# shop progress



## morningwoodworker (May 21, 2012)

*A little here, a little there*

Have you ever felt like you have gotten so much done, then you look around scratching your head and it just doesn't look like any progress has been made?

In the last week or so I have cleaned out the shed a bit more, as well as bring in a bunch of free wood I scored, so it doesn't exactly look like progress. The more I get the old junk out and do a little work on my chair project the more I keep trying to contemplate building cabinets and a router table and so on.

I will take a few pictures of my shed once I get the lens replaced on my phone so you can see what I'm working with. This shed is really old. It's very simple, rectangular, studs are spaced like 2ft on center, it is un-finished with old half inch drywall. For whatever reason there were two uncovered strips that run down the length of the ceiling above where the florecent lights are hung. 
The insulation has sagged down on either side where its exposed above the lights, and not only do I hate touching insulation in general, but its twice as bad when its old, and covered with spider webs. There are spider webs EVERYWHERE and on everything. After I sort through some stuff and try to get a couple things done I feel covered in gross unknown dust and spider webs. And lastly with this being Seattle, and the constant moisture here, the shed just has that funky unused, slightly mildewey, old smell if you can imagine.

So I have been taking scrap pieces of wood that have been in there for years and using them to cover the gaps in the drywall. Once that is sealed up I wont have to worry about old dust, and spiders falling down on my head! The coverage isn't pretty, but that's fine with me. And to combat that old smell, besides cutting wood and making sawdust, I have taken up smoking a tobacco pipe. Someday ill have it cleared out of unnecessary crap with room to sit and relax without being careful about what I might touch and gave a nice cigar or smoke a pipe while I listen to podcasts, or Pandora. Even now I am really enjoying listening to Joe Rogan, or Matt Paxtons podcasts while I make small dents in the cleanup and my Jakes Chair.


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## GrandpaLen (Mar 6, 2012)

morningwoodworker said:


> *A little here, a little there*
> 
> Have you ever felt like you have gotten so much done, then you look around scratching your head and it just doesn't look like any progress has been made?
> 
> ...


James,

You can get a cheap box of Moth Balls, cut the top off and sit it in a corner of your shed, it will send those spiders out to find a new home, and also keep the bees and wasps out of your shop and mice don't like that oder either. You will trade that musty smell for that of the Moth Balls, a trade off with benefits.
Placing a couple moth balls in each drawer of your tool box/chests will help keep surface rust to a minimum because of the camphor in them. You will probably want to air out your shed for a few minutes before starting to work.

Work Safely and have Fun. - Len


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## morningwoodworker (May 21, 2012)

morningwoodworker said:


> *A little here, a little there*
> 
> Have you ever felt like you have gotten so much done, then you look around scratching your head and it just doesn't look like any progress has been made?
> 
> ...


Thanks Len,

I had no idea moth balls had that many benefits. I might have to consider it, but I think I actually dislike the smell of mothballs more that the stuffy smell I have now Haha. But I think I will give it a shot if regular use and cherry pipe tabacco doesn't help after a bit.


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## morningwoodworker (May 21, 2012)

morningwoodworker said:


> *A little here, a little there*
> 
> Have you ever felt like you have gotten so much done, then you look around scratching your head and it just doesn't look like any progress has been made?
> 
> ...


Len,

I stopped by Loews today to get a small box of screws, and what did I find? Mothballs! So I took your advice, I'm still not a fan of the smell, but if I can't take it ill just get rid of em.

Here are a couple pictures of the work space as you can see the patch job is not pretty, but I think It's a good use of the scraps of random pieces of wood cluttering up the place anyway.


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## morningwoodworker (May 21, 2012)

*first addition*

Last weekend I hit the shed pretty hard. I cleared out a lot of old crap and took it to be donated or thrown away. Then I built my first work bench out of the 4×4s and other scrap wood I scored from work.

It is a really simple design that I saw on Stevin's YouTube channel wood working for mere mortals. 




I like how simple it is. I built it in a couple hours or so, and I like the flexibility that I can build cabinets and or drawers later as I see fit. Right now I'm not sure what I will need yet. I built it so that he. Top is 40" at my belt. I built the planter box I posted in my projects on it and its very sturdy. All I have left to do is add a piece of 3/4" birch ply to the rough piece I scored for free.

Here are the photos I took while building it…









When you start building something, you should start with a beer. And if you don't have an opener handy improvise!




























































Next up is a router table, and a table to include my little table saw.

Thanks for reading,

James.


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## REK (Aug 30, 2009)

morningwoodworker said:


> *first addition*
> 
> Last weekend I hit the shed pretty hard. I cleared out a lot of old crap and took it to be donated or thrown away. Then I built my first work bench out of the 4×4s and other scrap wood I scored from work.
> 
> ...


Nice work James, I find that a beer before the project usually shortens the work day considerably.


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## morningwoodworker (May 21, 2012)

morningwoodworker said:


> *first addition*
> 
> Last weekend I hit the shed pretty hard. I cleared out a lot of old crap and took it to be donated or thrown away. Then I built my first work bench out of the 4×4s and other scrap wood I scored from work.
> 
> ...


Haha thanks Bob. It was a rare sunny day here in Seattle it just felt right.


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## morningwoodworker (May 21, 2012)

*rude and crude router table*

I finally have an upside down router! I tested it out and it works perfectly, for what I need anyway.

I built the table frame to fit the piece of laminated 1 1/4" material that I grabbed from a pile of scrap wood by my work. Along with the rest of the wood I used for this. So its not pretty by any stretch.

it took some creativity to get the router mounted under the table. I used a scrap price of 1/2" plexi glass I scored from work to mount the router base to. so I cut a hole to fit the whole router. then I routed out for the plexi glass cut to size so it sits flush with the table top, then fastened the plexi to the laminae.



















To make it easy to access the router for adjustments, bit changes and removal for hand held use I pur hinges on the laminate and a board on the front to wedge a piece of scrap to prop the table up. 









!https://s3.amazonaws.com /ljimg/m6koxyu.jpg!










The only bad thing is that my drill it pretty much burnt out.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and bribe the machinist at work, to make me an insert to slip the trigger handle on and off of the front 2×4. Beer is the best currency, better than gold if you ask me. I mean really, when the zombie apocalypse comes money won't mean S! But booze will be king! And bullets. But I won't want to be sober haha

Thanks for reading,

James


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## nobuckle (Nov 3, 2010)

morningwoodworker said:


> *rude and crude router table*
> 
> I finally have an upside down router! I tested it out and it works perfectly, for what I need anyway.
> 
> ...


Hey, not everything we make has look like a work of art. Sometimes it just has to work. That, my friend will work. Good job.


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## Sodabowski (Aug 23, 2010)

morningwoodworker said:


> *rude and crude router table*
> 
> I finally have an upside down router! I tested it out and it works perfectly, for what I need anyway.
> 
> ...


Not worse looking than my own router "table"  As long as it gets the job done!


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