On this week's episode of the ShopNotes Podcast, John, Phil, and Logan are discussing toolbox lessons, going over some listener and viewer comments, and checking in on some end of the year fun.
ShopNotes Podcast Episode 217: Tool Mules!
Welcome to Episode 217 of the ShopNotes Podcast, where we dive into woodworking tips, creative projects, and community insights. This week, we explore lessons from building a tool chest, review listener comments, and reflect on woodworking highlights from the year.
Talking Points:
Listener Feedback on Shopsmiths and Workshop Setups
- Listeners shared insights on their woodworking setups, including compact 30x12 workshops, multi-level dust collection systems, and creative tool storage ideas.
- Highlights include DIY air filtration setups and tips for maximizing functionality in small spaces.
Toolbox Lessons and Teaching Highlights
- Phil Huber shares his experience teaching a class on building a small tool chest based on “Grandpa’s Tool Chest.”
- Learn about joinery tips, router table setups, and creative solutions for molding and panel work.
Exciting Woodworking Projects
- Logan is preparing a photo shoot with James Wright to showcase a shop-made plow plane—a must-see for hand tool enthusiasts.
- John is designing a versatile miter box with potential for integration into shooting boards, blending tradition with innovation.
Year-End Woodworking Reflections
- The team reflects on key lessons from the year, from mixing red and white oak in projects to perfecting dust collection strategies.
- Listeners are encouraged to share their own woodworking lessons and project highlights.
Upcoming Projects and Reviews
- The team previews a striking archtop bookcase made with bendy plywood and extra-long veneer.
- A benchtop router table review and a universal dust collection fence design are set to debut in upcoming issues.
Sponsored by Titebond:
Trust Titebond for your woodworking projects, from strong initial tack to water resistance. Learn more at Titebond.com.
Get Involved:
Share your 2024 woodworking lessons or ask questions for future episodes by emailing woodsmith@woodsmith.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and Popular Woodworking for even more woodworking content.
Join us next time for more insights, project tips, and listener stories on the ShopNotes Podcast!
Episode Transcript
Phil Huber (00:42) Hey, hey everybody. Welcome to the shop notes podcast. It's that time of week again. Today is episode number 217. Today we'll be discussing toolbox lessons, going over some listener and viewer comments, and also checking in on some end of year fun. So thanks for listening everybody. And if you have any questions, comments, or smart remarks, please feel free to email them to us. Woodsmith at Woodsmith.com.
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Logan (01:44) I hope Goose is off camera so nobody can see me smacking him in his face when he bites me.
Phil Huber (01:49) Yes,
John Doyle (01:50) You're gonna get cancelled for that.
Phil Huber (01:52) Right.
Logan (01:53) god, I would think I was gonna say I haven't been canceled yet man gosh
John Doyle (01:54) That's the thing that's gonna get you canceled.
Phil Huber (01:56) Yeah.
Alright, for whatever reason, episode number 215, entitled Lip Sweat that you didn't know was possible, has generated quite a number of comments.
Logan (02:12) you
And that was two weeks ago, right? Because we were behind on podcasts.
Phil Huber (02:22) Yeah. So this is the one. Yeah.
John Doyle (02:22) Yeah, that's just you two.
Logan (02:24) Yeah.
John Doyle (02:26) I think just the title alone has brought in a new audience maybe.
Logan (02:28) Hahaha
Phil Huber (02:30) Probably. That's probably it.
John Doyle (02:32) The logarithm has brought them here. Welcome.
Phil Huber (02:37) So we'll just go through a few of these, probably some that we can, I think, combine, because several people ended up commenting a couple of times on there. So good on you, everybody. I appreciate that. Dan Ferris says, I have two Shopsmiths, a 500 and a 520 Power Pro. And in addition, an older Delta table saw used exclusively with a crosscut sled.
John Doyle (02:46) Thank
Logan (02:54) Seek help.
Phil Huber (03:06) a small 1948 Craftsman drill press, DeWalt 735 planer, and a separate router table. The 500 is used as a sanding station with a belt sander and a 12 inch disc sander installed. I used the 520 at 220 volt for the two horsepower rating. 520 is used for a table saw, wood lathe, and to drive the Shopsmith jointer or the bandsaw.
I usually leave the jointer or bandsaw attached when set up as a table saw. Using this setup, I made a Maloof rocker, for example. My compact workshop is 30 by 12, and I have to share with two PV systems that I have. To me, it's very functional. It's great for smaller projects like headboards, chairs, bookcases, pens, bowls, et cetera. My wood shop is not connected to the electric utility.
which is pretty impressive.
