I normally work a 40 hour job, and 20 hours a week in the shop. Over the past 10 days I probably put in 70 hours plus my job.

In this time I built 8 one step step stools and five 3 step step stools. By the time of the big sale day I was way under stocked and knew I was in trouble. But my hope was to at least get my booth money back. My wife and son helped me at the sale sight. I have to admit that it was a great sale for those who were properly prepared, and then there was my sad empty booth….But I handed out tons of brochures promoting my work and the big success will probably come about in future sales.

A word about pet mania:

The above picture is of a classic Shaker Style Step Stool, it is not steps for helping the dog get on the sofa. As I recieved plenty of praise for the workman ship and I recieved it well. But some of the drive buys were making me crazy….”Oh how nice, it”s on of those steps to help your dog get on the bed…sofa…RV…..”

In the future I hope to do more craft fairs being a little more prepared and having more variety of product, and of course quantity. My vendor neighbors were great and I had a oppertunity to meet with some local wood workers and talk a little shop and I enjoyed that immensely. But I was also zoned out from over work and it was hard to keep a high energy level for the whole event. I will share a couple of my favorites items that I will sell on line.

In the end it all went to a good cause. We donated a Step Stool to the silent auction and our booth fees went towards the Student Leader Scolarship fund.

Lumber Jocks, has been a great influence on my work, and I am compelled to believe that the sharing of your knowledge….reviews of tools, blogs of wood working techniques, and tutorials, and personal advice thru pm’s have contributed greatly to my small moment of fame.
My Mother thanks you….My wife thanks you…....My Son thanks you…..and I thank you!!!!

Special thanks to Sheila!!!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170834151399

I am in no way affiliated with the seller, just looks like the oppertunity for a great buy at a low price.

REMEMBER DON’T DRIVE UP THE PRICE JUST PUT YOUR HIGH BID IN AT THE LAST MINUTE!!!!

Jim Bertelson, for RAS dust collection: http://lumberjocks.com/jbertelson/blog/series/1982
SEE Part 14 of Tips and Jigs for the Shop

David Patron, has built a great RAS table with fold down wings: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/21465

David Patron, has also built a great RAS Dado cutting Jig: http://lumberjocks.com/patron/blog/11083

Lenny, has a great Fathers and Sons, Cupolas and Such blog using his RAS for a cupola build:

So I am still progressing and looking at all the Great Ideas everyone has.

Please add any useful Jigs and hints for the RAS here. I’d like to see all there is out there!!!!

I don’t like the word scam…but every woodworkers magazine I have subscribed to in the last 7 years uses techniques that lead me to believe that my subscription will come to an end in 30 days or less…It’s a bunch of crap, I hope you’ll let them know that.

I had chosen the Grizzly 458 because the machines had weight and birth. I figured that Grizzly’s construction was more rigid due to weight and the stationary drum. Also, Grizzly has a cult like following, many LJ’s have a lot of good things to say about the company so go with the flow!!!

Moving it is a hellofatask for a basement shop, Crated the weight was 328 lbs, and uncreated it is 199 lbs. but from truck to workspace it only took 30 minutes with a friend. The sander comes complete all you have to do is throw the legs on and the dust port and crank handle. The drum sander has an impeller built into the dust collection port that acts as a blower for the dust collection. For me that is a big plus because I use a simple wet vac for dust collection. Also the port accepts a 2 1/2” adapter which is standard for the vac. It also came with a 4” port for
a standard dust collection system.

Happy as a lark I began to rough sand a step stool side, normally it would take me 20 minutes to rough sand the glue joints with a orbital sander…but in half the time or less my drum sander did the job…HAPPY DANCE TIME!!!

The picture on the left rough sanded all the glue off, on the right you can see the seam a bit.

I grabbed a piece of 3/4” 2×4 from my wood pile, put some wheels on the bottom so I can wheel the sander in and out of my work area. Works really good and cost under $ 20.00 bucks to build.

