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552K views 317 replies 120 participants last post by  Kentuk55 
#1 ·
One year on LJ, what a difference a year makes

With my one year anniversary on Lumberjocks coming up in a few days, I thought I'd start my first ever blog. I can't even believe it's only been a year. When I joined a year ago I had quite a bit of experience with carpentry work and home improvement. I had no idea how little I actually knew about working with wood. One year later, I realize I have only scratched the surface of this hobby (my wife calls it an obsession) and I have a lot to learn.

My shop, like my skills, has a long way to go. A year ago, it was a place to park some tools and some cars. It has slowly evolved into a place to create. Though I still share the space with kids toys and garden equipment, I no longer park my car in the garage and I pull my wife's car out when I'm in there working. The set up, though, has really been a hodgepodge. When I've added a new tool or created a new jig I just stuck it where I had space. Like most everyone, my shop time is limited and I need to have it more organized and create better flow when I'm working on a project. I've got a total renovation/change I'm planning on starting in the next few weeks. Here are the before pictures:

Main bench area


Clamps, jigs, rollers


Lumber storage, bench top router table, planer, workmates, misc storage


Drill press, miter saw, more lumber, misc stuff for table saw


The project that kicked off my addiction: a rolling work table w/storage:




I'm finishing up a project right now for a local church. When that wraps up, I'll get going on the renovation of the shop.

Thanks for looking. And thanks for all the help, support, and ideas from all of the incredibly talented people on this forum.

Cory
 
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#100 ·
Outfeed table and bench vise

I haven't really been able to do much in the shop since my 4th of July table build with my in-laws. I got some time to make some improvements over the last week or so and made some good progress. My first project was to get a good outfeed table. I cobbled together a frame out of some 2×4s with simple glue and screw construction. I took an old solid core door and cut it down for the top, edge banded in pine with some left over stain thrown on. I also put on a replaceable hardboard top. I made the side of the table that touches the TS have a considerable overhang so that my dust collection hose from my TS doesn't get pinched. Now I've got a nice sized outfeed/assembly table. I also keep my Ridgid OSS and my Delta disc/belt sanders underneath. When I need them they get clamped to the table.





My next little project was to add a vice to my existing mobile work bench. I've had the vice for about a year and I just kept putting off installing it. I re-did the top of the workbench with my typical set up: old solid core door with replaceable hardboard top, wrapped in cherry cause it's what I had. Finish is three coats of a boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits mix.





With the vice and dog holes I can now easily hold all kinds of workpieces. It's already made routing, sanding, and planing a lot easier. I'm not sure how I ever did anything without it! I'm going to drill a few more dog holes and get a bench pup from Lee Valley. That should just about do it.

I also made a tool board with french cleats for over my bench and a table saw accessory cart. I'll post those soon.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#105 ·
Table Saw Accessory Cart

I wanted to take advantage of the space under my table saw's right side to create a place to keep blades, inserts, push sticks, etc. This is by no means a new idea, but thought it worthwhile to post. I built the entire cabinet out of 3/4" birch ply from Lowe's using pockethole screws and glue. Drawer slides are full extension. The drawer fronts are wrapped in cherry. Finish is 2 coats of a BLO and mineral spirits mix. Now I've got all my table saw stuff right at my fingertips.

Here's the cabinet under my saw wing:



Before drawer fronts:



I made a holder for my Incra miter gauge on one side and my stock miter gauge on the other:



In the drawers I keep push sticks and jigs, blades, throat plate inserts, dado stack, and some other miscellaneous stuff.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#106 ·
Greetings again, Cory,

Once again you've come through on the projects, and this one is as necessary as a pocket on a shirt..
Stellar job on the build, as usual….. I like it…..It's funny that you posted this…..I'm doing the exact same thing to my saw….. I've had one drawer under it forever, and it's full of crap, so on to bigger and better things, right? I like a blog or project that has lots of pictures and shows how it's built and at different angles, etc., and buddy you come through…... Thanks for posting…..Keep up the good work….
 