John Doyle (04:08) There was lot of numbers in that comment. I was expecting like a story problem like, and now if a train leaves Des Moines going 80 miles an hour.
Phil Huber (04:08) Bye.
Right, yeah.
Logan (04:13) you
Phil Huber (04:18) Right. Yeah.
John Doyle (04:20) listening carefully.
Phil Huber (04:21) Mm-hmm, as well you should.
I'm trying to decide if I would really consider 30 by 12 a compact wood shop, but I guess it would be.
Logan (04:33) It would be long and I'm thinking like.
John Doyle (04:36) That's pretty narrow for how long it is. Yeah.
Logan (04:37) Yeah, I'm thinking like single stall garage,
Phil Huber (04:38) Yeah.
Logan (04:41) like a apartment garage, of, like really narrow and really long.
John Doyle (04:45) Yeah, because a double garage door would be like 16 feet. So it's like a single and a half wide.
Logan (04:48) Yeah, yeah.
Phil Huber (04:49) Yeah.
Right.
Yeah. Cause my, like my shop is like eight by 24, I think.
John Doyle (04:56) Thank
Phil Huber (05:04) So yeah.
He also writes a little bit later on I found that a an old
He has three old two drawer filing cabinets for storage. Cause we were talking about storage in that issue, in that episode. One drawer is dedicated to sanding paper with each size and a dedicated folder. One drawer is for table saw blades with its own folder. You just kind of flip right through them. One drawer for paper information, two drawers for drill press accessories. The top of the drawers are great for a router table and a small drill press.
I have an old three drawer nightstand that I use primarily for small Shopsmith accessories. Again, the top is used as a battery charging station, et cetera. I also built a row of shelves up high so I could slip my Shopsmiths underneath.
Logan (06:03) You know, I wish I was as comfortable with myself as these guys are admitting that they have Shopsmiths. I know it's the same guy, but...
Phil Huber (06:10) Yeah.
John Doyle (06:15) how to stir the pot up again.
Phil Huber (06:16) Yep.
Logan (06:16) Ha!
Phil Huber (06:19) All right, I'm just gonna keep going here because he has one more. Dan Ferris again. He uses multi-level dust control, because that's what we were talking about also. Yeah, I have a face mask for the first level. I use a Rollaround Shopsmith dust collector connected to my various tools. I have a garage door at the end of the shop and open it and then place a large fan at the opposite end. And then lastly, I use an air compressor starting at the back.
Logan (06:28) for his Shopsmiths.
Phil Huber (06:49) to clean off all the shelves, equipment floor, blowing everything out of the garage door into the desert air.
Which I will have to say that I think Logan, brought in a little cordless leaf blower and that has actually proven to be kind of a fantastic little shop cleanup tool.
Logan (07:05) Mm-hmm.
100%. And the only reason I brought that in is because I upgraded mine to a Milwaukee one. And they're so, mean, they're so awesome. Like I, I first tried like, okay, I shouldn't be blowing the dust around. So I bought the Milwaukee cordless vacuum. It's like a stick vacuum and it's just, it's too small. And like, it'd be cool if I was like vacuuming out my truck, which I don't do, but then I decided to go back to the leaf blower. Like, yeah, it's like the best cleanup tool ever.
Phil Huber (07:18) Okay.
Logan (07:41) Especially if you can just open a gradual or just blow it all outside. Yeah.
Phil Huber (07:47) Yeah, I've done that. I have not a cordless one, but I have an electric big leaf blower that on some summer days I've done that where you just kind of open it up and then just blow it all out. Inside, I think it's a little trickier here, but for the studio, for example, we have a lot of nooks and crannies and shelves and whatever where it's
Logan (07:57) Mm-hmm.
Phil Huber (08:17) It's tough to get up there to clean off. So being able to sort of just blow it down and then be able to sweep it up and put the.
Logan (08:24) Yeah. And I think
it's like, it's one of those things that that's the, you know, we have HVLP sprayers. That's the high volume, low pressure cleanup tool where it's like, you know, an air compressor doesn't move a whole lot of air, but it's high pressure. So it blows crap all over. you'll like, if you blow off your, your shelf or your, your bench, you're to blow off everything onto the floor where the leaf blower, it's like, it's moving a lot of air, but with low pressure. So you can kind of.
Phil Huber (08:38) Right.
Yeah.
Logan (08:54) blow stuff off and it just moves the light stuff. It doesn't move the heavy stuff, which is kind of nice.
