♪♪ It's time for "The Woodsmith Shop."

I'm Phil Huber.

On today's episode, we're building some shop infrastructure.

It's this cart.

It's got plenty of storage for all the tools and gear that you're going to need, and it can serve many purposes.

It's got a wide, large work surface that you can use as a workbench or as a companion to your workbench.

We're going to use ours as an outfeed table and it's all coming up next.

Announcer: Major funding for "The Woodsmith Shop" has been provided by -- Old Masters.

Offering wood stains and finishes for the woodworking enthusiast and professional.

And by -- Kreg.

Tools designed by woodworkers for woodworkers.

Create what inspires you.

Additional funding provided by -- Titebond Wood Glues.

The pro's advantage.

♪♪ And by -- ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Here in the Woodsmith Shop, we love our shop carts, and I think there's really no workshop that couldn't use a shop cart or two.

I mean, there's three of them right behind me.

So we're building one on today's episode.

But this one takes a little bit different of a form.

One of its primary characteristics is this large work surface.

Now, another big feature of a cart should be plenty of storage and a lot of options.

Now, the defining feature here are all these drawers along the front.

In the plans you'll see how we build them, and even a really cool pull that we're using to give it a really finished, kind of manufactured look to it in all the right way.

On the ends are recesses that you can add clamp racks or some small shelves like we have here.

There's even storage on the back side here to be able to use.

Building this cart starts with a plywood case.

So we're going to show you how to create a strong and sturdy case from simple plywood panels.

We're going to dress it up with some hardwood accents that also increase its strength.

All in all, what you're going to find is that this is a rugged case and a cart that will serve you well no matter what you're using it for in the shop.

So let's start building.

The life of a shop cart can be a pretty hard one.

Oftentimes, we're using them in our shop to load them down with a bunch of project parts.

So we want the case and the cart itself to be strong and durable.

So for this shop cart, we're building it with a combination of stable plywood and hardwood.

We want the joinery to be just as stable as the case is.

So for our shop cart, we're starting with high quality plywood, and we're going to cut joints that are dado and groove joints.

Now, I've set up a dado blade here, and I've spent a few minutes making a couple of test cuts.

And the key here is that I want the kerf that this blade leaves to exactly match the thickness of the plywood.

Now,there is some variation in thicknesses of plywood.

So you want to make sure that you're testing it against the pieces you're actually using.

So my first cut was a little loose.

So I adjusted the setup here by removing a chipper and adding a couple shims.

And I ended up with a kerf that's a really good fit.

There's a little bit of room in there for glue, and it's going to make assembly go together really, really nicely.

Now,these first dados are going to be cut in both the top and bottom.

And there's three of them total.

There's one that's just a couple inches in from each end on both sides.

And then there's one in the middle.

So I'm going to start by cutting the dados in the ends.

Make one cut, flip the piece around and make the second cut doing the same thing on both the top and the bottom.

And then I'll reposition the fence to cut that middle dado.

Okay, there we go.

Now, you can see how this divider fits in those dados.

Now, while I have that dado blade loaded up, we're going to go ahead and cut a couple of bits of joinery on these actual dividers.

I'm going to cut a groove in here.

That's going to create two different sized cubbies, one on the front and one on the back.

And then on these two dividers that I'm setting off to the side, we're going to cut a rabbit along the back edge, and that's just going to be for a back panel that's going to slip in here.

All right, now that all the joinery is done, I'm going to go ahead and pre-sand all of these parts just because I'm trying this new thing where I sand stuff before I put it together.

It just makes it easier to do, especially on big panels like this.

So we're at the point where we can do the preliminary assembly on this case.

So first thing we have is we have these two dividers that slip into those dados.

Like so.

Now, I want to be a little bit thoughtful about my approach here because I am applying glue.

And if I put these two dividers in place and then try to slip that smaller divider down, it's gonna be a lot of beating on it with a mallet to get it to go in.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to kind of work in stages.

I'm going to start with this divider by applying glue into that dado.

Now, I'll put some clamps across it and drive a few screws from the bottom.

Then I'll go to this middle divider and slip that smaller divider in place before tilting that final panel into place.

And then everything gets topped with the top piece, and screws will hold it together while the glue dries.

