I'm Making White MDF Display Plinths (Full Walkthrough - Part 1 of 3)

I'm making some exhibition display pedestals / plinths mostly using my DeWalt DW745 table saw so I thought I'd step you through how I go about making these. This is Part 1 of a 3 Part series. In this part I'm doing most of the woodworking / joinery.
Part 1 - Building the boxes: • I'm Making White MDF D...
Part 2 - Preparing for paint: • Making Display Plinths...
Part 3 - Painting: • Making Display Plinths...
Here's some affiliate links to products I use or would consider using - read more about affiliate links at the bottom of this description:
Table Saw Stuff:
DeWalt DW745 Table Saw: gosforthhandyman.com/uk-links... (UK)
DeWalt DE7400 Heavy Duty Mobile Table Saw Stand: gosforthhandyman.com/uk-links... (UK)
DeWalt DW745 Table Saw: gosforthhandyman.com/us-links... (US)
DeWalt DW7440RS Rolling Saw Stand: gosforthhandyman.com/us-links... (US)
Titebond II Wood Glue:
gosforthhandyman.com/uk-links... (UK)
gosforthhandyman.com/us-links... (US)
TOOLS & PRODUCTS I USE: gosforthhandyman.com/products...
NEWSLETTER: gosforthhandyman.com/newsletter
PATREON: / gosforthhandyman
SHOP: gosforthhandyman.com/shop/
EXTRA STUFF ON THE WEB: gosforthhandyman.com
INSTA: / gosforthhandyman
TWITTER: / gosforthandy
I sometimes use affiliate links - these don’t cost you a penny and help to keep this channel going. Read more about affiliate links here - the fairest way of funding the internet: gosforthhandyman.com/affiliat... - thanks so much for your awesome support!
#MDF #Joinery #Carpentry

[@seanlookalike]

What a professional wiping the glue from inside the plinth. Bought a table saw and ready to start making plinths for my daughters wedding and flower company

[@johnhawk8624]

Excellent and thank you emphasizing safety unlike so many other KZbin table saw demos. I cut the end of my thumb off when I was 17 on a table saw.

[@dlamb2840]

I’m just starting out in woodworking and I must say I really enjoyed this upload. I am particularly impressed by your respect for the dangers of using your table saw. Superb vid. Thanks.

[@GosforthHandyman]

Cheers - it's a dangerous beast the table saw! 👍

[@tlangdon12]

I can see how the nailer really helps with this kind of job. Great video.

[@GosforthHandyman]

tlangdon12 cheers bud! 👍 🛠

[@michellecreative701]

Wow awesome

[@pjvdm]

Hi, just found your channel. Love the running commentary as it includes great tips for avoiding silly mistakes and achieving better results. Great stuff, keep it up. Cheers. PJ

[@WoodworkingBrewer]

Yet again a very informative video and great care over the product coming out at its very best👍. Loving the podcasts with Peter 🍻

[@GosforthHandyman]

Cheers dude! 👍

[@kenjohanning1163]

Andy - great video as always. I always like how you show what you are doing and why. I have learned a lot watching your videos. I recently bought this saw and it came with an extra riving knife - maybe this is why. Also love your podcast with Peter. Keep up the great work.

[@GosforthHandyman]

Ken Johanning interesting - very possibly! Cheers bud! 👍

[@paultay23]

Excellent video Andy, shows that the extra care with measuring pays dividend... i must follow your lead. I have just purchased a DW745 to replace my Evolution Fury cheapo saw.. What a difference quality makes, the fence makes a massive difference. Nice tip about the taking the weight off the riving knife. The quality of the filming and camera work is some of the best on KZbin, nice one.

[@GosforthHandyman]

paultay23 cheers for the kind words! 👍 👊

[@jc5510]

Great demo Andy! Lovely little techniques

[@GosforthHandyman]

John Cowell cheers John! 👍

[@21thTek]

Excelent as always !!!

[@SKTWoodDesign]

great video with great tips !

[@Hunders1984]

For angled cuts like that I just take the blade guard off my 745. Without the weight of the guard, the riving knife doesn't bend but you still have it there for safety.

[@portnaluinge]

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. It’s only held on with a wing nut after all. FWIW I picked up a second riving knife cheap off fleaBay and trimmed it down to a couple of mil lower than the height of my blade, and that’s what lives on my 745 all the time now.

[@GosforthHandyman]

Unfortunately even without the blade guard the riving knife is out of skew - the blade guard makes it worse but at least gives me a way to correct it without taking the riving knife out. Will be doing a follow up vid on this. 👍

[@007monkeyboy007]

Great video Andy, great uses of angled cut 👍🏻

[@GosforthHandyman]

Neil Thomas cheers! 👍 🛠

[@PinkOrchid8]

Hi just found your channel-your advice and demo is excellent- I’m hoping to get into woodworking so this is perfect Thankyou

[@GaryThomsonJoinery]

Excellent Andy, I would be tempted to tie a wee line off the ceiling temporarily to the saw guard when it’s a 45. Love your videos mate 👍😄

[@GosforthHandyman]

Gary Thomson Joinery cheers Gary! Top tip! 👍

[@EddyCarroll]

Great vid Andy; I picked up a lot from your talking through the more subtle points that are often glossed over in other videos, e.g. checking both orientations of the mitre to find the better fit. Like a previous commenter, I also hadn’t seen the ‘v’ marking technique before and will definitely be using it. Roll on parts 2 & 3!

