A Mobile Workshop Idea

While I do not have a great need for a mobile workshop, but there sure have been times when I wish I did have something like the set up in this video, this video shows a well designed mobile workshop that puts my lack of organization in my own workshop to absolute shame.

In watching this one time I already picked up on a couple ideas for my own 1-car garage workshop. One of which is how to make the miter saw set up more compact. I don't want to get rid of my miter saw as I use it often enough, but it takes up a lot of space relative to my 11'x25' workshop.

The idea of sliding the miter saw out when needed would probably conserve a good 6 inches of space out from the wall. Believe it or not, that would clear up a lot of space for me between the miter saw and the workbench. Hope this video gives you some ideas for space utilization and organization in your workshop.






Ray Ladouceur
www.dogwoodtales.com

Click here for floor refinishing

Current special - Parquet flooring refinishing for only $1.50 per square foot.
Check out the link below for more information.

http://floorrefinishingcincinnati.blogspot.com/2012/09/current-special-as-posted-on-craigslist.html

Have a great day!
Raymond

www.floorrefinishingcincinnati.com
www.dogwoodtales.com

Get the brad out of the mortise

I disassembled a chair to re-glue the joints and an old brad was still in the mortise of this chair leg. I couldn't get to it except with needle nose pliers, but I couldn't get enough of a grip to pull the brad out of the wood. Vice grip pl

iers would provide more than enough grip, but are too large to fit into the mortise to grab the brad. After some rummaging around looking for another means to pull out the brad, it dawned on me to use the vice grip pliers to improve the grip of the needle nose pliers and ... wa-la! The brad was easily pulled out.

 

 

www.dogwoodtales.com

www.floorrefinishingcincinnati.com

 

 

Fixing a broken mortise and tenon joint

While disassembling this chair leg and cross piece the tenon broke off in the mortise. Ugh. So I made a quick centering jig for my drill to drill a 1/2" hole centered in the end of the cross piece and cut a length of 1/2" dowel to use as a floating tenon between the two pieces.

 

 

www.dogwoodtales.com

www.floorrefinishingcincinnati.com

Traditional Woodworking

No offense to traditional woodworking purists, but do you also use an outhouse instead of a modern toilet? Just wondering ;-)

Custom Woodworking = Custom Price

When a potential customer asks me "How much would you charge to make ...?" I don't always have an answer. In fact, I rarely do. The fact of the matter is is that I'm not a department store with set prices for furniture pieces that are mass produced overseas or even in the USA. I make furniture and things to the customer's specifications. I don't need plans as I can work without plans or sketch something up myself as needed, but I do need to know what the customer wants. This is referring to the size of the project, the overall design, the features, such as wooden drawer slides or full extension metal slides, type of hardware for drawer pulls, the color, finish,  etc.

Floor refinishing is a different thing. That has set prices for certain ranges in total square footage. Sometimes a floor refinishing job will have repairs or special considerations, but usually it's just the square footage matched to a price per square foot. But custom woodworking is just that - custom, meaning customized to what the customer wants.

In short custom woodworking means a custom price.

If the customer does not really want or need a custom made item, quite frankly, the department store, thrift store or on-line shopping may be the best option. With that I do not intend any offense to a prospective customer when I tell them that. It's just that if the person is not looking for something custom built, or superior in overall quality to what can be bought from mass production, then mass production or the thrift store is probably better suited to their needs. I do not want to try to sell someone something that does not fit their needs financially or in function. Not only is that bad business, it's just not a nice thing to do.

Ray Ladouceur
Dogwood Tales LLC
Every project is a story unto itself.

Safety Week - Woodworking - Safety Glasses

Ever find yourself in the middle of a cut at the table saw, or other power tool, and realize that you forgot to put on your safety glasses?

I always don the safety glasses when I enter the workshop and leave them on till I'm finished. However, every once in a while I'll take them off to get a closer look at something - but never while operating a power tool. On very rare occasions I caught myself  firing up a power tool without putting the safety glasses back on first, but no more. After the last time I did that I got out a sharpie marker and wrote "Safety Glasses" in several prominent places around my table saw and other power tools such as the base of my router, on the band saw, the miter saw, the circular saw etc. Not only is it a nice reminder to make sure I have those safety glasses on, but just seeing the word "Safety" is a nice reminder to be attentive to the task at hand - lest, may God forbid, I lose that hand!