#109 ·
Tool board over workbench

I've never really been a big fan of pegboard, but it's incredibly functional and cheap. So, like most shops, mine has some pegboard in it. I really wanted to do something different, though, to hold my tools over my workbench. I was watching some old Wood Whisperer videos the other day and saw his french cleat system on a piece of plywood. Then, I was looking through this web site: http://benchmark.20m.com/index.html and saw his french cleat system throughout his shop. I've used french cleats for hanging a bunch of stuff, so I set out to make a tool board like Mark's and Phil's (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?). Here's what I came up with:



I used cheap 1/2" plywood for the back and pine 1×4s for the frame and cleats. They're all glued and nailed together. The cleats are ripped in half and spaced 2" apart. The overall size of the tool bard is 80" x 34". Now I've got plenty of room to hang everything and I don't have to look at the pegboard!

Here are some of the tool holders I made the other night:



I found that by adding a little piece of 1/4" plywood to the cleat it was much more stable. These are simply the cleat and a piece of ply with a dowel glued into it. I made these in several different sizes.



A quick holder for my tape measures….now I know when my neighbor "borrows" my tape!


Some times you don't even need a fancy holder, just a nail.


A simple shelf for bench cookies, etc.


Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#122 ·
2 years on Lumberjocks

I was just noticing that I've been an official LJ for 2 years now. Man. I've learned so much from all of you, so thank you. Thank you for all the great comments and advice. Thank you for the never ending supply of inspiration. Just, thank you.

I also noticed that I haven't posted a project in 122 days. Really? I've certainly been a busy boy over the last 122 days. I don't have pictures of everything, but here's some of what I've built:

-8 cutting boards




-5 wine bottle balancers

-4 candle holders


-A play kitchen for my kiddos


-A rocket bookcase


-Bunk bed rails and ladder


-2 Lego storage drawers

-Some misc home improvements and repairs

-And a partridge in a pear tree

Whew. About a week before Christmas I had to get out of the shop and take a break. Now, I'm officially over my Christmas project burnout and ready to get started on more projects! Here's what's on my list for the next few weeks:

-A couple cutting boards
-2 Large frames from old barn wood
-2 small boxes
-Another Lego/train table
-Krenov inspired saw horses
-Krenov inspired clamp rack
-More shop renovations

It's good to be active on LJ again and back in the shop!

Thanks for reading.

Cory
 
#126 ·
Air compressor gets a new home

I had some left over plywood from building a play kitchen for my kiddos and I was tired of looking at it in my shop. So, I killed two birds with one stone by building a new enclosure for my pancake style air compressor. I've wanted to get the compressor to the middle of my shop for a while to make it easier to use. Right now it lives under my planer and I don't have my shop plumbed with air hose, so I wheel it out. That's proven to be a pain, so I don't use it that much. Now it's going to live underneath my outfeed table. I just built the box last night, so I haven't put it in its new home. I'll have more pictures of it soon.

Here you can see the overall plywood box that's a little bigger than my compressor.



I made an air slot in the back and a slot in the front panel to allow for air flow.

Here's the inside of the box that I lined with sound absorbing insulation to cut down on the noise.



I didn't have any hinges, plus I doubt I'll be accessing the inside very often so I just put some cleats on the inside of the box and epoxied some rare earth magnets to the cleats and the "door".



I slapped a coat of BLO on the cherry trim last night. As soon as that's dry I'll put it under my outfeed table and hook up an air hose reel. Moving the compressor to the middle of my shop and hooking up the reel will make using it much easier.
 
#127 ·
If you don't already have one, I'd recommend you add a remote extension on your compressor's drain valve. That way you could drain the moisture out of your compressor (a good thing to do weekly, if not daily) from the outside of the box, without having to open the box and pull the compressor out.

Great looking cabinet. With the soundproofing, you will be pleased with the noise reduction as well. Well done!