Phil Huber (08:59) Yeah. Yeah. Well, and especially, you know, like when we're, for example, drill press and a lathe, they are kind of notorious for being really poor tools to be able to have some kind of built in dust collection. And they also tend to scatter dust and chips in a way that other tools don't really.
Logan (09:06) Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Phil Huber (09:23) So being able to like clear off the shelf that the drill press sits on or get some of the other thing about a lathe is that, and I'm sure you know this with your 14 lathes that you have in your shop, that there are just a lot of little places for chips to hide on the inside.
Logan (09:38) three.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Phil Huber (09:53) All right, back to the comments. Nolan writes for dust filtration. have woodworkers lung, so dust filtration is important to me. I use my P 100 mask most of the time and dust collection to run most of my tools. I built in three high volume dust filters using Merv 13 furnace filters and washable pre-filters over my miter saws, lathe and sanding station.
This captures the dust right at the source for my most dust generators instead of aerosolizing the dust by pulling it from the tools through the shop to a ceiling mounted unit. These dust filters are on a timer and clear the air quickly based on the air quality monitor I have in the room, but are a little too noisy to run all the time. I also built a low profile ceiling air filter using Merv 13 filters and a quiet low volume fan.
that is turned on with a motion sensor whenever I'm in the shop. I wish I had paid more attention to the wood dust before I got my woodworker's lung. Which I think is what we were trying to get across is like, it's important to deal with dust. It's just depending on shop, tools, budget or whatever, like what's the best way to approach those things.
John Doyle (10:53) Thank
Logan (11:05) Mm-hmm.
John Doyle (11:07) Thank
Logan (11:17) Mm-hmm.
Phil Huber (11:20) Puppy Doc says, Logan for storing sanding discs, since you're getting a 3D printer, there are several files available for sandpaper storage out there. See? New tool justified.
Logan (11:32) What do you think I am browsing through right now? I'm not looking at you guys. I'm browsing through printables.com.
John Doyle (11:35) No.
Phil Huber (11:39) There we go.
I have two air filtration systems. I have a Powermatic micro dust air filtration system mounted to the ceiling that I turn on as soon as I walk into the shop, leave it run for about two hours after I finish on a timer. I also have the Oneida Benchtop MIRV15 dust collector. I use it when I'm sanding, running the bandsaw, routing, et cetera. Basically things that seem to kick up dust more right in my face.
I find I still have lot of dust settling on surfaces, which drives me nuts, but it's much less than without these systems in play. My main dust collection leaves something to be desired, but without 220 in the shop, I'm pretty limited in options. Logan, have you tried the frog balls yet?
Logan (12:27) I did not. Did you guys eat all those? Because I did not try any. Okay, well, I need to, yeah.
Phil Huber (12:31) I think there's still some in there actually. They're delicious. P.S.
Greg Livingston says, have a box fan with a furnace filter attached to collect fine dust at my shop in Denver. Since moving to Des Moines, I've not set that back up. It will be rebuilt right after I figure out the rest of my storage in my shop.
and he'll be setting up sled storage under one wing of the table saw.
Bruce Juba says, look at the design of a ceiling mounted clothes rack with pulleys to store high access for high access low for templates and et cetera.
I can kind of see that.
Laird Jenkins says, Taylor Tool Works carries the Cubitron sandpaper. It's great stuff and comes in both mesh and plain hook and loop styles. They also have sample packs.
Let's see what else here. Another listener here uses a box fan with a furnace filter. And I feel like those are great.
options like we've done that in the past or we've had that as tips using furnace filters in a box fan and it all I think depends on the type of filter that you use and whether you have the fan and whether you actually use it.
Logan (14:01) Mm-hmm.
Phil Huber (14:19) And I think Woodsmith did, Woodsmith or Shop Notes did a air filter, air cleaner as a project years ago.
Feels like I should dig those up, see if I can find that.
John Doyle (14:36) you
Phil Huber (14:39) So anyway, I appreciate everybody who writes in, puts their comments in there. It's our one way to be able to make sure that we have at least some sort of a Shopsmith reference in every episode.
John Doyle (14:55) you
Phil Huber (14:59) which reminds me, there
was one more on here.
about Shopsmith. Yes, Ed Florence.
Regarding a second Shopsmith. Yes, I have one. It's on a shortened base and has a headstock modified to turn both directions. I keep the bandsaw and joiner parked on it. The whole thing takes up less than eight square feet of valuable shop floor space and is ready to go wherever I need it. I would also recommend that a second Shopsmith would make a great dedicated drill press.
