Ridgid oscillating belt/spindle sander

A few weeks back I invested in the Ridgid EB4424 oscillating belt/spindle sander. I had the web cam on at the time, so I hit record in the event that anyone wanted to see the setup, and get a look at the machine. You can see it on my ustream channel here: . I was in The Wood Whisperer chat room yesterday, and another member was asking what I thought of the tool now that I'm a few weeks in, and we both came to the same conclusion. The only real flaw is that the spindle sleeves and sanding belt that ship with the unit are somewhere in the 80 grit range (I believe they are just marked "coarse"). This is perfect for serious material removal, but not so great for more precision work. It's very easy to sand "past your line" if you linger just a moment too long in one area.

That being said, everything else about the tool is fantastic. Changing from spindle to belt is literally a 15 second process, and changing spindles is even faster (it comes with four sizes 3/4" to 2". I found replacement sanding sleeves in 150 grit for 25 cents each on Amazon.com. Dust collection, which is key on any sanding device, is fantastic - as long as you remember to turn on the DC. I forgot once, and pretty quickly kicked up a big cloud of dust. But overall, the tool is highly adjustable, quiet, and performs well. I use it mainly for making router templates, and getting a fair curve with completely square edges is they key to success. But this would also work well for sanding tricky end grain (using the stop, a miter gauge, and the belt sander). I use handplanes as the first line of attack, but for any time those won't work, this tool has become the go-to for plan B.

Also, as a side note I have run into some problems that have slowed my video production down. I had to rebuild my laptop, and somehow when I restored all my video files, I lost all my footage from my most recent project. I have shot some new stuff, but unfortunately there will be a big gap now. I am flying out to Las Vegas next week for AWFS, so I will have time on the plane to get things back on track. I will also be taking video at the show, and will post that when I get back as well.

Can furniture design go Agile?

As my last post indicated, I am working a new job now an rather than analyzing the software industry, I am now a part of it. I am now a product manager at a small software firm, and I'm heavily involved in designing our brand new next-generation product. The company I work for subscribes heavily to the Agile development methodology, which basically means you estimate and code in smaller iterations, using the best information you have available at the time rather than building an entire requirements document up-front, and then setting the programmers free.

So why am I boring you with this propellerhead detail? I'm wondering if the same principals could or should apply to furniture design and construction. My current project (which I owe you guys quite a bit of video on) has taught me how difficult it can be to anticipate everything you will encounter, especially on a more complicated longer term project. Bad assumptions in planning or design, shortages of lumber, and even actual mistakes in building the piece all lead to in-process changes, requiring creativity and problem solving. For example, I will post a video shortly on one such unexpected problem that led to a fairly significant change to the entire look of the face of my casework, but I made lemonade out of the situation.

y point is, spending weeks in advance fine tuning joinery in Google SketchUp may help visualize the construction, but is the time spent in front of the computer worth the extra time if you have a jig already set up to cut those tenons? Why model what you already know, or more importantly why model what you DON'T already know. For instance, what if the species of wood you chose has really difficult grain making a through tenon almost impossible to chop and you need to switch to blind tenons? All that time modeling those through tenons was wasted. Now I'm not saying you should just grab a stick of figured walnut and start cutting joinery without a plan, I'm just saying that maybe we're better off designing only the key details up-front, and then working out the specifics as we go along. I think there is a happy medium here, and I feel like this last project has pulled me closer to that point. But I'm curious about everyone else's experiences an opinions. Can furniture design go Agile? Or is Agile perhaps what differentiates craft woodworkers from the big production shops? I think it very well could be.

Update

Wow. It wasn't until I jumped back onto my blog that I completely understood how long it's been since I've posted. Well the short story is that back at the beginning of the year, I got laid off. During that time, I did some consulting work while also looking for a new job, so suffice it to say the woodworking and blogging about woodworking had to take a back seat. I am now comfortably settled into my new job now and have had to do some catching up on a number of things. I'm still doing a good bit of traveling, but hoping that I can get back into a more regular routine that will include more shop time and more regular updates here. So basically the wine cabinet has been on hold, but today I am planning to dedicate a good chunk of time to working in the shop. I am working on that "special" antique mahogany finish which I think I'm really going to like. I'll post some pictures of the progress of the project, and the finish. I also plan to get caught up on some video editing I have in the backlog. So stay tuned - I'm back baby!

