They also often used non-detergent 30-weight oil, but it’s terribly messy and doesn’t perform well on a lot of woodworking equipment where exposure to cold temps and sawdust are concerned. In light of what my ancestors did, I found myself thinking about, and wanting better lubricants.

Modern research has evolved some very nice, specific-use oils that work great in targeted applications. Synthetics, Silicones, and so-called “Dry” lubricants. I would be remiss to not mention WD-40 too, but even as it is thought of as a lubricant, it is actually more a solvent with temporary lubricating properties, and although it was named to be a water displacer, it makes a poor corrosion preventative. It is however, a great lube for oilstones and for wet sanding steels.

Oils and lubricants are a field of endeavor that is very hush about it’s formulations. Manufacturers keep their cards close to their chests. Often, there are components of a lubricant that are proprietary information, and the “brand” is hanging on that formulation. It’s very scientific. The makers know exactly what they target a lubricant for, and what they use in it’s bases to create it, exactly. If it works, the manufacturer garners all the profit from being good at what it does.

To the many end users of oils and lubricants, all we know are the brand names, and what the creators target the product to do. We tacitly accept that the product will do what is advertised. For instance, most of us are familiar with penetrating oil, but most of us do not know what all is exactly in it that makes it penetrate and why. After awhile we come to know which brands we like, and which types are for what, and if they work well for us or not. Mostly we don’t need to know a lot beyond that, when all we really want is stuck parts unstuck, or a hinge to swing a door quietly. Rest assured there is a recipe for the stuff, and the maker knows why it works. In essence, we just use the oils they tell us to.

I tried a lot of the different products that have become available, and as I started out to say, observed. I didn’t have any way to scientifically test them, nor was that my aim. I just wanted lubricants that were slick and protective of my bearings and mechanisms where metals had to interface. So I applied them as directed, and let them do their stuff, and after awhile I determined if I liked them or not.

So how did I get to sewing machine oil? For years I was an advocate of the light machine oils, like 3 in 1, and in addition to my own supplies, I had a good supply that had once belonged to my Grandfather and Dad. Along the way I tried some of the modern synthetics out too, to see if I liked the performance. I rejected quite a few because I didn’t like the way they performed in a woodshop environment, or the way they had to be applied was wrong for me.

Bicycle lubricants showed some promise, but I felt the formulations really were most properly targeted at bicycles, and they often didn’t “feel” as slick as oils. Often sawdust seemed to either cling to, or weaken many of them, causing adjustments to feel coarse. Sawdust is going to cling to most lubricants anyway, but my want is for that to not be too clingy, and for the lube to keep feeling like it is working. I had run low on my stash of my old school 3 in 1, so I decided to go after more. It was then that I learned that packaging had evolved to plastic, it was no longer in the old, familiar rectangular can!

I bought a new bottle and began using it on the machines and hand tools in my shop. After a time, I observed that it didn’t seem to be working in the same way I had been accustomed. I did a little google research and read in many different places around the internet, that I was not the only one noticing 3 in 1 had changed the formula some. I also learned that 3 in 1 had also changed ownership sometime back, and some people were speculating about it. It’s still a light machine oil, but in my non-scientific observations I noticed it was evaporating quicker, and leaving behind a yellow waxy film on everything, which it had always done, but this was more pronounced than the old product and it seemed to dry stickier than it had been, attracting sawdust even more than before.

I have a friend in the Sew and Vac business, and one day while we were talking about an antique sewing machine we had in for adjusting, lubricants came up in discussion. As I told him of my observations and dissatisfactions regarding light machine oils, he just looked at his feet and smiled. After I asked about his acknowledgement, he pretty much told me that he’d observed this too, and has repaired many sewing machine’s and vacuums that 3 in 1 had been used in. He said 3 in 1 is not a bad oil, but it’s application when used in sew and vac applications is wrong.

For sewing machines and vacuums, he felt 3 in 1 does evaporate too fast, faster than manufacturer recommended oiling intervals, leaving metal on metal, plastics and nylons. It does leave a waxy varnish build up that clogs, and gums up the works. Not what you want on those machines, and the same thing I was observing with 3 in 1 oil in my shop. I was applying it where I do, and in a week, I felt I had lost lubrication and had a yellow varnish stain to show for it. Varnish from hardened oil paraffin is a future seal to fresh oil and a side effect I don’t want. Oil needs to get where it needs to be and lubricate, not become hard and seal off future oilings. I decided that while 3 in 1 is an adequate product, I wanted something better in my shop.