Logan (15:38) So would a drill press.
John Doyle (15:41) Are sawed-off Shopsmiths even legal? Probably depends what state you're in.
Logan (15:45) I don't think they are.
Phil Huber (15:45) Hahaha!
Logan (15:47) We call those tactical Shopsmiths.
John Doyle (15:48) Yeah, that's for close range woodworking.
Phil Huber (15:49) Yeah.
Whoo, yes. Another guy with a Shopsmith dust collector too. So there you go.
I think what it ends up showing is that the air collector or the air cleaner is still a pretty popular option for a lot of people.
Logan (16:14) Yeah.
Phil Huber (16:22) All right. Now, one of the things that I wanted to talk about is I have been teaching a class for the Des Moines Woodworkers on building a small tool chest.
And in this particular class, just the way it worked out, I decided to build one along with the students while I'm going.
Logan (16:44) Mm-hmm.
Phil Huber (16:45) Partially two reasons. One, I was just another way of working and teaching, approaching teaching the class. And two is I wanted to make sure that I had parts that I could use to demonstrate different techniques.
What was interesting is that the project that I chose is what one we've called, like, I think it was called like Grandpa's Tool Chest or something like that. And it was modeled after Don Peschke, founder of Woodsmith, his grandpa's tool chest, which we had on the set of the TV show for years and years and years. This thing is mostly just nailed together.
There's very little, very little joinery on
So on one hand, as I was going through the project plans prior to class periods, I'm like, I don't know what I'm really going to do for teaching other than like guiding people through the different steps. But there's actually quite a bit, even on something that you would call really simple like this as a project where having built projects over and over again and having done stuff for the TV show where you're trying to interpret
plans and drawings and articles and stuff like that to be able to walk through processes and steps. So.
For example, like mitering molding to wrap around different parts has proven to be rather interesting. Like for some of the bigger pieces, I was showing how to do that on a miter saw and then using double-sided tape to put hardboard on the fence so you have a zero clearance fence and use that to line up for where your cut lines are, all that kind of stuff. And then also having a Twinkie powered
miter box for the smaller pieces and how you mark those pieces and like which side of your pencil line to cut on and nailing them all in place. So that was all. So for a really small, simple project, it was kind of kind of fascinating to to learn. So I don't know, did you have the have similar things with your bookshelf box one? Because I know that you had
tried to do that Logan in just two class periods and then extended that.
Logan (19:23) Yeah, and I made one with everybody. It's really big in that picture. Although it's not that big. It's perfectly average size. When yeah, like the reason I decided to do it also was that way I had parts to demonstrate on because it's like, well, you hate grabbing somebody else's parts, especially screwed up. It's like, sorry, know, oopsie.
Phil Huber (19:27) see.
Yeah.
Logan (19:53) But yeah, and it's one of those things that...
I try to avoid in these classes just having it be like, OK, now you go to this station and just it's set up for you. Like you use it, right? I want it to be more of like, hey, I'm showing you how I set it up and why I set it up this way. And by the end of the four classes, because I tried to do it in two classes, did not happen. Terrible decision. We did it in four.
Everyone was completely comfortable just grabbing the miter gauge off the floor, setting their distance, how they need to doing all their cuts. Like people, think it was good because I think people learn and it's like, Hey, here's, here's how I would, I think what people get more out of those classes is like, Hey, oops, you screwed up. Here's how we fix it. Right. Like, so there was a couple of them that, you know, the hinge mortises between the door and the rails didn't line up.
So we had to chisel them a little bit bigger. And it's like, where do you chisel? you chisel in the top or bottom? you know, stuff like that. yeah, you know, definitely kind of the same, same type of thing.
Phil Huber (21:04) Yeah, and I did that with the molding on this toolbox is made in, it's not just with a stand one single router bit. It was like a big Cove bit to route out a Cove and then a small round over bit to do the bottom part. And then you had to like basically hand sand or use a block plane to round over the transition. So, you know, you're
Logan (21:19) Mm-hmm.
John Doyle (21:22) you
Logan (21:30) Mm-hmm.
Phil Huber (21:31) talking about those kind of things and how you set up a router table and the top of the lid, which I'm going to grab here real quick.
John Doyle (21:37) Okay
I thought it was going be real quick.
Logan (21:51) I did too.
Phil Huber (21:51) Yeah, it is real quick. So this is the lid has a frame
and panel sort of top. And then the three pieces or the four pieces are joined with a tongue and groove. And the original plans did just tongue and groove. And I altered that where we just did grooves on both mating parts and then you cut splines to fit in them. So I was talking to people about, you know, setting up a slot cutter and how to, you know, using.
