Michael Lutz
01-24-2008, 9:58 PM
Lately, I have been pulled in all different directions.
Firstly, I tired of some of the posts in the General Forum. So I started reading posts in the turners forum last fall. I was impressed with a lot of the work of the posters. I have a mini lathe and have done some pens in the past. They were OK. I didn't like spending money for the pen kits so after making several for myself and others I stopped. I saw a bowl that had been turned and determined I could do that. Except I needed a bowl gouge and didn't have the slightest clue as to how to turn a bowl. I have a wooded yard so I would have free wood. I started lusting after all the larger lathes eveyone had. For christmas I received some Richard Raffan turning books which I have been reading.
Secondly, for christmas I received my first Festool a ETS 150/3. I went to my local Woodcraft to get an adaptor to connect the sander to my Fein Vac with my Porter Cable hose. I picked up the Festool 2007 catalog. I have been paging through it almost continuosly since then. I am debating over my next purchase will it be the OF1400 or OF1010 router or another sander. I just love the systainer for the sander. It made me move some of my tool cases to the attic to consolidate. I also am happy that my hand doesn't get numb after using it like on my porter cable sander. I was looking at all the attachments you could get for the routers and imagining all the things you could do even run it on guide rails. Now I have a PC 690 with a plunge base that I have never used so why do I need a plunge router that is twice as expensive as other routers in its class. Basically I dislike using a router due to all the chips they kick up and spew all over my disorganized shop based on using my PC. Then there is the jigsaw too. What to do?
Thirdly, due to some good recommendations I picked up a copy of Popular Woodworking. I liked it and visited the website for more information. I signed up for the email newsletter. One of the newsletters had a discount on the 2007 issues on CD, so before the discount ended on Dec 24 I ordered the CD and while I was at it I ordered all the Woodworking Magazine issues on CD. I have really enjoyed the hand tool and workbench articles. I have since started visiting the neander forum every day to see what is going on. I was interested in hand tools about 6 or 7 years ago. I bought some planes a couple of 3's, 4, 4 1/2, 605, 6 then. I have not used any of them since I bought them. Why do you ask, did I not use them? I read about every sharpening technique known to man, but didn't use any of them. I have a Tormek, but was not comfortable with the flattening technique so I lost interest in sharpening the plane blades. Similar story with my chisels, none of them are sharp so I don't use them. After reading a thread about sharpening and reading articles about hand tools, I decided to make an effort to sharpen all my plane blades and chisels. This required a few items from Woodcraft to supplement the old stones I inherited from SWMBO's grand father and a pair of ceramic stones I purchased at Woodcraft several years ago. While there I checked out the OF1400 and the Sorby 3/8" bowl gouge, I want them both.
All this while I have been building shop cabinets out of cheap plywood to at least get everything in the shop off the floor and in a semi-organized status prior to starting on a major built in desk project that will be a good test of my mediocre WW skills. I also took it upon myself to reorganize my small shop space to fit in a future bandsaw and upgraded lathe (mustard:cool:). I also plan to make a dedicated sharpening area so I can sharpen all the hand and turning tools.
So which slope or vortex has the greatest pull? At this point the Festool and neander tools are the steapest slopes, since they can be used for the undless string of house projects in the pipeline.
Thanks for listening to my diatribe,
Mike
Firstly, I tired of some of the posts in the General Forum. So I started reading posts in the turners forum last fall. I was impressed with a lot of the work of the posters. I have a mini lathe and have done some pens in the past. They were OK. I didn't like spending money for the pen kits so after making several for myself and others I stopped. I saw a bowl that had been turned and determined I could do that. Except I needed a bowl gouge and didn't have the slightest clue as to how to turn a bowl. I have a wooded yard so I would have free wood. I started lusting after all the larger lathes eveyone had. For christmas I received some Richard Raffan turning books which I have been reading.
Secondly, for christmas I received my first Festool a ETS 150/3. I went to my local Woodcraft to get an adaptor to connect the sander to my Fein Vac with my Porter Cable hose. I picked up the Festool 2007 catalog. I have been paging through it almost continuosly since then. I am debating over my next purchase will it be the OF1400 or OF1010 router or another sander. I just love the systainer for the sander. It made me move some of my tool cases to the attic to consolidate. I also am happy that my hand doesn't get numb after using it like on my porter cable sander. I was looking at all the attachments you could get for the routers and imagining all the things you could do even run it on guide rails. Now I have a PC 690 with a plunge base that I have never used so why do I need a plunge router that is twice as expensive as other routers in its class. Basically I dislike using a router due to all the chips they kick up and spew all over my disorganized shop based on using my PC. Then there is the jigsaw too. What to do?
Thirdly, due to some good recommendations I picked up a copy of Popular Woodworking. I liked it and visited the website for more information. I signed up for the email newsletter. One of the newsletters had a discount on the 2007 issues on CD, so before the discount ended on Dec 24 I ordered the CD and while I was at it I ordered all the Woodworking Magazine issues on CD. I have really enjoyed the hand tool and workbench articles. I have since started visiting the neander forum every day to see what is going on. I was interested in hand tools about 6 or 7 years ago. I bought some planes a couple of 3's, 4, 4 1/2, 605, 6 then. I have not used any of them since I bought them. Why do you ask, did I not use them? I read about every sharpening technique known to man, but didn't use any of them. I have a Tormek, but was not comfortable with the flattening technique so I lost interest in sharpening the plane blades. Similar story with my chisels, none of them are sharp so I don't use them. After reading a thread about sharpening and reading articles about hand tools, I decided to make an effort to sharpen all my plane blades and chisels. This required a few items from Woodcraft to supplement the old stones I inherited from SWMBO's grand father and a pair of ceramic stones I purchased at Woodcraft several years ago. While there I checked out the OF1400 and the Sorby 3/8" bowl gouge, I want them both.
All this while I have been building shop cabinets out of cheap plywood to at least get everything in the shop off the floor and in a semi-organized status prior to starting on a major built in desk project that will be a good test of my mediocre WW skills. I also took it upon myself to reorganize my small shop space to fit in a future bandsaw and upgraded lathe (mustard:cool:). I also plan to make a dedicated sharpening area so I can sharpen all the hand and turning tools.
So which slope or vortex has the greatest pull? At this point the Festool and neander tools are the steapest slopes, since they can be used for the undless string of house projects in the pipeline.
Thanks for listening to my diatribe,
Mike