Cheers!
 
#130 ·
Compressor cabinet complete, and a homemade mallet

I'm calling my compressor cabinet complete. That's a lot of C's. It's in its new home under my outfeed table in the center of my shop. It'll make using it much easier, especially with the new hose reel. I now can reach the entire shop (and my kids' bikes and my truck tires) without moving the compressor. Here she is:



And the back of the table, near my table saw, where I've got the hose hooked up.



I was feeling the flow last night, so I finished up a mallet I had been working on. It's my first, so I'd do a couple of things differently, but all in all I'm pleased with the result. The head is hard maple, the handle is walnut.





Until next time, thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#135 ·
Christmas In January!

I have had some money I got for Christmas burning a hole in pocket…...and last weekend I went to the Indianapolis woodworking show and spent some time at the Lee Valley booth. That's both a great and dangerous combination! I have been wanting to try hand cut dovetails for a while and after speaking with John in their booth I ordered up a saw, marking gauge, and dovetail markers. I also ordered a low angle jack plane. Everything arrived today, exactly 7 days after I placed the order (with no shipping or taxes, btw). I can't wait to get home and play with my new toys!!!!



When speaking with John from Lee Valley about hand cutting dovetails, he said I should spend a few hours a few times a week just practicing cutting to the lines I draw with my dovetail markers. So, that's on the books for me over the next couple of weeks. I will probably cheat a little and at least attempt a small box with hand cut dovetails. That might be another blog altogether: Trials and tribulations of learning hand cut dovetails.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#136 ·
Cory, I hear ya a very cool and dangerous booth at those shows. Looking forward to March when they come to my area. Looks like some good new toys, good luck with the practice and look forward to seeing that box.

CtL
 
#142 ·
Rolling Clamp Cart

I have recently spent quite a bit of time doing some glue ups for various projects. After walking back and forth across my small garage shop 300 times, I really wanted to build a rolling clamp cart to save me some steps and condense all my glue up supplies to one area. My rolling clamp cart is based on a Woodsmith version I saw on the web and a whole bunch of ideas gathered here and on other sites. I used the old metal base from my HFDC for the bottom and 1/2" plywood for the upper pieces. All the clamp holders are 3/4" plywood. The best part: I had all of this material just taking up room in the shop, so total cost is $0.









The down side to this cart is that I don't have a lot of room to add clamps to it, so I'm not sure what I'll do when I inevitably buy some more. Oh well, I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it.

Thanks for looking

Cory
 
#153 ·
672 Pairs of Shoes=No woodworking

My 7 year old daughter decided about a month ago to have a shoe drive to try and collect shoes for Soles 4 Souls. If you don't know anything about the organization, they take shoes in any condition and donate them to needy children and families around the world. Soles 4 Souls is trying to raise 11 million pairs of shoes in 2011. Zoe came to me and my wife and said, "if each kid at my school gave a pair, I could raise 300 pairs of shoes for kids who don't have any". We were touched that she wanted to help, so over the past month we've been asking for donations and living in a pile of shoes. Zoe's initial goal of 300 pairs seemed daunting at first, but with each passing week, the piles grew bigger.

After the first 5 huge trash bags were full of shoes (that took less than a week), they moved from the laundry room to my shop. So, for the past month my shop has been a storage area for shoes. Zoe's final tally was 672 pairs. They took up almost the entire garage. Soles 4 Souls is based in Nashville, so last weekend we made the three hour drive down to donate all the shoes. I wasn't happy about the sites/smells of that many pairs of shoes in my shop, but I couldn't be prouder of my little girl and her heart for service.

Here are a couple of pics of some of the shoes in my shop, and in the trailer we had to rent to get them down there:





So, after a month of not building anything or spending any time in the shop, I was chomping at the bit. I have been wanting to put down white laminate on my outfeed table for quite a while. Yesterday I happened onto some laminate at Lowe's in their discount section. I got three full sheets for $50. Now my outfeed table is a little prettier and I got some good experience with laminate.



