I am thinking, as I work more and more at my workbench (see Updated Shop Tour for pictures), that I will have to build one myself. I am figuring out that certain vices function differently and that I may need to apply different ones to my preferred bench. This picture is close to what I [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Shop Projects’
Updated Shop Tour – Detailed
Since well before Christmas, I’ve been working on a background project. Making my work areas more efficient. In the couple of little projects that I’ve done since this Summer, I’ve realized that a few things needed to be moved to a better location. Here is the results:
Main Workbench:
Rather than building a bench from scratch, I [...]
Finished – Shooting Board and Bench Hook
OK, after my initial hick up. I’ve created 2 shooting boards. The first is a 90 degree shooting board. This is probably the one that I will need the most often. Notice the high fence and the runners that the hand planes can ride.
I also created one type of 45 degree miter shooting board. I [...]
Bench hook vs Shooting board
OK, in my previous post on Shooting board, I said I was putting runners for the hand plane to ride against. That worked well.
My issue came when my plans called for me to lower the fence on the shooting board. The reason for this idea was to combine the notion of a bench hook with [...]
Shooting boards
A shooting board is simple and I have 2 standard boards and 1 miter shooting board. In using them recently, I discovered that running the hand plane (I use my jointer plane) against the board and on my bench, mars up my bench severely. This is unacceptable as I don’t want to have to resurface [...]
Last days of summer
I haven’t been in the shop much over the last 2 weeks. We are in the last days of summer and the kids will be going back to school next week.
My one exception is that I got a few minutes over a few days to put the final finish onto the handcut dovetail hopechest and [...]
New Project – Hanging Tool Cabinet
As I mentioned in several earlier post, I needed to build a tool cabinet to hold my hand tools for easy access. Some secondary purposes including making some hand cut dovetails and use up some of the left over plywood that I had (yes, the tool cabinet would be better if it were solid wood [...]
How come…?
OK, I’m a strong guy.
I can wrench down any router bit so it is nearly impossible to get it out after it’s been used. So, how come I can do that but no matter how tight I make the hold downs for any fences on the router, they eventually slip and screw up my project? [...]
New Project – Saw Bench
As I mentioned in my previous post about Shop Changes, I decided to build 2 saw benches. Well, my first one is done.
It’ turned out well. I had a tough time with the mortise and tenons but expect it was due to the very wet wood (the cost of going for the cheap wood) It’s [...]
Shop Changes – Part 1
As I stated in an early post, I have gotten rid of my Table Saw. I not going full neander (courtesy of Old Woodies: Neander is a euphemism for old style woodworkers, Normite describes the modern power tool enthusiast.) as I expect to intermingle power tools among hand tools. For instance, I expect to use [...]
Past Projects – Shop Cabinets
With my potential changes to my shop coming up, I’m looking around the shop to see what I may need to do. In the mean time though, let’s take a few minutes and look at some of the shop cabinets that I’ve already built and am still using.
The first to talk about is a lower [...]
Update – Sharpening Station
After using the Sharpening Station for a bit, I’m still working on technique (see previous post on Sharpening Technique) but I’ve also done some changes to hopefully optimize the techniques as I improve and perfect them.
Here is an outline of my process as it stands:
Flatten back of stone using sand paper on granite slab (middle [...]
Sharpening Station
So, as I mentioned previously, I needed a permanent sharpening station. Given my shop size (about 16′ x 12′), I didn’t really have the room inside the shop so I created one in the garage.
As you can see, it’s a hanging bench which still allows my cars to fit in the garage when I’m not [...]
Back to Projects
It’s amazing how life gets in the way of hobbies. We had some landscape work done (yes, I guess I could do it but I really don’t like gardening) and there have been many other life projects such as wiring for ethernet for a couple of locations in my house. All of it seems to [...]
Sharpening Goals
Well, after taking the sharpening class (see previous post), I have decided that the truest pearl of wisdom that I received from the instructor, Jeff Zens was:
When we build or create something as woodworkers, we plan and hope that the results will last forever. Unfortunately, when we sharpen a tool (plane iron, chisel), we expect [...]
