House of Dust
HOUSE OF DUST To keep airborne dust from getting into the house, I bought a dust collector for my basement workshop. I wanted to start with a clean slate, so I decided to rid the shop of a [...]
Shocking Taste
Shocking Taste I turned on my shop vac to clean up the pile of sawdust that had accumulated while I ripped some pine boards for a cabinet. I live in Colorado, where the air is always dry, and my [...]
Runaway Router
Runaway Router My first router, a 1968 Stanley, was a heavy, single-speed machine. I remember it well because of what happened the very first time I used it. I chucked up a Roman ogee bit and [...]
Shavings Shower
Shavings Shower Last spring I reorganized my shop and moved my planer near the garage door so it could spew its shavings harmlessly onto the driveway. Now that it’s colder, I work with the garage [...]
Disc Break
Disc Break Back when I bought my radial arm saw, onboard braking systems didn’t exist. But I’m a gadget freak, so I bought an electronic brake and mounted it on top of the saw. The [...]
Hammered Cat
Hammered Cat The handle on my favorite hammer needed to be refinished, so I sanded it, sprayed on a coat of polyurethane and hung it over the edge of the picnic table to dry. A moment later I [...]
The Ol’ 1–2
The Ol’ 1–2 I volunteered to drill the holes for the halogen light fixtures in the 6′ tall display cabinet that my cohorts and I were building at the architectural millwork company where we [...]
Rear Ended
Rear Ended After cutting a piece of wood with my ancient radial arm saw, I turned to retrieve the pencil that I’d used to mark the cut—the saw’s vibration had caused it to roll off the table and [...]
Blowin’ in the Wind
Blowin’ in the Wind My wife and I ran out of plywood as we were adding shelves to the garage, so we headed to the home center for another sheet. We hadn’t noticed how windy it was until we came [...]