After he got done singing the praises of sewing machine oil, we left with a bottle for the shop.

Sewing machine oil (or how any oil is actually formulated) is challenging to research. I’m no petroleum engineer, and don’t really need to be, but I know it is good stuff. I can tell you that it is a mixture of three different base oil types- paraffin, mineral and aromatic. It can be found in 5 weight (ISO 22) and 10 weight, (ISO 32) with 5 weight being most common. It is classified as a “white” or clear oil, non-staining for use on fabrics and I’m told light on the paraffin, heavy on the mineral. It is a formulated oil with corrosion inhibitors and other additives that help it do the job as well as possible. (Well oiled machines are rarely rusty.) I find it is plenty slick and leaves no varnish or paraffin residues behind on anything I have used it on.

Like any oil, it needs to be reapplied regularly because there is wear and evaporation. With busy tools I find a drop every 10 – 25 hours of use depending on the application, and things stay good. For the less used items, I go with the feel. If it feels or looks like it could use a drop of oil, it probably does.

We have two old Singer, gear driven sewing machines, which are in the 70 year old range and have seen high usage in their time. They are clean as can be and show little to no wear on the mechanisms, thanks to the use of sewing machine oil. Proof is in the condition of these machines, which have moving parts like a steam locomotive.

It has become my “go to” shop oil. I like to apply it to the spring and quill of my Drill Press regularly, as well as the tilt mechanisms on the Band Saws and Jointers. I really like it on the knob spinners on shop machines. It is great on toggle clamp mechanisms, and I oil all the acme screws on my clamps and vises with it. It is also great on the ball and socket of the clamp pad feet, as these need to spin freely.

I like it on eggbeater drill shafts, and in the chucks of both the eggbeater and brace. It is nice on the brace knob as well. It works wonderfully on plane adjusters as well as a light coat under the frog on the plane base. Try it also as a refreshener on Japanning. Rubbing some sewing machine oil into the Japanning on your planes with your finger, and buffing it off brings luster to the Japanning that looks nice and fresh! I’d even recommend it as an initial protectant on freshly cleaned and sanded metal. It works well as a light honing oil on oilstones if you like. It is great on anything with a lead screw, set screw, or threads that would be ok with an oil lubricant, but before you use it on the Table Saw adjustment screws, consider candle wax there instead due to extreme sawdust.

I’d also like to add that if you don’t find yourself drilling metals often, but need to on occasion, Sewing Machine Oil will work as a good cutting fluid for use at the drill press. As a light machine oil, it is a closely related viscosity to cutting fluids, and will serve you well, but if you are going to be drilling metal as a rule, “Cutting Fluid” would likely be a better formulation.

So if you like, pick up a bottle and be sure to get an applicator bottle similar to the one pictured for precision application. Often a drop will do and go a long way. I’d like to recommend it to you.

While I’m at it, I’d also like to recommend Renaissance Wax (or it’s equivalent) as an excellent corrosion inhibitor. Paste wax as a corrosion inhibitor, surface prep and glue release agent. Candle wax for lubing both screw and machine threads and plane soles. Kroil is an excellent penetrating oil, and here is a Spray Bee’s Wax available from Wenzloff and Sons that really improves the friction factors on saw plates, and helps protect them as well.

Happy Woodworking!

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.

The lid and baffle has to seal on the bucket lip, and side. The lid will come with open cell foam on the under side of the lid to seal the separator, and it will work to seal up the device just fine.

From the rim of the bucket, the Thien baffle will protrude down 4-3/8ths inches. I concluded this by measuring the inner dimensions of the lid, the rim ledges, and the inlet pipe protrusion, left a touch of space and added the thickness of the material, which the baffle plate is made from. With the protrusion into the bucket figured out, and the offsets molded into the lid itself, the length of the stand off dowels that connect the baffle plate to the cyclone lid can be found.

For the visual idea, I measured down 4-3/8ths inches from the top of the bucket and made a dashed mark, just to see how much space the device really protrudes. I can say that there is such a thing as a 6-gallon bucket, and it is the same as a five in every way, except taller, and is a viable capacity enhancing alternative.

