Sq. pins with a pyramid-shaped prime are an exquisite characteristic of Craftsman furnishings. These may be brief ornamental plugs or lengthy practical pins that cinch the joint, and there are a selection of the way to make every. To create the holes for them, I take advantage of a square-hole punch from Lee Valley (which provides directions for its use). However my tip addresses the final a part of the process: driving the pins with out damaging their faceted tops. My answer is a wooden driver with an angled notch that matches the angles on the pins. The scale of the driving force are usually not necessary, so long as the notch is barely wider than the plug, say 5/16 in. extensive for 1/4-in. pins.

The notch has two sides, which contact two of the aspects on the pin. This makes the notch straightforward to chop on the desk noticed, by tilting the blade to the identical angle because the pin aspects (I reduce these on the desk noticed additionally) and making two passes. Elevate the blade simply shy of the middle of the driving force, and help the workpiece with a miter gauge, utilizing a cease to place it. It’s necessary that you just don’t reduce previous the middle, so increase the blade incrementally after the primary two cuts, making extra passes till the nib within the heart simply disappears.

For sturdiness, the fabric used for the driving force ought to be no less than as laborious because the plug. I used the identical walnut driver to drive 800 walnut plugs earlier than it started to indicate indicators of wear and tear, at which level I merely recut its tip.

The tip of the driving force ought to have small flats on either side of the notch. Don’t be tempted to make use of these as a cease when driving pins, or you’ll harm the encompassing wooden. As an alternative, cease driving simply earlier than these flats contact down, leaving the plug proud by 1/32 in. or so. Additionally, watch out to maintain the driving force plumb, and use gentle faucets versus heavy strikes. Final, in case your plugs are tapered, you’ll discover them a little bit susceptible to chipping, particularly on the perimeters of the opening with finish grain, so orient the driving force to help the aspects on these sides.

—KEITH SHARP, Pagosa Springs, Colo.

Illustrations by Dan Thornton
From Nice Woodworking problem #304