I’d like to thank Greg Wurst, for his review on the sander, and A-1 Jim, for his help and suggestions. Also, all
you LJ’s who have give reviews-advice-and techniques on how to use the drum sander. This has been a great day
for me and many of you have contributed to my knowledge base making my first day with the sander a great day!!!
Thanks!!!! :) :) :)

Every wood worker wants reliable tools to work with. Not every craftsman tool has been that for me, even
with the failures I have gleaned a little bit of usefulness. My craftsman jig saw at best can rough cut holes, but I know it is way past time to replace it, the most disturbing thing about this jig saw is that it doesn’t blow the dust off the cut line. 3 seconds into the cut and your pencil line is buried under a heap of dust.

As a start up shop price is always important. Craftsman tools always has scratch and dent, 50% off, and sales with the proverbial incentive to buy. With few exceptions, no matter who I buy from I always look for these deals.
Craftsman tools always have some good price going on. Today I was working on book cases that I’m building
for a guy, my biscuit joiner I bought from Sears 4 years ago at 50% off. What’s a biscuit jointer but
a miniature circular saw blade. I paid 65 bucks for it and it works great.

the biscuit jointer was an outstanding purchase and has paid for itself in time and in need!!!!

I needed the ability to cut shapes, and on a very rare occasion maybe re saw. I purchased this band saw with 7” re saw capability for under $300.00 bucks tax included.

Over this past 4 years of ownership, the saw has only needed a switch replaced on it. I bought the new switch from sears on line and it was delivered within 5-7 days. I have dozens of hours on this saw, and use it very often. The largest re saw it ever did was 5” max, but I bought it mostly for quick cuts and cutting shapes and even with the craftsman blade it has given me exceptional results when you considered what I paid for it.

Many new wood workers have to live with the fact of there budget will only allow so much. But the ability to add new tooling and increase productivity is still central to their work. I have 19 volt drills, sanders, circular saws, clamps, strait edges, and routers, all craftsman that work as good or better than I hoped or expected.

Craftsman, Harbor Freight, and the big box stores, have given a lot of options to the wood working community. Without them there may not have ever been a Lumber Jocks Web site. These are places you can buy your tools, and if they don’t work you can get your money back now!!! If they do work you can create and grow your skills in wood working. I am not very fond of the term Crapsman, because I feel they
have brought so many good tools to the woodworking community. I consider Sears and the other stores as a building block for working yourself up to better more high quality tools in the future. And with many of the craftsman tools I own, I find no reason to upgrade or change what I have.

To say the least, this was the start of an adventure. I don’t like adventures, wet cold nasty things…They make
you late for dinner. No, I’m sorry but I wasn’t looking for any adventures thank you. But there I was thrust in
the middle of one anyway.

It was the words of the great philosopher Bluto, that gave me strength, courage, and determination to endure
the unthinkable…”Don’t get mad, get even!!!!” With that said, I would start on a adventure. So off I went to
the eye of Sauron Apartments to deliver a 30 day quit notice…It went sorta like this:

NO LITTLE WOOD WORKERS for this video

So now the adventure has begun. First on the list was to find a new home /shop in the cold frigid days
of January. My wife and I, braved the outdoors and went to our first appointment….Beautiful palace like
and cheap…No place for my shop equipment. A great shadow of sadness and disappointment befell me,
I cried that night…Will not this torture end???? As I left, I slipped and fell into a muddy snow bank, eerrr,
I hate adventures!!!

Sometimes, when we are at our lowest point, a great light will grow within us, and we will ARISE TO THE
OCCASION!!!! Not me, I had hemorrhoids, and mud in the crack of my butt. It wernt a pretty sight….The
Shadow was growing, the EYE upon me laughing, “you’ll not be leaving, we forsake you…” Where were the
elves???? I have suffered 15 days with no wood working, Sauron, smirked and enjoyed my great despair.

It was the morning of the 25th day of the year, 2011, that brought great joy to my heart, I met a man named
Dan, probably one of those Rangers, who introduced me to my new work shop lair. Yes !!! The shadow in
the East was becoming less, the EVIL ONE, was now fading and I had a new work shop!!!! The adventure
was ending and I was glad of it….

I was sad to leave my old work shop THE MINES OF MORIA, many cool projects were built there. But it was
now time to say goodbye to my first ever wood shop….

