TMitchell

I'm in the same boat. In Florida, we don't have basements, so my dedicated portion of the garage is 10' x 12'. In that space I have very neatly packed: 8' bench, Cabinet saw with 50" fence, 18" bandsaw, Dust collector, Joint, Planer, Drill press, Compound miter saw and a medium-sized hanging tool cabinet that holds all my nielsen stuff. I find myself moving my stool several times an hour just to work... Can't wait to move into a new house some day!

For those in a similar situation... in order to make this jigsaw puzzle work, I cut out scale miniatures of every tool and played with them in a scale drawing of my available space unti they all fit. Also cut out a scale piece of 4'x8' plywood to be sure I could get it in front of the saw blade.

Yes, they are solid all the way through as the picture suggests. This was actually more than an asthetic choice. In order to have room for the "tumbler" that supports the combination lock the sides had to be quite thick.

I'll look for a picture of the unit unassembled for clarity... now that it's assembled and glued it can't be taken apart due to how I did the drawer stops. This protects the combination from being figured out.

I'm lucky enough to choose my projects, which I assume is true for most of the readers on this site.

Woodworking is something I do to enjoy, and that affords me the ability to make decisions based on my personal preferences and not the profit margin.

If I'm going to invest part of my 80 years on this planet in building something by hand, I want it to be something I'm completely and thoroughly proud of, and for me that means no MDF.

I've built a couple pieces that had some plywood in them for close friends who needed something cheap (including stage props for church), but I would never admit to having built them and like doing furniture repairs, consider it a favor of personal compromise to someone who means more to me than my woodworking principals.

Having said that, I do use MDF for single-use jigs and templates or backer boards on my drill press. Anything I expect to use again will be made of baltic birch.

I think that with hand-made furniture, like people, the most important parts are those you can't see. It's what's inside that counts. That's why I include a set of in-process photographs of all my pieces to the people who receive them. They can know and enjoy for years to come how every aspect of this piece as the integrity of craftsmanship and multi-generational value.

If I ever have to do veneer, I'll back it with Baltic birch... but even that will be the result of having no other option.

Think of it this way... that wedding ring you are wearing... I bet it's solid gold, right? Why not just have it gold-plated steel? Because every time you look at it, you'd know it's not real. Same thing with fine furniture.

I can't believe they convinced someone to pose for this photo with the blade running.

Honestly, the only part of this picture that makes me cringe is the cross-cutting with miter and fence... all I can see when I look at that is the cut-off flying up at the user's head with 3-HP worth of conviction. I literally can't look at the picture any more.

I'm in the "balance" camp. I genuinely pursue two things to improve my woodworking experience:

1) Quieter, cleaner power tools.
2) Sharper, better tuned hand tools.

Thanks, I'll try some differnt butcher block oils to see how that does. I'm familiar with the color-changing behavior of purpleheart as I've used it many times. Most recently on an under-water spear gun with Wenge accents. It was stunning until I put the clear-coat epoxy on it... Still looks nice, but it's a shame it didn't stay as bright as it was after the oxidation set in.

In any case, it's a great bench that you should be proud of... even if you can't bring yourself to use it.

Thx.

I've struggled to get a finish on Purpleheart that preserves the intense color it has bare. What did you use?

I like the fact that you went breadboard and solid rather than mitered and vineered ply. I might have to build one of these for myself.