[@GosforthHandyman]

Cheers Eddy! The 'v' mark sometimes gets called a crows foot. 👍

[@simonh73]

I’d have been tempted to use a lock mitre bit in your router table (with good dust extraction). Good for making boxes with the joints hidden in all sides and glues up easy!

[@GosforthHandyman]

Simon Huntington don't have one but on my list 👍👊

[@samanthay3569]

Only just found your videos and they have been so helpful! Hit the Subscribe button straight away :0) Looking forward to seeing the next 2 videos continuing on from this one.

[@GosforthHandyman]

Cheers and welcome to the channel Samantha! 👍

[@markusarendt2045]

Same Problem with my table saw as well i usually just remove the guard for angled cuts this way you just have to be a little more careful about where your blade is but it works fine for me

[@GosforthHandyman]

Doing a follow-up on this. 👍

[@Tocsin-Bang]

Have exactly the same problem with my table saw. Where I used to work they had a far better machine that had been modified to ensure the guard didn't interfere on a 45 degree cut. Also the extraction was under the table!

[@GosforthHandyman]

Yeah - the 745 is a great saw but there's a couple of annoying design flaws with it. 👍

[@timcharlesherbert]

Another great video Andy, I really appreciate you taking so much time to explain how you achieve accurate cuts and going into detail about setting your tools and measuring up (good idea for a podcast there :)). Also I don’t think I’ve ever seen the ‘V’ marking technique before - top tip! A lot of other woodworkers on KZbin skip over some of the details which you take the time to show. As a novice, this attention to detail and not making assumptions about your viewers knowledge is incredibly useful and will keep me watching. Big thanks.

[@GosforthHandyman]

Cheers for the kind words Tim! The 'v' gets called a crows foot. 👍

[@whitedoggarage]

Thanks Andy for another great video, looking forward to your finishing video on these. I have just finished white week here, 8 pieces of furniture all painted white 😑. Anyhow a question for you, why don't you take the guard off the riving knife? It looks like it is held on by one bolt (mine was) so should be simple to remove and I think that is the main reason the riving knife is being bent over. Thanks, Bob.

[@GosforthHandyman]

It's out of skew even with the guard off unfortunately. 👍

[@Simon_W74]

I have recently bought the same saw, and the blade guard was no good for certain cuts as you know, so I boughta new guard from Ebay and cut it down to match the blade high. I did find that the alignment is not great on the blade guard and being able to adjust it so its behind the blade as it should. My old rubbish table saw is spot on and I used it's old blade to make a riving knife from as it didn't have one as I bought it second hand.

[@GosforthHandyman]

Digger Buckett good stuff! 745 is a great saw but had its pitfalls! 👍

[@mrdo9081]

Agree with Hunders, you have no extractor attached therefore remove the cowling and keep the riving knife. You will not get kick back with a riving knife... Leave that to the Americans who seem obsessed with running table saws without a riving knife - it is there to stop the work closing up after it has passed the upcoming blade which gives you the kick back. Creeping up on the cut is good (keep a record of the indicated measurement and you are good to go for repeats).

[@GosforthHandyman]

W D follow up vid coming soon - all will become clear 👍

[@emmettbohannan1217]

W D either way, with or without the safety devices, you cannot idiot proof any piece of equipment....

[@CHLA94]

Nice video as always matey. My 745 has the same issues with the angled cuts. You reckon you could make a wedge like shape that slotted in under the guard? Could almost run it off a mitre slot

[@GosforthHandyman]

On mine it's the riving knife itself that's the problem - the guard makes it worse but even without the guard it's out. 👍🛠

[@NickDV007]

Nice one Andy 👍👍👍 Nothing wrong with white blocks of MDF, they encourage deep thought and contemplation 🤔 Can you not remove the guard/dust extractor from the riving knife as that's what's pulling it out of line?

[@GosforthHandyman]

Nick DV cheers Nick! Will be doing a follow up on this 👍

[@johnthompson3462]

I agree with Hunders. I that particular cut it seems to me to be more detrimental to have the guard on. I have an older saw which does not have a riving knife - like John Heisz - And while I agree with safty first,I find I am more aware and cautious of what I am doing.Also I hate those long push sticks. Even watching someone as skilled as you makes me nervous. I much prefer the hold down type - I call them the John Heisz (sound like a fan lol ). I make them 30/40 at a time.Seem a lot safer

[@andymvisuals]

Great series! What's the best way to make smaller cubes, like 12x12x12 cm?

[@GosforthHandyman]

With small cubes you could probably get away with using a CA glue and activator instead of wood glue - makes assembly way quicker. 👍

[@stevenc123]

7:10 Andy: Don't worry about having too much glue Narrator: He had too much glue

[@nothankswhatnothing8570]

How would you hang that parallel to the floor?

