I consider myself to be a novice woodworker. I am in the process of improving my skills and like to try new techniques when I build a project.

Some of you may remember my project; the “Workbench of Many Colors”. That turned out to be a great project and I use it practically every day. In completing the workbench, I tried a number of new techniques for the first time including hand cut mortise and tenon joints, hand cut dovetails to attach the apron, and also wedged and draw bored mortise and tenons.

The latest addition to this project was to add two storage units to the space underneath. Each unit has 4 drawers and are basically identical. For the first time on this project I used box joints for the drawers and full inset drawers that would magnify any errors in fitting the drawer fronts. The drawer fronts are book-matched from unit to unit for each row of drawers. The drawers are supported by full extension drawer slides. The bottoms are lined with cork to protect my edge tools from potential damage.

Construction includes a maple plywood box with miter and spline corners, poplar drawer sides, white oak fronts (same as the workbench apron), and sapele for the drawer pulls and trim.

To fit the drawer fronts, I built a shooting board for hand planing the drawer fronts in order to get a perfect fit. This technique allowed me to get a single credit card clearance around all of the drawers (check the pictures).

Finish is three coats of danish oil followed by paste wax.

This was a very satisfying project and will be a great addition to my workbench. I am very happy with the results especially the box joints and the inset drawers.

Thanks for looking and providing the inspiration and knowledge that allowed me to tackle this project.

I just completed my 24” V-Drum sander with the help of a 24” kit from Stockroom Supply. The kit contained the drum, pulleys, link belt, pillow blocks and mounting brackets as well as plans for the box and top. The box was easy to build and went together fast. I took a little more time on the top because I wanted to get it as flat and slick as possible.

I laminated the top from two sheets of 1/2” MDF and 1 piece of 1/8” hardboard. This gave me a total thickness of 1 1/8” which is the recommended thickness. For the 24” sander it seemed that there was a very small amount of flex in the center of the top. Since I wanted dead flat and stable, I reinforced the underside with 1/8” aluminum angle stock.

This picture shows the working end and you can see the motor and drum connection. You can also see the dust rails mounted to the box beside the drum.

is the other end and you can see the hole for the dust collection hookup.

End view of the top and drum.

The sander does a FANTASTIC job. If you take the time to adjust it properly it will sand a panel very flat. It takes pretty small bites but leaves a super smooth finish. After taking multiple passes on a panel, I could detect no taper or thickness difference when I measured using my dial caliper.

Sanding rolls are available from 60 to 2000 grit. This should be more than enough to meet any need. The sandpaper is very easy to remove and install and I can already change grits in less than a minute. The sandpaper can be re-applied multiple times and so far I can’t detect any wear on the paper.

Overall, I think this is a great product and I am very happy with both the kit and my build.

If you are like most woodworkers when you make a groove or a dado, you will sneak up on the correct fit through trial and error. This was my standard procedure until I found the Bridge City Kerfmaker.

This item intrigued me so much that I thought I would order one until I saw the price. For many people price will not be an issue but for me, well, I need to watch my budget. I decided that I would attempt to make my own and the pictures you see are the result.

My version is made out of 3/4” Sapele cutoffs I had laying around. It measures 4” long by 1 3/8” tall. This is an ingeniously simple device that removes the trial and error process from fitting dados to the material that fits into them. Basically, you set up the kerf width of your cutter and the material thickness on the Kerfmaker and then make your cuts. The result is a perfectly sized dado with no tweaking.

The last picture is my first test cut using the device. There was no trial and error or tweaking involved. The first try was perfect. This cut was made on my table saw using a standard 1/8” cutoff blade. The cut was made in three passes; the first two established the width of the groove with the last pass cleaning up the middle.

To see how this actually works click the above link and watch the video at the bottom of the page.

I have been wanting a proper workbench for a long time but between buying the lumber and vises I thought the cost was prohibitive. I finally got lucky and found a millwork shop that made custom moldings that was going out of business. I stopped in to see what he had and bought enough lumber to finally start my project. He didn’t have enough of any one variety to complete the whole bench so I bought pretty much what he had. This included poplar, 2 varieties of maple, white oak and sapele. Average price was just under $1.00 per board foot. I picked up the vices from Lee Valley and got underway.

