Odds & ends

Even a little garage shop like mine is made up of scores of miscellaneous tools, accessories, shelves, and other storage things. Here are a few of the things that round out my shop.

Light. I've tried a variety of different lighting over the years. The shop space had ordinary T12 fluorescent shop lights when we moved in (T12 = 12/8″ = 1½″). I replaced the bulbs with full spectrum bulbs, which helped some. I also added a couple supplemental halogen shop lights at one point, but they burned way too hot for comfort (and they pull a lot of juice).

I recently replaced all the old shop lights in my shop with T5 fluorescent lights, changed the placement so that they are directly over each work area, and added a few more fixtures to ensure good light in all areas. I'm really happy with the much nicer light cast by the T5 bulbs (T5 = 5/8″). My shop is now much brighter and feels more welcoming.

There's some great T5 information at the Lighting Research Center: T5 Fluorescent Systems.

Heat. My shop is in a converted garage. In the summer, it stays nice and cool, and I love to throw open the overhead door as I work to let in the fresh air and for the views of the foothills and pine trees. In winter, it's only marginally heated, and has a cement floor, which really can hold the cold. I tried an oil-filled radiator and a coil heater with a fan; neither did the trick. The Marvin Overhead Quartz Radiant heater does. When it's cool, I turn on one element. When it's cold, I turn on both elements. When it's bitter, I turn on a second one at the other end of the shop.

A radiant heater emits infra-red heat waves that heat objects rather than the air. That means people, tools, and the floor heat up. It's a wonderful heat source. It's apparently available only seasonally. A similar model, but with a built-in halogen lamp was listed on LeeValley.com during the autumn of 2009.

Important caveat! This heater draws a lot of current (at the high setting, it pulls 1375 watts), so make sure the circuits you plug them into are adequate for the task.

Vices. I really like the Record 52½ED bench vice from Sheffield. I use this heavy vice all the time when sanding edges and for many other processes that require another steady hand. It has a very smooth screw action and the fast action makes it a breeze to close with just an additional quick turn or two to tighten. When the piece I'm holding is longer, I simply clamp the other end to the bench using a deep throated, heavy duty bar clamp.

I mounted the vice on the end of the long side of my table, with the back plate behind the table's maple edge. I also added a thick matching maple jaw liner to the the front plate, so I'm clamping between wood surfaces.

I also have a smaller portable version of this vice that I use sometimes when working on lamps.

Unfortunately, since Irwin bought Record, I think their tools are only available in England (52½ED at Amazon UK, Autumn 2009). Lee Valley carries a similar-looking vice manufactured by a "small firm in Europe." It seems to have a more clever quick-release mechanism, but I haven't seen the vise, so can't comment on its quality or action.

Drills and dogs. I usually don't get very excited about drills. I have several corded and cordless drills. They do the job, and that's about as much as I can say about them.

Recently, when I began upgrading my workbench table top, I ordered a variety of round Veritas Bench Dogs, Wonder Dogs, and Bench Anchors (as well as Hold-Downs and Surface Vices). They're all designed to fit in ¾″ holes drilled through the bench top. Having just sweated over adding the new maple top to my bench, I didn't feel like risking boring holes in it with a cheap spade bit, so I purchased a good quality ¾″ HSS brad point. The only problem was that all of my drills are 3/8″ and this bit has a ½″ shank. Well, okay, that's not really a problem … it's an opportunity to get a new tool!

I looked at what was available in ½″ and decided that this was a good opportunity to take a leap and get one of the new Lithium-Ion cordless drills. After doing my usual research I chose the Makita BHP454 18V LXT ½″ Hammer Driver-Drill (every review I read rated it the best of the Li-Ion drills). You can see it below standing on the new table top between a Bench Dog (clamped to the side of the table in a simple maple jig) and a Wonder Dog at the other side of the table.

