My shop like many of you is in my garage.  The main issue with this is that most garages are not made to host our shops that have power and lighting needs above a standard place to just park the car.  My garage originally only contained two flush mount lights and one 15 amp electric receptacle.  Both of these provided many issues.

As for the lighting during the day with both garage doors open I have enough direct sun light to provide a comfortable work environment but as soon as I shut the doors the lighting was far from adequate.  I often found myself moving around my projects to get as much of the direct light from the small flush mounts as I possible could.

The single outlet was not much better of a situation.  Winters tend to be the worst case as my only source of heat is a small electric heater.  If I tried to run the heater and table saw at the same time the breaker would kick.  Not only that but if I tried to run almost any tool and dust collection….the breaker would kick.  The single set of receptacles just didn’t give me enough to plug anything into and I just don’t like the idea of adding splitters.  Not to mention that the 15 amp breaker just could not carry the load required by most of the bigger power tools.

So the question was how far do I want to go and what is important to me?  Lighting for me, I decided, was my biggest issue as it affect me whether I am using power tools or hand tools.  The lighting not only affects building my work but also in documenting it with pictures and video.  I decide on upgrading to florescent lights.  I had several left from a construction office I had a few years ago that worked perfect.  I added two 8′ sections and two 4′ sections to give me a total of twelve florescent bulbs….now that is a lot of light when you are used to working with very little.  

Now, I must say here that I don’t recommend just going into the shop and start wiring…get a professional.  Luckily for me my father is a licensed electrician so it was a quick weekend project for us.  After removing the old flush mount lights we installed the new florescent lights.  The wiring was linked together by conduit.  In all it took us more time to make sure that they were lined up and secured that it did to actually wire the lights together.

To address the issue with the single set of receptacles, we installed a new 20 amp GFCI breaker in the panel box, then came straight down and install two set of receptacles, giving me 4 more places to plug in and I shouldn’t have to worry about running the small electric heater and table saw at the same time.  

It has now been a few weeks since the upgrade and I can’t tell you how much of an improvement it is.  The shop has a much better feel to it and working is just more comfortable.  Until next time…. be safe, learn something, and have fun!  

The following post was written by a good fiend of mine that I have worked with for many years, Laurel Wimmerstedt.  She has a safety consulting company called L.A.W. Safety and provides training, site inspections, and safety plans for contractors, subcontractors, and anyone that needs help in the safety department.  With safety week being this week, I asked her to give her professional advice for woodworkers going onto construction job sites.  As most “professional” woodworkers will tell you there is a big difference between working in a hobbyist wood shop and going out onto a construction site to install your work.  You may be susceptible to OSHA fines and most General Contractors have very stringent safety programs.  If you do decide you are ready to take that next step take on such a project it is important that you understand what is required and budget for it.  I hope you find her post useful and be sure to visit her website for more information at www.law-safety.com or follow on Twitter at @LAWsafe. 

For more information on Safety Week be sure to stop the The Wood Whisperer and be sure and support Marc while you are there by visiting his sponsors.  

BE SAFETY PROACTIVE INSTEAD OF SAFETY REACTIVE… BUT HOW?

Congratulations! Your bid was the winning bid on that big construction project you have had your eye on! You have the building plans printed out, the materials are bought, you have the tools to build it, and your employees are all in place. Are you forgetting anything?

If you are not used to working on construction sites, you probably are forgetting something. But don’t worry, you are not alone! Many contractors aren’t sure what OSHA requires of them. But there are also many more contractors that are being PROACTIVE by researching exactly what they will need before they go on a construction site!

Employers must comply with all applicable OSHA standards as well as the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act which requires employers to keep their workplaces free of serious recognized hazards. Remember! OSHA standards are minimum standards so in order to ensure a safe and healthful workplace for your employees, you might have to go above and beyond the written standards.

Once you have your safety policies written down and you are implementing them, you have conquered half the battle!

So let’s start from the top and discuss what you will need.