[@markturner1722]

I always use moisture resistant mdf for quality work I find it paints better on the edges

[@GosforthHandyman]

I've tried both extensively and for this sort of thing I've found there's zero difference to the final finish - although the quality of MDF can be very variable. 👍

[@danieldibiaso9342]

Good video. Why didn’t you remove the vacuum attachment from the riving knife since you weren’t using it and it was moving the knife? Won’t you have a visible seam at the junction of the top and bottom pieces. I have seen other videos where they beveled the top piece to hide the top seams.

[@GosforthHandyman]

You'll see on the next vid - you'll not see the joins. 👍

[@glennspray1711]

Hi Andy , great video and lots of useful instructions on how to achieve a great 45 angle cut (love the creep up on it technique, that's where I always have gone wrong in the past!). Just two quick questions if you could find the time to answer please. 1. I am building a mdf light box tower and the inside measurement is 110mm square , am I correct that the OD would be 110 + two times the thickness of the mdf (so 147mm in this case) to give me enough MDF cut at 45 to give me a finished square ID of 110mm ?. 2. when is the next measuring up podcast coming out as I am missing my fix. Keep up the great work and videos , and thanks for all your time and advice it has been a great learning help to me and i am sure many others. Best Regards Glenn

[@GosforthHandyman]

Cheers Glenn! 1. Yup! (and don't rely on the thickness being accurate) 2. This coming Monday - it's a long one too! 👍😀

[@glennspray1711]

@@GosforthHandyman Thanks for the quick reply Andy , good news about the Podcast longer the better ! , thanks for the confirmation on the question . Keep up the great work and videos. All the best Glenn

[@les5074]

Why didn't you remove the guard because it wasn't really doing anything anyway.

[@george7844]

Would a lock mitre bit make easier and a little safer I have one but not tried it yet ! If anyone has let us know

[@GosforthHandyman]

On my shopping list! 👍

[@tentonhammer5469]

was that quarashi in the intro. so weird was listening to them today. Top man enjoy you're videos.

[@GosforthHandyman]

It's BirdBrainz by Otis McDonald... although not sure what the sample is from! Just had a listen to Quarashi - good stuff! 👍

[@GillesGilles]

Hello GF ; please, what kind of nail (size/lenght) do you use for that kind of meticulous work ? Thank you.

[@GosforthHandyman]

Gilles Gilles cheers! Link in vid description 👍

[@GillesGilles]

Fine ; I forgot to open the list of characters ; thank you ; nice work, pleasant to be watched.

[@normanbott]

Nice one Andy - looking forward to the finishing. I looked up table saw safety on the Govt H& S E site a few months back. Regarding angled cuts and tilting the blade towards the fence ( which we don't like) , in the PDF ' www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/wis16.pdf. ' guess what fig. 2(b) shows. ? Admittedly it suggests a shallow fence for angled and rip cuts, but like you I wouldn't do it. They do show a big , complex overhead crown guard setup that allows for angled cuts, of course all for a production shop. I suppose you could rig an overhead support for the crown guard just to take it's weight ? Like Hunders I'd take it off temporarily and use a different push stick, but that's an experience thing. I did my apprenticeship around metalworking machinery without guards ! Survived without incident due to good training.

[@GosforthHandyman]

Ha ha - interesting! That looks really dangerous - especially with the low fence! Lordy... 😂

[@Andy-te6jj]

why you did not make a bevel cut on all four sides would be easier to assemble it after I know it's a bit tricky

[@GosforthHandyman]

Sometimes do but not needed for these ones. Takes a lot longer doing it that way. 👍

[@aalever]

Seems that an air gun to drive the pins in is pretty pivotal to getting it dead on, but I don't have one of those :/

[@sgthughes]

I think your problem lies with the blade guard, as it doesn’t seem that you are using it you could remove it and it should solve your problem with the knife.

[@GosforthHandyman]

sgthughes will be doing a follow up on this 👍

[@v.michelle1006]

Can you ship these?

[@peterfitzpatrick7032]

I thought the riving knife is only for "real" wood which can pinch the blade after stresses are released... I' ve never seen mdf close up... 😕

[@GosforthHandyman]

The riving knife helps to prevent kick-back with any type of wood. 👍

[@davet0001]

I’m no expert, but isn’t it dangerous to cut timber with a table saw when its width is greater than its length without a cross cut sled (wrt kickback)? See 13:34. I enjoy your videos.

[@GosforthHandyman]

It's square so all fine - if it was wider than it was long on the cut side you'd have to be very careful though. 👍

[@robthewaywardwoodworker9956]

Just one question: what's a blade guard? I'm kidding of course. Please don't send hateful comments. LOL

[@GosforthHandyman]

Wayward Woodworker 😂

[@benmaltas4923]

When’s the painting video coming

[@Andy-te6jj]

1:24

[@GosforthHandyman]

Next 1-2 weeks. Soon. 👍

[@myshowaestheticcash4120]

Hi do you sell these plinths

[@panagiotispantazopoulos6141]

Too much talking not enough doing.