I basically swept, vacuumed, reorganized everything.

Before:

After:

It still looks more like a garage than a shop, but I will fill it up with more tools one day. I also need to build a bench along the back wall with storage underneath and french cleat system above.

I also got a piece of hardboard to put on my worktable. I have been using two 2×4 pieces of OSB that I got for free from a garage sale. It’s hard to clean sawdust off of, I get splinters from it, and anytime I am working on anything made from soft wood, like pine from the home store, the side facing down on the table gets all kinds of dents from the OSB. A 4×8 piece of hardboard was only $7 and some change at Home Depot. I had them cut it in half. Half went on the table; the other half I will use to make some templates for some of the projects that I plan on batching out.

Table top before:

Table top after:

It looks so much better. So much nicer looking (and feeling) than the ugly OSB. It’s amazing how much 7$ did to improve my day.

I still had two leftover 2×4’s from the worktable I built last summer. I used them and made some half-lap joints on the table saw.

Man, a dado stack would have been awesome. My forearm and wrist on my left arm are sore now from having to hold the workpiece so tight for so long against the miter gauge.

Then I glued them together.

Then I drilled holes for lag bolts and screwed the casters in. I just used wing nuts to secure the table saw to the frame. The 2×4’s had bowed up pretty good after sitting for several months so they didn’t match up quite as well as I would have liked, but I got them as best as I could.

So, nothing fancy, but my wife is happy about the extra room. I can just roll it out wherever I need it.

Table saw in the way:

Table saw out of the way:

I don’t currently have any dust collection set-up, so I’m pretty excited about being able to roll it outside this summer for smaller projects that don’t require an outfeed table. Less sweeping and clean up for me.

I don’t know what brand the ones in the wooden box are.

It’s been too cold to hang out in the garage lately so I haven’t had a chance to do much. It has warmed up this week, though, so today I got to work on another picture frame I’m making. I tried to go a little arts & crafts on it, but I’m not sure it’ll really work out, but at least it’s a big step up from my last frame. Step at a time, my friend. I’ll post when I’m done.

I also got the router out and played with a couple of bits. First time ever using a router. It was pretty fun, actually. I tried out the round-over bit on a piece of scrap wood. I did the end grain first since I think I remember reading about doing that somewhere so that you don’t get chip-out on the corners.

It is a little rough, but I may have been going too fast, I don’t know. It’ll take some experimenting.

My cigar box guitar is still on hold until I can get more of the wood, tools, and parts I need to make it. It’s been almost 2 months since I got the cigar boxes. I was finally able to buy a coping saw a few days ago that I will use to cut the notches in the body for the neck to go through. Again, step at a time.

So anyway, I need some cigar boxes first, right? I looked up some cigar shops and found one pretty close to where I live. I tried to call a couple of times, but got no answer. I decided to just drive over there and was in luck. He sells his empty boxes for only $2 each. Sweet! There was a stack of them by the front door, so I picked out these:

I started this blog series because I thought it would be a good reminder for me to see how I started. I’m so excited about building these that I think it may be something that I continue to do, improving with each one.

Wish me luck.

I then started attaching the rear fence. I put a few 2.5” screws from underneath.

Then I put some 5/8” screws into the runners from underneath.

When I started setting up to put the front fence up I realized that it was so tall I wouldn’t be able to reach the stock I was trying to cut to hold it in place. That’s when I figured out why people trim both ends of the fences for their sleds. I thought it was just decorative before. So I took the jigsaw out and cut it the same as the rear.

That was much better and it looks better too.

I bought a square the other day for the sole purpose of the next step – aligning the fence to the blade.

I used more 2.5” screws for this fence as well.

I decided to add some danish oil at least to add a little color the rear fence.

Then I ran it through the blade. It turned out pretty well for my purposes until I can afford to build one with all real wood. I’m happy with it.

I do plan on adding a blade guard, but I just need to figure out how to go about it.

Thanks for reading.

Then I started working on the fences. I’m using all scrap wood, so I found the best piece I could for the rear fence and cut it out similar to what you usually see in a lot of pictures of crosscut sleds online. I basically just removed some bulk to make it lighter.

