Shop Tour Mike Pekovich Part I

Mike Pekovich’s shop is a model of both woodworking and building efficiency. More than just the Art Director for Fine Woodworking, Mike is one of the most productive and efficient woodworkers I know. His shop, in the detached two-car garage behind his suburban Connecticut home, it the front-line tool in his efficient work.

The Pekovich Workshop

You first realize that there’s something special about Mike’s shop even before you enter. As part of his 2011 total shop renovation Mike built new, insulated doors from scratch. In one garage bay opening, he made traditional barn doors. In the other he made fixed panels to narrow the width and then set a standard, insulated exterior door between the panels. The custom doors and panels were built utilizing wood frames filled with polyisocyanurate insulation and skinned with plywood. The outside of the doors are trimmed in a traditional arts and crafts door pattern.

The work Mike did on his doors is representative of the entire shop. Between his CMU block exterior and 1/2” drywall interior, Mike has built the walls with 2”x3” and 2”x4” framing, filled in with a double layers of 11/2” polyisocyanurate insulation. This gets his walls to about R-20. When combined with the insulated ceiling and floor the well insulated walls allow a simple propane heater and window air conditioner to keep the shop toasty in the winter and cool in the summer.

Looking down the table saw at the outfeed table and planer.

Within the shop Mike’s big equipment - his jointer, planer and table saw - make up an island in the center. Each tool is arranged to provide optimal infeed and outfeed space without interfering with the adjoining tools. A small dust collector fits between them to capture most of the dust coming off the jointer and planer.

A workbench completes the island. This is Mike’s secondary bench. It serves as a table saw outfeed table, assembly bench and auxiliary workbench. Mike is really fond of this arrangement, and I must say I agree. Given my small shop space, I’m going to have to make my outfeed table serve double (or triple) duty too.

Chisels at the ready, and natural light abounding,
theres work to do on the workbench.

The walls of Mike’s shop are lined with benches and countertops. When you first walk in the passage door, Mike’s main, custom made workbench is on the right. It’s a little bit sorter than most at 60 inches, but it fits the space nicely and serves as sturdy work holding platform (even if Mike would like to upgrade the vises). Above his bench is the custom tool cabinet. A clamp rack fills the final bit of wall space between the tool cabinet and the inside corner.

Continuing in a counter-clockwise path around the edge of the shop to the back wall, you’ll next encounter a bank of drawers capped with a countertop which rests in the corner. The counter holds his oscillating spindle sander and Tormek. It serves as the sharpening station. A small wall cabinet above the counter holds the sharpening supplies.

The sharpening bench.

Next up along the the back wall are Mike’s hollow chisel mortiser and his new pride and joy - the propane heater. Having worked out of a cold shop myself, I can fully appreciate the value of that heater and why Mike is so fond of it.

You cant be productive if youre cold.
A good heater is critical during Connecticut winters.

The final wall (before we get to the front wall made up of doors) houses another bench. This one holds Mike’s vintage Buffalo drill press, his belt/disc sander and his miter saw.

Mikes Buffalo drill press is awesome - and older than I am.

Along the final, front wall the bandsaw lives between the door openings.

A new and awesome bandsaw.

When we toured Mike’s shop in Feburary of 2012 he was working on a cabinet project. You can imagine how quickly large plywood carcasses will fill up a shop that’s already stuffed with equipment as Mike’s is. But that’s ok. What’s a great shop for if not for filling with tools and projects?

Some of the cabinets Mike was working on when we visited.

Youll find out more about Mikes shop in Parts II & III, so stay tuned.

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A few weeks ago, I wrote of how cool some Benchtop Benches are. After contemplating buying the Sjoberg Smart Vise for him, I instead opted to build a Jeff Miller style Benchtop Bench for my Dad for Fathers day.

Jeff Millers Benchtop Bench from FineWoodworking.com

As might be expected of me, I began by milling the legs out of Timerstrand. One of the nice things about Timberstrand is that they come almost perfectly flat. They’re also easy to mill. A few passes over the jointer and through the planer left them ready for joinery.