John Doyle (21:58) Thank
Phil Huber (22:20) set up blocks to do the height and running stuff like that. that was all of that kind of stuff turned into.
Logan (22:23) Yeah.
John Doyle (22:28) Thank
Phil Huber (22:30) teaching moments or stuff like that that you just wouldn't, I wouldn't have realized just looking at it because it just sort of feels like a cut and paste kind of project where it's like, cut this piece, tack it on with a nailer, you know, and then, and move on.
Logan (22:35) Mm-hmm.
Phil Huber (22:47) Now on my version of the lid, instead of using the router table to do the slots for the splines, I ended up using my Veritas Box Makers plow plane in the left-handed edition.
Logan (23:02) Yep.
I have the righty.
Phil Huber (23:07) Yeah. And it's a fantastic little plane. I love it.
And it's interesting to figure out.
The technique to use it isn't difficult, but you do have to pay attention, especially when you're starting. Because you can very easily kind of get off track or end up making a really wide groove or whatever.
Logan (23:36) Yeah, I find it's, it's very similar having done a lot with. She's between the shop notes, our last issue of the May of the TV or less episode of the TV show. And so we've done a lot with those, with those planes in the last couple of months. And it's the same way with the rabbit that Veritas rabbit plane. It's like, you have to really pay attention to what you're doing. And I think the box makers plane is actually set up a little bit easier to start off.
like that rabbit plane, like you really have to remove that front knob. It has like a front knob on it like a standard bench plane would. You gotta remove that because like you're not, like don't hold onto that. Like that's not, that's a terrible place to put your hands. Like even though it's like, hey, there's a knob, you should hold onto it. No, you should like put your fingers on the fence. Like you should be like, you know, cradling that plane in both hands so you can make sure you're keeping it tight up against the work piece. Same thing with that little plow plane, you know.
You know, I know you guys were doing grooves. It's like, it's a fairly inexpensive plane. Like it's 120 bucks or something like that for a plow plane. Like that's pretty cheap. But then like you add on like the beading blades and you can do beads with it. And it's, it's, it's awesome. Like love it.
Phil Huber (24:55) Yeah. So I had, I was having trouble initially.
in finding like its natural balance point that I was either tilting the tool one way or the other, or that the fence would kind of drift away on a stroke away from the piece. So it's, you know, like I ended up having to hold it basically palmed, palmed in my hand so that I knew that I was just with that with my left hand, basically just driving it forward and then using my other hand.
Logan (25:07) Hmm.
Phil Huber (25:30) to keep the fence engaged with the work piece. And that was where I was able to then kind of find perpendicular, so to speak on it.
Logan (25:39) Yeah, it's definitely easier with the Veritas LAR medium, I think I the medium plow plane, because you have the handle. so that handle is kind of your 90 degree gauge. You know what I mean? So it's like, know your perpendicular if that handle is straight up and down.
Phil Huber (25:49) Right. Yeah.
Speaking of hand tools, John, I know that you're working on a hand tool project for an upcoming issue. Want to talk about that a little bit?
John Doyle (26:12) Yeah, for shop notes. I'm working on a miter box.
So we've done a few of them in the past. And so I don't know if I'm going to do a mashup of all my favorite features of the previous ones or come up with something else. And is it going to be adjustable? Is it going to be just a simple, here's the 45, 90, 45 type thing? But so.
of kicking around ideas with that but we've done come up with some good ideas in the past to kind of jump off from so.
We have the one from, is Shop Notes 115 that we have in the studio that we've used quite a bit. That one, that's adjustable one, yeah.
Phil Huber (27:09) yeah.
Logan (27:10) The pull saw one, right?
Phil Huber (27:12) Yeah, the turntable
one.
Logan (27:14) Yeah, I think I have version of that somewhere.
John Doyle (27:19) But the other thing I was thinking of is they pair up well with shooting boards is like, is there a way I can combine the two tools on one tool type of thing? Or is that too much? And who knows? Who knows where this is going to end up? So yeah. The abomination that could be so.
Phil Huber (27:37) Wow. Yeah.
Logan (27:41) We can only pray.
Phil Huber (27:51) So subscribe to Shop Notes Magazine if you're ready to see the unholy offspring of a shooting board and a miter box in an upcoming issue. have you decided whether you're going to use it for a western style saw or a pull saw?
Logan (27:56) god.
John Doyle (28:09) I'm kind of partial to a pole saw myself. So I'm definitely thinking going that route, I guess.
