You’re back? Great! Now you see what Plan A resulted in (well, you don’t actually see it, because frankly I want to forget about it, but you know what I mean). Of course, it was probably a bit of a freak accident to some extent, the wind usually isn’t that bad around here. However, it can happen (obviously) and will probably happen again at some point. If I’m honest with myself, I had to know that eventually that thing was going to be toast. I was just hoping it wouldn’t be this soon. Anyways, it happened and I feel the need to push forward and persevere through this. I’m just stubborn like that ;)

So, I figured I need to plan accordingly. I have to potential plans, and a third plan which is a combination of the two. Let me outline them for you and I ask your opinions.

Option 1—Build an awning in place of the gazebo

Basically, this would be mounted to the brick wall, have a permanent roof, and be anchored into the concrete porch. There are pros and cons here, and here are some of the ones I identified.

Pros
1. Cheaper
2. Easier to build
3. Same footprint I’ve been planning on
4. No need for permits (I believe. I plan on checking to be sure)

Cons
1. Still small
2. Can still allow moisture on concrete porch under awning, preventing work due to climate
3. Security…more importantly, the lack there of.

Option 2—Build an actual shop

Honestly, isn’t this self explanatory? ;)

Pros
1. Secure
2. Customizeable
3. Much more room!

Cons
1. Cost
2. Well…cost is a pretty big one, isn’t it?
3. Building permits and inspections (I assume)

Option 3—Build Both!

Basically, build the awning for the time being, then build the shop down the road. Something for now, then something for later.

Pros
1. Best of both worlds. The awning can still be used for the family after the shop is built.

Cons
1. Even more expensive than building the shop by itself.

Now, there’s an additional con to each of these. I hate construction projects. But, I can’t afford to hire someone else to build this stuff for me, not in this credit crunch. I’m still trying to recover from my stupid youth, so credit isn’t really an option. The advantage to all of these options is I can buy materials as I need them and put it together that way, hence why cost is such an issue.

Still…I figure I have to seize the moment and make lemons out of lemonade, and any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.

So, now I get to drop back and punt. Hopefully this can be turned into an opportunity. Unfortunately, my tools got wet, the bookcase I’ve been working on got soaked, and now I have to wait and see what will happen. I plan on talking with the family and seeing what we can do. I want to finish the bookcase and then we can start the project of setting up shop again. This time, it’ll be something more permanent!

Needless to say, Tom isn’t happy this morning :(

To Whom It May Concern:

You don’t know me from Adam’s house cat. I’m just a fellow woodworker who makes use of various forms of safety equipment, just like you. I have safety glasses, ear muffs, and dust masks because my shop is outdoors so I can’t run dust collection ducts. I’m also a new woodworker, but perhaps I can help you out.

Plenty of woodworkers who put their videos on the net don’t wear proper safety equipment in those videos. Here at LumberJocks, we jump on…err…politely point out what is missing from the picture, sort of like “Where’s Waldo” but with safety glasses. But, perhaps there’s a solution to helping each other remember the safety equipment that folks may not have thought about.

If you go on some of the forums, Sawmill Creek as an example, and ask for advice on what table saw to buy, you’re generally told to buy the best table saw you can afford. The same for bandsaw, router, jointer, etc. And yet, for things like dust masks, hearing protection, eye protection, etc, we tend to go fairly basic. We get things that will definitely do the job, don’t get me wrong there, but perhaps we can do better.

What am I talking about?

Easy…instead of just getting safety equipment that will do the job, why not get safety equipment that’s a pleasure to use? For example, my Peltor Worktunes ear muffs. It drowns out the power tool noise just fine. But I keep finding myself leaving them on in between using the tools, because of the radio inside. I’m rocking out and not disturbing the whole neighborhood…at least not with the music. Not only that, but they’re on the next time I want to fire up.

I saw a review here on LumberJocks for a dust mask with a fan in it. It’s apparently supposed to force air through, where as regular dust masks just become clogged up. This mask’s fan has the added benefit of blowing cool air on the user’s face. Again, this creates a benefit for keeping it handy besides the safety benefits.

