Woodshop Stuff

I have had the opportunity to spend a few days in the woodshop, now that the living room is finished.  I’ve been having a good time.  I’m in the middle of building a rolling cabinet to hold the tablesaw that we’ll be moving from my parents’ basement to our basement.  I’ll be trading the smaller saw that I have for theirs.  Their saw is much older, but it is capable of more accurate work, which I need right now.  Someday, I’ll have enough saved-up to buy a nice cabinet saw, but that has to wait right now for other more important things.  My parents actually got the saw that I have now as a birthday gift for me several years ago.  It was my first tablesaw, and has served me well.  It’s not a bad saw, but it is a direct-drive model (which means more vibration) and cannot handle some of the accessories and jigs I use that are designed for a standard tablesaw.  The existing stand it is on at my parents’ house is a little too high for me, and has been subjected to lots of water, so it is rusting apart in various places.  I also can’t tell if it was actually designed for that saw–it seems to have some support issues. 

I found plans for this in Woodsmith Magazine, and purchased them online a while ago.  I started working on it a few months ago, but then had to set it aside so that I could devote all my energy to the living room.  At the time, I had purchased the plywood and solid wood for trim and show faces, had cut the basic case parts to size, and started to cut some of the dados for the joinery.  A couple of days in the shop last week and today in the shop have seen the casework assembled and glued-up (top picture), drawer runners cut, all of the parts for the drawer boxes cut, and all of the drawer joinery cut.  The last thing that I did today was to dry-fit a drawer box so that I could measure for the drawer bottom, and also check for the fit in the case.  With a few minor adjustments, everything looks like it is going to fit and work as expected.  I’m building the drawer boxes fully out of 1/2″ plywood, and attaching a “false” front of solid wood to dress-up the show face.  It was a lot cheaper to do it this way, too, which helps–I’m trying to keep costs low on this project, since it is only shop furniture that will likely get replaced in the next several years. 

It’s been a fun day.  Tomorrow I need to get back to real work. 

jonathan