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Like a lot of woodworkers my workbench is used for many duties. Though purists (myself included) may shudder, auto work and home repair jobs take place on my bench with depressing regularity. To help with these chores, I often temporarily mount a machinist’s vise to my bench. But recently the grease, grime, and metal filings that find their way all over my woodworking bench have been too much for me. Not to mention the annoying vibrations and movement that come with a temporarily mounted vise. Enough!
I decided it was time to come up with a permanent home for my machinist’s vise that would isolate the mess and be rock solid. Now, I don’t have a 3500 sq. ft. super shop, so, the solution had to be compact. And, of course, have some storage space for files and hammer and a hook onto the side for my hacksaw.
What I came up with is a very simple wall mounted stand made of several layers of laminated plywood (mass matters). The joinery is simple: butt joints and screws. The main thing to note is that all of the shock and vibration that the vise encounters is transmitted to the wall and straight down to the floor.
My new vise stand may not prevent the unwanted auto and home repair work from coming into my shop, but at least it will help quarantine it.

It’s hard to underestimate the importance of the table saw in the modern home workshop. It’s great for ripping, crosscutting, cutting sheet goods down to size, and it handles dadoes, rabbets, and grooves with ease. But what if it hasn’t been set up correctly? Then it’s just a big anchor in the middle of an unused shop.

Vince Ancona takes us step-by-step through his routine for accurate set up and maintenance of a table saw. By the end of the seminar, you’ll have learned how to vastly improve the quality of the cuts you make with your table saw.

Get the seminar guide here: Table Saw Set Up & Maintenance

 

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I asked associate editor Randy Maxey why hand planes are an important part of a modern woodworking shop? Here is what he told me:

“I know a lot of people think I use hand planes just because I’m old-fashioned. The truth is, I love my machines. But if you want to do quality work in your wood shop, you need to learn to use hand planes. I use at least one of the three planes I’m demonstrating almost every time I’m in the shop. It has changed the way I do woodworking. I really agree with a line I read once in an old, old issue of Woodsmith magazine. It said, ‘…no machine can come close to the quality of work a hand plane will do.’”

Get the seminar guide here: Three Hand Planes Every Shop Should Have

 

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Phil Huber, a senior editor for ShopNotes magazine details in this seminar all the steps necessary for building a sturdy set of drawers on a router table.

First, he’ll demonstrate how to build drawers using a specialized drawer joint bit in just two simple steps. Then, for those of us who choose not to buy the special bit, Phil will take us through the steps of building drawers with an ordinary 1/4″-dia. straight bit.

Get the Seminar Guide here: Building Drawers Using Drawer Joint Bits

 

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The latest issue of ShopNotes magazine will be in your mailbox or hitting the newsstands soon. In this issue, instead of our regular three projects for your home workshop, you’ll find four projects.

The first is an incredible set of Calipers and Dividers. All four tools were designed by Chris Fitch, senior project designer for ShopNotes and Woodsmith. They’re so easy to make. All it takes are some basic tools you probably already have: a hacksaw, a few files, and a drill press. Another project designed by Chris are what we affectionately called the “hamster caskets” while they were being built. Chris wrote about the design process here a few weeks ago.

We made three versions of these Sharpening Stone Storage Boxes for the article. As you can see in the photo, Chris also designed several alternate versions. The outside profiles can be made with a table saw, router, or band saw and the recess on the inside of the boxes is made using a hand-held router and a simple shop-made template.

You’ll also find a great new jig for the table saw (photo at left). This handy Precision-Cutting Jig makes the table saw (normally a great tool for heavy work) a perfect tool for cutting small parts.

Finally, we’ve strayed from the shop just a bit with a fantastic new Modular Garage Storage unit. Inexpensive and easy to build, this wall-mounted
system is a great way to add versatile storage to the garage.

The older I get, it seems I’m making more frequent trips to the doctor’s office. If it’s not for an exam, there’s blood to be drawn for lab tests. As my dad is fond of saying, “It stinks getting old.”

But fortunately, woodworking is one of those hobbies that can help keep us — more specifically, our brains — younger. I ran across this article this morning in the Imperial Valley News out of San Diego.

To quote the article:

“A hobby like woodworking, which stimulates the mind through complex measurements, visualization and creative problem solving, can have significant positive effects on the aging brain.”

To me, it’s just another reason to head out to the shop.

