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January 1, 2009 — Happy New Year! This is going to be a good
year for all of us (too much negative thought around.)
"Puppy"
Pic of the Month
Is this a relaxed puppy or what?
and a message from me:
Last year was a year of missed deadlines
and projects half started.
It annoyed you and wasn't too pleasing to me either. No matter what the excuse of the
moment,
fact is I am getting old and my 72 year old body isn't allowing me to keep up with my
mind.
Over the past months, the "quit the site" idea came into my thoughts all too
often. This is
what I have concluded: I do not want to quit it or woodworking. They are just too
important to me. So I am changing a few things to make life simpler. First
and foremost, we have been rearranging the shop so that I can do woodworking projects
and very few product reviews. Elena and Sal have helped me completely change the look
of my shop. I will present it as a complete tour and "philosophy" in a week. I
think you will like it.
I do respect all of my readers — you are important to me...you always have been. I
trust
that you will accept my position and continue as good, loyal readers. John Lucas
Note, there is a brand new Rockler
catalog that
I just received. With lots of new products.
Click below to get your free copy.
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You can search for any keyword
on WoodShopDemos only by using Google search engine.
ShowMe
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jlucasils@aol.com
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December 1, 2008 — The season is passing so quickly.
I usually try to stay away form any commercialism, but someone asked for
some suggestions and I had just gotten a couple of new products to
review. They would be great stocking stuffers.
"Puppy" Pic of the Season
This is a PhotoShop montage. Gabby doesn't stay
in one place long enough for a picture.
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Dust control is probably our weakest suit in
Woodshopdemos. We make the dust but leave it to gravity to settle. So when
Rockler offered the "Dust Right Master System", I
jumped at the opportunity to make use of it. It is a kit that has a few key parts to
a dust control system. You can buy them individually, but the kit assembly made getting
things in order that much easier.
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This is Rockler' Painters Pyramids a
natural stock stuffer for every one of us.
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Another great stocking stuffer...the
Rockler MagLite.
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November 1, 2008 — The days seem to go by faster and faster...or I am just getting
slower and slower. Nahhh. There are only three pages in this update and I have
some
dozen or so already shot but needing pagination. Check back during the month. I
will try to publish more on the interim Sundays.
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I shot the start of this story in July
and am just now getting to posting it.
But for those who like to keep abreast of router table advances — welcome.
I am installing a new table top and then installing the new
QuickLift — both products from Woodpeckers.
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September 21, 2008 — Special update: Did somebody call for a nurse?
Our favorite shop assistant, Elena and now an RN, stopped by
to see how things were going. We hope to work out schedules so that we
can get some shop time with her.
and one "hot"
item:
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The Jessem Zip Slot Mortise Mill was one of many new
products released at this summer's IWF Show in Atlanta. I received a copy for review
and I started that review which I am posting here. For the October 1 main update, I
will have more on this cool tool along with the completion of the chest of drawers Sal and
I have been working on.
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September 1, 3008 — Does the summer feel like it is over so quickly. It does to me.
Cool and cold is just around the corner. No complaints though. Sal and I have been
building a real piece of furniture
and that is a nice change.
"Puppy"
Pic of the Month
Gabby is in her morning stance looking for Sal.
He arrives at 9. She starts her wait at 8:50 — uncanny.
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Sal stands by the sideboard with what will be 12 drawers. We have done something different
this time. We put as much time as we could into building this chest. We tried to get
it done for this update but instead will post the 7 pages we have and will post the rest
when done — probably by this coming Sunday.
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Lisa is a new shop assistant and I put
her to work helping me figure out the new Porter Cable Omni Jig.
I will be preparing these pages in this coming week and post them when I am done with
them...whoops. Spent way too much time of Guide.
Coming
Soon - believe it or not, we are still working
on this story — we did get side tracked onto a couple of others.
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This story is totally shot but I have
to create the pages. I will try to post it in a week or so. The top picture shows Sal with
two router table tops. The smaller one is a standard top and one I have been using for the
last two years. The one underneath is considerably larger. While it has a greater space
requirement, I love the roominess for some large project pieces.
The lower pic is the new coping sled. What a joy to use for holding small
parts safely. Both of these products are new from Woodpeckers. I will be getting
their new PRL-V2 lift...it is due in September. (click
here for Woodpeckers.)
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August 1, 2008 — I have enjoyed having Sal nearby for the summer. He is a great
friend and a super great help in the shop, just not as pretty as Elena and Lisa.
