AndremG

Thanks for the vid. But that dude is scary. All of that table saw cutting to square those pieces and he left the blade on the whole time with no guard. And not a set of safety glasses in sight. And he video tape it. Don't try this at home.

OK, I've done my homework and searched the forum on the topic, but haven't found exactly what I'm looking for. Also, a caveat on what I'm about to ask is that I know nearly nothing about construction methods and costs. I've just begun designing a carport/shed/workshop space which will serve multi-purpose as my first dedicated shop, storage for lawn and rec gear, and a cover for two cars. My current shop is a 100 sq ft corner of a dark moldy old basement with no walls (half crawl space), low ceilings (6'5 at best) and a thin, cracked, broken up concrete floor. Although I love the craft, I hate my space and consequently don't do much woodworking. Also, the family hears everything (including coughs and other emissions) through the living room ceiling. The workshop portion of the new structure will only be about 375 sq ft (nearly 4x the current space) and will never be a garage (too small at 14' deep x 22' wide plus a smaller bump out). Since it will be mine just for woodworking, I'm willing to invest to make it a cozy and comfortable space. Therefore, I'd like the shop floor will be something with a bit of "give" - like finished hardwood over insulated plywood and sleepers - rather than the epoxied concrete slab route. My question is ... would you (could you) design the floor for the shop area some 3" lower than the carport so that the finish grades are nearly level? I ask because I'm planning on a 6' wide double swing out door for moving larger items in and out of the shop, so I can see where it would be ideal to have the shop close to grade with the carport. I just don't know if this is realistic or cost effective.

I'm building my Roubo-style bench (modified from Marc's split-top guild build) and found limitations on two of my current tools - my circular saw and my routers. The max cut depth on my Porter Cable circlular saw isn't 2" unless the base is directly on the wood (can't use a guide or a track), so it's hard to accurately cut a 4" benchtop without at least a 1/4" of sawing by hand. My Dewalt DW618 router works fine, but I know that I'm pushing it hard with a hard maple top. Also, the adjustments on the Dewalt edge guide ... well, they simply suck. Anyway, I'm thinking about diving down the Festool rabbit hole and getting an OF 2200 router (probably with a TS 75 to follow shortly). I know that routers are one of the biggest dust producing offenders, so I'll probably get a package deal with either a CT26 or CT36 collector. I'm looking for insight (pros/cons, opinions) on dust collection with either these vacs. Specifically, ... 1) What really are the differences between these two models? I've heard that it's just the bag size and cost, so why would someone choose the CT36 over the CT26?. 2) Does the model really make a difference in terms of dust extraction performance? 3) Will either or both of these work as efficiently if plumbed through a Dusty Deputy, Dust Right, or simlar portable cyclone? 4) Which model will be more versitile if ... scratch that ... when I move on to other Festool toys (e.g., track saw, Domino, Kapex, sanders)? I'm also interested in what people with central cyclone systems do to collect dust from their smaller portable tools? Run them through the cyclone or use local dust collection like the CT collectors? Any opinions out there?

I know that this doesn't solve the limited budget issue (and probably makes it worse), but I'm just a noob, so here it goes... Has anyone had any experience in a woodshop setting with Swisstrax or similar plastic tile? They'd be just as expensive (or more) as DriCore, but would be the finished surface as well and are easy to sweep up and clean up spills. They are typically used for high-end garages (Jay Leno has them under his Dusenberg) and I can't find much feedback on the use of them in woodworking. The Woodcraft Extreme Garage Makeover shop uses the FlexiTile interlocking tiles that someone else had mentioned.

What ash? All I see in the picture is the roadster and the wine cellar. Cool car!

I think that Jameel just posted a new set of tail vise instructions with a template to correct his problem.

I guess that there are some over-achievers who are applying finish as we speak (or type in this case).

I've been struggling with this topic myself as the cement floor of my basement is rather thin, cracked and sloped near the walls. The place I have selected to put my bench slopes about 1-1/2 inches from left to right (I'm not yet sure about front to back, but it should be less). My thoughts were to create a foot from the leg material for the bottom of each leg that I would roughly scribe to the floor at each foot location. The thickness would vary from about 1" on the high side to about 2-1/2" on the low. To account for the added height I would lower the bench height from my calculated height of 34" to about 32-1/2" to blend out the difference from side to side. I thought to pin the feet to the bottom of the legs using dowels so that the legs will not slide off during aggressive planing or such. When (and if) I build a garage/shop with a smooth floor, I will remove the feet by cutting off the dowels and have a set of legs perfect for a flat surface (albeit slightly lower that I'd be used to).

You can tell that Jameel really has his sharpening technique down. My plane blades never seem so smooth - even with wax. If you close your eyes and picture snow, it sounds like he's skiing at St. Moritz!

I'm going knockdown as well. My shop is a small section of my basement and I'm shoehorning the bench in place as it is. We have plans to build a two-car garage which will be mine when it doesn't have cars parked in it. So I know I'll have to move that puppy at least once in my lifetime. While I don't need to flat pack it, the knockdown will allow me to minimize it to manageable pieces that are compatible with my basement stairs.

I agree with Spokeshave that tool trays can be more of a pain than a pleasure in my experience. I also will be building with the gap stop, but I'm thinking about going with 2-3 separate stops which I can reverse as needed. This way, I can have a planing stop and the tools that I will need at hand.

I agree with OnBoard. That sounds like the price I see for 4/4 dimensional lumber at "big box stores." I might be careful about that - could just be 1" x 6" by the foot.

Thanks, guys. I figured I was looking at a work in progress (the plans that is). Just seemed like a "big picture" dimension that would have made sense perhaps on one of the overall design pages. Like I said, no biggie.

Is it just me, or do the v8 PDF plans not explicitly have a long stretcher dimension? You can infer it from the gap stop plan where it says that the dadoes are for clearance on the short stretchers, but you've got to do some math to get there. Will there be a v9 of the plans that will have this? No biggie. I was creating a story pole to see how the Roubo would fit into my cramped shop when I noticed the lack of an obvious leg-to-leg dimension. I imagine it's the 48-3/4" minus twice the remainder of leg width from the inside edge of the short stretcher to the inside edge of the leg. For the long stretcher length, just add the two tenons. Andy

For me, it was an "ah-ha" moment when I saw the split top. I like the idea of being able to have a planing stop right there and bench tools upright within arms reach. Want a smooth flat surface? Flip the gap stop over and "voila" - miles of open bench top. An the clamping possibilities are much broader when you have the ability to put a clamp in the middle of the bench top. The cherry on top is that the "half tops" can be planed flat with a planer when needed or taken off for relocating the bench. The folks at Benchcrafted have produced a nice set of plans based on a tried-and-true design and with Marc's tweaks, it could be nearly perfect for the hybrid woodworker.