Dowel Plate from Lee Nielsen

   About ten years ago Lie Nielsen's travelling road show came to a local wood working supplier and I went along to see their outstanding product line.  At the time I was just beginning to set up my shop and didn't have the money to buy what I needed at the premium quality level.  However I wanted to support the local effort and hoped that it would be successful enough that Lie Nielsen would visit again in a couple of years.  

  Moral support is nice but financial support is nicer.  I bought two things at the show. I bought this dowel plate what was expensive though not as much as now.  Also Canadian money was at a better exchange rate in those days. 

  I use the dowel plate fairly often.  I keep my chop sticks from restaurant meals and use the dowel plate to make 3/16 dowels.  The bamboo chop sticks make really strong dowels. Recently I have made 24, 1 1/2 inch 3/16 dowels for the wooden train planter project.  The hopper car is finished and the coal tender is nearly done too.  I began the steam engine today by cutting wheels and gluing up the base plate.  

 

  The other thing I bought was a plane makers float. It hardly even gets used.  I have quite a few good files and rasps and this one doesn't fill a special need, at this time.   I am still glad I bought it, I hope that someone else will take on the responsibility of inviting Lee Nielsen back to Ontario for a show.

cheers ianw

Chirp Magazine - Storage Bins

 Kieran has a subscription to Chirp Magazine  and as with all magazines storage is a pain.  I have made book ends for Kieran's books and now I am making magazine bins for his magazines.

 Making things like magazine file bins is always a scrap bin job.  I seem to have a pretty good supply of 1/8 Lauan and 1/2. If you were to buy material and get as over blown as Ikea does, the bins would get so they were not cost effective. However having a shop means that you can be cost effective.

  A home work shop is one of those things that is half toy land and half work space. Once I acquired a few tools I began making things and over time wood became a dominating texture in our home. At this point I seem to always look at something and wonder weather I can make it out of wood, especially when I see something made from plastic. 

  The bicycle carrier boxes are a case in point.  As soon as I saw people with plastic milk crates strapped to their bike racks I knew that wood was a better option.  

 If you are going to have a work space workshop not just a toy land you need to have some basic tools at hand.  In my shop I have a selection of sand paper, 80, 120, 220, 320, 500 grit in sheets and in 5 hole hook and loop and an abrasive cleaning stick. I also keep a few bits of steel wool around, it smooths a shellac finish better than anything else I have found.

  Another thing that I keep is stock is throw away paint brushes, both with bristles and made from foam. I can then slap a quick coat of some sort of paint onto a project and clean up is a snap. The exception to that rule is shellac brushes. I have brushes in four sizes and they are clearly marked by having their handles painted bright green, or wrapped in green painters tape. I use green tape for labelling and for masking.

 Since I am thrifty I also have a jar filled with chop sticks that I have brought home from restaurants.  I use chop sticks to mix glue. I sharpen the tip to a very fine point and use it to clean glue out of cracks.  I have driven chop sticks through my dowel plate and made custom dowels for projects. I even hammered the end of a chop stick into a sort of brush to spread glue. 

  These are some of the tools at hand that I keep in my shop.