- Preparing the base
- Cut a piece of 1/4" (more or less) stock to the appropriate length and width. The sides and ends should be perpindicular to each other and the base itself should be of a uniform thickness. Then simply cut two dadoes (grooves) into the base--around 1/4" from each side-- so that the (inside) distance between the dadoes is equal to the width of the bottom of the end blocks. The dadoes themselves should be around 1/8" deep (for 1/4" thick base) and equal to the thickness of the sides.
- Cutting the dadoes
- This is most easily accomplished on a table saw, router table, or by routing freehand with a guide fence. However, there is another option for those who don't have access to those tools, one I used before getting my small table saw:
- One way to cut the dadoes by hand is to first measure and mark the locations of the dadoes. Then, using a utility knife with a fresh, sharp blade and a good straightedge (metal is best--a bar, ruler, or combination square), repeatedly score the outlines and the waste material between the outlines of each dado to no deeper than 1/8 inch. NOTE: It's important to use a light hand here; bearing down hard will cause the blade to split or go through the wood. Then remove the waste material that was scored with the knife. A very small flathead screwdriver ground to a sharp edge can be used like a chisel to remove the waste material. Or, another good "tool" for routing out the dadoes by hand is a paddle (wood-boring) bit used in drills to bore large holes in wood. Paddle bits have two sharp tangs on either side of the shaft that are just about the right width, and they're very sharp. One word of caution--go slow, as it's really easy to stab yourself in the fingers doing this.
- Homemade tool:The safest way to do this is to make a handle that turns the paddle bit into a sort of a crude homemade router plane using a couple of small nuts and bolts, a drill, and a couple of small pieces of hardwood. Basically, it's just a matter of sandwiching the blade between two pieces of hardwood with a couple of screws. As soon as I can, I'll post a pic and some plans for making this. I haven't used it in a while, but before I had a table saw or router it sure came in handy, and costs around five bucks or less to make.
- One way to cut the dadoes by hand is to first measure and mark the locations of the dadoes. Then, using a utility knife with a fresh, sharp blade and a good straightedge (metal is best--a bar, ruler, or combination square), repeatedly score the outlines and the waste material between the outlines of each dado to no deeper than 1/8 inch. NOTE: It's important to use a light hand here; bearing down hard will cause the blade to split or go through the wood. Then remove the waste material that was scored with the knife. A very small flathead screwdriver ground to a sharp edge can be used like a chisel to remove the waste material. Or, another good "tool" for routing out the dadoes by hand is a paddle (wood-boring) bit used in drills to bore large holes in wood. Paddle bits have two sharp tangs on either side of the shaft that are just about the right width, and they're very sharp. One word of caution--go slow, as it's really easy to stab yourself in the fingers doing this.
