Archive for the 'Framing' Category

Create Dovetail Mortise And Tenons In Timbers

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

You can chisel out mortise and tenon joints in timbers by hand, program a CNC milling machine for the task, or you can use LignaTool’s router system. Their system lets you create dovetail mortise and tenons for connecting timber without fasteners.

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Posted in Framing, Woodworking | 7 Comments »

Counter Bore For Auger Bits

Friday, August 21st, 2009

If you need to recess a large bolt when building a deck or other outdoor project, it’s usually a two-step process. This is okay if you only have to hide a few bolts, but if you have to recess a ton of bolts it’d be easier to slide Makita’s counter bore over one of their industrial ship auger bits and do it in one step.

Slip the counter bore over an auger bit with a 5/8″ diameter shaft, tighten the set screw, and you’re set to hog out a 2-1/2″ hole for recessing the bolt in addition to the through-hole. You can pay anywhere between $45 and $80 for Makita’s slip-on counter bore.

Counter Bore Collar [Makita]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Posted in Amazon, Drills/Bits, Framing, Makita, Woodworking | 7 Comments »

Joist Clip Frees Your Hands To Secure Hangers

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

FastCap’s Joist Clip holds joist hangers in place, leaving your hands free to secure the hanger and out of the way of the hammer or nail gun. Even if you don’t have the joists in place yet, you can use the clip with a stub piece to help correctly align the hangers on the header.

Designed to work with hangers for standard 2x dimensional lumber, the Joist Clip slides over the joist hanger and squeezes against the joist, keeping the hanger in place.

FastCap claims there’ll soon be other sizes available for larger joist hangers, but for now you can purchase this set of two joist clips for $10 from Amazon.

Joist Clip [FastCap]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Posted in Amazon, Fastcap, Framing | 3 Comments »

The Modified Square

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

The Modified Square isn’t an easy tool to wrap your head around — I’m still trying to completely understand it myself.  At first glance it looks like a framing square that got into a bad accident, but upon closer inspection there are some intriguing uses for it, like transferring measurements from the underside of a workpiece to the top and finding the quarter points on round stock.

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Posted in Framing, Measuring, WoodCraft | 1 Comment »

The Handi-Shim, A Better Shim?

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Wooden shims have their advantages — for instance, with just two cheap tapered shims, you can adjust their width almost infinitely — but they’re not very handy if you want a bunch of 1/8″ shims.  Plus if you don’t stack an even number of shims, the surfaces aren’t parallel.  Although these Handi-Shims are more expensive, they might work better for some applications.

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Posted in Amazon, Framing, WoodCraft, Woodworking | No Comments »

Instant Jack, Just Add 2×4

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Use Qual-Craft’s wall jack to raise walls and beams, or as a spreader to wrangle warped flooring or decking into place.  Together with a straight-grained fir 2×4 that’s clear of knots and defects, it can lift up to 1,000 pounds — or you can use multiple jacks and 2×4s to lift heavier objects.

Qual-Craft constructs the 17-pound jack from heavy-duty malleable cast iron.  The OSHA-compliant jack accepts 1″ OD pipe as a lever.

Pricing for the wall jack starts at $140.

Wall Jack (PDF) [Qual-Craft]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Posted in Amazon, Framing, QualCraft | 4 Comments »