Any woodworkers?

First stage of a new Masonic ring.



Second stage will be making the inset, setting the emblem, and then filling with resin to give it a floating effect.

 

.
...^^^... Super cool ...

 

Here's a project I just finished - it's a table-top for my RV.

Peruvian walnut, knot holes filled with black epoxy. Made of 5 boards, biscuit jointed together.

Assembled, pre-routing



And the final product, with 4 coats of water-based Varathane, satin finish. The bright spot is a reflection of the can light above.



An interesting thing is, before I sanded/varnished it, there was a lot more red color in the wood. Some is still there, but some muted to brown-ish.

I've never worked with this species before, and really like the way it came out.

 

Looks great! How thick are the boards?

 

They are only 3/4". The store had some 4/4 walnut, but the wood was not nearly as pretty. I would have liked to take another pass or two through the planer, but I didn't want to go any thinner with the boards.

I will add two pieces of aluminum angle on the bottom, on each end, for a little extra strength.

The 3/4" does save a little weight as well - important in an RV towed with a Tacoma.

 

Gorgeous!!! I love walnut.

 

Anybody here who has a single car garage they cant entirely dedicate to woodworking? Looking for ideas to make my garage workable while still allowing space to store my mountain bikes, surfboards, and other random typical stuff you would keep in the garage. My space is about 12'x 20' with 8ft. finished ceilings. Im just a home DIY guy as of now who's trying to gain the skill and ability to eventually make more impactful creations with wood so i dont need a crazy setup at the moment as i learn. I know having things on casters will be a huge advantage but aside from that anybody have any tips or examples from your single car garage space?

 

I don't have a garage myself, but the guy who let's me use his shop made his in a single car garage. Here's a couple photos of the inside if that helps.

 

Hand held belt sanders. How much does brand matter? What brands do you recommend or not recommend?

 

Milwaukee is good, dewalt also, porter cable. Its hit or miss with harbor freight stuff.

I have a ryobi...it does what it should. Ryobi can be hard to find parts for if stuff breaks. Such my grinder, the lock switch to hold the grinder to change blades isnt even listed in parts diagram.

 

I’ve got a craftsman corded and it’s never let me down. It does chew up belts if you’re not paying attention. Probably an adjustment thing that I just don’t know how to do though

 

Here's my take....
You can spend as much as you want to get "the brand" yet you still have no idea if it's gonna last. I buy cheap because....

1. If it only makes it a year or two I won't be nearly as pissed
2. I can buy maybe 4 of them for the price of a 'good' one.

Case in point:
I have a cheapo B&D cordless drill that I've had for prolly 20 years, it's virtually impossible to hurt that thing. I've used it to redo my shop, put new metal on the roof; I use it almost everytime I'm out there, it just keeps going. And the original batteries (2) stay charged forever.
I also have a cheap sawzall (Hyper Tough or something like that), it cost like 20 bucks and I've put it thru some crap, just keeps going.

I quoted the wrong person.

@Gen1TacoLady

 

Hmmm
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cnk5...k0623_new_tool_tuesday_0_60_ENGAGED_V1&plcc=N

 

That’s pretty cool!

 

Would wood with that.

 

Hmmm, so that means I can convert my garage to a metal shop since you got someone with a wood shop garage?

 

If you're serious about doing a lot of wood working while still being able to store your vehicle in your garage and other garage things, overhead storage is going to be your best friend. You can make inverted 'T' tracks out of wood and install them with lags into studs spaced enough to slide in these totes. Clear is your best friend as it allows you to see what's inside the tote without guessing or making labels to affix to the bottom of the tote. The only downfall with this suspended method is if you have them in a line and need to access the middle tote, you'll need to slide most of them out. Or you can do something like a wire rack, up to you. Ceiling space will be your friend. You'll want good lighting, enough to adequately see your work. I prefer anything between the 3500K - 5000K color range as it's the most neutral on the color scale. This helps with checking your finish work. No such thing as having too much light. For your actual shop space, folding and mobile will help you out the most. Depending on what tools you want to employ into your space, mobile flip-top carts will help keep your floor free from clutter. It doesn't have to be this one specifically, but you get the idea. Folding work bench also helps give you more workspace without sacrificing floor space when put away. There are other plans for securing your workbench to the wall and folding it up to latch with space underneath the table for leg storage.



If you're going to be working heavily with hand tools such as chisels, hand planes, bench vise, etc,.. you'll want a heavy table. I've heard of people putting bags of concrete on the bottom shelf of a mobile table to keep it stationary and preventing wobble.

I like this guy's work bench, it may be too much for your needs and you can scale it back:


The reason I like it is because it has a place for every tool you'll need from flip-up miter saw to router table/table saw with storage underneath for a benchtop drill press and dust collection. Heavy duty casters with the ability to put the table legs on the ground for stability. I'm going to go with something like these casters when I rebuild my shop. I don't keep long term wood storage and only buy what I need for the project I'm working on at the time but if I was going to store long term, I'd go with something like

$36 Ultrawall Wall Mount Wood Organizer and Lumber Storage Metal Rack with 3-Level - Indoor & Outdoor Use, 2 Pack

this. Mount this as high up as possible to keep my wall space clear for tool storage. Dust collection with a mobile cart and a dust separator will help lengthen the life of your filter. Everything mobile gets pushed to the walls or the rear of the garage when it's not in use. A small pancake compressor to run any pneumatic tools that can get stored under your mobile workbench. These things are pretty neat for breaking down large sheets of plywood while maintaining a minimal footprint when you store it. You can use a track saw in lieu of a table saw for making cuts but a contractor table saw is nice. Bottom line, there are a lot of unique solutions for working with and in limited space. Break it down to need / want / nice to haves to keep you focused.

-J

Edit: Cleaned up the layout, oops.

 

NORM!!

https://youtu.be/puqSgmRLi38

 

Wheeled shelves are ideal although they will be expensive for good units. The benefit will be that you can easily wheel them to another part of the garage or even right outside in order to give enough space for you to work. The added benefit is that you can use them to store similar use objects and wheel them closer to where you need them. For instance, if one set of shelves holds all your tools then that can be moved closer to your work area. Or even if you have a ton of camping supplies on one set of shelves you can bury it in the garage but when you need to load up for a camping trip you can move a few things around, bring out that shelving unit and even wheel it over to load up your vehicle more easily. I built a shed that soon became overcrowded. So I purchased a few wheeled shelves that made it really easy to move them around to access other items on fixed shelves when I needed to. It worked well.