How to make a neander laugh..

[Patrick Walsh]

I have had little shop time in the last six months. With a full time job as a carpenter and then a rather ambitious home reno project that has taken every last extra minute i have had for the last 5 months i was in desperate need of some carpentry that involved a bit more thought than demo, framing, exterior trim, roofing and just about anything else you can imagine up must be done to build a home.

With the home reno project being kinda all encompassing, think tearing half your roof off. Replacing all your exterior trim, a new chimney, siding, and all new windows my shop is a mess and has been taken over by a pile of windows and construction tools.

The first of the year i have to start arather large project building a mess load of kitchen cabinets. Witht hat said i needed to do some long overdue organizing. Mostly i need to get a number of tools up off my benches where i constantly have to juggle them and onto some permanent shelfs.

Oh i also wanted to give the new 607C a ride..

[Patrick Walsh]

I started with a simple French cleat shelf type system. I needed a place to store my shapper tooling and accessories. To date this stuff has no home and is always in the way.

Sorry i did not rotate that photo..

One of the things i needed most was a place to store my air clamps.

I wanted to make some kind of t-slot as that is how the clamp bases attache to my machines. I did not have any t-track and bing broke after the home reno i was not buying anyhting for this utilitarian project.

I devised a plan to make a t-slot out of wood. I know its destined to just break. Oh well, like i said this was as much about mental health as it was being practical.

i started at the tablesaw with a dado set..

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[Patrick Walsh]

I then moved over to the bandsaw and sliced up some small ebony pieces i has got on sale a number of months ago.

Then came the fun part. I found a excuse to use my 607c.

I used the hand plane to square all the ebony up.

I flattened and squared two sides. Then with a marking gauge scribed a line to the smallest dimesion for my four pieces. I then planed the other sides till i had the four uniform pieces i needed to make my t-slot.

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[Patrick Walsh]

Once i got the ebony dimesioned up i glued them into the mahogany/saplele or whatever that pink wood is. Its actually left over decking from various deck projects i have done over the years.

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[Patrick Walsh]

I then used the new plane to take the ebony down to same plane as the mahogany. I also sized the board on the miter saw.

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[Patrick Walsh]

I then put a rabbit in the back side of the board to accept the cleat portion of the shelf. I drilled some holes at the drill press to accept some screws. I cut a few ebony plugs and glued them in.

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[Patrick Walsh]

I cut the plugs off with a japanese saw. I then used a small block plane to take them all the way down to grade. I fished the whole thing off with a number of passes of the #4 1/2 smoother.

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[Patrick Walsh]

This is how it all somes together. Still some work to do. I think im going to do multiple layers of epoxy to fishish. I hope this goves the t-slot some added strength over my usual Waterlox finish.

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[Patrick Walsh]

I also made a number of other pieces for the shelf system. The long shelf with the round plugs is to hold the fence for the sliding table on my shaper. The long block in the vice will be sliced up into a number of pieces. A 1" dowel will be added to each section. These will be my solution for storing my shaper tooling.

Clearly this is overboard for some shop shelving. As i said i needed to do something a bit creative and the monotony of general carpentry 60 hrs plus a week was really starting t get to me. I could feel the need to do something a bit out of the norm that would let me be a bit creative.

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[Brian Holcombe]

Beautiful work! Anything that inspires you to do nice work when in the shop is an added plus in my opinion.

[Patrick Chase]

I then put a rabbit in the back side of the board to accept the cleat portion of the shelf. I drilled some holes at the drill press to accept some screws. I cut a few ebony plugs and glued them in.


Wow, I've heard of putting a rabbit in a hat, but never in the back side of a board. Rabbets are a different matter of course :-).

[Patrick Chase]

Beautiful work! Anything that inspires you to do nice work when in the shop is an added plus in my opinion.

Indeed. I would add that there are relatively few purist neanders. Most of us do what we have to to maximize our enjoyment of hand tools within the finite time available for our hobby, and sometimes that means using power tools to hit "fast forward" here and there.

[Patrick Walsh]

Hmm,

You learn something everyday.

Trix are for kids, rabbits are for easter and rabbets are for wood. Now what if the "rabbit" was a carpenter. Would he take offence to the term or be flattered? Maybe he took offence and thats is why it is spelt rabbet and not rabbit ;)

Sorry musy be all the fumes from the spray foam i just had done combined with the smell of exterior oil stain. I have been pre staining a bunch of red cedar shakes in my basement shop before i hang them. It has been a average of 20% out here in boston the past week or two.

The above two combined are pretty visious...




[aQUOTE=Patrick Chase;2635429]Wow, I've heard of putting a rabbit in a hat, but never in the back side of a board. Rabbets are a different matter of course :-).[/QUOTE]

[Patrick Walsh]

This is it for progress today and probably the week if not more. Opted to sprnd some time with my dogs. Now its time to watch some football "GO PAT'S" !

I'm going to dip the wooden pegs in Plasti Dip then im going to West Systems and varnish all the mahogany and ebony parts. I'll probably make some more of the tooling blocks as i dont see myself revisiting this project soley for practical reasons. I have so many things i want to build and never the time.

I actually considered building a hand tool chest instead of this project. Then i thought i have one maybe two free days before i have to spend a month or two building and installing a kitchen. If i start building a dovetailed case, doors and drawers im just going to shuffle it around for the next couple months.

Add to that i still have 3-400 BF of 12/4 ash sitting in a corner awaiting a bench build and this really was the practical project for the time being.

The shaper corner of my shop is becoming less cluttered. I really like order and organization. My work is a direct reflection of my environment. If my workspace is a mess i have to work ten times as hard to produce a clean quality product. At times this can be a real challenge on a jobsite.

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[Jim Belair]

Now its time to watch some football "GO PAT'S" !



You've got a football team named after you? Cool!

[Patrick Walsh]

I know right pretty cool ehy..

In all serousness i hate being called Pat.


You've got a football team named after you? Cool!