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slides around on the move and it takes up a lot of space i decided to come up with something different scratching my head i noticed something about my bench when it s turned over there are two compartments that are about a foot square each i decided to make two boxes that would fit in them so they would be secured in transit and conserve space dividing the tools up would make the boxes easier to handle and as often happens i came up with a crazy idea what if i made the tops of the boxes a shooting board and a bench hook i have been carrying them anyway so this would let them do double duty and save space here s what i came up with each box contains a top tray and space for larger tools in the bottom they aren t big enough for saws so i made a separate till for them everything together is quite compact i consider this what auto designers call a development mule and with 20 20 hindsight would do some things differently but they seem like a step forward and i look forward to getting some experience with them posted by andy at 2 03 pm 4 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday february 19 2019 power tools for mostly hand tool shops a drill press table i recently posted about the three power tools i would want even if my shop were small one of those is a drill press and the post got me to thinking about an improved drill press table i made one years ago that was serviceable but it had numerous deficiencies here is what i have come up with yes it is underwhelming but a lot of design effort went into it to get the dimensions just right there are so many points of adjustment on a drill press table that i learned the hard way it s important to make them easily and conveniently accessible in addition you need to be able to lift the table off at times i also found that i wanted the table to be quite wide these considerations are what drove these dimensions the shelves and the brace across the front enhance rigidity and provide a convenient place for accessories that i want to keep at hand like hold downs and bits another thing i did was extend the t track beyond the rear of the table this allows the fence stops to sit behind the table you need access to the crank that raises and lowers the table but you also want as much distance between the chuck and the fence for wide work pieces as you can get finally i made a long fence with an embedded t track this is convenient for side stops the fence is not attached to the back stops so they can be angled and the fence can be moved to one side or the other in the past i found that the torque generated by some operations moved the fence my way around this is to have the two back stops and to clamp the fence to the table as well if i am doing something that will generate substantial torque this is a very simple design but i am extremely happy with it posted by andy at 7 07 pm 3 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday february 11 2019 a comfortable shop in winter compared to many areas our winter temperatures in portland are quite mild highs averaging in the mid forties during the day with lows in the mid thirties at night but i still struggle to be comfortable in my garage workshop at this time of the year the cold air return comes through the garage which keeps it about 10 degrees warmer than the outside temperature but this is still too cold to be comfortable it s a three car garage that never sees a car which makes space heating difficult and expensive most of my time is spent around my bench and i have thought about enclosing this space but the layout of the garage isn t suitable for this what to do for some years i have been eyeing this quartz radiant heater from lee valley they say it is a top of the line commercial product and its price of 319 reflects that i decided to give it a try and the results have far exceeded my expectations i bought the smaller one because it has the same output and has an eight by ten footprint just right for my bench and surrounding area here are pictures of the unit and its footprint with the lights turned off to show its coverage it s only 15 1 2 by 4 and it does cover the area claimed you can mount it safely as i have because the heat is radiant and directionalized it s mounted high because it is best not to look directly into it i tend to work from the opposite side of the bench and it feels like standing in the sun it s hard to believe but i am comfortable working in the shop when the ambient temperature is forty degrees i think it s because the benchtop is warm the tools are warm and my hands are warm it s also a really good environment for glue ups i also like the fact that when it gets up to the high forties i can open the garage door and work in natural light right now i am doing some carpentry projects and this is a great feature it s too early to tell how durable it is but i am really happy with this heater posted by andy at 9 59 am 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday february 4 2019 more boxes i have made no secret of my disinterest in making dovetailed boxes but as luck would have it my two granddaughters were here for the holidays and asked me to make them each a box how are you going to turn down 5 and 7 year old little girls so reluctantly i made two cherry boxes with sliding lids nothing to see here except my wife had an idea why not use scrabble pieces to put their names on the lids i liked it and that s what i did sticking them in place with epoxy for whatever reason i decided to make a couple of larger shop boxes from some bigleaf maple scraps for something i ll write about later the world doesn t need another blog post about making boxes but there is one aspect that may be of interest here they are under construction to escape the clouds and cold rain in portland we spent a week at morro bay in southern california the weather was absolutely fantastic near 70 each day after hours at the beach and riding my bike i came back to our campsite for some woodworking even i enjoy making boxes under these conditions posted by andy at 8 01 pm 4 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday january 2 2019 some tools there are some tools in my shop that i haven t shown or talked about but that i really appreciate in part for their quality and in part for the story behind them the first one is a starrett 2 no 20 square this tiny square is so handy that i use it daily it s great when dovetailing jointing edges and a host of other tasks it belonged to my father in law and while i have treasured it i didn t realize what a precision tool it is accurate to 0001 per 6 and made of hardened tool steel there is a story about the next two tools i was driving somewhere when i passed a garage sale and noticed there were a lot of tools in the open garage so i stopped there were two machinist s tools that i was admiring when the seller came up to me and told me i needed them asking if the prices were reasonable i said yes and that they were great tools but that i am not a machinist and would have limited use for them he said his father in law would have wanted them to go to someone who liked them and he would take 30 sometimes rarely it pays to be nice the first is this helios vernier caliper which is very well made i have a dial caliper but i really don t like it and use it rarely sometimes you don t