kosta's workshop

Step Stool Project Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:35:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody this is the first post of 2012 and I just wanted to let everybody know what has been going on. I haven't really been in the shop since before Christmas because I spent some time in Baltimore and I really just haven't had the time. This weekend I want to get out there and work on the Mahogany Step Stool. When I stopped for winter break I had the curve layed out on the bottom of each side panel. So basically the hardest part is done all I have to do is cut the curve out. After I cut the curve out I am going to start working on the 2 steps. All I really have to do is cut them to size. So thats the game plan for this weekend. I will turn on the live shop webcam when I am out there so you can either check the live page on my blog or follow me on twitter where I post a link to the live page when I do go live. See you guys later

Step Stool Project #2

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:22:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is part 2 of the step stool project series. When I posted the Step Stool Project #1 last week the only thing that I had done was cut out all the parts. Since then I have glued up the two side panels. After I glued them up I flattened both faces with a card scraper and a random orbit sander. Flattening the panels really didn't take that long because I did a good job gluing everything up. If you glue a panel up really sloppy its going to take you a while to flatten it. So its really important that when you glue up a panel that you take your time and get everything as flat as possible. It took me a while to learn that lol.

After I flattened the side panels I trimmed up the ends with a flush trim bit in my plunge router. This weekend I took over 2 hours of video footage. I have already edited all of the good footage down to about 20 minutes of video. So everything that I just talked about is on camera and I will be posting the first part to this step stool series in the next few weeks. One last thing is on Wednesday I got the Ridgid belt/oscillating spindle sander from home depot. I really haven't used it that much but so far it seems like a good machine. After I use this belt/ spindle sander more I will do a video review on it. Here are some pictures. See you guys later and Merry Christmas.

Step Stool Project #1

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:04:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody I started working on a new project. It is a step stool made out of 5/4 Santos Mahogany. I have already milled up all of the parts so I'm hoping by the end of the week I will have cut out the curves on the top and bottom of each side piece. I don't know exactly what each curve is going to look like but I am going to make a few templates out of some hardboard and see what shape I like.

I am filming this project so the first part of the series should be out sometime before Christmas. The step stool is gonna be about 10 inches wide 15 inches tall and 15 inches deep. Something like this is not a very hard project and it will look pretty simple but you add a few curves and some router profiles and it can look really nice. Here is a picture of the piece of mahogany that I am using for this project. I will post another update on this project later in the week.

Shop Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:17:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is this weeks shop update. I just got back from New York on Saturday and today I am going to spend some time in the shop. A few weeks ago I added some new shelves underneath the bench along the back wall of the shop. I have a lot more storage space now and that really helps out a lot.

One of the things that I have been working on for a few weeks is to raise up my tablesaw, outfeed table, and my bench in the middle of the shop. I wanted to use my bench as an outfeed table because I really didn't have that much outfeed space before. So I laminated 2 pieces of 5/8 in OSB and I glued them to the top of the bench and outfeed table. Now I have about 6 feet of outfeed space behind the tablesaw blade so its much easier to cut longer boards. One of the reasons why I use OSB is because it is pretty cheap you can get a 4x8 sheet for $8- $15 depending on the thickness. For OSB as long as you protect the edges it usually holds up pretty good. I used OSB for all the bench tops and shelves in my shop and I have never had a problem.

Shop Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:43:00 +0000

Yo whats up everbody here is this weeks shop update. This last week I have been sick and I hadn't been out in the shop until saturday. On Saturday I cleaned the shop which took longer than it usually does because I took my peg board down and set up a large white board in its place. It took a total of about 5 hours to clean the shop. I don't clean my shop that much but usually when I start to loose things because of the mess I will clean the shop. Usually it doesn't take more than an hour to clean the shop as long as nothing breaks or I have any kind of problem. My shop time the last few months has been on and off and this next week will probably be the same. I would like to get out to the shop Monday so I can finish up this last pencil holder and start working on the small shelf that I started designing last week but sometimes I just don't have the time. Seeing that its getting colder outside I usually get more time in the shop. I am going write a blog post about the project after I finish the final design which should be no later than Wednesday.

I moved the pegboard over to the side wall and I put the new white board in its place on the back wall.

Shop Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:20:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is this weeks shop update. I started working on 2 more purple heart pencil holders on Saturday. As of now I am working on 3 purple heart pencil holders 1 that I started 2 weeks ago and the 2 that I started on Saturday. The first one that I started labor day weekend is almost done I just have to glue it up and then put one last coat of polyurethane on it. The 2 pencil holders that I started this weekend I still have to finish sand the bases and glue up the boxes. I got the majority of the work done this weekend so it shouldn't take more than 4 days to have these finished up. I put on 4 to 6 coats of thinned down polyurethane and you have to let each coat dry about 3- 4 hours so thats why it takes a few days.

