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Get ready to spend some time in your shop this winter building these great projects. 

The Mobile Planer Stand is just the ticket for giving your portable planer a permanent home. It provides plenty of extra storage space and its outfeed support makes working with long stock a breeze.  And while we’re at it, we’ll give you a step-by-step approach for tuning up your planer to create perfect boards in a short time. Read the rest of this article »

I was working on my long “Honey-Do” list this morning.  The joints on one of our dining room chairs had broken loose from the kids leaning back on them.  Do your kids do that?  Anyway, I lugged it to the shop and discovered that one of the corner braces had broken out.

I found a piece of maple to make a replacement brace.  I quickly discovered that the blade in my table saw was in no condition to cut maple.  As I tried to cut one of the angled ends, I had burning on the workpiece.  But, instead of taking the time to switch out blades, I forced the piece through to finish the cut.  Stupid Act No. 1.  Soon my shop was filled with smoke.  My wife came out into the shop and asked, “What in the world are you doing?”  I told here I was cutting hard wood with a dull blade.  “You need some ventilation,” she said.  So I opened the doors to the outside. 

I finally had this piece cut and it was time to drill the four pocket holes for the screws.  So I chucked the appropriate-sized drill bit in the drill press and started drilling.  The first pocket hole went fine.  As I was drilling the second one, my 11-year old boy walks in and asks, “Whatcha’ doin’?”  About that time, the drill bit grabbed the workpiece and made hamburger out of the index finger on my left hand.  I replied, “Well, I’m breaking a cardinal rule of woodworking,” I told him.  “Always clamp the workpiece when using the drill press.”  Stupid Act No. 2. 

So I managed to get my wife to help me bandage my wound.  I eventually made it back to the shop and finished the job.  I delivered the repaired chair back to the dining room.  And took a nap.

Now, I know better than this.  I fell into the trap of thinking, “This won’t take long.”  I was in a hurry even though I had nothing else on the agenda for the day.  Was it stupidity?  Laziness?  Bottom line is that neither one belongs in the shop.

My shop used to be in a basement.  Now it’s in an unheated garage.  In both environments, I would get the occasional rust spot on my tool surfaces, especially my table saw.  I’ve used automotive paste wax and it seemed to help.  And it helps reduce friction, too.  It makes the wood slide across the saw so much easier.

A few years ago, someone suggested that I try using Bostik’s TopCote®.  You can buy it from the Woodsmith Store.  It’s an aeresol product that dries quickly to a dull haze.  Then you can buff it with a soft cloth for a smooth surface.  It doesn’t contain any wax or silicone that could mess up a finish on your project.  The first time I used it, I was surprised at how easy it was to apply and what a great job it does at protecting my power tools.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that a few of my old hand planes were getting small spots of rust on them.  So I used a Scotch-Brite pad to polish them up.  The thought occurred to me if TopCote works on power tools, why wouldn’t it work on hand planes?  I usually use a paste wax.  But I tried TopCote on one of my planes.  I knew it would help keep the rust at bay, but I was curious to see if it made any difference while planing.  So I slapped a scrap piece of wood up on my bench and took a few swipes.  Wow!  It took no effort at all to slide the plane across the wood.  I was sold.

I also have a can of Boeshield T-9® sitting on my shelf.  I might do a little experiment and see if there’s any difference between Boeshield and TopCote in terms of rust protection and reducing friction.

Until recently, interest in the SawStop Table Saw mostly centered around how cool the flesh-sensing magic of the safety device was. The SawStop Table Saw works by sensing the electrical capacitance of human flesh to stop a spinning saw blade instantly when the blade senses a drop in voltage. Not exactly magic, but cool nonetheless! Workbench magazine reviewed the saw in its June 2006 issue, and you can see a video of the SawStop in action here.

Now, it seems that a recent ruling in favor of inventor Stephen Gass’ technology by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission will turn the debate into one of economics rather than safety. You can read more about the ruling here.

The problem is, manufacturer’s of woodworking machinery are not embracing the technology. And the ruling has led the U.S. government to agree with the recommendations of the CPSC, that mandatory safety standards for table saws be raised to include the SawStop technology.

That’s where money comes in. According to Charles Murray, technical writer for Design News, woodworking tool manufacturers face the prospect of investing millions of dollars to re-tool existing production lines. And inventor Gass agrees, “… there’s a huge product liability problem for any manufacturer who doesn’t have this. People will ask, ‘Why didn’t you have this on the saw you sold to us?’”

So now thanks to this ruling, and as is often the case when lawyers get involved, it comes down to one thing — money. (By the way, Stephen Gass was a patent attorney and a woodworker, when he came up with the SawStop.) If manufacturers of table saws are faced with adding safety features that will potentially cost them millions, who do you think will pay for it in the end? You guessed it — woodworkers!

If you were to sit down and try to redesign any tool so that it’s exactly what you’d want as a woodworker, what tool would it be?

Two of the first tools to come to my mind are the drill press and a contractor’s-style table saw. Most drill presses are made for the metalworker first and foremost. Features that a woodworker would find beneficial are an after-thought, if they’re thought of at all. And the contractor’s table saw, with its motor sticking out the back, is the price you paid for an affordable saw that supposedly is light enough to lug around to the job site.

But, a few manufacturer’s are starting to come around to offer tools with wood shop features. I’m talking in particular about the Powermatic® 2800 VS Drill Press, and the Jet® Pro-Shop line of contractor style table saws. I got a quick look at both of these new tools at IWF — 2006 in Atlanta last week, and are they impressive.

The Powermatic 2800 VS Drill Press has so many features that are great for woodworkers it’s hard to list them all. But I’ll try!

