Pays to Clean the Shop(long)
Mike G.
>Cleaned my shop today. Had to as I couldn't even turn around in it. started going through buckets and boxes trying to get rid of the detritus collected over the past year or so. Y'all know what I'm talking about, boxes stacked on top of other boxes or buckets of that hardware you just couldn't seem to part with.
I made a firm resolution that if it wasn't a tool or some hardware that was still in it's packaging, out it went. Since I'm a carpenter by trade, I had plenty of hinges, hardware, and locksets scrounged from various jobs.
As I was going through several boxes, throwing a lot of junk out, I ran across 3 hammer heads, one of them an old Plumb, along with a 3 pound spalting hammer. All they need is a little cleanup and some new handles. I also came across a T.H. Witherby 9/16" socketed out cannel gouge. I didn't realize my good fortune until I cleaned it up a bit with some machine oil and 0000 steel wool. The only problem with the gouge, is the previous owner had taken the handle out and beat on the end of the socket with a hammer. Slight mushroom problem here.
A question...Should I try to file the inside of the socket or just cut off the offending mushroomed steel and make the socket a tad shorter?...like a heavy 1/16"
Imagine my good fortune when I unearthed another box and found 3 S. J. Addis gouges, #20, #26, and a #28. After much head scratching and mumbling to my self, it came to me how those gouges got where they were. I was making a box for them and like a few of my projects, it got pushed aside for something more important. I remember putting the gouges into there box so I wouldn't forget what I was building the box for. It was only a matter of time until they became lost and buried under about a year's worth of pack-ratting and hoarding.( I gotta quit doing that!)
My shop still needs some more cleaning, but at least now I can actually get into it and turn around. Did I mention that my present shop is in a small block building about 9' by 8'. Every wall except for the wall where the door is, has shelves and benches with more shelves stacked on top of them...at least as high as the 6 1/2' ceilings allow. I guess my actual work area is about 4' wide by 6' long.
I've been working on building a small bench that I can take apart if need be. I've got the uprights and stretchers made, using sliding dovetails for the joinery, but it still racks somewhat. I'm wondering if a shelf, using sliding dovetails, of course, added about halfway up the legs would help with the racking problem. I'd like to build one like Roy Underhill, that uses M&T with locking wedges, but can't find any drawings or pictures of it. If I recall, he used a locking dovetailed type of M&T with corresponding wedge. It's supposed to be very solid, but can be knocked down if need be.
Mike G. in the foothills of S. Carolina