Replies

1. 
   Westchester | Apr 14, 2011 03:49pm | #1

   Drooping Drawers

    a top rail guide inside the case placed above the drawer sides and back to provide downward pressure -

   or wood side bars - I'll attach a photo of an old storage cabinet drawer in my shop -

   SA

   
2. 
   user-64052 | Apr 14, 2011 04:14pm | #2

   how far

   is fully out. there must be a point where it cannot sustain itself.

   ron

3. 
   hammer1 | Apr 14, 2011 09:47pm | #3

   Fine Woodworking #143, full extension wooden slides by Chris Becksvort.

4. 
   swenson | Apr 15, 2011 02:35am | #4

   top center guides with pin

   In the picture the upper cross members with the holes in them are for attaching the top.  Sort of like buttons but all the way across and floating in apron slots.  The cross pieces that are blank on top have grooves cut lenghtwise on the under side where you can't see them and pins in the center of the drawer back ride in them.  You can see a piece of pine filler in the back of the drawer guide on the left hand drawer where I started to cut the pin slot on the wrong face of the cross piece.  That small mistake will give you an idea of where the slot on the other side is placed.

   Sorry the guide pin in the drawer is soft focus, but you get the idea, it can be metal or a wood dowel. 

   
1. 
   Westchester | Apr 15, 2011 08:14am | #5

   Carpet

   Oriental carpets in the work shop -  Swenson you got the right idea - I stand in saw dust to ease my knee pains :>)

   SA

1. 
   swenson | Apr 15, 2011 05:09pm | #6

   Ha!

   That's not a real Oriental, just a cheap cotton throw rug with fringe.  When I cleaned out space under the basement stairs I found a bunch of rugs and scraps from old wall to wall  installations that we didn't want but couldn't seem to throw out.  I just threw them on the shop floor anywhere I had to stand and figured that if I started tripping over them I would just toss them out.  Surprisingly I don't trip on them and they clean up fast with a battery driven vacuum cleaner I keep in the shop for saw dust.  They seem to thrive on saw dust, maybe it absorbs dirt or something.

   
1. 
   Westchester | Apr 15, 2011 06:30pm | #7

   Shop Photos

   It looked like  a fine wool rug  from Persia - Fancy stuff

   I enjoy looking at other folks set up - it helps me organize better - good design except for the dewalt junk and you must return that US post office basket ASAP

   Did you consider putting the lites inside the bays to save ceiling space ?

   SA

1. 
   swenson | Apr 15, 2011 08:26pm | #8

   return that US post office basket ASAP

   When I cleaned out under the stairs I found that post office basket filled with old climbing gear belonging to my son, 43 years old and long gone from home, so you can guess how long that has been under there.  Its too late for ASAP.  Do you think they want it?

   Here is a shot of the other half of the shop.  Jointer, planer and dust collection are behind the camera.  Lathe can't be seen in these pix.

   If by "inside the bays" you mean up between the joists, no.  You loose too much side light when you bury them, in fact they stand off the beams by four inches on short lengths of copper pipe making them even lower.  There are 26 eight foot light tubes all told.  They are on three different circuits with three switches.  Enough light to make movies and great for these old eyes.

   
2. 
   Westchester | Apr 16, 2011 08:28am | #9

   Shop

   Hey Swenson -

   I was trying to get a rise out of you for the Dewalt comment - but you're not taking the bait - OK fair enough - your not reducing yourself to my inferior level of dialogue.     I appreciate the photos - the lighting is incredible - no flash needed for those photos.  I have 8 footers - double tube around the shop - one side is a natural day light bulb - the other side is bright white - 40 watts each - the mix serves me well.  I also wanted additional  incandescent lighting so I wired in spot lights to every fixture using just regular bulbs and they come on at the same time.  I don't think you meant 26 - probably 6 ?  fixtures ?  nonetheless lacking windows and natural light - I'm sure they more then do the job.  I notice the water heater fairly close - any chance of moving it out of the shop area ? When you have dust collection going and fans are drawing air - do you get odors from the water heater ?  do you turn it off when you're in the shop ?  You are organized and obviously know how to work within the limits given you !   

   Best Regards,

   SA

3. 
   swenson | Apr 16, 2011 10:31am | #10

   Taking the bait.

   Sorry I didn't get the DeWalt thing. You actually got me to thinking "is there something I don't know about DeWalt that I should?" I did mean 26 eight footers. I have 12 or 13 double fixtures for a total of 24 or 26 tubes, I've lost count and have to go down to the shop to count. I think some are 75 watt. It's hard to see the layout with the pix I posted but I have about one thousand sq feet. It's longer than it is wide and in the center is an island of a water heater and furnace. When I built the house we were all electric but when gas was being put into a new town about a mile away the gas co. offered to run lines into our town if enough folks wanted it. We opted for a gas heat and gas water heater conversion. I never get any odors from the water heater and I'm not too sure what you mean. It is power vented to the outside with a stack that has an electric fan, if you meant fumes from the gas fire. Same for the furnace. I do have four ground level windows that let in some natural light, but not a whole lot. Two are facing south. I hear that there are new water heaters and tanks that can be hung on a wall and I might consider changing to one except that the one I have does not take up much room and I would still be left with the furnace.

   While I'm showing off, here are two shots of a drafting table I made last month. It hangs out of the way on a french cleat, and in use it sits on a pair of Krenov saw horses. Glad I kept all that old counter top when I redid the kitchen in granite.

