Where I Work

My first woodworking space was the furnace room in our previous house. There was a chest freezer, a water treatment set up, a furnace, a sump pump and a variety of shelves with everything for camping gear to gardening tools.  The space was not large or well lit.  Having said that, I was glad for the space and made some things that have stood the test of time.  I got my first scroll saw while in that shop.

Fifteen years ago we moved here.  The space is much larger even though I still share the space with the furnace. I brought from my old shop my work table/bench, if you search work table you can see various blogs on different aspects of building this work table.

I thought I would do a small review because I wanted to show work holding aspects of this  bench/table.

The top is 40 inches square and 1 1/2 inch thick plywood. The bench stands on two very stout legs and two heavy duty locking casters.  It is very heavy and so quite stable and the casters allow one side to be lifted and the bench to be pushed around.(with some effort).  It therefore gives me a slightly flexible work space. The structure is 3/4 plywood boxes with hardwood framing and supports. The bottom section is divided in half with 3/4 ply and the second section is turned 90 degrees from the lower one. This way there is no racking and I have two through storage sections on each level. The 1 1/2 top sits on two inch rails making the top replaceable without affecting the structure of the boxes. This is the second or third top. 

To make the bench useful I have added dog holes and Kreg Clamps. The dogs are 3/4 and I have a variety of commercial and homemade.  This lets me hold most work pieces for sawing, sanding etc.

On one corner is my "jaw horse" vise.  I don't know it the company that made my vise still exists, but there are a number of companies that make this sort of foot activated vise, usually they have their own legs. I like this one that attaches to the bench.  It can be removed without much trouble if needed.

When I am working of something smaller I can used this clamp table that aligns via dogs on the bench top.

I don't remember what I was doing that I wanted this separate work top, but I is now available for use.

When I was having particular troubles with my back I made a larger raised version to clamp onto the bench and raise my work height a further 8 inches.

This is high enough for me to sit on a shop stool and hold work close for fine repairs, or carving. I to stand without being too hunched over. Usually I clamp the raised section with C clamps.  I like C clamps, they are slow but strong.

For edge planing I set up a system to hold pipe clamps on the raised bench.

Since I have been working on, sanding, painting etc the boards for the patio bench the raised bench has been leaning in the corner of the shop.

Why my thoughts turned to my bench are two fold.  I saw an interested video about bench clamping and I am moving into another work shop soon. 

Next time I will share the video and talk about the shop.

cheers ianw

 

 

  

Inspired by the Net

   There are several woodworking sites that I follow regularly, and most days I spend sometime wandering through the World Wide Web looking at other folks' projects.  Today's blog is inspired by two videos that came to my attention recently.

  The first video is from "Zack of All Trades" .  As a lone wood worker I am always looking for new and better (also cheap) ways to hold work still for planing or drilling.  To that end I have many clamps and jigs. "Zack" had a very good instructional video that mostly stated the obvious. It was of course one of those forehead slapping moments. The video shows a very tidy way to live without a tail vise.

These are my new solutions to work holding without a tail vise.  Needless to say they get my safety red, or they'd get lost amidst all the other bits of wood.  I made a thin and a thick dog and a long thin wedge. After drilling three more dog holes in my work top my set up works well now for planing small boards.

  June 2017's blog talks about tool trays and shows a couple I made with duct tape and coffee bags.  I am still using my trays for loose bits and pieces on the bench.

  I just included this to show that a good design and project continues to be useful.

  The other project was inspired by Jimmy DiResta, a talented and versatile maker.   In this video he made a rustic band saw box.  His project inspired me to follow his lead, but on a small scale.

  I had collected some tree branches over time and let them dry in my shop.  The plan was, walking sticks, or a lathe project .... ?  Anyway I've used some of the wood to make 'band saw style boxes'.

  The box is 5 1/2 inches long and is about 3 inches in diameter. I think the wood is cherry from in front of our house. I haven't decided exactly what hinges I will use.  This is a situation where hinges need to be either hidden or....in your face.  I await fulfilling inspiration.

 cheers ianw

  

 

Jigs at Work

  I nearly always work alone in my shop and so jigs, clamps and props are an important part of my tool kit. This latest project showed how useful my shop aids are.

  

  My lap top computer had been getting slower and the keyboard has always been a pain and so once again my son-in-law came though with second hand tech, that is great for me. On my desk I have returned to a computer with a big box and a really good big screen and it connects to a pretty good sound system too. All I need to do is get used to 'Windows' again.

  Anyway I made the stand on which the screen sits in my shop.  Once again I turned to the scrap bin for the materials. The stand's height is designed for perfect viewing and it is wide enough for the mouse and keyboard to slide underneath to get out the way.  

  The is nothing special about this computer stand but it did show the use of two different shop jigs.

  Here I using my right angle jigs to hold the sides in place while the glue dries. If the wood had been thicker I could have used pocket holes and the KREG right angle clamp. I will using my KREG clamp on my next project. Since the wood was thin I used my jigs with clamps and left it overnight to dry.

  

  I cut four small brackets to support the side and put one long rib under the middle to keep the stand from sagging.

   The other jigs I used were  3/4 inch bench dogs.

To keep the dog from falling though
I cut two slots, and drilled a hole in the center.
Drilling the hole kept the dowel from splitting when I drove
in the #10 screw.

  The heads of the dogs splay out just enough to keep them from falling through, making then handy when combined with the dog holes drilled in the work surface.

  The last thing I wanted to share was from the last blog. When I cut the guide blocks I held them in my Bessey Vise.

  This little vise clamps onto my bench and is very useful for holding small objects.  

  

  I am continuing to discard un-necessary things from my working space and am happily working away on more small things.

  cheers,ianw