I noticed in June’s FWW that they are looking for tools people have made. So in keeping with that request and the “tools I’m glad I bought” thread, how about pics/descriptions of tools you’ve made that you are glad about.
IMO, this includes guards, dust chutes, work benches, fences, aprons, push sticks, table saws, jointers, planers, hand planes, the whole shop! (after all, even the shop is a tool – you couldn’t build many of your projects without the shop)…
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Replies
The two best tools I have made are:
1. My workbench. It has a solid 1.75" thick solid maple top. The base is made of pine from 2x4 material that was laminated to 2.75" thick for the legs. It is not the prettiest bench or the best bench out there. But it was my first one and I use just about everyday.
2. My wooden mallet. I made it from plans from one of the mags. It has an oak handle that I turned on a lathe. The head is laminated birch and beech is has a cool pattern w/ the alternating species. The hande is attached to the head with very long and angled dovetail joints that are hand fit with no glue or mechanical fastners. It feels great in my hand and works well when using chisels.
I cant wait to read what others have made. thses have been great threads.
Take care,
Marko
Thank you,
The Great Marko
1. Workbench - solid maple 2 1/4 inch top made mostly from recycled maple cabinet doors with a recycled 4X4 douglas fir base (the douglas fir was from a 125 year old Hotel that was demolished). Total cost before vices - less than $200 CAD.
2. Router table/sanding centre
Here's a picture of a few shop made accessories. You can buy manufactured products for many of them now. The advantage of making your own is that they can be tailored to meet the situation, plus they don't cost much.
Left to right: router plates, miter sled, zero clearance inserts, laminate roller, assembly corner braces, circle cutting jig, assorted feather boards, assorted push sticks, router table (there are several that won't fit in the pic, this is a sideways one), taper jig.
I have dozens more from bench accessories to router templates. I think, I use some type of jig for just about every operation in the shop.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Hey Mark,
Here's a link to a thread that I started awhile back, to show off a toothing plane that I made.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages?msg=21329.1
Tom
When I first started carving back in the mid sixties, I made several carving tools out of old files and lathe gouges. There were no suppliers that had them locally back then.
I have made lots of lathe deep hollowing tools since. Some are from hollow tubing, so that I can hook the shop-vac to the butt-end and suck the shavings out as they are being cut.
I made my big lathe from parts from the salvage yard. It weighs 3000# and is powered by a 5 hp 3 ph motor with a variable frequency drive. The headstock was from an old lathe from a railroad shop. I think it was set up to turn the wheels. The arbor is 4.5" diamether and weighs 190#.
I also made a double spindle shaper that has seen lots of use. I used a Mooradian mandrel and an extra quill from my rockwell. I used 10/4 genuine mahogany for the top. The base is from a tire-balancing machine.
1) Workbench. Used FWW's plans from Tage Frid. A great exercise for a beginner in that it used one or more of just about every joint type.
2) Cross-cut sliding table. Used FWW's plans from Kelly Mehler. If I'm not using it I'm either mitering or ripping. Handles everything from pieces too small to safely hold to pieces too long to feed. Repetitive cuts or equal length pieces a snap with a stop. Often it doesn't matter how long it is, exactly, as long as all 4 pieces are the same length.
Vertical belt sander
Overhead drum sander
rolling work bench / DC hookups
oscillating spindle sander cabinet
standard workbench
electrolysis machines
my set of palm planes
lathe chisels
lathe duplicator
horizontal boring machine
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
It is a pleasure to run across your name here. I bought a bunch of plane totes and knobs from you a number of years back. I have stuck those on a little bit of everykind of gadget that ever needed a handle of any kind.
I am always amazed at the wild contraptions that all the jig-monkies come up with. Many woodworkers can benifit from this rule of thumb: do you want to build jigs and trinkets, or do you want to build furniture?
AT,
Jigs are a means to an end... They make work repetable and in most cases, safer....Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Both, and quite a few other things too.
do you want to build jigs and trinkets, or do you want to build furniture?
I have fun doing BOTH!
I'd be lost without my shooting boards... apparently they're totally unconventional, probably way over the top, but for me they get the job done first time every time...
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Any pics Mike?
Andy
I'll second that request. Need to make a few myself and would love to see what others have done.Waddaya mean it wont fit through the door?
none of my boards, but the ideas they're based (very loosely) on are published...
Woodworking Aids and Devices by Robert Wearing
When I built mine, I'd no idea how shooting boards were supposed to work; never seen one before much less seen one used... I couldn't figure how to get his designs to work with my #9... so I (apparently) threw convention out the window...
maybe I shouldn't be saying this... wouldn't want to corrupt anyone.. ;)Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
I'm all for the unconventional...
Mark,
I'm very impressed with my little workbench that goes on top of my big workbench...it was featured in FWW about 6 months ago. It puts stock in a better position for cuting dovetails, tenons, etc. and the front vise holds tapered/odd shaped objects very well...saves the back and eyes.