"Puppy"
Pic of the Month
Gabby is almost one (8th of August) and is so, so pretty and
pretty mischievous, pretty terrible at times, pretty destructive, pretty loud at times,
but all
in all, a very pretty puppy. She is in her photo position, lying in my wife's chair mode.
But she is nothing if not fair — she will let my wife sit on her sofa.
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Lisa and Sal have been helping me complete the storage base for one of the MFTs in
the shop. I could have shown Sal, but somehow I think Lisa looks better — or at least
the picture shows more of what the story is about.
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I am leaving this "job
aid" up — there have been so many readers who have accessed the page.
What I knew about installing crown molding was zilch, nada or worse. Bob and Per Swenson
came to the shop and in a few hours had trained me and Elena. I have developed this
one page Guide to help any of you who are "new" to crown molding installation.
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Lisa is a new shop assistant and I put
her to work helping me figure out the new Porter Cable Omni Jig.
I will be preparing these pages in this coming week and post them when I am done with
them...whoops. Spent way too much time of Guide.
Coming
Soon - believe it or not, we are still working
on this story — we did get side tracked onto a couple of others.
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This story is totally shot but I have
to create the pages. I will try to post it in a week or so. The top picture shows Sal with
two router table tops. The smaller one is a standard top and one I have been using for the
last two years. The one underneath is considerably larger. While it has a greater space
requirement, I love the roominess for some large project pieces.
The lower pic is the new coping sled. What a joy to use for holding small
parts safely. Both of these products are new from Woodpeckers. I will be getting
their new PRL-V2 lift...it is due in September. (click
here for Woodpeckers.)
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July 15, 2008 — It is not the first of the month, but I wanted to post a single page
based on the first Festool Fest RI which he had here last Sunday.
"Festool Fest -- Rhode Island 2008"
Here's the small but talented group. Front row, left to tight: Tinker,
Elena;
Back row, Rich, John Lucas, Charles.
We had a
small group, but I am not sure that my shop could have handled much more. What the group
lacked in numbers, it made up for it in quality of conversations.
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Charlie
came with a desire to discuss the VS600 dovetail machine vs. other jigs. There is
nothing quite like being able to see the actual system than just to read about
it.
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We moved
to where I have the new PC Omnijig. Is it better? It all depends on what you plan to do
with either jig — and a good discussion went from there.
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The new
Festool Kapex Sliding Miter Saw was probably the single most product of interest. Here
Elena gives Tinker a run down. I demo'd to the group how to cut inside and outside
corners with the Festool MiterFast Jig.
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Rich gets
the feel of it and checks out the laser for accuracy. Right on, of
course.
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And
Elena wins hands down as the best shop assistant...and she has the ice cold
beer. Rich brought two pies that his daughter had baked a few hours before he
came up.
Pictures courtesy of Elena's boyfriend Jay.
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July 1, 2008 — We've been busy here and hopefully, there is a lot to
show for it. You can see that two stories are still being worked on.
I will post them as soon as they are ready — probably by July 4th.
And speaking of the 4th, have a very happy and safe July 4th. Join me
in saluting all men and women in uniform who are fighting to keep us safe.
But first a pic of Elena who is having her Nursing pin awarded her at a
recent graduation ceremony. Managing to take the nursing course and keep
two jobs going had been rough, but she now is employed at an area hospital as a graduate
nurse.
We all cheer her on doing this. She promises to save time for visits to
WoodShopDemos.
"Puppy" Pic of the Month
Gabby seeking the coolest spot in the house — the entrance to my office.
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The new Festool Kapex Sliding Miter Saw goes on sale July 1st, and we have had
a month to play with it. It is truly a beautiful machine. Accuracy and precision are
designed into it at every turn. I asked Per Swenson and father Bob to come up and teach us
how to do crown molding. The Kapex is the tool of choice for this task.
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What I knew about installing crown
molding was zilch, nada or worse. Bob and Per Swenson came to the shop and in a few
hours had trained me and Elena. I have developed this one page Guide to help any of you
who are "new" to crown molding installation.
Show me
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Lisa is a new shop assistant and I put
her to work helping me figure out the new Porter Cable Omni Jig.
I will be preparing these pages in this coming week and post them when I am done with
them...whoops. Spent way too much time of Guide. Will post this during the week.
Coming
Soon
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Sal and Elena made good headway with
the shop layout — the extension legs for the Festool Kapex and the cabinet for one of
the MFT's. I hope to have these up by July 4th too.
Coming Soon
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June 1, 2008 — We have had a busy month and I hope there is a lot to show for it.
