Shop Projects to build skills...

[dbhost]

I've seen and read some of the projects that guys and gals out there do for their shops, that are really just skill builders. I mean really, who needs dovetailed plywood drawers and raised panel doors for shop cabinets when a simple piece of plywood with strap hinges would suffice? So we know we do this, now for the fess up time... What shop projects have you done that helped you build up your skills, or get accustomed to a new piece of equipment?

I am getting there, slowly but surely... Mine so far have been...

#1. Clamp racks. Got me used to new layout on router table. (Double cove profile cut into the cross bars).
#2. Router Table Rolling Cart. Learned to use pocket screw joinery.
#3. Planer Infeed / Outfeed tables. Cutting square cuts on the table saw, planing to exact thickness, routing, biscuit joinery, screw hole counter sinking.
#4. Thien Cyclone. Routing, cutting circles with a router / jig, rabbeting a circle.
#5. Bandsaw resawing jig. Ripping lumber to exact, and small dimensions on the TS, dadoes, cutting slots with the router.
#6. Plywood push stick. Simple little item, got me plenty of practice cutting curves on the band saw, and sanding on the oscillating sander.
#7. Workbench. I know this sounds silly, but accurate crosscuts with the circular saw, ripping with the circular saw and a straight edge.

There are more skill builder projects, but those are the ones I did for the shop. And of course there are more on the way. A lot of the guys here have gorgeous shops, with shop built cabinets and cases that are to die for. I'm not there yet, and I am not saying any sort of jealousy over the cabinets being done, but rather over the skill level you folks show. I know my skills are improving at a good pace, and would improve faster if I had more time, and $$ to dedicate to shop and home projects...

What were your skill builders? What did you learn or improve? and maybe even, can you post up pics? (Yeah I left pics out because everyone has seen them already...)

[jackellis]

Finally, an opportunity to fess up!

I have only limited amounts of time to devote to projects and I tend to be really impatient, which has gotten me in trouble on just about every project I've done. Even so, here's my list:

3 generations of a simple cabinet for storing tools. The first was made using only a tablesaw (BT3) and came out surprisingly well considering it was designed on the fly. Second was made mostly of poor quality scraps and it works, but looks pretty awful. Third is almost complete. Still some mistakes, like different width gaps between drawers, but it looks pretty decent for something that will stay in the shop. I measure and cut better, glue-ups are almost perfectly square, and I learned what to do and what not to do for wooden drawer slides. Drawers have shop-made pulls from tigerwood deck scraps and drawers have false fronts made from ash. I'm not going to edge the plywood carcase, at least not yet.

Push shoe for the table saw.

Several iterations of router fences. One router table extension for the BT3 made of MDF and engineereed flooring that did not work out.

Drill press table that was a disaster. A new one will have to wait for the new shop.

Scrap lumber cart that came out well.

Mobile shelving for LOML. First attempt at a torsion box. Next time I'll use MDF instead of OSB.

File drawer for LOML to store backpacking maps out of scrap walnut ply. Drawer is straight with consistent gap around the edges, slides installed correctly, and walnut edge trim with only minor gaps at the miters. She was happy, so I am too.

Simple (scrap) walnut ply box with walnut trim to protect the kitchen trash bin from a large cat that likes to scrounge midnight snacks. For this project and the map drawer, walnut ply is from a cabinet shop's cutoffs, walnut trim is from a cabinet shop closing sale and cost a few cents per foot.

Box under my table saw aux table for blades, tools, dado blade. There was no convenient place on a wall so I build it from scraps of crap plywood. Includes slide-in holders for blades, shop-made knobs. Pretty ugly but very functional. for shop-made knobs, I now know that I should epoxy the bolts to the knobs.

Pull0-out drawers for the kitchen. Badly designed because the bottom is glued into a rabbet rather than into a dado but they look pretty nice. Ash frame, not sure about the plywood species.

Several iterations of panel sleds. It is much harder to get the fence set precisely than I ever imagined.

Next up, shop cabinets for a new, larger shop now under construction.

[poolhound]

I have a long list of shop projects and tend to do a few inbetween major projects unless there is a jig or fixture I need specifically for what I am building.

Of late I have built a DP table a X-cut sled and a miter sled. No particular new skills needed but accuracy was crucial, especially in the sleds.

Several iterations of panel sleds. It is much harder to get the fence set precisely than I ever imagined.

Jack - I didnt find setting up the sleds to be too difficult. What process did you use?

A project that I keep meaning to get around to is a new router table/cabinet.

When it comes to projects that need new skills or have "interesting" construction, I tend to create a test version in some cheap material first e.g. MDF. I had to do this with my current project for LOML that required some very brain numbing compound angles. I am in the finsihing stages right now so hope to post some pics later in the week.

[dbhost]

Okay, now THAT's honesty! I love it...

Finally, an opportunity to fess up!

I have only limited amounts of time to devote to projects and I tend to be really impatient, which has gotten me in trouble on just about every project I've done. Even so, here's my list:

I resemble that remark, I wonder how many others of us here do too...