I mentioned last weekend that I started designing a small shelf but I really haven't gotten a chance to work on it since then but I am gonna try to work on it next week. I have been in the shop more this last week than I have in a while and sometimes when I am out there I turn on the ustream camera. Here is a link to the live page on my blog http://kostasworkshop.blogspot.com/p/kostas-workshop-live-page.html. I usually will post a link to twitter too and that link takes you directly to the ustream site.

I changed my bandsaw blade this weekend and I don't think people realize how dull their blades get until to put the dull blade next to a brand sharpened blade. By the way woodcraft has a 20% off sale on Olson bandsaw blades. I have never used one of these blades before but I will probably head over to woodcraft and try one out.

Shop Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:21:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is this weeks shop update. I spent some time in the shop yesterday I worked on the purple heart pencil holder that I started working on a few weeks ago. I have a ustream app on my phone that lets me broadcast from my shop without a computer which is nice. I have a ustream page on my blog with the live broadcast video player on it. So you can go on that page to see me on ustream. Most of the time when I start broadcasting I will post a link of the broadcast page to twitter but sometimes I forget.

I started designing my latest project which is a small wall shelf. I haven't really figured out the final design yet but I have a pretty good idea of the dimensions and I know it will have 2 maybe 3 shelves. I am probably gonna use gray elm for this project because its a small project and I haven't worked with any type of elm before. When I am working with a new wood I usually like to build a pencil holder or a small project out it just so I know how to work with it when I build a bigger project. The 2 main areas people have problems in is joinery and finishing because every species of wood moves and reacts differently. Something that might work great when your using popular might not work the same when you are using maple. So that's just something to keep in mind. I will be filming this wall shelf but it might be a few weeks until the first part comes out. If you don't follow me on twitter here is a link to my twitter page. See you guys later.

Tree Removal

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:52:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody during the hurricane last weekend a set of trees in my back yard fell over and on Sunday I cut them out. It took about 8 hours because when I started I was by my self using a handsaw to cut the branches. A few hours later I got some help and the chain saw showed up so I could start piecing down the main part of the trunk. I cut up some of the wood to use as firewood and I saved a few logs in the shop but most of the trees ended up getting mulched back into the ground.

When the trees fell they took the stump with them. When this happens the weight of the tree is holding the stump out of the ground so as soon as you start cutting the trunk you have a good chance of the rest of the tree which is attached to the stump to fly up in the air. It happens really fast and the last thing you want is to get hit in the face with that tree.

As you can see the tree righted it self after the majority of the tree had been removed.

You can see how many trees when into one stump and thats probably the reason why the tree fell in the first place.

After we cut the tree down we put the smaller branches into a chipper and that turned them into mulch.

Most of these logs were cut up into firewood but I did save the 2 in the front. Right now they are sitting in my shop and some time this week I am going to cut them into boards and let them dry. I also saved some other smaller logs to use as bowl blanks for a lathe.

Shop Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 05:59:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is this weeks shop update. This week I started working on another pencil holder. This one is being built out of purple heart. So far I have cut the round over profile on the base and I have put on 3 coats of thinned down polyurethane. I use semi gloss polyurethane and its a heavy finish so the majority of the time its not going to come out smooth so what I do is I use mineral spirits and thin the finish down to about 75% polyurethane and 25% mineral spirits. It takes about 2 extra coats but it goes on much thinner and the finish is much smoother. I went over how to build a pencil holder just like this one in Episode 87 Pencil Holders.

Episode 89 Shop Tour

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:06:00 +0000

In this episode I give you a tour around my garage shop. Here is the link to the shop bench series

I'm Back

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 04:38:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody i'm back. I know I have said this before but this time i'm back for real. This last year I was busier than I thought I was going to be and after the saw dust chronicles build challenge I really wasn't in the shop that much. I don't do this for a living so if I don't want to go out to the shop then there's really no point in me going out there. The other problem is when your busy you really don't have time to spend the whole afternoon in the shop but like I said for the most part i'm back. I will be fully back when I start working on another project. hahaha.