Yes, I understand some folks reading this may believe that the safety reasons are plenty. However, perhaps added benefits are a great idea for the rest of us ;)

11:00 AM: I finally get out to the shop. It’s a little chilly this morning, so I wait for it to warm up a bit before heading out there. I plug in the new router (Porter Cable 690 for those keeping score at home) after putting in a 3/4” bit, set up a straight edge and cut a dado to test. Sure enough, I was told right. It’s not quite enough to allow the 3/4” wood to slip in. Even some “persuasion” with my mallet wasn’t quite enough. But that’s OK though. I was prepared for this (thanks for the heads up on that one Todd) and switched out the bits, replacing it with a 1/2” straight bit and prepared to cut two passes.

I decide to run another test, just to make sure I’m doing things right. I set up my jig, clamp everything down, and make a pass. So far, so good. I adjust the jig and go to make another pass. It’s at this point that I notice that something isn’t right. I started my pass right at the pencil line. Now, I’m finding it veering to the right. Just great. My fence doesn’t seem to be square. I check it again, and it’s not. Apparently, it’s just a hair (maybe 1/16th out of square?) It’s just enough to screw things up. I go to pull the screws, thinking that I can fix this. Nope…the screws are stripped. Go me.

I try using just a straight edge. I manage to make two half inch dados instead of one 3/4” dado (although I really needed something like 13/16”).

12:00 PM: I figured out what I was doing, but by this time I was good and frustrated and went inside to get some lunch.

2:00 PM: A trip to Lowe’s. I pick up some plywood to try and make a new jig that’s illustrated in one of my books. It’s not until I get home that I realize he made the jig with a router table. I have bushings and all, but I’m still sort of stuck. I try and try to get something that will work. No such luck.

4:30 PM: After bashing my head against the wall (figuratively) and still not getting a workable jig, I call it quits. Woodworking is supposed to be enjoyable, and I’m damn sure not enjoying myself right now. I’m just glad I did everything on scrap first!

So, I get to spend this evening and tomorrow trying to figure out how to get through this little dilemma. Here are my choices as I see it:

A. Say screw it and use some other method. I happen to have a Miller Dowel set en route from Lee Valley, the product of a Christmas gift card from my wife and son. I could just clamp and drill and use the Miller dowels and call it done. Mom’s not picky about the joinery, but I’d rather stick with my original plans.

B. I could figure out some way to widen the 3/4” dado slightly, just enough for the boards to fit. I have no idea how to do this.

C. Order a 13/16” bit from Lee Valley. Of course, I’m not 100% sure that’s the right size either.

D. Figure out a new jig. I don’t have any ideas on this one either though.

E. Dance naked under the full moon and perform sacrifices to the wood gods to appease them. I think this one rules itself out, don’t you?

Honestly, I could really use some help here. Any suggestions are welcome. I have to figure something out, and frankly I’m running out of ideas.

Who am I kidding? I ran out of ideas two hours ago. :(

Personally, I’d like to take a moment and think of what 2008 has been for me. To start with, it was the first full year without my Grandmother. I miss her terribly. I don’t have a big family, so every loss hurts that much more. I had hoped to build her a piece of furniture. Unfortunately, that wasn’t meant to be. Still, since her father was a woodworker himself, I can’t help but think she would approve of the bookcase I’m building for my Mom.

Much of 2008 was spent going through her stuff and getting her old home ready for me and my family to move in. This was one of her wishes, conveyed to my Mom before she went in the hospital. We were finally able to move in just before Halloween. My grandmother didn’t throw away much in her life apparently…she still had all kinds of stuff from my grandfather who died in 1982 and my uncle who died in 2001.

However, once I was in the house, my thoughts returned to woodworking. I was able to complete a simple project of my stocking hanger and frankly I’m tickled about that. That went from concept to design to execution very quickly. It may not be as fancy as many of the projects here on LumberJocks, but it was a start. I have been able to approach the bookcase project with a lot more confidence because of it.