3 generations of a simple cabinet for storing tools. The first was made using only a tablesaw (BT3) and came out surprisingly well considering it was designed on the fly. Second was made mostly of poor quality scraps and it works, but looks pretty awful. Third is almost complete. Still some mistakes, like different width gaps between drawers, but it looks pretty decent for something that will stay in the shop. I measure and cut better, glue-ups are almost perfectly square, and I learned what to do and what not to do for wooden drawer slides. Drawers have shop-made pulls from tigerwood deck scraps and drawers have false fronts made from ash. I'm not going to edge the plywood carcase, at least not yet.

Again, why we build the mistakes for the shop. Love to see those drawer pulls though... I think I want to work with making some pulls...

Push shoe for the table saw.

Got a pic? That's actually a project I wanted to work on myself... I figured a simply handle, plywood base, doweled together, and some glued on rubber of some sort for grip...

Several iterations of router fences. One router table extension for the BT3 made of MDF and engineereed flooring that did not work out.

Yeah, been there done that, embarassingly bad results... You know, measure once cut twice, oh rats...

Drill press table that was a disaster. A new one will have to wait for the new shop.

I bought my drill press table from Loring, partially because I wanted to get up and drilling straight holes exactly where I want them without screwing up 3 or 4 tables as I experiment and figure it out...

Scrap lumber cart that came out well.

Sweet...

Mobile shelving for LOML. First attempt at a torsion box. Next time I'll use MDF instead of OSB.

OSB for a torsion box? Got pics? That sounds interesting...

[quote}File drawer for LOML to store backpacking maps out of scrap walnut ply. Drawer is straight with consistent gap around the edges, slides installed correctly, and walnut edge trim with only minor gaps at the miters. She was happy, so I am too.[/quote]

I fuss about the extra stuff in my workshop, I am a camping, hunting, fishing, canoeing, and backpacking fool... I somehow ended up being the guy that has all the extra camping stuff in case somebody doesn't have something. If you can, post up pics of that, and how it works...

for shop-made knobs, I now know that I should epoxy the bolts to the knobs.

Just got into trying to shop make knobs, the results are UGLY... My method is funky, mostly because I am using cheapo hole saws to make the knob blanks, and sanding them down by running a bolt and nut through them as an arbor and chucking them to the DP... I need better hole saws, these Drill Masters are ticking me off bad...

Pull0-out drawers for the kitchen. Badly designed because the bottom is glued into a rabbet rather than into a dado but they look pretty nice. Ash frame, not sure about the plywood species.

Been there, done that, still red faced over that. You wanna see a glue joint fail? Try it with your wife's Pampered Chef cookware on the pull out.. Get's exciting...


[quote}Next up, shop cabinets for a new, larger shop now under construction.[/QUOTE]

Now you are making me jealous...

[crokett]

Hmm.... I guess I haven't built a shop project to build skills, unless you count the drill press cabinet I built 7 years ago. That was one of my earliest projects and got me used to woodworking again after a long absence. Mostly I build a shop project when I need something.

[LCHIEN]

i think there's 4 reaosn for building shop stuff.
1. you need it for a specific project and that project is next
2. You just need it eventually
3. You just want to see if you can design/build it (sometimes using/learning new skills
4. You have the parts for it and just want to use up the parts (e.g. you have to justify buying that expensive router lift last year so you build a router table)

all projects refine your skills, even if you think you have that particular skill. you will encounter new problems, make new mistakes that need correcting, use different materials, etc.

[pelligrini]

One type of shop item that helped me develop some experience are stacking boxes/treys. I've got a set of open metal shelves and I have built several stacks of wood treys for storage. Some out of poplar using a miter lock bit on my router. Another couple sets was to get familiar with my freud box joint blade stack and a box joint jig.

I later used some of box joint tech I learned to make some clamp racks.

[dbhost]

I later used some of box joint tech I learned to make some clamp racks.

I thought I had seen pics of your clamp racks. I don't recall box joints on them. Care to post up a pic or two?

[pelligrini]

I thought I had seen pics of your clamp racks. I don't recall box joints on them. Care to post up a pic or two?

I really didn't use box joints on my new racks, but I used some of the same technology to make them. I made a simple jig that fastened to my SMT fence to cut the repetitive slots for the clamp racks. Some of those boxes/treys can bee seen in the shelving beside them.

[JeffG78]

I needed a workbench in my shop, but could I build something simple? Noooo I found plans in an old Shop Notes and built a big U-shaped workbench with drawers and cabinets. I got to learn how to use my BT3, my router accessory table, and my dado set. I also learned how to build drawers, and panel doors as well as how to make jigs for adjustable shelf holes and drawer/door pulls. I made LOTS of sawdust too! Someday, I hope to use these skills to remodel my kitchen. I'm not quite comfortable enough to tackle the cabinets, so I need to practice on more shop projects.

I've posted them before, but here is my workbench again. Of course, these pics were taken before I moved back into my shop. The pegboard is now full as are all the drawers and cabinets.

[dbhost]

Now see, that is kind of along the lines of what I need to do... Looks great. What material did you use?