Location: Santa Fe, NM

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Experience: 10+ yrs

Project Name: Benchcrafted Split Top Roubo

Wood Species: Maple with Walnut Accents

Finish Used: Watco Danish Oil / Rennaisance Wax

Project Description:
Got inspired by watching the progress of others on the Festool Owners Group Forums and by watching Shannon’s podcast build. I have been woodworking on and off most of my life, but mostly just small stuff. Always wanted to build a real woodworking bench, and when I saw the Benchcrafted plan, well, the rest just fell into place. I had a hard time finding enough Hard Maple for the bench (very limited supply in Santa Fe at the time), but eventually it all came together. It ended up taking over two months, working nights and weekends. It made me feel good to know that something I made with my own two hands will actually out last me and maybe even my two sons. Maybe my grandson might even get it…who knows?

Wanna build along? Sign up for the Wood Whisperer Guild today!

Location: South Orange, NJ

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Experience: 0-2 yrs

Project Name: Oak Tool Cabinet

Wood Species: quartersawn white oak, maple, ply

Finish Used: Jeff Jewitt’s ‘Mission Oak Finish’ – article available from The Wood Whisperer site. I chose one of the darker looks – Stain with TransTint Brown Mahogany diluted at 1 oz. dye to 2 qt. water; one coat General Finishes SealACell Sealer; one coat Bartley Walnut Gel Stain; and finish with 3 coats General Finishes ArmRSeal Satin Finish.

Project Description:
I’ve got a 1 car garage shop that is only a shop when the wife’s car is not in it. Lots of bench top tools and rolling carts. I’ve been ramping up my skills and tools the last couple of years after discovering Marc, Whispering and the Guild – all which give me inspiration and more importantly – hope.
I’ve built some cedar patio furniture, some small porch tables and lots of napkin holders. Following Marc’s always good advice, I took a one-week ‘beginning woodworker’ class from the nearby Philadelphia Furniture Workshop in the summer of 2009 and had a ball working in a real shop with lots of incredible tools and, most importantly, expert guidance. The result was a great little walnut coffee table and a lot more confidence.
I’ve been wanting to kick it up a notch, so after Santa brought me a 14-inch band saw, I thought I’d tackle a tool cabinet. I’ve always loved mission oak style furniture and have a few antiques around the house to prove it. In this case, that style both fit my needs and my skill set well.
I looked at a lot of tool cabinets and plans online and finally worked out a design that I thought would work for me. Its 30”w x 40”h x 12”d. I picked up some S2S quartersawn white oak from my lumberyard and since I don’t have a jointer, had to make my first jig of the project to cut the other 2 sides square on my table saw. What a wonderful world the web is – everything thing you need to know is just a quick search away – and there’s video!
The carcass and shelves are put together with biscuits. At the bottom sides of the case, I cut some large ‘finger joints’ to add some interest. I put in a number of dowels for looks and in some cases to cover screws or add strength. The hardware is oil rubbed bronze.
The top area has two doors approximately 15” x 30” that are hung on oil rubbed bronze piano hinges. The doors are put together with pocket screws, which can’t be seen because the back of the doors (inside) are covered by a recessed maple tool hanger. The doors open to a shelf and an inner maple door with hanging tool space front and back. Once that swings open, the back wall of the cabinet is also open for hanging tools. Beneath the doors are 8 maple drawers for smaller items. I picked up a Rockler finger joint jig to make the drawers and the tool hanging doors and enjoyed learning to use it.
I found the finishing process to be a lot of fun – not that I knew what I was doing, but that was when all the work really paid off. I am a lot more confident now after viewing Marc’s finishing video and his ‘you and dye’ post. Once the finish was done, I cut a French cleat and hung the cabinet in an open spot on the wall in the shop. I’m still working on hanging all the tools, but that’s for next weekend.

Location: Santa Cruz, CA

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Project Name: A simple, inexpensive router table

Wood Species: MIxed

Finish Used: Minwax Wipe-On Poly

Project Description:
I don’t use a router all that much in my woodworking, but decided that a router table would be helpful for certain jobs. I saw no point in spending hundreds of dollars on a high-end table, and the cheap plastic bench top tables left me cold. With more time to spare than money, I decided to build my own. My wish list was that it be lightweight, small and easy to transport; quick and easy to build; capable of precision work; simple and pleasant to use; and should cost about $50 or less. No sweat.