But First, a new picture of Gabby. This was taken 5 minutes ago after
she had spent some time running through the water of a flower watering hose.
"Puppy"
Pic of the Week
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Well finally, we have the new Porter Cable Omnijig to review. It was a little difficult to
get started, but now we are off like gang busters. They have built in a number of
very clever aids...you just have to find them.
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This is a product shot of Festool's
new Multi Function Table (MFT). When the company announced that it would be coming, I was
hard pressed to know why it would be new and improved. The old ones work so well. Sal put
it together and we soon became acquainted with the new features. It was worth the wait.
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Elena holds the latest Pinnacle
product — it is a 24" T-square that boasts the high precision which we have
grown accustomed to with this brand. It is made by Woodpeckers and sold at Woodcraft.
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May 1, 2008 — Well, I am getting strength back very slowly. Thanks to
Elena, I can post a review. She is a dear. She tells me to sit down,
and then she does all the work. Beat that!
That's me on April 30 feeling quite good and getting better each day. Again, I thank every
one
of you who had special thoughts for me over the past couple of months. I appreciate
them all.
And on the Gabby front, she (we) had visit from Gail (Hometown Woodworking). She and
Gabby hit it off very well, as you can see. Gabby has good taste.
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This story doesn't take much telling. It is about the Woodpecker Story Stick. I liked it
when I first saw it on their website and before I ordered one. Now that I have seen it and
used it, I want more. You will too.
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Elena reads the new instructions for
the CMT Enlock Joining System. You can see from here, it is an illustrated step-by-step
guide — very nice to have. In fact, A DVD also accompanies the product. It is a neat
device and system.
coming soon
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Do you remember this bookshelf. I made
it here 3 or 4 years ago. I loved using it then and even more so now. In fact, I
probably will make another unit for my wife's office. It is both attractive and sturdy and
very useful. I am posting this again because so many people ask for it.
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Thanks to the many readers who have been using
the Woodcraft and Rockler links
here to make their purchases. I do get a small commission which always
helps — especially with the bandwidth this website is currently using. I
will never complain about high bandwidth usage —
that is an indicator of website popularity and ours is off the chart.
*PS - Rockler has just cut back their commission so if
all else is the same, buy from Woodcraft.
April 8, 2008 — I am at home and
recovering well for an 80 yo. Unfortunately, I am only 71 (humor on my part.)
In for 14 days and I thought I would never get rid of the strains of bugs that were
keeping me in there.
While I can joke, there is one thing that is no joke, and that is the prayers and thoughts
of you people here. I don't even want to suggest what it would have
been like without your good thoughts. Wife Sandy who did Herculean
effort to
keep me sane also appreciated your thoughts and the part they played.
I have some rehab ahead and then lots of things for woodshopdemos.com. No, I did
not locate any potential woodshop assistants.
With the meds I was on, I wouldn't trust my otherwise spotless impressions.
March 30, 2008--This is not an April Fools Joke!!
John is in the hospital recovering from
surgery.
He had a very nasty gallbladder removed and spent
some time in intensive care, but he is on the mend.
His recovery may take some time, but I expect
he'll be back in the woodshop and on the site very soon.
March 12, 2008 — Most of you (not all) have been very
understanding
of my not posting every week as I did for the first 5 years. I am slowing down
no doubt about it. But I enjoy this task immensely and will keep on
doing it as long as I physically can.
One reader suggested making the updates once a month, that way
he and others who constantly come to the site for the update, will not be disappointed
if there is no weekly update. I like that idea so April 1 will be the next update.
Right now, Elena and I are cleaning and
organizing the shop. You have heard that before, I know.
The difference this time is that we are doing a "deep" cleaning —
not just pushing things around to gain a few square feet
of room to shoot. The downside of getting products to review
is that you become a "depot" of goodies. It is not a fun shop to work
in if you have to constantly push things around. So this time it will be a
complete overhaul and I will shoot a panorama of the
entire shop and create a mini-tour.
February 10, 2008 — We put the cabinet story aside for a week or
two so that we could get started reviewing new products. This first one was
lots of fun and promises to be a good new jig for the shop.
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Elena and I had a chance to try out the new CMT Enlock Joining System. It is
a clever jig that is very well made and does what it is supposed to do — cut dovetail
keys.
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"Puppy"
Pic of the Week
More than one reader suggested that Gabby is
getting to be
larger than a "puppy" so this is the last "Puppy of the Week"
pic.
February 3, 2008 — A little progress on the under table cabinet and a few
of the new products opened up and reviews started.
