# Upgrading my shop!



## kmh2412 (Feb 8, 2012)

*Refinishing an old Craftsman jointer and building a stand.*

I've been needing to make some additions and upgrades to my small shop for a while. Just a few things I had in mind were a miter saw station, a jointer, a woodworkers bench, and a spindal sander with a workstation for it.

Right now my miter saw is sitting on a 10 foot bench that it shares with a bench top bandsaw and drill press. I want to build a miter saw station not only to move my saw away from other tools but to also have support for boards I'm cutting on either side of the table. I also want a longer fence for accuracy and for setting stop blocks.

Today I started building a table to hold an old Craftsman jointer that my uncle gave me. I wasn't sure at first if I was going to put the time into fixing the jointer up or not. I had looked at possibly buying a new jointer and I also looked at some used ones, but was a little late in making an offer. I am still probably going to buy a bigger jointer some time, but figured I can use the Craftsman until then. Plus I'm on a limited budget right now. I went out this morning and checked to make sure all the handles and locks worked and that the infeed table moved freely, which everything was ok. Then I soaked the thing down with penetrating oil and began sanding all the rust off. I put a decent amount of work into it, but it turned out pretty good. The table is a little pitted especially the outfeed table, but everything is flat. I put a coat of paint on the sides and the guards, and cleaned up the fence which is cast aluminum. Then I put some paste wax on the table and buffed it out. After all of that I began building a stand for it. All the lumber I used so far was salvaged from old benches and other old lumber that I had. After looking for hidden nails, and a few trips through the planer the lumber looked new again. The legs connect to the top frame with half lap joints. The bottom frame sits in a dado that I cut into the legs.

The first couple pictures show the jointer before I refinished it. The next couple show the jointer after finishing. Then a few picures of the stand so far. I still have to rout a rabbit into the top frame which will hold the plywood that the jointer will be bolted to. I'm also still going to cut feet that the legs will attach to with a dado. The feet will give the stand a little more width and make it more stable. Next I'm going to cut a small piece of plywood that the motor will be attached to with slots cut in the sides, with bolts holding it down to the bottom frame. The slots will allow me to slide the motor until I have the belt tight enough. So far total cost a few bucks for paint and screws. As I get more work done to it I will add more picures and more blogs. Thanks for looking. P.S. Thanks for the jointer Uncle Dan!



























































































Click here to see the 2nd part of this blog!


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## NormG (Mar 5, 2010)

kmh2412 said:


> *Refinishing an old Craftsman jointer and building a stand.*
> 
> I've been needing to make some additions and upgrades to my small shop for a while. Just a few things I had in mind were a miter saw station, a jointer, a woodworkers bench, and a spindal sander with a workstation for it.
> 
> ...


That is certainly a very old and very good jointer. Nice job on the refurbish and the stand


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

kmh2412 said:


> *Refinishing an old Craftsman jointer and building a stand.*
> 
> I've been needing to make some additions and upgrades to my small shop for a while. Just a few things I had in mind were a miter saw station, a jointer, a woodworkers bench, and a spindal sander with a workstation for it.
> 
> ...


way to knock the crust off that bad boy … its lookin good.


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## kmh2412 (Feb 8, 2012)

*The Jointer Table is finished*

Today I cut feet, milled dadoes in them and attached them to the legs of the table. 








Then I routed a rabbit in the top frame to accept 3/4 in OSB. After I cut the OSB, I marked out and drilled holes for bolting the jointer down. Then I marked out where the belt would go through the table to attach to the motor.
















After that it was just a matter of bolting the motor to a piece of plywood and drilling and cutting some slots in the plywood to give me some adjustment for tightening the belt. I attached a switch to the leg, and to finish up I added a hook on the other side to hold the cord when not in use. The hook was my wife's idea. 
























The only thing left to do now is add a cover to the switch and give the table a coat of BLO. Hopefully that will be tomorrow.
Thanks for looking.
Oh and the cost is still only up to a few bucks for the paint I used on the jointer. The lumber has a few cracks and some predrilled holes in it from previous uses but it still works.

UPDATE

Here is the picture of the stand with a coat of BLO cut 2:1 with mineral spirits.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

kmh2412 said:


> *The Jointer Table is finished*
> 
> Today I cut feet, milled dadoes in them and attached them to the legs of the table.
> 
> ...


Youre really comin along quickly on this one and its looking good for sure. I hope the jointer will serve you well.


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## kmh2412 (Feb 8, 2012)

kmh2412 said:


> *The Jointer Table is finished*
> 
> Today I cut feet, milled dadoes in them and attached them to the legs of the table.
> 
> ...


