Kaleo’s Workshop

So for those of you that are on Twitter you know that recently I had absolutely no desire to go into the shop. I kept telling myself all day, SELF: you need to go into the shop and get some stuff done. I’m still in the middle of making the box for the podcast. I’m trying to make a few stands for some pottery to be displayed on. Just recently I had a friend of a friend find out that design and make furniture. So I think that there might be a few projects coming my way.

But even with all the stuff that I could and should be doing in the shop, I had no desire to go down there. Have any of you ever had this experience? I mean I love it when I am down there. And because I know that I will love it when I get down there, I usually make myself go. Well I learned my lesson while at school. There were just some days that I felt like not doing anything. And those were the days that I should have stayed home.

One such time was at the end of a long day. It was crunch time, a project was coming due at the end of the week. We were all putting is some really long days. One night I was taking the clamps off the project. I had glued corner blocks onto some construction paper and then onto the carcass. This was to be able to clamp the miter corners. Well the clamps came off and the piece was looking good. It was about 10 pm and something told me “that’s enough for the day”. But I wanted to get the corner blocks off and get all the construction paper off as well. So I proceed to pop off the blocks, and thought I’ll sand off the paper. I started to sand a quickly figured out that it was going to take forever to do it this way. So I grabbed one of my chisels and proceeded to pair away the paper. Oh did I mention that this was a veneered piece. Well needless to say, my eyes grew tired and my hands and my brain weren’t communicating. The chisel got away from me and I took out a nice chunk of veneer.

Now I did end up being able to fix it, so that it didn’t look that bad. But of course to me I will always see that flaw first whenever I see that piece.

The lesson is follow your gut. I have found that those time when you do not feel like being in the shop are the times that you shouldn’t be in there. Things just go wrong, you might mess something up that you have spent hours and hours doing. Or worse yet, you might not be thinking straight and end up hurting yourself. So if you don’t feel like it, then take a break and watch some cartoons with your kids. If you don’t have kids, then just watch the cartoons anyways, I just use my kids as an excuse.

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This week I talk about some of the sweet tools that I had the chance to work with this week.  They are the following:

Lie-Nielsen small brass spokeshave
Fein Multimaster ToolRigid Oscillating Spindle Sander
Zem Hearing Protection

So over the 4th of July weekend, I got to spent a little more time in the shop. Although the time that I got to spent wasn’t just my own time. At the moment at work I am making a huge curved floor molding to go around a oval shaped cut out of the floor. So over the weekend I had to joint and edge glue some 12 inch wide Red Oak boards. Yes I know it seemed like a waste to me also to make this molding out of such wide stock. But I had to cut out the initial curve and then glue on the off cut to the back to be able to mark out and cut out the same curve only 4 1/2 inches wide. So that’s how a spent a couple of hours in the shop.

But I also spent some time cleaning and arranging tools. The first thing that I noticed was the my very simple and cheap router table was sagging. So I took the router out and braced the table flat again. But this has lead me to believe that I need to make a real router table. So that will be soon. ( my brother in law has a craftsmen bench top router table that I can use if I am in a pinch.)Then I mounted my planer onto a rolling cabinet that I had and leveled it to the extension wing to the UniSaw. The other big thing that you will notice is the huge snap on tool chest in the shop. That also belongs to the brother in law. But man does it look sweet in the shop. My one experiment last weekend was trying to rig up some poor mans dust collection. At the moment I have access to 4 shop vacs. I guess I should say 3 because my Festool Midi vac, does not qualify as a cheap shop vac. So I hooked on up to the planer and that worked beautifully. I hooked another up to the miter saw and that worked beautifully also. Then I tried to hook one up to the jointer. Let’s just say that blue is a miracle worker in the shop, but it has ti’s limits. And one of those limits is attaching a shop vac hose to the DC port of a jointer. Did I mention that this was a poor mans attempt at dust collection. I am saving up for a decent hopefully used and nicely priced something soon. But until then I’m stuck “jerry-rigging” and blue taping stuff together.By the way there will be a new episode of This Week in Wood, hot and fresh by Monday morning. So look forward to that Monday at work, I know I will!!!

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So here’s the latest update to the box making series. In this part we discuss veneers. Where they come from, how they are made, how to prepare them and how to get them ready.So I said that I would post the recipe for the flatten solution. Now there are many different ways to do this. The way that I do it is this: 4 parts water to 2 parts glycerin. Now many people add alcohol, this is believe to help the solution penetrate the wood deeper. Also they add a little bit of Plastic Resin Glue. This I do not know why they do. But you can also buy this solution pre-made at Rockler or at Woodcraft. I hope this helps, also thanks to everyone for using my Amazon link and the Google Ads and Search. I truly appreciate it.

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So the folks over at Popular Woodworking have just opened up registration for Woodworking in America.  So head over there and take a look at all the presenters and exhibitors.  Register today to get your spot and be there at the show.   Also send in your votes on who I should interview.

Woodworking in America

So I haven’t had a lot of time in the shop this last week.  In fact I haven’t been home much at all this last week.  Now that it is summer my son Kai is taking swimming lessons in Maryland by my mother in laws home.  So the family has been staying up there all last week and this week as well.

