Logan's Garage

[Unruh]

Here are my first three projects.

This first one is going to be a mouse pad. I'll carve in a place on the top for a pencil. The Image is the Michigan Wolverines. It is a gift for my Brother-in-Law.

This next one is a push stick for the table saw. It is a copy of the Converse Weapon. These are the shoes that Magic Johnson wore. I plan on making more. I'll use thinner wood and make two. On the second I'll reverse the image and then glue them both together. I'll also make Dr. J's, Larry Bird and Isaiah Thomas's.

Here is the last so far. I have a sister that lives in Iowa and she loves herself some cribbage. She is also a Iowa Hawkeyes fan.

 

[Grumblebum]

How cool is that. I just had a look at their website.

What dimensions can it handle ?


GB

 

[bdbecker]

Gross... ruining perfectly good pieces of wood with a Michigan and Hawkeye logos... what did those tree carcasses ever do to you? You should be ashamed of yourself.

 

[Unruh]

How cool is that. I just had a look at their website.

What dimensions can it handle ?


GB

The manual says...

Min.
Length 7.0 inches
Width 1.5 inches
Height 0.5 inches

Max.
Length 144 inches (Limited by weight)
Width 14.5 inches
Height 5.0 inches

 

[Unruh]

Gross... ruining perfectly good pieces of wood with a Michigan and Hawkeye logos... what did those tree carcasses ever do to you? You should be ashamed of yourself.

lol! I'll be sure to pass that on!

 

[prone2xl]

lol! I'll be sure to pass that on!

Hey Unruh had a random question. What material is on your workbench tops ? Kinda looks like steel but may be just worn Mdf with some patina. Any chance u could break down some details or show us the build pics if u have ? Apologies if already buried in here but I didn’t see on my scan through your journey !

 

[Unruh]

Hey Unruh had a random question. What material is on your workbench tops ? Kinda looks like steel but may be just worn Mdf with some patina. Any chance u could break down some details or show us the build pics if u have ? Apologies if already buried in here but I didn’t see on my scan through your journey !

Sorry for the late reply! I have been coming through a job change and have been super busy. The workbench was done by the previous owner. The benches are wood base and covered with a sheet of metal. I had to sand it and oil it when I moved in and it is due again.

 

[Unruh]

Got a delivery today! So I have been working a lot of side jobs over the last year and a half. I have saved almost all of the "Momma Don't Know" money and finally have saved enough. I'm a kind of person that believes in the "Buy once, cry once" theory. So I went ahead and got the 3 HP, 36 inch fence, router table and lift. Looking forward to putting it together tomorrow.

 

[loganb]

Nice buy and congrats! Excited to get your thoughts, I sold my Unisaw before we moved this summer with the thought that when I'm ready to get another saw it'll be a Sawstop so definitely looking to see what you think.

Sent from The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[bdbecker]

I bet you feel like a kid at Christmas waiting to open all those boxes! I've only had my contractor saw for a few months, but I love it. I have a feeling you will be very pleased with your purchase.

 

[Unruh]

Nice buy and congrats! Excited to get your thoughts, I sold my Unisaw before we moved this summer with the thought that when I'm ready to get another saw it'll be a Sawstop so definitely looking to see what you think.

Sent from The Garage Journal mobile app

So far I haven’t had a chance to cut with it, but I will say that the manual and instructions are amazing. I just got it all put together today and am waiting my first cut.

I bet you feel like a kid at Christmas waiting to open all those boxes! I've only had my contractor saw for a few months, but I love it. I have a feeling you will be very pleased with your purchase.

I was killing me. It showed up use as I was getting ready to go to work and it was my long day as well. So all day I was just like a kid on Christmas Eve. I woke up at 6 A.M. and started setting it up. I’m beyond impressed with the detail and craftsmanship so far. This is the manuals from the stuff I bought.

 

[Unruh]

My Mom has been living with us for the last 8 years. She is getting up there in age and having a hard time with the stairs. My wife and I added a kitchenette downstairs for her so she could prepare some meals for herself on the ground floor (Our kitchen is up stairs). We plan on adding a bar to the kitchenette sometime soon. We were also in the right place and scored a free kegerator from a friend!! I recently started working at a brewery and I have access to some beer! Long story short, my wife and I thought we would etch some beer mugs for the someday bar.

First we used her circut and carved out my logo. Our last name is Unruh and we have 3 children. So Unruhly 3.

We pealed out the letters.

Then transferred to the mugs. We found them at Wal-mart for $2!