know you want a tool until you have it i have found this one to be a great tool that i use everyday it has simultaneous fractional and decimal scales and is surprisingly precise more than enough for woodworking this and the little square live in my apron the second tool was a starrett no 230 micrometer that is essentially nos complete with the original invoice and packaging i really have little use for this but i am amazed at its quality and precision i will maybe use it to measure the set on saw teeth but i can t think of any other use i have for it nevertheless i really like it and am very glad to have it these vintage tools from a bygone era whether for machinists or woodworkers are wonders posted by andy at 6 47 pm 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest thursday december 27 2018 chinese stools two years ago i made some saddle stools which have turned out to be very satisfactory in use they are comfortable sturdy and durable it s a classic american design at least that is what i thought the other day a friend invited me to lunch in the tea room at the portland chinese garden when we went to our table i was surprised to see this when the waitress saw me taking a picture of it she told us that it has been in continuous use for 100 years i believe that it was made in china like almost everything in the garden it has 12 through mortises which probably explains why the curved legs have held up so well it has a heavy finish so i can t tell if the legs are steam bent but i don t think so this may be a future project although i think i will add a curve to the outer edges of the seat similar to the seats on the ones i made posted by andy at 9 42 am 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday december 18 2018 woodworking in a small space i often think about woodworking in a small space in part because i am older and think that at some point i may be forced to downsize from my three car garage i also think about it because my sons like many other younger people live in major metropolitan areas in unbelievably expensive houses with one car garages one of the great strengths of hand tool woodworking is that it works so well in these circumstances woodworking in a small space certainly works best if it is centered on hand tools i definitely think that a moravian portable workbench is the way to go it is the consummate design if portability and compact storability are priorities and right up there even if they aren t i am also a big fan of tool chests particularly in shops that aren t climate controlled i like to reserve wall space for shelves and windows the bench and chest would store away easily and quickly in an extremely small area the problem with a hand tool only workshop as far as i am concerned is that it requires laborious and tedious manual stock preparation that i don t want to do mainly because i am lazy and impatient specifically i avoid long rip cuts resawing and planing to thickness by hand i reject the assertion by some prominent woodworkers that relying on machines for these operations numbs the mind and destroys the soul i want machines to do this work for me and think of them as mechanical apprentices if you like to do these things by hand my hat is off to you i don t what big power tools would i not live without if at all possible even in a very limited space three in order of importance a very high quality bandsaw i had a mediocre one from a major manufacturer that i rarely used then i sold it and my tablesaw and got a good one that i use a whole lot it is just so incredibly versatile it s quite safe and it takes up only about 4 square feet of floor space if i had just one big power tool this would definitely be it i think it s worth it to spend the money to get a really good one if you can 3 hp excellent guides close tolerances rigid yes one like this is expensive but it is a lifetime tool a good lunchbox planer yes you can plane everything by hand but i don t want to and buying lumber planed to the right thickness is far too limiting it isn t absolutely essential because you could resaw with the bandsaw and then finish plane without too much trouble but i d still like to have one mount it on a cabinet and you have room for storage below a lunchbox planer is good enough a basic drill press i could definitely do without a drill press but i really like it and find it handy for a lot of things they take up very little floor space doesn t have to be real big or real good a benchtop one mounted on a cabinet that housed the planer below would be fine these three tools on mobile bases would store in a dozen square feet of floor space just think about how extremely compact this entire highly capable workshop would be when not in use two feet in front of the back wall of a one car garage would do it for the bench the chest and the power tools i could be quite content in a workshop like this i wouldn t even need the planer and the drill press but i would be very reluctant to give up the bandsaw it s true that the hand tools and these three power tools add up to a fair amount of money and the hand tools should come first all of them together cost a lot less than many people spend on other hobbies i could still have fun with only the hand tools i find this very encouraging hobby woodworking is in decline in part because people have limited space and the skills aren t taught in schools anymore make it as easy as possible posted by andy at 1 02 pm 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday december 12 2018 the completed windmill yet another tangent with the propeller finished i made a very basic windmill to attach it to and accommodate a vane to point it into the wind it felt like something was missing but the moving scenes of whirligigs don t appeal to me so i cast about for something different yes another dubious brainstorm walking up the sidewalk one night i noticed the solar powered lights along it aha i cut off the stem and attached it to the middle of the windmill at the balance point so the weight wouldn t matter i really like it the light shines through the blades and looks like a beacon people seem to believe that it is powered by the windmill an illusion i like it is 7 in the air at the front of my driveway so it really stands out i am hoping that white oak with several coats of spar varnish will hold up to all the rain we have here so how does it perform pretty well could be better the bronze bearings and thrust washers work very well offering minimal resistance the blades are rectangular and a more aerodynamic shape would be better the main thing though is that i made the blades quite narrow for aesthetic reasons compare them to the blades on the lawn ornament i have that turns so well they have much more surface area looks like about double i think this is the major issue i like the looks of the narrow blades so well that i am willing to put up with it posted by andy at 7 40 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday december 4 2018 windmills v 2 dissatisfied with my first effort to create a wooden windmill propeller because it took a strong wind to get it turning and was clunky i decided to do some research and i learned two things for a windmill apparently the shape of the blade isn t all that critical because the main benefit of an efficient airfoil is reduced drag for a given amount of lift long st...