He’s a Ford man, I’m a WOOD man

Written on June 22, 2009 at 10:30 am, by Bob Hunter

Saturday I did a little woodworking favor for a neighbor. You know how it is, word gets out that you’ve got tools and/or know-how, pretty soon you’re the go-to guy in the neighborhood. I don’t usually mind, and this one was an easy job. A mechanic, he had some Ford emblems that he got off an old truck, and he wanted them recessed into the laminated-maple top of his workbench. No problem, I said, reaching for my router.
So, like any true woodworker, I made a jig. Actually, it was a template, with the plates cut out from MDF. Then I laid the template over the benchtop, and used a bearing-guided pattern bit in my router to rout out the recesses. The bigger emblems were easy to do in about three height increments, but the Indianapolis Motor Speedway logo was smaller and more intricate than my pattern bits. So I routed out as much as I could with the smallest pattern bit I had, and then free-handed the rest with a 1/4″ spiral bit in my trim router. Thankfully, it all turned out great, and he was pleased with the results. Even though I don’t drive a Ford, I know who I’m going to call next time I have a problem with my vehicles.