 

[Unruh]

We used Armour Etch for the etching.

We etched for 5 minutes and washed it with cold water.

And my favorite view of the mug here!!! That is some Little Tugger Lager from Western Red Brewing.

 

[Unruh]

I have a ton of boxes in my garage right now from the new saw. My two little ones (5 and 2), with the help of my oldest (15) and their Mom, made a trap for Daddy.


Must be my lucky day! A six pack of beer!

 

[bj383ss]

Great updates! Looking forward to seeing the new saw setup. My old faithful Ridgid TS has never let me down but if it does I will be doing the same except I plan to get the 3hp Grizzly Cabinet Saw.

Bret

 

[Unruh]

Great updates! Looking forward to seeing the new saw setup. My old faithful Ridgid TS has never let me down but if it does I will be doing the same except I plan to get the 3hp Grizzly Cabinet Saw.

Bret

I replaced a Delta (model 36-725) that was good for what I needed, but starting to need extra attention with things. I’ll be doubling the HP and since I have been cutting thicker stock, this will nice. I also looked at the Grizzly, Jet, Powermatic, Laguna and Delta and each had great selling points. My wife ended up being the one to decIde on the Sawstop.


Well, I have it all together and tuned. Made a couple cuts and so far really happy! It sits lower than my previous saw, but I like that better.

 

[Unruh]

Here is a fun project I made for one of my nephews. He loves airplanes. My sister bought the pattern off the internet and asked if I could build it for him. Most of my work is just winging it so having a pattern was kinda nice. I did change a couple things and in the process added about 20-25 horsepower and making it way more maneuverable. Maybe the best thing about it is that my sister is going to paint it so I don’t have to do the finishing!! I think she is gonna paint it to look like the Red Barron.

 

[nicholam77]

Wow, congrats on the SawStop, it looks very very nice!

I like the Daddy trap

 

[harley jim]

Most of my work is just winging it!
Pun intended? Lol.
Beautiful work on the plane.

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Unruh]

Wow, congrats on the SawStop, it looks very very nice!

I like the Daddy trap

You should have heard them laugh when I crawled inside. Of course we also caught the dog three or four times with some pieces of jerky as bait. LOL

Most of my work is just winging it!
Pun intended? Lol.
Beautiful work on the plane.

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

Lol, not sure if that pun was gonna fly or not.

 

[bj383ss]

Man Nothing like new Cast Iron. And you got the built in router table. Nice!

Bret

 

[Unruh]

Man Nothing like new Cast Iron. And you got the built in router table. Nice!

Bret

Yeah! I wanted to get it set up the way I really wanted if I was gonna spend that kind of money. Kinda like buying a car with cloth seats only to realize you should have gotten leather.

 

[Unruh]

So a friend contacted me and said she wanted a garden bridge to place in her front yard. She is elderly and has spent a lot of time traveling around in Asia and has a lot of Asian design in her house and yard. I wanted to add something to the bridge that was important to her. She talks about the sukura tree’s (cherry blossom) that she saw in Japan. So first I found a simple pattern for a branch. Nothing to detailed. Taped it down and transferred it with some carbon paper.

Doesn’t have to be perfect on the bottom because I plan on filling it with epoxy.

 

[Unruh]

Now time for the epoxy. I mix it and let it sit so a lot of the bubbles rise to the top.

Hit it with some fire!! This little butane torch is perfect for this.

Add the epoxy and wait a day to sand.

 

[Unruh]

Now time for the flowers. I picked some places punched in some starts. Then I used a small Forster bit to get a starting shape. With a small router bit and my handheld router I just gave them a random shape so they weren’t perfectly round anymore.

Cedar isn’t the easiest wood to work with for small design like this, but it turned out okay.

I didn’t want all the flowers/buds to be the same color so I mixed up two different colors.

Sand and see how it turned out.

I’m pretty happy with it. I wish I would have made the flowers larger, but it is still gonna be a nice surprise for her. I’ll finish putting together the bridge this weekend (I hope), but I have family coming and may not get to it.

 

[Unruh]

Had a bit of time before family showed up and got it together. I pre-sanded so I just have a bit to do before putting on the sealer.

 

[nicholam77]

That is really cool! Your projects are always so thoughtful and creative.

Went back and looked at your SawStop pics again... drooling

Your woodworking tooling has really made some big leaps in the past couple of years!

 

[Matias]

That SawStop seems awesome, proper tools just make the projects much more easier.

Sukura tree turned out very nice, and I do like the whole bridge!