The curves came out pretty rough because my 20tpi clean cut jig saw blade was too short to reach all the way through, so I had to use an 8tpi. I only sanded this fence to 100 grit. It’s not like it’s gonna be a pretty sled anyway.

Then I used one of the shelves from the bookcase (see previous post) and cut it in two for the rear fence. I then glued them together. I went with double thickness because it is particle board and I’m scared just one wouldn’t be strong enough. I’ll get some screws to help hold them together also. I don’t think the painted surfaces will allow a very tight glue bond.

They dried for a couple of days and then today I ran it through the table saw and chop saw to clean up all the edges.

I was going to screw the rear fence down tonight, but my drill battery was dead so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Instead of trashing it, I decided that I could at least use it for something and decided on a crosscut sled. It’s made of particle board or something so I know I’m sinning a little bit, but it’s free and it’s all I got. It will at least work as a temporary sled until I can afford to build a better one.

First of all, I don’t have a piece large enough by itself to make a sled, so I will have to use both side panels of the bookshelf and make the two halves of the sled and then join them together with the fences later on. Luckily, I had already seen a video of one made this way, so I kind of had an idea of what to do.

To begin, I spent part of Saturday afternoon making sure the blade was aligned to the miter slots. I had to adjust it a bit, but eventually got it as good as I could.

I then started on the runners using a long piece of MDF I found for a buck in the cull lumber cart at Home Depot. It took a few test cuts to figure out exactly how wide I need to cut them. I couldn’t ever get them perfect so I ended up with them a little wide and just sanded each one until they fit in the slot. Then I used some small nuts in the bottom of the slot to raise the runner above the top of the table so I could glue it to the top (these Craftsman slots are so small, I couldn’t even fit a dime). I also put some wax paper so that no glue would get on the table saw top.

I then applied glue, set the fence up and put the shelf on the runner with the right edge of the shelf just past the blade. I put some patio stones on top for weight. Later, before I join the two halves I will run each half-sled on its slot through the blade and this will make each half square with the blade.

I let it dry overnight and this afternoon I cleaned up all the glue squeeze out and set up the other half to dry.

I’m not quite sure how well the glue bond will last on the white, painted surface of the shelf, so I plan on getting some small screws to help secure the runners. I plan on using and old scrap piece of 2×6 for the rear fence and the other parts of the bookshelf and a leftover piece of poplar for the front fence. The poplar is six inches tall so I’ll use it around where the blade comes through the fence to keep my hands away.

Update—12/30/12

I found out that what I’m calling “painted” is actually white melamine. Super slick.

Craftsman 137.248850 Table Saw:

Now, before you start whining about how crappy Craftsman tools have become over the past few years, let me tell you that even though I’ve read all that, this table saw is like gold to me, I tell you, pure gold! This is something I would not have been able to purchase for a very long time and you know what they say about table saws being the heart of the workshop and all and that it should be the first tool you buy. Well, it didn’t work out that way for me. My level of happiness about this table saw right now is equal to that of someone who just bought a $3000 Powermatic or something. It’s all relative.

I put 3 inches of scrap wood underneath it so that I could use my worktable as an outfeed table. I will probably make something a little more permanent later on.

There was a plywood/OSB 200 tooth blade installed and a brand new 32 tpi carbide tipped rip/crosscut blade I guess that originally came with the saw. I put the 32 tpi blade on since I’ve never seen the plywood blades before on any videos I’ve watched.

Ridgid DP15501 Drill Press:

This thing is almost as tall as me. It’s heavy too.

Both tools work just fine. I drilled and cut some test pieces. I’ve read both manuals for both and spent some time today checking and aligning the table saw blade, splitter, and fence. I’ve already got a bunch of ideas floating around in my head for things I can build now.

It’s been amazing so far how I’ve been supported in my woodworking venture by people close to me and people I’ve never even met before. When I first got started I prayed that God would send some tools my way so that I could have an outlet for severe work-related stress. That prayer has been answered at least 5 times so far.