Phil Huber (28:22) All right. That'll be a fun one to see then.
John Doyle (28:25) Yeah. Tune in next week.
Phil Huber (28:30) Ha
All right, Logan, I mean, this trip will be way past by the time this episode airs, but you're loading up right now.
Logan (28:43) I am. Well, I mean, right now I'm scrolling through printables to see stupid stuff I can print that I don't need to. But yeah, I'm loading up camera gear. I'm heading out. I'm leaving tomorrow at 430 in the morning to drive to Illinois to do a couple of photo shoots with James Wright, Wood by Wright YouTube channel. So James got a hold of me. I think he's written for Popwood in the past years ago.
and he had, he randomly emailed me and said, Hey, my wife's still many to email you. I said, funny because my wife was not telling me I needed to email you, but I've been meaning to email you and stuff. it just works out that we, had to switch date days a few times. but yeah, so that'd be fun. It should be a one day shoot. are of anything, believe it or not. the main project we're shooting tomorrow is a plot plane. It is a shop made plot plane.
Phil Huber (29:23) Ha ha ha.
really? Okay.
Logan (29:43) Yeah.
So, we're going to shoot that. We're going to do a couple of technique articles on it, around sharpening, probably, using that type of stuff. and yeah, so it'll be fun. It'll be a nice, it'll be nice that it's a quick, you know, one and a half day trip for me.
Phil Huber (30:04) Right. Instead of a multi-day several airports.
Logan (30:05) So instead of like, yeah, a week long
weekend trip, yeah.
Phil Huber (30:10) Yeah. All right. So what's his plow plane? What's the materials on it? Is it just made out of wood like an old school looking one or?
Logan (30:18) Yep,
yep, it is a beach one. And if I remember right, I'd have to go back and look. I'm pretty sure he's using a chisel as the blade. So it's like, you hey, you have cornish chisel. There you go. Shove it in there. Make it a plop plane.
Phil Huber (30:27) Okay.
Okay, so not
even like chopping the handle off of it or just
Logan (30:41) No, don't think so. Maybe I'd have to be honest with you, I'd have to go back and look at this has been months since we set this all together. But yeah, it'll be cool. We have lacked for a while the...
like shop made tool type thing. know, Chris Shores used to do a bunch where it was like, you know, some squares and stuff like that. we've lacked a lot of that lately. So.
Phil Huber (31:16) Still waiting for that article on making an ad out of a ball peen hammer.
Logan (31:22) Yeah, need a... Yeah. That was one that was supposed to come to fruition and it never did and it's still sore. Thank you for bringing it back up, Phil.
John Doyle (31:29) Thanks.
Phil Huber (31:31) Hahaha
It's the holiday season.
Logan (31:35) no,
it is. No, it looks like James is actually making his blade. Yes, he is. And they're cool, they're kind of like the...
Phil Huber (31:41) he is. Okay. All right.
John Doyle (31:43) you
Logan (31:50) call them a French style plane. Where a French style molding plane. I don't think I have any. Where there's almost a horn on the front for holding onto. instead of being, you know, kind of our Western style like this guy.
Phil Huber (31:54) Okay.
John Doyle (32:03) Okay.
Phil Huber (32:07) Like
just instead of just the square.
Logan (32:10) Yeah, yeah, it's swooped down a little bit for a place to put your thumb. So yeah, it'll be cool.
Phil Huber (32:19) All right, awesome.
Logan (32:23) I did look, if anybody's wondering, did look and see if there was any tools for sale that I should bring home with me. There wasn't. I'm call it personal growth. No.
John Doyle (32:25) you
Thanks.
Phil Huber (32:29) No.
Not yet.
Logan (32:35) There is a metal lathe up in Milwaukee.
But if I decide I need it that bad, we're going to give Puppy Doc a call and say, hey, Bob, I need you to go pick this lathe up for me. You want to go pick it up?
Phil Huber (32:45) close.
there you go. Yep. Yep.
John Doyle (32:52) Wow,
now you've got tool mules all over the country.
Logan (32:55) Hey
Phil Huber (32:55) right.
They're gonna arrange some kind of a pickup, like a little dead drop and debuke or something like that, where Puppy Doc sneaks out. Yeah, Puppy Doc, he sneaks out from behind the cheese curtain to drop off something and
Logan (33:00) Yeah.
Hehehehehe! drop it at the Casey's. Yep.
John Doyle (33:07) whole network.
Logan (33:13) I would ask Bob to pick anything up for me.