Last week I got out to the shop for the first time in a few months and I did some filming for my shop tour video. I am about halfway through the filming of this video. I should be finishing up filming in the next few days and the shop tour video should be out by the end of the week. As of right now I don't have any upcoming projects but that will probably change in the next few weeks. I am also gonna start posting more blog posts. I know before this one it has been over a month since the last blog post. So that's something I am going to start working on. If you scroll down on the left there is a box where you can subscribe to my blog. You can also follow me on twitter @kostabklyn.

Jet Dust Collector

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:38:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody I am upgrading my dust collection system and I got a new dust collector last weekend from woodcraft. I got the Jet DC-650 dust collector. I got it on Saturday and set it up Saturday night. So far I havent used it that much but overall it seems like a decent dust collector. I ended up buying a 10ft flex hose from woodcraft and for now I am just going to wheel this dust collector around to what ever tool I need to use it at. You really cant hook up a 1 HP dust collector to a 4 in duct work line because there really isnt enough suction. But when you hook it up to one tool at a time its gonna get almost all the dust. The one thing that I do really like is the 30 micron filter bag. A human hair is 100 microns so as long as the filter bag is set up properly none of the dust should get through and back into the shop. This dust collector also has a window on the bag so that you can see how much dust has been collected. I am going to do a full review on this dust collector after I have used it for a little while.

Block Plane Clean up

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 03:30:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody on Sunday night I spent some time cleaning up one of my block planes. I got this block plane from my grandfathers shop about 2 years ago. I have used this plane before but it was never really tuned up right. So I decided to clean it up. After I took the blade off. I used some WD-40 to clean the sole of the plane. Then I used some 220 grit sand paper to flatten the sole. Usually you wouldn't use something that rough to flatten a hand plane sole but when you have a lot of metal to take off its easier to start with a coarser grit. After the 220 grit sand paper I used some 400 grit sand paper. Some people will tell you to go up to a much higher grit with sand paper then go to water stones but for what I have I usually stop around 400 grit sand paper.

For the blade I used my bench grinder to cut a new bevel. Then I used 400 grit sand paper. Then I used my 2,000 grit water stone to flatten the back and refine the bevel.

There are a lot of opinions out there on how to sharpen a hand plane blade but when it comes down to it depending on how your going to use the tool depends on how you are going to sharpen it. I never used a hand plane to get a finished surface I use either a card scraper or sand paper so having the blade honed with a 16,000 grit water stone really isn't that important to me. If there is a lot of material that needs to be removed then I will use a hand plane then my card scraper then sand paper and that is what has worked good for me over the last few years.

At the end I took some minwax paste wax and put some on the sole of the plane. The first few passes you make after you wax the plane will be really slippery because of the new wax. After about 10 passes the plane will still be slick but it wouldn't be flying out of your hands. Other than the front hand screw missing this is a decent block plane. I went over how to clean up a cast iron surface in Episode 88 Cast Iron Rehab

Shop Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:27:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is this weeks shop update. This week I have been working on some more pencil holders. I am finishing up 3 new pencil holders that need to be done by thursday. I started working on about 3 different blog posts and I finished typing them up but then I realized that I forgot to take pictures when I was in the shop. So since then I haven't had the time to redo what I did so I can take pictures. One of the blog posts is going over some work I did on my no.4 smoother last Sunday.

I am also working on the shop tour video but for right now part of my shop is being used so I have to wait for that area to be cleaned up so I can make my shop look nice and pretty. lol Most people do shop tour videos right after they clean their shop because except for the 10 minutes after your done cleaning most woodworkers shops dont look anything like they do in their shop tour videos. But shops are made to do work in not look pretty. I think thats something a lot of guys forget but I should be posting the shop tour video sometime next week so check for that. I post links on my twitter page when I put new blog posts out so you can follow me on twitter or subscribe to my blog on the left side of the page.

Shop Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Sat, 28 May 2011 21:50:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is this weeks shop update. This week I have been working on mostly computer stuff. I am working on backing up my pictures and video. I have also been working on the layout of my shop. In the last video episode I said I was going to post shop tour video at the time I had already started filming some of it but I decided that I should probably wait until I figure out exactly where I want to put everything. I realized after I got my jointer set up that I would need more room along the side wall of the shop so I have to move my miter saw and router table so I have enough clearance after the jointer bed. I am also working on a separate blog series about shop layout. The first part of that series should be out sometime in the next week. Here are some pictures of what the shop looks like right now.

Episode 88 Cast Iron Rehab

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Tue, 24 May 2011 00:16:00 +0000

In this episode I go over how to clean up a cast iron surface.