I joked with Zoe that her next project should be Planes for Souls, where we take in gently used hand planes, restore them, and give them to young wood workers. Who knows, with her energy and enthusiasm, I might be out of a shop again soon.

Thanks for reading.

Cory
 
#160 ·
Shooting Board

I've got an upcoming project where I'll need a shooting board, and I've always wanted to make one. So while waiting on some finish samples to dry last night, I jammed one out. It's made from 3/4" and 1/2" baltic birch for the base and quarter sawn cherry for the fence. Overall size is 12" x 20". Here are a few pictures:



The fence is secured by a screw on one side and a t-bolt and star knob on the other. This makes it adjustable so I can always square it up.



Here's the under side where I just counter bored a hole for the t-bolt head.



I also made a miter block so I can dial in 45's. After shooting a couple of boards with it I've got it dialed in perfectly. Now I'll be able to shave thousands of an inch for a perfect fit. The board is finished with my go-to for shop fixtures and furniture: 50-50 mix of BLO and mineral spirits.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#163 ·
Large Cross Cut Sled and Huge Lumber Rack

For a while now I've been wanting to build a cross cut sled with more capacity that my current sled (about 15"). I finally found the inspiration to actually do it. I'm working on a table top and some panels that exceed my current sled, so I took a break from that project and jammed this out the other night:



The base is 3/4" MDF, the front fence is 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" poplar, and the runner is purpleheart. I had all of the materials laying around the shop, including the hold downs. So my total investment here is $0. Now I've got a single runner sled capable of cross cutting a 24" panel with ease. That should take care of 99% of all my projects.

I have also been wanting to figure out a way to store some of my extra lumber in a better way. I've got a bunch of lumber that I don't have room for in my shop, so I keep it in a warehouse on pallets. Well, after cleaning out my warehouse, I found an old sheet metal cart. The cart is 10' long, sits about 28" off the ground, sits on solid wheel castors, and can probably hold 3 tons of wood. I grabbed a bunch of 2x material and constructed this Frankenstein lumber cart:







In this rack is quite a few hundred board feet of maple, walnut, elm, cedar, and douglas fir.

Again, all materials were just sitting around, so my total cost is $0. I'm going to put on some more brackets on the outside of the cart to hold some white oak and cherry that wouldn't fit in the inside racks. Now I've got all my lumber up off of pallets and somewhat organized.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#164 ·
Very nice sled and lumber rack conversion!

Wow, a few hundred board feet of maple, walnut, elm, cedar, and douglas fir? Now what was the address of that warehouse and is there any security?? haha jk

Great jobs.
 
#166 ·
A yard sale? C'mon, man!

After finishing the dresser/changing table for my niece, I was excited to get started on a few more projects. Much to my dismay, here's what I've been looking at in my shop:



Not only that, but it's been a little steamy in my un-conditioned garage:



We got a break in the weather today, and the yard sale is Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to get in the shop and create some dust on Saturday evening.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#177 ·
Clamp cart update

I really didn't need any new clamps (yeah right) but a guy was liquidating his cabinet shop and posted a Craig's List ad. He had a bunch of the older style Bessey clamps and some F-style clamps. I offered $100 for everything and he took it. I came home with about 20 new clamps. I had to move around some of the clamps on my rolling clamp cart and make some new holders. Only took about a half hour and now my clamps are resting peacefully in their new home.



Here are the parallel clamps I already had (24" Jorgy's)



I was laminating some pieces together last night and I needed just about everyone of them, too. Glad I bought them!





That acquisition brings my parallel clamp collection up to a respectable number. I really prefer them to f-style and pipe clamps. I'm not Wood Whisperer deep in clamps, yet, but I'm getting there!

