Introduction time

[Douglas Brummett]

New here on the forum, so I figured my first posting should be a shop intro. Please forgive the mess, we just moved into this house on Saturday. My garage/workshop has been in storage for a year, so it is nice to let it air out.

Tool Roll call
Big tools:
Craftsman 2hp contractors saw w/50" HTC Multi-fence (going to drop my router into the extension table)
Craftsman benchtop bandsaw
Makita 10in chopsaw
No-name heavy duty drill press (something like 12in capacity and too heavy to lift by myself without risking it squishing me :rolleyes:)

power tools:
Dewalt cordless Impact driver drill (12v)
Makita cordless drill (14.4v)
Makita power hand planer
porter cable radial saw
bosch reciprocating saw
skill jigsaw
bosch 1617 variable speed router combo

hand tools:
a couple of hand-me-down planes
files and rasps
coping saws
japanese flush trim saw
stanley chisels

There are a bunch more tools, but these are the staple for wood working. I would love to get a jointer and planer, but for now space and money aren't available. Maybe as my skills progress and I start doing more hardwood furniture these will become necessary. So there it is. I will likely refer to this thread when people inquire about what tools I am using.

[Kurt Strandberg]

Welcome to the Creek, nice shop.

[Douglas Brummett]

Be nicer once the pile is out of the way :D

I got peg board hung over the bench and the drill press on it's stand now, but will wait for update until the moving mess has cleared. One step at a time.

[Victor Stearns]

Welcome to the Creek,
It is always nice to have another sawdust contributor. Congrats on the new house/shop. I'm sure the tools are just itching to make something!
Good Luck
Victor

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Welcome to the Creek Douglas.

[Greg Muller]

Welcome Douglas,

You are off and running... Like the 'apothecary cabinet'. You can never have enough drawers.


Greg

[Douglas Brummett]

Welcome Douglas,

You are off and running... Like the 'apothecary cabinet'. You can never have enough drawers.


Greg

Cabinets actually came from a lab at Stanford. My dad is an electrician and when he saw them getting ready to just throw these out he adopted enough to fill several garages. Only downside is that they weigh about 150-250lb each, so they are no fun to move.

[Douglas Brummett]

Okay, a few updates. The garage is starting to look more like a garage/shop as the moving debris subsides.

I built up a mobile base for the tablesaw and a cheap harbor freight stand for my drill press. I also ended up with a couple of tools following me home. The jointer was a floor model delta JT360 that was missing some parts, but at under $200 I couldn't pass it up. In another sub $200 deal I picked up lightly used planer and a new scrollsaw. So now I have the ability to square and flatten my lumber, that makes life much easier ;)

The ryobi is kind of a pos, but for now it kept me under the $500 budget the Mrs. gave me for jointer and router addition to the shop.

Only problem... Now I want a dust collector to help with the mess these chip producing monsters create :cool:

[Douglas Brummett]

Okay, been busy the last couple of days. Tuning tools and building mobile bases. The Ryobi planer got the axe. I just wasn't trusting it to deliver the kind of quality that I am wanting to produce.

The replacement arrived this afternoon. I picked up a Sunhill SM-346 (basically the same as the Jet JWP-13DX). It is heavier and appears to be built better. Infeed/outfeed are about as long as I have seen on a benchtop unit. I will have to cut some shavings before I can comment on performance :)

And it is starting to get a bit crowded in here :p

[Rob Russell]

Welcome to the Creek!

Nice space and it looks like you're doing a great job of getting it organized. Those cabinets with all the drawers are great. Just don't fill them up with junk ... it never goes away. DAMHIKT! :o

[larry cronkite]

An interesting concept - a movable TS on a movable base.

[Bruce Page]

Douglas, welcome to SMC!

[Heather Thompson]

Douglas,

Welcome to the Creek, lots of good and knowledgeable guys and gals here! This is way better than buying the woodworking magazines, I still do though, can't help myself! Looks like you are setting up a nice shop, be sure to check out the classified section here, some really great tools to be found (Will not tell you what I paid for a 2005 PM66). This site used to be supported by the members, it has recently had to change to pay the bills, if all the users of this site would reach a little in their pockets it could be the way it was. There are more benefits for the contributors, plus it looks cool under your name, anyway welcome to the Creek(water is always just right here).

Heather

[Dennis Peacock]

Welcome to the Creek Douglas. Nice setup you have. Keep it coming. :D

[Douglas Brummett]

I am sure this will keep rolling along. My Saturday job was working with my wife's stepfather to add 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits to the garage. The three drops on the wall are controlled with a master switch. The ones up at the ceiling are live and on a 2nd circuit. Now my tablesaw fires right up and the lights no longer dim :D

[Douglas Brummett]

Garage panoramic. Sorry, cleaned a few messes but others are just there for now. Biggest trouble spot now is that extra washing machine :rolleyes: Next area is the entrance to the laundry room that is continually overflowing :cool:

Not sure why the order got messed up. I uploaded them from one end to the other.

[Dewey Torres]

Doug,
Looks like your shop is coming along nicely.