Dust Collection System

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Sun, 22 May 2011 01:53:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is the write up of the dust collection system I have set up in my shop. I worked on this dust collection system with my grandfather last weekend and its working out pretty good. I have tried to control the dust in my shop before but it never really worked because my shop vacs could never handle all the dust. This dust collection system is set up to be mostly used for the bandsaw and jointer. In the future I might extend the pipe farther down the wall to my miter saw and router table. For now I am going to use the 2 shop vacs that I already have for the smaller tools.

This is the dust collection housing for the jointer.The hose is at the bottom of the chute that comes out from underneath the cutter head.

This is the dust collection setup for the bandsaw. The magnet holds the hose to the base of the bandsaw and the hose sits directly underneath the blade.

Here is a close up of the bandsaw dust collection. When you collect the dust from the source like this you really reduce the amount of dust in the air.

This pipe is where you connect the flex hose from the machine to the dust collector. This is a 4 in pvc pipe that gets reduced down to 2-1/2 inches. Most dust collection set ups have either a 4 in or 6 in main line that gets reduced down to either 4 in or 2-1/2 flex hose at each tool.

Here is the dust collector it has a 55 gallon drum so it has a lot of capacity.

Maple Pencil Holders

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Sun, 15 May 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is the project post for the maple pencil holders I built in Episode 87. These maple pencil holders took a few months to work on because I have been working on other stuff in the shop since I started them. I made a total of 10 pencil holders and they are really not that hard to make once you set your tools up. Each pencil holder has 2 main parts the base with a roundover profile on each side, and the box that sits on top of the base. The box is 4 1/4in thick pieces with miters that are glued together. One of the problems I had when I first started working on these pencil holders was when I would sand the inside of the box after I glued it up. I cut my hand on the end grain of the box about 10 different times. Most of the time I would catch it and tape up the cut but I didn't realize I was bleeding a few times and I had to throw some boxes out because of the blood stains. Other than that I really didn't have any problems with this project. Originally I was gonna stain both the box and the base but I decided to just use polyurathane on the box and stain the base with a minwax walnut stain.

Shop Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:42:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is this weeks shop update. This week I started working on some of the tools I brought down from baltimore.

Here is my grandfathers old dust collector. This is a really nice dust collector because it has a high capacity and fits into a small area.

This is a delta rockwell 14 in bandsaw.Overall this bandsaw was in pretty good shape I spend some time cleaning off the top but other than that I havent had any problems with it so far. Right now I am not sure exactly were I am going to put this bandsaw because I still have to figure out how I want to run the dust collection in my shop. Dust collection and electrical outlets and make the difference of were you put the tools in your shop because you don't want to have 4 in flex hose all over the floor in your shop sooner or later your going to trip and fall.

And here is this 10 in jointer. This jointer is huge and weights about 400 lbs. Out of all the tools this was the hardest to move around just because of its size and weight. You can see that blueish color on the front this is a rust remover that I sprayed on. After it drys I am going to paint over the rust with a new coat of paint. This jointer had a lot of rust on the base but the top and fence were in pretty good shape. I am working on a video called cast iron rehab which is were I show how to clean up cast iron surfaces. That video should be out sometime next week for those of you asking when I am going to put another video episode out.

Shop Update

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 22:31:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is this weeks shop update. This week I have started cleaning out my shop. I removed some plastic storage racks and threw out a lot of shit that was just sitting around collecting dust. I used to really like these plastic storage racks but I am starting to really hate them now because they take up a lot of space and they really just don't work too good for a shop. I might end up using one of these for lumber storage but for right now I'm not sure what I am going to do with them. One of the questions I get a lot is about shop storage so I'm gonna do a episode on general shop storage sometime in the next few months. Tonight I am going to Baltimore for a few days. I am going to be bringing some stuff back from my grandfathers shop. With the new tools coming from my grandfathers shop I have to redo the setup so that I can actually use them without other stuff getting in the way. The way my shop is setup now is for smaller tools that kinda have their own area. The way I am going to set it up is more for work flow and for out feed support using other tools. I will go into more detail about my shop set up in the shop tour video that I am going to work on later this month. Here are some pictures of the shop.

Shop Electrical Work

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:51:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is an overview on the new electrical work I got done in the shop last week. Here are some of the pictures of the work

I got a sub panel put in next to the main panel so that I would have enough power to run 220 outlets.

I got 2 new 8ft fluorescent lights at each end of the shop. These lights have individual switches on the back wall of the shop.

