I recently bought a second hand patio set made of wood. The lounge chair was thrown in for free as the glue joints had failed and the chair had basically disassembled itself. So I loaded all the pieces into my car and salivated over the prospect of not only getting the chair for free but a new project to work on! Here is a video of how the glue up went.
Get it’s while it’s hot! The video is fresh off my computer!
I think this is the most comprehensive video I’ve put out yet, so why don’t you sit back and enjoy this cutting board build with me! It’s a whirl wind of gluing, planing, sanding and routing. But hold onto your hats for the final reveal! Is that too much hype? Probably. But go on, take a look anyway.
This episode is all about getting prepared for the big glue up. I wanted my pieces to all behave predictably, so I needed a way to align them all. Decisions were made, and carried out, and in the next video I will wrap up the cutting board once and for all!
I may not have had time to film while I was dimensioning my stock for the cutting board, but I put together a video that goes over the photos and a small clip at the end explaining where I am headed next with the project.
Discussing the projects at hand- a cutting-board and a sword handle(?!)
It’s a snow day here- a perfect time to obsess over google sketch-up and shop layouts! Picture an object in your mind, any object… now search sketch-up’s 3D warehouse and POOF(!) you’ve got a virtual 3D version of that object! Okay so that’s only useful if you are, say, trying to arrange a layout for heavy objects without having to move them physically. I’ve been living in a virtual 3D warehouse for a couple of days figuring out my future shop layouts. Here are the fruits of my labour…
I originally was planning to rough out some boxes approximately the right size and move them around the floor plan- so if you’re about to create your own shop layout by all means do whatever is easiest or quickest for you. Sketching on a pad of paper works. I chose this route because A) I found it too cool B) I could get a realistic idea of spacial relations in the layout, and C) most of the ready-made models not only look awesome, but are the correct 1:1 sizes (the only dimensions I had to gather were those of the shop space).
As for layouts:
You can see I included the current layout and state the shop space I’m considering… it’s a mess!
Next I removed all of the items I hope to purge in the upcoming months (read: stash anywhere else)
Then I arranged the tools that I currently have into some semblance of a functional shop (which I hope to have “running” in May 2011).
And finally I couldn’t resist having a motivational foray into my dream shop layout. (including upgraded machinery)
I found this to be an excellent exercise in planning . I recommend that anyone who’s starting a woodworking shop/business draw up a quick shop layout to figure out :
That last one reminds me- I didn’t picture my wood storage in the layouts because I have existing overhead shelving along two sides of the shop that I’ll use for wood storage. Have yet to decide where plywood and other sheet-goods will be stored.
Also research layouts that work. I already had two books I had bought second hand because ” looking at other woodworking shops is fun”. But I finally put them to good use and studied the layouts. Especially the shops that were of similar size to mine. If you’re looking to take books out of the library, the ones I have and recommend are:
Woodshop Lust by David Thiel, published by Popular Woodworking Books
The Workshop by Scott Gibson, published by Taunton Press (finewoodworking)
Warped Boards 