Woodwork

[The Heretic]

I know we love our metal but any woodworking hobbyists out there?

Over the last year I've been kitting out my shed with some basic tools to get me up and running, table saw, band saw, sander etc. I'm not a trained joiner/carpenter, I was primarily a welder/sheet metal worker in a past career but I'm looking for something a bit less physical and cleaner these days (although the dust from woodworking can be a nuisance)

The eventual goal is to build a guitar, but until I get my skillset sorted its gonna be basic stuff...benches, birdhouses, band saw boxes etc etc...

Any other hobbyists out there?

[StoutAndAle]

Lovely idea for a thread. I tip away at it a bit. It's only something that I have taken up in recent years though, since we bought an older house which needed work.

I trained as a production technician/fitter and I work for an engineering company (albeit in a more advisory role now) so, like yourself, I'm much more capable with nuts, bolts and steel - which is also more forgiving material if you're sometimes lacking in a lighter touch like me.

My younger brother is a master carpenter and joiner with a magical pair of hands. It's how he earns his living. He does things that I can only dream of but he gives me tips and tricks which I ask.  I have become immune to tuts, "fuck sakes!" and eye-rolls at this stage when he realises that I am thick and he has to either a. do it for me or b. explain the whole thing again. 

I have a few projects that I want to do but between C19 and pissing rain it's not proving possible so far. I did do a massive overhaul on my house last year (we did what we could afford when we bought it a decade ago) and I put up a few photos of a solid oak floor that I laid in the simple pleasures thread.

I'm always on the look out for advice and inspiration.

[son of the Morrigan]

Working with wood myself since I was a young lad, spent years on the buildings, not as a carpenter but I did a lot of shuttering and a lot of nixers making garden gates and built in shelving units and the like. Made a lot of furniture for the sisters house and my own house and stuff too. Its a really enjoyable hobby and ya wind up with something nice and useful at the end.
I've a great set-up here at home now which took me years to put together.
The very first thing ya need to make for yourself is a bench if you'r going setting up a workshop at home. Make it as heavy as humanly possible, pick the best position to put it and leave it there. It should be too heavy to move. I built mine on a 4x4 self supporting A frame. topped it with 6x1s, built a frame of 4x2s around the top which I filled with sand and cement up to an inch from the top and fitted in inch ply top on top of that inside the 4x2 frame which can be removed and replaced if it gets damaged.
A good vice is fierce important, I have mine, a Record, set up free standing because I do be at metalwork and working on machine parts too and its handy to be able to get around the vice. Lads do attatch the vice to their bench, I think its stupid but thats a personal opinion.
Re. power tools, if ya can afford them, Dewalt is your only man but fierce expensive. Einhell is a excellent brand also and a lot cheaper than Dewalt. Ive a few Einhell bits and they've never let me down. If ya have the dosh though - Dewalt.
Re. hand tools, Stanley. nothing else in my opinion. you'll get cheaper but its shite. Dont buy scrap out of Lidl or Aldi! its cheap because its shite.

[StoutAndAle]

Power tools. Now we're fucking talking lads. 

For me - Metabo and Milwaukee outstrip DeWalt by miles. Metabo's batteries, especially the new high density lithium batteries, will beat the shite out of anything on the market.

(I should probably mention that Metabo/Milwaukee are dearer than DeWalt too so this may be a factor for you to condsider).

The Metabo Brushless and Milwaukee Fuel tools are essentially maintenance-free too. The Milwaukee tools are a beast in some respects.

I have nearly all Metabo tools in my workshop for my day job and for my shed at home. They have a 3 year warranty too on everything - including the battery and charger. Not many manufacturers will give you that.

I echo the advice not to but tools from Aldi/Lidl.

[The Heretic]

Great to hear it lads!!!

Yep I've learned the hard way on some tools...forgot the golden rule..buy cheap buy twice, squares not being square, cheap drill bits, cheap screwdrivers, router bits (there are exceptions) but yes I do find most of the Aldi/Lidl hand tools crap if you push them hard...


Here's a summary

Evolution Rage 5 table Saw - I'm on my 3rd one, on the first 2 the blade was not parallel to the miter slots no matter what adjustments, table not flat, kept the third one just because I couldn't be bothered sending it back and it wasn't as bad as the first 2, awful dust collection on all 3 of them....I really should have gone with the Dewalt table saw...

Titan Band Saw - Decent little benchtop band saw if used within its limits, but I've outgrown it, I keep it for light work.

Record BS300 Band Saw - Recent purchase, took a while to set it up for square parallel but impressed so far....more power...

Parkside Belt and Disc Sander - I'm fairly impressed with it.....although I'm realizing that I could do with a bigger disc size.....12" would be perfect...that's disc not dick 

Lumberjack Miter Saw - Great machine for the money..

