One of the things I did over the last week, was finish my accessory storage changes to the shop. I used to store my cutting and lubricating oils on a shelf above the lathe, but it was less than an ideal location. To get the oils in a more readily accessible location I mounted a shower organizer to the wall. It cost roughly $20, and has space to spare. I’m sure, I’ll eventually fill it up with random specialty oils, but hopefully that won’t be anytime soon.
The other thing I did was mount the humorous disposable glove holder to the wall. Just like with the oil, I used to store the gloves above the lathe. Moving them to the wall, makes them a lot easier to get at, and the holder was a little over $10 on Amazon.
I’m still catching up on the tasks of daily life that went on hold because I was sick, so i haven’t gotten spent much time in the shop over the last week. One thing was able to do though was make a holder for the t handle Allen wrench set I purchased a while back. The set cam with a holder, but i didn’t like it, because it was rather flimsy, and how was designed to mount to the wall seemed rather awkward and prone to failure. Below, you can see what I came up with. I took some scrap 8/4 soft Maple drilled holder holes rounded over all the edges and mounted it to the wall. It’s low profile and not likely coming off the wall anytime soon.
I took a small break over the last two weeks, as I’d reached the point of not wanting to go into the shop because of how cold it was. Thankfully Spring looks to be here, as we hit the 60’s earlier in the week. Thus, I was able to get some significant shop time over the last couple of evening. I spent a good deal of time experimenting with hot hide glue. Unfortunately my shop is still to cool to go reliable glue-ups every time, so I’m going to use liquid hide glue instead.
Below are some teaser photos from my next project video. Basically I’m going to show how to quickly make storage boxes for metalworking tools. I’m going to go over some of the things you need to consider when storing unprotected metal for long periods of time in close proximity to wood.
The other night I was working on a project in the shop, and since I finished what I was working on early I decided to make something to organize my lathes change gears. Making stuff like this is why I love owning and using tools. I started with a rough idea, and just made everything else up as I went along. In less than an hour, I had made something that fixed an issue that’s been nagging for as long as I’ve owned the lathe (10 years).
Bandsaw throat plates and tables saw inserts, both play a significant role in determining how much tear-out is created during the sawing process, but bandsaw throat plates receive very little lip service compared to their more common brethren. I assume this is because bandsaws aren’t as common in home shops, and in my opinion aren’t used as extensively by your average weekend worrier as they could be. I use my bandsaw almost as much as I use my table saw, and thus have put a decent amount of effort into extracting every last bit of performance from it. Continue Reading…
