Jun
30
2009
Not fade away… A nearly perfect Buddy Holly song…
Today, as I try to write this, Monday June 29, was a tough sad day. I had to say goodbye to a well-loved friend, and one of the coolest spirits I have ever known.
Boomer. 1997 - 6-29-2009
A cancerous abdominal tumor began growing in his abdomen last September.
Tumors ending in the word carcinoma are bad. These cancers, they always take their host. This one got my buddy. I have lost too many loved ones to cancer.
Mine is a garage shop, nice when it is warm to open up garage door, and let it have a breeze, but not so easy when you have a cat with the wanderlust for the front lawn and points beyond. It’s all about the adventure, you know?
He came to me four and a half years ago, sort of a rescue. He and his adopted brother were not able to go with his family on a 3 year Naval deployment to Japan. He belonged to my wife at the time’s brother, who is a really great guy, and though we had two cats already, two became four.
I was not originally ok with becoming the caretaker to 4 cats, but I sorta like cats, and it didn’t take them long to grow on me…
For reasons that don’t matter now, four over time became two again, and one of the remaining two was this ol’ enigmatic guy, Boomer. Continue Reading »
May
30
2009
Just a quick note to say that the introductory price has passed and thank you to the many who took the opportunity to take advantage of the introductory price of my shooting board before it ended. The response was much larger than I expected or imagined, and that is very heartwarming. It is the 26th of June as I update this post. I have have been working to fill orders, and I hope those who ordered in the last five days of my intro offer will understand that there were quite a few of you. Many will be expecting to hear that I have a shooting board ready for them soon, and I want you to know, that I am working towards that goal.
I am still making shooting boards going forward, please feel free to inquire if you would like to order one, and once I get caught up, I have some accessories for the shooting boards in mind which I hope folks will find will enhance the capabilities of the shooting board and what it can do.
C.Perez Photo
Here is a listing of current pricing and options.
Left and Right Handed Models are the same price. $120.00
Current accessories for the shooting board are:
Standard Fences $15.00
This is the same fence that comes standard with the board. Some people like extras or ones cut with a different angle setting other than square or 45 degrees as supplied. As always the fence faces are flattened on a granite plate to .001
Double High Fences $25.00
Similar to the single high fence, but is 1-7/16ths high and is good for backing up thicker stock.
Bench Hook Board Lift $25.00
For extra support while shooting long boards.
There are other accessories in the works. Please stay tuned here, as I’ll announce them when I have something ready. You can subscribe to my RSS feed or even better subscribe via email so you will know when I have a fresh update.
The subscriptions are all up in the upper right corner of every page. As always, you can reach me via email through the “Contact Link” at the top of any page on the website, or by clicking Here.
Finally, thanks to all who have made a purchase and who plan to. Your interest in shooting boards has exceeded what I imagined. I am known for being picky, and that pickiness is in everything I make. I put as much precision into this piece of wood that I can. I hope the shooting boards I offer here will provide a lasting value, and help you with many future woodworking projects to come. Thank you for letting my jig become part of the craftsmanship in your shops!
Happy Woodworking!
May
27
2009
The Evenfall Studios Online Store.
There. I said it. You have been looking around my site looking for the link to it.
Um,
There isn’t one yet. I apologize.
This is where, if this were a Lyle Lovett song, Lyle would say: “But Wait, I’m not finished”.
I am going to develop something like that in the not too distant future, to help people see what all I am offering, but I haven’t gotten there yet. I’m not decided on how it will work but there does need to be something online to help everyone know what all I am offering. It is one of the things I think about while I stand at the drill press though, and that is a lot! My Drill Press is like the water cooler, it is a great place to find me and hang out! Eh, but I work alone so I generally just listen to my shop vac suck wood chips and share my scuttlebutt with myself.
Who would have thought a Drill Press would be a great place to keep one’s own Counsel? I can tell you that the Drill Press is also a great place to listen to Robben Ford. I wrote my own Lyric to Robben’s song “Chevrolet” You Know… “Gonna Buy you a Shooting Board…” Yeah… I figured if Jimmy Witherspoon could write his own verses for songs, then it had to be a great Idea, or Jimmy would not have done it.
