On the Nature of Shop Time

Einstein was right - time is not constant.

My shop demonstrates this to me on a regular basis - "Ill just work on this for 15 minutes!" and then "What?! Ive been in the shop for 2 hours?" Of course, Im not complaining - I love being in my shop. Im just always amazed, and a little confused, at how it happens.

This time, I decide to try to document the happenings in "shop time." Here goes:

I am finally starting to believe that the Shaker cabinet might, just might, be finished before my son starts crawling. Todays job was to start making the molding for the top and the step-back. In a remarkably sensible move, I decided that there wasnt enough time to finish - Id just rip the strips, clean them up with a plane, and stop. "Should take about 15 minutes."

First - find the board I am going to rip. Okay, there it is - half-way down in the center of a stickered pile. Sigh. Well, nothing for it, start moving wood. Unpile. Pick. Pile. Not too bad.

Put board on bench. Set marking gauge and mark off two strips, one on each edge. Flip. Repeat. Done.

Move board to saw bench. Grab rip saw from till. Start to cut. What? When did this thing get so dull? Oh...probably when I was ripping the bamboo flooring...with its "scratch resistant" coating...probably "saw resistant" too. Hmm. Okay.

Get saw vise. Put piece of 2x4 in bench vise. Clamp saw vise to 2x4. Clamp saw in saw vise. Get file - the one with the handle so I dont hurt myself. Oh. That one is too small. Hmm. Okay.

Find piece of birch in scrap pile. Find brass plumbing fitting (I actually knew exactly where it was!).

Take birch to shavehorse. Rough it out with drawknife. Fast! Clean up with spokeshave. Cut off with saw. Round end to fit brass cap. Clamp cap in vise and drill hole through for file tang.

Hmm. It moved off-center. Okay. Clean up with rat-tail file.

Screw onto birch handle. Clamp handle in vise. Drill two step hole for tang. Clamp file in vise, tang up. Get propane torch. Heat tang. Force handle down over tang. Pull back off. Reheat. Reforce. Whack with hammer. Done. Wait. The "nut" look of the brass bugs me. File it round. Okay. Now its done.

What was I doing? Oh yeah, ripping molding strips. Right. Need to sharpen the saw first.

Run jointer down saw teeth. This creates small flats on top to the taller teeth. In theory, on ALL the teeth, but this saw is a long story. I bought on eBay years ago, and boy was it messed up. I tried to reshape the teeth, and didnt do half bad for my first try at that, but its not perfect, and the teeth are only slowly becoming more uniform each time I sharpen it.

Doesnt matter - works great anyway. At least when it is sharp, so back to that. Reclamp saw lower in vise, just below the gullets. File every other gullet - trying to remove half of the flat on the top of the teeth. Reverse saw. File remaining gullets. Not bad. Not perfect - but plenty good.

Back to the board waiting on the saw bench. Rip. Rip! Holy smokes is it better! When was the last time I sharpened this saw? Rip. Rip. Done.

Hmm. I wonder if I have time to clean these up with the jack plane? Look at clock. "What! Howd that happen?" Drat! Need to clean up and call it a day.

"But it will only take about 15 minutes to plane those two strips..."

Get plane...

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Rolltop Desk Rescue and Thoughts on Shop Satisfaction

I think it is interesting how shop projects give me satisfaction in various ways. In my experience, there are at least three distinct kinds of woodworking satisfaction. With most projects, its the creative aspect that I enjoy. With others its the challenge, or problem solving. And sometimes its just the tools. This last project was definitely in the third category.

Id been looking for a new desk for my classroom. I wanted something on the smaller side, with character, and definitely wood. After a lot of time online I found exactly what I was looking for - sort of.

It was a smallish roll-top desk and I really liked the way it looked in the pictures. In person though, it had problems - and a lot of them. It looked like it had fallen off a truck or down some stairs or maybe off a truck and down some stairs. Almost all the leg and panel joints were busted - or I should say had been busted. Someone had done some questionable repairs with a ton of glue and nails. Huh.

Clearly this was going to be a project and not just a purchase. I thought about just walking away, but it was the only desk I had found so far that I liked and it came with an awesome old wooden swivel chair. I ended up getting a much better price and it came home with me.

Now as projects go, this one was a little bit of a challenge. I had to figure out how to completely disassemble the desk without completely destroying the "repaired" parts or doing new harm to the few undamaged joints. It was also not without some creative elements. I had to create a new system of glue blocks to support the more damaged parts. However, it was the tools used that gave me the real satisfaction.

First, as I was getting ready to add the glue blocks, I needed to scrape off the old finish and much glue from earlier repairs. It just so happened that I had a cool old scraper holder sitting on the shelf. It worked great, and felt just perfect in my hand. I love putting old tools back to work; they just seem so happy.


Second, as I was adjusting the angle on the glue blocks the oak was really putting up a fight. Both my "go-to" jack and block plane were not quite doing it. I could have sharpened them and they would have done fine, but instead I decided to give the old bevel up jack a try. Shazam!




Talk about "the right tool for the job." Awesome and such a pleasure! Now I know a lot of folks are going minimalist, and there is a certain satisfaction in that (which Ive touched on before). I guess Id put that in my "challenge" category. But there is a special kind of joy in using a tool for the exact purpose it was created. For the purpose at which it excels. No "jack of all trades" but a true specialist. Could I have done this job without this tool - without a doubt. Would I have missed a deep and powerful satisfaction - yes! Im glad I have that tool, and glad I used it.

Oh, and the desk itself? Here are a few shots of the final outcome:

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Setting Up A Home Woodworking Shop

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A Cool Project from the Metal Shop

Sams uncle, Peter Moore of VermontBrickOvens.com , Pawlet, VT, builds elegant wood-fired pizza ovens. Sometimes he needs little details like this digital thermometer door cover above or a fancy damper handle that Sam made earlier in the week (The camera missed that one) . The outer door frame shown here is maybe 8 x 10" made of 1.5" angle iron, but I thought it had a cool look when it was done so here it is .... Click the photos for a better view ...

First step, cutting and welding the 1.5X1/8" angle iron frame, fitting the 1/8" door

Step 2, scan a logo and cut a tree out of thin, (14 guage?), flat stock... or maybe it was an 1/8"flat stock ... Sketch on some mountains

Find some brass hinges and rivets and practice your mountain making and all you have left to do is make your mountains and stars on the real thing, hand forge a small pull, texture the big copper rivet, figure out how to epoxy on a little rare earth magnet to hold the door shut, patina the brass hinges, and youre all set .... Nice Job Sam!

click to enlarge for details

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Link to its pattern check it out from the woodshop

The jig is made up of five basic parts. The drilling guide is a piece

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Woodworking Shop Layout should work smoothly and efficiently.

Smart Shop in a One-Car Garage - Fine Woodworking Article

Free plans woodworking resource from ShopNotes - garage storage

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