Weekly Blog - April 14th

john · Post by **john** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:43 pm

It's been another mixed bag week, between woodworking and nightly hockey games on TV.

On the woodworking side, I continue to work(?) on the wine rack and have succeeded in %&#@*ing up once again. I mentioned last week that I had forgotten how I did the doweled joints and I proved it to myself. After drilling holes in all the pieces that were supposed to come together in a rectangle for the ends, I found they did not line up. I then had to plug the holes in one set of pieces and redrill. Second time was much better, but I think I am losing confidence in my ability to anything right the first time. I think I should revert back to making toys! At least then I could play with them even if the wheels didn't all touch the ground.

The next step is to try and attach the wine bottle supports to the ends, again using dowels. If I don't succeed, I can always plug the holes and go back to using screws and nobody will know. Unless I tell you in one of my blogs.

It seems Dusty really started a "dust-up" with his provocative posts on the shortcomings of the ShopSmith. A lot of fun in the resulting replies.

It's interesting to see how many of our newer members are shy, and don't give their location. I noticed a post where someone was raising this issue and wondered about getting together with fellow members. On one of the Canadian WW forums I visit, there are several groups that get together at a local donut shop in their respective towns to talk "shop", and other things. Us Montreal area guys have gotten together at various times for a brew or two and and visited member shops. I am sort of a loner as most own those other "better" ww tools. This may be harder for ShopSmith owners as I would imagine we are fewer and father between since we have a unique machine. It would be interesting though to map out some of the members.

Since I don't get the emails, I wasn't aware of the current sales, not that I could take advantage from up here but I may have tried to work a deal on the conical sanding disk. I sure hope there are some bargins still going on in July when I will be in Vermont and can have things delivered to me there.

Well must run and see Ottawa lose to the Penquins again.

Have a Fun and Safe week!

John

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:04 pm

john wrote:.................Since I don't get the emails, I wasn't aware of the current sales, not that I could take advantage from up here but I may have tried to work a deal on the conical sanding disk. I sure hope there are some bargins still going on in July when I will be in Vermont and can have things delivered to me there..................John

Hi John,
Not to worry, they always have something on sale.

pinkiewerewolf · Post by **pinkiewerewolf** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:10 pm

Hi John, don't worry, all my wheels don't touch the ground either.

I was looking at plans for a bench where they use fake mortise & tendons to cap over screws. I liked it in this application because the tendons would be at an angle through the top. I wouldn't be skilled enough for a tight fit on that level of difficulty.

kalynzoo · Post by **kalynzoo** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:13 am

I know it is a copout, but you could drill through both pieces, and then use a contrasting dowel for effect. That way you know the hole will meet. If you use enough dowels it will look like you planned it that way. P.S. I write from experiance...and everyone thought it was in the plan

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:02 am

Had an interesting week! Finished messing with the dovetails on the drawers, serviced the Mark V while I had my very first shop visitor (matajugador) - it was fun! - Guessed right, and was able to sharpen 'throw away planer blades' rather than discarding them; prepared 1/4" oak boards from scrap and glued them up to make 16" X 17" drawer bottoms (8 or 9 boards per bottom).

After assembling and gluing up the drawers - started sizing the drawers to fit the openings. I have to remove a little more than 1/16" from sides, top and bottom. This is the only way I have figured out how to make drawers with a 16th of an inch on all sides of the inset drawer fronts. The procedure I had been using called for first making the rear of the drawer fit loosely then keep trimming until the fronts are just right. This time I have elected to use the conical disk sander for the whole job! The disk is just wide (tall) enough to sand the entire sides at each pass. Also spent a bit of one day diagnosing and worrying about the motor bearings on the DC3300.

Hey John! I'd like to second Gary's solution to the dowel problem. They would look just like the pins I put in my thru tenons.

The weather here is getting on toward summer. Yesterday was 36F in the morning and got to 90F as a high. In order to change sanding pads on the conical disk, only about 5 minutes is needed in the Sun to get the disk hot. Disks are then easy to change!!

Drawer pix tomorrow night. It's tomorrow already - Here's the photos

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P.S. Correction to above: There should be about 1/32" spacing (gap on all sides of the insert drawers. Not 1/16th as said earlier. Those simulated credit cards I get in the mail every week work real good for spacers. I have a collection of them.

john · Post by **john** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:05 pm

Hi there Gary and Chuck:

I had thought of using walnut through dowels but decided I wanted a product that had no apparent connections. I may still go that route as I have already made my planned task more difficult by drilling holes in the ends of the cross pieces and now have to drill holes in the end pieces that line up with them. It would have been easier the other way around, especially since the hole locations are marked on the templates I have for the end pieces. A total of 16 holes and dowels. With my recent successes, I may rethink that process.

