Where Does the Steering Wheel Go?
January 4th, 2009Help me Park This Thing
Sorry about the hiatus yesterday. I had to do a little unexpected traveling. More about that when I am less pooped.
I want to announce that I got the mobile base for my giant Powermatic 66 saw finished. It was a pain, but I did it. I don’t just mean putting the frame together and adding wheels, which I already bragged about. Now I have the brakes and levelers on.
If you buy one of these things, do yourself a huge favor and find a way to hoist your saw and lower it into the base. It has a whole bunch of bolts that go into nuts which are on the inside of the frame, against the saw. It’s not easy getting them all installed and tightened. And when you get to the levelers, you will find that some of the holes you used for the structural bolts are really leveler holes (they don’t point this out in the instructions), so you have to take these bolts out with your saw sitting in the frame, and then you have to put the levelers in.
It is not fun.
Later this week, the planer will arrive. After that, I will have nearly no excuse for not building something. So you know what that means.
I’ll have to start working really hard on a new excuse.
I’ve been reading Doug Stowe’s Basic Box Making book. I am becoming a fan of this guy, the way teenage girls used to be fans of the Beatles.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:22 PM
You will be much happier about the box making if you are prepared when the stuff comes, and that means buying a set of half decent wood chisels, and practicing using them to cut mortises and tenons etc. Make sure you get a good wooden mallet to drive them with. A nice japanese pull saw is also very helpful.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:24 PM
This guy is not big on chisels, but I think they would be handy in order to deviate from his designs. I happen to have 3 that look pretty good.
January 4th, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Get some wood and start cutting stuff. Here’s a nice little jig for finger jointing wood. You’d be able to make this yourself in no time. And it’s easy to use.
http://www.songofthegreatlakes.com/box.htm
January 5th, 2009 at 12:19 AM
Three is about the right number. One little skinny one, one three quartes inch and a one inch. Also a cheap plain old utility knife, an old fashioned kind without the little thumb doohickey, that has the blade always extended is a wonderful tool.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:08 AM
Setup time is the elephant in the room here. The problem that hand tools solve is the “tiny little bit extra” you often need to take off to make something fit together well, that would necessitate resetting your saw or planer or whatever.
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Boxes aren’t like rough carpentry, where if you’re within a 1/32″ you’re a wizard of precision. Boxes require a pretty high degree of craftsmanship.
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Really. It may seem counter-intuitive, but hand-tools can be faster than power tools (for some things).
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Sometimes you only need to shave off a sliver (call it a thousandth or a hundredth or 1/128th or 1/64th), and there’s just no easy way to do that with power tools …or the setup time would be so much greater than just grabbing a sharp chisel, or a specialized hand-plane, and removing that hairs-width is SO much faster (AND more precise).
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So og’s advice is spot on: buy a good set of chisels (which means learning to sharpen them), because you’re gonna need them for the craft-y stuff. Like boxes.
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January 5th, 2009 at 7:20 AM
So your shop will soon be complete. I guess this means it’s on to oil-painting.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:03 AM
Hate to break it to you, but Og’s right. You will need chisels. Even if the focus isn’t on hand work. Allot some funds for a decent set (Marples/Irwin blue chip are fairly good, and won’t break the bank), get the faces flattened, hone them, and DON’T treat them like carpentry chisels. After you get them right, and discover what a joy a good chisel is to use, and what it is capable of, then you can sit down with Krenovian visions in your head and covet a nicer set of Sorby, or Lie-Neilsen, or Barr chisels.
Then there are saws, and stones, and…
January 5th, 2009 at 8:13 AM
Don’t forget the one thing most important in woodworking… Clamps. Get as many as you can in every style, size, and shape.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:46 AM
You mean you’re going to scream and faint?