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Elena starts joining the pieces with Festool Domino mortises and tenons.
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Puppy Pic of the Week
Gabby is really growing. The small inset picture is one that we shot
in November, and in
a full stretch she barely filled the chair. She doesn't know it, but she is too large for
chair now.
January 27, 2008 — The month is flying by. The shop has a number of
really fun looking new products. Oh to have more time and energy to get
to them. Next week.
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Elena continues cutting pieces of white melamine particle core board for the MFT storage
cabinet.
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January 13, 2008 — Happy New Year.
Puppy Pic of the Week
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We are into a new project in the shop - a cabinet base for one of the Festool MFT's. Elena
is installing a clever caster set that has a different style locking mechanism. I
purchased the set so that I could "invent" a method to lock the wheels without
kneeling down or kicking a brake.
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December 21, 2007 —
Puppy Pic
of the Week and Seasons Greetings
from all of us at woodshopdemos.com
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The best way I can think of to test the ability of my shop to cut things square is to
build a cube with mitered corners. Elena and I do this with the Festool plunge
saw.
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December 2, 2007 — Five snow flakes were seen yesterday. Winter is coming.
Puppy Pic of the Week
Gaby reluctantly shares her tv chair with me. It is Sunday morning and "Meet the
Pest" —
just kidding. She is a wonderful puppy and still of the puppy weight where visits
like this can be ok. But she is really growing.
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Elena and I have finished the clamp rack. It is happily storing about 75 of my
clamps. It is very heavy (est. 300#) but the Woodcraft 4" swivel casters seem to do
the
job.
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November 18, 2007 — Brrr. Each year at this time, I
realize why I
don't like the North East. It isn't that cold but the change from the
warm and balmy is more than these old bones can handle. But the shop is warm,
so what am I complaining about.
Puppy Pic of the Week
Does this look like an overworked
shop puppy? That is my TV viewing chair — or
was mine.
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In the last couple of weeks I showed some drill assortments and screw assortments. This
week I am showing this special edition case from Festool — with drills and drivers
and a lot more. They are all designed for use with the Festool Centrotec
chuck.
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We are back on the clamp rack and will
finish it this coming week.
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November 11, 2007 — First: Happy Veterans' Day.
For those of you who are keeping track of Puppy Gabriella, she is
going through the biting stage. Her owner/trainer (me) is going through the "being
bit stage."
Sharp little teeth, scary sharp, in fact. But she is so adorable.
Puppy Pic of the Week
As to shop projects: Elena, Andrea and I have made some progress
with the clamp rack — and one mistake. We made the first base the wrong dimensions.
We will get that project back on track this coming week.
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One of the many new products that came my way after AWFS in Las Vega last July, was this
cabinet hinge boring machine from CMT. It is great — it drills the 3 holes for
cabinet hinges all at one time, perfectly spaced and to the right depth. There are a lot
of jigs that have helped me over the years but nothing like this.
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If you are at all like me, you have
quite a few drill bit kits with more than a few drills missing. I really don't know where
they go — just that they are gone. So when Woodcraft displayed these
"monster sets" of drills, I was very quick to send in an order. In fact, I got
one of the brad point and one of the twist drills.
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October 28, 2007 — My daughter asked me months ago if I knew how much time puppies
took,
I don't recall what I said but I am sure it was something like "piece of cake."
Gaby is one
real piece of cake...and takes every minute you can give her, and then some. But
she is so damn cute and soft — and who said that socks were supposed to
have matching pairs. Asleep, she is always so good.
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To the many people who think I have a screw loose, not any more. I finally decided to
organize all my screws into one handy Systainer — well actually, it will be in two
handy Systainers.
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October 21, 2007 — My new shop puppy - Gabriella or Gaby
All of 9 weeks and a little charmer with a touch of rascal.
October 7, 2007 — My wife and I took a quick vacation to the other coast
and visited with my son, his wife and two kids. What a wonderful
young family. It is so fulfilling to visit them. And we had a lot of good food.
Three generations of Lucases.
And once again my wife and I were able to meet up with this old Navy buddy
and his wife. We served together in the early '60's and have stayed
in touch all the tween years. Great friends are too far and in between.
And this week's add:
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Andrea and I work on creating some angled legs for the clamps rack.
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JessEm/Milwaukee
3.5 HP EVES Motor & Switch ($489.00)
Never reach under your router table
again! Remote control box offers convenient access to both power and variable speed. Just
flip the paddle switch on and dial in your desired RPM setting. Features ..