Thanks chrisstef, after I put it together I jointed a few boards to try it out, worked great. After all the work, having something come together like this is awsome.


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## cabmaker (Sep 16, 2010)

kmh2412 said:


> *The Jointer Table is finished*
> 
> Today I cut feet, milled dadoes in them and attached them to the legs of the table.
> 
> ...


That old craftsman ought to hold you for a while and that new stand will really make it user friendly. Enjoy


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

kmh2412 said:


> *The Jointer Table is finished*
> 
> Today I cut feet, milled dadoes in them and attached them to the legs of the table.
> 
> ...


No better feeling than takin somethin apart, putting it back together, and havign it work like its supposed to. I might throw out a suggestion and say replace that belt. For $25 you can get a link belt from HF … it made a bunch of difference in vibrations on my jointer.


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## kmh2412 (Feb 8, 2012)

kmh2412 said:


> *The Jointer Table is finished*
> 
> Today I cut feet, milled dadoes in them and attached them to the legs of the table.
> 
> ...


Thanks chrisstef, I'll defenitely check them out.


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## PapaJimG (Jun 12, 2014)

kmh2412 said:


> *The Jointer Table is finished*
> 
> Today I cut feet, milled dadoes in them and attached them to the legs of the table.
> 
> ...


Hi There! I liked your idea so much that I built a stand for a old Rockwell jointer a neighbor gave me. I made a few modifications, and here's how it turned out.


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## kmh2412 (Feb 8, 2012)

*My new (used) jointer and the beginning of my Mitersaw station.*

My biggest problem is I try to do to many things at one time cause I can never decide what to work on 1st. Now that the old Craftsman benchtop jointer I was working on is finished I decided to start on my new mitersaw station. I'm on a pretty tight budget right now so the mitersaw station is being built out of 3/4 in plywood from an old set of cabinets that I tore apart. It was a nice suprise to find that the entire cabinet was 3/4 in thich ply. As you can see in the pictures it is still pretty rough, but coming along nicely. I still have to add 1/4 in. plywood to the back and add shelving inside. When finished with construction I'm gonna paint the cabinet and apply hardwood edging to the tabletop. 
























The jointer is a Bridgewood BW6R that my brother picked up for me from cl in his area. I've been looking for a floor model 6 in. jointer for sometime that I could afford, and he finally found one for me (thanks Ryan). I'm not too worried about Bridgewood being out of business, seems like they were very good machines, and the distributer has reopened under CH Wilke inc. and I hear they have many of the parts for the Bridgewood machines. I'm still gonna keep the Craftsman I cleaned up and built the stand for. I'll just use it for the smaller stuff.








Thanks for looking.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

kmh2412 said:


> *My new (used) jointer and the beginning of my Mitersaw station.*
> 
> My biggest problem is I try to do to many things at one time cause I can never decide what to work on 1st. Now that the old Craftsman benchtop jointer I was working on is finished I decided to start on my new mitersaw station. I'm on a pretty tight budget right now so the mitersaw station is being built out of 3/4 in plywood from an old set of cabinets that I tore apart. It was a nice suprise to find that the entire cabinet was 3/4 in thich ply. As you can see in the pictures it is still pretty rough, but coming along nicely. I still have to add 1/4 in. plywood to the back and add shelving inside. When finished with construction I'm gonna paint the cabinet and apply hardwood edging to the tabletop.
> 
> ...


i tell ya my floor model jointer has changed my work for the better. No longer fighting for crisp clean edges and a flat face has been awesome. Good luck on the mods!


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## muddyjeepxj (Feb 23, 2012)

kmh2412 said:


> *My new (used) jointer and the beginning of my Mitersaw station.*
> 
> My biggest problem is I try to do to many things at one time cause I can never decide what to work on 1st. Now that the old Craftsman benchtop jointer I was working on is finished I decided to start on my new mitersaw station. I'm on a pretty tight budget right now so the mitersaw station is being built out of 3/4 in plywood from an old set of cabinets that I tore apart. It was a nice suprise to find that the entire cabinet was 3/4 in thich ply. As you can see in the pictures it is still pretty rough, but coming along nicely. I still have to add 1/4 in. plywood to the back and add shelving inside. When finished with construction I'm gonna paint the cabinet and apply hardwood edging to the tabletop.
> 
> ...


The miter station is coming along very nicely. As for the jointer…..You're welcome!!! Can't wait to see all your upgrades.


