awards for various high school projects. The lathe remained in the basement, challenging me to try it. At the time I was not up to the task and it remained neglected and rusting. When my parents divorced in the 80’s it was decision time for me with the lathe and so I began carting it around through the 80’s and 90’s never really using it but knowing it was important and held something of value for me.
In the late 90’s my wife Carol and I settled in a small town between Concord and Manchester NH. It was time to dust off and oil the lathe and see what it had to offer. At first it was smaller bowls and the like. Around 2005 I saw the work of a local turner named Gordon. His work was different than anything I had ever seen before because it was made of many pieces of wood glued together rather than one single piece. Gordon was my introduction to segmented turning. One of the rare places where art and craft collide. Shortly after meeting Gordon I read ‘The art of segmented turning’ by Malcolm Tibbits. I was hooked. The possibilities and combinations were endless. Expression and discovery were easy to explore with this new form of wood medium. And not just wood. I have experimented with many different materials. Stone, Glass, Shells and Coral all can be used as an inlay into the wooden vessel on the lathe. The limits of one’s imagination are the limits of what can be done on my grand fathers lathe.
This blog is an attempt to allow others to see some of that craft/art in a hope that it will inspire and give tribute in some small way to my grandfather whom I was never able to meet.
Steve