Jigs and Things Part II

      This is a continuation of the first part.  Not sure what happened but after sitting here composing the blog all of a sudden things froze up and I got an error message.  I eliminated some of the blog and attempted to save it but it wouldn't cooperate with me.  So, looking at my notes I really don't have too far to go so will do this before going out to the shop --- too early anyway for a Saturday and with the cloud cover today may be a little bit cooler!
     The seeds for this meeting about jigs were planted when Jamie blogged about the hassle of making tapered legs.  They're for the bed you'll see towards the end of the blog, it's beautiful!  In her blog she complained about that crappy, two legged, hinged fixture that rides along the rip fence, I'd bet that at least half of you reading this have used that one.  Seems as if it's darn near impossible to tighten it plus it just doesn't feel safe.  Here's the jig I've used for many years that works great:

Tablesaw Taper Jig

     Although it looks complicated and has a number of parts, if you frequently build chairs, tables, beds, etc. that call for a tapered leg this is worth building.  Instead of riding against the fence this jig rides in the miter gauge slot on the left side of the blade.  If you look closely you can see a white runner under the jig made of UHMW polyethylene.  Every time this comes up it raises interest so here's a LINK to Lee Valley about it, I've bought some of it at Woodworkers Emporium too. In use, here's how the sled will look:

Mock Up of Jig in Use

     You draw a line for the starting point of the taper and also a line on the end to indicate the size of the leg at the bottom.  Then you slide the guide piece so that the leg extends over the sled that amount and tighten the wing nuts.  The beauty of this jig is that you can cut 4 sided tapers too.  If you are a subscriber to Fine Woodworking on-line you'll be able to get the plans and see a video from this LINK.  If not the article was in Fine Woodworking #178  on pages. 46-49.  This was the August 2005 issue.  Also, the author is Richard W. Beebe II so a google search may turn him up too.
     Here's the bed that inspired the sharing of jigs and our very successful meeting.  I don't know how many of you follow Jamie's blogs but this has been the focus for some time.  Here's the headboard:

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

     Two things inspired the carving.  One was that Dennis was teaching his class on carving at the time so she thought, hey, why not carve this thing.  If you check her blog she also carved the footboard with the saying of "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie".  The way she colored the carving was to use milk paint.  The surrounding area was masked with rubber cement to protect it from the paint and then top coated with oil to really make it stand out.

Close Up View

The other inspiration came from an artist she knows by the name of Judy Kensley McKie.  If you do a google search on her you can see the influence of her work in Jamie's.  I found a cabinet she carved and  now I'm inspired!
     The meeting wrapped up with a drawing for some gift certificates Kate brought in from Timbers.  I was pretty hungry but not lucky enough to get one.  The winners were Leroy, Rich, and Lupe -- Thanks Kate!
     Another last minute item was Rick telling us about a website called Instructables.  It's a site that instructs you in all types of things.  I checked it out and here's a LINK to that site.  I looked at the opening page and although it looks interesting I'm pretty much computered out by now.  Time to get into the shop and work on boxes, hinges, and anything else that won't find me sitting at a keyboard!