Timberstrand mills just fine.

Rather than use the traditional tenons that Miller used on his original, I used Dominos (no suprise to a regular reader. I glued the tops and bottoms to the legs. It was my intention to bolt the front and back stretchers as Miller did, using unglued Dominos rather than his staunch tenons. I say it was intention, because as with many good intentions, this fell to the choiceside once I had the Domino and glue in hand. The stretchers are not permanently glued to the legs.

Miller centered his stretchers on his legs, resulting in their being set back slightly from the face of the legs. As it was easier, I simply jointed my stretchers flush with the face of the legs.

The leg assemblies.

I glued the leg assembly in two (2) steps. First I glued the top and bottoms to the legs. Then I glued the leg assemblies to the stretchers. As soon as they were glued up, I put the whole thing on my table saw as a flat reference surface. There was some twist to bench base, so while the glue was still wet I added an extra clamp diagonally across them to try to pull the twist out.

The stretchers glues in and the diagonal clamp to minimize racking.

Once the leg assembly was in clamps, I began on the top and vise.

The top is made of the finger jointed mystery wood panels you can get from the home centers. I laminated four of the panels together (3/4” each to make a 3” slab) about a year ago as an experimental benchtop. The whole thing was about 6’ long and had an awful twist to it.

To make the benchtop bench top, I cut a 24” length off the end of the home center panel experiment. With a few passes through the planer, this smaller length flattened out quickly and ended up just under 3” thick.

The benchtop on the legs.

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Dads Benchtop Bench Part III

With the vise nuts installed and the bench milled to accept the vise, it was time to work on the outer jaw.

The benchtop, ready for the vise.

Miller’s original features a 45° bevel on the top, outside face of the outer vise jaw. I’ve seen the bevel before on many Moxon Vises. It provides clearance to hold a saw and chisel at an angle. To cut my bevel, I eyed about how big I thought it should be, set my table saw to 45° and cut achoice.

Unfortunately, Once I put the vise jaw in place, I quickly realized that the big bevel I’d cut did not leave enough flat surface on the top for a bench dog hole. Rather than have the awkward hole which would have resulted, I flipped the front vise jaw around, and cut a much smaller bevel on the new top edge. This left the big bevel on the bottom, which I’ve grown to like the look of.

If Id left the big bevel on the top, I wouldnt have been able to drill (route) for dog.

To attach the vise I took the back jaw of the vise and set it upside down on my table saw. I also set the bench top upside down on my table saw. I used the saw as a reference surface to ensure that they were aligned, and then I clamped them together with parallel clamps. To fasten them, I simply used screws. I pre-drilled the holes and staggered the pattern to prevent splitting.

Fastening the rear vise jaw.

I installed the legs in a similar manner. I held them in place with parallel clamps and then screwed them to the top. Since the legs were slightly out of square, I was sure they were clamped extra tight to the top before I screwed them on.

Once I took the clamps off and flipped the bench over, I found that that screwing the legs to the perfectly flat 3” thick top was all it took to pull them into alignment. The feet sit perfectly flat on my tablesaw.

All that was left was to assembly the vise.Read More..

Kamis, 10 Maret 2016

Dads Benchtop Bench Part II

Once I had finished the legs and had milled the top, I made the twin screw vise out of a big hunk of oak Kari Hultman gave me. It was about 10/4 to begin with, and after all of it’s milling, the vise was still a heavy 8/4. This was a bit thicker than Miller’s plans from Fine Woodworking, but I figured giving up 1/2 of vise capacity wasn’t worth the extra work of planing off 1/4” from each jaw.

Assembling the legs to the top.

The milled vise jaws.

With the vise jaws milled, I then set out to drill the vise screw holes and make the mortises to countersink the vise screw nuts. I used Miller’s side to side spacing to determine the screw location, making sure that they were clear of the legs before committing (I had made the width of my legs slightly wider than Miller’s. The screws are simply centered, top to bottom.

