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Which side of a bench should you put a vice on? I'm right handed and my first instinct was to put it on the left side, now I'm second guessing myself.
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Nov 23, 2016 18:26
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| # ? May 29, 2024 06:31 |
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Opposite of your primary hand is the usual, so left when you're right-handed.
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Nov 23, 2016 18:53
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Crosspost from projects thread... thought I'd post it here too, as it deals with a great piece of quilted cherry I picked up, and my first use of a cabinet scraper... I made another clock, well, got closer to being finished with another clock...  Meet Weatherclock.  This is a nixie clock using six matched vintage Valvo ZM1020 numerical indicator tubes, four Russian INS-1 neon lamps, two 16mm orange LED illuminated vandal switches for set/dim, six Adafruit neopixel modules for the RGB backlights which are driven via wifi enabled Electric Imp unit. This clock pings weatherunderground for local weather conditions, and changes the tube backlights based on the weather in its zip code. Blue for cold, red for warm, flashing blue for rain, flashing white for lightning, scrolling white for fog and ice, etc. The box is a great piece of quilted cherry with Arm-R-Seal polyurethane to seal the wood. It's been sitting unsealed for about 10 months under the kitchen lights to let it darken up a bit. It will darken more over time.  This clock took me about a year to build, although I spread the work on this out over a year, I probably only spent a month on it total.  Short build log here - http://slothfurnace.com/sabers/NixieClock_06_WC_01.html We've grown so used to having weatherclock tell us the outside conditions, it's become a needed interface in our living room. Very happy with how it turned out.
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Nov 23, 2016 23:03
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That is awesome. I want a weather clock now.
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Nov 23, 2016 23:06
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I'm looking to make a palette for water colors. It's going to be a long rectangular piece of wood, with probably 3 rows by 10 rows for spots to put paint. I'm thinking that I'd use a router to cut the "pockets' or whatever you'd call it and then smooth it down with sand paper. What kind(s) of wood would be good for this task and how would I seal it to prevent the water colors from ruining the wood? Or perhaps I could use some kind of finish that turns the palette into a rainbow of sorts after many sessions of water coloring.
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Nov 24, 2016 01:24
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Hey folks I am soon coming into possession of some shall we say incredibly hosed up barn tools. Couple wooden planes, a tenon saw, and something bizarre that looks like a router plane but says "jointer" on it. I'll post pics this weekend if you're interested. Anyway, one of them is a rusty ol' 2 foot hand auger. My question is, what would you recommend I use to de-rust this mother? Kerosene? Lighter fluid? Sandpaper and patience? I'd really like to restore these old tools
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Nov 24, 2016 17:12
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huhu posted:I'm looking to make a palette for water colors. It's going to be a long rectangular piece of wood, with probably 3 rows by 10 rows for spots to put paint. I'm thinking that I'd use a router to cut the "pockets' or whatever you'd call it and then smooth it down with sand paper. What kind(s) of wood would be good for this task and how would I seal it to prevent the water colors from ruining the wood? Or perhaps I could use some kind of finish that turns the palette into a rainbow of sorts after many sessions of water coloring. I'd go with a wide shallow gouge chisel, then clean up with a curved scraper. Just about any wood should work as long as it's got closed pores, like pine or maple, not red oak. Finish with a water based poly. Skippy Granola posted:Hey folks I am soon coming into possession of some shall we say incredibly hosed up barn tools. Couple wooden planes, a tenon saw, and something bizarre that looks like a router plane but says "jointer" on it. Approach depends on the tool and condition. Electrolysis might be a good place to start. I've cleaned up a lot of smaller auger bits with a wire wheel on a bench grinder. Be sure to wipe down oil afterwards to keep them from rusting up again.
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Nov 24, 2016 19:32
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Anyone have any favorite woodworking blogs and/or physical magazines?
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Nov 24, 2016 21:31
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I'm a fan of Fine Woodworking Magazine, I also enjoy the lostartpress and popular woodworking blogs.
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Nov 24, 2016 23:53
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Lost Art Press and Popular Woodworking are good and have a bit of overlap as far as content goes (not a bad thing). I've heard Mortise & Tenon Magazine is really good but I've never read it and there are only two issues out, if you're focused on hand tools.
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Nov 25, 2016 02:43
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Favorite magazine is popular woodworking. Favorite blogs are the lost art press blog and the popular woodworking blogs. I also really like the English woodworker
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Nov 25, 2016 02:58
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ColdPie posted:Anyone have any favorite woodworking blogs and/or physical magazines? Woodsmith/Shopsmith has an excellent format. Wood is probably my overall favorite because it's the most well rounded. Woodcraft has promise, I don't know much about them but what I've seen is good. Pop Woodworking is good but too chatty for me. In defunct mags, Deltagram was outstanding.
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Nov 25, 2016 05:19
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The Makita 5-tool set jumped in price $50 between yesterday and today. What the hell. 