* Single handle variable speed adjustment (with a digital readout)
* A 5/8″ keyless chuck
* Twin LED lights
* And, a new dual laser guide system.

These are all welcome features that provide ease of use and accuracy that is rare on a standard drill press.Best of all is the extra-large table (it has dual extension wings to provide additional support for long work pieces). The table also tilts 90° and has a positive stop at 0°. Its large adjustment handle makes lowering and raising the table quick and easy.But that isn’t all, twin T-slot grooves for a miter gauge, hold-downs or shop-made jigs are milled right into the table top and an adjustable split fence with dust collection port is included.Finally, it doesn’t matter if you’re right or left-handed, because the feed handles can be mounted on either side of the drill press. Whew, that’s a lot of great features!

One of the more impressive new tools I saw at IWF is the Jet Pro-Shop Contractor Style Table Saw.

This table saw has a couple of features more commonly found on cabinet (or hybrid) style table saws. First, is the enclosed cabinet with a 4″ dust port for improved dust collection. The stand makes assembly of this saw significantly easier than a regular contractor’s-style table saw.The Pro-Shop saw has a new Pro-Shop fence with extruded aluminum side boards with T-slots and either 30″ or 50″ rails. The saw below is shown with steel wings, but cast iron wings are also available. A large paddle-style switch is also a nice safety feature on this saw. Once again, you can turn to Workbench Magazine for reviews and much more on these new tools and lots of others in future issues.

Try to forget the obviously exclusionary nature of their slogan and you soon realize that Steel City Tool Works is out to “steal” away a big piece of the market with their brand new, full line of woodworking machinery. From what I saw at IWF in Atlanta, the goal is to hit the ground running with the introduction of 35 new tools ranging from dust collection to bench grinders to table saws.

When I first saw the steel gray and black paint scheme I was reminded of another manufacturer of woodworking machinery. That may have been done on purpose, but I doubt it. They made no secret that quite a few of the people working for Steel City formerly worked for the competition, including Delta, Powermatic and Jet. But they’re not out to copy anyone. Their goal is to offer quality machinery without all the gimmicks.

When asked what it is that they hope will set them apart from the competition, the answer was — service. All of the tools are backed by a full, 5-year warranty and they promise to deliver the best customer and technical service and support possible.

From what I could see, they’ve made a good start. Look for more on Steel City Tool Works in future editions of Workbench magazine.

There is no other magazine out there quite like ShopNotes. Through the years, I’ve used plans from ShopNotes to build workbenches, tool stands, and jigs for joining, detailing, and finishing my furniture projects. My first workbench was from Issue No. 24. I cut my first box joints using a jig from Issue No. 8. And I recently started building a spokeshave featured in Issue No. 84.

In the latest issue, due on newsstands in the next week or two, there are several projects I’m looking forward to, including:

Dream Shop Project: Table Saw Workcenter
Upgrade your contractor’s saw by building this custom workcenter. With a large worksurface, loads of storage, dust collection, and a handy built-in router table, you’ll be able to handle any project. Plus, there’s an optional table for extra outfeed support and even more storage.

Weekend Workshop: Heavy-Duty Workbench
This workbench has it all — a rock-solid base, large top, and it’s inexpensive to make. All you need are a few sheets of MDF, some “two-by” stock, and a handful of hardware.

Best-Built Jigs & Fixtures: Palm Router Fluting Jig
Adding flutes is a great way to dress up a project. This shop-made jig makes it easy to rout consistent flutes quickly.

Plus these great Departments: Readers’ Tips, Router Workshop, Materials & Hardware, Jigs & Accessories, Shop Shortcuts, In the Shop, Setting Up Shop, Mastering the Table Saw, Ultimate Garage, Q&A, & Sources

As “Danny in Houston” says so well, “….WOW ….(best) post of the month for sure!”
My Wife Finishes a Major Project (Warning: Lots of Pictures)

Did you know a Unisaw is a table saw, but a table saw isn’t necessarily a Uni..? (Submitted mostly for the pictures of Keith’s A100 Unisaw, presumably the very first one produced/sold by Delta.)
What is a Unisaw?

There are some true artists out there, and it seems like the Woodnet forums gets their fare share of them who build beautiful hand planes.
Damascus and Ivory Plane

Once Doug had the bending jig completed, he was ready to get started building the legs for the side table.

RIPPING THE LEG STRIPS

With the bending jig all done, I actually started making the legs. The first step was to rip a number of thin strips from 6/4 (1-5/16” thick) cherry. After some experimenting, I discovered that I could bend an 1/8”-thick strip around the arc of the jig. Any thicker than that and it wouldn’t bend around the jig without breaking. Since the finished legs were to be 1” thick, that meant I needed 8 strips per leg, or 32 strips for all four legs. Read the rest of this article »

I work pretty closely with my boss, Doug Hicks. We share an interest in woodworking and digital photography. Each of us spends a lot of weekends in the shop working on projects for our homes. Recently, Doug mentioned he was going to build an end table using bent laminate legs. I asked him where he’d found plans and he explained that he had drawn up his own.

Now, I know Doug, and although he’s built hundreds of great woodworking projects, I know he’s not too handy with computers. So I asked him if he’d used a CAD program to draw them. (And wondered to myself how he’d figured out how to use it.) That’s when he told me he had used a low-tech method to design the table — a sketch on a scrap of paper and some cardboard!

Over the next few weeks, Doug is going to send images of his work to me and explain to us all how he solved some of the problems in building the table as he goes along. You’ll have to excuse a few of the photos though. Doug hasn’t purchased a tripod yet for his camera, so a few of the images are a bit out of focus and skewed to the left or right. (Especially the ones where he shows his hands in the photo while he’s taking the picture.) I hope you learn a little and enjoy this first WoodworkingONLINE construction article.

– Joel

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