March proved a productive month in the shop. The April Shop Tour finally shows some progress.
Since the March tour, Ive managed to get back to working on the shop and youll see that the back wall is finally finished.
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| After 2 tries, it finally fit! |
Jumat, 25 Maret 2016
Shop Upgrade Weekend
I worked my butt off on the shop this weekend. I ask you please excuse the brevity of this post.
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| The mostly empty shop. |
Because of all the work - and a few purchases - it feels as though the shop progressed more this past weekend than in the two preceding years.
Electric
With a few hours work on Tuesday and Wednesday I finished the 110V wiring in the shop.
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| So many wonderful outlets. |
Floor
Since my family was achoice this past weekend, I took the opportunity to empty the shop and install a floor. I’ll go into more detail in a post dedicated to the shop floor. For now I’ll simply say that it’s nice to have wood under my feet.
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| I just need to make a threshold and the floor is done. |
AC
This was a purchase, rather than an improvement I made (such as the electric & floor). I bought myself a simple window air conditioner after I finished the electric. I installed it last night. This should let me use the shop during the coming heat wave.
Jointer
This purchase was simply an oportunity I couldn’t turn down. The massive old 8” jointer was posted to Craig’s list friday. When I emailed on Saturday it was still availble. Sunday morning I check it out, saw the wonderful care that had been given to all of the tools in its shop and took it home. I have a bit more to do on the shop before I monkey with it, but I can’t wait to set it up and get it running (it was running, I just had to take it apart to move). Hopefully I can get some Infinity Carbide Tipped Jointer Knives to fit it.
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| Aint she pretty? |
That’s all I accomplished this weekend. Hopefully I’ll have another productive one soon. Have you managed to have a productive weekend recently?
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Fine Woodworking Live 2013 Wrap Up
It has now been a few weeks since Fine Woodworking Live 2013. I’m already missing the old friends I saw there and the new friends I made there.
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| Christian Becksvoort made a chest of drawers this big. |
Since the event wrapped up, most of the media recorded there has been published. Weather or not you made it to New Haven, if you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you should.
You can see the photos of Fine Woodworking Live taken by the Modern Woodworkers Association here, at the photo page for the Google+ event they created.
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| We came. We saw. We recorded a podcast. |
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| They actually let us on Shop Talk Live - again! |
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| After making a mess with the FWW audio equiptment, we helped Matt clean up. |
Kamis, 24 Maret 2016
2013 July Shop Tour
Its saddening how little Ive gotten done this past month. I promised to document the build though. So here is my July shop tour. Theres not too much to show, but wait until next month. Ive got a date with the shop coming up.
Marcs On TV In My House
A few weeks ago it was announced that all of the Wood Whisperer episodes would be coming to YouTube. This is great news.
I’m not the biggest fan of YouTube, but I will say that it’s ubiquity means that it is where I consume most of my internet video. With the advent of the ChromeCast, watching YouTube on my flat screen has now become the absolute easiest choice to consume video in my living room.
YouTube is also nice because it’s easy to watch in my shop on a mobile device and it’s easy to share via embedded video here on the blog.
This announcement means that it’s even easier to watch +Marc Spagnuolo. Now that the entire Wood Whisperer catalog will be available, I’ll be able to watch even more.Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.
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Rabu, 23 Maret 2016
My Cozy Shop Floor Part I The Cozy Part
My new shop floor is soft and cozy warm.
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| Where We Started On Friday Night. |
There are many components to a great shop. One that I dont think gets quite enough credit - and one that Ive ignored until now - is the floor. Like many woodworkers with a garage shop, for years Ive simply used the original concrete as my floor. It was there and machines on wheels were able to roll on it - it worked.
As Ive finished up the odyssey that was my shop walls over the last few months Ive thought about the floor. After the work of the walls, the floor would be quick and simple - provided I could get all my crap off of it. When I realized that my kids would be achoice with my Dad and my Wife achoice with her sister on the same weekend I knew I had a chance to install the floor that I had to take advantage of.