This is now available at Rocklers and Woodcraft |
September 16, 2007 —
We had a nice visit from Beth last week. She is as lovely as
ever. I miss her on the site.
And speaking of dog, check this out:
That is a future shop dog. This picture is from the breeder and at the time
was taken, these two 4 week old females had not been spoken for. Well, actually, the one
on the right is mine to be picked up at their 10th week — mid October. The breeder is
the very same that sold me Samantha in 1993. Can't wait.
I know. I said I was going to install the two new router plates
that I display below. I will, but I find myself using the router on a new
project and don't want to play with the setup.
But, I did start something that is years overdo here — a rolling
clamp rack.
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There are a lot of good clamp racks made by woodworkers around the world. I have
been looking for good ideas on forums for ever. This one should work for me. It makes use
of some very strong steel clamp racks that Woodpeckers sells.
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September 04, 2007 — We have nothing to report this week, except that we are
enjoying beautiful weather. It is a good time to seal up the shop for cold days
ahead.
This is what we are working on for next week. I don't know why it is but we
have two router lifts to try out.
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I was pleasantly surprised to see that Incra was offering a router plate. It turns
out it is a Jessem plate made to Incra's specifications. In reading over the
instructions, I see that there a couple of new features that will be nice to have.
Coming Next
Week
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We also got a router plate from
Woodpeckers. It has a "Quik Lift" knob. I look forward to seeing how that will
make our router operations better.
Coming Next Week
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August 26, 2007 — You saw the
"pieced together" panorama picture below.
I did this because I couldn't back up in the shop. Well I remedied that last week.
I sold my trustee Unisaw. I almost teared since that saw was the first tool I bought when
I got back into
woodworking. So in the same breath that I say I miss it, I say I sure
love the room. The "Superstation" was eating up my limited shop space.
Maybe when I need a table saw, I will get one with a granite top.
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Elena has a chance to practice edge jointing with the Festool planer/jointer stand that
Sal had put together.
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August 19, 2007 — We have been working on a DVD
on cabinetmaking.
It is using the Festool side of the shop. But if you do not have any Festool products,
I hope you will still be able to make use of this on-going feature.
It is started today and will continue over the coming weeks.
At the same time, we will still be reviewing some new tools and jigs.
August 5, 2007 — Well, long time friend Sal has been visiting for a week and
has been setting the pace for work in the shop. Here he poses with Elena.
A point of information: isn't it my job to pose with her? (He pulled rank.)
July 22, 2009 — I just get slower and slower. Oh well, as long as there is forward
progress.
And thanks to all those readers who sent me a person note on the loss of Jakie. There are
a lot of animal lovers out there, and that is all good.
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Last week I thought I came up with a good jig to help determine the number and type of
chippers that I would use to make tight dados. But one perfect dado doesn't make a jig
success story. This week I tested on a couple more wood thicknesses.
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This is one of
those products that has been sitting on my "to do" pile. It hard to believe that
I have been reminding the manufacture for a year to send one for review. It is from
Jessem and is the Jessem/Milwaukee router table motor and remote speed dial and
switch. I am really looking forward to installing it.
Coming next week
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July7, 2007 — I have mentioned dear Jake
a number of times here. He has
been a great shop dog. Do you remember the story when Jake visited the
shop; tilted a bottle of water that was on the floor; unscrewed the top with his too long
nails and
then drank from the puddle. It sounds like a fish tale doesn't it.
Well he did it twice and both times I had witnesses. Anyway, shop dog Jake
stopped breathing on July 4th. He was 12+.
And two stories — actually, one is pretty important.
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If you look closely at that dado, you will witness the best looking walls and bottom that
a dado has ever had. At least, that is how I feel. We had a chance to review the CMT
Pro Dado set. When I first opened the box, I thought this was going to be a "me
too" product. After all, doesn't my current dado set give me pretty good dados. We
had a lot to learn.
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In the picture at the left, I am using
The Extractor from Lee Valley to remove tight Dominos after dry fitting a cabinet
together. It works well. What it was designed for is removing the nail that
finds its own way. I find that when I use the narrow crown stapler on particle core
board, I get my fair share of "strays", and they can be a devli to remove. The
Extractor was designed for this, and I do like the way it works.
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June 24, 2007 — It seems like I am treading water with a lead jacket pulling me down.
A lot of time since the last post. Too many things started. Nothing finished, but this
week I do
have some stories.
Welcome to my office. You would think I would have great woodworking projects or pictures.