In 2008 I was promoted at work, with the associated pay raise. This was just a few weeks ago, while the economy was going in the toilet. So far, so good as far as jobs go.

My son was accepted into the gifted program in the local school system and has been having a blast. He has to maintain an 86 average to stay in there, but with 86 being his lowest grade this year it seems, that shouldn’t be a problem. I’m glad too, because he’s learning a lot and he doesn’t even realize it.

Also this year I had a cool PM conversation with good old T-Chisel. Frankly, I count Tommy as a friend now, despite his insistence that the Celtics are going to win it all (the smart money is on the Hawks after all ;)). His early videos annoyed me for some reason, and I thought poor things of him. But the fact of the matter is he is a skilled craftsman and his willingness to share his knowledge with no thought to profit shows his true character. Frankly, I think the reason he rubbed me wrong to start with is because he’s a lot like me :D

However, one of the great things that happened to me in 2008 was joining LumberJocks. I’ve communicated with a great many people from all over the world about the one subject that really doesn’t know national or political boundaries…wood. Thousands of projects to admire and draw inspiration from, and thousands of craftsman and artisans to learn techniques from. The wealth of information available is second to none in my opinion. This is what Facebook and MySpace pretend to be. They think of themselves as social networking sites, but in truth they’re high school popularity sites. LumberJocks is different…it’s people with a common interest getting together and discussing their passion.

Frankly, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

To one and all, I’d like to wish you a happy new year! May 2009 be short on disappointment and long on all that brings you joy!

This is the Accu-Rip. It’s apparently put out by Craftsman, though I picked it up at Lowe’s for about $30. This thing worked wonderfully, and a review will be posted soon about this wonderful piece of hardware.

However, the Accu-Rip can only do 24” of capacity, which is great for rips, but it meant I’d have to free-hand it for my 30+ inches of shelves. Well, here’s where my reminder came in. Luckily I was only rough cutting, so I can fix the mistakes, but I knew I’d need something to help me out. So, I built my own “cross cut sled”. OK, so it’s just a guide, but I’ve decided to call in The Sled™. So, without further ado, I present The Sled™!

It’s basically a thin piece of luan with a rail screwed to it. The rail is screwed on square to the edge of the luan. I then ran the circular saw down the side of the rail to create the new edge of the sled. Pretty straight forward. I figure that this little puppy should help out with straight cuts just fine.

Also, since I’ll have to cut dadoes into the bookcase sides, I needed a jig to help with that. This is a simple little jig I saw on Fine Woodworking’s website so I freely admit I’m ripping it off.

Now, while not exactly “fine woodworking”, it is essential woodworking. They ain’t pretty, but they weren’t made to be pretty. They’re made to help me make pretty things instead. I think they’ll work just fine for that!

So, I got to cutting today. Everything was cut a little long, and I’ll be trimming everything down in a couple of days to final lengths. The 12” boards were ripped down to 10 1/2”, with the exception of the top, which will have a ledge sticking out about 1.5” on all sides.

Now, I know that if there aren’t pics, it didn’t happen, so here they are.

First, the sides and top of the bookcase.

The actually didn’t get cut down at all, hence it’s size. Mostly, I’ve just forgotten about it. I’ll probably knock it out tomorrow after work.

Next are the shelves.

I’ve cut them about an inch long for the time being, and I’ll trim them up just before final assembly.

Next is the toe kick and the top “stretcher” (for lack of a better term).

I was originally planning on putting a curve on the toe kick, but now I’m not so sure that will work with a 2.5” board, so I’ll have to play around and see what happens. I may just need to extend it a bit with the scrap from the rips I made. It’s all poplar, and it’ll all be painted. I’ll do some sketching tonight and see what happens.

