Category: Blog

Sanding can be time-consuming, tedious and one of the dustiest, messiest, most boring tasks in the woodshop. But it’s also something that you’ll have to do in just about every single project. So let’s talk about the basics and how to minimize the monotony. Sanding and sandpaper is a big subject. Big enough that there are actually entire books devoted to the topic, but I am limiting the scope of this article and video to the most common sanding you’ll use in a home workshop. My Sanders (Note: some of my tools aren’t manufactured anymore so I’ve included tools that are nearly identical.) Random Orbit Sander Finishing Sander 8″ Disc/Belt Sander Oscillating Spindle Sander …

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May 20, 2016May 20, 2016

Having compressed air in a workshop is a real must.  Whether it’s to operate a brad nailer, spray gun, or even an air blower, it doesn’t take long to realize the need for a good compressor and a shop air line system.  For the past couple of years, I have been using a small compressor in the shop for operating my brad nailer.  It’s been a decent solution to get me by however, it is not large enough to support anything which requires any real flow, like a sprayer or air blower.  Additionally, I’ve found the small compressor to be mind-nummingly loud in my shop and it completely kills the groove of the music I …

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May 20, 2016May 20, 2016

One of the missing pieces to the screen porch project of two summers ago was a couch. Looking around the net for suitable couches hasn’t been fun: most stuff is too fussy, grandiose, and/or costly. My wife found a simple offering on Craigslist which we bought for $65. It turns out that the owner hauled it up from the Florida Keys and it got spray painted brown as a family project. There are a couple of dog chewed corners. No matter, we like the simple design and the colorful upholstery (and dogs are my favorite people). The price, too! One repair was essential. A bamboo leg and arm post was broken in a jagged horizontal line right above where …

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May 20, 2016May 20, 2016

“The list of Votator applications has grown very long in the more than 80 years since it was introduced, and I would say there is no one whose life has not been touched by a product heated or cooled in a Votator.” – Tony Mathis, application engineer and product manager for Vogt Freezers and the Votator. votator (plural votators) 1. a machine that cools and kneads liquid margarine etc., preparatory to packaging I grew up knowing that my dad (1891-1973) was the inventor of an important manufacturing process that had to do with liquids and food and that it was called the Votator, a corny sounding moniker that fit his delight in corny humor. There were photographs on the walls …

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May 20, 2016May 20, 2016

Sometimes a tricky problem resolves after a few carefully thought out and tested steps. It then becomes “technique” and the original difficulty fades into distant memory. When I redesigned the bearing strip on the Vogt Shooting Board the result called for a 1/8” x 3/8” strip of acetal to be positioned precisely on the upper edge of a tool steel plate that gets fastened to the ramped sidewall. This process added considerable labor over the previous arrangement, but I knew the improvement was worth it. The challenge was to prevent the strip from sliding, which it wants to do while being pressed against the steel, and minimizing the time required to clean up the squeeze out of epoxy. Cleaning cured …

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May 20, 2016May 20, 2016

A small cherry in the center was pulled almost to the ground by numerous small vines. It is early winter and snowless. Skiers will bemoan the conditions but not those of us who like to tend to trees. The landscape now offers a perfect window in which to deal with vines. The invasive Asian Honeysuckle have finally dropped their leaves and berries, giving access to the large roots of woodland vines that establish themselves under their cover, a nasty synergy. Small trees are easily bent by just a few small vines. A few more and they will be broken and overtaken. Eventually the thick ones reach up high in the crowns of large trees and together with winter storms, cause …

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May 20, 2016May 20, 2016

This past winter of 2015-16 was the warmest ever recorded. It isn’t necessary for me to deduce that from meteorological data, I simply need to look in the checkbook under “snowplowing-driveway” and see a fat 0. Since snow related sports aren’t my thing but being outside and working on woodland projects are, I was, therefore, quite pleased with the season. The calendar year did begin with a welcome vacation to a very remote island. My recuperation from last summer’s hiking misadventure got a boost. Lying on pink sand sure has it over granite. One astonishing phenomenon was our pond covered completely with feathery crystals one morning. There was a great deal of wood splitting with my maul (no wedges). An existing …

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May 20, 2016May 20, 2016