Now, I have a much smaller living space….BUUTTT (no mud in this crack), 300 more square foot of work shop!!!
Lorien, my new space is about 700 square feet minus my wifes space for the washer/dryer. Our living space decreased by about 300 square feet. We now have a huge yard, good size shop, cramped living quarters which
I will probably start a blog for making small spaces work….

Today was my first working day in the shop since about January 6th. I can’t tell you how good it feels after
so long with out it. This is a picture of the finishing area:

This picture is a little parking area for the Jointer, planer, and sander.

I paid an electrician to come in and wire the shop up with plenty of out lets against my main working wall. I have
more outlets in the shop than we have in the living room kitchen combined!!!

The shop is nowhere near complete, but it is a very efficient area to work in. The floor is level enough where
I can roll tools in and out as needed. So for large projects I should be able to move things around where everything will work.

Now all is right with the world!!!!!

This adventure is over, and I’m sad to see the old shop gone, but now I will have to rebuild all new furniture to fit in a much smaller space. The new shop will keep me busy throughout the summer and then some with new projects. It is a fact that we must constantly change and be willing to meet new circumstances in our lives.

The Rigid TS 3650 – Delta- And other saws. The great thing is that it stops the blade without

wrecking it. Still in the devlopment stage- but I think this will be what table saws look like in

the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ltFuEKCnM4

the past 6 years, John and his freind Desmond will manage to kill a matress-box spring- and frame. I will

not picture the carniage…I figured to build one they can’t break (easily anyway), thinking it wasn’t that

much wood (wrong), and it would only take 2 weekends (wrong).

Their are 2 stars to this project the first being my mortise jig. The jig is a simple peice of lexan with two

adjustable boards that allow me to slide my router up and down a board to make a simple mortice.

The next is my dadoing cross cut sled, that made the tenons. The cross cut sled made it really easy to

hold a 60” board and slide it across the table saw effortlessly. The jig on the left!!!!

The dado jig also made simple work of creating a spindle spacer inserts for the head and foot board.

As you see in the next picture I simply dadoed out the center of some 6/4 stock (2 glued 3/4 pieces)

and inserted my spacer piece for the spindles.

At this point I have the dry fit to cut my spindles to length, and I will spend the next week or more

sanding and finishing before final assembaly. Lots of sanding 72 spindles, 4 pieces for the foot board

5 pieces for the headboard, and the 2 side rails.

The table saw was actually a Jet bench top table saw that sat on 4 legs. It was only a matter of weeks before I desided that the Jet saw was to light duty, and unsafe for cutting large sheets of plywood or for cross cutting wide boards. I desided that I needed a contractors saw.

The contractors saw sits in my shop today. It meets most of my needs. But after a few weeks I desided that the blade that came with the saw was not good enough. I bought a high end blade that cost 1/5 th the cost of the saw itself. Sure would be nice to have a miter saw, but I compromised by buying a miter for the table saw instead.

Weeks later I saw a 10” miter saw at a big box store for only 40 bucks. Of course I bought it! But it came with no blade, so I bought a cheap blade for the cheap miter saw. A couple weeks later I knew that I had to have a high end blade, after all the cheap saw made really nice mitered corners. By the way, are those cob webs on my table saw miter? Hummm….

Since that time it has been drills, planers, jointers, clamps, blades, more routers, router bits, clamps, drill bits, planer blades, sand paper, sanders, clamps, router tables, bicuit joiners, biscuits, clamps, kreg jig, bench sanders, mortising jig, clamps, table saw sleds, dove tail jigs, dedicated routers, clamps, sliding miter saw, soft wood screws, hard wood screws, clamps, hinges , mortising jig for hinges, dowel pin jigs, dowel pin drill bits, clamps, dado blades, sharpening stones, card scrapers, chisels, clamps, calipers, layout tools, pencils (5 cents each), bruches (10 buks each), and now I’ve desided that I need more and better hand tools. Also could use a couple of clamps.

Freinds, you have all experienced this, and I never mentioned the wood, books, magazines, or time it takes to
craft our projects and skills. You maybe a master cabinet maker like Jim1, or a weekend warrior like Michael C, but by no means have I encountered a small shop on LJ’s.