To make the spacer stand offs, the dowels that connect the baffle to the lid, I selected 3/4 inch hardwood dowels and cut three of them 4-3/4 inches long. Please note, yes, I did say 4-3/4 inches long, because this compensated for the offsets in the lid. Find the center of each end of the dowel with a center finder, center punch this, and drill a 3/32nds inch holes into both ends of each dowel. I clamped the dowels in a small wooden hand screw and drilled them on the drill press approximately 1-1/4 inch deep. This hole size is the appropriate size for use with fine thread drywall screws, fine threads grip better in hardwood, and we need this to be a 1-1/4 inch screw because we are screwing into end grain, and want to elongate the area where we stress the long grain connection. When you are finished, coat these with Teak Oil and Wax

The baffle plate will be made in the same shape as the Thien design. Remember the dashed lines you drew on the bucket at 4-3/8ths inches below the rim? Grab your telescopic pointer and verify that you have a 10-7/8th inch nominal diameter at that point. I did, so that was the major diameter of my baffle circle. This dimension compensates for the taper in the sides of the bucket.

Laying out for the baffle plate is not too hard, let’s go over it. Cut a square of 1/4 inch MDF 11-7/8 inches by 11-7/8 inches on the table saw. Don’t cut it a foot, because you want to have scraps that will be 1 foot by 1 foot and 1 foot by 2 feet, as they are handier sized scraps.

Take your MDF Square and using a steel ruler, find the exact center of this and mark it for a compass radius point. Set your compass for exactly 5-7/16ths inches, set it in the radius point and mark your circle. If you do not have a compass that will swing this radius, small holes drilled on the same hole centers in scrap-anything will do.

Using a protractor, you need to mark the edges of the circle with a tick mark at 120-degree spacings, just as if it were a Mercedes Benz Logo. One at the top and eh, one around 4 O’clock, and 8 O’clock positions. Set a pencil on the radius point in the center of the circle and set your steel rule against it, and locate the opposite end of the rule on the tick marks on the circumference. Measure in 1-1/8th inch from the circumference and draw a line from there to the edge of the circumference in the 4 and 8 O’clock locations.

Reset your compass from 5-7/16ths inches to 4-5/16ths inches, replace it in the radius and position the lead at the 8 O’clock position. Draw a line from the 8 O’clock (240 degree radian) clockwise through the 12 O’clock (360 degree radian) to the 4 O’clock (120 degree radian) and stop. Mark a few “x” marks in the 240-degree area you just drew, as you will be cutting it off.

Using a band saw, or a jig saw, even a scroll saw will work if you have one, carefully and smoothly as possible cut out the baffle plate. Once you have it cut out, carefully smooth the edges with a mill file. If you have only sandpaper, hand sand with a block.

Test fit this baffle at the dotted line you marked in the bucket earlier; it should fit with close tolerance along the 120-degree portion left proud. If you like, sand this with 180 grit and coat it with Teak Oil and Wax, or wait until you are about ready for final assembly.

Now we begin the lid alterations. The lid requires a little fabrication on it, but it isn’t too drastic. However if you choose not to, the Thien baffle is not going to work effectively at all. The lid as supplied will allow the shop vac to suck most of the debris straight through the device. Baffle or no. The problem is that the 5-gallon bucket only has about 18 inches of circumference to decelerate particulate matter in the air steam before the stock lid inlet/outlet arrangement allows the vac to suck the air out. If the inlet and outlet are in line with each other, and they are, then this is not much time to gain on cleaning the waste from the air stream. We need to help buy it a little more time. This is why we need to modify the air inlet and outlet locations and add the baffle.

Turn the lid over and pull the elbow pipe loose. It is just a compression fit. Set it aside. Remover the two screws which hold the handle on the lid. The handle will not be reused, however it is leaving two vacuum leaks in the lid. The simple fix is to get a tube of Amazing Goop Adhesive from the hardware store, and glue a dime in each hole. Yes, a dime is a perfect fit. It adds value to the project too, A lid that was not worth a dime, is now worth at least two!

In the location where the handle was, there is a circular indentation in the center of the lid. Using a 2-1/2 inch diameter hole saw without a center drill, preferably chucked in your drill press, drill this center indentation out. Do not use a center drill. Once you have drilled this out, do not damage the blank that came out.

Using that mill file we used to dress the MDF earlier, clean up the edges of the plastic disc you just made and set it into the top of one of the molded-in vacuum fittings on the lid. See how it rests on the landing in there? Nice eh?

Grab the Amazing Goop, and lay a thin bead on that land, place the disc over that and press, then lay a thin bead of RTV silicone on the top side of the disc along the edge after the goop cures up enough. It will be sealed up nice.