Before, my perception of the term “woodworking” was taking wood and putting it together with hammer and nails. I realize now that it is so much more than just that. I thought it would be nice to show some of what I call my “pre-woodworking” builds. I built a couple of things in the last 3 years with a hammer and nails, old scrap wood (the same scrap wood, in fact, that I build the picture frames on my project page – my first real woodworking project), and no clamps or sanding of any kind.

We went to a nursery to look at plants one day and I saw a tree planted in a wooden box. I thought the box looked really cool and I thought to myself, “I could make that with the scrap wood we got recently.” I found out later that these boxes are called “planters” and a few days later built this from the scrap wood:

We actually got some stain and my wife stained it. It’s pretty heavy, but it feels like it will fall apart because all of the nails are coming out. Galvanized nails, might I add, are a pain in the butt. They bend and break so easily, especially when you are just holding the wood together with your body weight while you hammer them in. I had no idea what kind of nails to use, so I just got some that said they wouldn’t rust.

Then I decided to use some of the long planks of wood to make a couple of stools like this one:

I ran out of the galvanized nails while building these two stools because I simply could not stop breaking them. I ended up using some other old nails that I had lying around. This stool is sitting outside and has grayed due to the elements and the fact that we didn’t stain it or anything. The other stool is in the garage with a bunch of junk on top of it.

So, like I said, I think woodworking has always been in my blood, but I just didn’t fully realize it until 2 months ago.

Also, I had such a bad experience with the nails that I doubt I’ll ever use nails again.

I used masking tape with the grit written on it so I didn’t get them mixed up. The high grit black wet/dry sandpaper is a little hard to tell apart to me, even by feel.

First, the back of the blade.

I’ve seen Paul Sellers use a sharpie on the bottom of his plane blades to determine when they are flat. I did the same thing to the back of my chisel and used the 100 grit until I could see sharpie no more. Then I just went at it up the grits for a little while on each.

It takes a little more effort than I thought. My fingers were hurting from pushing down onto the paper and my arms were getting pretty tired. I was sweating pretty good when I got to 2000 grit, but I finally got a pretty good mirror finish.

I wasn’t completely happy with the back, but I really didn’t know what else to do to make it better.

Then I grabbed the honing jig and moved to the bevel.

Went through the same routine as the back basically, but it didn’t take as long. I went until it was a mirror finish then lapped the back to get the burr off.

You can see the trees in the reflection above, so I guess it’s pretty good.

The wet/dry paper started ripping pretty bad and coming unstuck from the granite stone. I think I may have used too much water. I’ll try a little less next time. You can see what happened:

So, you can see why I didn’t do the secondary bevel. It was also supper time, so I was hungry. I hope that when I get better I won’t go through this much sandpaper just for 1 chisel. I would hope I could sharpen all my chisels on 1 set of paper.

It was a good experience. I actually enjoyed doing it. I’ve got 3 more chisels to go.

A new friend of mine, who is also a fellow Lumberjock, sent me a package of some things to add to my shop and help me get started in woodworking. This was done completely out of the kindness of his own heart and he refused any sort of payment whatsoever. I will be forever grateful and this will always be a part of my woodworking story.

Here’s a couple of items:

I can’t believe the router! This thing has got some get up and go. I’ve never used a router before, but when I plugged this in and pulled the button I could feel the power in my hands.

The mouse sander is awesome. I’ve already put it to use in a picture frame I am making out of some scrap southern yellow pine I got from a trash heap. It works great!

He also sent a few other things including a battery powered cutting tool, sandpaper, depth gauge, and some pieces of maple, cedar, and oak (I think it’s oak, anyway).

Now, the 40 bucks…

Then today I was looking for a card in my wallet and found an old home depot gift card. I remember getting it from my grandma and thought I had used up some of it. I decided to stop by home depot and see how much was left. On the back was written ”$25” by my grandma so I thought maybe it still had a few bucks, but then the lady handed it back to me and said it had $40 on it. I was completely shocked and couldn’t believe it. The only explanation I have is that God had something to do with it.