So now that the joinery is done for this cart, we want to beef it up a little bit.

We're going to beef up the top and the bottom.

And to do that, we're just going to add another layer of plywood.

Now, this one's cut slightly oversized just by about an eighth inch or so.

And that's going to allow me to attach it down with screws and glue.

And then come back at the end with a router and flush trim all the way around.

That way it's a perfect match.

Now, I'm attaching this.

I'm going to spray glue with a notched glue spreader to make sure I have good, even coverage.

And then the first thing I'm going to do is tack down two or three corners of this thing using an air nailer.

And I'm just going to do that to make sure this thing doesn't slip and slide around as I'm starting to drive the screws.

Then the screws are really going to hold it down.

Once they're all attached, I'll trim it flush.

[ Whirring ] All right.

So at this point, this cart is rolling because when I added that second bottom to it, I figured it was already bottom up on the sawhorses and it's easy access to add those casters.

So I went ahead and marked the caster locations, and then I pre-drilled them.

[ Whirring ] Then I attached them with some big number 14 screws.

That way they don't have a tendency to want to twist off as we're rolling a full cart around the shop here.

So now at this point, we can start dressing this cart up a little bit.

And that starts by addressing the edging on the two ends.

To cover up this Baltic birch layer, we're going to cap it with a piece of hard maple.

This is just going to add a really clean look to the finished cart, and it's going to protect that edge.

And to attach this, I'm just going to spread a good bead of glue on it and attach it with some brad nails.

Now, as I mentioned, this wider, thicker maple is going to become, let's call them the legs of the cart, even though they're not really legs.

This is going to cap the edge of the divider and hold the end of the top and bottom.

So we have to create three rabbets here, one for the top, one for the bottom, and then one along the edge for the divider.

We're going to do this with the same dado blade that we used earlier.

I've set this up with an auxiliary rip fence.

That way I can create a full three quarter inch rabbet just by running the workpiece along that auxiliary fence.

Once I've done that on all of these trim parts, we'll go ahead and flip over and start using the sliding table or the miter gauge to create that rabbet along the ends.

Now, I'm gonna have to create that in two passes, because we are trying to create a rabbet that's going to hold two layers of plywood for both the top and the bottom.

Okay, you can see how those rabbets really grab this case to make these kind of corner posts.

Now, the only thing I've done is to finish these out with a set of stopped counter bores.

And those are sized for this piece of electrical conduit.

And that's going to be on both ends.

And this is going to form a handle to move this cart around the shop.

So at this point we can go ahead and install these.

Now, I'm just going to spread some glue along these rabbets, stick it into place, and get the handle put in place.

Then a couple of clamps will hold it while that glue dries.

Okay, there we go.

Now, with those corner columns in place, we can take a measurement and just get a good snug fit with these last couple pieces of trim.

I have a long one up top.

Have another one that goes on the bottom.

Once I have installed these, I can take a measurement for this center one that is going to cap that edge of plywood.

Once I have all these glued in place and pin nailed, I'm going to hand this cart off to Phil to deck it out with a little bit of storage.

♪♪ When I'm making drawers at the table saw, there's really two things that I have in mind.

Something that's going to get me done pretty quick, and something that's going to hold the drawers together and keep all the parts aligned when I start spreading glue on them.

What I'm going to do for these drawers is to make the boxes with tongue and dado joinery.

That's going to start by cutting a narrow dado near the front and back end of each of the drawer sides.

Then we'll cut a matching tongue to fit that.

The setup for the dado is pretty simple.

I'm going to guide the work pieces with the miter gauge here, and I've installed a narrow eight inch wide blade here.

What's important is that the blade has a flat top tooth grind on it so that I can get a nice crisp joint, and it's going to match the end of the tongue when those get cut later.

I have all of my drawer side pieces all cut to size.

And again, what's important here is that the drawer sides are all the same length.

You don't really need to nail the measurement right off the plans.

Just make sure all of them are consistently sized.

What I'll do is fire up the saw, hold a piece against it, guiding it with the miter gauge, like I said, but then using the rip fence as an end stop.

The other part of the joint that we need to make is on the front and the back pieces.

We're going to make a really small tongue.

I have a test piece here that we've been using to set up the different cuts here.

You can see what that tongue is going to look like.