A Plan

Everyone needs a plan to make sure you stay on track. Safety is no different. Most General Contractors (GC) today require you to have a safety plan in place before you can begin work. If the GC does not require it, have one anyway! Remember, we’re being PROACTIVE. If OSHA comes onto a construction site, there is a very good chance the Compliance Officer will want to review your written, documented plan. Does this mean you should just make a copy of the OSHA website and add your company name to the title page? Absolutely not!

Your safety manual is a direct reflection of how you and your company think of your employees and their safety. A generic manual that was downloaded from the internet for $19.95 will not convey a safety conscience message very well. But putting a little thought into your policies and procedures show you are actively taking a part I your employees well being. You are creating a company safety culture.

This plan does not have to be 300 pages. It should only include what is required of your scope of work. For example, a landscaper does not need a section on respiratory protection like a painting contractor would need. Only include information that pertains to you and your company.

OSHA standard 1926.21(b)(2) states “The employer shall instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions and the regulations applicable to his work environment to control or eliminate any hazards or other exposure to illness or injury.”

Do you have employees using hand and power tools? If yes, that will be one tab in your safety plan. Ladders? There’s another section. Don’t forget to go through OSHA’s General Safety and Health Provisions since there are some required sections each contractor must have such as reporting injuries and illnesses (recordkeeping) and fire protection.

Once your safety plan is written, don’t keep it a secret! Make sure all your employees have read and understand the company policies and procedures. If they don’t know what you expect of them, how are they supposed to perform to your expectations? It is always a good idea to have a page in the safety plan that emphasizes the company safety policy, or mission statement, signed by the President of the contracting firm with a space for your employee to sign stating he or she has read and understands the plan. Documentation is always a positive thing!

What happens if you are using contract (1099) workers? No matter what, contract workers are your responsibility. They must be treated, in terms of safety, just like a “normal” employee.

Training

As mentioned before, OSHA requires employers to instruct all employees in hazard recognition although OSHA does not always say how this training should take place. It is generally acceptable to conduct “Tool Box Talk” type of training sessions with your employees on most topics. Other OSHA required training will be a bit more in depth. Keep in mind everything should be documented. OSHA will ask you if you have conducted training and if it is not documented, it never happened. It is as simple as that.

Some of the required training topics in construction include Personal Protective Equipment (Subpart E), Fire Protection (Subpart F), Tools – Hand and Power (Subpart I), Electrical (Subpart K), Fall Protection (Subpart M), and Stairways and Ladders (Subpart X). I suggest a separate tab in your safety manual for each of these sections which will detail your policies if they differ from OSHA.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Another section of your safety manual should be Personal Protective Equipment. Keep in mind, OSHA requirements are minimum requirements. If you are working for a GC and they require 100% hard hats at all times, than the stricter provision prevails. If your safety policy states all employees will wear 100% Class E (electrical) hard hats opposed to the Class G (general) that the GC states, than your employees should be following your stricter policy.

All workers on a construction site should be wearing long pants, shirts with at least a 4” sleeve and work boots. The employer is not required to pay for an employee’s ordinary clothing but they are required to pay for hard hats, safety glasses, reflective vests, etc. If an employee intentionally destroys their PPE, the employer is not required to pay for a replacement. Make sure you state this as one of your policies in your safety manual so that all employees understand when they are provided with their personal protective equipment. And don’t forget to document the employee training!

Workers are allowed to provide their own Personal Protective Equipment as long as the employer inspects it and approves it for the specific task at hand. Although, using the example above, if your company policy enforces Class E hard hats, employees must wear Class E hard hats.

Hazard Communication Plan (HazCom)

One of the last required sections of your safety manual is the Hazard Communication Plan. This section must be developed to provide employees with information concerning any chemicals they may be exposed to in the course of their work. All employees must be trained, annually, on specific topics such as necessary personal protective equipment, procedures in case of a spill or other emergency, and where to find a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) in case of an emergency, all before they ever begin to work with a chemical. OSHA recently revised the Hazard Communication Standard to the Globally Harmonized System so there will be some upcoming changes which all companies will have to adhere to.

