The Woodshop Shed

Where is everyone?

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)


Good grief, is no one doing anything in their shops these days, or just too lazy to share it? it's getting depressing to log in and see nothing new for days.

John

Read more here

Comments:
0 comments, click here to add the first

Reloading Bench

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)


During the Covid days, I took a sit-stand desk from the office and set up a little reloading table in my basement so I could reload in between, and sometimes during, Zoom calls and interminable meetings. It worked well enough for those purposes, but it started getting pretty crowded and I wanted something with a bit more real estate that wouldn't rock like crazy when my 60# roll sizer was doing it's thing.



I figured I'd build something resembling a traditional workbench, but modified for my purposes. It also had to be something I could carry down my narrow basement steps and make a hard right turn against the landing at the bottom. I didn't want to spend a ton of money, and I figured it could be an opportunity to get some hand tool practice in.




We were in a lumber shortage when I started this, so I spent $500 on construction-grade doug fir that was so wet it might as well have come in a tupperware bin to keep it from dripping everywhere. I also quickly learned that Doug Fir is not a fun or forgiving wood in which to use hand tools. I bashed out a total of 20 mortises by hand for the table legs, and while my mortising skills did increase somewhat by the end of it, my desire to purchase a mortise machine increased substantially more.






I also used a set of new-to-me saws from Bad Axe to cut half of my tenons. Then I decided I didn't want to spend an eternity doing that, and cut the other half with a dado blade on the table saw. I saved the most time when I found a cast-off piece of 12' T&G siding in the clearance bin at Home Depot for $5, and figured it would make a pretty enough shelf. I started out with the intent to make a bunch of through dove-tail traditional drawers, but in the interest of time, cost, and sanity, I also just knocked the drawers out of birch ply and Dominos. I wanted a user more than a work of art.



I will likely build an under-bench cabinet one of these days, and probably a hutch. But possibly not in this lifetime if it takes me as long as it did to finish this bench. My biggest mistake was making the top just useful enough that completing the rest of it always got put off for greater priorities. I set it up on a pair of sawhorses in my basement, and then the Marshall fire happened and it kept me gainfully and excessively employed for the next three years. So when I would get a little bit of time, I wanted to reload on it rather than get around to finishing the base. With family coming to visit this year, I took three days off of work specifically to finish it.








This is the longest tail to a project I've ever had, mostly because 60% of it spent two years under a tarp and a pile of Rubbermaid bins in my garage. I am also not terribly satisfied with the glossy finish on the base. But otherwise, it is a stable and rock-solid platform in which to reload, and it will likely come with the house whenever I sell it.

Read more here

Comments:
0 comments, click here to add the first

Shop Notes, sadly the end has come.

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)


Sad to see SHOP NOTES is ceasing publication of their digital magazine. I've enjoyed the mag since it first started. Afraid this is just one more hobby slowly fading away. Thanks for the great articles over the many years.

Read more here

Comments:
0 comments, click here to add the first

Dust mask needed

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)


Colleagues: need some recommendation for an effective dust mask. I run an Onida cyclone with ceiling mounted ducting and blast gates for table saw, jointer, planer,etc. Miter saw is moved outside to cut. Fe$tool vacuum for hand held sanders.

Tried various paper type with elastic band/bands to hold mask in place. Find them uncomfortable and ineffective. I wear glasses and behind the ear hearing aids as well as having a close-trimmed beard. Tried the replaceable canister type mask. Found it to be heavy and with the same problems as the paper mask.

Looked on various tool websites and I have no idea as to would work. TREND TOOLS has a combined face shield/dust mask that filters the air via a battery-operated filtration system. Not exactly inexpensive, but if it works.... My concerns are the weight, when wearing does it feel bulky, is it really effective. See:
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/too...ace-shield
Appreciate any help.

Read more here

Comments:
0 comments, click here to add the first

Fix chip-outs in floor

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)


All,

I'm working on a bathroom renovation and need some wood related advise for the floor just outside the bathroom. The maple floor (with an aluminum oxide finish, I believe) was installed about a year ago, and the installers nicely back beveled the boards so they could fit tight against the old marble threshold. When removing that threshold, some residue on the sides of it caught on the thin edge of the wood flooring and chipped it up, in some spots fairly significantly.

I saved the chipped pieces with the thought of gluing them back in place, but due to a series of unfortunate events, they got thrown out.

So, what would you do to fix this? My only thought is to cut the boards back a bit, which is difficult in their installed position. But from an aesthetic standpoint, there's room to do so, as the wood comes pretty far into the door opening. I think I could safely remove 1" (or more), which would leave a 2.5" wide threshold (current gap between wood and tile is 1.5"). I know some people like the threshold to only sit below the door, but I don't know that I care a lot, as long as it stays within the width of the door frame.

The only possibilities I've come up with:

1. Use (sharp) chisels and a guide board (which I have no way of clamping down) to pare the floor boards back about an inch. This seems like it would take quite a while. If doing this, I would hope that I could score the boards first with a marking gage (might not go through the finish) or utility knife.
   
2. Use a palm router and a guide board to essentially do the same thing. That would mean a flush trimrouter bit with a bearing. Istill can't clamp down the guide board, but I can sit on top of it for this shorter duration. And the router can't get all the way to the edges, so there'd still be some clean up with chisels.
   

Comments:
0 comments, click here to add the first

Plywood and Humidity

Furnished content.
(from WoodNet.net)


I'm making drawer boxes from 5/8 Baltic Birch. A few days ago, I cut the dados and rabbits in the sides. The 1/4 tongues fit nicely in the dados. I went to assemble the boxes today, and the tongues are all too thick to fit into the dados. It is much more humid today than it was when I cut the tongues and dados, but I thought plywood was pretty stable. Any ideas what happened? Am I just really bad at this?

Should I fix it now, or wait until the weather changes and the humidor goes away.

Read more here

Comments:
0 comments, click here to add the first