Shop furniture

[metalspinner]

It's just about getting to be time to think about moving into the new shop.
But leaving the basement behind means I'll need to build some new benches and things for the new shop.

I'm starting with this little bench.



 
Most of the stuff I build starts out as a sketch in this book. It gets me most of the way there with overall dimensions and joinery details.

I do like to use whole numbers as much as possible. 1" tenons, for instance. The inside measurement between the legs, plus 2" gives me my overall length of the rail. Kinda hard to screw up that math.

It's always fun, though, to see what I end up with despite my best intentions with a drawing!

I'll be using this bench a lot so I want to make it nice. I have plenty of walnut sitting on the top of the pile, so walnut it will be!

[Hilltop366]

 

[metalspinner]

I'm terrible about remebering to take pics along the way. So I have some gaps in the machining timeline. :D

This mortising machine makes everything so easy. You can really screw up quick if your stops aren't set right!



 

I cut the tenons on the table saw with a dado set. And because all the mortises are the same size, it was just the one setup to make all the tenons. I also used a block plane to chamfer the edges of the tenon to help at assembly time.



 

A quick dry fit to make sure everything goes together.



 

You can see above the groove in the legs and rails. This is for a side panel. I had this piece of butcherblock kicking around, so I cut and resawed it to make the 1/2" panels.



 


Here's my resaw setup. This is a new carbide tipped blade Im trying out. It really cuts nice.







 



 


A book matched butcherblock.


 


 

A better look at the Mortise and groove for the panel.



 

I have to sand outside. This is the first run with my new ROS. After 15 years, my old one finally gave up the ghost.
A downdraft table is on my shortlist for the new shop. Sanding outside with the fan is getting old. I was chased in by the rain just now.

[Crusarius]

I am definitely interested in the feedback here. I have been trying to setup my shop for 7 years now. It is very challenging with the wide variety of work I do. Somehow I need to fit wood and steel projects into the same space. My poor mill keeps getting covered in sawdust, absorbing all the oil, and then rusting.

[WV Sawmiller]

  I have called the police! That is too well built and too pretty to use in a shop! 

[metalspinner]

WV Sawmiller, just wait until you see what the top will be!
I like to have my bench's and shop stuff nice. It puts me in a better mindset to work.
Besides, have you seen the cost of a crappy 2x4 lately?!?😂

Crusarius,
I, too, have machine tools. Right now, all my equipment is jammed into 400 sq feet. So everything gets messy. The basement has AC so the surfaces are still rust free. My worry moving to the shop is surface rust. I talked to my HVac guy and he thinks a dehumidifier in the machine room will go a long way.

Here we are so far with this bench.



 

Can anyone else notice the difference between KD walnut and air dried walnut?

[Crusarius]

dehumidifier can't hurt. what really got me was when I was heating the shop to paint my sawmill. The mill and lathe were dripping with condensation.

If the shop was always heated it would have been fine but not trying to just warm it up to paint.

[farmfromkansas]

You are really going to miss AC on hot days.  I use a vac and hose connected to my ROS to make the dust bearable inside.  My Bosch sander is set up for a dust collector box, and a hose connects to it with a kit. Huge difference.

[SwampDonkey]

Nice looking little bench. If you've got walnut, might as well use it. ;D

Yeah, lumber and OSB is crazy high. Waiting on the crash in price to get the shop up here. Oh yeah, it will happen. Both made from low value woods if your the producer of such wood.

[alan gage]

I use a vac and hose connected to my ROS to make the dust bearable inside.  My Bosch sander is set up for a dust collector box, and a hose connects to it with a kit. Huge difference.

Me too. Just a regular shop vac and Mirka Ceros sander. I can sand for hours and you'd never know it. No mask or respirator required. Sometimes I try to sand a really small project without the vacuum and I quickly remember just how bad it gets.
Alan

[metalspinner]

I did make a dust shroud for my ROS. And it does help. But it limits my view just a little bit. 
Also, the hose hanging from the sander makes it a bit cumbersome to move around. 
But it does make for a cleaner sanding. 



