BilljustBill

Wearing Jewelry, even the 'tight fitting' ring, can be dangerous.

Bill

Your idea is great. I know of two people that have had table saw accidents. Each was ripping a narrow strip about 4' long. Because neither had a supporting outfeed table, while safely using a push-stick with their right hand, each fellow used their left hand to reach out and support the ripping. As their hand passed over the blade on the way to catch the narrow strip, a finger was caught by the whirling blade.

Both spent time in their local E.R., both had to have surgery so steel pins could be put in, and both required physical thearpy weeks later. All that is not counting the pain and time missed from their jobs.

Having an outfeed table, supporting the outgoing stock like you built, would have prevented them from causing their own accidents. And like my friend said after his accident last year, "I could have bought two big cabinet-style "Saw Stop Table Saws" for what was paid out in medical bills."

Life has circled back three times, now. I have the hand tools and a hughe 30" diameter 4" wide hand cranked sharpening wheel in its standing wooden case of my mom's father. I have my some of my other grandfather's tool that I watched dad use.

Now, it's my turn to put them in my hands and let them teach me how hand tools enrich the term, "Hand Made".

Bill

TheStebb2, I used solvent based contact cement to bond raw leather to thin plywood. Once bonded and squared, I did the tooling for the border design. With the door made up of stile, rail, and raised panels, I cut the recess with a router and inlayed the leather using the same solvent contact cement. Then, I finished the leather with products from Tandy leather.

The leather makes a soft but firm surface to write on. Good luck with your project, too.

Bill

I used Black Walnut on every piece except the back of the bookcase and drawer bottoms. For those spans and drawer loads, I used Walnut veneer plywood. All the raised panels are cove cuts made by running the walnut at an angle to the table saw blade. All the moldings, like the crown molding atop the bookcase and the quarter round holding in the leaded glass were handmade by using the table saw, router, and a lot of sandpaper.

The lower cabinet main frame is made with 1-1/2” thick walnut and each drawer front is made using five different pieces of wood. Inside the drop front writing desk I bought, tooled, and inlayed leather as a writing surface. The brass arms on each side are connected to moving supports underneath the drop front. As the drop front is closed, the brass arms automatically retract the lower supports into the cabinet.

The leaded glass fit the door frames using “seeded glass” made with small air bubbles. The inside letter compartments and curved small drawers took almost as much time as making the upper and lower cabinet parts to the secretary.

I used two coats of “Tung oil” and let fully dry. Then added three coats of “Deft” for the finish.

A simple workshop with a 14" band saw, 12" planer, 10" table saw, 6" jointer, a drill press, and a 1Hp. router is all that was needed to build my Bookcase and Writing Secretary.