Now that you have prepared the lid, for the new exhaust air outlet, center the Woodcraft 2-1/2 inch Router Fence Dust Extraction Fittings (part# 85O13) over the new 2-1/2 inch hole you just drilled in the lid and mark the hole locations for mounting the outlet with a sharpie marker, just the hole centers is fine. Then, using a center punch, mark them. You can choose to drill these free hand or on the DP, whichever is most convenient. Make the holes 3/16th for 10-24 hardware. De-burr the holes, test fit dry, then spread a thin coat of amazing goop to the underside of this outlet, position it and bolt in on. Set aside the lid and allow the goop to kick, the off gassing fumes during cure are not fun to breathe.

The balancing act, or assembling the baffle went something like this. Why am I detailing this? Well I fooled with it 2 hours before I was happy with the process. I want to share what I learned in hope of reducing your frustration, because, it will be an exercise in patience.

On the underside of the lid, there are two plastic runners cast into the lid, which run perpendicular to the lid as braces, and are parallel to each other on both sides of the center part where the air inlets and outlets are cast. It is best to position the dowels next to the outside surfaces of these runners. You have three dowels, so you need to balance the lid on a tripod. While positioning both the lid and the runner against the dowels, and the dowels on the baffle as best you can. What I felt was the best positioning, looks like the assembled Thien baffle photo I have supplied for study here.

The lid needs the elbow tube assembled back onto it. It is a compression fit so there is no need to glue, in fact, I would not recommend gluing it. I would position it as such so it seems to follow the radius of the bucket side a bit. Find two things about the same size and weight of block planes, (yes, even actual block planes) and have them ready. You will want to carefully set them on the lid once you have the lid up on the dowels above the baffle plate. This is because the dowels and lid will need some precision positioning and this will help stabilize things.

The measurements on mine can be different on mine than yours due to nuance differences in perception and layout. But first thing first is to position the dowels for their permanent mounting on the lid.

Refer to my photo again. See the dowel mounted next to the inlet elbow? That is dowel number one. Dowel number two is mounted at the opposite end of the same runner. The hole centers on my separator are approximately 3-5/8ths inches apart, and are not centered on the lid. They cannot be centered. Dowel number three is mounted against the back runner, and positioned so as to balance the lid. On my baffle, I found this spot to be near the corner on the vac outlet we added to the center of the lid, and on the vac inlet elbow side. When you find what feels like a solid balance for you, and this is a little tricky, carefully reach under the lid with a sharpie marker, because it shows up well, and try to circle the locations by tracing the place where the dowels meet the lid.

Ok that was fun… Right? Still with me? Hope so. Ok in the dead middle of these circles you just drew, use your center punch to mark the center on the circle and drill these for 1/8th inch and de-burr. I used drywall screws with countersink washers to mount the dowels to the lid. Go ahead and use the hardware you like, but remember if you are following these instructions, we center drilled the dowels for drywall screws.

Half done now and continuing, the next step is to position the lid over the baffle plate so as to be in the proper rotation for the air stream and the proper offset so the baffle touches the sidewall of the bucket in the wide section. Again, please refer to and study the photo. Note the position of the inlet elbow above the edge of the wide 120-degree section of the baffle. This is the position I felt would maximize the running room for the outlet, without causing decelerated turbulence in the narrow gap area of the baffle. Consider that everything you suck up has to decelerate along the wall of the bucket and fall through a 1-1/8th slot to get below the baffle. All this in 36 inches of circumference and windstorm.

That is the rotational orientation. You will want to assure that the next adjustment does not alter the rotational orientation. Now we have to tackle the offset orientation. Grab a four to six inch engineers’ square, or a square you have that is nearly equivalent. Stand it upright on the table so that the blade touches the edge of the lid in an orientation that is perpendicular to the radius of the lid and the wide 120-degree portion of the baffle plate.

Next, lay a steel ruler on the table along side the square and affirm that a 9/16ths inch offset is created from the outside edge of the outermost portion of the lid to the edge of the wide part of the baffle below. It should measure 9/16th on average along the entire arc.

How do we know this offset? The rim of the bucket is 11/32 wide. The thickness of the lip on the rim of the lid is 1/8th. The taper in the bucket, from the rim to the location 4-3/8ths inches below is 3/32nds. Add that all up you have 18/32nds of offset, or 9/16ths. Positioned as such, the baffle will touch the inside edge of the bucket circumference, exactly, with the lid on, and this is what you want for maximum efficiency. Now with a pencil, mark the dowel locations by circling them, find the center of those circles, punch and drill them for 1/8th inch diameter, de-burr, and sand the MDF baffle.