New Pop Woodworking Sketchup forum

No more than a week or two after my blog entry on Sketchup, I got an email from Popular Woodworking taking about a whole new section of their web site dedicated to Sketchup as a design tool. They have their own forum for posing models, as well as a discussion group on Google relative to the models Pop Woodworking has created. There is also a section with some good educational resources that may also be helpful. Check out for more info.

Sketchup does seem to be quickly becoming the de facto (and free) tool for furniture design these days, and this new forum from PWW would further confirm that fact. Even if you don't know how to build in Sketchup, knowing how to manipulate components and explode drawings to investigate joinery techniques is a simple but potentially valuable skill. And I've heard from lots of people that they wished they knew SU better, and very few that feel they've wasted time learning the tool!

Sketchup - enabler or creativity crusher?

I got a very interesting question in from Neil about whether woodworking design and creativity may be effectively limited by one's level of experience in using Sketchup. I decided this is probably a bigger topic than just a comment reply, so I figued I would share my thoughts in a blog entry instead. I'm sure there will be many opinions on the matter. Pardon the length, but there is no short answer here.

To be honest, I don't use Sketchup to conceive of my furniture designs, I it as a tool for getting an idea of what my concept will look like in 3D, and to help me generate a list of materials. I would not advocate using Sketchup purely as a creative design tool, but rather a reality check. For example, I did build one project that I thought looked fantastic in Sketchup, but when completed I found the proportions didn't look as natural as I expected. And on the current wine cabinet I'm working on, I've gotten to the point of completing the bottom carcass thus far, but as a reality check I constructed a mock-up of the slant front top cabinet out of pink foam insulation (which you can readily get at any home store in 4x8 sheets). By doing that, I actually made several further design changed (narrowing the piece, and lowering the cabinet a bit).

As another example of a good reality check, the curved legs in the wine cabinet are depicted in Sketchup as closely as I could approximate them, but the actual curve is something I spent hours drawing out with a fairing stick and french curves to generate my template. These types of design elements (that can potentially become the signature of your design) are likely going to be done freehand on a piece of MDF or graph paper, and just approximated in Sketchup.

So in summary, I think ones expertise in Sketchup can help get a 3D model looking closer to the final product, but should not be the creative mechanism by which the design is conceived. Sketchup is a great tool to build reality checks into the process, and can also be invaluable at ensuring good joinery, but is not the end-all be-all creative design tool in my opinion. I'd be very interested in follow-on comments on this topic, as I assume there may be some differing or alternate opinions out there.

At long last, the next project

It has been a while since I've posted any real woodworking content. But that doesn't mean I haven't been making some sawdust. I finally got around to creating a new video theme for the this series, which means I'll be able to crank out some video a lot faster. Basically, this next project focuses more on my design and construction techniques rather than outlining a "how to" for a project. The design is the mahogany wine secretary I mentioned earlier, and I start by describing how I use Google Sketchup not just to design a project, but also as a shop tool. In the next few episodes I will go through lumber prep, layout, and referential measuring techniques. Enjoy, and as always I look forward to your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Status update

Well the workbench project is done, and I'm ready to get going on my next endeavor. I actually may have a commissioned project to work on next, so I'm waiting on final confirmation on that before I get started. If that ends up not happening, I will be getting started on the mahogany wine secretary. Either way, I plan to document the process of design through layout in fairly good detail. As soon as I know more (hopefully by this weekend) I'll post an update, and start getting some new video out.

