On today’s show we’ll be discussing lessons learned about hand planing, Popular Woodworking’s new website, setting up shop, as well as our favorite articles, blog posts, and Wood Talk Online Forum posts.

Email us at woodtalkonline@gmail.com or call and leave us a voice mail at 623-242-2450. You can find all three of us on Twitter as @renaissanceWW, @WoodWhisperer or @MBWPodcast . Don’t forget to check out the Wood Talk Online Forum!

What’s on the Bench:

Shannon – What to do with the monster African Mohogany plank and using foam core for a prototype.
Matt – Assembling the Hock shoulder plane kit.
Marc – Moving the shop!

Around the Web:

Pop Woodworking’s new website

Discussion:

Setting up the shop and how our shops constantly evolve.

Around the Web:

- From Daniel Russell sent us this link. Maybe next show we’ll do something similar for woodworking tools. 12 Essential Tools for a Toolbox
- Hawaii’s Woodshow: The 19th annual juried show is April 8-17 in Honolulu.
- WIA 2011 announces dates Sept 30-Oct 2 but only the dates, no news yet on registration, lecturers…more importantly the marketplace.

Common Task Quiz:

- Cutting Miters?
- Cutting Compound Miters?
- Breaking down stock from the mill?
- Fixing an ill fitting mortise and tenon?

Email:

- Ty Allan had a question about hand saws.
- Dr. Daniel Gardner asked for advice on breaking down stock.

In the past, I’ve discussed how shop improvements are never done. As our needs and tool preferences change, the shop has to be able to adjust accordingly. If not, you will likely be faced with an inefficient and potentially unsafe work environment. If you can believe it, its already been over a year since Nicole and I moved into our new house. And for those that don’t know, we are indeed still carrying two mortgages. So the “dream shop” must wait. But until then I will continue to improve this space and make it as comfortable and efficient as possible. This video shows some of the areas I am frustrated with and what I plan to do to improve them.

I also mentioned the Wood Whisperer Guild in the video. If you are interested in joining, you can check out the details here. And don’t forget to visit the new Wood Talk Online Forum!

Here are some links from the past that involve the evolution of my shop:

• Article – Evolution of a Workshop
• Article – My Humble Beginnings
• Video – October 2009 Shop Tour
• Video – A Moving Experience
• Video – Updated Shop Tour
• Video – The King and His Castle

Moving an entire wood shop is no fun. But you can save yourself a lot of back ache if you hire some help. Money well-spent if you ask me. In this episode I show you everything I did to get my shop ready for the road trip. By no means is this meant to be a guide of any sort. Rather, its just a peak into my personal experience. And if you ever have to move your own shop, you’ll know what you’re in for.

In cooperation with Powermatic, we recently filmed 10 “shop tip” videos. The videos are a Powermatic website exclusive, but they are really like a bunch of short Wood Whisperer episodes. In fact, this is almost an updated shop tour, which a bunch of folks have been asking for. And as an added bonus, you get to see my best Zoolander impression! Enjoy!

Whether minor alterations or major rearrangements, my shop has seen its share of modifications. New tools are usually the culprit. You just cant drop a new tool in the middle of the floor. You need to find the perfect spot. Preferably a spot that fits into the shop work flow and is located near an appropriate outlet. For most of us, this is the biggest challenge. Most of our garages and basements are inadequately wired for a shop. But for the viewer who emailed me, there was still time to increase the number of outlets, and that was the advice I gave him.

It is important to recognize the fact that the setup WILL change and you need to be able to adapt. So if possible, its always a good idea to have multiple 220v outlets and numerous 110v outlets throughout your shop. Today, in my own shop, I had a work-flow dilemma. My shop, while generously-sized, has limited wall space. Most walls either have doors, garage doors, or something else in the way. And walls are a natural place to put a large tool. So some of my tools are positioned in the middle of the floor in a group of three. The group in question consisted of a drum sander and a planer sitting perpendicular to one another, and a 14″ bandsaw wedged between them. This worked for a while, but there were two major issues. First, when going from the planer to the drum sander (the usual work-flow), I had to pick up the whole pile of boards and walk around to the other side of the little triad. Once there, I had no place to sit the boards as I sent them through the drum sander one by one.

The fix was rather simple and involved putting the drum sander and planer side by side so the out-feeds were going in the same direction and finding a new home for the bandsaw. So now the drum sanded pieces can rest right on top of the planer and I don’t have to carry them around when moving from one machine to the other. It will probably save me a few seconds per board and makes the whole operation easier and safer. The workflow just makes sense.

Now I have been in this garage for almost 3 years now and none of these tools are new to me. So why did it take this long to come up with an ideal solution? I wish I knew. But the moral to the story is there is no reason to think of our shops as static entities. Our equipment changes, our needs change, our tastes change. Heck, I sometimes like to move things around just for the sake of seeing something different. I find it very inspiring. Just ask my wife who recently came back from a work trip to find our office completely rearranged just for fun.

Smart Shop in a One-Car Garage- Space-saving solutions for a small work area

A Layout Kit for Small Shops- Modeling in two or three dimensions is a lot easier than moving around your heavy machinery to get a shop plan you like. By: John Yurko

Workshop Tour: An Efficient Garage Workshop-With wheel-mounted tools and cabinets, a two-car garage transforms into a versatile workshop

Rock-Solid Plywood Bench-Build this simple but versatile workbench in a weekend for less than $250. And you don’t need a jointer or planer. By: Cecil Braeden

An Island Workshop- A central island for power tools, work surfaces, and dust collection makes the most of this two-car garage shop. With Alan DeVilbiss

All About Lumber Storage

All about Tool Storage