On Friday of the big weekend, once everyone was on their choice I began by moving all of the living room furniture into the dining room. Then I laid out drop cloths and began moving my shop into the living room. I brought my Cousin over and together we emptied everything out of the shop except the table saw, band saw and jointer. Then I paid him with dinner.
I dragged myself up on Saturday and got to work. Unlike many published designs for installing shop floors over masonry floors, I built mine without sleepers. To get achoice without the support sleepers provide, I used 60 psi extruded polystyrene (XPS) rather than the standard 20 psi. Between the high psi XPS and the diffusion the 3/4" OSB would provide to point loading of weight, I decided no sleepers would be needed. I didnt do any structural calculations, but so far the lack of sleepers hasnt been a problem.
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| The gap between the wall and the XPS is filled with Great Stuff |
After vacuuming the floor, the first step was to lay down the XPS. I measured a relatively straight line about 1/2" off the curb at bottom of the exterior wall of my shop. I used that line to set the XPS. I filled the gap between the curb and the XPS with Great Stuff. I used Window & Door great stuff with my Pro-Gun, as I have for the entire shop renovation. The gun gives application control unachievable with the standard can and straw. The Window and Door Great Stuff is better than standard Great Stuff because it stays softer and expands less than standard Great Stuff, making installation easier.
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| Air sealing as I go. |
The XPS I used has a rabbit around the edge. I installed it upside down so that when the sheets were laid against each other, the rabbits created a channel which I filled with M-1 caulking. This allowed me to air seal between the boards of insulation.
With the XPS down, it was time for OSB.
2013 December Shop Tour
2013 is over. With it, my year of monthly shop tours has come to and end. Here, I present to you the final tour of the year: December.
Some of you may have noticed that this only makes 11 tours for the year. Im sorry. I dont know what happened to September.
I have enjoyed these regular tours quite a bit. Ive found that they have kept me motivated and pushed me to make (and finish) many more shop projects this year than in years past. Im going to keep them a regular feature through the coming years as the shop continues to evolve.Im not the only one to finish the year with a tour. Here is +David Harms (justsquareenough.com) December 2013 tour. Hes made quite a bit of progress this year too.
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I have enjoyed these regular tours quite a bit. Ive found that they have kept me motivated and pushed me to make (and finish) many more shop projects this year than in years past. Im going to keep them a regular feature through the coming years as the shop continues to evolve.Im not the only one to finish the year with a tour. Here is +David Harms (justsquareenough.com) December 2013 tour. Hes made quite a bit of progress this year too.
Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.
Minggu, 20 Maret 2016
2013 May Shop Tour
May caught me by surprise. I only realized I needed to do the monthly shop tour on the fourth.
Since the April tour, Ive not done too much, but the progress is slowly marching on. Ive begun to install the outlets in the wall and Ive got ever more half-finished projects in the shop. See for yourself.
Since the April tour, Ive not done too much, but the progress is slowly marching on. Ive begun to install the outlets in the wall and Ive got ever more half-finished projects in the shop. See for yourself.
You can see all of the 2013 Shop Tour Videos here.
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Kamis, 17 Maret 2016
2013 August Shop Tour
This months shop tour is a bit late, but thats because I got so much done before the since the last tour (and started August with a vacation.
Here we go.
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Here we go.
Rabu, 16 Maret 2016
Tool Chest Bench
There are two important benefits to accommodate a good number of tools in the carpenters bench: they are alchoices on hand and, adding a consistent weight to the entire structure, greatly enhance stability. On my bench I obtained the most space possible: in addition to the classic dresser, I used the open compartment under the top to accommodate the wooden planes I use more frequently. In the shorter side where the vice is not present there is another space, built in the thickness of the legs and when I fixed some instruments for measuring and tracking.
Of course, the planes are king, occupying most of the available space. The two large drawers on the left side are occupied by combination planes. One of the drawers on the right side is devoted to tools for drilling, brace, hand drill, gimlet, tips etc..