But noooooooooo. First love is the Navy. I got out in 1963 and I still picture myself on
my favorite destroyer in one of
the typhoons of the Pacific. The picture on my PC is of the destroyer going alongside a
carrier for
refueling. The "rough" seas were quite typical. The carrier hardly felt them.
To all those who are in now or have served, I salute you...not just on veterans and flag
day, but every day.
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Several weeks ago, I posted a story on how to keep things square and in that story I
showed a number of squares that we use here in the shop. A number of readers suggested
that the "1281" square made by Woodpeckers should be on my list. So I got
two squares from them and the readers were right — they are great squares.
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We said we were going to review the WorkSharp and we
did. We have more to do, but here is the first section. We have used it enough to know
that it works and is easy to use.
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Elena and I use the Festool Parallel fence for
accurate and repetitive rip cuts.
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June3, 2007 — Last week, I
promised to finish the 3 stories I had
started and that we did.
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The Work Sharp is a new tool to make sharpening of all blades easier and better. We have
just started working with it and about 1/2 way through the story. Next week we will
have it done. I think you will like it.
Coming next week
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Elena, Andrea and I have been testing the new Pro Dado
set from CMT. It brings to dados and rabbets what the glue line rip blade does for
those cuts — an absolutely smooth bottom. If you have had dado bottoms that showed
ridges, you will love this new set. And when I say it gives smooth bottoms, I am talking smooth,
real smooth.
Coming next week
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We have been using a brand new set of drills available
exclusively at Rockler. They are of a new design that is meant to cut better and
deeper holes. We made our first test to be the hardest — drilling a 3/4"
hole 4" deep in very hard Brazilian Rosewood. It is a 2" thick board that I paid
pretty money for and we will be making jewelry chest's, but I had to use one end just to
test these drills. I will tell you now that our first use was amazing. It made the hole as
easy at drilling a cake of Ivory, and the hole was smooth with an almost perfectly flat
bottom. We would publish this story but want to test the bits in a hand held cordless
drill and in other woods.
Coming next week
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May 28, 2007 — Happy memorial day. Up here, we are enjoying a really nice
early summer day, and my wife is already in the pool soaking up the sun. Before she
went out there, she put AC in my office window and uncovered the AC for the shop so that
I can be comfortable. Can't find a better wife than that.
To date, we have never made mention of what we are working on — just what
we have completed. We are almost done with three new products
so I thought I would, at least, tell you what's coming. And we have a
lot more tools waiting for us.
May 20, 2007 — Last time, I posted a page
on making square cuts. There was
a lot of interest in that page and the subject. So today
I am discussing the alternate method — parallel cuts.
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Making parallel cuts is as important as making square cuts. We find that for every panel
cut list, square and parallel cuts almost always alternate in the overall process.
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May 8, 2007 — Way too long
between updates. Bad cold/cough took over
last two weeks and kept old, 84 yo frame down and out (Yes, I know
I am only 70, but frame is that of an 84 yo, it can seem at times.)
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Maegan helps me test a new glue line ripping blade from CMT. And we do a quick
comparison of all three of their rip blades.
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Andrea, Elena and I take on the subject of
square. How square must you be to be "in square?"
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April 21, 2007 — Announcement: I
made a real boo boo and since the readers here
often praise me for admitting them, here goes.
The mistake is in the review of the CMT Pro Dado Set. That review should
have been this week, but I made a second error...so next week.
But in the meantime, here is a very good "add" to the shop. Elena, yes, but I
was referring to the GG.
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Can you spell "easier lifting." That is what you have if you have this new
product — the Gorilla Gripper." It has many uses, but in this shop is
works great lifting the heavy, slippery white melamine particle core panels. Just ask
Elena.
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March 25, 2007 — Many readers have written me and said that I spend too much time
reporting on Festool products. I am guilty. There is only one reason why I do this:
I find them excellent tools
and they have done a lot to change my way of doing cabinetry and other basic woodworking
jobs.
In my "credo", I say that I will review those products that I would want in my
shop. That doesn't mean
only Festool. I have a years worth of other products that will be on these pages and in my
shop. And
I will be doing more work with Festool products. When I do a story like the one today, it
is
a Festool story that should be of interest to all woodworkers. The digital fence I am
installing
on a Festool product, can be done anywhere in the shop. As a matter of fact, I will be
installing it on
my Incra cut off sled and on my Delta planer. I always try to be fair. And I appreciate it
when
you, my readers, email me and suggest that I am not being fair.
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We have seen many new digital measuring devices in the recent years. Here is one that is a
part of a longer sensor that I have installed in one of the Festool MFT (multi function
tables.) I like it because it works.