Is it a shop or a garage? I mean it looks like a shop and you talk about it as if it were a shop but you keep putting vehicles in it. I already noticed a 4x4 and a fire truck:D.

Does he help dad in the shop yet or is he still too young?

Keep on improving. You will get faster and more accurate every time you improve your shop and tools.

[Douglas Brummett]

It's a garage shop of course :D

Yeah, I need to get a shed in the back yard for kid toys and the lawn mower. Every time it rains I end up tripping over stuff for weeks.

My kids both like hanging out in the garage, part of the reason for the switched circuit for the power tools. My son is getting old enough to start helping, but he is a bit lazy about it. Shhh, don't tell him I flatted his car (his first project that I had him really help on)... I needed to reclaim some of my washers :p

[Don Bullock]

Douglas, welcome to the Creek. You'll find some fantastic people here who are willing to help where needed. Your shop looks great.

[Jerome Hanby]

Ditto, I've got the Emerson (Ridgid) made craftsman saw and just bought the Joinery system from Incra with the long rails and I was worrying over having to pick a final resting place for the setup. I'm tall enough that the extra height from the platform would actually be a blessing. Is it stable? Do you have something rigged to retract the rollers?


An interesting concept - a movable TS on a movable base.

[Jerome Hanby]

Sounds like the time for a Southern solution. You have a front porch?


Biggest trouble spot now is that extra washing machine :rolleyes:

[Douglas Brummett]

Sounds like the time for a Southern solution. You have a front porch?

I was thinking more along the craigslist option. I am a California transplant and not looking to acclimate to southern living quite that fast :D

[Douglas Brummett]

Added a basic sharpening grinder to the shop yesterday :cool:

Overall the only issue I had with mine was that the guide bar was not at 90 degrees (parallel to the wheel). I was able to bend both legs of the guide to bring it down, but it did require a vise and some convincing. Otherwise it looks to be a pretty sharp deal, esp at $80. It took me about 10 minutes to grind the initial bevel on a virgin chisel and even just off the wheel it was sharp enough to shave hair and cut paper. The water trough is large enough that no water seems to splash.

Time will tell on durability, but out of the box it is a very capable machine albeit of the harbor freight quality level :D

A little video review...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlrqzWU-StQ

[Douglas Brummett]

A couple more videos for you

Shop tour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_t1DFrLPFo

Just installed a Bench Dog Promax Cast Iron Router table
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_t1DFrLPFo
Some may ask why I put it on the right. Reasoning is 2-fold, I wanted the extra 4in of table to support longer work on the saw and that end of the saw is typically free of other floor obstacles so I can use the router without having to move the whole saw into the middle of the garage. I am pretty stoked on the Promax. The table is dead flat, mounted easily, and includes all the features I wanted. I was actually quite surprised with the fence. I was expecting a flimsy aluminum angle with some mdf on it. Not the case, this fence is beefy :D I actually weighed it (4lb of metal if you are curious) because it felt so substantial. This setup is rock solid, now I need to cut some wood.

[Heather Thompson]

Douglas,

I watched your shop video and have a question, are your lights on the same circuit as your machines. If that is the setup you may want to consider a change to that, if you pop the breaker in the middle of an operation and suddenly find yourself in the dark, it can cause a lot of drama. :eek:

Heather

[Douglas Brummett]

Douglas,

I watched your shop video and have a question, are your lights on the same circuit as your machines. If that is the setup you may want to consider a change to that, if you pop the breaker in the middle of an operation and suddenly find yourself in the dark, it can cause a lot of drama. :eek:

Heather

Used to be. Part of the rational behind adding 2 dedicated circuits last week. Now my tools have their own power and a master cutoff switch.

[Seth Poorman]

Nice Shop Doug ! Welcome !

[Douglas Brummett]

Thanks Seth.

A little neanderthal gloat. I decided to pick up a set of Groz planes. I know they are not the best planes, but they look decent to me and it sure beats not having any at all. A bit of cleaning, waxing, and adjustment and I was rewarded with some pretty good shavings. Not ultra thin, but both will produce shavings down under .0045" thick. I need to learn a bit more about iron shaping to get the #4 working a bit better. For my first planes I am fairly happy.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=93404&d=1217256256

[Douglas Brummett]

Update 8/11/08
Still setting up shop. Seems like just about the time that I finish up something else needs tending to. I have also started refurbishing older Stanley planes for my neanderthal passion.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=90007

I have gone ahead and installed a Hock brand iron and chip breaker in the Groz #4. This combination right off the bat eliminated some of the cut chatter. I took the time to flatten the sole, clean up the mouth, and move the frog a little tighter while I had the plane apart. These small exercises took this plane from functional to enjoyable to use. Here is a short video review of the Groz kit pre-updates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nTEx9Thgqc

Harbor Freight video #2 with discussion of plane iron and using some Tormek fixtures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqGo8PWr3Vk

This weekend I spent a fair amount of time on the tablesaw. I just wasn't happy with the height (at 44" it was just too tall). I was also not very happy with the stability of the table. Lastly I wanted to add a small outfeed table. Since I can only back it up to the rear hanging motor I may as well have a table back there over the motor.