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#185 ·
A couple of shop helpers

I thought I'd post these two little shop helpers I recently made up. The first is something most have seen, but maybe a newbie can get some use out of it: A sandpaper cutter. I'm lazy, so I find myself using sandpaper longer than I should because cutting it to fit my sanding blocks is a bit of a pain. I got fed up with my own laziness and made this super simple sandpaper cutting jig:



It's simply a piece of plywood with a hacksaw blade. The blade is raised up off of the plywood by some washers so that the sandpaper will fit under it easily. I drew a line on the plywood for the two types of sanding blocks that I've got. Now I just slide the sandpaper under the blade and rip it off. No more measuring or cutting with a box cutter or scissors. I can't believe how much easier this is and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

The other little shop helper is a modification of a Black and Decker Workmate. In my little garage shop, space is at a premium and everything needs to be on wheels. So I set out to put a mobile base on my workmate and still make it collapsible. The base is a simple plywood platform with locking casters. I wrapped the base with a couple of 2×4s for rigidity and some 1/4" plywood for looks. I also added a larger 3/4" MDF top to the workmate. The top is attached with dowels that are glued to the MDF and sized for the holes in the workmate top.



I wheel this little thing all over the shop to hold pieces I'm milling, to help with glue ups, and to provide a small light duty assembly bench.

Hope it helps someone out. Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#186 ·
AAHH….shop projects…...nothing like them…..we all need them, just a question of what we need as to what we build… I made a sandpaper cutter like yours about 4 years ago (just a tad different), and never looked back…. These things are as handy as a pocket on a shirt. I like the cart for the W.M, also. I have one, but hardly ever use it. In the beginning, I added a wide top on mine too, and I had my planer bolted to it. But it was too low, and killed my back, so I put it aside. But it's there if I ever need it…...
 
#191 ·
Tool cabinet update

I recently built a small tool cabinet for my shop. You can see more pics of it here:



When Lee Valley had their free shipping offer last week, I decided to add a few toys: A new dovetail saw, a 38* blade for my low angle jack plane, a flush cut saw, and some skew chisels. Those additions required a few more holders for the tool cabinet. Here are some updated shots:

Overall pic:


Simple holder for additional plane blade:


New dovetail and flush cut saws (very sophisticated holder for flush cut saw: finish nail)


Skew chisels (and a mortise chisel I already had)


Misc Stuff


Thanks for looking.

Cory

PSA: One day I'll use my DSLR camera for decent pics, until then you're going to have to live with crappy cell phone shots. Sorry!
 
#192 ·
heh, I think phone pictures are good enough unless you are trying to show off some gallery quality projects (such as in the projects section) I do the same thing.

always fun to customize the tool cabinet and getting things from leevalley. Curious about the saw holders - I see the rotating clip, but I don't see anything on the opposing side to keep them from falling off the the left - what's holding them there?
 
#196 ·
My finest work ever. Period.

I've been busy in the shop lately. I've built several tables and some other misc things for the house:

floating top table from oak and walnut





tea light holder from spalted maple



But, none of that even compares to one of the best afternoons I've ever had in my shop. This project was handcrafted with the finest of care by me and my shop helper. It took hours to complete and is, in my humble opinion, my finest work ever:









Jackson and I played with all of my cut-offs for the entire afternoon building castles and forts. The dinosaurs, star wars guys, and army men won a hard fought battle against the lego guys, knights, and pirates. After a long drawn out war, we rewarded ourselves with cookies and milk.

Best. Day. Ever.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#200 ·
New drum sander

I've wanted a drum sander forever, but I just couldn't justify a grand on a tool I wouldn't use constantly. A few weeks before Christmas a buddy of mine said he had a 16-32 drum sander that he didn't use and would cut me a good deal on it ($200). I pounced.