Titan Planer Joiner - The planer works well, don't use the jointer as much but works ok...

Titan Drill Press...Its good but overkill for what I need I now realize

Triton Oscillating Sander - Great machine...


I have a steel framed bench that I acquired from someone a few years ago its strong and solid and a good height but its as flat/level as
Mary Harney, they mostly messed about with cars so being flat/level wasn't a priority, so I made a folding bench on castors that I can take out as I need when assembling cabinets, its not as solid as the steel bench but its perfectly flat and I can bring it out it the middle of the garage to get  all the way around the workpiece rather than having the bench against the wall, then I can put away when not needed to free up the floor space....

I do need a vice though, 80% of the time I can wing it, but the other 20% I wish I had one...

Floor space and accessibility is at a premium as we use the garage for household stuff as well, so I have the miter saw...jointer planer...and the drill press on mobile bases so I can move them about when I need to open the garage door, then when its closed I just wheel them back into position....

Dust control is tough going as well....I have a basic wet/dry vac and I'm constantly going between each machine as needed....pain in the hole...but had to be done...

Question: My new band saw and the oscillating sander have cast iron tables which are beginning to show specs of rust, I was thinking about using some paste wax or something to seal them off, anyone done this or have any recommendations?

[ochoill]

I cobble the odd horror together, don't know if it constitutes woodworking but it's quick and functional shit.  I use the wrong tools or whatever I can find for cheap, and generally buy the cheapest pine I can get my hands on in b&q.  I have the world's wobbliest pop up bench that cost about twenty quid, that was originally something I could drill pedal enclosures on.  Speaking of enclosures, because that's normally what I deal with, I buy metal bits for drills and saws and use them instead on the wood.  I have been known to use a jigsaw as a sort of hammer, in the sense that if it can be cut, the jigsaw is for the job.  That said I'm handy with a tenon saw and can do a few alright joints, instead now though I just bracket things to within an inch of their life and hope for the best.

Last few projects:

A cupboard for the child's room.  It is a pine frame with two mdf doors fucked onto it.  I resisted buying piano hinges for it and opted for something normal.  Unfortunately I couldn't find my square when I was building it and the floor was uneven since the house is 100 years old and this room was extended into the attic at some point, so I used a spirit level and some green twine to plot it out.  It didn't work, cupboard looks like it was designed by Dali but only from the inside.  We painted over it to ease some of the pain, but now it has to be closed in the correct order or the doors don't latch.

A workbench for the studio.  I build pedals and was working for a very long time off a set of white cubes from Ikea.  It was an awful, awful desk for soldering on.  So I recently framed up two of the cuts of mdf with some leftover pine, made it so it hangs out a few inches all around over the cubes, and drilled it into the top of it.  It's wide, sturdy, and designed to be fucked up.  I didn't have a file though so the odd screw from the opposite side comes up through it, luckily right where I would rest my elbows doing most of my work there.  I built a thomann desk alongside it to highlight the shoddiness of the workbench, but hey, it works:


A raised area for the shed.  Now this was fuckin abysmal but came together sturdy.  The back of my house has a sort of dirt pit the whole way along thr yard that needed to be flattened and levelled.  I couldn't get a lad to concrete it, so I thought I could box off a section the size of the base of the shed, fill it with freshly dug dirt, and panel off the top of it.  I dug the pit, lined it with damp proofing, then wrapped up some good old fashioned beams of pine in the same sort of glorified bin liner material.  I criss crossed them once or twice in the pit, then went about filling it back in with the dirt for stability/because I had nowhere else to put it.  Luckily it was both roasting and raining, so I got to have my tops off and be freezing at the same time, coupled with flashbacks of digging the auld lad's grave, it was a fun Saturday alone in the yard.  Back to the actual woodworking.  Once I had lay out the wrapped beams and filled the pit, I covered the top in flat panels of some sort of chipboard.  There was a bit of a wobble in it so I wedged some off cuts up to the front of the build, and filled some more dirt around it.  Turned out like a little stage, so I tried drinking a can on it to feel something close to playing a gig, the something was shame, I didn't make eye contact with the stage again until I had to put the shed on it.


The wardrobe: it's a shame I don't have photos of this one because it came out alright.  It's not completely finished, needs another shelf.  Behind my bedroom door was a sort of walk in space, around 3 ft x 3 ft, that was not being used for anything other than heaping clothes into.  I basically made one large panel shelf out of mdf and pine, screwed two lumps of pine to the wall, and mounted the shelf to them, up as high as I could with still a little stow room at the top.  Then I built thinner shelves out of cut offs from the other projects, in a fashion similar to shelves you'd see in a hot press, and mounted them down the wall underneath it.  I put a bar up under the highest shelf for hanging clothes.  After looking again at the press in the child's room, my wife asked me to not build doors on this one.  I agreed.

