Noob Woodworker Basic Question

[Jim Matthews]

Best of luck.

I have a local woodworker that I consider my mentor.
I don't do projects in his shop, but for the price of a coffee -
he can always help me out of a rough patch.

There's no substitute for experience, and Dan seems to like the company.

[John Emwonk]

I'll point out the silver lining here. You learned that making prototypes out of old pallets and scrap when addressing a new skill is better than creating expensive scrap....

Thanks to you for this good input as well.

I have read every post carefully and plan to follow every suggestion. Best regards

[Stan Calow]

Just my opinion, but for a newbie, I would suggest cutting the lap joints on the router table. Dado blades and small pieces cross-cut on table saw doesn't sound good to me. Easier to creep up to the right height on router table.

[Roger Feeley]

John, Table Saw blade height has always been a sore point with me. Sneaking up and making multiple cuts is the way to go. There should be a tension knob in the middle of the crank that raises the blade. Make sure to tighten it a bit so the blade can't drift down.

I respectfully disagree with the poster that said you should double the amount by which you raise the blade. For a lap joint where the joinery is hidden, like in your cross, once you have both pieces cut somewhere near the halfway point, there is no reason to cut both laps every time. So what if you cut 7/16ths out of one piece and 9/16ths out of the other?

There are situations where you want your joint perfect. if you are joining at the corner where the joinery shows or want to make pieces that are interchangeable, then you want your cut to go exactly halfway through.

[Floyd Mah]

Get a router plane. Here's one I found for $39.95. Take a look at the link. Old ones can be found on ebay for less, although you have to be sure that it comes with a proper blade. Despite being an old design, these planes are very handy for creating flat-bottomed areas as long as there is an adjacent parallel reference surface. For example, you can create dadoes, hinge mortices, half-lap joints once you demarcate the boundary with a sharp chisel or knife. Unlike a corded router, you can rapidly adjust the depth. As the last post suggested, you can creep up on the final dimension by adjusting the depth of one side of the half-lap to get the desired fit.

[Chris Padilla]

John,

Keep going with your imagination and with some help here your skills may catch up one day! None of us were born with these skills but we can learn....