I had a hard time deciding how to spend it so I decided to just to get some smaller things that I needed, which are:

Lacquer remover to for the coating that is on my chisels, linseed oil & wax so that I could finish the frame I’m making. I saw this finish done on a video at finewoodworking.com and thought it would be a good introduction for me into the world of finishing.

We also got a 4×4 post that we can use to make a garden hose holder that my wife saw on pinterest, and a couple of other small things. Total came to $40.33 and I just happened to have change in my pocket, which I never do normally.

I’ve already applied the first coat on oil to the frame. I’ll do a couple of more coats over the next 2 days then finish up with the wax. I’m not sure if the frame is worthy of the projects page yet. The wood is warped since I have no way of flattening it and it’s only the second time I tried half lap joints. I’ll decide once the finish is done.

Not perfect, but better than I expected on my first try.

I hand cut it with a Stanley miter saw that I found for $5 a few weeks ago. Not the best saw for this, I know, but I want to make a picture frame and don’t have a band clamp or anything, so I figured I would practice this type of joint, which I recently saw in a book, since it would give a better glue bond with the long-grain to long-grain surface area.

I’m showing my mistakes as well so that in the future I can look back and see how naive I was and how far I’ve progressed.

I started by cutting a 45 degree piece on the miter saw then made lines with a pencil on both pieces, clamped it down and started sawing.

After cutting them I realized there was a problem.

Oops, so first lesson I learned is that you have to cut on opposite sides. Silly me, I thought, and tried again.

Oops again. That didn’t work either. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. It’s probably obvious to you. I realized that one end needed to be square, so I tried again and finally ended up with the right orientation. Of course, it is not really square since I had to hand-cut the 45 degree piece off.

Also obvious is that the pieces do not go together well. I cut on the waste side on both pieces so I was left with a very uneven joint. I have not been able to sharpen the new chisels I bought because I don’t have all the sandpaper I need yet, but I figured I would give them a try anyway. I pared away to the lines as much as I could with dull edges. It was also the first time in my life I ever used chisels.

The chisels have some coating on them to keep them from rusting or something. You can see it coming off. I read somewhere that I should get some lacquer thinner and clean the coating off before I sharpen them or it would gum up the sandpaper.

Again, not perfect by any means whatsoever, but I got an awesome feeling of accomplishment out of this, which is what I started woodworking for anyway. I have a bunch of old scrap like this that I will probably practice on again and again until I get better. Sharp chisels will help also.

I’m thinking about starting the cuts with the miter saw, then finishing with the backsaw so that I can be sure the lines are straight. I really need a tenon saw or gent’s saw or something to get finer cuts.

Here’s the finished product again:

The honing guide is apparently a copy of a older guide called the Eclipse. While I was researching the Eclipse I found an article (read here) posted by another LJ called Mafe where he made a jig for his Eclipse that would set the angles up easily for his blades. I thought it was a great idea so I made a similar one.

I used a small piece of leftover 1×6 from my worktable, measured everything, then cut and glued it together.

One side is 30mm for 30 degrees and the other side is 40mm for 25 degrees. All I have to do is put the chisel on whichever side I need and clamp the honing guide down. No need to measure everytime.

Even with something this simple I ended up cutting the wrong sized piece 3 times even though I measured 5 times and thought I had it right all 5 times. I finally got it right at the last moment when I ran out of wood big enough to safely cut on the miter saw. I had to modify the base piece a little because the divider is a lot smaller than I planned, but it all worked out.

I visually checked the accuracy of my measurements on the granite stone.

I set it at 25 degrees first.

Looks pretty good to me. The main bevel looks perfectly flat against the granite stone. I then set it at 30 degrees.

From what I can tell, it should put a secondary bevel in about the right spot. I’ve never sharpened chisels before so I’m not too knowledgeable about the necessity of a secondary bevel. One of the videos I watched only showed how to flatten the back and grind/hone the 25 degree main bevel. It didn’t go any farther. Other videos I’ve watched only show the secondary bevel being honed, giving the impression that the main bevel only needs to be ground and honed every once in a while. I’ve obviously decided to go with the secondary bevel, which is why I made the jig to include 30 degrees.