With the vise screw locations marked on one (1) of the jaws, I set them on top of each other on my drill press. I used an 1/8” bit to drill through the entire upper jaw and about half the lower jaw (I ran out of bit length). These 1/8” holes served as center guides for the larger bits I would use to make clearance for the vise screw (about 5/8”) and the vise screw nut (about 1-1/4”).

Drilling the pilot holes for the vise screws.

After checking that the vise screws fit in their holes, I set the vise screw nuts in their holes. I traced around their flanges and pulled them out.

Then I used my DeWalt DWP611 with an 1/8” upcut spiral bit to route out for the screw flanges. To set the depth, I set the router on my bench and brought the bit down to the bench. Then I loosened the depth guide and slid the flange between the top and the turret. I then tightened the stop and pulled the flange out. By lowering the router until the stop hit the turret, I had set the depth exactly as deep as the flange.

Plenty of clearance.

I then simply routed free hand. To ensure that the flanges fit, I made sure to go outside the lines which were drawn tight.

Too proud.

When I installed the vise screw nuts, I found that they fit perfectly within the routed out areas. I also found that they stuck out proud of the inside face of the vise jaw. I had to remove them and cut off the excess with a grinder in order to fit them properly.

Being shamed into fitting.

With the vise nuts installed, I assembled the vise by inserting the vise screws through the front jaw into the rear jaw and snugging them up. Then I laid the vise in place, letting the screw threads rest on the underside of the benchtop. I marked the screw locations with a pencil and took out the DWP611 again.

I actually routed the nut clearance first.

I used the router freehand to remove a clearance hole for the screw threads and I relieved a small amount on the edge to give just a little extra clearance for the back of the vise nuts.

Ready to receive the screw.

With the benchtop milled to accept the vise, I went back to complete the front jaw.

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Rabu, 02 Maret 2016

MWA Podcast 30 Mike Pekovich

This orginally posted at modernwoodworkersassociation.com over the weekend. If you missed it, please be sure to check it out. Mike was one of my favorite interviews.

MWA Podcast Episode #30 - Michael Pekovich

MWA Podcast Episode 30 - Michael Pekovich (60:03)

Download the MP3

Date: May 30, 2013

By: Chris Adkins, Dyami Plotke, Tom Iovino

Description: Join us for this episode as we speak with guest Michael Pekovich of Fine Woodworking magazine. For show note and more on the MWA visit: http://modernwoodworkersassociation.com

Show Notes:

What’s in the shop?

• Chris
• chisel cabinet
• humidor
• Dyami
• Priming the Tree House
• Mike
• Using props from photo shoots as a reason to build cabinets

Newsletter to come

Main topic

• Tonight’s guest, the 2010 Tenon Shootout Champion
• Mike Pekovich, Fine Woodworking’s Art Director
• Mike’s classes at Fine Woodworking Live
• MIke’s Hobbit Cupboard
• Mike’s Turn Your Garage Into A Real Workshop article

More on Mike’s shop

• Fine Woodworking Best Workshops
• Penultimatewoodshop.com Series on Mike’s Shop

If you’re missing us already, you can subscribe to the show on itunes. Just search for the Modern Woodworkers Association. Once you’re subscribed, you’ll be sure never to miss an exciting episode. While you’re in iTunes, please leave us a 5 star rating. It helps our rank so others can more easily find us.

If you want to find out more about the Modern Woodworkers Association, be sure to visit modernwoodworkersassociation.com, follow the MWA on twitter @MWA_National, like the MWA on Facebook or circle Modern Woodworkers Association on Google+. While you’re there, join the MWA Google+ community for project sharing, discussion and loads of woodworking banter.

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Sabtu, 13 Februari 2016

Shop Tour Mike Pekovich Part III

With the description of Mike Pekovichs Shop done, we now bring the tour, hosted by the man himself.

If you missed Parts I & II of the Mike Pekovich Shop Tour series, you can find them here.