Since I do not have a traditional “Online Store” as yet, let me take a moment to share how to buy from me.
C.Perez Photo
I am currently offering a shooting board for sale. I will be accessorizing it in the future, and you will also be able to buy those accessories from me. I will likely develop some other things too so please keep an eye out. I will let everyone know what I have going on right here at the Woodworks Blog.
If you would like to make a purchase from me it is really easy. Here is how this works. Continue Reading »
May
12
2009
Shooting Boards and they’re red hot, yes I’ve got em’ for sale!
I have to thank the early bluesman Robert Johnson, for the inspiration on the title here. I have been getting some email reminding me to come up for air and write a little bit here, as I have been working with my head down. With that said, I am still amongst the living!
Here’s a photo of a pair to draw to. The shooting boards, shown here in left and right-handed models. You could almost call them V-Twins, but darn it, somebody already thought of that…
Back in late March I revealed I was going to be making a shooting board with an accurately calibratable fence, which can be fixtured in six positions. Woodworkers found this very interesting! I want to take a moment to say thank you to all who have purchased one. It has been a warm and well-received response from the woodworking community. I plan to continue making them, and even have a few ideas to accessorize them as well.
If you are a left handed woodworker, No Problem! I can make a shooting board that works for you. Same price as right handed, just let me know. Continue Reading »
Mar
29
2009
One of the coolest things about hand planes is the finish they leave behind. We have all seen the finish quality they are capable of free hand, but when you put hand planes on jigs, a door is opened and passed through where clean, straight, and angular accuracy becomes something that is hard to obtain in any other simple way.
Yes, I am talking about shooting boards.
Shooting boards are one of the gateways to fine woodworking. Sure, there are many gateways, but the shooting board, in its different configurations guide the cleanest edges and end grain cuts to the finest accuracies, the most spectacular fit and finish, and it puts this capability in the hands of any woodworker.
I have always enjoyed woodworking jigs, and have made a number of shooting boards over the years. I have thought about many different designs for a long time. I’d have one that did this, but not that, and wish I had one that did that too, but then, that method can become a stack of shooting boards, and most of us don’t have the space for that. It’s true; there are some very specific types that are meant to cover specific uses. Others are great for general work, but the worry over wood movement and long-term accuracy causes some folks to question how much energy to put into the making of their own.
I decided to try designing a shooting board, using a design that encompasses the many qualities that I felt most woodworkers would most desire and need in a basic shooting board. Reinforcing as many strengths as I could, while diminishing the weaknesses where possible, and offer it for sale to woodworkers who may be interested in a shooting board that can cover a lot of fine woodworking situations, yet may not want to build one of their own. If you are interested in purchasing a shooting board, I’d be happy to build one for you. Please see the details at the end of this article. Continue Reading »
Mar
17
2009
Welcome Back! I just thought I would let everyone know about recent changes and updates to the Woodworks Library.
The Woodworks Library is a collection of woodworking books, which includes a number of topical books that are not specifically about woodworking, but are related to, and of possible interest to woodworkers. Continue Reading »
Feb
15
2009
I know it seems like an odd name to call the process, but it is based in science, and what happens to wood while being worked isn’t really any different when you are going slow with hand tools.
Planing woods is a process that has a number of considerations, which require their needs met all at once, in order for the process to be successful. It isn’t just one thing happening at a time. There are causes, effects and recognizing which you have. The answer isn’t simple until we understand all the usual suspects involved.
If you haven’t already, read chapter 9 of Understanding Wood By R. Bruce Hoadley. It is a real good primer about how wood reacts to planing and machining to brush up on. Overall, the book will improve your skills as a woodworker. It is available in many places, and both Taunton Press as well as Amazon.com are good sources.
Wood reacts to machining in observably repeatable ways. If we understand these ways and learn to recognize the conditions, our own success in working wood is repeatable as well.