It's pretty short and also not very thick, but what you're looking for is this kind of a fit.

And that's why we're using a blade with a flat grind on it so that we get a nice solid connection there.

As for the setup, it's the same blade that we've been using.

The only difference is that we've added an auxiliary rip fence here, clamped in place so that the blade can be right up against it, and it's not going to gum up or damage the existing rip fence.

Still going to guide the piece with the miter gauge, turn on the saw and then make the cut.

One last step at the table saw here for the drawer joinery.

And what we're doing is cutting a groove for the drawer bottoms that get captured by the front, back and the two sides.

Now, I'm leaving the same blade in place to do this, even though I'm using quarter inch plywood.

I could swap out for a quarter inch dado blade or a grooving blade, something along those lines.

But by sticking with the narrow blade, I can make two passes here and get a pretty snug fit with the drawer bottom.

All right, it's time to glue up our drawers here.

I'm gonna demonstrate on one of the smaller ones here, because it's easier to do.

And what you're going to need is a few supplies to make the process as smooth as possible.

I have the drawer parts laid out the way that I'm going to assemble them, and drawer bottom off to one side.

You'll need clamps for the smaller drawers.

Just a pair of clamps are fine.

I like to have a glue bottle handy and a mallet just to encourage all the parts to go together the right way.

So what I'm going to do is to start by putting a bead of glue in the grooves for the drawer bottoms, as well as the dados for the drawer fronts and backs.

Then I'll start with one of the sides and I'll fit one of the drawer front into place.

That gives me a little L shaped assembly so that I can drop the drawer bottom into place and know that it's pretty much aligned where it needs to be.

The drawer back goes on next, and then I can cap it off with the other drawer side.

Usually what happens here is in one of those corners, things get a little snug, so you're just going to have to wiggle parts around.

And then you can lay the drawer flat so that we have a nice flat drawer, and then apply the clamps.

To support bulky tools and shop supplies, the drawers are going to ride on full extension metal drawer slides.

These are pretty cool.

They support a lot of weight.

There's also a soft close feature on them, which is really nice.

Now, you might not know this, but the slides come apart into two separate components.

There's a smaller component that gets attached to the drawer, and then this wider section gets attached to the case, makes the installation a lot easier.

What's most important, though, is getting the slides installed parallel to each other in the case.

And since we have two sets of drawers, that they're all going to be consistent.

The solution here is to start with a spacer.

I'm just using some scrap MDF and it's set for the top drawer, so I can just set that in place inside the cabinet, put the case component on it to line it up, and then drive those screws.

Then it's just a matter of taking that spacer, moving it to the other side for the opposite side, and then the same thing over on the smaller drawer bank.

Then I'll head over to the table saw, cut the spacer down a little bit for the next set of drawers, and then I can install those slides.

You see where this is going.

Just keep cutting it down until you get to the bottom set of drawers.

[ Whirring ] In order to complete the drawers, what we need to do is add the drawer fronts and the pulls.

Now, for this project, the pulls are something a little unique.

They're a length of extruded aluminum that incorporates the pull and then wraps around the drawer front.

It's a pretty cool design and adds a fun look to this particular project.

Here's how it's working on this particular drawer down here, so you can see how the pull wraps over the top of the false front, and gets attached with a mounting flange and some small screws from the back side in order to make room for those screws and for that mounting flange, what I did is took the drawers over to the workbench and used a handheld router with an edge guide, and then plowed a groove across the front of the drawer that creates that little pocket in there.

And then the false fronts are just attached to the drawers with some screws.

The next part of our cart that we're working on is to add some storage features beyond the drawers.

Now, on those two recessed ends of the cart, we're going to make a set of trays.

It consists of a front and then a pair of sides and then a bottom.

Well, the two lower ones don't have a bottom.

They're just going to rest on the cart's bottom panel.

All of those pieces are going to be joined with rabbets.

We have a dado blade set here in the table saw recessed in a sacrificial fence.

So what I'm going to do is with the tray front is I'll run a rabbet along each end that will house the ends of the tray.

Then I'll back the miter gauge away and route a rabbet along the bottom edge of the tray front again to accept the lower piece of that tray.

[ Buzzing ] Adding that step of creating rabbets on our tray pieces does two things for us.