 

[Unruh]

That is really cool! Your projects are always so thoughtful and creative.

Went back and looked at your SawStop pics again... drooling

Your woodworking tooling has really made some big leaps in the past couple of years!

Yeah, to the dismay of my wife! I have a pretty big list of upgrades I’d like to make still. One tool at a time!

That SawStop seems awesome, proper tools just make the projects much more easier.

Sukura tree turned out very nice, and I do like the whole bridge!

The saw is unbelievable. I had a chance to run some 3” maple through for a project and it didn’t even seem to bog down. My last saw would have never handled that.

 

[Unruh]

I have been wanting to learn more techniques. One technique I wanna learn to do well is dovetails. I watched a lot of video’s and Rob Cosman has some amazing teaching vid’s on his channel. I looked at the dovetail saws and had a bit of sticker shock. Veritas is $80, Lie-Nielsen is $120, and Rob Cosman’s is $250! I thought I would be able to make one...well customize one. First I went to Woodcraft and bought their Deer Brand straight back saw for $19.99.

I found a pattern for a handle on line and printed it out. I has all the measurements on it and I like the look!

I have some KOA wood that was given to me. I have mostly smaller scrap pieces, but this one should work perfect for this.

 

[Unruh]

I glued the pattern on and cut it out with the bandsaw. I modified it slightly, but went pretty close to the pattern.

I went to Habitat for Humanity and found a couple of saw handle that still had the screws in them, but no blades. This is how it looks after attaching it, I haven’t put on any finish yet and have a bit of sanding left, but I am beyond happy with it. The saw seems to cut so much better and I the control is very noticeable. I still wanna sharpen the blade, but very happy with the feel and comfort of it.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Your saw handle looks great!

 

[Unruh]

Your saw handle looks great!

Thanks Jeff! I got to take it for a test run today and did some rabbits on some scrap pine. It did great, but I still wanna sharpen it up.

 

[Unruh]

So I did a couple quick projects today. I have a Pro-Slate wall. The accessories for it are super expensive so I thought I would make some. First of all I was using basic peg board screwdriver hangers for...well my screwdrivers. Again I went back to my scrap pieces of KOA and found some nice pieces.

Before

After.

I plan on making a bunch more for different things like chisels, hammers, squares and levels.

Also it is getting close to Christmas time. I saw these screwdrivers from Elkhead Tools and thought I could make some kinda like them. Again back to my KOA scrap wood and I think they turned out great. One is skinnier that the rest and one is slightly off center, but I’m not sure it will matter. Now I wanna set for myself!!!

 

[bj383ss]

The saw upgrade and the screwdriver holders look great. I too want to learn Dovetails. I bought a couple of different saws to attempt them earlier in the year but still on the back burner.

Bret

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Unruh,

Those slat hangers are great! Can you show what you made to hang them in the slot? I have a similar set up.

 

[Unruh]

The saw upgrade and the screwdriver holders look great. I too want to learn Dovetails. I bought a couple of different saws to attempt them earlier in the year but still on the back burner.

Bret

Thanks Brett!

I guess I should come clean and admit that I decided to redo my holders because your wooden holders looked so nice! Thanks for the inspiration

Unruh,

Those slat hangers are great! Can you show what you made to hang them in the slot? I have a similar set up.

Yeah. It was pretty easy.

First I bought some Aluminum from Lowes. I think it was about $4 for three feet, I got two. I then cut them with my hacksaw into 2 inch pieces. At this time I should have taken them to the grinder and rounded the corners, but I was thinking nobody would ever see them.

Next I put them into my Reed vice. Then at about an inch I bent them over. Flipped them the other way and beat them at about a half inch. They didn’t end up being the prettiest, but again they are on the back of the wood and nobody will ever see them. I then drilled holes into the new hangers and took them to the grinder to round off the corners.

Here they are before I rounded the corners.

I know they aren’t gonna win a beauty contest, but they do the job.

 

[nicholam77]

That saw handle turned out amazing! (So did the driver handles). The Koa wood sure is pretty.

Looking forward to seeing the dovetails.

 

[Matias]

All those hangers and handles, really nice work!

 

[Unruh]

That saw handle turned out amazing! (So did the driver handles). The Koa wood sure is pretty.

Looking forward to seeing the dovetails.

Yeah right! I got all that KOA for free and I'm going to be really sad when it is all gone.

All those hangers and handles, really nice work!

Thanks Matias! I'm really liking the screwdrivers and plan on making some of my own!!