But I did get a chance to head over to my local WoodCraft store.  That was a blast, because it’s been over 2 years since I’ve walked into one of those.  I went to get a few things for the box.  I bought a new metric and imperial 6 inch rulers.  They make a really nice one.  I also got some pretty nice zebrawood veneer for the top and bottom of the box.  Also a small 1/8 inch piece of zebrawood for the splines in the box.

So hopefully this weekend I’ll get into the shop and do some veneering.  Also I plan to make a simple spline cutting jig.  So I hope to get some good video of all this.

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So as I hope all of you know that this weekend is fathers day. Well I hope that those of you that are married and have children, that they remember that it’s father’s day. I had a funny experience today when I went to Lowe’s to get a few things. I walked in and I saw a group of women walking out with there hands full. They all had some sort of power tool, mostly Hitachi drills. But that got me thinking what it is that I want for Father’s day. So here’s a little list of things that I thought would be sweet for the blessed day.

1. Festool Tape Measure: This is a sweet little tape measure that allows you to read through the top. Now this might not have many uses in Furniture making. But in the world of remodeling it is a brilliant idea. This tape measure allows you to put it flat against a wall and read the exact measurement on the top, without having to bend the tape and make a guess.

2. Chris Vespar Tools: This guy is an Australian Tool maker. He makes some of the most beautiful bevel gauges and marking gauges out there. I own one of his smallest adjustable squares. I love it and would love to have anything that he makes.

3. Lie Nielsen Tools: Once again I would take anything given me from Lie Nielsen. But I especially would like there long handle chisels and any plane that they make.

Last but not least, the hottest thing out there at the moment: The Wood Whisperer T-Shirt. At least there the hottest thing right now until the Kaleo’s Workshop shirts hit the market. LOL

So I hope that everyone of you Fathers out there has a great day. For all you last minute shoppers you can check out all the other cool fathers day stuff at Amazon by going through the link here. Thanks again

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First of all Happy Memorial Day to everyone out there. I’ve been planning this day ever since I got back from Australia. Australia was great, but the one thing they don’t do at all like us here in the states is BBQ. S o this weekend has been full of two things making an extension/router table for the Unisaw and BBQ’n some ribs.

So on Saturday I went to the local BORG (home depot) and got a sheet of 3/4 MDF and proceeded to make a 4 x 4 table top and some legs. The table sits even with the Unisaw top, so it will work as an out feed table. At the far end of that table I plan to make it into the router table.

The second thing that I did this weekend was plan for the BBQ’n. My brother-n-law and I made a dry rub. We soaked the ribs in apple juice for about 3 hours and then put on the rub, then let them sit overnight. In the morning at around 7 am, I started to make the sauce, which consisted of Dijon mustard, molasses, vinager, jalepenos, onions, salt and pepper and a little brown sugar. Then I soaked some hickory wood chips in some beer for about 2 hours and started up the grill. Put in the chips and let it heat up and then the ribs went on. And 5 hours later, we had the best ribs that I have ever eaten. Better that any resturant that I have been to.

So I hope everyone had a great Long Weekend, here’s to a great summer of woodworking and BBQ’n

So I know that it has been a few days since the last post. It has been a very long week and I am looking forward to the long weekend as well. I actually picked up a side job this week making some windows and window shashes. This should prove to be interesting.

As for the box series, I am working on the editing for the first episode this afternoon. I hope to get it out Sunday or early Monday. I have not yet decided if I will have a couple of 10-20 minute long videos or break them up and release them faster. We shall see. So be on the look out for the next episode of Kaleo’s Workshop.

So I spent the entire day on Saturday in the shop. When I say the whole day I mean for about 9am to about 8pm in the shop. I have been trying to finish up a coffee table that I am making for my brother in laws frame shop. They are having a big city wide open day on Saturday next week. And he asked me to have a few items to display. So I got this table together and one coat of finish on the top.

So this entire table is made from 2 inch wide by 1 inch thick stock. Making it pretty heavy, but plenty sturdy. The base has a taper going in towards the middle. The table is made from the white oak that I salvaged from the old work bench in the shop. The top has an outer frame that has a single runner down the middle. Then the cross pieces are half lapped jointed to each other. The cross pieces are a half inch short from the sides. This was done on purpose to give the table just that little sense of “hmmm can you do that?” I decided to put 4 contrasting boards of Brazilian Cherry in the middle. Also just to break up the white oak.

So that is that, I went to bed last night and spent the day today with the family. It started to rain here in Virginia pretty hard around 4pm. It hasn’t stopped yet and it is almost 11pm. So as my family and I packed up and were getting ready to go back to Maryland, we went through the shop to get out. And what did I see, the shop was flooded. FLOODED I tell you, my unisaw was almost floating away. So I spent the next 3 hours just getting the water out of the shop, using the shop vac and a small sump pump. But like I said it’s still raining, so the water is still flowing. I made a temporary damn with all the saw dust that I have made over the last few weeks. But I’ll be back down there in a couple of hours to make sure that at least the water doesn’t make it into the basement. We’ll see…