My new favorite wood

I'm almost finished designing my next project, so I went to the hardwood lumber dealer today to pick up some Honduran mahogany. While I was there, I found some cool figured walnut - I didn't even know there was such a thing. So I brought it home, and cut off a foot or so to run over the jointer, and plane down to get a look at the figuring. What I uncovered was quite remarkable, almost like figured maple stained to look like walnut. It was a bit difficult getting a picture with the right lighting to give a good representation, but I think this at least gives a good idea. I'm thinking of bookmatching this for the door panels for my upcoming dining room piece (thanks to Kip from the woodwhisperer chat room for that gem). Anyway, just thought I'd share my find for the day - I can't wait to start resawing!

Replay of live cast

For those of you that couldn't make the live broadcast, I've posted the replay below. This is the finale of the workbench series. If you have any trouble viewing the replay below, you can go directly to the ustream page. Enjoy.

At long last

Week nine finally saw the completion of the bench. This video walks through the construction of the tool trays, and then final planing and finishing of the bench. Following this video, I will do a live broadcast tomorrow (Tuesday December 23, 2008) at 1:00 PM EST for the final "launch" event. I will do a demo of the various features of the bench, discuss tools I used through the process, and then do a live Q&A. You can join in one of two ways: directly through ustream or by selecting my shop camera feed (The Bois Shop) in the dropdown at the Wood Whisperer chat room. I will be fielding questions from both chat options. I will also record the demo and also post that on the blog after the fact. Thanks to everyone for their support, and enjoy the last video.

Weekend Eight

Well I finally got my new laptop, and video editing is a breeze now. So here is the week 8 video, which consists primarily of the construction of the front twin-screw vise and chop. I will try to edit and post weekend 9 as soon as I can (construction of the tool trays). Enjoy, and please leave your comments or questions, I'm happy to respond to them.

Sneak peak

I'm finally buying a new more powerful laptop, which will help me edit video a lot more quickly. So I probably won't edit the next week of video until that arrives. But to prove I'm making progress (and in fact am virtually finished with the bench) here is a sneak peak. My new profile picture shows the bench in action too. Expect more video over the Christmas break. Happy holidays - I hope everyone gets all the tools on their list!

So many vises

Well I finally got weekend 7 in the bag. This is the assembly of the base, top, and the mounting of the end vise. This one is a bit long, but there' s a lot of material to cover! Enjoy.

Project cost

Over the course of this project, I've gotten a number of questions about cost. The answer is likely very different for me than someone else, but there are two key variables. First, the cost of wood, I've found, varies greatly by region. The width and lengths of boards you have access to is also a major factor believe it or not. For example, for the top I wanted to get two 3" widths from each board, but this meant I had to settle for some 10+" boards (which cost more per BF for me). Many of the boards were also much longer than I really needed, so I was paying for scrap. Also, I picked ash, which cost me around $3.50 to $4 per BF, but I've heard of others finding it for closer to $2. You can save a lot of money if you can find lesser expensive wood. I ended up buying about 140 BF, but according to the author, the actual materials for the bench are closer to 80 (that's a lot of scrap). Secondly, I splurged for the big 24" twin screw Veritas vise, which runs $230 plus shipping. The end vise is pretty standard in the $75-$90 range. In total, I spent somewhere around $850 (not including gratuitous tool purchases). But if you can get lumber closer to $2/BF at more optimal widths and lengths, and used a less expensive front vise, you could realistically build this for around $500. Considering a similar quality pre-made bench runs in the $2K range, I would certainly consider that a bargain!

Just checking in

Sorry for the gap in posts and video here. I do have two more weeks of video to edit, I've just been busy with the holidays starting. I also ran into a problem with the cut list in the magazine article that has set me back a bit (if you're building the bench, read this!). It turns out the length specified for the tool tray bottoms is an inch too short in the cut list (I verified this with the sketchup drawing). I had to modify my tool tray lengths because my bench is shorter in length (72") but I applied the same 2" differential between the sides and bottoms that the cut list describes. The difference should be only 1". So I had to re-mill my bottoms but was out of 4/4 stock. I ended up laminating QS pieces of 8/4 stock together, so in the end my box bottoms will mirror the bench top more so there is a silver lining here. But laminating all that stock and re-milling cost me a good two days on the project. But I still hope to finish up next weekend, and hopefully get caught up on video. I've talked to several people now who are planning to build this bench, so hopefully this blog will be a helpful resource for all of you.

