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Shop Update - Finding a New Wood Shop
Web DevObal • Jun 17, 2017
Donald Vlogsifys Wood ShopA New Beginning
It’s been a long 10 months as far as the wood shop goes. The place I was living at was going to be sold and I had to find a place to live. Those that know me also know I have liver issues and I’m on disability. Therefore money is always tight for me. Those that think a person receiving disability has it made are very wrong. It’s a very hard challenge living on the amount of money SSD provides. So finding a place to live on my own that wasn’t in a run down slum would be very difficult.
Luckily I have a very dear friend who was looking for a place too. She has been like a sister to me for many years. We talked about it and decided we could find a much better place together than we could on our own. At the time she had found a temporary place to stay. One room in a nice house, satellite tv, Internet, water and electric included in the rent. There was a room in the same house available so I took it.
That place was ok, clean and the landlord was cool. But the tv was the bare basics as was the Internet, which made for long uploads, and issues when more than one person was trying to use the computer to watch something besides what was on basic satellite tv. And the biggest problem for me, no place to use for a shop. Not even a place to store my tools. Therefore I had to put my tools in a storage unit and do my wood working out of the back of my truck. Running back and forth to the storage unit to swap out tools needed to work with.
As you can imagine, that was very frustrating at times. But I knew it was temporary and we were working to get things together so when the right place came along we could move. Nothing ever works out the way you want. But sometimes there is a reason. In May 2017, our landlord messaged us that he was going to have to sell the house we were staying in and we would need to find another place. That was a surprise.
We began the frantic search to find a place. We didn’t think the landlord would try to throw us out on the street, but we knew legally there was a limit on the time we had. We looked at a few places, and applied for some. But alas, they always chose to give them to someone else. We were getting very stressed as time was running out.
One day while coming home I noticed a “FOR RENT” sign on a house that was actually only 3 houses down from where we were. I stopped, looked at the outside, took pics. As I rounded the back yard, there it was. A beautiful 15 by 15 building with an air conditioner sticking out the window. I sent the pictures to my roommate and she called about it. I went to the realtors office the next day to ask about it and try to apply and at least set up a time to look inside. But they said they couldn’t until some things in the house were fixed.
Finally, after a week or so they called and said I could view it. We really liked it, it was perfect for what we could afford as far as rent. I filled out the application and the process began. They called me and told me it was ours. We weren’t quite ready to come up with deposits and stuff. But we managed to scrape it together. Money will be tight for a couple months. But we got our home and I have my wood shop.
Now we are moved in and my tools are in the shop. Still a lot of work ahead of us. The furniture is in but a lot is still in boxes needing to be unpacked. My tools and stuff from my old wood shop is in the building but I mostly just set things in there till I had more time to organize and get the shop set up. But soon I will finally have a place to do my woodworking.
Redneck Know How Blog
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Everybody seems to be in love with dovetails these days. Myself included. They look nice, feel nice, and they make the woodworker feel an overwhelming since of pride when he makes tight and even. Especially the hand cut dovetails. Dovetail joints can be produced with power tools. And there are dovetail jigs you can buy and make. It makes getting precise dovetails with no gaps a lot easier. But nothing feels more satisfying than finally getting hand cut dovetails tight and gap free. And for the record, I use the term, “gap free”, very loosely. I’d wager that even the best woodworker gets gaps in their dovetails no matter how hard they try. Maybe not as many as us new to middlin’ woodworkers, and certainly not as noticeable, but there are gaps in their dovetails. Nowadays, people use dovetails not only as a joint, but as decoration. A showpiece if you will to show off the craftsmanship of the woodworker. But the reality is that they were not originally meant to be pretty. They were utilized to hold pieces that were heavily used together. Such as drawers or other parts of furniture and other items that were constantly pulled or tugged on. In the example below, you can see how the angles of the dovetails will keep the joint from coming apart during the tugging of the drawer when opening it. This part of the joint is where the dovetail joint get’s it’s name. Often when used on boxes, the orientation of those angles are switched around, placing them on the front of the box as a decoration, and the pins of the joint is put on the side. Great for looks, not so great for function. Of course for most smaller boxes, the function of the dovetail really isn’t needed and using dovetails for looks is fine and an anesthetically pleasing way to show off craftsmanship. But let’s not give up on using the dovetail joint for utilitarian purposes when building boxes too quickly. They can be a great way to join a bottom to a box that will be holding heavier stuff, such as tool boxes. The angle of the dovetails can manage the stresses of carrying heavier items such as tools if you wish to maintain a *NO screws or nails* policy on your woodworking projects. Or you can use the dovetail joint along with screws for extra protection against the bottom dropping out. So the purpose of the dovetail is a lot more than to just make your woodworking look good. In fact, long ago, they were hidden. Simply a way to join parts and give them the strength to do what the item was meant to do, and be hidden when the drawer was closed. Using the dovetail joint for decoration is a modern thing. Which I have nothing against. I love to show off dovetails I’ve made nearly perfect. Well, in my eyes anyway. Roy Underhill and Paul Sellers would likely just look at them and grin, maybe chuckle at me being so proud of something so far from the skill level they have achieved.
My wonderful experience with Starbond Super glue is explained in this blog post. The absolute best CA glue I've used.
An option for dealing with nail holes and voids in a table top made with pallet wood.