Well, I haven’t been active for awhile due to work, but that doesn’t mean I havent been thinking about my projects. I’m off from about the 3rd or 4th week in November until March 1st. With the big shop remodel this year, I didn’t have much time to work on anything else. Well, the rush at work is about over and I will have plenty of time to get back to projects. I have a lumber rack started and that will be the first thing to finish. I already have the 3 x 3 oak posts glued up and mortises cut…now I just have to mill the arms and cut the tenons. Next up will be a heavy duty plywood workbench. I found one in a Fine Woodworking book that I like and I think I’m gonna go with it. I really don’t have the time right now for a nice maple cabinetmakers bench, but I will definately be revisiting that in a year or two. Next on the agenda will be a simple plywood outfeed table. I think I’ll go with Marc Spagnuolo’s outfeed table from his “somebody feed me” episode (thewoodwhisperer.com). It seemed like a nice, simple but functional table. After I finally get caught up there, it’s off to the races. I’ve got two immediate projects for my wife…a bookcase and a jewelry armoire. I also have a commision for a small desk that I’ve got to start thinking about as well. So, as you can see, I have a full plate with a day job to boot, so I’ll be posting again real soon.
New Project: Greene and Greene Inspired Asian Influenced Bookcase
Since I pretty much have the shop remodel all complete, it’s time to start thinking about some projects. I still have to build some storage cabinets, outfeed table, workbench, etc…but I’m beginning to think I need to build my wife something to make her happy about all the work and time I’ve put into the shop. She has really wanted a nice bookcase to put in our hallway, so I sat down with Sketchup and did a preliminary model. I used some Greene and Greene elements as well as some Asian inspired elements to come up with what I think is a pretty nice little bookcase. A lot of the Greene and Greene details are not in the Sketchup model, but for times sake, I’ll add them during the build. I just thought I’d post a photo of the preliminary design and then I’ll post progress photos as I go and we’ll see how it turns out. Until next time…
Complete Shop Remodel: Quick Update
Just a quick update…the painting is done! Just let it dry overnight and I will be moving equipment back around tomorrow afternoon. Then it’s let the wood chips fly! I look forward to posting the final pics in a few days…later
Complete Shop Remodel #4: Final Steps
I can hardly believe it…the end is near. I have begun painting the inside of the shop and after much hassle (OSB and paint do not work well together) I am just about to finish this project up. The first paint I applied looked good the evening I applied it, but when I went back out to the shop the next day to admire it, you could hardly tell it had been painted at all! There was just a light chalky film in the area I had painted. So back to the drawing board. After a little research, I went and purchased a 5 gallon bucket of Kilz2. I now have about 2/3 of the shop done with the Kilz and then white semi-gloss over that and I must say, it looks pretty good. There are still some spots where the paint didn’t get down into the rough areas, but overall it looks good. Since I’m back at work, I’m having to work on this in the evenings and whenever possible, so it is going slower than I like, but if all goes according to plan, I should be done in two more nights. I have to move all the equipment around and dismantle the dust collection system so I can get to that area, Kilz it tonight, then paint tomorrow night and voila – done! It’s been a long road, especially with the ice storm we went through, but it will all be worth it. Of course, I will still have to build a lumber rack, miter bench, workbenches, assembly table, tool cabinets, etc, etc, but that’s the fun stuff…at least I will be able to get to work! I snapped a pic of the Kilz night before last and It is posted below, but there are also some pictures of the ice storm we had as well as a couple of pics of the Woodworking Show in St Louis I attended back a month ago or so…I’m just really looking forward to that next post where I can officially declare the “end of major combat operations”. You know what they say—”Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times is enemy action”. later….
