Joe Skinner
02-21-2008, 10:00 PM
So here is my shop saga.
Got married last May and we bought a newer, bigger house and put both of ours on the market. However, since the housing market sucked last year, there were three mortgages on the books for a while, causing me not to have money for shop stuff. In December, we finally got down to one mortgage and was able to pay off the cards in Jan. Whooohooo!!! I can get the shop together now.
So I decide that I need a miter saw station along one wall and I might as well build cabinets under it. So I start designing cabinets and drag the 15 y/o (daughter, not wife) to the lumber yard for materials. Funny thing about 15 y/o s, they just aren't into lumber yards.
So I mark the plywood and want to start cutting, but where did that 48" straight edge go to? Must have been left at the old place. So I load up all the plywood back into the truck and take it to a buddy's place to get help cutting it to size. He is much more into it than the wife or .
So a few days later, I have time to get back on the cabinets. Why didn't anyone tell me being married takes up so much spare time? Anyhow, start putting the carcase together and the cheap 'ol pancake compressor dies. No biggie, it was free anyhow. However, the nail gun really wants air and the good compressor is 220v. Another few days and I finally have some new circuits ran in the shop. Needed some more 110v anyhow.
Getting back to work, I finish the carcase and start making the doors. I cut the rails and stiles to length and now need a dado for the panel. So I figure the dado stack in the spawn of Satan, I mean the Hitachi table saw, would be the best bet. One of the many, many things I absolutely abhor about this saw is you have to pry the blades off because for some reason the arbor tapers a bit. So as I am prying the blade off, the arbor comes loose. Normally I would be upset, but now I need to replace this beast. So I start researching new saws and am leaning toward the Jet JPS 30. My wife is looking over my shoulder as I am watching the tablesaw shootout video from Popular Woodworking and tells me the Steel City 35601 looks like a better saw. I tell her it is, but more expensive. She tells me she would rather me spend a few more dollars that listen to me complain later that I should have bought the better saw. Good thinking is one of the reasons I married her.
So, almost a month after starting I finally have a carcase and one door completed. But I have the power in the shop and a great new saw. I mean dang, is this how table saws are supposed to perform. This thing is cool. I can change blades, tilt the blade, and not get dust all over the neighborhood and the wife's clean kitchen. As an added bonus, it has not thrown a single piece of wood at me.
Got married last May and we bought a newer, bigger house and put both of ours on the market. However, since the housing market sucked last year, there were three mortgages on the books for a while, causing me not to have money for shop stuff. In December, we finally got down to one mortgage and was able to pay off the cards in Jan. Whooohooo!!! I can get the shop together now.
So I decide that I need a miter saw station along one wall and I might as well build cabinets under it. So I start designing cabinets and drag the 15 y/o (daughter, not wife) to the lumber yard for materials. Funny thing about 15 y/o s, they just aren't into lumber yards.
So I mark the plywood and want to start cutting, but where did that 48" straight edge go to? Must have been left at the old place. So I load up all the plywood back into the truck and take it to a buddy's place to get help cutting it to size. He is much more into it than the wife or .
So a few days later, I have time to get back on the cabinets. Why didn't anyone tell me being married takes up so much spare time? Anyhow, start putting the carcase together and the cheap 'ol pancake compressor dies. No biggie, it was free anyhow. However, the nail gun really wants air and the good compressor is 220v. Another few days and I finally have some new circuits ran in the shop. Needed some more 110v anyhow.
Getting back to work, I finish the carcase and start making the doors. I cut the rails and stiles to length and now need a dado for the panel. So I figure the dado stack in the spawn of Satan, I mean the Hitachi table saw, would be the best bet. One of the many, many things I absolutely abhor about this saw is you have to pry the blades off because for some reason the arbor tapers a bit. So as I am prying the blade off, the arbor comes loose. Normally I would be upset, but now I need to replace this beast. So I start researching new saws and am leaning toward the Jet JPS 30. My wife is looking over my shoulder as I am watching the tablesaw shootout video from Popular Woodworking and tells me the Steel City 35601 looks like a better saw. I tell her it is, but more expensive. She tells me she would rather me spend a few more dollars that listen to me complain later that I should have bought the better saw. Good thinking is one of the reasons I married her.
So, almost a month after starting I finally have a carcase and one door completed. But I have the power in the shop and a great new saw. I mean dang, is this how table saws are supposed to perform. This thing is cool. I can change blades, tilt the blade, and not get dust all over the neighborhood and the wife's clean kitchen. As an added bonus, it has not thrown a single piece of wood at me.