Phil Huber (33:20) But he would.
Phil Huber (33:23) You gonna see Norman?
Logan (33:26) Do what?
Phil Huber (33:27) Are you gonna see Norman?
Logan (33:30) I had planned on it. however, next time I stopped there, I have to pick up that radio alarm saw and the, the whole schedule is really, really tight because my wife has people in from out of town. So it's like, I got to leave, you know, ideally I'd leave tonight, be there first thing in the morning. I'm relieved super early tomorrow. Be there first thing in the morning in a perfect world. get everything shot tomorrow and I drive home late tomorrow night.
Phil Huber (33:37) right.
Logan (34:01) I think we'll get everything shot tomorrow. It's whether or not I'm up for a five hour.
So it might just be a separate trip to go visit. It's always a good excuse to go just visit Norman and Roberta and hang out with them for the day. So. Plus, then I can make an excuse to bring a tool home other than the radial arms saw to like find something for sale in Chicago or something.
Phil Huber (34:07) Yeah, that's true.
Logan (34:27) Still looking for metal lathe, haven't found the right one yet.
Phil Huber (34:32) You do have the stand though, just waiting.
Logan (34:34) I have
the bench just sitting here.
Phil Huber (34:39) It'll come. It'll come to you.
Logan (34:40) I know.
I know.
I might have said.
Phil Huber (34:45) Any shop updates
for you?
Logan (34:48) No, I'm working on this. You know, I mentioned last week, which has not been published yet, but it will be at some point. Our timelines are all screwed up. We can't see ourselves or something's going to happen probably. the, the, I mentioned last week that I was doing the one thing that drives me nuts and mixing red oak and white oak on my trim work in the shop. Not, not the trim work, but the window trim. You can't tell at all.
Like once I put Danish oil on it, you cannot tell at like one bit. And I'm like, okay, like I feel way, I feel less dirty now. but what it also has shown me as I am digging through my stash of Oak, why was I a dummy? And I have a lot of planes on Oak. Why would I do that? Like it is just hideous. And I think a lot.
Phil Huber (35:19) yeah?
Yeah, why did you?
Logan (35:46) I don't know. think a lot of it honestly came from, we did a big land clearing job where it was like clearing out like three acres and it was like, it was like a hundred percent woods. And then we just cleared out three acres and I ended up sawing a bunch of like two by sixes for this guy that was framing a house next door for his own personal house. And they turned them into like the rafters of their covered porch, which was, it turned out beautiful. I've seen pictures of it. turned out gorgeous.
Phil Huber (36:12) yeah.
Logan (36:16) but I think a lot of this was like, had like, there was like a hundred logs there. So we there, we're there for like two or three days sawing. And I think it was one of those just like, it done, get it done, get it done. Don't worry about. And then, yeah, none of them were like super big. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. None of them were super big, which you really need good size to quarter saw. but man, it's like, this stuff's so ugly. Like I like.
Phil Huber (36:25) Yeah. Okay.
You just did through and through and just done it. Yeah.
John Doyle (36:43) You
Logan (36:45) The burroaks gorgeous. Like I have a lot of, you know, this type of like just riffs on burroak, which, you know, that's what I did. The, it was quarter song, the stuff I did the, tool tote for the last episode, two episodes ago, we did, that stuff is great. but man, once you get some like plain song or flat song, it's like, what am I going to like, what am I going do with this? Cause it's just, is it's gross looking.
and I'm using like the Watco natural flavor Danish oil which I gotta hate myself for this it looks like golden oats
Phil Huber (37:21) Okay.
John Doyle (37:27) you
Logan (37:29) but the color is wonderful. It's so nice. like, I'm just like, I hate myself that I like the color, but I like the color. So I'm just letting it go. It will be fine. It's my office. It doesn't matter. So that's what I'm telling myself. So yeah. So that's, that is the current project. I have photos wrapping up for our next issue of Pop Wood.
Phil Huber (37:44) Yeah. Okay.
Logan (37:59) which has a, I just got my last issues that went to the printer yesterday at my samples. So that should be hitting mailboxes, but the next one will be going out the first of the year or so. And that will have a benchtop router table review. I think we have like a dozen benchtop router tables. That will have a universal dust collection fence. I kind of designed it for the drill press, but you can put it on a router table.
Phil Huber (38:15) Okay.
Logan (38:26) Honestly, you could probably use it at the bandsaw too if you wanted. If you didn't have a fence for your bandsaw, just clamp it on. It's pretty universal. And then we have a winged box from Jimmy Clues. We have some market tree from David J. Marks, the one and only. So.
