Ben's Workshop » Making mistakes so you don't have to

Aug 17 2011

A Jig For Routing Round Objects

Categories:

Baltic Birch Plywood, Drill Press, Finish Nailer, MDF, Pin Nailer, Router Table, Table Saw

August 17, 2011

I’d left off writing about my yo-yo project, when I ruined the sides trying to rebalance them. To re-true the yo-yo sides I needed to create a jig that would hold one of the sides a set distance away from a router bit and allow me to slowly rotate it into …

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Aug 16 2011

Yo-Yo Fail-Fail

Categories:

Drill Press, Leopard Wood, Misc. Toys, Router Table, Table Saw

by benjamen

August 16, 2011

When I was a kid my dad made me a yo-yo out of oak. It was a simple toy. It had a dowel for the spindle and two oak disks with rounded edges. We didn’t know where to find a proper yo-yo string, so I made my own out of …

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/yo-yo-fail-fail/

Aug 12 2011

Notes From the Workshop: 20110812

Categories:

Woodworking for Mere Mortals

by benjamen

August 12, 2011

Welcome Readers from Woodworking for Mere Mortals Steve Ramsey from Wooldworking for Mere mortals featured my router table on his site as part of his Router Week. I’ve definitely seen an up-tick in traffic due to being mentioned on the popular site. If you haven’t already discovered his site, I would definitely …

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/notes-workshop-20110812/

Aug 10 2011

Repairing a Recalled Step Stool

Categories:

Block Plane, Cordless Drill, Quick Clamp

by benjamen

August 10, 2011

I read a few days ago over at ToolGuyd that all of the wooden step stools sold by Target were being recalled. According to the article there have been 26 reports of the stools collapsing, which didn’t surprise me since I own one that has been falling apart for years. The only reason we …

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/repairing-recalled-step-stool/

Jul 28 2011

Thip-Rip Jig

Categories:

Cordless Drill, Plywood, Red Oak, Router Table, Shop, Table Saw, Thin Rip Jig

by benjamen

July 28, 2011

As I mentioned in my ladder toy post, I needed to rip a bunch of thin strips to the same width, so I made a quick thin-rip jig. The problem with the jig in that post was that to hold the dimension I used an expanding miter slot …

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/thip-rip-jig/

Jul 19 2011

Ladder Toy Video

Categories:

Misc. Toys

by benjamen

July 19, 2011

Here’s a two minute video demonstrating a some of the features of the ladder toy and a few demonstration runs. Of course when I was trying to demonstrate how the peg gets stuck on a rung, the toy wouldn’t cooperate. I had to film several runs before it stuck.

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/ladder-toy-video/

Jul 13 2011

Ladder Toy

Categories:

Drill Press, Maple, Misc. Toys, Purple Heartwood, Router Table, Scroll Saw, Table Saw, Thin Rip Jig, Walnut, Woodworking for Mere Mortals

by benjamen

July 13, 2011

I bought a wooden ladder toy in Mexico when I was young, in fact I have always — incorrectly — called them Mexican ladders. The toy had about 8-10 flat rungs over which a wooden peg would “climb” down. I have no clue where my old toy went, but I …

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/ladder-toy/

Jul 06 2011

New Router Table Fence: The Face

Categories:

Cordless Drill, Phenolic Coated Plywood, Router Table, Router Table Build

by benjamen

July 6, 2011

With the carcass completed, I turned to working on the phenolic coated plywood face. On the top part of the fence, I have one stationary 32″ piece with a T-slot for attaching featherboards, guards, and stops. Below this stationary piece are two 21″ pieces that slide on t-bolts which can be …

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/new-router-table-fence-face/

Jun 28 2011

New Router Table Fence: The Frame

Categories:

Baltic Birch Plywood, Dado Stack, Drill Press, Miter Saw, Oscillating Tool, Phenolic Coated Plywood, Router Table, Router Table Build, Table Saw

by benjamen

June 28, 2011

Since I gave my old router table fence away, I needed to make a fence for my new router table — the old fence was too small for the larger table I built anyway. I didn’t follow any specific set of plans when I made the fence, rather I used the …

Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/new-router-table-fence-frame/

Jun 15 2011

Bird Feeder

Categories:

Air Compressor, Bird house, Cedar, Finish Nailer, Miter Saw, Plexiglas, Table Saw

by benjamen

June 15, 2011

* I’m experimenting with different ways of presenting projects, so if the flickr slideshow doesn’t show up on the feed, you’ll have to click through to the website. Last year, I had to throw away one of our little plastic bird feeders; it just couldn’t stand the test of time and weather. I figured rather …

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Permanent link to this article: https://workshop.electronsmith.com/content/bird-feeder/