New Shop Layout

The project for this week was trying to find a new layout for my small shop that would be more functional. I had my oldest brother Jason helping me this week which was a lot of fun. It's difficult in the first place to have a small shop and when you add on top of that being unorganized it makes it even more difficult. I have been doing several organizational projects lately to make the shop more organized but I needed a better layout. 

Most of the equipment I own has a mobile base of some sort on it which is a necessity in a small shop, but it's no fun to have to move something every time i wanna use it. i also wanted to have all the milling equipment in one area of the shop and make way for an assembly/out-feed table which I desperately need. I am tired of having to work off of my table saw. I also wanted the saw to be more centered in the room instead of off to one side, so that meant extending the short power cable that came on my saw from the factory.

My shop is only 13 feet wide so I am definitely limited in what I can do so I had to sort of move things around to find a layout that would work. One thing I was gonna have to incorporate was the "fourth" wall in my shop(the garage door). Being that I don't raise the door all that often and my jointer being on a mobile base I figured I could use that wall and would free up some other space in the shop. This I think is gonna work out well, by angling my table saw and moving my miter station to the other side of the room I could free up space for my future assembly table. 

I also decided to move some things out of the shop that I didn't necessarily need like my tool box and my cross cutting table which I could store in my out building in case I need them in the future. I also finally decided on a spot for my drill press and band saw which I definitely think help free up some space in my shop. I have plenty of room to move around my saw now. I also cleaned up my scrap area and better organized that instead of having a mess that takes up all that space. 

Overall I had fun this week working with one of my brothers in the shop. It was a lot work, especially having to move things twice, but I think this layout is gonna work  a lot better than before. I have some more organizational projects I wanna get done in the coming weeks and the hope is that it wall all make working in the shop a lot more fun.  It's tough working in a small space but a little thought and organization goes a long ways.

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Pallet Wine Rack

This week's project was a rustic pallet wine rack. My aunt just recently had a birthday and also is getting married soon so I figured this gift would serve two purposes. She has wanted one of these ever since I built one for my mom a while back.

The wood actually came from the pallet that my planer was shipped on. The runners for the pallet were in too rough of shape to use but the slats had great looking rustic character. I made new vertical supports by cutting three pieces of 2x4 at 9 inches.

To recreate the look of typical pallet runners I measured in 1 1/2 from the sides and three inches from the top and cut the notches put with the bandsaw.

Next I subtracted the width of the three 2x4's from one of the slats and then cut it into two equal pieces to make up both shelves that would hold the wine bottles.

Using the Kreg jig I drilled pocket holes into the bottom of the slats and attached them to the three vertical supports with 1 1/4" Kreg screws. I spaced each of them about 1 1/2" from the bottom.

I took time to pre-sand all my boards being sure to remove any splinters, also being careful to maintain the character of the boards. Next, I found two of the boards that were in the best shape to use as the back slats. I pre-drilled holes and counter sunk two inch drywall screws to hold them on. For the front I tried to find the board with the most character in it and I nailed it on with two inch nails.

For the bottom board that would hold the wine glasses I drilled 5/8" holes with a spade bit. I made a mark 2 1/4 inches from the vertical supports and then spaced the holes about every 4 inches. I then used my combo square to draw a line from the outside edge of the holes to the front of the board. Then I cut the slots out using my jigsaw.

I found the vintage label online through a simple google search. I printed it in reverse on a piece of label paper with all the labels removed. The slick surface of the label paper allows the image to be printed without sticking to the paper. Be careful not to smear the image as it's basically just wet ink on the paper. I cut around the image with scissors to get as close as possibly to the image size for placement. Using two inch tape on each end I tape the image down and pressed it into the wood, being careful not to drag the image. Then peal the paper back and you have your image, now it's time to finish.

I had some old spar varnish lying around the shop and decided to use it for this project. I went ahead and applied the finish to the bottom and the top of the wine glass holder before attaching the board with two inch nails. Then I preceded to apply the finish to the rest of the wine rack. the oil finish really brings out the color in the wood and makes the look really pop.

These type of projects are a lot of fun to build and look great once you fill them with bottles and glasses.

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French Cleat Sanding Station

I've been really into the shop organization mode here lately. I find it's a lot more fun to work in my shop when everything is neat and organized instead of searching for the things I need for half an hour. The plan was to build some sort of organizer to house my sander and all the sand paper that goes with it. I also wanted plenty of room for expansion in case I buy more sand paper of different grits in the future. 

The overall dimensions for the box were 26" tall by 6 1/2" wide and 6" deep. The bottom shelf is mounted 1/2 " from the bottom and the top shelf is about 5 1/2" from the top with all the space in between for the sand paper dividers. I spaced the dividers for the sand paper about every 2.5 inches or so, you can space them however far apart you need or want them to be.

I started by cutting the piece for the two sides to the height I wanted the sides to be. I went ahead and cut all the dados while it was still in one piece before splitting into the two sides. This helps by making sure your dados will line up and making less passes on the saw making the dados. You could also use pocket hole joinery to build the cabinet if you like.

Once I had all my dados cut for the shelves I switched back to my regular blade and cut the side into two pieces and while I already had the fence set I cut the 1/4" ply to depth and then reset the fence to cut the width on all the pieces, make sure to take into account the depth of the dados if your using this method of joinery. I cut the back last making sure to take into account the depth of the dados when setting the fence for the width.

I drilled pocket holes in the top shelf before gluing to aid in attaching the cleat to the back of the cabinet. Then glued all the shelves in place and clamped everything together. Once the glue dried I removed clamps and attached the back with a little glue and some brad nails. Next I went ahead pre-drilled two more holes into the back of the cleat to screw into the two sides.

The top shelf was designed to hold the orbital sander and I decided I wanted to make some sort of holder to hang the power cord from. I grabbed a scrap piece of 3/4" pine I had lying around and sketched out the design. I used my band saw to cut it into rough shape and used my new spindle sander to smooth out the saw marks. This was my first time using the new sander and I really enjoyed using it. It should make life much easier as far as sanding goes anyways.

Here is the final product, I was very pleased with the outcome and now have a good way to organize my sanding stuff.

Below is the YouTube video for this project if you would like to see this and other projects be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel, I post videos there ever Saturday. Click here to download the plans for this project: French Cleat Sanding Station

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