Simple Carrying Tote Wanted to further test my hand tool skills, and thought that building Paul Sellers Carrying Tote Project (https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/videos/carrying-tote-project-info/) would be an excellent opportunity to try it out. This could be used for the Garden, for woodworking tools, for toys, or anything else someone want to “tote” around. Utilized “off the shelf” wood …
I wanted to make a simple tool tote to see how it might go together easier for potential students. In this case I built the “I can do that” tool tote from Popular Woodworking, with a few small changes: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/i-can-do-that-tool-tote/ First step is to mill the wood to dimension (length & width). Going to stick …
The last farmer’s market of the year has come and gone. Overall, the year was fairly productive and this Christmas market was one of my best sellers for the year. All the remaining product has been inventoried and put away in storage (though its available in case I get a holiday order). Finishing up the …
Sorry the blogging has been a little light. My regular work as an engineer has gotten “crazy busy” with a lot of business travel, pulling me away from the shop. I need to retire from that so I can spend more time in the shop! I did get the opportunity to visit the Wood and …
Been busy doing a home kitchen remodel, so the shop has been used as a staging area and partial work/assembly area. Needless to say, work on other projects has stopped cold. It actually looks a lot better than it was, as the kitchen is almost entirely done. Hope to be able to get back to …
The last couple of Farmer’s Markets have been very successful, but my inventory has dropped. So I’ve spent the last month building some stock back up (cutting boards, phone & tablet holders, etc.) as well as producing some new products (Wood BlueTooth speakers, small dovetailed boxes). Just about done with assembly and cleanup, then its …
I’ve got a lot of projects going at the same time, which in a small shop can run into each other. In this case, I’ve got some phone stands that I made (I was out of inventory) and now they need to be finished. So its a coat of 50/50 Shellac to “raise the grain” …
Well, finally got back to the joinery bench, after working on some other projects. The idea for this is to create a taller bench for doing detailed work (dovetailing, carving, etc.). It will also be somewhat “portable” so I could take it to craft shows/farmer’s markets to demo on. Here its shown upside down, with …
One of the challenges of working in a small shop is the need to apply finish to a project in an area that is covered with dust. Every time you walk, you stir it up, and it ends up on your finish. Large shops typically have a s completely separate room for finishing, and often …
Once a month, usually the first weekend of the month, I try to do a “shop project” or shop improvement. It might be a jig, it might be a new type of storage, or just general preventive maintenance on tools. The idea is to continually improve the function and flow of the shop. In this …