I can store the jig and guide the same way Mafe stores his, by clamping the guide to the jig:

Mafe did make his two-sided so that he can set his plane blades on the other side (the honing guide has a wider clamp for plane blades which is above the narrow clamp for chisels, thus needing different measurements for the angles), but I didn’t think about it until later. Also, I don’t have any planes. I want to get some one day so I’ll just make another jig when that day comes.

When I do make my first attempt at sharpening (which, as you can tell, I’ve decided to go with scary sharp since diamond stones are so expensive), I will log my experience here. Should be interesting.

So today, my wife and I were coming back from the grocery store and we saw a sign near our house that said “Moving Sale – Furniture, Tools.” So we followed the signs to the sale and I looked around, really hoping to find a circular saw or a router. They said some other guy wiped them out of the tools, but they still had a couple of pipe clamps and he said I could have them both for 5 bucks. Sweet. The pipes on both are about 4 feet long.

The orange one says Pony on the side. The other is blank. I’m pretty excited about this find because the only other clamps I currently have are four 6” Irwin quick clamps and a few plastic spring clamps.

I also found some sandpaper (which I can use for scary sharp) and a 36” steel rule. I got those two things for a buck. They also gave me some scrap wood for free – a couple of 2’ by 2’ pieces of OSB and a few 2×3’s. When I built my 4’ by 4’ work table last month I couldn’t afford any plywood for the top, so my table has just been a frame so far, but this OSB will be great until I can get the top that I want.

Not too bad for 6 bucks, I think.

I’ll put pictures of the table and all my tools so far in the shop section soon.

My woodworking budget is nil, so I was looking for something cheap and decent that I could learn with and I decided on these after reading reviews on several different brands. The reviews on amazon.com are pretty good, but not so good in other places. I also read somewhere else that these were decent starter chisels after they’ve been sharpened. It’s funny how on amazon.com one of the pictures of these shows “Sheffield England” on the blade, which I expected it was an older picture. The package says they are made in China according to Irwin standards, which I don’t like, but it’s what I could afford for now and I think they will be good enough for learning.

I also found a small chip in one of the blades, which is disappointing:

Well, what can I expect for $30 chisels… They also don’t seem very sharp, so I will have to get some sharpening stones, but I’m eager to learn how to sharpen anyway since I plan on getting some planes as well.

I’m leaning towards the method Paul Sellers shows on his YouTube videos. He uses diamond stones from EZE Lap. It seems like it will be easy enough to learn. The diamond stones aren’t too cheap, but I’m planning on splurging a little bit on sharpening supplies when I have extra cash anyway. I guess I’ll have to get some stones pretty soon if I plan on doing any work with the chisels…

Now I can just line up the bottom piece with my line and I’m ready to go.

My first test was on a piece of 2×6. It didn’t take long for me to find out there were problems. It started off fine, then it veered to the left of the line a little, towards the jig. I stopped and thought that maybe I didn’t clamp it well enough, but it was clamped tight. I started again from the beginning to try to correct it and get a straight line, but it went left again and just kept going.

It was at this point I realized that it was veering because the blade was bending. I stopped and removed the jig saw and grabbed blade to see if it was loose.

It was at this point I realized that the blade gets really hot. Lesson learned.

So I thought maybe a 2×6 was too thick and that if the blade twists or I am not right up against the jig, it just can’t correct itself and keeps going off course. I switched to a 1×6 and tried again. It was a lot better, but there was still a tiny bit of travel to the left. The blade does look a little twisted when it’s installed, so it could be that. The lines are still a lot straighter than I would be able to achieve by eye. I’m thinking if I go really slow it might help keep it straight.

The picture below shows the results. The board on the left is the 2×6. You can see how much it veered because the blade was bending. The board on the right is the 1×6 and it looks pretty good. I should at least be able to get some pretty straight lines when I next practice some more Greene & Greene finger joints.