How to Make a Circle Cutting Jig for a Router

Perhaps you've been inspired to make a wooden machine with some rather large pin-wheel type gears. There are many ways to cut circles including freehand on a scroll saw or band saw. You can also make or buy a circle cutting jig for the bandsaw. Additionally, you can consider using a fly type circle cutter or using a hole saw in a drill press.

Here is a complete article on how to make your own adjustable circle-cutting jig for a hand held router.

Unlike many a circle-cutting jig for the router, this one overcomes a common limitation -- cutting a circle with a radius shorter than the distance between the router bit and the pivot on which is spins.

John English came up with the ingenious jig you see in the photo above. It doesn't rely on a pivot point, which means it can be used to cut range of circle sizes.

Here is the article on How to Make a Circle Cutting Jig for a Router

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Build Hidden Compartments into Wooden Drawers

This post may seem a little off-topic, but I'm going to justify it because a) it's about woodworking, b) it's mechanical in nature, and c) it's just plain cool.

Who doesn't love trap doors and hidden compartments?

This is a short, but useful article describing a few different ways to build hidden compartments into chests, bureaus, jewelry boxes, or even cabinets built into a wall.

Here's the article on Building Hidden Drawers courtesy of Woodcraft.com.

Scroll Saw Joinery

Scroll saws are great for cutting curves and complex shapes. Did you know you can also use the scroll saw for joinery?

Here's a really interesting that article shows you how to cut a variety of interesting joints on the scroll saw.

Read the article: Scroll Saw Joinery originally published in Scroll Saw Workshop magazine

WoodCraft Magazine Bundle - Automata Plans

Woodcraft.com -- one of my absolute favorite woodworking stores -- is offering a bundle of the first year of its self-titled woodworking magazine.

This is a great deal for two reasons:

1. You get 7 issues of a great woodworking magazine for $9.99
2. You get Woodcraft Holiday 2005 with my article on how to build a contemporary automaton of your very own. That's worth the price alone!

Check out the Woodcraft Magazine Issues 1-7 Bundle

If you are a hard-core Dug North fan and just want the issue with the automaton plans, you can get Woodcraft Holiday 2005