 



 

This is the one I dropped off the ladder and it stopped working. 😂

[alan gage]

I can't imagine using something as unwieldy as that for a ROS. Get a nice single hand unit that has holes in the pad and a vacuum attachment. Then either put a bag in the shop vac or get one of those little bucket cyclones. If you're running just the filter in the vac it will plug up quick. You won't believe the difference and you might decide you don't need a downdraft table.

Variable speed is great too.

Alan

[btulloh]

Metalspinner, that shroud looks like somebody spun some aluminum into that particular shape.  ;D  And your FF name is . . .     Hmmmm....  

[metalspinner]

Alan, I actually really like this sander. It has some heft to it that helps during sanding. I have tried several smaller one hand sanders and I just don't like them. They seem too light weight. 
...Wait...hold on... the phone is ringing....never mind. It was "Rachel" from "Dealer Services."

Anyway, I was quite upset when I dropped and busted my old one. The new one that came in seems different. Just not as solid(?) as the old one. We'll see if it lasts. 

Btulloh, yep. I needed to sand some wood floor in the house and I put this one together kind of quick. 

[Crusarius]

...Wait...hold on... the phone is ringing....never mind. It was "Rachel" from "Dealer Services."

Wow she just called me to. Man does she get around. I am very glad she is so informative.

[WV Sawmiller]

  You better call Rachael back so she can lower your credit card balance/interest, get your extended car warranty and fix that Amazon Prime Order you don't remember making. She can probably go ahead and help you with your monthly police and firefighters donations. :

[btulloh]

Rachael. Ha.  Love those.  I've lowered my credit card interest every time someone calls about that. I think currently I'm at minus 12,400% and I actually get paid for my balances.   8)  Problem is that I don't carry a balance on any of my cards, so I'm missing out on a lot of potential income.   :-[

[trimguy]

I also have one of those sanders and really like it. The bearings are going out in it though. I bought a 6" one similar to it and have a couple of palm sanders and don't like any of them as good as that one.

[trimguy]

Oh, and Rachel, I think she needs to start paying my phone bill as much as she calls me !

[metalspinner]

Spent the morning finishing up the bench top and assembly

I decided to use some aluminum angle as a top fastener. 
First I drilled a few holes on the drill press, then routed slots on the end of each piece. A little spritz of WD-40 goes a long way to making a nice cut. 


 

 
I did make a second pass to make the slot the same size as the hole diameter. 

This makes for a nice, low profile attachment point for the top. 


 

The center hole doesn't need to be slotted. Neither do the holes on the base rails.
The screws in the slots are not snugged up - allowing the top to float. 


 



 



 

The plywood insert will need to wait until I move my equipment into the new shop. 

[Walnut Beast]

Looks great. Nice job 👍

[coalsmok]

That honestly looks better than the island I made my wife for the kitchen. 

[metalspinner]

Got started on another shop project yesterday. I didn't take any progress pics, but you can all imagine big pieces of plywood becoming smaller pieces of plywood. 😆

This is what I hope it will become ... 
All measurements are suggestive only. 🙄



 



 

I traveled a bit for this plywood. It's prefinished, 9ply plus the two birch veneers. It was worth the four hour round trip and half a tank of diesel to Asheville both for the bargain price and quality product. 

I was worried driving back up the mountain that all this would slide out the back of the truck. It is slippery!



 

This is the first time I've been able to give this sliding table a good workout. It really is nice to use. But being organized with a cut list is important. Taking it off and on and recalibrated can be a pain. 



 

And by dinner time, the boxes are all assembled. 



 



 

This prefinished has been nice to use so far. It didn't scratch up like I thought it would. And cleanup of glue squeeze out was a breeze. 

Today I will edge the boxes and maybe even get the bases in place?

[Crusarius]

This looks nice. One of these days I may have enough shop space to organize the space

[metalspinner]

It's been a while since I spent 12 hours straight woodworking.
But I got all the boxes edged out and sanded. The base has been set along with the bottom boxes. I even got a first coat of finish on the top!  I'm beat.

This is a piece of butcher block that I scrounged a while back. Ripping and re-sawing this makes quick work of making edging strips.





 



 



Everything goes through the sander. Ended up with about 250 lineal feet by 1/4" thick.