Now if you like, go ahead and apply Teak Oil and Wax to the baffle plate, if you chose to wait, or repair with the same from the de-burr and sanding, and assemble the baffle plate on the dowels.

There it is, the Thien Separator Lid for a 5 gallon bucket… this is the last time you will see it clean, and it was a lot to build in a small space, but it will be a good addition to your vac, and help develop your chops for future tougher projects.

Happy Woodwor… er, ah, Vacuuming!

When I think about it, I have made it possible, directly or indirectly to be able to use a number of my power tools with my shop vac. Specifically, I have a 1/4 sheet palm sander adapted, 5 inch Random Orbital Sander, PC Saw Boss circular saw, DeWalt 621 plunge routers with a Leigh RVA1 router vacuum attachment, Hitachi chop saw with vac port in the hood, router table fence, 10 inch band saw, even the drill press, all with the ability to utilize the shop vac for dust and chip collection.

Then, there is the general clean up from all the woodworking activities that do not have the direct ability to collect dust. Drilling, jig saws, all the various hand tools and since I consider all the power tools to be efficient with shop vac DC in the 85-90% chip and dust collection range, there is all the waste that escapes that needs to be cleaned up there as well, So you see, without even discussing the high volume uses on the full sized dust collection system, The shop vac is really carrying a lot of the load here.

Woodworking materials present a different challenge to the shop vac. The woodworking tool industry has adapted many tools complete with proprietary adapters to operate with a shop vac hooked to them directly. Sanders, in my opinion, should not be operated without a vacuum attached to them or some form of DC in operation during the sanding process. The atmosphere in your shop will become very unhealthy if you don’t, to say nothing of the mess. Sanders are the generator of some of the finest particulate sizes you deal with in the shop, but the saws and routers create particles in many sizes at a relatively high volume. All dust collection is doable, but there are trade offs that occur and decrease some efficiency.

Two objectives the woodworker has in mind is minimizing a mess, and trying to keep the air in the shop relatively safe to breathe. The problem inherent with shop vac design is that we want it to give us filtered air from the very same filter we are clogging with fine dust, and as the filter fills with dust and clogs, the ability that the motor has to move air through that filter becomes greatly reduced. It has been determined that while it is difficult to completely isolate the filter from dust, we can scrub a great deal of the waste from the air stream before it gets to the filter. By doing this we can run the vac with higher flow efficiency, and deliver better quality filtered air for longer periods of time. This is most productive.

Over time, a number of different solutions have been offered for particle separation in shop vac systems. They run the gamut of high cost – high efficiency, to low cost – low efficiency, and all work to some degree or another. The nice thing about them is that they remove a great deal of waste from the air stream before it gets to the vacuum, and helps keep the filter cleaner and flowing air at higher volumes, longer.

The mini cyclones offered by companies like Oneida, the Dust Deputy and Clear Vue, the Mini CV06 offer the highest separation efficiency to the smallest particle sizes. This is some of the best scrubbing action available, removing most of the waste from the stream before it gets to the filters. Yet the cost to the woodworker can be difficult for some budgets. Another advantage of these designs is that the cyclonic portion of the scrubber is not taking up any of the space in the waste drum, and is separate from it. These units are desirable and a very good addition to your shop vac if you want the best separation you can get.

Going forward, there is a number of trash can lid separators, which are helpful in removing a great deal of waste from the air stream. They all work to a degree but they are realistically just trash can lids with vac hose inlets and outlets, and some take more care in the orientation of the airflow than others. As delivered the lids seem to do an adequate job of removing the large particle waste from the air stream, but a much more difficult time with the smallest particulates, like we see in dusts from exotics and MDF.

My thoughts have been for a while, that if there is any way you can help clean the air a shop vac is pulling without the material reaching the canister and filter is helpful. However, where the trash can lid separator falls short is that it is really nothing more than an in hose line expansion chamber for the shop vac, where we hope the airflow will act sort of cyclonically, allowing the materials in the air stream to fall out. At the same time, the design does little to help the air being drawn from the separator remain free of the filter clogging particulates.