Most of my work is on the small size–building and repairing stringed instruments, etc., and my shop is tiny. So I was looking for a small, portable table that I could set up outside the shop with a minimum of effort. I decided on a table 21″ x 16 1/2″. It needed to be 14″ tall to allow me to drop the motor out the bottom for bit changes. Since I wasn’t mounting a plunge router, and the motor is easy to remove, I saw no need for a mounting plate. The lack of the plate simplified the setup and would be less prone to warping and vibration. The top was to be made of two sheets of 1/2″ thick MDF board glued together, which is reasonably strong and stable. Since MDF is basically glorified cardboard, it’s weak point is friable edges. So I decided to edge it with 1/4″ thick strips of wood. Before gluing, I cut a disk out of the bottom layer of MDF with a saber saw to just fit the base of my router. That gave me a thinner top for mounting, but with little or no loss of strength.

I made a trip to the local big box store and bought two 24″ x 48″ sheets of 1/2″ MDF for about $17. I splurged on stainless steel nuts and bolts for another $6. A combination outlet with switch, and 8′ extension cord dinged me another $18. Finally I added a stick of kiln dried pine for another $3, and I was all set. Cost was around $45 including tax. I cheated a bit and used a few pieces of hardwood from my scrap bin for making the fence and edging. I had some scrap teak for surrounding the table, a piece of hard maple for the fence, and some scrap black locust for the adjustable faces for the fence. Any stray lumber would have worked, but the woods I had should wear well. I made the knobs by epoxying long nuts into levers I made from some scrap cut-off left over from a laminated banjo neck I had built. A little fancy I suppose, but it works, and my wife likes them.

The simplest fence would be a two by four, jointed flat and square on two sides, clamped to the table. I wanted something a bit better, and easier to adjust. I like the simplicity of a fence pivoting around one end. So I drilled a hole through one end of the fence support and the table top and ran a 4″ carriage bolt through both. On the swinging side, I installed a second carriage bolt through 5″ long arc I routed through the table top using the first hole as a pivot for my router’s circle guide. This gives me about 2 1/2″ of travel at the cutter, which should be enough for any edge routing I do. If I need to rout beyond that limit, I can remove the pivot bolts and clamp the fence to the table as needed. I have plenty of overhang to do this. I routed a mortise under the curved slot and inlaid a piece of 1/2″ thick hardwood to toughen the slot where the carriage bolt rides. I wouldn’t trust the MDF to hold up well without this reinforcement. The adjustable faces are attached to the fence block with #14 round head stainless wood screws. A 1/8 turn loosening of each screw will allow the faces to be adjusted to fit the cutter. A quarter turn of each wing knob will lock everything square to the table.

The only critical joinery is the fence. The bottom of the fence must be dead flat, and the cutter side must be flat and at an exact right angle to the bottom. This can be done on any jointer. Finally, the adjustable faces must be of even thickness throughout. If so, then they will also be square when screwed to the fence.

Since I planned to carry this table around a lot, I eased all edges with a 3/8″ roundover bit to make it easy on the hands. I installed the switch to allow turning the router off and on without reaching under the table. I gave everything several coats of wipe-on poly to seal and harden the MDF. I gave extra coats to the top and added a coat of paste wax.

My Bosch router can be fine adjusted through a hole drilled in the top, but it’s so easy to adjust by reaching under the table, I doubt I will ever bother hunting for the allen wrench. The only problem I’ve encountered with the design is the fence. The adjustable faces stick up above the fence block and can interfere with the turning of the knobs. They only require a quarter turn to lock or release, so they function fine unless you want to completely unscrew them. Either the fence should be higher, or the faces should be lower, or the levers should be smaller or taller to clear. After I use the table a bit more, I’ll decide which is the best way to go.

I put the whole thing together over a weekend. It’s not furniture grade construction, but it doesn’t really need to be. The MDF is glued and screwed to the inner frame, and should easily stand up to hard use. (you build wooden boats that way). It works quite well for my purposes, is precise and easy to use, and was built within my planned budget.

