A Much Wanted Item

Yesterday was the bi-annual Tools of the Trade Show in my home town of Pickering Ontario.  If your in the Greater Toronto Area, and even if your not the show is the place to go to find antique tools and other cool things.  Yesterday I scored an Emmert pattern makers vice.

The vice as I bought it

The vice is in remarkable condition, it worked perfectly so all I needed to do was clean it up a little.  So today I did just that, I fully disassembled the vice (carefully) and cleaned off and out all the schmutz (a technical term).  Then I reassembled (carefully) the vice.

The built in metal dogs spring loaded and fully functional

Few things blur the line between beauty and functionality.  This vice really does just that.  It is an amazing piece of engineering that I have wanted for a while.  I cannot wait to get this mounted on a bench.

The thread and cam mechanism cleaned and reassembled

I also made a set of maple jaw liners for the vice, there a little nicer on wood then the cast iron.  I also plan to make some wooden dogs to use instead of the metals ones (again the wood is a little gentler then iron).

I finished restoring a walnut blanket chest recently as well.  A pain in the butt job, but it paid off in the end.

A Bright Idea

Sorry for the obvious pun title for this post.  I have recently been making some improvements to the shop.  One of the easiest things so far has been the addition of a drafting lamp to the bench (the bench top for your information is now completely flattened and being used regularly).

A simple upgrade that has huge benefits.  The lamp makes seeing scribe and pencil lines much easier.  Working in a basement with almost no natural light makes seeing things difficult so this lamp should make life here better.  Only thing I may change about the lamp is the bulb.  I plan to switch all my lighting to L.E.D. lighting.  More energy efficient and better colour rendition makes them a great alternative to usual fluorescent and incandescent lights.

Now is also a good time to inform people that begin in a few weeks I shall be attending Rosewood Studio in Perth Ontario for 12 weeks to improve my woodworking skills.  I hope to blog much of my time there so follow along.

Cheers

Hans Christopher

Shop Tour

So I have decided that I am going to go out on my own and start my own carpentry company.  I love all things woodworking so making it my career is a total no brainer to me, so stay tuned to see how that all evolves.

To make the transition to full time pro woodworker and not just a weekend hobbyist I have made a few changes to my shop (a commandeered portion of my parents basement).  A little more space, some rearranging, and getting rid of junk should help make this space more effecient and usable.

Here you can see the other side of the space I use which is full of my familys stored items.  YAY for shared space.  At least I don't pay rent. 

 The General layout of the shop 

The newest area of the shop is a combined Finishing and Metal working area (also where I sharpen tools).  It is an L shaped section of cabinets (repurposed after a Kitchen remodel), non of the cupboards actually contain any woodworking or construction supplies (more family storage).

 Left to right; lapping plates, machinist vise, saw vise, high speed grinder.

In back all my finishes I keep in stock.

 The sharpening station.  The tub holds my stones submerged in water so they are always ready to go.

Tool Chest for metal working tools (files, punches, cold chisels, etc.)

Next is my computer/ drafting station.  This area see little use and will probably in the future be removed to make space for a bandsaw.  I do most of my design work upstairs on a small portable drafting table and on a larger desktop computer.

Above my laptop is a Small bookshelf (made of scraps) to hold all my woodworking books and magazines.

Next up is tool storage above and left of my drafting station.  I have two boards of peg board hanging of the basement framing, eventually I would love to have something more like this or like this, but for now this works.  I've got everything from wrenches to planes on these boards.  I do like that the peg board is easy to rearrange to change with new tools.  I still need to move a few things around to make them easier to get at, and I would like to group similar tools together.  Small side note the long shelf is a piece of baseboard on brackets, YAY for recycling.

Next, below the peg board is one of my two benches.  This is the first bench I ever built, it doesnt work great for some tasks but this is where I started my woodworking journey.  Now this bench will be used for power tool work and assembly.

The Bottom Shelf holds mostly power tools (ie. planer, router, sanders) but will eventually store all my on site tools as well (once I purge all the crap out from under there).

Next up shelves of tools.  Pretty self explanitory, most of my tools are stored on these shelfs, as well as supplies and hardware.  The gate on the front which holds the clamps is on hinges so that it get out of the way when I need somethign from in behind.

The left side of the shelving unit also has some french cleat storage.

Finally we come to my new bench (or bench in progress).  A more traditional bench, with a tail vise and eventaully a leg vise.

The workbench half done.  Top needs to be flattened.

 And a base made to get it off the saw horses.

 A bin for shavings my saw bench and bench hooks.

The ugly duckling

Lumber storage was a problem in here.  I have a small are of 8 foot high cielings where I store any sheet goods and long sections of lumber.

 I used the exposed joist bays to store some smaller pieces of lumber.

Finally we have my table saw station.  I used a small portable Dewalt table saw on a work mate table, and for the most part it works great.  I am right now refurbbing an old 8 inch Delta contractor saw which will become my main table saw and the Dewalt will be my own site saw (as it should be).

A mobile base would be nice.

So there you have it my shop in all its glory.  It is a wonderful place that I love working in.  It is constantly evolving and changing to fit my needs.  If you want to see more of it leave a comment or any questions same deal and I will get back to you.

Cheers 

Hans Christopher

A Bench Update

Short post today...to those of you who are tired of reading my ramblings you are welcome. 

The bench is coming along nicely.  I have the tenon on the top cut so that I can add the end cap eventually.

A rather large hand cut double tenon. 

I used a plow plane to establish the shoulders

this was more accurate for me then trying to saw the shoulders.

I then used a 1 1/2" chisel to create the rest of the tenon.

I have also started the dog hole strip.  Cutting all the dog holes by hand is a long process but a lot of fun.  I start with some simple pencil layout lines.  Then I knife in the lines on the top surface where the cut will be visible on the finished bench.  I then use a chisel to make a first class saw cut notch (this helps create a cleaner cut line as well as guide the saw.  I cut the two side walls then use a chisel to waste out most of the material.  I finish off with a router plane to achieve a uniform depth.

I am now about half way through the dog hole strip.  Once I get the remaining dog holes knocked out I will glue on the backer and then glue the whole piece to the rest of the top.

And now because it has been a long time since I posted some random pictures here are more from my travel to Italy a few years ago.

Now I am off to enjoy the sweet sounds of the Tragically Hip and the awesome weather we have for march (stupid global warming).

Cheers

Hans Christopher