After using it on quite a few different projects I can tell you it's become a go-to tool in my shop. It would have been worth the $1,000. This drum sander is the older Performax model (before they changed to Jet). It's got the 1hp motor and the 2 1/2" dust port. The newer sanders have a larger motor and larger dust port, but this one works great none the less. It didn't come with casters or a lower shelf, so I made my own mobile base and storage. I'll finish up the drawer fronts (plywood with cherry edge banding) when I get time.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#210 ·
New Cross Cut Sled

There have been a few cross cut sleds posted recently and it motivated me to replace mine. The original was a little small and a little heavy. My max capacity was about 14". I used maple and cherry for the fences, which looked nice, but weighed too much. A few other lessons learned gave way to Version 2.0:

Overall size is 24" x 36", quite a bit larger than my previous sled. Capacity on this sled is 21". Base is 1/2" birch ply.



The rear fence features sliding replaceable faces. I had a lot of tear out on my previous sled, this should solve that. It's made from poplar and 1/2" MDF for the faces. Thick and stable, but a lot lighter than the maple and cherry. The movable faces have a chamfer along the bottom. This allows dust to gather there, rather than on the face (thanks, Woodwhisperer!).





I considered making a super-sled-like handle to go over the blade exit area, but I never like my hands over a blade, even if they're well above it. The old sled had a large block of hardwood. On this one it's a smaller piece of poplar. Enough to keep my thumbs from sliding into the exit area.



My previous sled had home-made runners. On this one I bought miter bars from Rockler. The fit is perfect, they'll never wear out, and I can easily re-use them on Version 3.0!



I mounted t-track to the face of the rear fence. This makes it easy for stop blocks or other attachments. On my previous sled I would clamp a piece of wood to the fence, this is quicker and locks down tight with no slipping.



To attach the rear fence I used oversize holes and bolts. It was extremely easy to square it up and make adjustments. After I dialed it in with the 5 cut method, I used 4 additional screws to lock it down.

Overall I'm really pleased with this version. I'm sure I'll learn some more lessons from this one and be ready for Version 3.0 in another couple of years.

Thanks for looking.
 
#216 ·
New bandsaw and drum sander modification

Thanks to a terrific suggestion from Jeff (JL7), I ordered and installed a new lid for my drum sander. It's got the 4" dust port. It required a little bit of surgery (plastic carved away with a dremel) but was pretty easy to make fit.



Also, I finally added a bandsaw to my shop. I've used the heck out of it already. I can't believe how useful it is. It's a Shopfox, which I purchased locally.



I'm wrapping up a few paying projects for friends and family. When those are finished, I plan on a mini shop remodel and best of all: A new workbench.

Thanks for reading.

Cory
 
#221 ·
New workbench

I've been jonesing for a new bench for what seems like forever. One project after another has been getting in the way but I finally just said "now or never". My dream bench is one like this:



But, I didn't have the budget or the time to build it, so I used all the materials I already had to come up with this:





It's about 64" long, 34" high, 24" wide. I used hard maple and some maple ply for the legs and stretchers. The legs are a torsion box. The vise chop is cherry or mahogany, can't remember which. The top used to be a bench at a school that was demolished a few years ago. It was sitting in my warehouse and I cut it down to the size I needed. You can see evidence of its previous life here:



Yet to be done:

-Sand the top, but only a little bit. I don't want the top to be perfect. It's a workbench and I don't want to be afraid to hit it or cut on it.
-Add an end vise, which will come from my other bench.
-Drill a row of dog holes
-Finish with a coat or two of oil.
-Drawer bank for the top of the shelf. But I've got quite a few other projects ahead of it so I'll get to it when I can.



Final Verdict: It's heavy, rock solid, and cost next to nothing to build. Once I've worked on it for a while I'll be able to really evaluate it. Until then…..

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#222 ·
Great looking bench and a very workable design.

A wink and a nod from Mother Nature for repurposing the the bench top. - Len

Work Safely and have Fun.
 
#230 ·
Bench update

I've finished up my bench for now. I flattened the top, which took a lot more effort than I assumed, and added the end vise. I also drilled some dog holes and made my own dogs. The trim is jatoba or mahogany, I can't remember which. I scored quite a bit of it from a door shop that was closing, so I used it. I think it's a nice contrast.

