TWW moves shop - again.

Woodworking has never been so healthy on the internet as it is in 2017.
Video content producer Marc Spagnuolo of The Woodwhisperer has moved house and shop over from Surprise, Arizona to Denver, Colorado. He has built quite a few shops in his time from small 2 car garage to larger 3 bay garage, the ultimate shop (1800 square feet) purpose built in the garden and now adapting his new 4 car garage to a video studio/shop.

Marc specializes in producing videos based upon woodworking. He produces free content on his The WoodWhisperer website, also a new YouTube Channel called WoodWhisperer Offcuts and his paid content site The WoodWhisperer Guild.
The latter is a place where woodworkers can buy video series of various projects. He goes into great detail on the Guild site and produces highly professional videos for newcomers, intermediate woodworkers through to advanced techniques for more experienced woodworkers.

He also has a woodworking podcast called WoodTalkShow with a couple of fellow video content producers again specializing in Woodworking.

One of the presenters is Shannon Rodgers with his great Renaissance Woodworker website which focuses on handtool woodworking with his associated paid HandToolSchool website. The other is Matt Cremona who reminds me a little of MTV show Beavis and Butthead with his laughing - sorry Matt but it can be a little annoying. He has just made a bandsaw mill in his backyard for sawing massive slabs. He makes some really nice furniture and is a frequent guest presenter on The WoodWhisperer Guild showing how to make some furniture items from start to finish. Check out his website here.

If you are interested in having a look at the latest shop tour then head on over to The WoodWhisperer website and look for his 2017 Shop Tour video.

Don't forget to have a look at WoodTalkOnline forum which is a great resource of knowledge.

Drill collars

After years of either guessing or putting tape around a drill to bore a blind hole to depth I had had enough when I inadvertently drilled a nice hole into my benchtop. I finally bought a drill collar set! It's only taken me 40+ years.

There are many types for sale and Rutlands had a colour coded set, quite expensive as it turns out. However the reviews of them stated that the soft "protective" washer was no more use than ornament so that was no good.

Another plastic set they had was a "twist to get tighter" model that seemed to take up too much real estate area on the drill bit.

So I looked on Amazon and got a cheaper set of collars that cover 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 16mm drills for £5.29 with Prime free shipping. Hakkin 8Pcs 3-16mm Dia Woodworking Drill Bit Depth Stop Collars.

The jury is out on whether they work properly yet but they seem well made. Only one of them needs the tapped hole clearing out but I can do that.

Saw Till Part 3

Most of the sanding to 180 grit was done prior to glue-up. It can be difficult running a ROS over boards and getting into internal corners without leaving a groove from the sanding disk. Then after the glue had cured the saw till was removed from clamps and sanded back to 220 grit where required.

French cleat and spacer cleat added

A French cleat was made from some construction timber being glued and screwed to the rear uprights. Also a spacer cleat was glued and screwed to the lower part of the the rear. This is to compensate for the thickness of the French cleat and is made for the same thickness timber. If you are not sure what a French cleat is there is a description of how to do it from this URL. Also have a search of the WoodTalk forum as it is mentioned numerous times.

I had some Sansin wood finish which had an integral stain within left over from a previous job. I applied just one coat of the finish to give all components of the saw till an all over consistency. Iroko and cedar are similar on color but the French oak is slightly lighter. The stain gives it a uniform color without affecting the grain appearance. A couple of top coats of General Finishes Enduro Var gives the till extra protection. This is only shop furniture but it you are making it you may as well make it well.

Saw till lifted onto the wall cleat (don't look at the inside of the drawer boxes as the finishing in this view isn't good - nothing to see here move along!). The rear tongue and groove panels are not glued and are free to float about in their respective grooves with seasonal humidity variations. You can also see a shop built table saw blade holder adjacent to the till.

The till was hung on to the pre-existing French cleat on the shop wall and left to cure for a few days before kitting out began.

As you can see there is not much to making a saw till carcass, use of simple mortise and tenon joints, a few dovetails, a few dadoes and grooves. Everything can be done with handtools, machine tools or, more likely as in my case, a combination of both but add your own decorative touches to it if you want. For instance you could run an ogee profile all around the front edges or practice a reeding inlay. It is only shop furniture so might be a good platform to practice a technique.

We are not finished yet as there are a few holders to build. Oh and a few drawers.

Old woodworking books

For the past two years my wife and I have gone to a Burns night over the entire last weekend of January with friends to a pub/hotel in Cumbria, England called the Fat Lamb. Much ale and whisky is consumed as well as the piping in of the haggis.

The piper leads the way and the youngster at the back is carrying the cooked haggis ready for the ceremony

On the Saturday of the weekend on both years we have gone to an old mill in Sedbergh called Farfield Mill. This is an old Victorian cotton/woollen mill and has been converted into a heritage museum with workshops. On one of the floors of the building there are a few craftspeople in their own workshops. There is a silversmith, hat maker, artists to name but a few. There is also a store selling old books. Needless to say my eye always wanders to the woodworking section. There are lots of books in this section from recent ones to ancient ones.

Small section of woodworking books

Moving along the shelf

On the bottom shelf was this book on the left

I was drawn to one book in particular called "Modern Cabinet Work. Furniture & Fitments. An Acount Of The Theory & Practice In The Production Of All Kinds Of Cabinet Work & Furniture" by Percy Wells and John Hooper. This book was dated 1909 and was expensive. I made a note of it and then looked on Amazon to see if it was available. It was for sale by the Oxfam store in Magdalen Street Norwich for the sum of just £18 + shipping.

The book came a day after I ordered it and is in fantastic condition - much better than the one in the store at Farfield Mill. It is a hardbacked tome of 384 pages. I opened it and on the inside cover was a hand written note. It says "Presented to E.F Chaplin by his loving wife November 5th 1909". I imagine it was taken to the charity shop by a relative of the original owner. I will now read it and get many years of enjoyment from this book which is now over a century old. It sits on my shelf as a tribute to the original recipient who must have asked his wife to buy it for his birthday all those years ago.

I have also bought some more books which I am awaiting delivery some as cheap as 1 penny up to a few pounds. These I also saw in that book store in Farfield Mill. If you want some good woodworking books from the past then get yourself over to Farfield Mill for a great day out