Week 5 (and a half)

OK, another half week again. I cheated and worked nights again to keep this project moving along. This week is all about cutting the joints for the front stretchers. Enjoy

Bonus video

I'm having some trouble uploading week five and a half. But I also wanted to post the arrival of the vises from Lee Valley, and this will also serve as an upload test.

Finally fitting some joints!

I have a 3 week backlog of video, but managed to get week 5 knocked out. In this episode, I finish fitting the wedged tenons, glue up the base side assemblies, and knock in my tenon wedges. This is also the first episode where I make use of the bandsaw (nice plug for Rikon here). Week 5 1/2 and 6 will both focus on the construction and fitting of the dovetail lap joints, at which point I will have a working bench ready for vises and dog holes. Enjoy, and look for more video probably later this week.

Not sure what you call these

I'm chopping the half-lap joints today that attach the stretchers to the front halves of the bench legs. I'm not sure what you call these - half-lap dovetails often mean half-blind dovetails. Anyway, here's a picture of what the joints need to look like.

Week 4 in the bag

I spent almost 10 hours either in the air or in airports on my flight home this week, so I had plenty of time to get caught up on editing. So I also had time to get a little creative and add some humor this week. In any case, week 4 is all about chopping mortises and cutting tenons. And we have a new sponsor this week. I'm now all caught up on footage. This weekend I will be fitting the tenons and hopefully gluing up the side structures, and if I'm lucky I might even get started on the dovetails for the stretchers. I have a family commitment on Saturday, so I only have one day of shop time this weekend, but will see how far I can get. I also received all my vise hardware this week, so I'm happy to report that the materials have all been procured now. I'm starting to feel like there will actually be an end to this project at some point!

Week 3 (and a half)

As I started my editing, I realized that I somehow lost count of the weekends, and started week 4 with "welcome to week 3". So I decided to just call that week 3 1/2 (since I really did work almost every day for a week there) to keep the remaining videos in sync. I have filmed week 4, but not edited yet. Hopefully on my flight back home tomorrow I will have some time. Until then, enjoy weeks 3 and 3 1/2 which lead up to the actual jointery for the base of the bench.

I had to fly out to the West Coast earlier this week, which gave me lots of time on the flight to do some video editing. So week 3 and 3 1/2 (I'll explain when I post that one) are ready to go. Here's week three, where I finish dimensioning the lumber for the base structure, and find some ways I could have made my life easier. Always a learning process.

Making progress

Since I started working on the base, I'm going to be making some big mortises and tenons that tie the rails to the legs. And sometimes on a new project like this, I like to buy a new tool. I decided that because I'm building a workbench, it would make sense to do the tenons by hand. So I made an investment in a Lie-Neilsen carcass saw. Cuts like buttah!

Week 2

Here's the final edited footage of week 2.

Update on weeks 2 and 3

My apologies for the slow rollout of video, but I'm continuing to have problems with my editing software. I have about 45 minutes of footage to edit through at this point. So I'm ditching the old software, and trying a new application. If that doesn't work, it might just be time for a new laptop!

In any case, progress on the bench is coming along. All the lumber for the base is now dimensioned, and I'm actually getting good use of the laminated bench top on sawhorses. Aside from the massive amounts of lumber and subsequent sawdust that have amazed me, I have also almost completely kicked my 32 oz. bottle of TightBond. So before this weekend I will be off to Rockler to resupply.

But as of now, I've started gluing the two halves of the upper and lower stretchers. Also another good weekday part of the project (depending on how many clamps you have, you could do this all at once). By Saturday morning, I will be ready to start chopping some big old mortises and tenons in those stretchers. That's when the real fun (and real woodworking) begins. Hopefully I can get my video editing problems resolved, and get up weeks 2 and 3 shortly. My sponsor is starting to get impatient!

In the meantime, the above photo shows the current progress. You can see both finished top laminations, as well as a clampup of one upper stretcher (and its mate ready to go next). All the base components are under the bench or to the left. My improvisational but brilliant blue rolling pan is still going strong.