We have an easy and fun project coming up in the next issue of ShopNotes that I think you’ll really like. It is sharpening stone box. I got the idea few months ago when I caught sight of a small box on Vince’s (managing editor of Woodsmith) desk. It was a sharpening stone box that Vince made patterned after one in an early 20th century book on woodworking.

What’s fun about the design of the box is that both the top and bottom are made from single pieces of wood that have been hogged out to accept the sharpening stone. The top had a routed edge and the bottom had a band-sawn profile. A simple, direct, and very appealing evening project with as many variations as you can think of.

Now, the heart of this project is creating the cavity for the sharpening stone and as simple as this might seem it took a few tries to get right. I thought about just chiseling them out. But, years ago I had made some boxes for carving tools that were carved from solid slabs and based on that experience, I knew this method was out. Next, I tried using a Forstner bit and then cleaning things up with a chisel. This worked OK but left an ugly bottom full of dimples and circles from the bit.

Then, I went to the router table and  made a template with a rectangular cutout that registered off of the outside of  the top and bottom of the sharpening stone box. To figure the size of the opening  just take the width or length of the stone, double that number, add 1/16″ extra for play, subtract the diameter of the router bit, and add the desired  wall thickness of the box, twice (confused yet?). Plunge cut this opening in some plywood to make a template, clamp it to the router table centered around the router bit with spacers to let out the sawdust, and  then impale the blank on a spiral router bit  and remove the waste, carefully, since you can’t see the bit. And there you go.

I can say that this method worked. But I can’t say it was simple, or easy, or felt comfortable. Later, Joel, the editor for this project diplomatically asked, “Is there a reason why you did it this way?” rather that just saying “Chris, this is a stupid way to make these boxes.” Joel and the ShopNotes staff had a project meeting and devised a much simpler approach. Their idea was to just use a template cut to the exact size of the desired opening and to use an upper bearing hinge mortising bit, it keeps everything in plain view — no critical dimensioning, easy, straightfoward, and safe. I had made the process overly complicated. I should have slowed down and taken the time to ask myself a few questions about the method of building: Is it accurate? Is it safe? Is it simple? Am I getting the results that I want? The lesson here is that you need to take the time to ask the right questions if you want to get the right answers.

I ended up making nearly a dozen boxes and really enjoyed coming up with appealing looks. These boxes are simple to build and a lot of fun. And, it’s a great project to use up some of those cutoffs and wood “treasures” that you’ve got squirreled away. If you decide to build a sharpening box, please send us a picture, we would love to see what you’ve done. (Pictures should be sent as attachments to cfitchATaugusthomeDOTcom.)

When I saw the old, gas barbecue grill that my neighbor had thrown away, it gave me an idea. The metal frame of the grill would make a perfect roll-around tool stand for my miter saw.
All I had to do was remove the tank and grill, paint the metal frame, and then build a couple of table supports.
The miter saw is mounted to a 3/4″ plywood base that’s bolted to the frame. Two open-ended boxes serve as the table supports. (Just be sure they’re flush with the surface of the miter saw table.) I even added a pull-out bin to hold short cut-off pieces.
You can get more interesting woodworking e-tips like this each week from the editors of Woodsmith Magazine just for the asking. Go here and sign up. It’s free.

One of things I most appreciate about the designers at ShopNotes Magazine is that their shop benches, cabinets, and tool racks are as attractive and well-designed as any furniture project you may be building in the shop. This wall-mounted tool rack is no exception, another in a long line of ShopNotes fixtures I wish I had in my shop. (Actually, several of them are in my shop.)
It’s considered a weekend project, and I suppose it is if you’ve got a shop full of tools and know how to use them. I expect I’d take a couple weekends to build it–why rush the fun? You can get a look at this and the other projects and techniques in the latest issue, ShopNotes No. 104, on the website. Check out the subscription offer while you’re there, and get yourself a free preview issue.

It’s time I finally addressed this topic. The seminar podcasts are NOT being discontinued.

As you know, August Home Publishing has branched out into television. The Woodsmith Shop just started its second season, which means our video production crew has been extremely busy taping and editing the shows that you’re now watching. Unfortunately, this means that podcast video production has been put on the back-burner.

We have been taping the seminars at the Woodsmith Store though and as soon as we get caught up, the podcasts will begin again. Thanks for your interest in the podcasts and I apologize for not keeping everyone up-to-date on our progress. Look for a new Woodsmith Seminar Podcast within the next few weeks.