New Product - "WoodRat - Makes All Sorts of Joints - Making My First Dovetail"

	Well, it is an even hotter day, but time to make my first joint. The Manual suggests a tutorial to learn the way of the System. It starts with making a box joint.    By the way, you can see that I have made a "recipe stand" for the manual. I was tired of constantly going to the bench, leaning over, reading and trying to  remember the step. This proved to be a really big help.
Here is a closer look. All are from scraps. The angle pieces are just 1" pine. The inset shows the inside where I have used pocket holes and 2 1/2" screws to go through the pegboard and into the 1/2" plywood sub-wall.    This easel is so useful, I may just make one or two more for use around the shop, like for the Incra Jig Project Book, Quick Tenon How-To's, etc.
	The first part of the "tutorial" is to cut two boards the same width and mark them "A" and "B". I was careful to cut these boards at the table saw using the Incra Miter Gauge and the new CMT Cabinetmaker's blade. I wanted to have ends that were as good as I could make them.
I place the "A" piece in the "Cutter" position and use the clever cam clamp to firmly hold it there. It is important to have the piece of wood pressed up and firmly seated against the bottom of the base.
	I have already mounted a 1/2' straight bit in the collet. Now, I have lowered and locked the router so that this bit just touches the top of the board. This will be the "zero reference" point. I am locking the adjustment foot at this point.
Now, I have unlocked the height adjustment foot and raised it so  that I can set it to the thickness of the mating board  ("B"). In fact, I have raised it so that it is about 1/32" higher than this board. For box joints, I like a little extra length fingers that can be sanded flush after glue up.
	I have plunged the router to the cutting depth and have locked it there. I now turn the WoodRat's carriage knob until the bit is centered approximately on the wood. I have purposely located it close to center but not exactly on. One of the WoodRat's features is that you mill one piece using the mating piece as a template. This will "cancel" out any marking or measuring error — I hope.
With hearing protection and the vacuum on, I make my first cut. Note, that I have already removed the front/lower handle of the Plunge Bar. Not only was it blocking the camera's view, it made changing bits a real challenge.    As a side note, the WoodRat people use a DeWalt router that has a Jacobs Power Collet (quick release) installed. It isn't yet available for my router, so I will stick with the wrench and shaft lock method.
	I have moved the "A" piece with the first cut to the Marker position. I clamp it so that it is flush with the top of the fixture.
Using a very sharp pencil, I simply outline the inside edges of the cutout.    One WoodRat user, a long time woodshopdemos.com reader, suggested that the most important accessory is an electric pencil sharpener — it is clear, that some of the accuracy of this system is dependent on a sharp, narrow line.
	I have unclamped the "A" board, lowered it a bit and re-clamped it. You can now see what I see. The pencil marks indicate where my first cut is. I turn the crank that moves the carriage east and west and locate where I want the next groove to be cut.
The Manual says to move the carriage about an inch and make the next groove. I decided not to do that. I want to make a box joint without introducing a ruler.    Note the marks. The left set are the first cut position. I then moved the lowered piece until the edge of the mark was lined up. I marked that line and then moved the carriage again until the new mark lined up. Now I have two lines that will guide me for the next groove — and they were done without measuring. This way I can make an exact box joint with any size straight bit and no measurement. I like that idea.
	After  making that last move, I put this piece back in the Cutter position, made a groove and have moved it pack to the Marker position. Now you can see that I simply move the new groove to the pencil marks and go back and make another cut.    This may sound like a lot of fussing for the one edge, but, it is very simple and fast — in fact we are making the first joint and the template for the rest of the work.
Here it is. If you look closely, I have nice, equally spaced grooves, but the ends are different. That is the result of my purposely not centering the first groove.    It is time to make the mating corners.