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Nov 25, 2016 05:32
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wormil posted:Woodsmith/Shopsmith has an excellent format. Wood is probably my overall favorite because it's the most well rounded. Woodcraft has promise, I don't know much about them but what I've seen is good. Pop Woodworking is good but too chatty for me. In defunct mags, Deltagram was outstanding. Not really relevant to anything but I read that as "Woodsmith/Sociopath has an excellent format"
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Nov 25, 2016 07:44
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wormil posted:Woodsmith/Shopsmith has an excellent format. Wood is probably my overall favorite because it's the most well rounded. Woodcraft has promise, I don't know much about them but what I've seen is good. Pop Woodworking is good but too chatty for me. In defunct mags, Deltagram was outstanding. How is popwood "too chatty" exactly? GEMorris fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Nov 25, 2016 |
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Nov 25, 2016 15:22
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GEMorris posted:How is popwood "too chatty" exactly? More telling than showing. Many times I was mentally begging for a picture or illustration instead of a wall of text. Keep in mind I'm summarizing decades of content. The last few years have been better balanced but they've had their ups and downs. Schwartz saved the magazine, if that makes you feel better. If you feel the need to defend them, you shouldn't, I said they were good. Their furniture projects are far more interesting than FW. The thing I don't like about FW is once you've read them for a year or two you never need to read it again because it's so samey. And if you read their books, you can dispense with the magazine and it's ads altogether. Basically they never grow or change. Disclaimer, I have not read the magazine in several years, only flipped through. Woodsmith tends to suffer the same problem in that long ago they became set on a certain approach to joinery and never deviated. What they do works, ditto for FW, so I understand there is no need to change. Their projects are quite varied though, unlike FW. And I like their logical, quasi-engineer approach that is different from most magazines. They even built quite a few wood machines. Wood is the least 'fine woodworking' of the group but they experiment a lot, publish a lot of variety, and do long term themed series like their construction toys or in the past have done furniture projects for the whole house in a specific style. Downside would be they tend to overcomplicate their joinery (exact opposite of FW) but it makes interesting reading.
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Nov 25, 2016 20:32
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Fair enough (completely agree on FWW BTW), Woodsmith was always too "focused on the machines rather than the projects" for me. I feel like the writing quality at popwood is a good bit higher than what I see elsewhere, hence my wondering what you meant by "too chatty". I agree they could spend a bit more budget on illustrations for certain projects though.
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Nov 25, 2016 21:57
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 Flipped the thing on its side myself to install the vise, holy christ was it heavy. I will finish this if it kills me. Tres Burritos fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Nov 26, 2016 |
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Nov 26, 2016 00:01
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The email didn't say not to share this so ... 360 Woodworking is offering their highest level membership for $36/year, regular $100/year. Coupon code: Happy Holidays https://360woodworking.com/ I really like their podcast and have spent $36 on a lot worse things so I'm giving it a shot.
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Nov 26, 2016 08:04
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Finally finished the scales for a kitchen knife I bought like two years ago  Paduak and Bocote
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Nov 26, 2016 16:25
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I've enjoyed Lost Art Press and Renaissance Woodworker. I've also enjoyed Popular Woodworking's digital resources.
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Nov 26, 2016 17:31
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Shop upgrade! Friend came over and we installed new 4' LED tube lighting above the workbench. My dad had some old fluorescent fixtures to get rid of. Previously had a single bare bulb set about 10 feet behind me, so I'd always be blocking the light and using a flashlight. Excited to see the improvement next time I work. Also, thanks for the reading suggestions. I did 1-year subscriptions to both FWW and PW, and added all the blogs people mentioned to my feed reader.
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Nov 27, 2016 00:31
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Yet another bench build! Some of the other benches being posted look incredible, and are getting done a lot faster than mine (been in progress nearly a year now)  To see something go from a pile of parts to something that can stand up by itself and give an indication of the final object, is an exhilarating feeling. Can't do much else tonight since its too late, but I'm so close! Left to do
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Nov 27, 2016 12:42
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Not done a lot of woodworking lately, a lot of back logged stuff I told myself to finish before starting anything new. One of the things was I needed a nicer circle jig. I found I got lots better results from cutting with a router than my bandsaw, and it takes less space. But it has a big drawback, you can't make the radius smaller than the baseplate of your router. Well with most jigs anyway: With this jig I got a track on the bottom  That this piece of plywood attaches to, the center pin is offset so it can do in under the base plate and I can make much smaller circles. Can also be reversed to make bigger circles.  Currently it's soaking up some varnish just to make it hold up better. And yeah one screw came in a bad place, didn't see it until I started routing the track, not sure if I need to use it, I could recess the hole a bit more in that location.
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Nov 27, 2016 16:43
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Granite Octopus posted:Awesome bench stuff.. On the dog holes: Are you starting with a tail vise? (I recommend not, once I adopted using does feet I stopped using mine). If not then you won't need the row of holes at the front. I know it's the only holdfast on the market that is 1" (and it's Schwarz so I'll get accused of being a shill) but if you want to use the crucible tool holdfast now is the time to make that decision. There are some good tips on holdfast holes on the crucible blog here Apologies if you are already aware of all of this stuff.