This is a surprisingly compact and lightweight drill compared to the others I have, but it drilled a ¾″ hole through the 3¾″ table top, which is made up of layers of maple, plywood, and furniture grade particle board, with absolute ease and no runout or wobble. After I had successfully drilled the first hole, I can honestly say that I was, for the first time in my life, thrilled with a drill's performance.

Really nice HSS brad point bit from LeeValley.com, too (they have them in sizes from 5/64″ to 1″).

UPDATE: A few months after first writing about this drill and bit, I drilled another 20 holes in the table, spaced every 6″ along both sides. I am so impressed with this combination! The drilling was totally smooth, and the lines of dog holes came out beautifully. In the meantime, I also picked up the lighter, slightly more compact cousin of this drill—the Makita BHP452—for use in less demanding situations, and I'm just as impressed with it. I paired the drills with a couple Bosch Clic-Change chucks, my favorite quick-change system. Sweet!

I've already been using the Bench Dog and Wonder Dog pictured above to hold the maple legs of a new end table I'm building as I sand them. As usual, excellent quality from Veritas!

Doweling jig. I sometimes use glue dowels for my joints, especially when I'm joining edges. For years I've used a simple doweling jig that was okay, but not quite precise. The last time I used it was to join some maple boards, and I was disappointed enough with the lack of precision that I decided to look around and see if there was anything better available. I found the Dowelmax Precision Joinery System created by longtime Canadian woodworker and retired engineer Jim Lindsay.

At first, the price of the system took my breath away. But as I studied it further I realized that this is a beautifully designed, quite versatile, cleverly engineered tool. So I caught my breath and ordered it. When I opened the box and held the jig, I suspected I had made the correct decision. The jig and its components are impeccably manufactured.

As soon as I had an opportunity to use it, again to do edge joinery on some maple boards, I knew I had made the correct decision. It's very easy to align dowel holes along the entire length of the boards, and the pieces aligned beautifully when I glued them up. I paired it with one of the excellent HSS brad point bits from LeeValley.com. I look forward to using the jig in all of its many other configurations over the coming years.

Planer. The Makita 2012NB 12″ is the only planer I've used, so I can't make a comparison to other brands. All I can say is that it's easy to use, produces clean cuts, and features easily replaceable HSS blades. I'm not a big fan of spending a lot of my time sharpening blades, so that's a plus for me (the blades are two-sided so one set lasts quite a long time).

It does produce a bit of snipe at the leading and tail ends of the board (it takes a tiny bit deeper cut off the leading 2″ or so, as well as about 1″ off the tail. That doesn't bother me, but if you're concerned about that, there are a couple newer portable planers that claim to have further reduced snipe using a "head lock" feature. For more information about snipe, see page 5 of the Technical Information sheet for the 2012NB (PDF).

Storage. You can never have enough clamps and you can never have enough shelves and drawers to store things!

I built a lot of wooden shelves for my workshop, but I didn't know how to solve the drawer challenge cost (or time) effectively until I came across these steel drawers at Lee Valley. Until then, I had tons of lidded cardboard boxes, which work, but break down after a couple years of use. These drawers provided a wonderful solution, and I now have 40 of them in different sizes (1″, 2″, and 3″ deep) around my shop, most mounted on the rolling stands for my bigger power tools.

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I use them to store the assortment of little things that make a shop a home, especially all the odds 'n ends that accrue over a couple decades of doing projects, and that make it possible to do or repair almost anything without having to run to a hardware store. I marked many of the drawers with a drawing of what they contain. I find it easier to find the right drawer with an image rather than words.

The drawers are simple to install: you just use a circular or table saw to create grooves in a couple pieces of wood, and the drawers slide in those grooves. Nothing fancy, but they sure do the trick. Unfortunately, I can't find them on Lee Valley's site now, so maybe they've discontinued them, which would be a shame. Perhaps they'll carry them again sometime in the future.

Hey! Toolbox trays are back in stock at Lee Valley! (Aug 2010)

The Zometool. What's this doing in a list of woodworking tools? Well, I use this fun physical 3-D modeling tool to make models of my lamps. www.Zometool.com

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