 

All the boxes edged. BTW, 16 gauge brads will not shoot through an 18 gauge Brad nailer no matter how much you swear at it. 🙄



 

Can't see it, but I made up a 2x4 base. I ripped the 2's nice and square then just screws them together on 16" centers.



 

The top is 13' long and 1 1/2" thick. This was some more of the BB I bought as remnants. This is Brazilian Cherry. That top is HEAVY. I bought it at 16' x 27" x 1 1/2". I bet it weighed 500 pounds.  



 

Anyway. I'm tired.

[Walnut Beast]

Looks great! Good job 👍 

[Crusarius]

That does not look like any shop I have been in. That looks great.

[metalspinner]

I took advantage of being caught up with work to finish these shop projects. 
Almost one year ago I started this little bench and here we are, finally, with it done. Well, almost. 😆
Just need to put a finish on it. 



 

And the big cubby cabinet is getting close, too. The doors and drawers are done!



 


A sharp eye might notice the walnut on this cabinet front is European Walnut. Not our Black Walnut. 
That's what I had available in enough matching quantity and thickness from my butcher block remnants pile. The cabinet still needs some sort of top moulding or crown. I'll get to it someday. 🙄

[Larry]

The bench and cabinets look great and so does your shop......but I don't see any sawdust or cobwebs.  Ya want me to send ya some? :D :D :D

[Andries]

Well, I'm ashamed to say that I've been working with 2x4 assembly tables and plywood sheets on a pair of saw horses for a workbench. This is inspiring.
Your work belongs in a Fine Woodworking magazine. Top notch work Metalspinner!

[WDH]

You are amazing.

[GAB]

All measurements are suggestive only. 🙄
To me this statement sounds like seat of the pants carpentry!
GAB

[metalspinner]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. 

GAB, these pencil drawings really are just a way for me to get started. It's kind of hard for me to stick to a hard plan. These are just  mostly plywood cabinets, so I needed a cut list. 
But with furniture like the little bench, I usually design-on-the-fly.  Especially if I am using a natural edged piece. 

[metalspinner]

This one's quick. Another workbench. 
I really like these flat files. 



 

The top's about 6 foot long and 50" wide. 




 

Here are some bolsters that I used to both attach the top to the cabinets and raise it to the same level as the bench next to it. They are attached to the cabinet top with threaded dowel bolts. 

Tomorrow, I will make some angle iron brackets to connect the top to the bolsters. 




 


And my favorite drawer. 😊 there are all kinds of ideas in there waiting to be discovered. 




 

[samandothers]

Look like old drawing cabinets, back before CAD days.  Good use of the flat cabinets, I was wondering what you'd store in so many of them.  I guess you could store hardware there too.

[metalspinner]

These are perfect for the work that I do. I use lots of sheet cork in various thickness along with fiber material that comes in sheets. These are great for storing that along with patterns, materials, etc. 

I used to store my hand tools in them, too. But recently picked up a tool box for all of that. 

And a couple of drawers for my clicker press dies. There are some of these cabinets that are only 37" wide and I've been on the hunt for a couple of them. 



 

[Larry]

Your flat file storage is outstanding and the nice top makes them even more useful.  Wish I had a couple....and enough room for them! :D

[kantuckid]

I thought I was organized...until metalspinner came along :D I'm not even close to him! 

[Walnut Beast]

It's great to be organized until you start working and need to get every tool out to do the project then you have to put everything back. One plus of being organized is you do know where your tools and supplies are

[metalspinner]

I manufacture about 40 different products for a music accessories company.
Each of these products requires patterns, molds, forms, tools, bits and pieces to aid assembly, etc.
So, for each of these products, I have  created "job boxes" that contain all of those items necessary to produce a run of products through different stages of completion. That way, I don't have to go run down a 5/16" nut driver for instance. It's already in the job box. And three of these boxes might contain a 5/16" nut driver.

That's what this big cabinet is for with all these boxes.


 

Here is a close up of four boxes used for one model we call the "Vintage Tone."



 

Some tools are generic and used across most of the products and they may get a special box.

The only tools that never leave my bench is this little knife and file.



  

[Walnut Beast]

Looks great and definitely makes things go smoothly when your organized and clean 💪