New Workshop spec buildout

[Tom M King]

I look forward to when I can get away long enough to come for a visit.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I look forward to when I can get away long enough to come for a visit.

I drove through your area Monday on the way to pick up a new (to me) telescope; another hobby that is putting me in the poorhouse! Come up some time.

[Ted Calver]

Malcolm,
Are you lucky enough to have dark skies near you?

[Tom M King]

I'm stuck here all the time caring for my almost 107 year old half paralyzed Mom. I can only get a few hundred yards away from the house. It takes both my Wife and I to do what we have to.

I know a bit about telescopes and astronomy too.

[andy bessette]

...I know a bit about telescopes and astronomy too.

There's more to optics than meets the eye.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Malcolm,
Are you lucky enough to have dark skies near you?

Yes- out in the country. I am surprised that I can see stars as clearly as I did in the islands. There is less humidity, and no Sahara dust in the air. (Yes, dust from the Sahara drifts all across the Caribbean and sometimes makes for poor visibility.).

[Malcolm Schweizer]

80C18EE4-5306-484E-8541-5FC383CF0CCE.jpg

The mahogany floors that I got the insane deal on were stained a very unnatural red mahogany, and it was a slippery finish. We decided to plane them on the new planer, and oh wow. I am so glad we did. We put Varathane satin urethane on top of it. It looks amazing, and it will be such a pleasure to work on: comfortable, aesthetic, and won’t damage dropped chisels!

Boy, the Powermatic helical head is so quiet, as is the Harvey G700 dust collector. The dust collector will suck your whole arm in- the thing has power. It got every little bit of dust and the planer was clean after planing a whole floor of wood. I can’t say enough good about that thing.

We ordered a Byrd head for the Grizzly 12” jointer. Can’t wait for that to arrive.

Will upload a video soon. Tools in place and working. Building a chop saw station, outfeed for one table saw, and building tables. Ordering a vacuum setup and will build a flat table for that as well. Going to get some maple to build benches next week. Yahoo!!!!

[Jim Becker]

That floor looks amazing!!!

[Malcolm Schweizer]

That floor looks amazing!!!

Thanks! I got solid mahogany for less than the cheapest MDF laminated stuff at a close out. I am so glad we planed the dark red mahogany stain and let the natural color show. It is going to be a wonderful place to create. I’m moving my easel in next week and I’m going to start doing some large scale paintings along with my woodworking.

[Jim Becker]

Is the wood floor floating, glued down, what? 'Just curious...

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Is the wood floor floating, glued down, what? 'Just curious...

Glued with an adhesive that doubles as a moisture barrier. It is what was recommended. We did float some leveler first, and it is flat as a flitter.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Got the chopsaw station built today. 8’ on either side of the saw. Got it all together and realized I didn’t measure the saw at maximum angle of cut. UGH!!!! It is wider at angle cuts. It still goes to 45, and that should be all I need. If I need more, I’ll use another one.

Yea, I need that much on either side. I buy 16’ lengths of rough sawn mahogany and cut them down. Adjacent to this saw is a table saw dedicated to ripping rough lumber. This is a setup I always wanted. That table saw will have a long outfeed and has a very long fence extension as well as a custom sled I made. It will work until I can get a true sliding saw. You can see that saw is situated right by the chop saw. That area is for dimensioning rough lumber. Storage for lumber will be below, above, and beside the chop saw table. Trying to make everything flow smoothly. Rough lumber- chop saw- rip saw- jointer- planer- finish saw, all in close range to each other and organized in that order of operation.
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[Tom Bender]

As racking is not much of an issue on a chop saw you might be able to improve the space below it by removing the lower stretchers. Might need to improve the leg/apron joinery.

[Alan Lightstone]

Yes- out in the country. I am surprised that I can see stars as clearly as I did in the islands. There is less humidity, and no Sahara dust in the air. (Yes, dust from the Sahara drifts all across the Caribbean and sometimes makes for poor visibility.).

Yeah, I'm amazed that we get the Sahara dust here on the Gulf Coast too. Who woulda thought?

The shop is really impressive. I can't wait for the after pictures.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

A lot has been done. Made a router table, chopsaw station, most tools in place… still a lot to do. We need building tables, vacuum bagging station, benches, and we are getting rid of one table saw and getting a new one- either a Harvey or a Sawstop. Here is a video.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=amIRleZY...SIkaIECMiOmarE

Edit: ignore my hair in that video. I was climbing under machines. Also, we put a Byrd cutter head on the jointer- it was a huge pain in the butt for my particular model, but wow- it is so nice. Precision, quiet, and glass smooth. Also, notice that every tool has its own dust collection except a couple share one dust collector. No pipes running everywhere and if you change your mind on layout, you just move machine and dust collector. I wouldn’t have it any other way. If you have a small or large shop, before you run tons of pipes, consider getting at least one other dust collector and less piping. With the cost of all the piping, you can just about get a small dust collector. I know not everyone can afford or have space for a collector for each machine, but consider more dust collectors and less piping. It is a really nice thing.