The Woodshop Shed

Need some weight. Plaster of Paris OK?

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I have a hollow project that, when finished, will be a little top heavy. Plus I don't think it feels right when you lift it. The bottom has a cavity 10 inch diameter by 3 inch deep. I thought I could fill this with some kind of plaster to get the desired effect,but I'm not familiar with casting products, procedures or techniques.

Help! Can I use casting plaster or plaster of Paris? Which would work best? Would something else be more suitable? Thanks for any help.

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Design Question - Will this topple?

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Hello All,

I have a friend who asked me to build her a sewing station on wheels. I would post a picture of the design but its basically a box (like everything we do) that has the following measurements:

18" Wide x 33" Height x 40" Long

I plan to buy 3" casters so the cart will be mobile. This makes the total height 33" + 3" or 36"

Also, she wants a solid wood top that has 18" leafs which can be opened and supported by arms that get stored in the top when not in use.

So we would potentially have an 18" + 18" + 18" top on a 18" base that is 36" high.

I think we need a wider base....

Your thoughts?

Thanks, Bill

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Finally Finished It

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The guy who's transporting the Lane Acclaim table I made for a lady in DC is finally coming to pick it up on Monday. I've been keeping the finished pieces in my sauna for safe keeping. So now that it's going to leave, I brought the pieces upstairs today put it together in my garage.

The extension mechanism is massive and operates exceedingly smoothly. It's from Poettker.



Right side up now.


John

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Lignomat Mini Long Pins

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I just received a new Lignomat Mini moisture meter and installed the longer pinsto test some oak. After using the meter two or three times to see who well it works, I noticed the pins were bent. I pushed the pins straight into the wood, so I was a bit surprised this occurred. I called Lignotmat and they were very helpful and are sending another set of long pins. I am just curious whether this is normal?Thank you![/list]

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Beginnings of a work bench

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I posted earlier about braking down Ash boards. Well the reason I was doing that is because I am starting to build another work bench. And I wanted to show that braking down plywood or heavy timber the process is the same. It is just getting it into usable size. And I wanted to say I am very happy not to live in a place that has covenants. In fact stay tuned.

My wife is having a garden club meeting at out house tonight and we had a big storm come through about a week ago and she wanted me to take sticks and branches it out to a friends burn pile and while I was there I decided to get some moreAsh. It was cut a couple of years ago and it was at 10 % I unhooked my straps and removed 4 pieces andbundled it back up. This is the first wood I have gotten and I was surprised on how flat it stayed.


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Anyway on the way back I stopped at the Little Brown Church and took a couple of pictures. I think it was finished in 1864 It isquite famous and even had A song written about it. The Little Brown Church in the Vale. It is an active church today. Lots of people from all over come there to get Married. Sue and I were married there 55 years ago this coming June 21st. The couple visiting inside said they were Married there 47 years ago. Anyway I write this because it is where all the ash came from. The church lost 11 ash trees And all the ash pictured came from one tree.


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I took it home and proceeded to cut it into usable sizes so I could get it on my table saw. oneof the pictures show 3 knots and otherwise the boards are clear. I also showed the split at the other end. Each board is book matched to the one under it. I was one of the grunts when it was sawn. And we handled it that way.


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And then I decided to test the waters and took the last board to my shop. So I cut the last board right in front of my shop,right down town on main street. There was a nice breeze so I didn't even sweep up the sawdust.


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Did I get away withit? People waved as they drove by. Going to do all my brake down on Main Street from now on. The Little brown church is level, just poor photography.

I hope you enjoy how I spent part of my day.

Tom

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Braking down ash boards

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I posted not to long ago about how I broke down plywood into manageable pieces. I got a lot of different responses. Most were mainly about storage of my table. Mine has fold up legs and stores against the wall behind my router table and planners. I also posted it on the Saw Mill Creek forum andsaw a lot of saw horse arrangements and even 4 folding work benches with 2 X4son them. I also saw sheet goods being cut in the shop, which means one had to bring the sheet goods into the shop

Well maybe 5 years ago I could handle a 4 x 8 3/4 sheet of plywood but not today. My wife would help but I won't ask her anymore. Trust me she has no business wrestling plywood.

And today I found out that plywood is a walk in the park compared to 2 inch thick Ash, 22 inches wide and 7 foot long. It is rough cut so it doesn't slide out of the truck, it comes out kicking and screaming all the way.

Anyway the table is the same for rough cut lumber as it is for plywood. I said my circular saw needed a new blade. i was going to mount a different saw to my plate but decided to mount my Makita in stead. A 7 1/4 instead of 6 1/2 blade. Now I will say this and it is that if the saw bladeis not perfectly parallel with the edge of the plate the saw blade will pull or push the saw away from the straight edge. This is one of the reasons that track saws are so popular.

Anyway I dragged the ash out of the truck and onto the table. Lets see I fold down the legs and place it behind my truck. I pull the wood out of the truck. If other than pulling it out onto the table it is a two person job to move a piece of Ash that big and heavy.

I used a Makita battery circular saw instead of the one I used in my other pictures. I really liked loosing the cord and it preformed better than I expected it to. I have tried other battery circular saws in the past and I was less than impressed. I couldn't get the full 2 inched of depth. But I was really happy about that. I didn't need to worry aroundthe wood closing in around the blade and having it send shock ways back into my shoulder. The second board was cupped so I turned it bow side down and cut I didn't want it collapsing in on the blade. The picture is a little misleading because the plate that the saw is mounted todoes ride in the groove on the guide I didn't have it quite on for the picture.

Anyway I had to use my jigsaw to cut it completelyapart.Just used the saw kerfas a guide. Because of the tables web design I had to wrestle the board around to completelyget it cut in to.

I have some Ash just as wide 8 foot long that that needs to be cut in moremanageable widths and the process it the same. So I guess the process is the same as for plywood, 8/4s ask and 4/4 s Ash

Anyway pictures


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Thanks for looking

Tom

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