Just wanted to show some you guys where I do my wood working these days. Yes its outside and its exposed to the weather so that can be good or bad. I do most my large work out in the grass on a portable work bench. The worse part of working this way is putting finish on my projects, between the wind which we have no shortage of here, and the neighborhood cats, and my own cats, finishing can be a challenge. I use oil for most of my finishing or shellac.
This is my old bench, I just build a new bench, but it's at my daughter's house where I have been using it to fix some of her furniture. I don't know what I am going to do with this old bench top when I move my new bench over?
Well thats my shop! I hope to show how I make the best use of what I got. I know it doesn't look like much but you will be surprise what can be accomplished with it, remember it's not always what you got, but how you use it.
I have always found the best way to work is to keep it simple, efficient, use quality tools that can be used for more that one purpose, keep your tools sharp and well maintained, and do the type of work you enjoy.
I got a new saw last month and have finally gotten a chance to do some work with it. so look for a complete review in a week or two of this Ridgit 10" portable bench top table saw. I can tell you so far I have been quite pleased with it!
Joey
Theres a change in the air as fall comes to Ohio and here at The Sleepydog Wood Shop. When I started this blog my focus was on starting a day to day working shop, but then the economy went south or somewhere and the shop never happened, and with the way things look now with my health it never will. Over the summer I finally accepted that I am not going to have a shop for a while if ever and started working on a way of start doing more project in the space I got rather than what I was doing, which was saying, I will wait till I get a shop to build in.
Now working out of a closet should not be a problem for me since I was a carpenter, it's no different than working out of a truck, so I am ahead of the game there. One of the first thing I started doing has been downsizing my tools which meant selling most my large shop tools and buying bench top tools to replace them and more hand tools. The next thing I want to do is change the focus of this blog to help the numerous other woodworker out there who work without a shop just like me. I really want to start including some video, but not till I can do it the right way, I do not want to but crappy video on my blog just for the sake of butting up content. I always welcome comment, suggestions and thought from you guys out there and I hope to keep improving my blog in the future, so if your out and your reading this drop me a line even if its just to say hi, or go to hell.
Today, I worked on the mock up for my table. I was going to use cardboard to make the mock up, but found some OSB that I had and I thought I would just use it instead. I decided to build the model @ 1/2 scale. I wanted to play with a couple of different designs one of which has parts that nest into each other when the leg fold up. This is the one I will be building the as a model, while the other design is a little more rugged that design will more that likely will be the full size stand I build for my table saw.
Doing a 1/2 scale drawing on a piece of plywood is not something I normally do for project like this, but I have been trying to show my grandson's how things are designed and build from idea to finished piece; however, doing the drawing did show me a couple of possible spots that are going to cause me some trouble. I noticed that I going have a tough time driving the screws for the hinges in the two upper leg sections because of the steep angles. Now that I know this and will not come as a surprise to me I have time work something out before I build it, and with building the model I can play with what will work and look the best, something you really don't want to do with the finished piece.
Surfaces: That is the the challenge for the build, That Rick Walters at The Sawdust Chronicle's has presented us this year, which fits prefect with something that I have been working on in my head for the last couple of weeks, It started with a friends son going off to college, and him complaining about not having a table to use his laptop on when he is sitting in his chair watching the TV. His dorm is small and the desk is cramped and he can't see his TV from the desk, so to solve the problem they got him a fold up tray that was designed to eat dinners off of, you know the type, every one has them in the closet, the old TV trays! not an idea solution.
Well that got me to thinking, there has to be a better design for a fold up table that has a little more style that could be used as a all propose desk or table and still fold up and placed out of the way when not needed.
Then last week I was ripping some boards with my table saw up on my portable work table which is to high for the task, and I got to thinking that the same type of folding table could be used as a tool stand as well as a portable computer desk.
That night I started doodling while watching TV and after about five sheets of drawings I came up with something I liked, then I drew it in SketchUp just to play with an idea I had, next step I want to get some card board and make a mock up before building the table.
When I do build the first table I think I will use plywood and 2x, because it will become my saw stand, after I know it will hold up I can tweak the design for style. I think this would be a great work surface for college student or any one with limited space, the surface can be used as a computer desk, art desk, dinning table, outdoor tables for the scouts, or a number of other possibilities that haven't even thought about.
This week design is an idea I had for a dog bed. My dogs like soft things to sleep on, now the dog bed pillow works for me and the dogs but my wife wants something that would fit the rest of the furniture in the living room. and well if I have to build a bed for the dogs I may as well a exercise in wood joinery and use a nice piece of wood to do it with. So here is what I came up with. it will have fabric or maybe 2" webbing stretched between the four round dowels. let me know what you think this just my first draft.
One of the nice things about going to a woodworking show is that it gives you a chance to meet some the companies behind the tools that we see advertised in all the magazines and in most case they have demos set up to try. Like when Popular Woodworking Magazine held their tool event and Lie Nielsen came to Cincinnati with all their great hand tools.
