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The Other Half of the Shop: Clean!

Well, at 10:00 pm, I just finished cleaning my machine shop. It's definitely clean and pretty organized. Organization is one of those things that is never complete - there is always something else to be done, something that can be improved. And there is nothing - NOTHING - that can take the big grin off … Continue reading The Other Half of the Shop: Clean!

The Fine Art of Sticking Two Pieces of Wood Together

Woodworkers use clamps for many tasks, but most importantly for clamping work together while the glue sets. Some clamps, like spring clamps are fairly weak and apply about 35 lbs of force. At the other end of the scale, heavy duty bar clamps can exert up to 6800 lbs, and C-clamps can exert well over … Continue reading The Fine Art of Sticking Two Pieces of Wood Together

A Box Called “Tolerences”

This box was built from butternut using only hand tools. I started with green boards of butternut and planed them down with a jack plane, cut the half-lap joints with a chisel and skew-rabbet plane, and glued and nailed the joints. I glued and nailed on the bottom with two nails - the other two … Continue reading A Box Called “Tolerences”

Faster Than Super Glue

Yesterday, I had a bit of a scary moment.  I needed to glue something together, so I found my bottle of Hot Stuff (fast setting cyanoacrylate adhesive, commonly known as Super Glue).  I took off the black cap, put the tip to the piece I was gluing, and squeezed.  Nothing.  I wasn't in the shop … Continue reading Faster Than Super Glue

Installing A Shelix Cutter Head

May 11, I decided that it was time to rid my 8" jointer (Delta DJ-20) of its dull knives. I carefully removed the blades and found that they were hopelessly dull. Must have been that lignum vitae. Rather than send the knives out to be sharpened or purchase new knives, I decided to spring for … Continue reading Installing A Shelix Cutter Head