I've just restarted my FWW subscription after a 10 year break. Can you post a pic?Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Mark,
Sorry, I don't have a camera yet...all my money goes to subscriptions...lol. Perhaps this will help a bit
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/wvt096.aspI modified the dimensions so that I could drop dogs through the sled feet on the small bench to the dog holes on the larger bench. Also, I wanted to make sure the small bench over hung the larger bench edge when in place and, lastly, the whole thing fits under my workbench(vise end) when not in use. I added an adjustable stop at one end so that thin pieces could butt up against something when being planed or sanded.
Edited 6/23/2005 1:38 pm ET by BG
Using a Benchtop BenchMy bench top bench is a slab of a old maple I had to take down.. Still sort of round..
I got all the bark off and flattened the top with my old router and ecpt fer a few cracks works OK.. I'm to old now to get it back off the bench!
I made a long narrow 1800mm x 450mm (80' x 20'+-) router table that stands chest high. People that come into my shop look at it and scratch their head and usually mention that it's too high. But for routing it's at the optimum position for control. The more I use it the more I like it.
And then my work bench, measures 2500mm x 900mm and 100mm thick. It has an end and front vise, dog holes, and hold downs. Although many may shune it because it's made of Doug fir, building a bench from maple etc. of that size here would set me back years.
And the jigs...only the ones I've use. But I'll add the ones I don't use have a place because they were the stepping stones to the better jigs.
life is good
scratch their head and usually mention that it's too high..
I fully agree.. I have my router jigs up there.. Well, cept for the one in the TS....
Not so high I get spit in the face with chips.. But just high enough so I don't have to bend over any...
I have two that immediately come to mind.
The first is a height gauge that was put together in a rush for a certain need at the time. Somewhat crude in design, but because of the design has been very universal.
http://www.superwoodworks.com/Projects/HeightGauge.htm
The second is a jig to sharpen jointer knives. Because of a desperate situation. My jointers now perform better than ever.
http://www.superwoodworks.com/Projects/JKnifeJig.htm
View Image
View Image
http://www.superwoodworks.com
I love the height guage - I'll be making one today!Too bad I just spent $30 to have my jointer knives sharpend...Thanks for posting the pics...
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
A bench
When I arrived back in New Zealand in 1986, after 7 years in the UK, I moved into a hospital house just down the road from one of New Zealand's last remaining native timber mills (Paynter's mill at Whataroa on the West Coast).
Paynter just harvested and milled rimu, from the world's last remaining stands of temperate podocarp rainforest, and out the back of the mill was a city-block-sized pile of reject timber. Looking for some stuff to get started with (even before my container-load of workshop gear arrived from Wales), I spent a couple of days pulling a truckload of 2 inch hearty boards from the pile. Free. Eventually, set up in a recycled transport-operator's warehouse, my first job was to make a workbench based on a traditional design published in FWW just before I left the UK.
Best hardware. Butterfly-reinforced top. About 2.2 by 0.8m. Square steel dogs. Heart rimu top, southern rata trim and vice faces, totara, rewa rewa (lacewood). It was a lovely piece of work, and I was really proud of it.
But there was no future for me in studio woodwork. We moved away, and I auctioned off my workshop, including the bench. Best to sell than see it go rusty and lose value, I thought. Probably rightly.
The bench was bought by a local veterinery surgeon. He paid a good price.
Many years later, I'm working my way back into serious furniture-making. I wonder where the bench is, and whether the animal doctor would sell it back to me. I find him, after a few days scanning the national white pages, and call. Yes, he still has it, but no, doesn't want to sell it.
One day, he hopes to make it the centre piece of a new kitchen.
Damn! I miss and grieve for that bench.
Malcolm
New Zealand | New Thinking0.06% of the world's people are Kiwis
Edited 6/24/2005 10:54 pm ET by kiwimac
Malcolm,
Put an end to your grief by creating another bigger and better bench....
(good excuse to rid yourself of clutter/increase the size of workshop)
New Thinking in action?
I've thought about that.
One day - if I do get un-elected and can think about 'making' for a living - I will construct another bench.
But I'll never get the big wide heart rimu boards, the southern rata and rewa rewa trim ... it was a once in a lifetime project!
Sob
MalcolmNew Zealand | New Thinking0.06% of the world's people are Kiwis
... and, I've changed my view about what's best for bench work.
I have a super sawbench with a line of dog holes down the middle of a narrow top, and a quick-release vice at each end.
Actually, it's mostly all that I need.
MalcolmNew Zealand | New Thinking0.06% of the world's people are Kiwis
I haven't made many real "tools" up to now - just some jigs for my tablesaw and router. But the only real tool, that I made, I like very much: It's a Kebiki - a japanese marking gauge - based on suggestions in FWW. It's made from some plume and maple scrapwood with brass inlays, which were meant to stabilize the plume burl wood, but I like the look of the contrasting brass and dark plume wood very much, too.Ulrich
NICE!
Do you find the wedge 'easy' to accurately adjust the depth? Just wondering...
Long handled scrapers for turning bowls, using large bastard files purchased at flea markets for a buck or two. Although based on what I have since learned, I suspect I may have effected (screwed up) the hardness of the steel. Also, one of the better usages I have found for a belt sander; taking the teeth of the files.
To build an entertainment center I built: a router cabinet w/featherboards and a coping sled, a drill press table w/holddowns, a tablesaw extension table, a sliding crosscut sled w/stop.
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