Enter the Thien Cyclone Separator Lid
and Thien Cyclone Separator Baffle. Once you read up on Phil’s Thien’s page, you understand, there is the small budget / small space operation that needs better DC capability and help generating cleaner air for shop vac efficiency. I’ll just briefly say that Phil’s lid has several required design elements. It fits tightly to the container it is meant to seal. It has an inlet and outlet that fits common shop vac hoses. Its inlet is positioned in the right location to direct inlet waste stream around the perimeter of the container in a cyclonic manner. It has an outlet positioned in the center of the lid that takes air from the container in a way that keeps interference to the cyclonic airflow to a minimum.

Phil’s baffle is suspended below the air inlet and outlet about 3 to 3-1/2 inches it has a 1.125 inch slot which parallels the side of the container for 240 degrees of the circumference allowing the waste to fall out of the air stream as it slows, and fall below the level of the baffle. The baffle separates a chamber where vacuum air is drawn from the container so the air leading to the vacuum itself is separated from the waste below the baffle and the waste is not disturbed and re-introduced to the vacuum stream. Phil has a video on his site, which shows that in his 30 pound can design, it works very well, and the design is scalable.

Scalable. Nice. I wanted a 5-gallon version. I contacted Phil and asked him his thoughts. He felt there could be some issue getting the Woodcraft 2-1/2 inch Router Fence Dust Extraction Fittings (part# 85O13) properly positioned on a 5-gallon bucket so he suggested adding the baffle design to the Woodcraft Mini Dust Collection Separator Lid. (part# 143868) So I went to my local Woodcraft and obtained one.

Fortunately for me, my own shop vac was filthy with testing materials. The filter was encrusted with fines, chip sizes ranged from what random orbital sanders and saw blades make… Planing shavings, drilling wastes routing chips, Maple, walnut, poplar, even some MDF dust from jig makings. Throw in a few dead leaves and spider webs, you get the idea. It was real world shop wastes from a bunch of small projects. I dumped it all out on the shop floor and cleaned the vac, filter and all, plumbed up the Woodcraft separator, as supplied in original condition, and tested.

The heavy stuff mostly stayed in the separator until it reached a level where the outlet could get to it – suction wise, and then the rest went to the shop vac. I am pretty sure the highest percentage of all the light material went to the shop vac, and re encrusted the filter. It is such a small space and with only 17-18 inches of circumference to slow waste down in, before the Vac sucks the air back out—with an outlet exactly in line with the inlets air stream the space is just to small to really be effective. I gave the mess a 60/40 split between the Vac and the separator and took note of the particulate segregation.

I re-dumped the mess and tried vacuuming less of the pile thinking I overfilled and caused scrubbing as well as slower feed rates to emulate real world scenarios on a tool and I still got in the neighborhood of 70/30 splits between the vac and the separator. The small space is too turbulent to assure that the outlet will see cleaned air. Anything passing too near gets sucked straight through.

I cleaned the separator and dumped the mess back in the vac. As is, I will say this. Any 5-gallon bucket separator purchased as is, is not as effective as you hope it will be. But hope is not lost. The answer is in Phil’s designs.

I reworked the separator lid based on Phil’s baffle, scaled, and a moved the vac outlet to the center of the Woodcraft lid, using the same part Phil specifies for the full size design. Skip moving the outlet to the center of the lid at your own peril. My initial test proved to me that the biggest flaws the Woodcraft lid had was the inlet and outlet locations being equally opposite, and it did not need a handle. The nice thing about the design is that it is well-made, heavy duty, has most of the plumbing it needs, and fits the 5-gallon bucket very precisely. It needs no assistance to seal when the vac is running.

Testing resumed. I dumped the mess out on the floor and tested with a clean vac and filter. In test one, I sucked up the pile as fast as the vac would take it. This is not realistic; this was abusively ridiculous in terms of real world shop vac use, under all but the most severe mess cleaning scenarios. I lost no suction. I filled the separator to the underside of the Thien baffle.

I estimated the efficiency at 95-96% to that without a separator. The interior of the vac canister had a thin coating of the lightest dust, about 1/8th to 3/16ths inch at the bottom of the vac, mostly MDF and mixed fines throughout, with the heaviest concentration on the filter. Nowhere near the encrusting I observed without the baffle on the separator, and the same waste had thinly, yet fully caked the filter pre separator. The filter pleats seemed to have less than 12% of what had been embedded in them without the separator.