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Recognize those router bits. They are the lock miter bit and the reverse glue bit. They
can be very difficult to setup. I have prepared a couple of pages to show you the
"Lucas way" and it works for me.
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Here is the final page from the Swenson and Swenson
bar building pages. I can't say enough about their skills in creating beautiful wood
masterpieces. Rarely do we get a chance to see such magnificent work — a tribute to
the beautiful wood that it is.
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February 25, 2007 — I really am alive
and well, just way behind in adding new pages.
I have some new products that are on the bench right now and will have them reviewed by
the weekend.
February 11, 2007 — We are back after a few days in Florida. It was sunny for
this picture
but grey for much of the time we were there — but fun none-the-less.
And I have posted several pages with Marianne
continuing the vanity top story. It is coming
quite well. These are pictures we took weeks ago since she also was away traveling.
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Who is it that said we do not use hand tools. Marianne uses a back saw to finish a
miter on our vanity top.
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PS — Some reader beat me to it. This router and
external speed control was shown at last year's IWF and
I have been waiting patiently to get my hands on one. Some reader
beat me to it and ordered one from Rockler last week. Let me know how well it works.
February 3, 2007 — My wife and I
are taking the week off for a short trip to visit friends in
Florida. We will be back next week and have an update then.
For now, enjoy this week's success with the Swensons.
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This a nice finishing touch, but the real story is with Per's use of the Festool Domino
Joiner. He used it to link together 12 ft. sections of bar rail — and he did it
perfectly. He played "hide the seam" and he won.
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January 28, 2007 — Brrrrr! The
long overdue cold has been here. It makes me appreciate
a heated, cozy shop. A special thanks to the many readers who visited the Woodcraft
pages from below. It is amazing how many readers and friends visit here.
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This week, Elena works further with the Festool Domino Joiner and cutting tenons to fit
her mortises.
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We don't usually show what others are doing but friend Per Swenson and his 82
year old father are woodworkers par excellence. Their specialty is long bars. What
is newsworthy is that Per just used the Festool Domino Joiner for the first time.
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January 21, 2007 — Still working on cleaning and organizing the
shop. It seems to go forever.
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Welcome to Marieanne, a Scottish lass who wanted to try her hand with the new Festool
Domino Joiner. But of course, as long as you let us all watch.
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January 14, 2007 — A quick "hello." Things are real busy here and a lot to
report, but I am still
cleaning my shop. It is taking forever.
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This CMT Tenon Cutter bit is a product that was first released at the IWF Show in Atlanta
last August. It allows you to cut tenons from 3/16" thick to 3/8". Andrea and I
use it to cut 5mm tenons with precision enough to fit into Festool Domino mortises.
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January 7, 2007 — Happy New Year to you all.
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Elena continues her learning of the Festool Domino System. We are trying to learn
one feature or operation at a time. She is doing well.
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December 31, 2006 — 'T'is the very last day of 2006. I hope it has been a
good year for you, and that 2007 is going to be even better. I am planning to
have a
Tony the Tiger grrrreat year.
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We used the Domino Cross Stop and were able to auto-place the Domino mortises at wider
locations. This really made joining of cabinet sides together easier and better.
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December 26, 2006 — I hope everyone had a safe holiday so far. New Years is
almost upon us. Yikes.
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We continue our review and use of the new Festool Domino System. This week we practice
using the automatic Domino spacing procedure. It is neat and takes just a little
getting used to. But it saves so much time. In fact, the whole Domino System is
shaping up as a time saver. But, we have a lot more to do before we can really make that
statement.
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December 17, 2006 — A fun couple of shoot sessions in the shop this week capped off
by losing my website PC. That was plain scary since all the pages and the picture
files
would be lost. Yikes!!!. But, I managed to get the PC back with no loss of the hard drive.
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This is Elena wheeling out a Festool Domino Joining
System. The new product is expected for release in April but we were privileged to
get a head start. What does it do and how does it do it? Well that is what we will
be showing in the next weeks and months. It is a honey of a new product. We know
what it is supposed to do and a features/benefits story. But what Elena, Andrea and I will
be showing what it can do in the way of woodshop tasks. It is either expensive or
inexpensive, depending on what it can do. We know already, that it can do a lot and many,
many woodworkers will benefit from it. So let's start the story...
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December 10, 2006 — These are
fun days in the shop.
We have three different projects we are working on. You will see them
all in good time.