The finished bench measures 28 1/2” wide by 75” long and 35” high. The top is a full 2 1/2” thick and the aprons are 6” deep. I don’t know how much it weighs but it IS heavy. I chose to go with 3/4” round dog holes because of their versatility and because it was easier to make them than square ones.

This image show the Veritas Twin Screw tail vice and looks down the bench from that end. You can see why I called it a workbench of many colors by the color variation in the top. The top is mostly maple with the front apron being white oak.

The front vice is a large quick release vice also from Lee Valley. The vice jaws are laminated maple and the end is hand cut dovetails. This bench was modeled after “The Essential Workbench” I found at Fine Woodworking.

The legs and stretchers are all mortise and tenon, hand cut. The legs attach to the feet with draw bored mortise and tenon. The stretchers are attached with wedged mortise and tenon joints. I cut the wedges from a small piece of sapele.

This shows the half blind dovetails used to join the ends to the front apron.

To finish the bench, I sprayed 4 coats of poly on the base and used a beeswax/turpentine/boiled linseed oil mixture on the top, I am very pleased with the end result and this thing will get much use in the future.

I have completed the latest additions to my shop upgrade. These are additional pieces that continue with the same theme as my Ultimate Storage Unit and Shop Cart.

The first picture shows the two pedestal storage and worksurface. I modified the left unit to contain extra drawers instead of the lower cabinet like the unit on the right. The shop cart I built previously neatly tucks into the area beneath the worksurface and the two pedestals.

The next two pictures are of an upright storage cabinet I built to hold various hand and bench tools.

The last image shows a general picture of my Shopsmith and work area.

I have a confession…..

I am the proud owner of a Shopsmith that I purchased new about 30 years ago. Over the years we have completed many projects including remodeling, a new deck, furniture, new wood floors and too many others to mention. When the company I worked for went out of business back in the late 70’s, my Shopsmith provided enough income to make ends meet until I found a new job.

I have accumulated various attachments and accessories which tended to get placed wherever I could find an empty spot to put it. If you have ever owned a Shopsmith, you know what I am talking about. I finally decided that since my Shopsmith had done so much for me, I would finally return the favor. This project is the result.

This cabinet holds all of the Shopsmith special purpose tools that I own including a jointer, belt sander, bandsaw, and strip sander. In addition it holds all of the various accessories including drum sanders, drill bits, disk sanders, router bits, shaper bits, saw blades, clamps, feather boards, etc.

The tool trays are mounted on full extension drawer slides and pull out for loading and unloading. There is a drawer to hold small parts and measuring instruments. The sides are actually doors that open for additional storage.

I made some comments on a thread re. air filtration and was requested to post some pictures. I couldn’t figure out houw to post these pctures in that thread so I’ll post them as a project. This unit was built for functionality and not for looks but it does a good job in my shop. I never intended to post pictures of it but since they were requested, here they are.

I built my own and it’s very easy to do. I obtained the blower unit from a defunct furnace at my local heating and air repair company. Cost $0 (thy throw them away when they replace a unit.

The box is built from some thin plywood I already had on hand with some framing for support. The sides of the box are framed to take a standard sized furnace filter of your choice. I installed a filter on both sides to double the filtration and reduce the efficiency loss as the unit works. The fan is mounted inside the box with outlet framed and blowing out. As the unit works air comes in the sides through the filters and exits the box through the front.

I hung mine from the ceiling but it could easily be made to mount on a wall or placed on the floor. I use electrostatic filters that claim to be 90% effective down to .3 microns. I use a washable prefilter on the outside to make the electrostatic filter last longer. This unit has worked well for me and the price was right with no out of pocket expense.

I am in the process of updating my basement shop and thought I would post a picture of the first piece of my project. This is a rolling work cart with a sturdy top and shallow shelves on the sides to hold small items. It has locking swivel casters to provide a stable work platform yet be able to roll from station to station in my shop with the workpieces in progress. The top overhangs the ends and sides enough to allow the top to be a clamping surface to hold workpieces for hand operations or sanding.

I don’t know why I didn’t do this a LONG time ago.