I was incorrect when I said I didn't get the Emails, at least I think I was. Today I received one that at first looked like an ad for the SS, but down in the corner I saw a reference to what's on sale. I now remember getting a similar email recently, but probably discarded it without reading the whole thing.

If I had noticed earlier, I might have been able to work something out with the Canadian distributor for the conical disk set. Needless to say, I will be more carefull with future communications.

Have fun.

John

pinkiewerewolf · Post by **pinkiewerewolf** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:30 am

Chuck, that is awesome stuff. You have an eye for the details, and a creative flair for the use of Junk mail!:D
I'm going to have alot of trial and error before I can achieve results like yours.
I feel sorry for the material I am going to practice on.

Thanks for the pictures!

scottss · Post by **scottss** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:52 am

Chuck how did you cut the dovetails? By the way nice work also.

perryobear · Post by **perryobear** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:23 pm

John,

Sorry to hear about your doweling difficulty on the wine rack project; glad you were able to correct it. As to your thought about “reverting” to making toys, I hope you don’t consider toy making a step backwards. Toy making is a fun time in the shop and the Fall 2008 craft shows are closer than you think.

(I’ll get on my soap box for just a moment and say to any woodworking newcomers following the weekly blog that making a toy is a great way to learn about using your Shopsmith. It doesn’t take a lot of materials or shop space, and as John indicated, the result is still useable even if all the wheels don’t quite touch the ground at the same time on your first attempt!)

I find myself in the middle of a DIY project of redoing our Family Room. This project has taken on a life of its own and it has grown mightily in both scope and complexity. A few weeks ago I needed a sanity break and went down to the shop. I didn’t have the time or the courage to start a new project, certainly nothing like Chuck’s beautiful dovetail joined drawers, so I grabbed an item from my “mending bin” to work on.

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A couple of new vertical stabilizers, some missing dowels replaced, a good dusting-off, and it was ready to go back on the toy shelf to await the next young visitor. Unfortunately, the toy shelf is disassembled. It is supposed to be in the Family Room closet. If (I mean when) the Family Room project gets completed, I’ll try and post a photo.

Thanks again, John, for continuing the weekly blog and thanks to all who take the time to share what’s going on in their shop.

Regards to all,

Dennis

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:22 am

I wanted to answer Scotts "how" question, but first, I want to endorse the post by Dennis.

Any project that is undertaken by a woodworker is a good project. Be it a book end, a single shelf, a set of shelves, a book case, a picture frame, a cabinet, and on & on, all the way to a copy of an antique secretary decorated with carvings. There are a few woodworkers that produce pieces that make us simply amazed at their vision and skills. Most of us, however, are more common - most of our projects are made from other's plans, or ideas. The important part is they are our projects! We take pride in the finished object, regardless of the complications in making it. One thing that sticks in my head is the old saying, "The better craftsman is the one that can better fix his mistakes". I can never get over the thought when I see one of the marvelous projects, made by a 'Master' - "... wonder how many mistakes he fixed?"

On to the tables I'm making. These are from the plans, pictures and instruction in a book from Popular Woodworking. My Daughter said, "Can you make me two of these?" Of course this quickly reaches the top of the list! These tables had dovetail joints. I'd never made dovetails in anything before, so these were a challenge, I didn't know how to solve. The guys in the book used a router table and what looked like an Incra Jig. I thought about the router table I have, and even thru dovetails using the bandsaw.

I decided to try my luck on the OPR. After making two trial joints, one with 4 pins and one with 3 pins, my wife and I decided on the 3 pin type.

I stacked the four drawer sides on the OPR table (in horizontal mode) and cut the tails by raising the table so the dovetail bit passed through all four boards. Using the tails as a template, I marked the pins on the drawer fronts with a sharp pencil. Then, I used the OPR again in horizontal mode with a straight 1/4" bit and routed (hogged) out the space in between the pins, using stop bocks to avoid routing into the pins. Next using chisels, I trimmed out the slope of the pins and also did a little trimming on the bottom of the area that was routed. (I was cautious in the hogging operation not to rout too deep, so there was a little trimming needed) Incidentally during the 'hogging' operation, I used the adjustable stop collar to control the lifting of the table.

John - I don't really fee sorry for my practice wood. In fact, I'll keep it for a while and enjoy it! Extra notches and all!

Nice airplane, Dennis. Is it a DeHaviland?