After I made my flip-top toolbench for my miter saw and planer, I didn’t know what to do with my old miter saw toolcart. It was a basic open cabinet with a shelf in the center, but it was sturdy and level and I didn’t want to throw it out. I also didn’t have time to turn it into anything too special.

So, I added several layers of tabletop (top layer 1” melamine) to get it the same height as my table saw, installed some wooden rails inside, and knocked together four drawers with scrap wood and pocket screws. For a three-hour project, I got me a rolling, locking table saw extension with drawers.

And those drawers turned out to be spectacular – no longer do I have push sticks and blocks, featherboards, dado blades, etc. littering around the saw; all of my TS accessories are right in the top drawer. (The rest of them are crammed with junk, until I get some time to do a reorg.)

This has turned my R4512 into a formidable setup with a flip-up rear extension (with miter slots) and two rolling extensions for side/front/whatever (they also serve as assembly tables in a pinch).

Based largely on the Shopnotes article, supporting a miter saw and a planer. I learned an important lesson in reading instructions thoroughly: I didn’t cut the slots for the side-locks or drill the holes for the axle before assembly, so I had to kludge them in later (I cut the slots with a few passes of a biscuit joiner). It’s not pretty, but it’s functional. And I no longer have to throw out my back every time I want to plane some lumber.

Started with barely S2S cedar from the Home Depot cull bin. Turned it into a cedar chest. It’s not perfect; there are flaws that drive me crazy, but I don’t think anyone but a woodworker would notice them. But all said and done, I think it’s a nice piece for about $20 in wood, $10 in hardware, and a little more than a weekend’s worth of work.

This isn’t as nice as some of the Kreg Jig boxes other LJers have made, but it’s highly functional. Kreg Jig is mounted on top with risers to provide stability for wider workpieces. The interior dividers are pretty much fully adjustable, since I cut dados at every inch of the front/back inserts. Just need to add a handle for easy transport.

I work in a section of garage and don’t have space or money for a full DC system, so I rigged up my shop-vac to do major double-duty. This system has a few components. The shop-vac itself is in an enclosed cabinet at the bottom, to muffle noise (I control it with a remote on/off switch). The shop-vac connects to a Rockler separator in a “corral” on top of the cabinet. The separator connects to a splitter, which has two blast gates. The one on the left feeds directly and is dedicated to my table saw. The one on the right feeds to a 12’ expandable hose, which I can connect to any of my bench tools or just use as a vacuum. Finally, I added a bunch of 1” dowels to the top of the cabinet to hold all of my accessories.

Built the entire thing for about $10 in scrap wood, plus the cost of the tubing, connectors, and blast gates. It’s not as good as a legit DC system, but for now it works really well.

I built this box to organize my router bits. I had one boxed set of 1/4” bits, one boxed set of 1/2” bits, and a bunch of random bits that I bought as one-offs here and there. The box has a few features that I think are pretty cool:

(1) I built it to hold three sections: the insert from my 1/4” bit set box, the insert from my 1/2” bit set box, and a custom insert for my one-offs. By reusing the inserts from my sets, I saved a ton of time and hassle.

(2) The custom insert is comprised of two sections. The top is hardboard, but it is screwed onto a hardwood base insert. This means that, as the hardboard gets dinged up, I can just unscrew it and replace it without having to cut a new base.

(3) Although the bit slots in the hardboard are 1/4” and 1/2”, the hardwood base insert actually has larger holes that I filled in with “grippy” rubber tubing (some with 1/4” inner diameter, some with 1/2” inner diameter). The tubing grips the bit nicely so they don’t rattle around or fall out. And since the hardboard holes are smaller than the tubing outer diameter, the tubing doesn’t pull out when I pull the bits out – it locks up against the hardboard.

(4) I can modify the insert as needed to hold other accessories. I drilled holes and added pegs for storing bearings and hex wrenches for guided bits, I can add some more pegs to hold extra collets (I have two routers with 1/4 and 1/2 inch collets), and I may try to consolidate and add some slots for wrenches, etc.

(5) It fits perfectly into the makeshift drawer space in my crappy homemade workbench :-).

The box itself is nothing special, just a bunch of scrap 1/2” veneered plywood with double-rabbet joinery. But it looks nice, it’s highly functional, and it keeps sawdust off my router bits.

(The last picture is from a “prototype” insert, not the actual insert used in this box. But it shows the general design.)

An early project made with cull bin scrap, this is a small pedastal table designed to hold odds and ends in the feeding area. Like my other nursery projects, I don’t think this cost more than $4 in scrap wood, and honestly for the price I think it looks pretty cool.

Also, I didn’t build that glider, but I refinished it – and that is something I never want to do again.

Another early project made with cull bin scrap – an oak bookshelf for my daughter. One of my first experiments making my own molding (cove into roman ogee), and also my first attempt at adjustable shelves. Drilled all of those holes with a hand drill (no drill press), using pegboard as a template.

This is one of the first pieces of furniture I ever made – before I even had a table saw, and made all my rip cuts with a circular saw and edge guide. Just a little end table to fit perfectly into a corner of the nursery (my daughter was born 03/06/12). Like all my early projects, this was made with scrap wood, mostly from a big box cull bin – S4S pine and veneered plywood. Also my first attempt at installing a shelf with dados.

There are things I would have done differently knowing what I know now, but all in all I’m satisfied with this as an early piece of my own design. Plus, since I made it for $5 worth of scrap my kid can beat up on it all she wants without causing me any heartache.

Because I live in a condo with a concrete garage (with gigantic individual stalls), I lack wall studs to use for lumber rack support. So I bolted 2×4s to the back of my storage cabinets and used them for horizontal lumber storage. Nothing has come crashing down on my head so far. The big wooden cabinet was my very first woodworking project, and I recently acquired an old metal cabinet which serves nicely for jig and scrap storage.

Also, having a climate-controlled underground garage shop is pretty fantastic in Minnesota winters.

Edit: the horrible-looking stains on the stepstool in the last photo are wood stain, not blood. I just realized that it looks like someone with terribly lacerated hands grabbed onto that stool.

Some small maple and walnut boxes I made for our monogrammed coasters. Made a box jointing jig for the router table the cut the fingers, left them slightly proud and cut/sanded them flush after glue-up. Also my first time making stopped dados on the router table (for the bottom).

Terrifyingly, I snapped two 1/4” router bits before deciding it was time to get some spiral upcut bits for this type of work. I’m a little surprised I have no scars to show for it.

I’m Jewish, but my family celebrates Christmas. So I made this Star of David to top our Christmas tree. One of my first projects, I hand-cut all the angles and hand-chiseled the dados for the overlapping triangles. Clearly has some faults, but since it was one of my earlier efforts I think they add to the charm.

An end table I made for my parents. Natural shaped laurel tabletop, birch legs, walnut runner/shelf.

Like many of you, I have the R4512 table saw. I built this folding outfeed table using hinged 2×4s for the struts, which rotate around dowels at the base and under the tabletop to fold up and down. The melamine tabletop has oversized miter tracks, but I left it removable to reduce wear on the back rail and allow for redesigns. Last pictures show the miter tracks.

A walnut bench I made for my parents. They have a full living and dining room set of original Nakashima furniture, so I built this to approximate his style as best I can at my current skill level.

Added some pictures showcasing their Nakashima originals as well. At least my bench blends in, and I think only fellow woodworkers would notice and disdain (rightly so) the pocket screw joinery in my piece.

One of my first “nice” big projects – an oak sideboard for our dining room. Used scrap plywood for the carcase and hardwood for the face frame and crown.