Its Never Too Late For Woodworking

Get Woodworking Week may be over, but don’t tell John.John is an 80 year old Korean war veteran who I’ve come to know because he wants to learn woodworking. While you’d be right to ask yourself why a one-eyed octogenarian who needs a walker is interested in learning a craft he currently knows nothing about, his reasoning turns out to be the same as many of us. John want’s to learn to woodwork because he needs a table for his computer and can’t find the right one commercially.John and I spent the afternoon in my shop where we discussed the basic table he plans to build and the method of building it. We went from hand cut mortise and tenons to routed floating tenons to pocket screws.

This joint is OK.

I know that while steering someone from a hand cut mortise and tenon to a pocket screw may be blasphemous to some, I was happy to do it.

This joint works too.

It’s not that I want John to be a power tool woodworker who only uses steel fasteners. It’s that I want John to be a woodworker. As he’s never built anything, I think jumping right into a table build with eight (8) hand cut mortise and tenons would be enough to turn anyone achoice in frustration. I stressed to John that as much as he’s eager to learn and practice joinery, it was also important to actually building something. The satisfaction and pride of actually building a pocket hole joined table will certainly nurture his love of woodworking more than the frustration of a table that won’t assemble because of miscut tenons.

Just be sure it ends in something like this.

I say this often because I feel it’s important. It is not about how you build something. It’s about that you do building something. Start small and simply. Let your first few projects succeed. Then, once you’ve learned the basics let your interest take you to any style of joinery method you choose.

Or like this. The important thing is to just build.

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A video on how to make a handy cubby shelf

One of my projects for this year is to make a wide bookshelf in the kids playroom.  I want to incorporate some drawers in the bottom and some cubbies in the middle with shelves on top.  This is a good plan for the cubbies.

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The Stanley 113 is a plane for planing curved surfaces. It has a flexible sole, able to assume a concave or convex shape, with a variable radius regulated by turning a large knob. A toothed gear mechanism guarantees the correct sole movement. The #113 iron is identical to the Stanley #3 one, the size being 1 3 / 4 " (4.4 cm). The lever cap and the cap iron are different from those of #3, so you need pay  attention to this detail when buying it. My # 113 was in good condition, just a lot of surface rust. I proceeded to disassemble the plane into its parts and treat them with a  vinegar bath.The flexible sole should be dropped from the metal arms using a punch.  The sole is welded to a dovetail shaped piece; it fits in the body plane. To take it apart I first lubricated with a descaler (WD40) and then gently hammered it using a punch of a suitable form (for the purpose I used a more little hammer, placing a smaller cardboard piece to protect from blows;  alternatively you can use a wood piece of  suitable form). If your sole does not want to move, better  stop the action for avoiding damages to the cast iron parts, very difficult to repair! A common #113 defect  is a mismatch between the iron seat  and the mouth.The blade  does not not rest properly  and could create problems in planing (chattering). To solve this problem, I simply added a  couple of shims (business cards are great)  on the plane seat. The flexible sole should be free from rust. Use sandpaper attached to a flat surface, paying particular attention to the mouth area. The plane must be used with straight shots following the workpiece horizontal axis.  It is also useful for the chamfer job. 

      

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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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I could not start otherwise!

Yeah, the plane, the tool I love more than others! I have many, most in use.I love hearing the sound of the blade cutting fine and fragrant wood chips. No matter if you need to sweat a bit: the satisfaction of obtaining a bright, smooth and above all ready for finishing surface content with every effort.The model shown in the picture is a Marples, glorious mark of the best English tradition, a deluxe model, with a hardwood button to facilitate the removal and setting of the cutting unit and the rear lowered to allow an optimal distribution of power while planing.

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Its been a hectic few weeks here. While I cant say its been busier than usual, my holiday schedule has been a lot less predictable.

The caddies and my messy bench.

Thankfully, Ive been able to sneak in a bit of shop time. After finishing my wifes Tin Can Caddies & the Wand Racks, I had a clean(ish) bench and it was time to get back to work on the shop.

The insulation it coming.

I didnt get too much done, but I did get the rigid polyisocyanurate aboard up. Hopefully Ill also get the spray foam done to air seal it before I have to go back to work.

One schedule I did keep during the holidays was our regularly scheduled MWA podcast. For the audio, check out iTunes or the MWA page.

I hope all my fellow woodworkers had an enjoyable and productive holiday season.

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Senin, 21 Maret 2016

New ASDOO video Shadow Casting Lamp

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Sabtu, 19 Maret 2016

Project video posted! Build 2 small crates out of a single 2x4

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Penultimate Woodshop Renovation Video 12

After spending the beginning of the year working on Pinewood Derby cars, Cub Scout achievement birdhouses and tool instruction, I finally made it back to the Tree House and Shop a few weeks ago. It was mainly a day of Treehouse work, so I just snuck in a little shop work when I could.

To cutout for the window, cut and undersized hole then reach through
and mark the  jam locations on the back of the OSB.

That meant I didnt get too much done, but I did manage to fit another piece of OSB sheathing. This one was a minor milestone, in that it trims out the last window.

Unfortunately, the piece I cut out had the same measuring error in it that cost me 3 pieces of gable end trim on the treehouse (be sure to use the correct scale). I didnt realize it until the piece was hung on the wall and it was late in the day, but this is my shop, so I bit the bullet and re-made the piece.

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Kamis, 17 Maret 2016

New video posted!

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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Making a Jarvi Bench video

I just came across this video on YouTube.  Wow on so many levels.

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New WWMM video

Steve Ramsy from Wood Working for Mere Mortals posted a new video today!