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Selasa, 09 Februari 2016

Shop Tour Mike Pekovich Part II

As I do with all the woodwork’s who’s shops I feature, I asked Mike Pekovich eight questions about his shop.Though the convenience of email, here are Mike’s full, unedited answers:

Penultimate Woodshop: Did you plan out your shop layout, or did it just evolve in and ad-hoc fashion?

Mike Pekovich: When I cleared out my shop to put a new floor and walls in, it gave me a chance to rethink the layout. I had a pretty good idea about the workbench and storage, but messed around with the machinery locations a bit. The main goal was to get infeed and outfeed clearance for everything. I could only do so much before actually doing some woodworking. I used the first project after the remodel to fine tune the locations of smaller items like miter gauges and sawblades and such.

The trick to shop layout is to be able to get lumber
onto and off of your equipment.

PW: What is your favorite area of the shop? Least favorite?

MP: Half of the shop is set up for milling and the other half is set up for bench work. The milling area is a little cramped, but I gave myself plenty of room in the bench area, where I like to spend most of my time.

PW: Shop furniture: build or buy?

MP: I build all of my shop furniture and try to knock it out as quickly as possible while still giving it a little flair. An example of this are the arched plywood corbels that support the high wall shelf and my clamp racks.

This is the kind of shop furniture Mike builds.

PW: Workbench: build or buy? What style? Would you change anything about it?

MP: Built my work bench. Cast iron front vise and end vise. The top is a little short at 60 inches. I would love a Lie-Nielsen twin screw vise on the front. I rarely use the end vise and would like a bench with a wagon vise which I first saw on Carl Swensens bench. My favorite part of the bench is the drawer box which gives it a lot of weight. Also, I use the draws to support doors and tabletops for edge planing.

PW: Do you condition the air? Heat/AC/Dehumidifier?

MP: Wall-mounted direct-vent propane heater works really well. For AC, I have a window unit. I definitely need to get a dehumidifier. I also have a ceiling-mounted air filter.

PW: Favorite activity in the shop?

MP: Shop time is shop time. Its all good. Strangely, I enjoy cleaning the shop. It alchoices used to be a mess and my main goal was to try to clean up between big projects. Now, I clean before every stage of every project, putting all my tools back where they belong and sweeping up, as a choice to take a break and reset my focus.

Its hard to clean the shop with this many woodworkers in it.

PW: What tool do you one the most of?

MP: Hand planes, by far. Every plane I own has its own personality and I end up using each for specific tasks. I actively use 4 different no. 4s; 2 Baileys, a Bedrock, and a L/N. I typically know how sharp each plane is and what its set up for and will typically use some or all of them in any given project.

Only two routers Mike? Why?

PW: Technical: Shop size? Attached or outbuilding? Lighting type? Heated? A/C?

MP: 20x20 detached garage. Lighting consists of 9 4-bulb fixtures plus task lighting where needed. 2500 BTU propane heater and window unit A/C.

You can read more about Mike’s shop in the full article in Fine Woodworking #216 or the new Fine Woodworking Best Workshops.

You can see all my photos from Mikes shop in the Picasa Photo Album or in this slideshow.

Tune in for Part III, where Mike will take you through the shop himself.

If you missed it, see Part I here.

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Jumat, 05 Februari 2016

A Seat Carved with a Table Saw

Ive been interested in sculpted furniture for a while. One of the projects Ive been obsessed with and gearing up for is a chair. The design Ive been kicking around in my head for my first chair juxtaposes a very square frame with a sculpted seat and back (hopefully well).
Over the years Ive picked up Kutzall carving disc, an Arbortech Turbo Plane and a Foredam rotary tool. Ive played with them all a bit. Theyve got a bit of learning curve, but theyre really fun to play with. I havent mastered them yet, and Im still a bit nervous about shaping a chair seat.
I may not need to though. This video (and the accompanying article in Popular Woodworking) show how Mario Rodriquez shapes seats using a relatively simple table saw jig.

This is a very cool technique, which I definitely want to try. Im not sure Ill leave the seats like this (I think the flat bottom could use a bit more shaping), but its certainly a quick choice to make a nice, carved seat.

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