This past weekend, I finally got around to sussing out how in the heck to store my growing cadre of pipe clamps (for those unaware, Harbor Freight carries an excellent 3/4” pipe clamp with base for $8.47 after 20% off coupon and tax, and you can get black pipe cut and threaded at Home Depot—the first two cuts/threads are free), parallel bar clamps (Menards had the Jorgensen’s on sale a few weeks back, and the two I bought are quickly becoming my favorite clamps), and the sleds and jigs I'd already built or plan on building soon.

After noodling around on Google (I tend to do that a lot), I came across episode 106 of The Wood Whisperer, wherein Marc shows off his French Cleat Storage System. If it’s good enough for him, well, I’m sure it’ll more than meet my meager needs. So, down to the shop I went, and after a trip out to the shed to snag the longer 3/4” plywood cut-offs I had left over from various other projects, I went to work. I guessed at the measurements, and once I’d gotten a few things cut, I realized I probably over-built the silly thing (I tend to do that a lot, too). Oh well. The only downside is I need larger scraps to make more hangers and pegs. No biggie.

Everything went together easily, and the results speak for themselves. I couldn’t be happier, and I’ve been floating on cloud nine now that my pipe clamps aren’t in a pile on the floor in the laundry room, waiting to stub a toe or trip someone in the dark. All in all, highly recommended as a way of storing things up and out of the way, especially if you have a tiny shop.

Thanks for looking!

Last fall, I took down 10 or so ash trees that had fallen victim to the Emerald Ash Borer. The trunks made their way to the sawmill to be turned into slabs and planks, and the rest of the tree got cut up for saleable firewood. Splitting face cord after face cord by hand, I had ample time to pull out potentially interesting pieces of wood in anticipation of completing this project—a bandsaw log sled—and using my recently acquired bandsaw as something more than a cup holder. I did some noodling around on Google looking for plans, and eventually stumbled upon Kevin Brady's design for a rip sled (he also provides a PDF of the plans—more on that momentarily). I wanted something that didn’t require running screws into the log to secure it to the sled (and I hadn’t seen anything like swirt's pipe-clamp based variant), and this fit the bill perfectly.

The PDF plans linked above, while accurate (as least as far as I could tell/remember), were missing quite a few dimensions. That’s less of a complaint and more of an observation—the plans are free, and you can suss out anything that’s missing by measuring the drawings with a fine ruler and multiplying by whatever scale they’re at. If anyone wants copies of my more-or-less completely dimensioned plans, let me know. I formed the handle by copying the angles and dimensions from a hacksaw which turned out to be a very comfortable fit for my hand. Thanks, Craftsman!

The first time I used the sled, I got terrible, wobbly results, and I realized my bandsaw needed some tuning. I got it “used”, and I don’t think the previous owner had ever a) used it or b) tuned it. After that, things went pretty smoothly. A ratchet makes quick work of tightening and loosening the lag bolts that hold the log in place. The second time I used the sled, the t-nuts into which the lag bolts were secured basically fell out of the MDF headpiece and tailpiece. If you look at Kevin’s plans, you’ll see those t-nuts aren’t captured, which means they’re going to work their way loose sooner or later. I created two new faces for the headpiece and tailpiece, sandwiching the t-nuts between a piece of 1/4” plywood and a piece of 1/2” plywood, and securing those to the original MDF faces. A definite improvement.

The only other ding I’d give the sled is that it’s large. Like, 48” long large. Taking the headpiece and tailpiece into account, you can still fit an incredibly long log on there. Long enough that even a younger guy like myself has trouble lifting it, and I worry a bit about the bandsaw flexing under the weight, even with the roller stand there to catch the outfeed. I’m thinking about cutting it a bit shorter to lighten the load. We’ll see though.

Anyway, thanks for looking, and thanks to Kevin for making the plans freely available.

The Mid-Michigan Woodworkers Guild had a pallet competition last meeting. The goal—create something from a single standard pallet. Seeing as I had roughly two dozen of them out in the garage (I have a few spots I check on a semi-regular basis for the purposes of snagging any decent looking wood), I took the pick of the litter in terms of relatively straight stringers and slats. Imagine my surprise when I ran one of them through the planer and ended up with the figuring on the end pieces.

This is the first piece of furniture I’ve ever created. My experience is more in refinishing, and in rough carpentry. So I learned a lot while putting this together. And I cut a lot of corners.

The table frame is has biscuits in the corners, and the slats are glued into a slot running around the inside edge. I could have simply captured them in place, but I was afraid there might be a little play left to right, and they might slide around given the chance. The tapered legs were created by laminating four slats together (after planing them), and then cutting them free-hand on the bandsaw and finally sanding them on the belt sander. The stringers are mortise and tenon, although I cheated like mad—I don’t expect them to hold up, as I simply shortened the tenon, rather than rounding it or squaring the mortise (I didn’t have a 1/4” chisel). Finished with a coat of BLO about an hour before I took it to the competition—I’ll probably rub on a few coats of semi-gloss poly before putting it to use.

The last picture was taken at the competition. There were only four entries, so I don’t feel particularly awesome in saying that I won first place. But it does feel pretty good.

Thanks for looking!