Complete Shop Remodel #3: Inching Closer…
Well, since it’s been awhile, I figure I’ll give an explanation…We had a major ice storm here at my house on January 26th and were without power until February 17th. Needless to say that pretty much killed my work on the shop for over three weeks. What’s worse is that I am off for 3 months during the winter and that little storm all but killed nearly a whole month of my vacation:( Since the power has been back on I have gotten back into the shop and am working to get it all lined out. I really don’t like too much. I have all the large tools set up and operational as well as the dust collection system. I ordered a dial indicator and base to help with precise setup on the machines, but they are close right now…just need a little fine tuning when my indicator comes in. I have just a couple of 110V wall sockets left to install, I have to paint and build some storage, etc and all should be done. I’m sure I’ll build storage and other shop fixtures a little here and there as I go which should work out really well. I have some clutter still mainly in one corner to put in its place wherever that may be. Anyway, this is just a little update and I snapped some pics to show things a little…there are pics of my tablesaw, bandsaw, planer, jointer, oscillating spindle sander, the dust collection system and the clutter I spoke about. There is also a picture of 282 board feet of Cherry that my buddy Bill and I picked up last week as well as about 75 board feet of Red Oak that I already had. Thanks for looking and I’ll post more later. –Jack
Complete Shop Remodel #2: Getting There
Well, here’s a quick update on the remodel. I’ve got all the walls insulated with r19 batts. I also have all of the rafter vents installed and the wiring roughed in. Tonight I’m in the process of stapling all the flaps on the insulation to form the vapor barrier. You can already tell a major difference with just the walls insulated. I wasn’t sure what to do about the void between the top plate of the wall and the rafter vents, until it dawned on me to just stuff leftover insulation in there and that worked out great. Tomorrow morning my buddy Billy and I are going to start putting up the plastic on the ceiling so the loose fill insulation can be blown in. After all that’s done, it’s just a matter of installing osb on the ceiling and all walls. Then all I’ll like is paint and wiring as well as reinstalling all the lights. Boy, speaking of osb, I’m getting it for 4.97 a sheet, which I couldn’t believe. Anyway, until next time…
iPhone sweetness
So I’m sitting here with a 14 degree temp outside going stir crazy when I picked up my shiny new iPhone to explore the app store. What did I find but a nice free worspress app that I can use to post blog entries. I must say that the more I find out about it, the more I like it…I wish I had bought one when the 3g first came out. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back into the shop tomorrow and get some stuff done, but for now I’m relegated to iPhone exploration and the DIY channel. By the way, the DIY channel has quit airing all the woodworking shows apparently which really sucks. Oh well, I’ll try to get some progress pics this weekend and post them soon…until then, stay warm…
PS…I just ordered a new Otter Box iPhone case that is built like a tank…If you have an iPhone and are interested, here is a YouTube video showing the case.
Complete Shop Remodel #1: Down to Business
After considering a complete shop remodel for a couple of years now (seriously for the last year), I have decided to bite the bullet and go for it. One of the first things I did was to make a trip to Grizzly in Springfield, MO (about 4 hours from my house) and purchase a few new tools. I purchased a 2hp dust collector a 3hp cabinet saw, 17” extreme series bandsaw and a very large 15” planer on an enclosed base. I also bought some other shop items, but these were the big ticket items.
After returning home, I parked all these items still on the trailer in my garage and started in on the shop. First of all, I figured it would take a week or two to clean out the shop and get ready for wiring, insulation and osb…boy was I wrong! I’ve got about a month or so in it already and it is still not ready. I guess it’s difficult to go through 30 years of my stuff and 50 years of my grandfathers considering he kept absolutely everything. Anyway, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. As soon as the sub 20 degree weather lets up, I should like about another 2 days before I’m ready to start wiring and insulation. Finally!
I really meant to post more pics and document this more, but here are some of the first pictures I took after getting started. There is mainly just a lot of stuff piled around that I have been going through, but you can also see that I tore out the wall and opened up the back part of the shop to make a handtool/workbench area. I am also going to install a window in the very back in the center of the wall. I’ll post more progress pics as I take them. By the way, my shop is 24’ X 30’ and has a 6’ X 6’ enclosed room in the Northeast corner.
Here are a few pics you can check out.
Delta Woodworks…
Welcome to my website. My name is Jack Davis and I live in the Bootheel of Missouri just a few miles from the Mississippi River (Hence the name — a reference to the Mississippi River Delta). I am currently the Zone Manager in the NE Delta Zone for the Arkansas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation. I have been a woodworker off and on since high school and really enjoy the hobby.
Well, I have decided to invest a little time and money into my shop with the goal of starting my own business within the next several years if possible. My 30×24 shop is not finished on the inside. It has exposed 2×6 studs and no insulation. It is really impossible to work in the summer and difficult in very cold weather. In addition, it is full of stuff that has to be sorted out and either put away or discarded.
I have a modest set of tools…A Sears Craftsman Pro sliding-table table saw, Delta portable planer, Sears Craftsman Pro 6″ Jointer, Delta benchtop drill press as well as several other tools (routers, sanders, planes, etc). In thinking about my shop upgrade, I decided to bite the bullet and make a trip to Grizzly Industrial in Springfield, MO. I intend to purchase a new G1023SLW cabinet saw with router table extension wing, G0513X2 17″ bandsaw, G0453 15″ planer, G1071 spindle sander, G1029Z dust collector and a few other small items (mainly setup tools, blades and brushes). These are serious tools and hopefully a wise investment for my future business. I will also be insulating the whole shop (R19 in the walls and R30 in the ceiling) as well as white OSB on the walls. After completing this step, I intend to build some cabinets and workbenches to finish it all out.
Along with this big upgrade, I decided to go ahead and get my website up and running as well as documenting the whole process. So to that end, I will be blogging about it here as well as posting pics and video of the process.
So, thanks for stopping by and hope to see you back again to check out the progress.
Jack D.