Kaleo’s Workshop

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With lots of things happened in the past couple of weeks. With Floods and Festivals but also lots of shop time. So there was also lots of fun. I hope you enjoy this latest episode.

Just a quick video of the mess made from the flooding.

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…

Here a short video giving everyone some very basic safety tips. These are very serious tips brought to you and a very serious way. Pay close attention and take good notes, because the tips come at you fast in this short 1 minute video.P.S. I am having some technical difficulties this morning, so please bare with me. Thanks

I mean only you can prevent woodworking accidents. Like everyone else in the woodworking world this week, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about safety. There has been and will be ton written on this subject over the next few days. With an all encompassing desire to write about something different, something that no one has thought of before, I continued to think. I thought all day long. While I framed in a bath tub. Even while I mindlessly cut filler blocks to put between joist where the kicthen cabinets are going. Then I got home and still nothing new or earth shattering had come to me.

As I sat down and stared at the computer screen, I felt my eye begin to tire. My body was telling me to go to bed, or at least go lye down and relax. And then it came to me, nothing mind blowing and nothing revolutionary. But ureka I had it.

The biggest and best tip that I could possibly give is this:

THINK

That’s right, think about it. When you go into the shop you need to stop and think about what you are about to do. Think about the processes you are going to go through. Think about what could happen, think about what you want to happen.

I have found in the last few years that taking the time to stop and think has made all the difference. No matter what machine or hand tool that I was going to use, I would stop and think about it. Think about the forces involved, think about the true purpose of the tool, know it’s limitations. Don’t push the tool farther than it is meant to go. Because a game between you vs. Machine, machine always will win. (except in the cause of MEGATRON)

I saw a guy in one of the forums the other day that said he was deathly afraid of all his power tools. I think that is a wrong attitude to have towards your tools. This is because when you approach something in fear, you are tense, you need to be relaxed and confident. If you know your tools and think about what you want them to do, then you will make the best decisions.

I hope this post makes sense, remember this all came to me while my mind was telling me to go to bed.

PS. This is MEGATRON as if you didn’t know

So I thought to kick off this week with a bang, I would post this little video. I don’t know how many of you have ever seen Mad TV. But this is a great skit called “Paul Timberman’s Workshop”. Now this is a great do not do video, but be forewarned that is video is a tad bit gory. So it is not for the faint at heart, it’s all in good fun. There are serious lessons to be learned here folks. Happy WW Safety Week to you all.

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So I know that it has been a long time between episodes, but thanks for waiting. This week we talk about lack of shop time. Outfitting your shop for 2500 dollars and much much more.

Oh an by the way there is a new tip in the Tips from the Workshop sections. Finally, thanks to those of you that have used my Amazon link for any of your purchases. It means a lot, really..

So here’s the little video that I shot of choosing the winner for the prize, so you all could see the elaborate process I went through to choose the winner. The quality is very bad it was shot with my digital camera, so please excuse that.

So the big winner for the great video is…. (drum roll please)

Mike Matsumura

You are the biggest winner in the short history of Kaleo’s Workshop. So Mike send me your address and I will get this video in the mail as soon as I can.

For everyone else, better luck next time. I hope that there will be a next time here soon. By the way I did make a video of the picking of the name. I hope to get that posted this weekend when I get home. Take care everyone and keep sending in those questions. And I will try to answer them.

Tonight is the last night to enter the drawing for “Jointer and Planer Secrets” video. I will do the drawing tomorrow afternoon, when I get home from work. The announcement will be later that evening. So get those comments in now…

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