Phil Huber (38:47) Did you title
the article, Mark Ittyree?
Logan (38:50) I did not, because I haven't titled it yet, but man, I'll have to give you credit for that one. The next project in the shop here, after I finish that, the window trim up. Window trim is really the only thing I have left to do in the office, and then it's move-in ready. But I do have to build a desk. So my plan was just to do a standard shaker-style writing desk. Maybe one drawer in it, you know.
Phil Huber (38:54) Ha
Logan (39:18) or drawer left and right. But looking at all the oak I have in there, I have that little limbert bookcase we did on the TV show last season. And I told you, I have found so much narrow stock in my white oak collection that I'm going to do a stickly style desk in there.
Phil Huber (39:34) yeah.
Okay.
Logan (39:48) So that will be the next project. So it will kind of be a frame and panel type desk. Not pedestal, you know, not kind of that pedestal style, but it will be kind of frame and panel, maybe two drawers on each side. But because this is my office desk, I'm going to have to figure out some way to discreetly tuck in a keyboard tray somewhere.
Phil Huber (40:15) sure.
Logan (40:15) I don't
know if those are still a thing or not, but I'm gonna make it a thing. So, like it'd be cool if I could find somebody that made like a kind of a drop-down swing out type keyboard tray, you know, that I could hide behind like a false front that never opens. But I don't know if anybody makes those, so.
We'll see. So the real question is going to be, can I find enough nice quarter sawn oak to do the top out of? That will be the true, like, I think I have enough out there. But what I have found is a lot of this oak that I air dried that sat in the sun, I have deep, deep, deep, deep face checks in it. So like the eight quarter stock, seven eighths is about the best I can get out of it.
Phil Huber (41:01) No.
Logan (41:08) So, yep, all lessons in sawmilling. So, yep.
Phil Huber (41:12) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Perfect.
Logan (41:17) Yeah.
Phil Huber (41:21) All right. And then, next week we start filming an episode with, Archtop bookcase that incorporates bendy plywood, which is kind of an unusual fun material and an extra, extra long piece of veneer that we will be. And by we, I mean, Chris will be bending. So we know it's going to turn out right.
Logan (41:28) Yep.
John Doyle (41:50) He could bend just regular plywood though, I'm pretty sure.
No problem.
Logan (41:55) You know, I was
thinking like that bookcase is fairly tall, isn't it?
Phil Huber (42:00) Yeah, it is. I mean, on its feet, it's like six feet.
Logan (42:01) Like, yeah,
just put a seam on top. Only Chris is the only one that'll be able to see it. None of us can see it.
Phil Huber (42:09) Right. Yeah.
John Doyle (42:09) Thank
Phil Huber (42:12) It is just fun to see a 12-foot roll of veneer.
as just like, wow, that's kind of crazy and feels.
Logan (42:22) It makes me
angry at kittens just thinking about it.
Phil Huber (42:34) All right, so that's that. John, any other furniture projects you're working on?
John Doyle (42:39) I'm working on a dresser, which I'm sure will just turn into a whole bedroom set eventually, but that's the wood smith furniture project I'm working on.
Phil Huber (42:51) Okay.
Have you picked out a style?
John Doyle (42:57) I think Chris wanted something simple like plywood accessible. So probably just kind of modern mission style simple square.
Logan (43:13) Can I interest
you in some hardwood plain sawn oak?
John Doyle (43:17) Yes,
Phil Huber (43:18) Hahaha!
John Doyle (43:18) you know what by the time I get done with this the golden oak rage will be back and we're gonna be ready We're gonna be ready for it We're gonna right there at the cutting edge
Logan (43:22) That's right, I got you I got a hookup for ya
Phil Huber (43:23) Mm-hmm. Yeah.
All right, perfect.
Okay, so here's my question for all the listeners out there. What's your year end lessons learned in either a project or a woodworking technique that stuck out to you for the end of the year? We'll share those in an upcoming episode. Also, has all the discussion this year convinced you of getting a Shopsmith?
Or if you do have a Shopsmith reignited your passion for that particular tool. So as always, we'd love to hear from you either in the comments section or on email woodsmith at woodsmith.com special thanks to Titebond for closing out the year with sponsoring the episodes and making this all possible. they're the glue that keeps us all together. Check it out. Titebond.com.
Also want to thank everybody who subscribes to Woodsmith, Shop Notes, and Popular Woodworking for helping us to have the opportunity to be able to do the podcast like this. And we'll see you next time everybody. Bye.