Location: Stratford, CT

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Project Name: Router Table

Wood Species: Birch Ply/Maple/Polar

Finish Used: Standard Stain with General Finish Dye stain, 3 coats of General Finish Wipe On Stain. I also used Shellac on the top.

Project Description:
This was my second project and I needed a good Router table. I wanted to see the effects of different finishes on different woods and what happens if I don’t do the light sanding after the water base stain. I also wanted to practice dovetail, rabbet joinery, inlay (t-tracks for the miter and fence). I also ordered and installed the Jessem Router Lift, which I bought after watching Marc’s router lift segment. Marc was right on with his analysis in my opinion.

As you can see from the full front photo, I fully integrated the dust collection using hose connected to the fence and a pickup from the router cavity. I placed plexi-glass on the door to the cavity and placed a light in there as well that turns on when the router is on. The very bottom door area is for storage. The left side drawers are sideless as I drilled holes to hold the bits. The Top right side drawer is a false front to hold the switch and the 3 lower drawers are half blind dovetails using the MLCS jig.

I learned a lot about finishing, dovetailing, drawer guide mounting and many other techniques as well. Now I have a top-of-the-line table and lessons learned. So as my friends say, this is the most furniture like router table east of the Mississippi.

Location: West Los Angeles, CA

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Wood Species: Pre-finished Maple Plywood

Project Description:
I just finished this miter station. It is a copy of Chris Marshall’s in Woodworkers Journal from the June 2010 issue called the “Ultimate Miter Station.” Chris was very helpful when I had questions. It probably should not have been my first cabinet experience, but I learned quite a bit. I think I will be adding some french cleats to the sides. What I liked most is that there is a dust port that extends out the left side from a hidden channel that runs along the back leading to the base of the saw. The cabinet houses a dedicated shop-vac that turns on whenever I turn on the saw.

It is edge-banded with 3/4 inch maple. I left unfinished due to laziness! It sits on 6 casters, 2 of them lockable. The saw sits on a sled that slides back and forth. The shop-vac underneath has one of those cool outlets from Rockler that powers both when you use the saw. I also use the dust collector you can see in the photo to connect to the port on the side of the cabinet.

P.S. the small gash in the drywall above the saw is from table-saw kick-back. Shhh!!!, don’t tell the wife.

Location: Adelaide, Australia

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Finish Used: Two coats minwax wipe-on poly followed by cabinetmaker’s wax

Wood Species: MDF, ply, hardboard

Project Description:
I had an old workbench that had a steel top so after watching Marc’s torsion box assembly table video, I decided to give building one a crack myself.

The box is primarily made from 1″ MDF and a hardboard layer on the top skin. I also put quite large dog holes to accommodate clamps so it would serve as a multi-function table also. I finished the edges with 1/2″ plywood which made it look great.

Location: Poughkeepsie, NY

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Finish Used: The Finish is something I received from Chris S. from PW. It is 1/3 BLO, 1/3 Varnish, and 1/3 Mineral Spirits and is just wiped on the freshly hand planed wood.

Wood Species: The majority of the wood is Rock Tiger Maple with Cherry Accents. The parallel guide for the leg vise is QS White Oak.

Project Description:
The was my first large project. I made one box before, a storage cabinet, and some radiator covers before diving into this project, but nothing of this magnitude. I used vise hardware from Benchcrafted.com, as well as the plans for the bench.

The inspiration came from a video I watched on The Wood Whisperer site a few years ago. Marc had mentioned it was a right of passage for woodworkers to build a bench and that stuck with me every since.

I met a man who owned a saw mill and he had hundreds of Board Feet of 8/4 Cherry and 8/4 Tiger Hard Maple. I bought hundreds of feet of both and got to it. It was all in rough form so I had to mill every single piece of lumber you see in the project. I have blogged about my building process at TalkFestool.com if anyone is interested in seeing the process in more detail.

Marc, since you have been one of the main factors in me buying the tools necessary to get my shop together, it would be an honor to have my first project shown on your site that has brought inspiration to me and so many others. I honestly watched every video on your site in November 2008. Then in December 2008, I called Grizzly and made 7K order of all the tools in your shop. Some unfortunate circumstances prevented me from even opening the crates until the end of 2009, but I have since got things rolling.

This project also helped me jump into the addiction that is Festool with the purchase of my first Festool tools: a 1400 router and Ct33 dust collection system. I LOVE Festool and will continue to purchase their tools as my budget will allow.

