I initially was going to buy a light tent just to improve the quality of my projects to upload. I went to a couple of local photo shops but the least expensive kit started at $149. Walmart had a kit for$70 but the lights in them were suspect. I started to ask myself, “Why can’t I make one of these?” My initial thought was to buy some 1×1 and use Miter Saw and Kreg Jig to put the frame together. Cut out and staple a bed sheet and I would largely be done. As simple as this sounds it was still more work than I wanted to put into it so I didn’t do it. Later I came upon this website which used PVC pipe to build a Light Tent. This was something I could fairly quickly so I was in.

Printing out the dimensions, I went to my local Totem to look for 1/2” PVC. They didn’t have any. Home Depot was down the street but they didn’t really have anything either. The service person mentioned a plumbing store in Calgary that absolutely would have it. Of course I only had 1/2 hour before they closed. Sure enough…when I got there they were not open. I was starting to get frustrated. I decided to try Lowes as a last resort. Strangely enough they had everything I was looking for. Woohoo! I was in business.

I then took all of the parts and started cutting everything to size. I could have used my bandsaw or crosscut the pipe on my tablesaw but the plastic melts and it’s a pain to clean up. I just used my hacksaw to cut everything down and then a quick sanding of the ends.

All of the pieces cut.

The frame put together…

Once this is all done, I went to Walmart to get some lights ($20.00 for two lights and bulbs) and a twin white bedsheet ($25.00 – kind of expensive but I didn’t feel like running around). I also picked up 3 sheets of thick construction paper/poster board for $2 each.

Here’s the final result.

This has made a HUGE difference in the quality of my displays. Let me know if you build one!

Tim

For my birthday last year, my wife bought me a Lee Valley Low Angle Jack Plane. Holy crap! Right out of the box it just worked. I could actually plane something without leaving gouges in the wood. All of the sudden things just made sense. Making minute adjustments was easy. I could finally make wispy shavings. Hoorah! Based solely on this experience, I went out a week later to buy the LV LA Block Plane to replace the $25 Stanley Block Plane and $20 Grotz I had purchased a year earlier. It was also an instant hit. Since then I have been lusting after the LV Smoother and LV Jointer to finish off the basic set.

YesterdayI was able to add the LV BUS to my collection. It’s my favorite plane yet. I can make even finer shavings with this plane than my BU Jack. There is just the right sense of weight—not too light, not to heavy. The controls are perfect. When my shavings were a bit too thick. I just closed the throat and they were perfect. An hour later after planing everything I could get my hands on in the shop, I was in a mini mountain of multicolored shavings. I am no stranger to power tools but there is an incredible sense of connection to the wood when you use one of these tools that satisfies in a way that is hard to describe. Listening to the plane travel along the wood’s surface; feeling the heft of the plane as it gains momentum; watching the shavings as they exit; and finally feeling the planed surface of the wood when you’re done – it really makes you feel part of the woodworking experience. The BUS does all of these things and more.

Now if only I could get that LV Jointer for finish off the basic set :)

I like to make boxes myself and I am continually trying to refine my approach. This video really makes it all seem very doable.

In his very plainspoken way, Doug takes us from stock preparation to jigs to the various ways of constructing the box. Miters, miter keys, finger joints, hidden splines, lap joints—it’s all there. And like many craftsmen I have seen in the past, he does it all with fairly basic equipment (He does have the same Dewalt 734 Planer that I have :). And in many instances he shows you multiple ways to do the same thing when you don’t have access to these tools. Don’t have a bandsaw? Let’s resaw with the tablesaw. Don’t like hand sanders? Let’s sand by hand. Don’t like finishing? Here’s a tip that doesn’t require sanding. All of it well spoken, easy to understand, and seemingly easy to do.

I like the Taunton Press series of woodworking videos and would recommend them to up and coming woodworkers. That said, I really like this one in particular. Get it. Watch it. And then watch it again.

So with the limited budget of a beginner in mind, I thought I would compile a list of tools to get the beginning woodworker.

Ryobi BT3100 Table saw $300
Random Orbital Sander $ 70
Workbench with Vise $150
Measuring Tape $10
12 Inch Square $30
Electric Drill $50
Clamps $100
Router $150
Router Bits Kit $100
Shop Vac $70

Total $1,030

I owned the Ryobi BT3100 and thought for the money it was a great saw. It will not cut 2″ or 3″ hardwood all day but it has a decent fence, a sliding miter table, and comes with a decent blade to get you started.

At this price point you cannot dimension your own lumber which will cost you more when you purchase your wood but you should be able to build the majority of items you see plans for.

Upgrade #1 – Bandsaw

If there is anything I would get next it would be a bandsaw. I use my bandsaw as much as any other tool in my arsenal. A 14″ bandsaw with at least a 3/4 hp motor would be the minimum. If you can afford a riser block, get it. For me, resawing was the biggest reason to get a bandsaw but it can do so much more.

Upgrade #2 – Jointer/Planer

Starting with the bandsaw and moving to the Jointer and Planer, I say start to save up your money to get “the good stuff”. I bought the Ryobi 9″ Bandsaw, a 6″ Benchtop Jointer, and a low end Delta planer. I hated them all. The Ryobi Bandsaw was just too small to do any of the tasks I needed it to do. The Delta TP-305 Planer was a snipe monster. I have a Mastercraft 6″ Jointer which barely does the job. I have since replaced the bandsaw and the planer with equipment that does what I need it to. If I had the money, I would replace the jointer as well.

