I’ve been cleaning. The shop has been intimidatingly messy since I got out all the materials with which to make flowers, and I haven’t been able to do anything else. Monday I decided to start cleaning the shop, and that’s what I’ve been up to each night this week.
And no, I’m not nearly done yet! At least half of the shop is still a disaster in progress.
I’m really happy with this quickie clamp rack I made out of an old shop-made router fence I no longer use. I am normally loathe to throw stuff away, but am trying to be a little bit ruthless in this cleaning. I like re-using stuff best of all.
I also unpacked a carving clamp I got recently thanks to a gift certificate I received. Haven’t used it yet, but it seems like just the ticket. I clamped up this sculpture in progress, but couldn’t bear to put wood chips on my just vacuumed floor.
Dave Says:
September 6th, 2006 at 10:43 pmVisit Dave
Funny clamp story (now that’s an overlooked comedy routine) about the high-tech blue-ish plastic clamp 5th from the left. The day I bought the XXL bandsaw at Woodcraft, I entered a drawing for a new clamp. When I got home 30 mins. later, I had a message on the machine saying I’d won. I should mention now that I never, ever win anything. I’m lucky in a lot of other ways so it hasn’t ever really bothered me. I’d always suspected contests like this were a racket, and I think this is proof. You buy an $1100 bandsaw (I didn’t pay anything close to that much), you win a $20 clamp. Big surprise. Sorry to everyone else who entered and did not by an enormous bandsaw that day.
Gabe Says:
September 11th, 2006 at 8:59 pmVisit Gabe
Your shop is looking good. Is that carving clamp very stable? Can you use chisels and a malet or do you have to hold it with one hand?
Dave Says:
September 12th, 2006 at 10:12 amVisit Dave
It seems pretty stable. I have it clamped to my table now, which has an overhang of about 8 inches of unsupported 1-inch MDF, so I think the wobbliness I’m experiencing now is mostly due to the flex in the table itself. The clamp itself seems pretty darn solid, actually. I will report back after the rest of the shop is clean (hopefully tonight!).