My love for vintage hand tools is what sparked my purchase of some new hand tools. I ordered an entire set of Veritas Bevel up planes and absolutely love them!! I have also purchased a set of Lie Nielsen chisels and a Block plane, as well as their dovetail saw.

I hope this makes it onto your site, which again would be a huge honor!

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Finish Used: Water based poly and wax

Wood Species: Birch plywood and Alder/Cherry trim

Project Description:

The primary variants from your own video and other viewer projects I’ve seen are :

• Designed a rolling open cabinet base using 4 inch poly casters.
• Used birch plywood from HD to reduce weight over MDF.
• Torsion box spacers alternate for easy brad gun use; assembly of base is entirely with confirmat screws and no glue allowing disassembly if ever desired.
• The table is 36 x 72 inches with 32 inch height.

I have been working on designing and building this one for some time. It’s 90% complete and in full production now, just needs paint and some wire looms which I probably will never get, so I figured pics are worth showing. I built this drum sander for three reasons:

1) Sick of using a hand sanders to smooth my end-grain cutting boards.
2) Needed to get consistent thicknesses on cabinet doors and face-frames.
3) I don’t really have a planer to speak of.

The 3rd will probably generate the most controversy, but my design allows me to bite into about 0.040-0.050 inches of wood with each pass without burning the paper. The primary ways I accomplish this is through a lot of power, a variable speed DC gear motor which allows me to creep the wood under the drum at a fixed rate, a large sanding drum to provide more abrasive surface area, and dust collection that prevents material from adhering to the drum. Although I am still considering buying a new lunchbox planer just to save some time and effort, I can feed through 4 or 5 boards at a time. The capacity makes up for the slower speed of sanding something down to size.

The basic design is an 8″ single drum suspended over a granite counter top. I went with a slab of granite that was broken in half at the local home store and talked the manager into letting it go for $20. I then chucked up a diamond wheel in my trusty 4.5″ angle grinder, clamped a steel straight edge to the granite where I wanted to cut it, ran the hose on it, and cut away. This was probably horribly unsafe, but it worked just fine for me. The granite then sits on a grid of 1.25″x1.25″x.1875″ steel square tubing that was welded and ground (relatively) flat.

The table itself is supported in the center by two 12v scissor jacks for motorized lift/lowering. I get about 10″ of travel, which allows me to throw larger things on the table (such as a completed drawer box, for example) and sand the edges all flush for edge banding or whatever. The table moves on 4 linear bearing rails (like you’d find in a CNC machine) to allow for very smooth adjustments up and down. In the end, I think a chained system with lead screws would have been better, even with a hand crank instead of a motorized lift mechanism, but if I ever built a second version, I’d design those in from the start. Anyway, this doesn’t have any specific disadvantages over a geared lead screw system, it’s just more expensive for no good reason. I designed in two digital readouts for the height so I can see where the table is relative to a previous sanding run. While one could get away with only one of them, they were relatively cheap and this allows me to see if the table is raising linearly or whether some micro adjustments are needed to bring it into the same plane as the drum.

The conveyor is a large sanding belt powered by a bodine DC gear motor hooked up to a minarik speed controller. It can move the wood anywhere from 0-20fpm. I frequently use intermediate speeds, depending on how much material I’m sanding off. The quick speed is nice because it allows me to just lightly scuff sand multiple boards in rapid succession. The slow speed is obviously nice because I can leave the table at a fixed distance from the drum and hog off more material by simply feeding the workpiece at a crawl. The belt has tracking adjustments welded to the non-drive side which are simply bolts that tension each side of the shaft. The mounting plates were CNC’d from aluminum to ensure a precise system.

The frame itself was built with recycled steel. I learned to weld on this thing, but my brother-in-law graciously welded most of the critical components since my welds were “too ugly” he said. The wheels are locking casters and definitely undersized now that I’ve added all the steel and granite. They work but I wouldn’t off-road with it.

