The whole point of workshop tips is to find a better way of doing things and to share these ideas. What happens a LOT to me, and other Subscribers see these tips and they (or me) often come up with improvements or other ideas that leads to other interesting ideas and suggestion. I know that some of the ideas I get are not actually tested by some that send them, I know this because they tell me that, but I test everything before I publish it.
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/U3k2TgBMMBw
My testing might not be intensive, but I do need to build, modify or otherwise test out all of these suggestions, which of course takes time, and once in a while I find things that either don't work, or maybe not that well or that I think are not necessarily recommended or might even be somewhat unsafe ...
And of course, I disclose all of this during the videos to the best of my ability, and most of the time I am correct, but a few things "fall through the cracks" because I am not always given ALL the details of some things, which in certain circumstances happen to be critical information.
Some suggestions are quite complex or require a significant investment on my part, for something that is a duplication of something I already have and uses, or it might be something that just doesn't fit my current shop and set-up and although some of these are good ideas, it's just not something I can easily jump into.
Such was the case with an idea sent to me quite some time ago from Colin in Victoria, about using an Ironing Board as an outfeed table. I always thought this was a good idea, and kept my eye out for an inexpensive "used" ironing board, but never seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and of course, we do HAVE our own ironing board in the house but I didn't want to have to take all the sewn-on paraphernalia off it for a quick 4-minute clip.
But then something changed and I was afforded an easy access ironing board for this clip, I was a wee bit leery that it might be a bit wobbly, and it is, but that can be fixed but on the whole, it worked great. Easy to set up, easy to store, inexpensive, and hey, if you need to iron a shirt ... there ya go.
Thank Colin, for finally getting around to your tip 😊
The next tip came from Bob, who suggested taking pictures of measurements with his phone so he can easily remember lengths. At the outset, when I first thought about this and mentally noted that I often just jot numbers down on the wood with a pencil ... then I remembered how many times I ended up fishing around in the scrap wood bin looking for the cut-off piece that held the measurement I wrote on it, then chucked-out. Not only that, but sometimes builds are more complicated, and having an image to look at can be priceless. I use my phone in the shop EVERY DAY. It has become a valued tool, I just don't think about it anymore.
Jon sent in this tip about cutting holes with a hole saw. Now I have already mentioned this somewhere in the past, but this is an important tip so it's worth covering one more time quickly. Jon says to get nice clean edges, drill through the top partway, then flip the board over, and using the existing hole for the center of the hole saw, drill down from is now the back of the hole. This almost always results in a much cleaner hole with virtually no tear-out.
One thing that helps a LOT is to drill some "dust relief" holes on the inside (or outside depending on the project) to help allow the hole saw to make cutting easier and less burning.
This tip is from Michael ... who might be the "king of tips". He sent many, many tips that I have shown you and there are still more I haven't got to yet. This was another awkward one for me to try and replicate, but a simple idea that works great. Michael has some high shelving, hard to reach things so he uses cable ties as "grab lines" to help grab the bins that are up high and then pull them down into reach. I should note his bins are solid plastic, but all he does is drill a small hole, only large enough for the tail to fit through and the locking nub stays securely inside the bin. Quick and easy ... thanks, Michael.
This tip came from (another) Bob and was a tip I struggle with for quite some time, on how to replicate this idea without spending hours on something I would not use. Bob's idea was to extend the bar on his miter gauge, and at the same time give the miter gauge that "T" locking advantage that so many have. After some searching I found (what I believed) was the perfect piece of metal to fit my old miter gauge ... alas, when I tried it the metal was the right thickness but too wide to fit in the T slot of my miter slot. It's pretty easy to see how this would work and why it would be a useful addition to a miter gauge, but like me, many people would struggle to make something like this that fits.
One alternative to Bob's idea is to make your own, shop-made miter gauge with a plastic miter bar. All this one does is make perfectly straight cuts, but they are wider than what I can do with my sliding miter. I never have to adjust it, it works perfectly every time and is quick and easy to use.
It's not exactly what Bob has and both of these ideas have their pros and cons, Bob's idea can work on an angle too, which mine cannot, so anyone who wants to extend the bar on their miter gauge, AND cut angles, Bob's idea is a better one.
The article and video for my version are here ... http://bit.ly/2n24w6U
And last but not least was Steven's tip about using a "hanging toiletries bag" in the workshop for storing all sorts of smaller items, tools, hardware, wood chunks, you name it. Another good idea, not something that would work in my shop, and sadly, I have looked for a used one of these but have been unable to find anything so I can only settle for pictures to show you what Steven had in mind.
Click the picture to see this on Amazon
Thanks, Steven, I'm sure others will have better luck finding one of these or maybe even have an old one that will work in their shop and save a lot of space and make an easy place to find things.
Thanks all for your idea
Copyright Colin Knecht
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