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The Blogs A Hungry Beast
The blog is a hungry beast, devouring two posts every week. Alas, Im running a bit behind this year. Ive installed a bathroom fan and gotten bit by a stomach bug. Neither is woodworking, but both more time consuming that Id imagined.
Tonight I did finally get some basic woodworking in. It really only consisted of drilling, but it was with my boys, so it was still quite worth it. With everyone finally feeling better, we got to work on our Pinewood Derby cars. The race is this Saturday, so were cutting it close. |
| Careful marking for the weight holes. |
I do have a few good posts in my head and will get back to proper woodworking in the next post or so.
For some proper woodworking right achoice, check out my buddy, Tom. Hes been busy in the shop and alchoices seems to find the time to write about it.
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| Night, night, Tom. |
Selasa, 15 Maret 2016
2013 March Shop Tour
March is now upon us. And with it, another monthly shop tour.
While I conceived of the monthly shop tour series as a choice of documenting the progress Im making on the shop, the March tour is unfortunately a documentation of my lack of progress since the previous tour. About the only thing I managed to do in the shop since the February tour was the preparation of 8 birdhouses which my sons Cub Scout den assembled last week.This lack of shop progress is to be expected as life often gets in the choice. What are we to do? Just keep our heads down and steal some shop time when we can. Hopefully your last month in the shop was productive.
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| The Ghetto WorkCenter Boom Arm built last month is now stored on the wall. |
Stephens Step Stool Part I
My son, Stephen, inherited his current bed from his Uncle. It’s a standard twin size mattress with six (6) drawers below it. This leaves the mattress at a height which is a quick hop for an adult to get up onto and a big climb for an eight year old.
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| Stephens old stool is much the worse for wear. |
Since receiving the bed Stephen has used a small stool he made in Nursery School as a step. The stool was a simple project designed for four your olds to assemble. It’s consists of a 12” x 12” piece of ¾” CDX plywood with four (4) 2” x 2” legs attached with two (2) 8d nails each. Frankly, it’s amazing the old stool lasted as long as it did.
Stephen has been struggling to get up into his bed since his old stool broke. When we found ourselves the only ones home one recent afternoon, we headed to the shop and began working on his new stool.
We began by looking at step stools online. Stephen took an immediate liking to Warton Esherick’s library Ladder. As much as I’d like to make one, time was off the essence, so I had to veto that plan. We ultimately settled on a traditional Shaker step stool.
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| Brian VanVreedes awesome version of Eshericks Library Ladder. |
After looking at a few online, I remembered that there was a Shaker step stool in Rough Cut –Woodworking with Tommy Mac. We dug out my copy and used the cut list for overall dimensions and a basic parts list.
For Stephen, that’s where the boring part began, spending an hour feeding boards through the planer and jointer wasnt his idea of a good time.
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Senin, 14 Maret 2016
Twin rabbet planes
Ive made these two rabbets planes by copying a larger XVII century exemplar. The main characteristic is that it has only one open side. As a blade I used a file, properly shaped and sharpened. The body is mahogany, the sole wenge. The metal bar on the side avoids flexion body when the wedge is forced into place and adds weight to the plane. You could avoid increasing the plane body thickness or decreasing the width of the blade, but in both cases these are uncomfortable compromises.
The hole for chips ejection can be easily achieved with a Forstner bit. The body design is very close to the original and I must say that the fingers have a perfect support.
Having only one side useful for working you have to build two twin planes, each working in one direction. One use for wich I found convenient is to finish the rabbets. In this one, made with the circular saw, I screwed the setting of the blade and the result was a visible residual step. A simple job for one of the little twins!
Kamis, 10 Maret 2016
2013 June Shop Tour
June rolled in this weekend and with it, my June Shop Tour for 2013.
I braved the summer heat to document what a mess the shop is currently in and how very little Ive managed to accomplish it in.