Few other odds and ends like pedal boards built out of salvaged crates but I've no photos of them.

[The Heretic]

Lovely idea for a thread. I tip away at it a bit. It's only something that I have taken up in recent years though, since we bought an older house which needed work.

I trained as a production technician/fitter and I work for an engineering company (albeit in a more advisory role now) so, like yourself, I'm much more capable with nuts, bolts and steel - which is also more forgiving material if you're sometimes lacking in a lighter touch like me.

My younger brother is a master carpenter and joiner with a magical pair of hands. It's how he earns his living. He does things that I can only dream of but he gives me tips and tricks which I ask.  I have become immune to tuts, "fuck sakes!" and eye-rolls at this stage when he realises that I am thick and he has to either a. do it for me or b. explain the whole thing again. 

I have a few projects that I want to do but between C19 and pissing rain it's not proving possible so far. I did do a massive overhaul on my house last year (we did what we could afford when we bought it a decade ago) and I put up a few photos of a solid oak floor that I laid in the simple pleasures thread.

I'm always on the look out for advice and inspiration.

I saw the floor at the time..look's great! Yeah metal is a lot more forgiving with the heavier stuff, cut too short? clamp it up then fill it with a weld or splice a piece in and grind it down! Less tolerance though so with sheet metal or fitting work. Wood is a different beast all together I'm finding....no second chances...Mark-Check-Check Again...almost begin to cut.....Check Again...then cut.....and still get it wrong....

[StoutAndAle]

Question: My new band saw and the oscillating sander have cast iron tables which are beginning to show specs of rust, I was thinking about using some paste wax or something to seal them off, anyone done this or have any recommendations?

Metaflux Rustisol is the way to go there, probably.

There are cheaper things like Waxoyl but really that's only if your not using the tool all the time. Waxoyl is more for storing tools than anything else.

[The Heretic]

Question: My new band saw and the oscillating sander have cast iron tables which are beginning to show specs of rust, I was thinking about using some paste wax or something to seal them off, anyone done this or have any recommendations?

Metaflux Rustisol is the way to go there, probably.

There are cheaper things like Waxoyl but really that's only if your not using the tool all the time. Waxoyl is more for storing tools than anything else.

Cheers I'll have a look at that, its going to be a combination of dealing with rust that's there then sealing it, also table of the planer/jointer is aluminum so no rust issues there but I still need some kind of wax to help the wood glide along...

I've seen some people recommend that you cover cast iron with something when not in use...cotton pillow case etc...its possibly more of an issue in winter time....

[son of the Morrigan]

Bejaysus ye have all the gear lads!

With regard to battery powered tools, the gear I have is all corded, I wouldn't be much into battery tools apart from a set of Dewalt drills which Id have out and about regular enough, couldn't fault them, the rest is all in the shed so no need for battery power. I've a big hoor of a genny for welding, grinding, shearing sheep, running pumps etc. and I use that the odd time I'd need to do any heavy woodwork outside the shed. I have a Makita drill there, a corded one, the last 20 years and shes a fucking beast, never even changed the brushes on it (now that I've said that she'll more than likely calf the next day I take her out). Have a Makita grinder there for donkeys years too, Makita make fucking great tools.

With regard to Parkside sanders - the drive belt will break on the belt sander and ya cant get a replacement. Pain in the hole. Got caught out myself when I bought one against my better judgement a few years ago. I wouldn't mind but as belt sanders go it was actually a grand little tool. I might have just got a dodgy one. Again,Dewalt or Makita make great sanders.

i wouldn't cover cast iron with cotton or the like. It'll get damp and hold the moisture there making things worse. Wax on, Wax off.

[Caomhaoin]

Anyone else feeling like a bit of a beta-male reading this? 😳😳😳

[Kurt Cocaine]

It's giving me tears of soy...

[CorkonianHunger]

Good timing for this thread, just cleared out a small shed in the parents house and put in my tools. Haven't done much woodwork in years but been building cigar box guitars. Have the shed kitted out with the essential hand tools. Not the worst hobby to have when you have the tools and time.

[son of the Morrigan]

Friend of mine got on to me for the loan of a router yesterday.
He was saying he went around the suppliers and there wasn't one to be got, they're like hens teeth apparently.
One of the lads in the hardware was telling him where it used to cost 2000 Euro to import a container of power tools its now costing 12,500 Euro post brexit.
Fucking hell!

[Kurt Cocaine]

Lend nothing electrical nor mechanical.