First, it increases the amount of glue surface that we have for the assembly, and second, it helps register the parts so that once you spread the glue on, they're not as liable to slide around.

They just kind of lock right into their positions.

Now, with the tray pieces that I have here, All I need to do is run a bead of glue.

In the end rabbets on both the front and the bottom of the tray, and then I'm going to run another bead of glue along the bottom edge.

I can flip that bottom into its rabbet where it holds into position, and then fit the two end pieces in.

I drilled a couple of holes in those end pieces to be able to mount the trays to the inside of the cart.

Just add a handful of clamps here and you're all set.

The final major part of this cart is the top of it.

Now, for this one we wanted something that overhung all the edges.

You can use it as a clamping surface and to be a durable, solid surface to work on.

Here's how we did it.

There's two layers of plywood that are glued together that gives us the thickness that we're looking for, and then that's capped off with a layer of one quarter inch hardboard, which is a smooth, durable surface.

Easy to work on.

Now, getting three layers put together isn't as easy as it seems.

So here's what we did.

Start with the bottom layer.

Cut that to its final size.

The next layer up gets cut a little bit larger.

That way, when you glue it down, you don't have to try and nail it on alignment all the way around.

You just make sure that it's overhanging the edges a little bit and then trim it flush with a router.

And that's what we're doing here with this top layer.

So this top layer of hardboard has been glued down.

It overhangs all four edges.

Now, what I have is a handheld router here with a flush trim bit on it.

The bearing on the flush trim bit is going to follow along the edge of the top.

And then the cutters are going to remove the rest of the material.

So now it looks like you have three layers that you put together all really easily.

Now, with the top like this, with the Baltic birch plywood that we used, you could leave those edges exposed, but for extra security and for this cart, seeing a lot of use in the shop, we wanted to protect those edges.

So we're going to apply strips of the same maple hardwood that we've been using throughout this project.

What I'm going to do is run a bead of glue on the back side here, and then I'm going to use a couple of clamps at the corners to hold it in place and to keep that top surface flush.

Then to secure everything, I have an air powered brad nailer that will make the connection.

And then we don't have to use clamps.

Before I attach the top to our cart, there's one last adjustment that we wanted to make.

Now, we're all set according to the plans, but what we want to do is use this cart as an outfeed table for the table saw.

Now, we were just a little bit short based on the plans.

The solution here is pretty simple.

We cut and planed some spacers and attached those as a framework that we can put in between the cart and the top.

Then it's just a matter of driving some screws through those spacers into the top to lock it into place.

What we have here is a great shop helper.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ With our cart wrapped up, I'm going to slide it over behind the table saw to use as an outfeed table.

The best part is, is that underneath the side support on our table saw, a lot of stuff's gotten piled up.

Extra blades, push sticks, all the gear that you need at the table saw.

Now, though, we have plenty of place to store it, keep it out of the way and dust free.

A shop cart like this can be a real benefit to just about any workshop, whether you park yours behind the table saw or next to your workbench.

If your shop is in need of an upgrade, the plans are at our website, WoodsmithShop.com.

There you'll find a bunch of other plans, great videos, project ideas, and more.

It's enough to keep you busy until we gather right back here in the Woodsmith Shop.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ If you'd like to get more video tips and techniques, sign up for the free weekly Woodsmith eTIPS.

Every week, you'll receive an email with a video tip to get more out of your table saw, router table, and more.

Sign up at WoodsmithShop.com.

Everything in today's show comes from the newly expanded Woodsmith Guild Edition with shop projects, plans, tips and techniques.

To get a free preview issue of Woodsmith Guild Edition, and a free Woodsmith book, go to WoodsmithShop.com.

In addition, past seasons of "The Woodsmith Shop" are available on DVD, or you can watch them online from your computer, tablet, or mobile device.

For more information, go to WoodsmithShop.com.

Announcer: Major funding for "The Woodsmith Shop" has been provided by -- Old Masters.

Offering wood stains and finishes for the woodworking enthusiast and professional.

And by -- Kreg.

Tools designed by woodworkers for woodworkers.

Create what inspires you.

Additional funding provided by -- Titebond Wood Glues.

The pro's advantage.

♪♪ And by -- ♪♪ ♪♪