I cleaned and tested again. This time I fed the pile slowly; at about 1/8th or less the speed I fed it the first time, trying to emulate what real world vacuuming might be in dirty circumstances, or heavy waste collection from a tool and filled the separator to the baffle. This improved efficiency again. I witnessed improvement in the Vac by better than half, so call it 97-98%. I did however notice that on these first two tests, there was heavy waste accumulating above the baffle, and reasoned I may be over filling, so I decided to test again.

I cleaned the shop Vac a fourth time. I really am over cleaning it now. Honest. I may dream about it in scary ways though, for a night or two yet. I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, or Tommy Chong going down town to look for a job on the first three days of his summer vacation.

I tested again. I sucked up 1/4th of the pile fed at the same slow feed rate I had in Baffle test two, and then I peeked. Nice. I found nothing on top of the baffle in the separator. The vac was receiving the finest dust only, and like I said, I had been working MDF so I had some tough dust. Generally speaking, most users will not routinely see this type of fine dust unless they work MDF or tropical hardwoods. If those woods are not in use, I would expect to see cleaner filters yet.

My observations based on the first three tests with the baffle, I feel on test three the vac was 98-ish percent cleaner than with no separator in line. These are just non-scientific observations, and I’ll accept no liability for them, as I am just eyeball estimating comparative quantities. I was not able to observe the cleanliness in the vac, like Phil’s video shows on the full size Thien collector with all the additional room it has, which I feel is an attribute that enhances overall efficiency. This was not as clean as the Oneida or Clear Vue products with their true cyclones fully out of the waste container, either.

In the 5-gallon bucket, there is little space for waste with the baffle in there, but the separator lid with Thien modifications really does improve the airflow to the shop vac so much, it is worth using, you just need to monitor it, and dump it more frequently. It is more efficient when not allowed to fill too near the baffle, yet very easy to empty. No fasteners to fool with, just lift the baffle lid off and dump the bucket.

My testing isn’t concluded. I need to just observe and see how well it works under routine usage, in real world collection, working whatever woods and tools I work. I imagine it will be a bit more efficient than I have observed so far in this manner. Keeping airflow cleaner at the filter will be a boon to higher suction overall, for longer periods of time. This means cleaner shop air when sanding, and hopefully now, less sanding dust will find its way to the shop vac filter. I may see collection improvements at other tools I use it with as well, based on routinely having a cleaner filter and higher airflow, this may improve chip capture most notably at the chop saw, saw boss and router table fence.

At the 5-gallon size, this separator with the Thien modifications isn’t going to replace the real shop vac cyclones in all materials. It cleans out larger particulates on par with the cyclones, but it is not near as efficient with fine dusts. However, at around $30.00, the 5-gallon separator with Thien modifications is a vast improvement over a shop vac and a separator without one. It bears repeating, keeping air velocities higher, longer is the key to better collection, and cleaner shop air. I feel, based on the videos I have seen of all three separators, at the 30 gallon size, Phil’s design gives the mini cyclones excellent competition.

After observing its limitations at this scaled size, I would recommend this small Thien modified separator to anyone if you are on a budget, space or money wise.

Happy Woodworking.

Turned out, the list is quite good. On Internet forums, one good turn deserves another, and so the feedback began. …And the list grew. People came up with some great additions for the list.

I know, I know, the list is a huge bugger, and there are a lot of things on it you do not need, and can get by without, but Bob was asked to go for ‘well equipped’, So he put in the initial time, and by the end of the thread, many other great tool additions for the list were suggested.

I went through the thread and edited further, adding what all was suggested by others. For the most part, I tried to be as inclusive as possible. Depending on your methods of work, there is likely something on there for everybody. So without further adieu, here is Bob’s “Gratuitous list of hand and small electric woodworking tools”, and thank you Bob!

– MEASURING & MARKING –
Awl, scratch, brad, birdcage
Marking knife(s)
Center punch
Transfer punches
Chalk line
Combination squares
Try or engineering squares
Double square
Framing square
Saddle Square
Plastic drafting squares
Bevel gauges
Protractors
Inclinometers
Retracting tape measure
Folding rule w/ sliding extension
Steel 4R graduated rules
Steel 4R hook rulers
Center finder rulers
Golden ratio rulers (phi)
Ruler stop
Precise straight edge
Plumb bob with string
Marking gauge
Mortise gauge
Panel gauge
Dowel centers
Sliding bevel
Dovetail Markers
Compass
Beam compass
Trammels
Pantograph
Drawing bow
Level(s) torpedo, beam
Dividers
Calipers
Dial or vernier calipers
Depth gauge
Pencils (black & white, and/or mechanical)
Crayons