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I braved the summer heat to document what a mess the shop is currently in and how very little Ive managed to accomplish it in.
Jumat, 04 Maret 2016
2013 A Year In Shop Tours
With my final shop tour of 2013 recently posting, Ive taken all my 2013 shop tours and combined them into a single playlist.
Here, presented for your amusement, is 2013: A Year In Shop Tours
Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.
Read More..
Here, presented for your amusement, is 2013: A Year In Shop Tours
Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.
Kamis, 03 Maret 2016
2013 February Shop Tour
With the coming of the new month comes a new shop tour. While most of my January 2013 shop time was devoted to Pinewood Derby Cars and other Cub Scout related activities, I did manage to get a little bit done on the wall insulation and the Ghetto WorkCenter Boom Arm.
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Here is part 2 of the 2013 monthly shop tour series: 2013 February Shop Tour.
Rabu, 02 Maret 2016
On Woodworking
The online woodworking community (the Community) has recently been buzzing with discussion about Paul Sellers statements regarding woodworking machine manufacturers and the use of woodworking machines. Some (such as myself) have called him out for the snobbery of his statements. Others have defended him, saying he needs an opportunity to explain his statements. The discussion has been heated, but mostly civil (the Community is a nice group). Enough has been said by all sides.
My point with this post is not to rehash the argument, but to simply state my take on Woodworking. I think woodworking an open craft. Woodworking is open to anyone, any tooling, any method and any wood. The point is to build something (anything), build it the best you can, by the means you prefer, enjoy building it and be proud of it when youre done.
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| Any tool will do. |
That is woodworking for me. Its not that I dont care for methods & skill, I just feel theyre personal things and not a means of measuring the woodworker.
Thankfully, many others, such as the Modern Woodworkers Association, share my take. I feel that to view woodworking as anything less would would only diminish the craft and the Community.
Minggu, 28 Februari 2016
2013 November Shop Tour
With my October Shop Tour coming so late in the month I chose to wait a few weeks so that at least the project in the shop would be new.
Here is November’s tour. You’ll see not much work on the shop has been done, but I do have a project on the bench. While I’m still eager to get more done on the shop, it’s nice to be in there building.
Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.
Rabu, 24 Februari 2016
Build Your Pants Off At Fine Woodworking Live 2013
With the announcement of the FWW Live Build-Off, Fine Woodworking Live 2013 just got a lot more interesting.
When FWWLive 2013 was first announced, the change in format and speaker list showed it would be even better than last year (and last year was great). When +Asa Christiana appeared on our Modern Woodworkers Association podcast to discuss FWWLive 2013, he let the cat out of the bag and mentioned that as an evening activity during the conference there would be a build-off. The details were sketchy, but the idea of conference attendees using limited tools, time and materials to build a project and then judging them against each other sounded like the kind of competition I could get behind.
Last week the formal FWW Live Buildoff announcement was made:
Weve filled in the final blank in the packed schedule with a Friday-night build-off open to all conference attendees. Whether you want to join a team or just hang out and watch the action unfold, you are sure to have a great time as show-goers partner up to design and build a piece of furniture using only 2x4s and screws.
Teams (made up of any attendee who wants to participate) will have about an hour and a half to design and build a piece of furniture. The type of furniture being build will not be announced until the day of the Build-Off (I bet they don’t know yet).
Bosch has stepped up to supply these brave woodworkers with jigsaws, cordless drills, and bits. FWW will supply the wood, screws, and sawhorses to work on. Along with bragging rights for the next calendar year, the top three teams will take home some of those very tools and supplies, plus theyll be featured on FineWoodworking.com.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be getting to FWW Live 2013 until Saturday morning, but here and now I’m publicly calling out +Christopher Adkins and all other MWA members who’ll be in attendance. I expect us to have a team, to build a kick ass piece, and talk more smack than all the other teams combined.
If you’re going to FWW Live 2013, be sure to build a piece of furniture while you’re there.
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