AskWoodMan

This is platform bed frame design sustained me during my early years of woodworking. I made hundreds of them. I have not made one in 23 years but thought it would be a  practical, strong and accessible project to share on AskWoodMan.tv. This is beech with poplar slats. It breaks down with machine bolts for easy install and moving. Not one bit of giggle. After all these years of building I could not improve on this design. It was a trip down memory lane. I am going to make a rolling storage drawer and some side tables for it too. Full build videos to come.

For over 25 years I have used Bahco 8032 Ergo chisels and have never found anything that even comes close to their functional design. They were discontinued in the 80’s and I have never ever seen any come for sale. One of my AskWoodMan subscribers emailed me Saturday about a new Ebay listing for four. I paid the Buy Now price and today they arrived. I had never bought that big 32mm so now my set is complete. They are in good shape and have a lot more steel than mine. The seller was in a shared shop so painted his tools blue. That is easily cleaned off. Next stop, AskWoodMan’s sharpening spa.

Picked up 200bf of 4/4 beech today for $2.10/bf. It is hit/missed to 15/16” or 24mm. I really don’t think of Germany as a lumber exporter but this bundle was marked Germany. Really nice clear stuff with very little mineral and straight lined on one edge. Sehr Gut!

The self adhesive steel SAE/Metric Starrett tape finally arrived for my new table saw guide rail build. Papi is inspecting the precision of the tape install. Fortunately I passed.  You only get one shot at getting it right. I just posted a video on the process.

The drill press table support stand is done (except for paint) and I could not be more pleased. This is my full weight on the outside corner and not bit of give. The only tool required is an adjustable wrench to lock the jamb nuts.  Macro adjustments can be made in a few minutes with the central screw which raises and lowers the whole unit, and the whole thing can be completely removed by loosening four bolts in the base.

March 30, 2013: I made some good Saturday progress on this drill press table support I have been thinking about for a long time. Almost all drill presses have the same inherent problem of the table flexing under load. Many will put a support prop under the center, but this does not keep the edges from flexing. So this sleeved setup with complete threaded and lockable support is going to nip that flex in the bud. Absolute 4 corner threaded support. The bottom base plate is bolted with t-nuts to the lower slots. Once it gets welded up it will be self aligning. The macro adjust is going to be by central acme threaded rod. I am making a video series on this to share on AskWoodman.tv.

Day 86/365 2013: This is the guide rail, rolling carriage, and extension table setup with router table insert I made for my friend Jerome Little. This is a 1947 Unisaw that had no cast iron extension wings, just the main saw body.  Jerome bought this saw from a closing broom factory in Massachusetts. From a broom factory to the shop of an incredible guitar maker. Talk about your full circles. LittleGuitarWorks.

51/365: This a batch of 12 auxiliary fences that attach to the aluminum extrusion of the VerySuperCool Tools table saw fence. There are countersunk holes for bolts to connect to t-nuts in the extrusion track. It is a clean and obstruction free way of adding a high fence for vertical work. I glued Wilsonart laminate (all shop scrap) to both faces of 12mm Baltic Birch plywood. I really love my Texas Roubo bench for work holding operations. Here I am filing the laminate edges and sanding the ply.

50/365: My buddy August had some more industrial casters for my machines and asked if I need anything else to go in the box. I mentioned I was getting low on nuts/bolts/washers for in a pinch in the shop. It was boxes inside boxes with bags inside. This weighed 141lbs. It is really sweet being friends with an industrial salvage Santa Claus. This is all grade 8 or heat treated. Can’t wait to sort through all this stuff. My idea of fun.

40/365: Made a lot of progress on the 3 Biesemeyer guide rail sets today. This is the setup I use to transfer the #7 drill holes in the angle iron exactly to the correct location on the tubing for tapping. Transfer punches are great but here I just use the same #7 to dimple  a mark where the hole will be completed on the drill press. I have 3/4” solid aluminum bars creating the exact spacing standoff and with 4 Bessey rapid action clamps this just took minutes. With the steel so clean, my hands got only moderately filthy today.
This will be my friend Jerome Little’s guide rails. The other two are mine. Full fabrication videos to come. Measuring and marking is where I shine.

39/365: Just when I thought I had a figured out all the ways to hold stock for clamping this one came up. I always glue solid wood panels and glue trim on plywood in the upright position so this works really well to give me complete access for clamp position and inspection. That bench is my version of a Roubo workbench. There is a complete step by step video series on AskWoodMan.TV if you are interested.

38/365: This is 3 Biesemeyer table saw fence guide rail setups I am making for VerySuperCool Tools t-squares. I used 3m (black) Scotchbrite pads (hook and loop) on my angle grinder to remove all the scale and oil. They are not cheap, but compared to the pain of a knotted wire wheel, or the glazing of sandpaper discs, they are a bargain. Short of sandblasting I have never seen any abrasive that works as well. The scale on the angle iron was ridiculous. I did all these parts in an hour with 4 pads. 

36/365: A little German dog checks out a big German router.

35/365: I have to hinge bore some holes in some long cabinet doors. My new extension support to the right of the drill press is really a great addition to this setup. It took just minutes to get this dialed in level. I just clamped some reference boards to the press table and brought the supports in line. Solid and easy.

31/365: Edge sanding is always pain. But ganging the panels together with spacers really speeds up the process. And nothing helps clamping setups like Bessey Rapid Action Clamps. For my woodworking and my metalworking, the time these clamps save is money in my pocket.