If you have already spent the $1000 and decided that woodworking was for you, it now starts to make sense to get good equipment that you won’t outgrow immediately and will last as long as you stay with your craft.
This all said, I would get a good jointer and a planer at this point. These tools in combination with the bandsaw allow you dimension rough lumber for your projects. This can save you a ton of money as well as expanding the limits of the 3/4ish material you find at your local building center.

Upgrade #3 – Jigs

There are a lot of contenders here.

Kreg Pocket Hole Jig

The first jig I purchased was a Kreg pocket hole jig. If you are new to
woodworking, you are going to want to start building something quickly but with a sense of quality. The Kreg jig will let you do this. This jig lets you create a strong joint without a lot of clamps. They are very easy to master and do not require the type of precision that dovetails, mortise and tenons, or the rest of the assorted joints require. I can do a lot more now and so I don’t rely on the pocket hole as much as I first did. That said, there is rarely a project that I don’t use this jig on.

Dowelmax

Dowelmax is a dowel jig. I consider this a step up from the Kreg Jig. It does require a certain amount of precision but it doesn’t leave holes in your project like pocket holes. It costs about twice as much as a full Kreg kit but it can improve the overall build quality of the projects you produce without that much more complexity.

Biscuit Joiner

I have started to use biscuits a lot lately. They are another joinery method which is easy to use. The biggest negative to using them is the requirement for clamps. However, if you are going to be in woodworking you’re going to need clamps sometime. Typically anything that will get butt jointed has the potential to use biscuits.

After this, you’ll begin to figure out what you need based on the type of projects you enjoy making. If you’re a cabinet maker, maybe you need a dovetail or dado jig. I didn’t mention how useful a router table can be. And there is something incredibly satisfying about using a hand plane to create “shavings”.

PS – I actually wrote this while on vacation in Mazatlan this past March. I believe that Ryobi has since discontinued the BT3100. You can find them used fairly easily but next on the list would be the Ridgid TS3650 10″ Table Saw. This will add a bit more to the overall budget but I think it’s a good saw for the money if not a machine with a lot of power.

I should add that initially I thought the desk was too square. I was able to fix this with the top units which use different colors, shapes, and size to make it more interesting.

Completed MIDI Workstation

MIDI Workstation

After a couple of weekends of work, here is where I’m at. I use the Veritas 32 System to build the lower cabinets based on these designs.

Design Top

I built the top with this plan.

MIDI Workstation Front

Very detailed plans, eh?!?

The one thing I wish I did a better job on is scale. The space I have designed this desk for is roughly 3′ by 6′. The overall size of the project is 2′ by 5.5′. In retrospect this is probably not enough space. The top doesn’t look like it’s going to be big enough to hold all of the stuff I want. Maybe I will feel differently when I finish making the rack spaces (which will also hold the speakers) and the spot for a dual LCD monitor.

Mistakes

As I said earlier, I made a lot of them. If I had to do it over again, I would have built the sides out of one piece of melamine. Instead I made the sides all of the same size, and then put on the 4.5″ tops. As it turns out the Veritas jig moved twice (on the same side) and I had to plug them with dowels. After screwing up twice I gave up on dowels and used biscuits instead. This seemed to be much easier.

The Veritas jig allows you make holes for the Blum hinge and so I went ahead and drilled them. IF I were going to have the door on the outside of the frame this would have been perfect. However, my initial plan was to have the door inset in the cabinet so I had to redrill holes.

Lastly, I don’t know if I’d call this a mistake but the desk is a little TOO square. There are not interesting shadows or small details. It’s functional and it looks like it will work but currently there is no wow factor (except for the fact that I’m building it!). Hopefully when I add the shelving unit I can make up for it there.

The Budget

4 sheets of ’shop grade’ Grey melamine $60 (It looks like I only needed two sheets)
1 16″x97″ Black melamine shelf $17
1 Black Iron Banding $15
1 Package of 4 18″ rack kit $17
1 Package of 4 Leveling kit $ 6
1 Inset Blum Hinge $10
2 Bags of Dowels $12

Total $122

That’s not too bad considering I will have enough stock left over to build a shop cabinet that will house my bigger jigs including my Akeda Dovetail Jig, Homemade sander, my oscillating sander (when I get it), plus another tool or two.

Tim

PS – Here is one more view of the workstation is it’s current state.

Most of my errors are because of the alignment pin in the Veritas 32 System.

Alignment Pin

No matter how hard you tighten it, it still moves. And with the system being the way it is, if you make one change, you have to check the entire system. I can’t tell you how tedious this can be. Since most of the measurements are repetitive I will be making some jigs to make the setup more automatic and consistent.

If I can fix this portion, I think I will enjoy using it more. As it is, I see the potential of using but it seems to be a very fussy endeavor so far.

Setup 1

Setup 2

While the jig is not attached it is meant to allow me to add 4.5″ sides. This failed (twice) and eventually I had to use biscuits.

I started out looking on the Internet for ideas. I can say I didn’t find much. Then I started doing several drawings and finalized on a basic design.

Lower Cabinet Plan

In a former life I used to do 3D design (look here for examples). I think I am going to have to relearn this skill if I want to really design furniture in the future. I started using Google’s Sketchup and will have more about this application soon.

A (Reasonably) Clean Shop

Next up on the list is to make another cabinet for under the workbench. I still have a bunch of small tools that I would like to organize and this cabinet should let get this done.

I can’t tell you what a difference a clean shop makes to my mindset when I go out there. With a few more tweaks I am hopeful I will be able to keep it this way.

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Tim