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If you're looking for a quick project this Memorial Day weekend, or any other for that matter, here's a low-cost bench option for you.
A couple weeks ago, I reported on my trusty old, cosmetically challenged workbench. The goal, really, was to support those of you out there who are more concerned with utility in your shop fixtures than high style. In other words, you build sturdy workaday shop fixtures so you can get on with more important projects. And, that’s okay in my book; I do it, too.
A few weekends ago, I ended up proving a point to myself without really setting out to do it. I needed to make a couple of boxes, and I wanted a quick but elegant solution for joining the corners together.
As it turns out, I’ve been a little delinquent lately in getting my tool test tools returned to their proper owners. It’s been pretty busy here in the shop since Christmas, and those shipping tasks keep getting pushed further down my to-do list. So, I still have the Keller 1601 Pro Series Dovetail Jigs here from our December ’09 dovetail jig review. My bad, but actually, a good coincidence.
Because I am a woodworking tool geek, one of the things I really like about my job is that I not only get to see the plethora of new woodworking products as they are launched, but I often get to see them firsthand and get a demonstration of how they work. (No tedious reading of the instruction manuals for me, no sir!)
A good example of this came recently when Matthew Grisley of Leigh Industries dropped by to demonstrate their new Super FMT Jig (http://www.leighjigs.com/superfmt.php). I have had the pleasure of knowing Matt and his family for many years now, so this demo meeting was a double treat for me. This jig forms both mortises and tenons with one setup, much like their original FMT jig, but at almost half the cost. (A great concept with all of us watching our nickels and dimes even more closely these days.)
A new version of an old friend. This jig is modeled after one that Rob used as a young man in his dad's shop.
Regardless of the situation, when the going gets tough there is nothing like a tried-and-true friend to get you where you want to go. Recently, I was building a pretty basic piece of woodworking for the print magazine. Building a project for a magazine is a little different than building for yourself in a couple of ways. First, rather than simply coming up with the simplest and fastest way to get the job done, I try to include techniques and tools that our readers will find interesting and useful. Secondly, when you are done with the project, about a quarter million people will have a chance to check out your work (and often share their opinion of said work). So, when it came to deciding just how to plow the dadoes for the Modular Bookcases in the December 2009 issue, I went back to basics and built a copy of a jig that hung on the wall of my dad’s cabinet shop “back in the day.”
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