The World Scroll Saw Expo was the no different, and it brought with them companies like Hawk Woodworking Tools, PS Wood Machines, Sand-flee, and Seyco's who sells the Excalibur scroll saws and General tools. Every one of these venders had some of their tools set up so you could give them a test drive, and thats just what I did.
My first stop was Hawk Woodworking Tools to talk to the new owners of Hawk Woodworking Tools Nilus Orth. Nilus and his brother took over Hawk about a year ago and have been making some changes to the company including designing a completely new saw the JuniorHawk which is a portable light weight direct drive saw that cuts like a dream.
This was one of the first saws I tried and to tell you the truth it was my favorite out of all the saw there, and if you are like me and need a saw you have to carry around or put away and get out often then this is a great saw, the price is steep at $850, but it is a high end cutting machine.
They carry some larger saws that was already in Hawks line before they purchaced the company, but have been upgrading motors and other parts. Saws are not the only tools Hawk carries they have a rather neat panel clamping system that lets you use pipe clamps on a track and then they can hang out of the way while they dry. They seem like a company that have their customers needs in mind and are willing to stand behind what they sell.
The next I spoke with Barbara Peters who is the president of PS Wood Machines, now for those who don't know PS Wood Machines are the people who developed the Timber wolf band saw and scroll saw blades. Barbara and I talked for a long time and I told her about the trouble I have had finding Timber wolf blades in the configuration that I wanted, so she gave me a catalog and told me just to give her a call and she would take care of me. she also help find some carter parts for my band-saw which I could never seem to get help with anywhere else. Barbara was a great help and if you are looking for Timber Wold Blades and can't find what you want then go to her web site and order direct. thats how I will be buying mine from now on.
Next I stopped by Sand-Flee and played with their sander. I wasn't sure about it at first, but the more I played with it the more I became impressed with it. I could start to see plenty of uses for it especially if you where in the craft business, and after talking to Stephen Raffo and having him show me all it can do, I can say it is a well build machine, with a sturdy Baldor motor. I am still not convinced it would do what a belt driven surface sander would do as far as dimensioning veneer, but I could be wrong. however you can joint a board with the fence on this sander, and if your a scroll sawer or you make crafts or other small small items that need sanding this is a heck of a machine. it was easy to use. and it lets you change the sand paper very easily. What sets this machine apart is the accessories that you can get for it to make sanding them difficult part not only easier but fun, and you can get one that will work with a Shop Smith which is a big plus for all us Shop Smith owners.
Seyco's was the next booth I stopped at and they carry the Excalibur scroll saw including the EX-30 which is the biggest scroll saw on the market and it's a great running machine, not only do the carry scroll saws, but Seyco's also carries General Tools plus many smaller accessory's for scroll saws and woodworkers including a interesting filter for a standard box fan that you can clean off with a garden hose then recharge it with a formula that attracts dust to it. I use a box fan sometimes on my bench when I sand just to catch dust so this product interested me. I might get one of these just to do a review on it one of theses days
but from the dust it was collecting at the show it looked like it was working fine.
There was many other smaller products there like saw blades, sanders, and a sanding wheel that you put on a 8" grinder called a wonder wheel that was like compressed 3m pad that did a good job carving grooves, you could dress it in any shape you wanted with a diamond dressing stone. There was lots of intarsia patterns from small ornaments to almost life-size animals, but there will be more on the intarsia artist in part 3, until then have a great day.
Then last week I was ripping some boards with my table saw up on my portable work table which is to high for the task, and I got to thinking that the same type of folding table could be used as a tool stand as well as a portable computer desk.
They carry some larger saws that was already in Hawks line before they purchaced the company, but have been upgrading motors and other parts. Saws are not the only tools Hawk carries they have a rather neat panel clamping system that lets you use pipe clamps on a track and then they can hang out of the way while they dry. They seem like a company that have their customers needs in mind and are willing to stand behind what they sell.
Next I stopped by Sand-Flee and played with their sander. I wasn't sure about it at first, but the more I played with it the more I became impressed with it. I could start to see plenty of uses for it especially if you where in the craft business, and after talking to Stephen Raffo and having him show me all it can do, I can say it is a well build machine, with a sturdy Baldor motor. I am still not convinced it would do what a belt driven surface sander would do as far as dimensioning veneer, but I could be wrong. however you can joint a board with the fence on this sander, and if your a scroll sawer or you make crafts or other small small items that need sanding this is a heck of a machine. it was easy to use. and it lets you change the sand paper very easily. What sets this machine apart is the accessories that you can get for it to make sanding them difficult part not only easier but fun, and you can get one that will work with a Shop Smith which is a big plus for all us Shop Smith owners.
Seyco's was the next booth I stopped at and they carry the Excalibur scroll saw including the EX-30 which is the biggest scroll saw on the market and it's a great running machine, not only do the carry scroll saws, but Seyco's also carries General Tools plus many smaller accessory's for scroll saws and woodworkers including a interesting filter for a standard box fan that you can clean off with a garden hose then recharge it with a formula that attracts dust to it. I use a box fan sometimes on my bench when I sand just to catch dust so this product interested me. I might get one of these just to do a review on it one of theses days
