woodworking clamps

Last winter, my husband Mike wanted to try his hand at cabinet making. He looked at so many different cabinet plans but could not find something to build. 

Space is a premium in our small woodworking shop so when he asked for a woodworking router table system, a bench top router table was the best solution.

Eagle America offers two bench top router table systems.

Kreg Router Table                  or  a             Freud Router Table

Yes, these are smaller woodworking router table systems but they get the job done!


Now, back to cabinet plans. Mike never found "the one" perfect cabinet plan to build so he designed his own. 


Mike was able to use his stile and rail bits and many of his other Eagle router bits for his cabinet project. While he was building the cabinet, it was exciting to see the majority of his woodworking clamps being used all at once. 


In the end the cabinet he made will become a family treasure. 


Not bad for a first effort.

I had a customer call the other day and the Eagle America catalog he used to order from was a catalog he borrowed from his father, that is not that unusual but the catalog was from 2000.  He is not the first customer to order from one of our catalogs from several years ago. I’ve asked "Why do you keep them so long" they usually say they keep it for reference. They would see a woodworking accessory or router bits that they had not seen before. So they hold on to it for when they need that item.

Do you know we carry over 6000 different woodworking tools? We have everything from; router table systems, router bits and router bit sets, saw blades and saw blade accessories, woodworking clamps, sanding supplies, wood carving tools, Kreg pocket hole jigs…. and the list goes on.

A few years back we ran a promotional offer to see who had the oldest catalog and I believe we had multiple customers that supplied us with catalogs from the late 80's and early 90's.

  Yesterday's Catalog                                      Today's Catalog
                                 

Wow what a difference, so don’t be so quick to toss that old Eagle America catalog it just may be worth something in the future.

When I pull out my cabinet making tools and Kreg pocket hole jigs, I generally work under the impression that no holes will be visible when I am done working on my project. This is great in theory but when time is of the essence and I can’t wait 12 or 24 hours for glue to set up or I am attaching trim which is difficult for woodworking clamps, I turn to my pneumatic pinners, nailers and staplers.

As product manager at Eagle America, I was excited to introduce the full line of Freeman pneumatic woodworking tools. They are a great tool but there was one problem, Eagle America did not have the couplers and hose to go with them. I immediately went to work trying to find the best quality air tool accessories on the market.

My search turned up some wonderful new products I would like to introduce to you.

First, there is Flexzilla Air Hose. Flexzilla is a revolutionary hose featuring a premium hybrid polymer material that redefines flexibility.

This hose offers zero memory allowing it to lay flat exactly where you drop it and it won't work against you during operation or when coiling after use. It is currently in use by companies located in Alaska due to it’s extreme all-weather flexibility, even in sub-zero conditions.




Second, is our new selection of air plugs, couplers and blow guns. With the ColorConnex color coding system it easy to connect the correct tool to a specific dedicated hose line.

Color coding eliminates tool contamination and takes the guess work out of trying to determine which tool goes to which coupler or plug. Now you can quickly and easily separate and identify lubricated "wet" lines for air tools and filtered "dry" lines for paint guns or dedicated nitrogen lines for tire inflators.

 

Third, is the Rapid Air compressed air piping system. Rapid Air offers an easy and flexible way to customize your workshop or garage with applications ranging from woodworking to automotive.

This is a complete compressed air distribution system that is designed to easily install beneath walls of new construction or on wall surfaces of existing workshops.


 

These items are completely new to the Eagle America line and we hope you will try them out and let us know what you think!

• Woodworking Router Bits
• Table Saw Blades
• Wood Bandsaw Blades
• Scroll Saw Blades
• Woodworking Clamps
• Sanding Supplies
• Wood Carving Tools
• And more!

Wow! Looking over some of our recent blog posts I can tie a couple together, clocks and students.
One of the best parts of what I do here at Eagle America is talking to you, the customer.

In my time being the Customer Service Manager I must have spoken to thousands of our customers, I may have even spoken with you! It is always great to hear from people like Mr. Hazard, a high school woodshop instructor in California. 

I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to connect with him and donate some Woodworking Tools, Woodworking Accessories and Woodworking Router Bits to his woodshop over the last couple of years.

Mr. Hazard has sent me some photos of his students and some of the projects that they are making during this school year.

Here you can see a couple of mission clocks his students are making. You can see there is quite a bit of time and effort that the students are putting into these projects. They look great!



 


 

Here you see a student in his furniture making class working on her Pedestal table. I think she could have used one of our woodworking clamps to hold this a little more steady.











It is great to see the art of woodworking being passed down to the next generation, keep up the great work Mr. Hazard!  I am sure we will be seeing more of his students great work in the future.

 

I ordered a 20” x 24” oil painting for our 50th wedding anniversary and needed to frame it.

I wanted to use some nice cherry that I have so I set out to create a simple frame that would complement the painting and not compete with it.

I chose a simple profile that was easily done on my router table system with two simple bits, a 45 degree chamfer bit and a basic rabbeting bit. 
 
After milling the profiles on my router table system, I cut the pieces to length with mitered ends.

After applying glue to all the joints, I used some woodworking clamps, specifically, a simple picture framing clamp that keeps everything nice and square. I did not use any fasteners because I planned on adding a simple corner spline. 

After the glue had cured, I cut a slot in each corner using a simple shop made jig and made 1 pass through the table saw.
 

The splines were made to match the thickness of the saw kerf. A little glue was added and the splines were tapped in. After the glue dried I trimmed the excess wood off with a flush trim saw and sanded them flush.

