Any woodworkers?

I am not bored! Please keep posting

 

I don't think you are a beginner any more...

 

I'm still not quite a year in

 

Today's bench top progress.
All the holes are drilled, dowels sanded, and inserted.

Here's the top closed up with the dowels inserted.

I did some layout to cut the top to length. Ill be cutting about 2 3/4" off each end.

I'll be using my Makita 16" beam saw to cut through the 3 1/2" thick top.

I clamped a straight edge on the top to use as a saw guide.

Cut like a dream.

Pretty clean cut that will sand up nice.

Both ends are now cut to length. Top finished size is 5'6" × 36" × 3 1/2" thick.

A view of my old bench.

 

Smooth/fast AND no-burning depends on metal-to-wood contact. I once tried making fast/clean holes in maple, with both auger-bits and spade-bits. The auger-bits burned easily because of too much meta;-to-wood, while the siple spade bit was clean/fast if I drilled straight-on.

I am not sure what auger-bits would be best for, except possibly with more power than my hand drill, straight-drill, thinner wood. Anyone who wants to set me straight, please do.

 

Auger bits work best at slower speeds like in a hand drill or brace as it's called. The exception is the millwaukee hole hawg right angle drill that electricians use for boring holes for wire. But those are also self feeding bits that pull themselves through the wood. And they do turn at a lower rpm.
Forster bits cut really clean flat bottomed holes but at very slow low rpm.
Spade bits work better at high rpm for faster clean holes. I'll use the spade bit again to drill the dog holes in the top.

 

looks great!

 

Check out WoodOwl overdrive bits. Lots of great reviews from makers on the ol' youtubes, and I can say personally the 3/4" bit that I've got cuts like butter and very very minimal blow out.
https://taytools.com/collections/br...drive-fast-boring-bits?variant=39699946831959

 

I do a lot with epoxy. Been making small items like coasters and bottle openers, to serving boards and large tables. I use reclaimed wood a lot too. Biggest problem u have is finding cool pieces of wood and other things to embed in the epoxy. I've tried pine cones, but need to branch out.

 

Appreciate your time to document. Thanks for sharing.

 

I learned something about drills and batteries while drilling the dowel holes for the bench. I thought I would use a dewalt drill thinking it would have ample power with a freshly charged NiCad battery. I got about 3 holes with it before it started slowing down. Hmm.. so I grabbed on old blue ryobi drill with a fresh 4ah lithium battery and finished up all the holes with one battery, I was pretty surprised by that. My thoughts are you just can't beat the ryobi lithium stuff for the money. I just purchased a ryobi 3/8 impact that equally impressed me. Now I do understand that new dewalt, millwaukee, makita lithium stuff would be equally as good but definitely would cost way more. Is it really worth it? I dunno. I have a good mix of name brand quality tools, good is good no matter what brand. Just sayin.

 

I've used every brand of power tools. And owned dewalt, millwaukee, and ryobi. I went with bosch for my latest battery/tool selection and love them. But I couldn't recommend Ryobi more to anyone looking to get into making of any kind. I still have Blue ryobi tools I use on occasion. For the money, ryobi can't be beat. I've had millwaukee and dewalts just crap out or break after minimal use, but thats just me.

 

I bought my first Ryobi drill years ago as a throwaway tool that I need for a project. I assumed, based upon past purchases of battery powered tools, that it would not be of quality and would fail soon.
It did so well that I now have a full complement of their tools and have been very happy with all. The only failure I’ve had was a battery, and it’s still under warranty.
Every time I get the red envy, I just think of how well the green has been, and for half the cost.
That makes it possible to get the “other” green tools for the high end stuff like the track saw, sanders, domino….

 

Everyone I know in the trades uses Dewalt or Milwaukee for good reason. Comparing a 25 year old Dewalt to a new Ryobi is not apples to apples.

For one, most current power tools are brushless have more efficient motors. Even the battery technology is different, with 21700 cell batteries and software in the tools for maximizing draw to prevent voltage sag especially when the motor is loaded.

I mean, even if you don’t believe me, there’s plenty of information on the internet, where Ryobi isn’t in the same performance class both in longevity, or performance as the other name brands.

Typically, Ryobi is a budget prosumer grade tool, where the others are more professional tools. That’s not me Ryobi is bad.

https://youtu.be/dURmHsnh1IE?si=dj3pDa_JpHlqTIVZ

https://youtu.be/q0A76HDXUdY?si=7wTB0EFWuJ_bQDQu

 

I wasn't trying to compare the two. I was just stating how surprised I was that an old blue ryobi drill with a newer lithium battery did so well. And besides that I'm just a hobbiest or as you put it a prosumer so I don't have to have the absolute best of everything all the time. It's actually quite surprising how long I've had both of these drills. I don't have any complaints with either one. I have power tools from all brands, bosch, makita, dewalt, laguna, delta, etc. And the ryobi stuff works well with them. And if one ever crapped out I'd buy another one for how well they have served me.
Like I said, good is good, doesn't always have to be the best.

 

I remember seeing the green one before I think. These are great!! I've been saving a giant redwood pine cone i found out west for something.

Are you anywhere near the mid Atlantic? I'd love to watch someone else do it in person before I try.

 

Good is relative, but to your point, agreed

 

I live in North Jersey. Don't know if it's worth the drive. Epoxy work is 15 minutes of mixing and pouring and 2 days of waiting for it to cure, then just a lot planing and sanding after that. I can definitely help you or anyone else out with some tips! Epoxy can be have a steep learning curve...and it's not cheap either. It's about $80-100 per gallon. But it's a lot of fun when you figure it out.

 

got a few 18V ryobi tools that i've got no issue with. i usually go for ryobi when it's not something i'll use heavily.

 

im 100% Ryobi in my shop with the exception of a couple routers and one skil saw. Ive even got the 40v stuff for a mower, weed eater, chainsaw, and pole saw. Chain saw is for small stuff around the house as I have a 18" Stihl for the larger jobs

I have beat the everloving crap out of my ryobi stuff and they have never failed me once. Ill stand behind them until they prove me wrong