Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Shop? tour

Well hello there.

I am a bit late this week posting.  Spring cleaning, or what ever you call what we are doing......decorating/painting, is still going on and I am really sore, so bear with me.

We went to a home and garden show and I met a guy who makes mini barns.  I asked for a quote for the size of shop I want to build, and it came to about $7000.  I didn't think that was too bad, but then someone pointed out that it was over $21/sq ft.  so I thought some more.  I would still have to build the base for it too.  I got a material quote in for the building material today from our local Rona store.  It came out to just under $3750.  I don't think I want to pay $3000 in labour on top of having to build the base, so we are back on the self build track.  I now have 4 little flags on my lawn marking the corners of where the new shop will be.  It may move a little but there is still lots of time before the frost is out of the ground and I can level the area.  I have the money all tied up for a while yet anyway, and have to put in the papers for the building permit.

Getting back to where we left 2014.

I did a few quick modifications to the table saw.  I added some drawers I made from scraps and an outfeed table to it.  I also made a new panel sled and a mitre sled.  Now everything that belongs with the saw is with it.  I still need a new saw, and if there is money left at the end of the shop build I am going shopping for one.  But for now this is what I have.




The mitre sled is copied from one Steve Ramsey made over at Woodworking for Mere Mortals ,  Steve has an excellent You Tube channel filled with free content and projects that are creative and fun.  I would say he has one of the best channels on You Tube.  Actually, there are a couple of them now, he does short videos called "Mere Minutes" too.  Anyway, the sled works well and sits in the bottom left cubby on the saw.  The panel sled on the right cubby is large but light.  Just a piece of 1/4" ply with a runner and a fence.  Pretty accurate with a 5 cut check. 

What have I been working out of up until now?  Well, most of the work gets done on the lawn.  That kind of limits me to working on nice days.  The indoor space is this.





That's it!  A leaky old garden shed that was here when we moved in.  Tight quarters indeed.  A lot of my tools stay in the house, and most of them go in with the finishes and glue all winter.  My shop time is very limited, but I enjoy what I can.  I have picked up bits and pieces over the years as my interest grew and now it is time for a big step and commitment.  I will be nice being organized and not having to move things to get at what I want, then moving it all back after I get it so I can go back to work.  

Every year towns around here have town wide yard sales.  If you look closely at the pictures you will see 5 hand saws hanging on the left side of the shop.  One I bought at Canadian Tire and is a Stanley hard point saw.  A decent enough saw, but they are not meant to be re sharpened.  The other 4 I bought at the Hensall town yard sale for $2....yes two dollars.  Two of them are Disston D-8's.  I figured for the price, they are just right to learn sharpening on.  First, of course, I need a way to hold them, so I cut up some maple and used a discarded leaf from the kitchen table (remember the table I re finished?) and cobbled together a saw vice.  


It just clamps in my bench vice and the works well.  I have since shortened it in height a bit so I can sit and sharpen.  Not bad for some scraps.


I bought the proper sized files from the local Home Hardware, did a bunch of reading, asked a bunch of questions of RogerT at The Woodwhisperer live IRC chat and restored the saws.  The 2 Disston's were kept cross cut and the other 2 I re filed rip.  I may yet retooth one of the rip saws coarser.  At 7 TPI (or is that PPI?  I can never keep that straight), it takes some time getting through a piece of wood, but they all cut reasonably well now.  I already had a saw set that I bought at a flea market on Manitoulin Island, so now I can maintain my hand saws.  They go nicely with the saw bench that lives under the work bench, and a lot of times it is much easier to pull that out rather than set up a power tool.  I have a Ryoba that I bought at Lee Valley, but I cannot cut worth a damn on a pull saw.  Some folks have great luck with them, I just don't have the touch I guess.

Oh, and what is a post without critters in the yard!  We have these two guys on pest control in the wood pile.  


Mama ground hog taking care of her babies and controlling the dandelions.



Lil' Lee is growing too.


That is one happy puppy.  Now it is time for me to take a break.  Thanks for dropping by!



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