So I wrestled the saw back off the mobile base. I relocated the casters to the inside of the platform. This lowered the top of the mobile base about 2-1/2". I removed the feet from the saw to lower the top another inch. Now the top of the saw is about 40", which works well for my height.

While I had the base upside down I took the opportunity to add eye bolts and t-nuts for leveling and stability of the base. I gotta say, this is an excellent solution for stopping the wiggle that I had with just caster brakes. Ten bucks well spent. I will need to devise a foot as the thread ends concentrate load enough to damage the floor if you just turn them without aid. But once elevated off the casters the whole platform is rock solid.

To further assist stability I added a piece of 3/4 mdf to the left end of the table. This removed any hint of wiggle at the table surface. I used deck screws to fasten to the base and 1/4in bolts to hold it to the extension table. I may add another end off the router side, but haven't decided that it is necessary (and it could block access to the router). Last thing to do was bolt the saw base to the platform. it was prone to shifting when I pushed the platform around the shop.

Next I did up a quick and dirty outfeed table. I don't want to worry about warping, bowing, or wood movement. So I devised an adjustable/leveling attachment scheme. Basically 1/4-20 bolts to the rear angle iron and the support legs from the extension table. With aid of the long bolts, extra nuts and a couple of lock washers I was able to work out levelers. To prevent bowing under load I jointed a 2x6 and glued it to the underside of the table.

Okay, on a positive note I am producing sawdust and wood chips in the shop again. I see a light at the tunnel where my tools are setup and I can actually work on wood and not machinery again :D

[Douglas Brummett]

Shop doings...

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=95812&stc=1&d=1220058621
Newest power member. Rigid Bandsaw. Still a work in progress. I have some Olson blades and a Kreg fence on order. Once that stuff comes in we should see a bit more bandsaw work. I have run test cuts. The factory blade sucks, very rough finish. I did have to do some tinkering to get it up and running. A quality belt and an mdf support piece were required to remove some excessive vibration.

And the neanderthal lineup. Growing numbers of galoot recovery planes. Latest addition a #7 jointer. From the bay, covered in paint but a nice find after about an hour of cleanup and another hour of tuning. Now it is back in it's natural element :D

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=95811&stc=1&d=1220058621

The no.7 as displayed on the bay...
A bit of a crap shoot, but I took a chance and ended up with a very nice score.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=95810&stc=1&d=1220058621

[Eric Larsen]

How do you like that Groz set?

I found myself reaching for a plane yesterday. Or rather, wanting to reach for a plane, but I didn't have one. The groz set is about $80, and I'm hoping that will be fair enough quality for the once every 3 months I really need a plane to get the job done.

[Douglas Brummett]

Here is some discussion and a link to a review that I posted over on the lumberjocks site on the Groz...

http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/431#comment-219511

Overall I think the set is a decent working set, but don't recommend unless you are willing to put the time into tuning them. In order to tune them it will require a full compliment of sharpening tools, so if you don't have that stuff the price advantage is reduced. A nice LN or LV and a basic water stone set will run about $300. A groz set, sand paper in multiple grits, glass or granite, water stones, and not to mention time would likely add up to a similar price Of course then you have all the supplies to tackle sharpening most everything in your shop, so it is a toss up.

What is important to you?
a1) a tool that you can just start working with, then go with a nicer plane
a2) money is the decision maker, go Groz but be prepared to tune them to get the bet results

[Douglas Brummett]

My newest sweetheart...

Saved off of ebay. Caught by the 80M and Sweetheart designation. I figured if I was going to get a no.80 cabinet scraper this was about the best specimen I could adopt.

Spent the evening tuning it. The 2 shaving piles represent the initial best results with a quick hone and the nicer shavings are post sole flattening, lapping the crossbar, flattening the bed, and giving a bit more attention to the honing. I haven't tried pulling a burr on it, just using it off of some worn in 400g paper and a basic roller guide.

Initial impression of this tool is good. Not bad for an ol'gal approaching 90 years old :D

Yes, still waxing on the neander side. I did get my Kreg fence installed on the bandsaw and have been favoring the bandsaw quite a bit. It made 2 fine maple swords for my son and a friend just this evening. But the non-power tools are singing a siren song to me these days. Last weekend's porjects, a crib rail and refinish of a coffee table, both were done just about entirely with hand tools. Time will tell if I continue down this slippery slope, but for now I am enjoying the ride.

[Douglas Brummett]

Newest old friend
I lugged this old workbench from California. Figured that I would have a use for it some time. Well, last weekend that time came. I stumbled upon a big granite surface plate for $60 and needed a place that was sturdy enough to hold it. So out of the cobwebs I erected my sharpening station :D

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102025&stc=1&d=1227717672

I plan to create a series covers for the granite plate. These covers would hook over it and hold whetstone, low-speed grinder, or the wetstone grinder. For now I am using an mdf bench hook to keep the whetstones off the granite.