I made a bunch of Joints!

[JohnnyEgo]

That looks very similar to Kings one I copied. I passed on the insert design because I use a router more often to make my cross dados for a cleaner cut. When I do need to make a bunch of dados, I usually just super-glue a couple of pieces of scrap to do the job.


I do like his idea of the left-handed tape. It had to be a pain to apply it though, as you only get one crack at putting it down in the appropriate relation to the left-hand side. Or perhaps he made another indicator for the stop.

One word of caution I learned the hard way, just in case you aren't already aware; it's a bad idea to use the miter gauge and fence at the same time on a cross-cut piece. That is because as the cut side drags along the fence, it can shift angle minutely such that it binds against the blade and the fence.
If you keep on trying to power through the cut, it can bind the blade completely. Or even worse, it can release unexpectedly and catastrophically. In my case some 20 years ago, it did just that, and that is why I can only give a movie 1 3/4 thumbs up, and my parents still talk about the Christmas of 98.

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I spent most of today watching my son, Dick Cheney Jr, shooting other kids in the face at a laser-tag birthday party. So not much to show, but frankly, there isn't much left to be shown.

Assembled all the finished pieces into a bunch of little boxes:


Attatched the mag blocks to the simple bases:


And put the mag boxes on the stands:


I'll try to take some better pictures when the sun is out tomorrow.

I learned a couple lessons on this one. One is that they mean it when they recommend not planing things less than a foot long. But more specific to the project, I will most likely make my mag blanks out of walnut or similarly dark hardwood in the future. The maple ones look nice, but they show every bit of dirt, grease, and unburnt carbon that was inside the magwell of a dirty 1911. In fact, I'm tempted to glue patches to them and call them magwell cleaning accessories.

I plan to use what I learned to build a couple of higher-density pistol racks and mag boxes so I can finally get my safe and accessory shelves to quit looking like my 9 year old's closet after I tell him to clean his room. This was a fun and relatively quick project to execute over a couple hours a night, without having to open the garage door. I also love my new Jointer-Planer. I worried that I spent so much on a very specific tool that is way overkill for my needs, but it is an absolute joy to use. And now that I can face-joint planks up to 16" wide, I can go nuts in the rough lumber section of the local supplier without hesitation. Very happy.