My First Projects...


AstroDave

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Figured I should start a journal rather than continuing to post in my "Proposed Shop Layout" thread.

 

I plan to inaugurate the opening of my new shop with two projects.  They will be Christmas gifts for family members.  The first is a wooden beer tote that was suggested by Tom and of course the second project will be cutting boards.  There are numerous plans/pictures for beer totes on the web... I will come up with some hybridized combination of these examples.

 

I will begin with the beer totes as I don't have my jointer yet and the lumber I have for the cutting boards is rough.  For the totes our local Home Depot had some s4s maple that I will use in combination with a few other species.

 

One of the first lessons I learned is that I can't drill a perpendicular 1" hole with a power drill free hand.  Hmmm could be why a drill press is so handy :)

 

WLNXdRHl.jpg

 

They looked great until I stuck the dowels in the holes... Hard to see in the pic but the boards are not parallel in the least.

 

Af4YJxol.jpg

 

 

In any case believe or not I did not run out and buy a drill press... I am sure many of you would have expected me to do that. (Eric) :)  I went the less expensive route and just picked up a drill guide.  I'll get a drill press next year.  Although Jet's are on sale right now 15% off...hmmm...hmmm...don't do it Dave... OK crisis averted we can move on. 

 

One other piece of advice that members on this forum gave me and have given others is to buy tools when the project dictates it!  If I had heeded that advice I would have a purchased the drill press today and likely not gotten a Domino so soon.  But the "Green" just had me under its spell.

 

So it was back to the Home Depot for some more maple and will begin anew this evening.  My daughter said she'd help...might be good idea to have 2 sets of eyes looking at this... stay tuned.

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Awesome Dave, I look forward to seeing how they come out. Are you using a template or any pattern to do any curves or anything? As for the drill press, floor standing would be the way to go. I almost never use my drill press, and now that I need it. I don't have it, it's in my parents basement. I have no space to put it in the shop right now. Time to move things out, giving my dad my media blast cabinet and I'll put the drill press there. Problem solved. 2 weeks off during Christmas break to get my shop as complete as I can. 

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Last year I helped my dad rebuild a car engine and we used my drill press to drill a hole in the back of the heads and then tapped the hole for a bolt to mount a bracket to. His bench top drill press wouldn't fit it. Also, you generally get a bigger table, deeper throat, and you could bore through longer stock for making lamps, and such (if you don't have a lathe) Bigger lathes also have bigger motors and more power. 

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One other piece of advice that members on this forum gave me and have given others is to buy tools when the project dictates it!  If I had heeded that advice I would have a purchased the drill press today

 

That advice can be put in a variety of ways, but the way you just laid it out is the most boiled down.  I'm not sure anyone ever said, "Go out and buy every tool you can fathom you'll ever want for every project you ever plan to build."

 

The wisdom of that advice is when it's used in a more nuanced way, such as, "When there's a task you need to complete, and there's no other way to do it without a particular tool, then go buy that tool."

 

I'm in no position to give you flack for buying tools...I'm an addict, too.  But most of us have been slowly building our collections for years or decades, and finding work-arounds for countless challenges through countless projects.  I'd actually argue that it makes you a better woodworker to be deprived of certain tools in the beginning, because you're forced to think outside the box and try different techniques.

 

Good to see you mangling some wood, Dave.  Slow down and take a breath.  It's going to be frustrating in the beginning.  It always is. :)

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Slow down and take a breath. It's going to be frustrating in the beginning. It always is. :)

Yea you never know if you're doing it right...too fast too slow...too hard too soft...is this working at all? Well it seems kinda nice...I'll just keep going...oh I think I'm getting a hang--uh oh...all done. Time to clean up.

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Yea you never know if you're doing it right...too fast too slow...too hard too soft...is this working at all? Well it seems kinda nice...I'll just keep going...oh I think I'm getting a hang--uh oh...all done. Time to clean up.

 

lol, that sounds more like a teenager's first go at it than it does woodworking :)

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So it was back to the Home Depot for some more maple and will begin anew this evening.  My daughter said she'd help...might be good idea to have 2 sets of eyes looking at this... stay tuned.

Maple at HD?

Ours has syp, poplar and red oak. Curious as to what others have throughout the US? But, I guess that's guts for another thread

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So I think the drill attachment helped but it was no panacea... It felt like there was a lot of slop.  I did drill a pair of boards at a time which helped a bit.  I may end up down at WoodCraft asking to use their drill press.

 

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Also made the first real cut on the table saw...

 

fltFObcl.jpg

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