So this is what your company would need to make sure your employees and your company, are both safe when you first walk onto a construction site. And since you have been proactive, this written plan can go with you on each and every job you win. No need to rewrite anything unless an actual OSHA regulation has changed which means you just need to update the specific section that pertains to your scope of work.

I know there are a lot of companies out there that do not have a sufficient plan, if any, in place when they work on a construction site. But they are gambling with the chance that OSHA won’t catch them. The fines being handed out for contractor non-compliance are getting larger and larger. For instance, a cabinet maker in California was cited for four separate non-compliant issues and was initially fined $43,550. The company did fight the citations and brought the fine down to $12,300 – which is still not a cheap fine. One can only assume that the only reason the company had this fine lowered by over $30,000 was they had a safety program in place and they could prove they were doing everything in their power to ensure a safe workplace.

If you do not have a written company safety plan, there is no argument for you.

If you do not have documented training of your employees, there is no argument for you.

Lack of safety demonstrates to OSHA you are not doing anything that is required of you.

Being reactive to safety doesn’t pay…only being proactive saves you, your company and your employees.

I spent a few hours in the shop continuing on the base of the bench.  With the mortises out of the way, it was time to start cutting the tenons.  I started with the four end rails, 2 on top and 2 on the bottom.  To cut the tenons I first cut the shoulder with my table saw.  This allowed me to cut the depth accurately and give me a good starting point.  To help gage the amount of material that I needed to pair off, I made a few more passes at different points along the tenon to act as depth gages.  After that I simply paired off the waste with a chisel and smoothed out with my shoulder plane.

After cutting the tenons I needed to fit each one as they all needed a little adjustment to fit.  As a mortise and tenon were matched and dry fit, I labeled both parts to ensure that I kept them in order.

Once I had all four rails ready I was tempted to go ahead and glue and set them in place on the leg posts.  This would have been a bad decision as there is still a lot of prep to the legs that will be much easier to accomplish before the glue up begins.  I started on the two left side legs adding the through mortise for the parallel guide and the pilot hole for the leg vise screw.  The  pilot holes for the front and back rail were also drilled at this time into the legs.

Once, the left side legs and rails were ready it was time for glue up.  With the massive tenons and wide shoulders on the rails, the glue up was easy.  I was surprised how little adjustment needed to be made to get it square.  With the left side of the base complete I can start seeing the bench come together.  With just a little more work I will have the right side complete and ready to install the front and back rails.  

Until next time…be safe, learn something, and have fun!

Perfect for keeping track of key measurements

A few months ago while walking around in Home Depot, I noticed that they carry chalkboard, dry erase, and magnetic paint.  My wife and I had been doing a lot of work to our 4 year old daughters room and I thought it would be nice to have a wall in her room that she could draw on.  I have never been a fan of dry erase, specially with kids as they end up leaving the lids off the markers and residue is more prone to get on the carpet than chalk, which will just vacuum up.  And beside, I tend to get a little nostalgic remembering the chalkboards from school growing up.

I decided to paint a small 3′ wide wall on the side of a closet in her room. I used magnetic primer with chalkboard paint over top.  It worked great and she keep magnetic ABC letters to help in her spelling and loves to draw on the wall.

Dry fit of frame

Doing that little project made me start thinking about how useful a chalkboard would be in the shop.  I normally keep a notepad with my sketches and dimensions I am working with on it, but the problem is I am constantly moving it around the shop. I end up walking back and forth constantly checking dimensions.  The chalkboard would allow me to be able to see my notes from anywhere in the shop.  Also, by using the magnetic primer plans can be posted right next to my notes if needed.