   
4. 
   Westchester | Apr 16, 2011 04:14pm | #11

   Work Shop

   Hello Swenson

   I'm glad you know how to keep safe working around a gas furnace + water heater. 

   Is that one of those carving/shaving horses in the new photo - it looks like the type of stand you can use whittling down spindles with a draw knife ?  I've never used one - 

   1000 sq feet - nice -  do you have a separate entrance for the shop -  I hope you say no because I'm really getting jealous here -

   your unisaw must be about 40-50 years old - when cabinets had some weight to them - mine was purchased new in 75 and it's fairly solid -   I'm laughing here - what happen to the original poster whose drawers are drooping -

   Any way - mess up the shop a little - it's too neat -

   Regards,

   SA

5. 
   swenson | Apr 16, 2011 08:31pm | #12

   separate entrance

   Yes to the entrance, but it is worthless so don't feel bad. The basement is mostly below grade and the back door to the shop goes out into a narrow stairwell up to the back yard. To make things worse there is a bay window for the dining room directly over the stairwell so you can't even take stuff straight up in the air out that way. I've wanted to build a sea kayak for some time now but I can't figure a way to get it up the stairs into the house or up the stairs to the yard.

   That is a shaving horse in the background. I built it when I was going to start making Windsor chairs but got sidetracked about fifteen years ago, but one of these days I will start the chair project. Meanwhile it is handy for some draw knife work, like when the handle of your wheelbarrow breaks and you need to make a new one real quick.

   The saw, Delta - Rockwell on the plate, belonged to my wife's uncle back in the 50s and 60s. He sold it to my father-in-law in the late 60s and later said he was sorry he did. The Uncle's new bigger & better saw turned out to be not as good as the old Delta (and I think the new one was a Delta too.) When my father-in-law died I inherited it about twenty five years ago. About ten or fifteen years ago I put a new motor in it and a few years back I hooked it up to the dust collector. Still going strong, as I guess yours is.

   As for the drawers, I forgot to mention in my original answer that if you use the pins in the back of the drawers, you must round over the bottom back corners of the drawer for clearance so you can rotate the pin up into the groove when inserting or removing the drawer. That is if the OP is still out there after all this hijacking of the poor guy's thread.

   
2. 
   joinerswork | Apr 19, 2011 06:38pm | #15

   Rugs

   Hi Swenson,

   Back in '72, one of my friends was renting an apt with that snazzy new shag carpeting thruout.  That did not deter him from doing his woodworking in the living room.  He makes windsor chairs, so there were a lot of shavings.  He tried his best when they moved out, but still didn't get his deposit back from the landlord.

   Ray

1. 
   swenson | Apr 20, 2011 03:12am | #16

   Shag

   I set one on fire once at a girlfriend's house. She showed poor judgment by marrying me anyway.

5. 
   zolton | Apr 18, 2011 08:03am | #13

   Shop carpeting

   Swensen, you are one smart, smart man!

   Carpeting in the shop is just the ticket. I say that because now that you've come out of the closet and revealed that you have carpets in your shop, I can as well. But I may have gone you one better. You've got what look like throw rugs here and there; my shop is carpeted wall to wall.

   A remodeling contractor I know was doing a house rehab and his clients wanted to get rid of all the carpets in the house. He had a 20x30 foot piece of very high end carpet that he was complaining would cost him a lot of money to haul to the landfill. I told him to bring it to my shop - and I wouldn't charge him a dime.

   He did, and I spent a very pleasant - though arduous - afternoon crawling around on my hands and knees with a utility knife cutting it up and putting it in place. Like your installation, my carpet isn't fastened down. It just lies there, and its seams are butted with no mechanical fastening. But it stays in place perfectly well, and I've had no problems with tripping over anything.

   One thing I hadn't anticipated is that it makes the shop signficantly quieter. The carpet absorbs noise that used to bounce off the hard concrete floors.  Of course it's also luxurious to stand on, too. And it helps keep the shop quite a bit warmer; it isolates the slab from the warmth inside so the concrete doesn't act like a huge heat sink.

   The one drawback is that the carpet is an off-white color, so it does show muddy boot marks. But I'm not very concerned with that. And, as you said, the big stuff vacuums up pretty easily.

   In all it is a win-win if you aren't rolling machinery back and forth across the floor all the time. Highly recommended!  Zolton

1. 
   swenson | Apr 18, 2011 03:36pm | #14

   Carpet

   Thanks for the kind words.  I only have one throw rug, the rest are wall to wall carpet scraps left ofer from when I had some replaced.  Not enough to do what you did but enough to pad out the places I stand the most.  The only problem I have is when I try to roll the SnapOn Tool stool from the cement onto the rug while sitting on it, but that is a function of my weight most likely.

   
1. 
   RalphBarker | Apr 21, 2011 05:13pm | #17

   You might try the SnapOn air lift accessory, and a change in diet.  ;-)

1. 
   swenson | Apr 22, 2011 03:58am | #18

   Yeah... diet.

   I have doctors telling me that.  Last visit it went like this:

   Dr.  "You're fat."

   Me: "I want a second opinion."

   Dr.  "OK, you're ugly too."

1. 
   RalphBarker | Apr 22, 2011 08:45am | #19

   doctor's opinions

   Chuckle.