caknuts1

A very nice little bench with a great vise for an even better price.

I made my first router table form a crummy desk left on the curb with a "free" sign attached. The top was 2" think MDF with a melamine finish.

Our county dump has a section for things people doon't want that still work. Local yard sale, etc. All great sources.

Short of Kelly Mehler's workshop, I'd just like to get an extra foot of headroom in my shop. Oh, and get it cleaned up again ;-) mmmm, and time would be nice too, come to think of it! Good thing I don't want much :-)

Obviously there is always a risk, which is unacceptable in my mind, when striking one hardened steel object against another.

The danger arises from the physics of the strike. The least amount of danger (since we're talking about moderate blows) occurs when the two faces are perfectly flat and strike each other as perfectly parallel hammer faces.

The rub is perfectly flat and perfectly parallel. What hammer face is perfectly flat (let alone two)? And as we know (think floor loading calculations or pushing a chisel through), the force is multiplied as the contact area is reduced. One hammer slightly askew is all it takes to multiply the moderate striking force into a great amount of force at the place of contact.

My verdict? Don't risk it.

Like many, I love Shaker and Craftsman, but if I am not mistaken Shaker is more a style than a period. That said, I think there is usually a good representation of styles and periods, but I can always take more Shaker, and less contemporary.

I generally am less interested in the actual piece than I am in the construction. What design choices were made and why (especially with period work). For example, if you have multiples doors how do you decide to size the stiles where the doors meet for a balanced look?