Continue Reading »
Sep
10
2008
Got Comfort?
Woodworking season comes around yearly, with Labor Day behind us, many of the summer outdoor oriented activities and chores are soon to be waning. The colder weather will be along soon enough to push us in and keep us indoors.
This is good, it spawns the need to be creative through other ways, and hobbies fill that gap. Problem is, many of us have to use a space for our woodworking hobby that is not exactly comfortable during a good bit of the indoor season. When we are cold, we don’t often enjoy what we want to enjoy as long or as much. We are more in the mode of just do it and get er’ done, rather than enjoying ourselves, where thinking through the process, being in the moment, and feeling like we relieved some stress are all big parts of having a good time. If it isn’t a good time, let’s face it, we generally avoid it.
To add, when you are cold, humans do not think as critically, and can even become distracted from slower thinking. Woodworking, like other tasks that require concentration, really does want your attention in many, many ways, because it is a very detailed endeavor, which can be inherently dangerous as well, so how you help yourself overcome these issues while trying to enjoy the woodworking season is a question that is a good thing to have on your mind.
It isn’t often I am going to endorse a product, in fact I am trying not to, but I am here to speak from the experience I have with the product I bought. This is not a review or a comparison either. I haven’t compared this product to any other. In fact, in this instance, I am using the product I bought more as a frame of reference, so those interested can use this as a frame of reference for their own needs. My want is to help you stay warm in the shop, period. It was my want too. I bought this as a ‘what the heck’ purchase, meaning I did my research, but I really had no idea if my purchase was the best choice or if it was going to work adequately for my purposes. I do not enjoy being cold, and after asking around, no one really knew what to tell me. I got lucky on both counts, because it did work out for me. In fact, it exceeded my expectations. Now that I have tried it, I’ll share my observations with you. Continue Reading »
Aug
19
2008
For the average user of a retractable tape, there can be some usages of a tape measure that unwittingly reduce its accuracy. Basically, many people are not even aware of these details. I did say usages, but there are also problems inherent with the way a tape measure is made, that for fine work, render it a tool which is not always the best tool for the job. When we ask a tool to wear too many hats, it fails to do as well by us as we may think it should. It is good to know what some of the weaknesses are so we can learn to accept what are and are not good practices for the tape measure.
When you are buying a tape measure, there are several available features that you can consider. For shop use, furniture making and cabinet making, you will rarely need a long tape, but the long tapes have features that enhance accuracy. They come with 1-inch wide tapes, which are easier to read for eye relief, harder to distort and are more rigid. Often the 1-inch tapes include more rivets on the hook, which lend themselves to resistance to wear and stretch. Unless you need a shorter tape for handy reasons, I recommend the bigger tape just for its added stability. Continue Reading »
Jun
27
2008
Adapting the Thien Baffle to a 5-gallon bucket isn’t hard, and overall; it is going to reduce a lot of the suction clogging dust that gets to the filter of any shop vac. I feel it is a worthy addition to the shop vac portion of your dust collection system, so here is the stuff you need to know.
This may seem a little over detailed for some readers and I apologize, but there was some strange engineering involved, and it is a bit involved regarding the measuring and layout, so I will detail my approach, and leave you, dear readers, to you own devices. Welcome to blaze your own trail or follow mine. For my part, all I can say is I am happy I did it, and feel it can benefit anyone who is inclined to make one, so I am sharing it with you.
First you will need to obtain a 5-gallon bucket, which is available from most any hardware store, and the Woodcraft Mini Dust Collection Separator Lid. (part# 143868), which is of course available from Woodcraft. Once you have those; please take not of the following critical measurements, and double check them for yourself.
The bucket will not be perfectly round, but on average, at the rim, it will be 11-1/16th in diameter, at the least if the bucket is held to nominal roundness. If you find the bucket is deformed beyond this roundness, I would reject it, and get a different one. This is easy to check with something like a telescopic pointer, or magnet, if you have one. Those handle inside measurements really well, and then simply compare them to a steel ruler or tape measure. Continue Reading »