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Nov 27, 2016 16:51
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GEMorris posted:On the dog holes: Thank you, this is great info. I was going to start with a metal quick release front vice, recessed into the front face of the top so I could potentially clamp larger pieces. no tail vice. I guess it would be fairly hard to change to a wooden leg vice later though... I've watched a lot of Paul sellers and he seems to manage fine with a metal vice like the one I have. Had a read up on the crucible holdfasts. Have people really had problems with 3/4 inch ones? I'd never really heard about it tho I never went looking since it seemed like a simple enough tool. Unfortunately they don't ship to Australia anyway. Will do a bit more digging and see what's available locally. Granite Octopus fucked around with this message at 13:35 on Nov 28, 2016 |
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Nov 28, 2016 13:05
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I have a vice like that too on my not-woodworking bench (all purpose dirty bench, I have a separate bench for woodworking), I really like it. I sometimes wish it was attached to my woodworking bench instead. Cheapo rutlands vise.
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Nov 28, 2016 13:29
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Granite Octopus posted:Thank you, this is great info. I was going to start with a metal quick release front vice, recessed into the front face of the top so I could potentially clamp larger pieces. no tail vice. I guess it would be fairly hard to change to a wooden leg vice later though... I've watched a lot of Paul sellers and he seems to manage fine with a metal vice like the one I have. On the holdfasts: no, it's mostly an issue of personal preference. I haven't used a crucible holdfast, and the gramercy ones work fine for me, I only brought it up because now is the best time to make this decision. On the vise: I highly recommend a wood leg vise with a metal screw, it isn't expensive and in my experience it is a lot better for clamping a cabinet door to the front of the bench so you can plane it's edge. A record style metal vise will certainly work, and great work can be done with one, but I prefer the leg vise for both aesthetic and functional reasons. GEMorris fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Nov 28, 2016 |
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Nov 28, 2016 16:50
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Is there a good resource on finding a good vice hardware kit or is it just 'as much as you can afford in the style you like'?
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Nov 29, 2016 01:27
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Has anyone used MDF as a work surface/counter top? If so what did you treat it with and how did it hold up? I am thinking about using some for a basic countertop in my workshop.
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Nov 29, 2016 01:54
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Atticus_1354 posted:Has anyone used MDF as a work surface/counter top? If so what did you treat it with and how did it hold up? I am thinking about using some for a basic countertop in my workshop. I have mdf on both my workbenches. One is finished with water based poly, one I think I put danish oil on. I used a double layer of 3/4" on both. They've held up pretty well, and I don't ever worry about doing anything on them. I do have all the edges trimmed with hardwood, I imagine they would get beat up pretty fast without that. I would say the poly is holding up better than the oil and is easier to clean.
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Nov 29, 2016 02:18
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swampface posted:I have mdf on both my workbenches. One is finished with water based poly, one I think I put danish oil on. I used a double layer of 3/4" on both. They've held up pretty well, and I don't ever worry about doing anything on them. I do have all the edges trimmed with hardwood, I imagine they would get beat up pretty fast without that. I would say the poly is holding up better than the oil and is easier to clean. Sounds good. There will definitely be an edge board for all of it. I may use some Oak pallet wood that my dad planed down and has sitting around.
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Nov 29, 2016 02:23
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Atticus_1354 posted:Has anyone used MDF as a work surface/counter top? If so what did you treat it with and how did it hold up? I am thinking about using some for a basic countertop in my workshop. It's expendable. You can smear anything on it then burn it. If you want a nice surface, use nice wood. MDF is cheap so don't worry about protection.
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Nov 29, 2016 06:05
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I like to varnish my MDF, or oil/wax or both.
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Nov 29, 2016 08:00
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Atticus_1354 posted:Has anyone used MDF as a work surface/counter top? If so what did you treat it with and how did it hold up? I am thinking about using some for a basic countertop in my workshop. Melamine.
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Nov 29, 2016 22:09
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A good couple coats of poly and edge protection will make MDF last a really long time as a work surface. It needs good support, though. My assembly table is about a year in and it's holding up just fine. I've gone over it with a scraper twice to knock down random glue and nubs and given it a fresh coat of poly. I've got 3/4" holes drilled in it (with a roundover) and I use bench dogs/table clamps and holdfasts. Still fine. That said, I'll be building a better (flatter) torsion box top eventually, and the next one will be plywood and a melamine top instead of MDF (and t track instead of 3/4" holes)
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Nov 29, 2016 23:31
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  I'm calling this done, I am an expert at 2x4s ask me anything.
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Nov 30, 2016 02:24
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Tres Burritos posted:
Are they really 2"x4"?
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Nov 30, 2016 02:28
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Tres Burritos posted:
How'd you get 2x4s that long perfectly square for a flat benchtop?
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Nov 30, 2016 02:38
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Blistex posted:Are they really 2"x4"? Not sure. Stultus Maximus posted:How'd you get 2x4s that long perfectly square for a flat benchtop? Sweat and tears.
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Nov 30, 2016 02:49
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