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## rodman40 (Jan 11, 2012)

kmh2412 said:


> *My new (used) jointer and the beginning of my Mitersaw station.*
> 
> My biggest problem is I try to do to many things at one time cause I can never decide what to work on 1st. Now that the old Craftsman benchtop jointer I was working on is finished I decided to start on my new mitersaw station. I'm on a pretty tight budget right now so the mitersaw station is being built out of 3/4 in plywood from an old set of cabinets that I tore apart. It was a nice suprise to find that the entire cabinet was 3/4 in thich ply. As you can see in the pictures it is still pretty rough, but coming along nicely. I still have to add 1/4 in. plywood to the back and add shelving inside. When finished with construction I'm gonna paint the cabinet and apply hardwood edging to the tabletop.
> 
> ...


Kevin. when I finish extending my shop to have more floor space,that's one of the many improvements that I plan on. I get tired of moving my miter saw around the shop when I need it, [it sits on the floor a majority of the time]so a permanent stand will be great.


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## kmh2412 (Feb 8, 2012)

kmh2412 said:


> *My new (used) jointer and the beginning of my Mitersaw station.*
> 
> My biggest problem is I try to do to many things at one time cause I can never decide what to work on 1st. Now that the old Craftsman benchtop jointer I was working on is finished I decided to start on my new mitersaw station. I'm on a pretty tight budget right now so the mitersaw station is being built out of 3/4 in plywood from an old set of cabinets that I tore apart. It was a nice suprise to find that the entire cabinet was 3/4 in thich ply. As you can see in the pictures it is still pretty rough, but coming along nicely. I still have to add 1/4 in. plywood to the back and add shelving inside. When finished with construction I'm gonna paint the cabinet and apply hardwood edging to the tabletop.
> 
> ...


Chrisstef, I can't wait to start using it I'm sure it's gonna change my work for the better as well. Thanks Ryan a couple more days and you can see it in person. Rodman, yeah same here I was always moving that poor saw around. I made the dimensions of this workstation so that an 8 foot board can lay across the left bench to be able to cut just the end off, also if I cut a 8 footer in half a 4 foot piece will rest on the right hand bench. It takes up more room than the type with folding tables but I can definetly use the storage under the bench as well. Good luck extending the shop, hope it goes well.


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## kmh2412 (Feb 8, 2012)

*Quick and cheap router table*









































I've been wanting to get my new router table built for a while. I could have used it on almost every project I have been working on. It was just time to replace my old skil router and table. I got a router lift for my Bosch router from my in-laws for Christmas. So today I squared up a piece of laminated particle board that I had gotten from work for free. Then I cut a few pieces of laminated particle board I had laying around the shop to make a fence. I still need to get a router base plate but until I have the extra money I just mounted the lift right to the particle board with some longer screws I picked up at the hardware store. So I predrilled holes for the mounting screws and also for the T-handle for adjusting the router height. I made the fence so that it could be reversible between a short fence and a longer one, but I'll probably only use the longer side that is in the pictures. I closed in around the bit opening and drilled a 2 1/4 inch hole for my dust separator to attach. I drilled holes for the ends of 1/4 inch carriage bolts to fit through and cut slots for the bolts to slide in to adjust the fence in and out. Making it this way all I have to do to remove the fence is loosen the wing nuts and slide the fence the whole way back and lift the whole thing up off the table. The whole thing is usable now setting on trussel benches, but eventually I'm gonna build a closed in stand for it to be mounted to. I also have T-track that I will attach to the fence for feather boards and stops. I'll probably also install a threaded insert so I can add a small shaft for freehand routing. I have a 2 inch opening that works for most of the bits I'll be using for now, and hopefully I'll have my router base plate by the time I need a larger opening. Still shopping around for the best router base plate at a good price any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## Bigrock (Apr 16, 2010)

kmh2412 said:


> *Quick and cheap router table*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looks like it will work.
one question. What are you going to do to the laminate to make material slide easy over the surfaces?


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## RandyM68 (Jan 20, 2012)

kmh2412 said:


> *Quick and cheap router table*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It looks good to me. I would just wax the top if it's a problem.


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## kmh2412 (Feb 8, 2012)

kmh2412 said:


> *Quick and cheap router table*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The laminate is actually pretty slippery, which is why I used it over plywood. Other than that wax is always an option to keep it that way.


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## toeachhisown (Eddie) (Mar 30, 2011)

kmh2412 said:


> *Quick and cheap router table*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


thats going to be a fine table,like the set up


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## Owen_B (Nov 25, 2015)

kmh2412 said:


> *Quick and cheap router table*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice setup, very practical!


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