Only thing left is to add a bank of drawers underneath. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to that. Construction of the bench was fairly straight forward. The legs are a torsion box with 3/4" maple laminated MDF and maple. The stretchers are all maple. The top is from an old school bench. Vises are quick release Shop Fox cheapies. It's heavy and stable and has already been a joy to use.

Here are the pics:



 
#234 ·
Outfeed Table

This started out as another workbench, but got modified into an outfeed table. The base is a variation of a bench plan in FWW. I didn't add the lower stretcher on one side so that I could slide my air compressor and parts cabinet underneath easily. The construction was pretty simple. Base is oak with walnut pegs. The top is an MDF door blank that is 1 1/2" thick. It's wrapped in mahogany and then laminated. I used adjustable feet so that it's exactly level with my table saw.





Here you can see a french cleat I attached to the side to hold a mallet, some risers, my hearing protection, and a brush.


I didn't want to cut miter slots in the top, so I built a bridge that goes from the saw to the table. There's a 15" x 20" piece that slides and allows me to rip or cross cut easily.

Rip:


Cross cut:


Thanks for looking!
 
#236 ·
Bandsaw dust collection

My Shop Fox bandsaw has a dust port at the bottom of the lower wheel. It does a decent job of getting the dust that stays in the cabinet, but like most bandsaws mine sends a lot of dust under the table. I had a few dust collection parts laying around and decided to try and add some dust collection just below the blade. Here's what I came up with:

Overall shot


Detail of 2 1/2" port under the table


I epoxied a couple of rare earth magnets to the dust port. It rests on part of the base and the magnets hold it to the cast iron table


When I first connected my DC hose, the Y connection sagged down and almost came off the port on the saw. I cut a little bock of wood to support it.


A few more magnets hold it in place.


The improvement in dust collection is remarkable. It took about a half hour and some parts laying around. Wish I would have done this sooner.

Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
#246 ·
A flip, a turn, a stack, and a twist

I wrapped up a productive few shop sessions recently.

The flip: the ever-present flip top cart for my planer and OSS.



The turn: I rotated the base of my drill press after reading the tip in Wood magazine. Great idea! I've now got more cross cut capacity on my CMS.



The stack: another pair of nesting sawhorses that stacks neatly with my other set. This time lower: 24" off the ground. They're great for assembly and also act like a saw bench. Made from poplar and walnut.



The twist (and the best part): My great grandfather was a farmer. By definition you rely on yourself for most things, like building a barn. My great aunt, who still lives on the farm that's been in our family since the late 1890's, has an old chicken coop filled with "stuff". I rooted through it a while back and found some of my family's old woodworking tools. It's fun to imagine my grandfather and great grandfather on either end of that huge (6') two man saw cutting down a giant oak tree for barn timber and then using the bow saw, Diston saws, and drawknives to bring them to dimension. It's a terrific inspiration and I'm proud to display some family lineage.

As always, thanks for looking.

Cory

 
#251 ·
Quick drill press table fence upgrade

I have a Woodpeckers drill press table and fence. Overall it's a great set up. My only complaint is the way the fence attached to the t-track in the table. It uses small brass knurled knobs. They look pretty, but are hard to get tight enough to hold the fence firmly in place. I had been meaning to replace them for quite a while. After my fence slipped while drilling some mortises I got motivated to find a better solution.

I dug through my jig parts and found these cam clamps. They're easy to adjust and create a rock solid adjustable fence. I can't believe I waited this long to replace them. I also added some of the Rockler hold downs to replace a smaller set from Woodpeckers. Now I'm able to secure my fence and my workpiece.





I also bought a new Rockler router table top and FX lift for a new router table (they're leaning against my old one). I will get to that in a few weeks after a built-in mud room project.



Thanks for looking.

Cory
 
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