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I spent some time with my son in the shop last weekend working on building more bench space.  I’m still in the process of moving into my shop, so all I had was the traditional woodworker’s bench I brought from my old house.  My 13-year old son says, “Why do you need another bench.”  Giving this a few seconds of thought, and knowing this was an opportunity for a life lesson, I replied, “You can never have enough bench space in your shop.”

The only suitable place for a shop at my house is in my two-car garage, so I need to maximize my work space.  And I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, so I wanted to use what I had on hand, if possible.  So, here’s what I came up with.

We built a frame out of some 2×4′s I had left over from another project.  I didn’t use any fancy joinery.  Just glue and screws. We installed 5″ locking casters on the bottom.  I topped it off with an old solid-core oak door.  Melamine board completed the bottom shelf.  I sized the frame so that one end of the top would fit over the motor on the back of my contractor table saw.  That way, it also makes a handy outfeed table for my saw.  See the drawing on the left.

Now, I need to figure out how to organize the space underneath.  I think I’ll add some drawers and some shelves, but leave part of it open for larger items.  In any case, I’ve already put it to good use.  And I was really surprised how steady it is when the casters are locked.

Here’s a SketchUp model of the workbench you can download and modify using Google’s SketchUp program.

I think I still need more bench space.

A few weeks ago, I put out an appeal to the readers of WoodworkingONLINE to send me project images that I could post to our gallery. Since then, I’ve received a response from just one woodworker — a gentleman named Garry Smith. Garry has a super shop that he likes to show off (and for good reason!). His beautiful headboard and footboard is made from cherry and curly yellow birch. To complement the headboard and footboard, Garry also incorporated this matching bench designed to set at the end of the bed.

Now, it’s possible that the quality of Garry’s work has kept people from sending in photos of their work, but I doubt it. I’ve seen some really nice stuff being built out there and I’d like to show if off here.

Yesterday, I received another email from Bill Hendrick of Ankeny, Iowa. Bill attends the weekly seminars at the Woodsmith Store, where we are constantly promoting our two woodworking blogs: WoodworkingONLINE.com and WoodworkingSeminars.com. He wanted to show off one of his projects — a screen door that he built for their summer home in Estes Park, Colorado. Bills says, “…it is a copy of a door my wife and I saw in Maine while we were on a tandem bicycle trip across the USA!”

Most of the projects that Bill has worked on so far are for outdoor use. This cupola is based on one Norm Abram did for the PBS television series, New Yankee Workshop. He fabricated the copper roof, but bought the “trout” wind vane from a local artist.

Bill also sent me some shots of the new dust collection system that he just finished installing. He’s new to woodworking and says he would like to get a look at other people’s shops. The images he sent me don’t fit into the furniture gallery that I have set up, but I’m looking into adding a “Shops” Gallery in the near future, so I’ll post them there when its complete.

If you’d like to show off your work (either projects or of your shop), please email them as attachments to Joel Hess (jhess(at)augusthome(dot)com) and I’ll get them added. Also, tell me a little about yourself and what you’re doing in the shop.

It’s time we got this gallery up and going!

Well, I learned something today. And I have a greater appreciation for our grandfathers’ and great grandfathers’ understanding of wood and wood movement with changes in humidity. Especially when it came to making wood-body planes.

I had always wondered why a “coffin” smoothing plane was made in the characteristic shape of a coffin. I thought it had something to do with ergonomics and how you handle the plane when using it.  Nope.  Uh-uh.  It has everything to do with how the wood moves, grain direction, and keeping everything square.

For some reason, I ended up on the Clark and Williams web site this morning. Lo and behold, they have an article, “Design and Tuning Considerations for Bench Planes,” on wood selection in the making of traditional hand planes. Here’s an excerpt:

There’s another thing happening with bench planes. The body of a bench plane is divided into three sections. The toe and heel sections are solid wood and the escapement has only air and thin sides or cheeks that have a triangular shape. These thin cheeks absorb or lose moisture faster than the solid thick sections. As they expand and contract more than the adjacent solid sides, they force the planes of the soles of the heel and toe out of alignment. This is taken care of on the traditional smooth plane by the coffin shape which exposes the end grain of the sides. The sides of the heel and toe thus are able to maintain a similar moisture content as the cheeks. We prefer the 18th Century style longer planes because the height of their bodies is less and it limits this effect.

The toe and heel sections, on a coffin shaped smoothing plane, are kept as short as possible. The heel, bed, breast and toe are all end grain and moisture moves relatively freely to and from them. The center of the mass of the heel and toe sections, because of the angled breast and bed, will be low and relatively close to the sole. The moisture carrying capability of the rays comes into play here and helps keep the center areas of these sections in equilibrium.

Bethcha’ didn’t know that. I sure didn’t.

Photo courtesy Lee Valley Tools

Last spring, I bought one of two brand new hand planes, both from Lee Valley. One was the Veritas® medium shoulder plane. The other was their low-angle smooth plane. Most of my planes are restored derelicts purchased on Ebay or from yard sales. So the decision to get this plane didn’t come without a lot of thought. And the only new plane I’ve purchased up until then was a cheap little trimming plane from the BORG.

Now, you can read all sorts of lengthy reviews of this plane all over the web. But I want to talk about why I decided on this plane.

Read the rest of this article »

Back in the shop on Friday evening to finish up the Joiner’s Mallet. By the way, one of the reasons I can’t get into the shop on Thursday’s is because I’m helping with the woodworking seminars at the Woodsmith Store. If you’re interested in what we’re doing at the store every Thursday from September through May, but you don’t live in the Des Moines area, you can now watch podcasts online (or download them to your iPod). We’ll be adding a few more podcasts in the next week or so, then when we catch up, you’ll be able to get a new one every Monday afternoon. There’s a comment box and I’d love to hear what you think — good or bad. Read the rest of this article »

Welcome to the Woodsmith Store Woodworking Seminars.

This week’s Woodsmith Store Woodworking Seminar is Table Saw Fundamentals: Dadoes, Grooves, Rabbets, and Laps. Your seminar presenter is Doug Hicks, executive editor for Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and Workbench magazines.

 

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I haven’t been in my shop since last week, but I have a good excuse — I was working on a particularly nasty “Honey Do.” It’s one of those jobs that I’ve been putting off because I knew it was going to take a lot of work and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. As you can see, I’ve been removing old moldy grout and caulk (lots of caulk!) in our downstairs shower.

I spent the better part of the weekend in a cramped 36″x36″ space, with very little light, working on my hands and knees. And for anyone that knows me, I filled up most of that space…and I can’t see very well as it is…and I’ve got bad knees! So I’m not a happy camper. But my wife is, and that’s what counts. Read the rest of this article »