While building my last project I dropped a 4’x8’ sheet of plywood on my plastic saw horses; and that is the end of them. So I was/am in need of some new horses.

This is my attempt at the shop dog. I really did only one thing that I can see different. Instead of strapping down the removable piece with the tie down at the bottom I bored out some 2”x4” holes so that the removable piece can be slipped down the center of the closed saw horses. If you put the string over top, the 2”x4” it keeps it from danging.

Overall they seem pretty functional. The one I build was made from 2 complete 2”x4”x8’s plus an additional piece for the removable cross piece. That makes these a little heavy. I guess these could probably be completely made from 1-by stock as will. I think I made mine spread a little far.

Now I need to make at least one more.

The piece I used for the removable piece was a scrap so that is why it is cut a little weird.

It is about a 12”x16”x20”. The on/off switch is a 1 hour timer. Not only can I set the timer and then close up the shop but when the timer clicks off it is a good reminder of how long I have been in my shop. Seems like I burn through a couple of hours in no time.

Unintentionally I mounted it right by the light and it keeps down the bugs at night by blowing them right out the shop doors. The motor on this is pretty powerful. I used 2 filters on fine one course (blue/washable). The filters are in need of cleaning. I usually just blow them out with my compressor.

I mount my drill press and miter saw on the side of my workbench. They are basically concealed under the overhang of the table top. Admittedly the drill press is a little awkward to hang upside down but it does get it out of the way. L-brackets are made from 3/4” ply. I realize this is slightly specific to my workbench but some adaptation could be made I’m sure. Having the drill press and miter saw mounted on 3/4” ply is nice because it makes it easy to C-clamp them to the bench top or elsewhere.

This was about as simple of a design as it gets. The router is mounted to the underside of some counter top material without a router plate.

I attached a couple of 1×2’s to the underside and used a bolt to attach the table to the inside t-track on the fence rails. The table rests on the TS’s cross brace. It is also nice how the metal cross brace on the TS sits perfectly behind the bull nose of the counter top. That’s it.

When the router is lowered under the table it barley misses the cross brace, but it still clears it. I tried it out tonight for the first time and it works great. When I want to adjust it I just pivot the table up. I am happy with it. It is simple and effective.

I also made this zero clearance insert using the same material. I had to sand the top and bottom of it to get it perfectly flush.

I designed this to fit in the smaller part of my backyard outside our pool fence. I looked at as many online sets as possible and took what I thought were the best things from each. I saved a ton of money by being creative. I found this bigger slide free on craigslist. The rest of the plastic hardware I paid $25 for and brought back to life with a little spray paint. All of the side panels were cull lumber at Lowes $100. Having the tongue and groove panels really made the lower playhouse and roof look nice. I used regular pine and gave it a Heavy coat of Olympic Maximum Redwood Naturaltone exterior stain/sealer. I had fun building this with my dad and father-in-law for my kids Christmas present. Total project cost me about $400 since I found those deals. It would have cost 2 or 3 times that otherwise. I posted the video below on Christmas day so both sets of grandparents could see the kids play.

I watched the “Create-a-bed” video enough times to get a good feel for how they were made and then made my own hardware. It wasn’t to difficult but finding the exact pivot point for the bed took a few attempts on a partial scale model (scrap wood). I spent along time getting the feet/latches to work but in the end I just went with a safety latch in the upper right hand corner. Fortunately, I was able to match it to the handles. This bed clogged up my shop for months and I could barley work on anything else. Finally, I just powered through it to have it done by the new year. In retrospect I could have made this much more simplistic but in the end being functional that is what mattered to me. Now the in-laws don’t have to sleep on a blowup mattress and I get my drum set back.

This started out as a Jakes chair design but after making changes to every piece I think it is going to have to be titled an Adirondack chair. I made it all from pine and stained it with Olympic Maximum Redwood Naturaltone extior sealer. I am donating this pair of chairs to our church fundrasing auction in a couple days.