Year Zero

Thought it would be interesting documenting my years woodworking.

2005/6 - move back to Portland, Oregon and we built a green house.  I really enjoy building and start buying tools.  Got a dewalt chopsaw that I still use today.  Used the Ryobi BT3100 to build a workbench of my own design that was heavy, but really missed some key points.  I remember now how afraid I was of that thing of the saw, see the blade and freaking out!  It loved to kick back.  Also remember I bought a router and was absolutely scared of it.

2007.  Finally get a planer and jointer after noticing that buying surfaced wood was costing me a fortune.  What a joke it was chip collecting with a shop vac!  Bought a real dust collector, what a difference.  Can you imagine how much saw dust was being created with my table saw!!  I remember gagging alot!  Bought a lot of cheap tools, but I learned on them and I mostly still have them.

2008.  Move to the new house, with a oversize 3 car garage.  2 of the bays are mine.  First things first, I remove all the really nice cabinets.  They were floor to ceiling and took up the whole entire garage.  Build new ones, but smaler leaving room for my workbench and tools.  Buy a few fixer hand planes on Ebay, start getting into hand tools.  Decide to build my shop around the a Sawstop industrial 3HP saw.  I'm very glad I decided to fork the extra money for this saw.  It was a better use of money than any of my Festool or LN purchases.  Outfeed table, riving knife and heavy duty fence change safety in my shop by an order of magnitude.  To hook up the saw, have to redo all the electrical in the garage.  Install a bunch of circuits and a subpanel.

2009.  Build my Holtzapffel workbench with a 24" veritas twin screw vise + super heavy end vice I got on sale from rockler.  Changed the way I woodwork dramatically, more so than the cabinet saw.  Declare war on saw dust; get a cyclone, LN addiction takes off and make some Festool purchases as well (all the big ones were used off Craigslist).  Built a lot of projects, too much to name.

2010.  Lie-Nielsen affair really takes off.  No more messing around buying cheap tools.  Sell the ebay ones that I got as they are a lost cause.  Build a proper hand tool cabinet.  So many projects that I don't have time for anything else, including going to the gym.

2011.  Ducting installed and now really finalizing my shop.  Along with all sorts of projects, plan on going after noise.  I really want a planer with a induction motor.  My Ridgid lunchbox planer has served me real well.  I've probably run 1000 bdft through the thing, but it's time to upgrade.  I'm still deciding on what.

Back in the shop

This week I started the storage bench project.  I bought a little too much cherry, but I'll find a use for the leftovers.  I have enough to build two.  This is the first project since the dust collection upgrade to metal pipe.  Previously, the cyclone was in the middle of the shop.  It's real nice to have that space back.  It's also real nice to just open the blast gate and be good to go.  Much easier.  Also the first time that I had a real dust collection solution for the miter saw.  I use it a lot to break down stock and it was a very big dust creater.  The new setup works decent.  I can't tell there is dust in the air.

Lastly, just replaced my plane stop.  I previously tried to use the dog holes to secure it.  Too difficult to line up, nearly impossible to pound in and get out.  Stupid drill guide caused me to drill the holes at an angle (the wrong way).  The new ones works great.  Tried the LN #4 on the rails and stiles and what a breeze!  Hopefully, I can do the majority of the cleanup with the handplanes and not sand as much anymore.

Update to the Lie-Nielsen Shrine

Temporarily mounted the hand tool cabinet to the sawbench that I built.  This while I wait for the wall mounting bracket for the cyclone, which I then can build a cabinet around and mount the hand tool cabinet to that.

Can you see what the difference is?  I don't expect you to know.  I got a spokeshave.  Now, how best to store them so that they aren't simply sitting in a cubby?