- CUTTING TOOLS –
Crosscut saw
Ripsaw
Coping saw
Fret/jewelers saw
Bow saw
Backsaw
Tenon saw
Dovetail saw
Keyhole saw
Drawknife
Hacksaw
Utility knife
Folding knife
Misc. knives
Carving tools

- CHISELS –
Paring chisels – a set of five or more common sizes is useful
Chopping chisels – (aka butt chisels, may be thicker, shorter, sharpened at higher angle)
Skew chisels, fishtail chisels, dovetail chisels, corner chisels
Mortise chisels – commonly 1/4th inch and 3/8′s inch sizes

- HAND PLANES –
Low angle block plane
Bevel up or down planes
Jackplane
Jointer plane
Smooth plane
Shoulder plane
Rabbet plane
Router Plane
Plough Plane
Spokeshaves
Scrub plane
Cabinet scraper or scraper plane
Card scrapers
Scratch Stock

- BORING TOOLS –
Eggbeater drills
Bits (twist, brad point)
Ratchet brace
Auger bits
Archimedes push drill with bits
Forstner bits
Vix bits

- RASPS & FILES –
Smooth, Second cut, Mill Bastard, Double Cut
Flat rasps and files
Half round rasps and files
Triangular files
Forming tools (i.e. Sureform, Microplane)
Riffler rasps and files
Needle files
File handles
File cards and brass/nylon brushes

- CLAMPS –
C-clamps
Pipe clamps
Bar clamps
Parallel clamps
Deep throat clamps
Clamping cauls
Hand screws
Web clamps

- HAMMERS –
Claw hammer
Soft-faced hammer
Dead blow hammer
Tack hammer
Wooden mallet

- SCREWDRIVERS –
Flat bladed
Philips head
Square tipped
Ratchet screwdriver
Push screwdriver
Screwdriver bits & adapter for brace
Right angle (offset) screwdrivers
Stubby screwdrivers
Screw holding screwdrivers
Jeweler’s screwdrivers

- WRENCHES –
SAE / Metric
Adjustable wrenches
Set of box wrenches
Set of open-end wrenches
Set of combination wrenches
Ratchet socket set
Allen/hex wrenches Regular/ball end

- PLIERS –
Slip jaw pliers
Diagonal pliers
Needle nosed pliers
Channel lock pliers
Wire strippers / Crimpers

- MISCELLANEOUS –
Pencil sharpeners
Drafting supplies
Graph paper
Reference data
Calculator
Magnifying glass
Chalk
Nail set(s)
Paint scraper (removing dried glue)
Pry bar, small
Sharpening abrasives (sandpaper, diamond stones, water stones, oil stones)
Leather strop
Honing compound
Honing guides
Sandpaper in many grits
Sanding blocks in different shapes
Vegetable tanned leather for clamp pads and other uses
Rags
Brushes
Finishing supplies (applicators, finishes, rubbing out materials)
Glues
Rubber brayer for spreading water based glue
Acid brushes for spreading glue
Waxed paper to protect from glue
Veneer roller
Brooms
Dustpans
Screws
Nails
Bolts, nuts, washers

- PORTABLE POWER TOOLS –
Belt sander, sanding belts
Circular saw, blades
Saw guides
Electric drills, 3/8’s 1/2, bits (twist drills (fractional, number, letter, metric), brad point, Forstner or saw tooth, hole saws)
Drill guide
Finish sander, sandpaper sheets
Random orbital sander, sanding disks
Router, edge guide, bits, template bushings
Bench top router table
Bench grinder / wire wheel 3450/1725rpm
Jigsaw, blades
Scroll saw, blades
Lunch box planer
Shop Vac
Heavy-duty extension cord(s)
Power strips

- BENCHES -
Workbench
Holdfasts
Bench dogs (round or square)
Planing stops
Vises, (woodworking and machinist styles.)
Bench jack

- SHOP MADE ACCESSORIES –
Bench hooks
Shooting board for ends
Shooting board for miters
Shooting board for long edges
Miter Jack
Miter boxes
Sanding blocks
Storage for tools hardware and other materials

- SAFETY EQUIPMENT -
Protective glasses
Face shield
Earmuffs and plugs
Filter masks
Half face respirators
Protective gloves (appropriate to the task)
Apron, cloth, leather
Shop coat
Fire extinguisher(s)
First-aid kit including splinter tweezers