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Andrea takes over the silver chest project. The task
this week is to thickness plane the various pieces, mark them for end grain matching and
do some edge jointing.
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December 3, 2006 — We
actually had a flake or two of snow here. And I thought winter was
going to pass us by. When I was sitting in front of the TV nursing my broken leg, my wife
had
a new door installed so that my "commute" was only 4 steps away rather than a
hundred.
So I am "snow-ready." Is that a good wife, or what?
 
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The giddiness that Andrea is displaying is not because she
is back in the shop, but instead because she has just told me that she is newly
engaged. It is amazing that we got anything accomplished.
We did though. I wanted to play around with jigging the router for perfect
fitting dovetails. We did this with the Festool guide system but the method can be
used with a clamping straight edge.
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November 19, 2006 — It is nice to be back and able to work in the shop. The silver
chest project
is a fun one and is coming along quite well. We have another story also in the works. It
is on using the new
CMT tenon cutting router bit — a product announced at the IWF. We will post that
story right here next week.
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As you can see, Jessica has re-sawn all the boards
necessary for the silver chest project. It is nice to have that done. Fact is,
it was quite easy to re-saw with the Festool TS75 plunge saw. This larger capacity saw was
quite easy for Jessica and me to handle and the extra depth and power came in very handy.
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November 12, 2006 — Well, I am back on my feet again and it feels good.
I have an "air-cast" for awhile but I have doc's OK to work in shop
as long as I don't over do it. Moie??? 11/05/2006 — Update. I
did
overdo it so rest of day will elevate foot and watch football. Tomorrow
plan to install new worktop, show you a new product I just bought; and display
my repetitive cuts jig. Come on back on Tuesday.
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With my broken leg in cast, I had lots of time to come up
with an improved way to rip boards to like widths — just as you would do with a table
saw and the fence set at one setting. Easier said than done. I am still working on
the "how-to." It is one of those "coming soon." One problem is that it
is so easy to do without clever jigging — that's a problem we may live with.
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It is a Wixey, what else? Should you have one? Do
you like to make square cuts? Perfect miters?
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This product shot is of the Porter Cable Compact Belt Sander. It is one
of the new products that was introduced at the year's IWF exhibit. Elena and I had
opportunity to give it a brief workout. At a street price of $119, it is hard not
to add this compact belt sander to the tool crib. How nice it will be to sand down
slightly oversized dovetails.
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October 29, 2006 — I do want to thank the local
Visiting Nurse Association
for assigning Julie to monitor my rehab experience. Could there be a
nicer way to keep me from really missing my shop assistants.
I am still in cast but hope to get to shop this
week. There is a lot to do there.
October 22, 2006 — Going bananas would be an apt way to describe my past weeks. I am
not good at sitting
and watching the "boob tube" just to keep my broken leg elevated. But that is
what I did, and I have
about 2 more weeks of just that.
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Jessica helps me this day by using the new Festool TS 75
to re-saw some boards that are 4" thick. This plunge saw has a great cutting capacity
but not enough to slice the 4" board, but we did just that as a "work in
turn." She made a 2+" cut from one side and then the same from the other. Sounds
good, but how smooth is the combined cuts? Can you believe 10 out of a perfect 10.
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This product shot is of the Porter Cable Compact Belt Sander. It is one
of the new products that was introduced at the year's IWF exhibit. Elena and I had
opportunity to give it a brief workout. At a street price of $119, it is hard not
to add this compact belt sander to the tool crib. How nice it will be to sand down
slightly oversized dovetails.
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September 29, 2006 — A bit of reality has caused me to post this brief message. The
reality is that
when I am working on the PC, I am not elevating my broken leg and if I don't do that, I am
asking for trouble.
I will spare you the description of that trouble, but it was and is very painful. So now I
am going to heed the doctors orders
and sit in the recliner chair for the next couple of weeks, then rehab and then I
can come back here.
Thanks for being so understanding.
September 24, 2006 — It has been an interesting
and different week for me. Went to orthopedic
doctor on Tuesday and was given a walking boot and told to stay off my broken leg. How
long that
will be depends on how good I am in not agitating it and how fast the bones mend. So I
have
tried to be good, but I am getting restless. I want to thank everyone who has taken
the time
to write me with well wishes. They are sincerely appreciated.
As I said lasts week, I have a couple of stories "in the can," so I will
be able to offer some new pages.
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A Bessey utility knife? That is
what it is and a heavy, solid one, at that. I saw it at the Woodcraft store check out
counter and it followed me home. At just under $20, it becomes the cheapest Bessey
by far.
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