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I was asked to make another pizza paddle for my local
sub shop, they seem to burn up one a year! I still have a broken one they
gave me a few years ago, I'll show you how i make it, but that's not the
purpose of this page. Basically I want to show you how to make a simple
taper jig. Then blast through a project that looks more difficult than
it really is. Don't be afraid to try somethin different, being different
is creative, and that's a good thing! |
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I start out with a 6' length of 1x6 poplar.
There is enough room in the handle area to get two halves out of a shorter
piece. The shaded area at left shows my broken sample piece on one side
and plenty of room for the other half on the other side of the shaded area.
After a very rough layout I cut through the center of the shaded area to
create both halves. |
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After rough cutting down the middle of the shaded area,
i flip one side over and you can see the very rough idea of what we're
making. Notice the gap between the boards? We can't glue this up with a
space like that, so we'll pass both sides through the jointer a few times
to make them fit nicely. |
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No I'm not measuring anything, just using a straight
edge to draw some layout lines for our biscuits. I'll put 3 biscuits in
the handle to help align things during the glue up. When you set up your
biscuit joiner, be sure to cut the slots exactly in the middle. This is
fairly important, since the overall thickness will be 1/2" thick. |
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No biscuits in the wider area, this area will
be tapered to near zero so we don't want the biscuits poking through our
finished project.
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No I still haven't measured a thing here yet,
just using my rule to insure my assembly is nice and flat. Everything is
over sized, so there is no need to protect our project from clamp damage.
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At the other end of the assembly, i use a few
scraps off wood clamped to both sides of the wide end, to insure the assembly
is flat. This is very important, so we can taper the paddle on both sides
evenly. We don't want a cupped end. All bar clamps should be good and snug,
but don't over tighten, this forces all the glue out of the joint, and
you'll end up with a glue starved joint. Not good!
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After the glue dries, a simple scraper is the
easiest way to remove the little balls of glue from the wood. Nothing perfect
here just make things flat!
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OK, now we're down to the good stuff. we're going
to taper this paddle on both sides from a 1/2" handle thickness to about
a 1/16" thickness at the tip. In the pic at left are a couple of taper
jigs I made from 1/4"plywood, just for this job. The narrow end is 3/4"
he same as the stock, and 16" away the thickness is 1-5/16"
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Use very short screws to attach the jigs to the
sides of the paddle. The 3/4" end goes at the tip of the paddle. Center
the 1-5/16" end of the jig near the handle, you should have a hair over
1/4" on both sides of the paddle.
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Ok, now we're going to measure the height of
a 3/4"
straight cutting bit for a height of just under 3/8". That's pretty
close to the center of the stock.
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I like to show off my "Router Raizer" that I
installed recently. It easily allows you to adjust the height of your router
table bits from above. The removable crank allows you to raise and lower
the bit easily with one hand while holding a rule with the other. No more
fumbling around for me! Well at least not here at the router table.
Click here to see how I installed
mine.
Click
here to purchase one.
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One last thing to do before we route the taper,
fill the miter slot with stock that fits snug and is flush to the table
top. This is important because as we rout the paddle, eventually the jig
we screwed on will have the opportunity to fall in the slot, ruining your
work piece.
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Now set up your fence so the bit will miss the
screws you used to secure the jig to the work piece. You did measure them,
right? Notice in the pic at left the bit is removing nearly half of the
stock....
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....but as it exits, it removes only about 1/8"
of stock! now flip the paddle over and plow a groove in the other side.
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You can see in this pic that we have a nice little
taper going on here, now lets make it bigger.
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Move the fence away from the bit and make another
pass, flip the paddle and cut the other side again. Then move the fence
away again. Continue the procedure till you reach the other side.... but
don't forget about the screws on the other side, they will ruin your router
bit!
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Now you can begin to see what we'll end up with.
A nice taper on both sides! By controlling the height of a work piece over
the router bit, you can control the depth! What else could you use this
type of jig for?
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Ok, back to the pizza paddle. remove your patterns
and stuff it through your planer. Alternate the side you mill so the leading
edge of the paddle remains in the center, and the biscuits we put in earlier
also remain hidden!
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Now over to the band saw to cut things out. Notice
where my finger is, you can see the part where the jig was screwed to.
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Use your drum
sander to clean up in the tight places and your random orbital sander
to clean up the faces of the paddle and the handle.
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Chuck a 3/16"
radius bit in your router table and ease the edges. Stay away from
the skinny part of the taper, you'll run off the ball bearing on your bit.
Clean this up by hand.
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