I found that one of the easiest ways to hold a picture into a frame is to use fender washers that overlap the inset picture. The washers are slightly countersunk using a forstner bit just slightly larger than the washer.



 

All in all, a successful little project!

You know you want me, but do they know that?
 

• Festool Power Tools - They will change the way you work, we promise!
• Kreg Pocket Hole Jigs or a new Kreg Router Table - Both will make your woodworking life and projects much easier.
• Router Bits - We are "The World's Router Bit Source" after all, you can never have enough bits.
• Sanding Supplies - Have you seen our new Scuff Balls?  They are one of our most popular new items because they are a true problem solver.
• Table Saw Blades - A sharp new Freud blade would be welcomed by your table saw.
• Woodcarving Set - Give carving a try, it's fun!
• Woodworking Clamps - Seriously, do you ever have enough clamps?  NO!

Are you TOO COOL to be safe?

• Over 37,000 people per year go to emergency rooms because of power nailers
• 39,000 ER visits per year are the result of chain saws
• 10,600 patients fell victim to their circular saws
• 5,800 people go to the hospital due to power drill injuries
• 3 people per year DIE using Wood Chippers

• Table Saw / Table Saw Blades
• Router / Router Bits
• Shaper / Shaper Cutters
• Bandsaw / Bandsaw Blades
• Scroll Saw / Scroll Saw Blades
• Etc., etc., etc.

Tom, one of our Eagle woodworking associates writes:

You really can’t tell from this picture, but the plywood that rocker is clamped to is one of the rockers from the mock up. With the inside radius cut, it was time to pull out the woodworking clamps and glue the two halves of each rocker together. I offset the section to increase the strength. 
 

Again the plywood rocker from the mock up is used as a clamping guide.  I think I used every hand screw and c-clamp in my shop! 

After gluing up the sections for the rockers, cutting the inside and outside radii was not going well using the Casper Perfect Circle Guide with a ½” straight bit. I had thought that I could do this part the same way I did the plywood mock up. 

The Casper arch/circle router jigs are great tools, but using it with the router overhanging the edge of the wood is tricky.  The Casper is not strong enough to support the weight of the router without the same thickness of wood supporting the weight on the outside of the cut. When I was cutting the inside of the individual lamination it was good, but then it was not supported when trimming the outside edge.  Also, using a ½” router bit was not the best method.

I was in the process of looking for something else to do the job when a customer by the name of Olin came into the Eagle America store.  He had been making large arches and wanted a large diameter straight bit to trim his arches.  Of course this started a conversation about what he was doing and what I was attempting.  We discussed attack angles, rotational speed, etc. etc.

Making a long story short, the larger diameter router bit had not entered my mind.  I bought one, cut one of the prototype rockers out using a 1/2'” bit and the Casper properly and it worked great.
 

Large diameter woodworking router bits reduce the angle in which the carbide blade cuts the wood.  This is similar to a block plane or other low angle hand plane.  The large diameter bit worked cutting with the grain, against the grain and even on end grain.  

There is one issue that is sort of a good news/bad news thing… When using this large diameter bit the “chips” were actually very thin shavings. These shavings were so thin that they floated all over my shop and stuck to anything that had a charge, which in NE Ohio in January is just about everything! The cutter left a very nice surface though! 

 

Coping sleds are one of the must have woodworking tools and router accessories when doing router woodworking. Coping sleds are disigned to help you make those difficult small or narrow cross-grain rail cuts when building cabinet doors.

To use the coping sled, simply align your material flush with the outside edge of the sled and clamp it into place with the special holding clamp. The non-slip strips help hold the piece in place. Then run the sled along your router table and fence until you cut into the replaceable plastic guide block, which eliminates tear out. It's just that easy!

All of Eagle America's sleds are proudly made in USA.

By the way, if you ever wanted to see how Eagle America' s coping sleds are put together, then you have to see this video. The Wood Whisperer had a great time assembling our Model 3000 Coping Sled...

Betty, one of Eagle America's customer service representatives, wrote:

"After 142 years, our church steeple had to be removed because it had begun to dry rot and the brick bell tower was turning to dust.  We were told it would last until the next 80 mile an hour wind came through Painesville!   After “shopping” for steeples, we realized we could build the steeple at a considerable savings.  It helped that many of our church members are woodworkers and one was an architect. The architect graciously designed the new steeple and completed the blueprints. 
 

The steeple framework was built in a huge warehouse in three sections.  Once the framework was complete, the 3 sections were moved by flatbed truck to the church parking lot.  Then, each of the 4,000 cedar shingles were cut to size, shaped, dipped in stain and laid out in the church parking lot to dry. They were then fastened to the outside of each section.

Once the brick bell tower was rebuilt, the refurbished bell was installed into the bell tower. Each of the 3 sections was lifted up one at a time by a crane. The first section was secured to the tower foundation the additional two sections were lifted into place and secured to each other.

Finally, the star and copper ball from the original steeple built in 1862 were lifted up into place. The steeple was complete when the last few shingles, trim work and lighting was installed.  The steeple is 142 feet from its base to the top of the star. The project took about 9 months to complete and required all kinds of woodworking tools, wood cutting tools, woodworking clamps and woodworking accessories. Not to mention, a lot of woodworking knowledge from the volunteers!" 

You can see the steeple at First Church Congregational, 22 Liberty St, Painesville, Ohio. http://firstchurchcongregational.org