I got 2x20ft power cord reels installed on the celling of the shop. These are really nice because I can get power to any part of the garage and not have to run an extension cord. You can see the 2 orange extension cords right above the garage door motor. This picture was taken before I took them down but as you can see its not really a good set up. The old extension cords I had were in a fixed position so you really couldnt move them out of the way. With these power cord reels I can retract the cord back into the housing and get it out of the way.

This is one of the 220 outlets and a new outlet underneath it. These new outlets are replacing the power strips that I had on the floor. There are a total of 2x220 outlets and 4x110 4 prong outlets.

Episode 87 Pencil Holders

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:27:00 +0000

This is the first real HD video I have put out. This video is a much higher quality than any other video I have put out. In this episode I build maple pencil holders. I started out with making the bases which have a round over profile on each side. Then I used my tablesaw to re saw a piece of 3/4 maple to use for the box that sits on the base.

Shop Bench Part 3

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:16:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is the final part of the shop bench series.

After I put the shelf in place I realized that I needed more storage for smaller things. If you are storing router bits you dont need a shelf space thats 19 in tall. What I did was I cut 4 2x4s to 9 in tall and cut dados 7 inches up from the bottom. Then I cut out a piece of OSB to fit inside the bench. I basically built a shelf to sit on a shelf so that I have more storage.

I added a light thats connected to a foot switch under the bench so that I can see what I am looking for. Most of the time when I am in my shop its at night so even with all the lights turned on it would be really hard to find what I am looking for under the bench without a light.

Heres what the bench looks like as of tonight. This bench comes off the wall 2 ft which for some people they would say thats not wide enough but for me I would rather have space length wise so that I have room to work. Most of the stuff on this bench right now is being stained or finished so when your working on a smaller bench and all your stuff is closer together you have a higher chance of something getting messed up. So far I only enclosed the first 2 shelf sections on the left. I am leaving the 2 on the right open for now but I might close them up with some of the extra OSB thats stored behind the bench on the left.

Shop Bench Part 2

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:54:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody here is part 2 of the shop bench series. This is going to be part 2 of 3 for this blog series. Originally I was going to make this a project post but I havent gone into a lot of detail on this bench before so this is now a blog series.

After I put the top in place I had to screw it to the 2x4s that were holding all the leg frames together. I used a hammer drill to pre drill all the holes. I used 2 in coarse threaded screws. You want to make sure that you have your top clamped in place so that as you screw it in place it doesnt move around.

After I screwed the top in place I used my plunge router with a flush trim bit to flush up the front edge. OSB actually cuts pretty clean if you push the router slowly. The saw dust from OSB, plywood, particle board, and MDF are really slippery so you really want to watch where you are walking. After I was done routing the I felt like I was standing on ice.

I had to do some light sanding on this edge but you can see its pretty clean. Some people might want to cover up the OSB edge at the top cause if you hit it with something you can mess the top up. I havent had any problems so far but if the top gets messed up cause of that edge then I am going to put a piece of trim across the top edge of the bench.

OSB is a pretty good material to use for the top of a bench cause it will stay much flatter then plywood and its cheap to replace. This 4x8 sheet of OSB cost me $15 a 4x8 sheet of plywood costs $48 and plywood is nowhere near as flat as this sheet of OSB was. The only problem that I can see with using OSB is that the edges are not very strong but other than that it works pretty good.

Shop Bench Part 1

kostasworkshop@gmail.com (kosta) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:48:00 +0000

Yo whats up everybody I wanted to do a project post on the bench I built along the back wall of my shop. I finished the bench about 6 weeks ago and so far I haven't had any problems with it. I built the bench out of 2x4s and 5/8 OSB. The final bench is 12 ft long 24 in wide and 34 in tall. When you are building a bench you want it to be around your waist height. The taller you are the taller the bench should be. Im 6'1 so any bench under 30 in would be too small. The first thing I did was build 5 frames that were 24 in wide and 32 in tall. I put 2 brace pieces 18 in off the ground on each frame. I used nails and wood glue to put these frames together.

I jointed each 2x4 that sits on top of the frames. I had to cut 15 2x4s instead of using 3 long ones because the longer 2x4s weren't lining up right with the edge of the frames. When your jointing construction grade wood like this you really want to make sure there aren't any nails or anything like that in the wood.

After I put all the 2x4s in place I added the shelf. The shelf sits on the 2x4 brace pieces on each frame. After I put the shelf in place this bench wasn't moving at all. The shelf and the 2x4s at the top hold the braces together so that they can move around and make the bench unstable. One of the things thats really important is to make sure that everything thats supposed to be square is. If your parts aren't square to begin with there not going to be square to end with.