For the base of the chalkboard I used a piece of 1/4″ x 2′ x 4′ MDF.  The MDF is perfect because you can buy it already cut to 2′x4′ and it is a really smooth and stable product.  The magnetic primer was applied with a smooth foam roller, I used 3 coats as recommended on the can.  The only negative I noticed with using the magnetic primer was that the paint is really thick and does not smooth out perfectly and leaves a slight texture.  I don’t think that it could be thinned out much because you need a heavy base in order to have enough metallic particles for the magnets to stick too. The chalkboard paint was applied with the same smooth foam roller but it is much thinner and tends to fill in and smooth out.  I sanded between coats to ensure that I had as smooth of a surface as possible and ended with four coats.

Half Lap Joint

Once, the chalkboard paint has dried there is no reason why you can’t just hang it on the wall of the shop and start using it.  I wanted to dress it up a little and it seemed like a good project for some impromptu design on.  I started with some left over maple, decided on the width I wanted for the rails and stiles and started ripping.  For the basic frame structure I used half lap joints to join the rails and stiles together.  Next, a rabbet was cut to recess the chalkboard into the frame.

At this point I had the basic structure of the frame together and just needed to decide on the length to cut the extended legs of the frame.  After playing around with a few ideas I ended with an Asian influenced design with curved ends on the top rail and longer bottom rail.

Close up of a figured section of the maple frame

Once the pieces were all cut I debated on how to join the half laps but in the end decided that gluing the face grains together would give me plenty of strength and would be reinforced by a back strip to hold the chalkboard into the frame.  The top strip on the back is also cut on a bevel so that the frame is attached to the wall as a french cleat.  The accent block over top of the half laps were added as an after though but I think add to the overall look.

Now that the chalkboard has been in the shop for a few weeks, I must say that I love it.  It was great this past weekend while working on the Roubo bench, I was able to make a quick sketch of critical dimensions and be able to reference from anywhere in the shop.  This was a fun little project to build and I highly recommend it for your shop.

As alway… be safe, learn something, and have fun!

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So the bench build has slowed down drastically.  I was making great progress when I received a phone call from my wife while siting on a plane here in Atlanta.  She had fallen on Stone Mountain a local park and torn 3 of the 4 ligaments in her right ankle.  With two girls in the house under 4 it meant no shop time for me for a while. That was almost a month ago and she is recovering well, she is still not recovered but doing much better.

For me this also meaning that I can start getting a little shop time in.  This past weekend I finally spent a few hours getting back to the Roubo build and it felt good. What felt even better was that I knocked out the task that I dread doing more than any other…mortises.  As most of you know I am a big hand tool fan and although I thought I would end up resorting to power tools on this project, I have found that my hand tools are often more effective.  Not when it comes to cutting all of the mortises in the legs though.  I don’t mind chopping out one or two but the twelve required for the legs made me decide to pull out the mortiser.

The mortiser that I have is a Delta of my dads that we carry back and forth between our shops.  It can be slow if you are just cutting one mortise but when chopping out a dozen that most time consuming part is just setup.

When using the mortiser, I always leave just a little material to be taken off with the chisel.  The bit on the mortiser leaves the surface pretty rough and I like to have it as smooth as possible for maximum surface contact with the tenon. After roughing out a good sharp chisel makes easy work of the rest for a nice clean mortise.

Next, I will start on the tenons for the rails.  The irony is though mortises are one of my least favorite tasks…cutting tenons are one of my favorite.  Be sure to check back in next week and I will show you my method for cutting clean and accurate tenons.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to do a tour of Fine Woodworking up in Connecticut.  While I was there Dyami of Penultimate Workshop and I spent some time talking about the future of Modern Woodworkers Association and came up with lots of great ideas.  One of the things we also finalized was completing the design on the T-shirts and setting up a store at CafePress.com.  To visit the Modern Woodworkers Association shop just visit http://cafepress.com/modernwoodworkersassociation

Getting the MWA shirts finialized made me realize that it was time to finally set up a shop for High Rock Woodworking.  I have the store set up and am very happy with how the T-shirts came out with the design.  I hope you like them as much as I do.

High Rock Woodworking’s shop can be found by going to the shop tab above or by visiting http://cafepress.com/highrockwoodworking