This is my first real attempt at fine wood working. My hope is to put together something that the customer (Mom) will be happy with and I can be proud of. Luckily, I’ve got the LumberJocks and a few other folks who’ve got my back :D

As you can see, it’s only 10’x10’, but by virtue of it’s “open design”, I’ve got the whole back yard if necessary. Now, I just needed a workbench of some description. As a temporary solution, I went with what Chris Schwarz calls a “roman” workbench…it’s some boards on a saw horse, as you can plainly see:

One downside of this is the lack of good work holding. As this is only a temporary solution anyways, it was time to break out the old Workmate:

Yes, it’s seen better days. But that’s OK. If it can’t take a beating, I don’t need it. Mostly, it’s just cosmetic damage anyways. It still works like a champ, and it serves as my primary work holding method for the time being. I do plan on building a proper workbench in the near future, but not right now. There’s still so much left to do before I can really get to that point, truth be told.

Now, there needs to be a security system. I opted for the Neanderthal security system:

That’s our dog Sierra. She’s an adopted stray we took in a little over a year ago, and we’re very happy to have her in our life. Granted, she’s still half wild, but she’s sweet and would never intentionally harm any family member. An intruder? Well…she’d make Burgler Snacks™ out of them ;)

So this is what I’m working with so far. It’s really just a blank canvas waiting for more cool stuff to happen :D

Do we ever have enough tools and gadgets? I know we never have enough clamps, and I’ve just come to terms on that one, but the other stuff? Miller dowels look like a good way to help support the bookcase shelves (I plan on using dados as well), so I order some with the Lee Valley gift card my wife and son gave me for Christmas (the card with it said “Have a Merry Woodworking Christmas!” What’s not to love here?) I figure that even if I don’t use them on this one, they’ll work well for something else. I seem to find tons of stuff I want/need and still don’t have and can’t imagine when I’ll actually get it!

Here’s what I have to keep in mind. Tools don’t make the craftsman. Like I pointed out the other day, there’s more than one way to skin a cat in woodworking, so if you don’t have a $500 dovetail jig, you can get a dovetail saw inexpensively (I’d go with the Veritas saw, but plenty have had good results with a gent’s saw) and hand cut them bad boys. If you want though, there’s nothing wrong with spending the cash on that $500 jig. There’s very few “wrong” answers in this game.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that you don’t need “stuff” to do good work. You need that tool between your ears more than anything, and feed in knowledge, and gain experience, and you’ll be just fine. Me? I don’t have that experience thing just yet, so I’m trying to overcompensate with “stuff” :D

1. There’s More Than One Way To Skin A Cat

I’ve heard this saying all my life, but no where is it truer than in woodworking. Think of something like a dado. You can use a table saw. You can use a router. You can use a router plane. You can use a dado plane. You can use a chisel. I mean, there’s tons of solutions to almost any problem. There are few things that can only be accomplished one way, and that’s really a great thing in my opinion.

2. Limits Are Often Self Imposed

I’ve been pretty guilty of this one myself. Saying I’m going to use only hand tools, when there’s no reason to stick completely to them. Looking at various styles of furniture to figure out what I want to make. There was no reason why I had to impose these limits upon myself, but I was donig it, just as plain as day. Limits are fine if you choose them yourself. If you just like Greene & Greene furniture, then more power to you. However, to limit yourself to one style just because you think you should? That’s just silly.

3. Woodworkers Are Amongst The Nicest People

I broke the 1/4” collet on my router about a week ago. I mentioned this on a forum, and a member asked me to PM him my address and he’d send me one. It got here yesterday. I offered to pay for postage, and I still haven’t received word how much or where to send it. Why? My guess is that woodworkers, as a whole, are just happy to help one another accomplish their goals. Maybe it pushes them to accomplish more of theirs. Maybe they just like helping one another. All in all, who cares? The important thing to remember is the number of woodworkers who give and give. From T-Chisel who gives his time to show how to accomplish his various techniques, to those who send some schmuck a collet for their router.

4. I Genuinely Hope Everyone Has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

From the bottom of my heart, I wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year!!!!! Thanks for letting me be part of your life on the ‘net, and thanks for being part of mine!