The drum is a 1.25″ precision shaft. NOTE: if you’re thinking of building your own drum sander, don’t skimp on this part. A round rod will NOT be precise enough to minimize vibration. Get a precision ground rod. If you watch other videos on the internet of home-made drum sanders, a lot of the chattering noises are coming from the out-of-roundness of the drum, which even if you correct through truing the drum, you still have a weight imbalance that imparts vibration into the system). The MDF discs (over 50 of them) were cut with a router (ugh) and epoxied onto the shaft. The drum was then trued by simply raising the moving conveyor belt under the drum before applying the hook side of the Velcro material. The drum was shellac’d to provide better adhesion of the hook side of the Velcro material, then spirally wrapped with 120 grit paper.

The dust “hood” is designed to maximize air velocity through the various entry points. It was made with acrylic (Plexiglas) that was glued together. A scoop on the back comes within a few mils of the drum itself to ensure that all air is pulled from the front side of the drum. It rotates on an axis through the use of a round stainless steel shaft and a piece of DOM tubing welded to the top of the frame. It is easily removed to gain access to the drum bearing mounting plates or the drum itself.

The pressure rollers are indispensable. I got these for $3 each at a local metal recycler. They are conveyor rollers (ironically) and are held in place by a piece of 1/2″ tube welded to a tab. They can be adjusted and they hold the material onto the granite as it passes under the drum. I am thinking of adding a few more on the infeed and outfeed sides. Snipe is non-existent, but I’m sure misalignment might introduce it into the system if I’m not careful. My hope is that more pressure rollers will prevent this.

The motor is a 6.5 HP compressor duty motor. I picked it up at the tractor supply house for just under $200. I was a little suspicious of the power rating but the ammeter confirms (assuming a reasonable efficiency) of up to 25 amp current draw at 220v when under full load. Even if it’s only 4 or 5 hp, it does the trick. I don’t run the sander long enough to need a continuous duty motor, or a TEFC. Originally, I was going to use a 2hp Taiwanese dust collector motor and I’m glad I didn’t. It takes a LOT of power to thickness sand, so more is better.

The “electronics box” is somewhat of a joke. It’s a 6″x6″x0.25″thick, 14″ long square tube with 1/4″ steel plate welded to the tops and bottom. It weighs, by itself, probably 25 lbs. It sort of tops off the whole design with a ridiculous overkill clamshell opening system, and a shipping container latch designed for aerospace. At any rate, it contains the power supplies, ammeter for determining the load on the motor, potentiometers for controlling the speed of the table’s up/down movement as well as the conveyor belt speed, some speed controller boards I soldered up, some switches, and some extraneous touches like power supplies to drive LEDs inside the switches (so I can tell if the motors are on or not).

Anyway, being able to build a full sized raised panel cabinet door or face frame and feed it through is amazing. The dust collection works perfectly when hooked up to a large enough cyclone and the time savings is incredible. I gave it a full commission of work and it didn’t even blink. I don’t know how I ever lived without it at this point. Oh, and for those wondering, my materials cost was just over $1000. The linear bearings and table lift jacks were almost $400 themselves, though, so I’m still convinced it could be done for cheaper. Either way, it’s not an easy undertaking for the non-metal-inclined (though I wouldn’t consider myself much of a metal worker). But if the shop-made wooden drum sanders have you thinking you could do better, I would agree. Enjoy!

I was looking at your site and noticed the article about the workbench. I just finished the heart of my workbench and thought I would share. The bench is made from Douglas Fir and Birch Plywood. The top is layered plywood making it thick and heavy. I am going to add dog holes, vises, drawers and a cabinet door to this bench. I think of it as a craftsman meets a traditional woodsmith bench. It was not really that hard to build. If you look on the internet for a Heavy Duty Workbench you can find the pdf with the plans. The original plans called for MDF and since I don’t like MDF I used birch plywood. I also lowered the shelf to the floor which gives me more room for drawers and a cabinet door later. I used boiled linseed oil on the bench and am going to put something like poly on the top so the plywood will last for a long time. I don’t care if I have to repoly the top. its a workbench not a piece of furniture. Hope this helps someone out there looking to build a heavy workbench the easy way.

Just need a screw gun, table saw and sanding equipment (belt sander, ROS , block sander) and a hand or circular saw. No special tools for this one.

I just started out woodworking in my own little one car garage this year with my new house, though I grew up doing some of this with my dad. I love watching the videos Marc and I hope your new shop gets built soon. I have learned a lot from your show and site. Really made this project easy and fun. Thanks!