How Do You Store Your Braces and Drills from Sawmill Creek
This discussion came from a group that focuses on hand tools – which have their own unique storage needs, particularly when there are many in a certain category, like braces and drills, as the first poster indicated.-Editor
“Looking sadly in my shop for a spoke pointer, I paw through a drawer where I have about four braces, five or six egg beaters and the associated bits and doodads. There has to be a better way. Could you describe how you store your Neanderthal hole producing stuff?” – Josh
One respondent said his large load of braces
“mostly hang from the overhead plumbing pipes.” – Tony
Another’s brace hangs
“from pegs on the rack I put up, which also holds my hand saws. The rack itself is simply a 2x4 bored with angled half-inch holes that I put lengths of dowel rod in. The rack is screwed to a wall. I bored them with a Forstner bit in the brace.
“Bits are stored in several places -- there's a drill index on my workbench, the Forstners and brad points are over by my drill press, held by their shafts in blocks of some sort of wood.” - Leon
“For the bit storage, one of my auction purchases came with the bits in a box with a fold-down front. There are round channels built into the box to hold the bits apart. I also like the Russel Jennings three-tiered box for a storage design. And for my doweling bits, I have a tray with dividers that sits in the top of a box that holds plane blades in the bottom.” – Jim
“It's wet out there, and my tools are often used outdoors. Inside the shed, I want them out in the open to air where I can see any rust developing as well as grab and replace them at a commercial pace.” – Bob
Bob’s solution is to place his auger bits in a mahogany block counterweighted with lead. He also has a similar storage solution, with size markings, for his saw files. – Editor
“That lightweight mahogany block containing all those tall, top-heavy auger bits would tip over at the slightest touch without a significant counterweight. The marked block is for saw files, which have similar storage problems. Like drill bits, they shouldn't touch each other in storage or they will dull, and rummaging through a drawer or box for the correct size file or bit is a major time and money loser. Plus out of sight....out of mind. As I said, I want to catch any rust as it's forming and not be unpleasantly surprised six months later when I open a box or drawer.” - Bob
Table Top Mistake/Wood Movement from WoodWeb
The first post in this discussion told a woodworker’s tale of trouble with the way he’d constructed his tabletop, and asked for “fix-it” suggestions. - Editor
“In a recent project I made a poor choice of wood placement by gluing two pieces of wood perpendicular to the rest of the table. I now realize the error of my ways. The wood in this case is (mostly) quarter-sawed American Sycamore. I cut it and dried it myself for a year and then stored it on site to acclimate the wood to its environment for most of the fall while I worked on it. It is 7/4 thick. The perpendicular piece is 11" long so there is 11" of wood that will want to move and won't be able to. It is glued and doweled so I don't think it's going anywhere until it cracks (if it does). By using temperature and relative humidity, I estimate that the wood fluctuates between 9 & 10 percent moisture content during the current winter season (southeastern Pennsylvania).
If I have to I am willing to make a cut down the middle of the two poorly placed pieces to release pressure, but don't want to if it isn't necessary. I will be gluing and doweling the table top to solid wood legs/supports. Is 11" a small enough piece to survive, or will it bust the table over time?” - Andrew
The first response focused on the very, very early stage of this project: drying the wood. - Editor
“I don't think a year of air drying is near enough to stablize 7/4 anything. If those solid wood legs are connected to a skirt, you do not need to dowel or glue the top to them. Screws in slotted holes or figure 8 fasteners will allow the wood to move and thus not crack or destroy your legs and skirt.
As a rule of thumb, an inch per year of thickness for air dried and that should be indoors. It is near impossible to get air-dried wood down to 9-10 percent. I am in northeast Pennsylvania, and weather here varies little from where you are.” – Harry
Others had repair (or prevention) ideas for the cracking they felt was sure to happen. – Editor
“Doweled or not, that top is not going to last. It might not fall into pieces, but cracks will open and there's no relief cutting you can do to prevent this. You might simply cut the ends of the top, with the ill-conceived pieces, completely off and satisfy yourself with a smaller table.” – Jon
“The top is a built-in failure waiting to happen. I think that you are in repair mode. I see two approaches: 1) Rout out the cross-pieces & replace them, or 2) Make 2 rip cuts along the glue joints that abut the end pieces, knock out those pieces and replace.” – Ken
“I also agree your wood hasn't dried long enough, but since you are this far, here is what I'd advise. I hope this is a personal piece and not a paying job. Use it as a learning experience and watch what happens to your top if you leave it alone. Or, crosscut off the entire width of those two pieces. Then you can attach full width breadboard ends the right way.” – Jason
One respondent also recommended a resource for the original poster to learn about wood movement. – Editor
“Andrew, please let me recommend a book for you. [In my humble opinion], it's a must-read for anyone taking woodworking as seriously as you obviously are. In my opinion, this wood movement issue is the least understood but perhaps the most important principle in woodworking. Most of us learned this the hard way. Welcome to our world.” Lon
He then provided a link to Understanding Wood by Bruce Hoadley, and the original poster let people know what he planned to do with his table. - Editor
“I appreciate everyone chiming in with their experience. It looks like this one won't survive as it is. It is a personal project, so I have some leeway in addressing the problem. First, it looks like I didn't let it dry long enough. It's been about 15 months now since I cut the original log but should have let the thick wood go longer. I have other wood now that is drying that I will let dry longer. As far as the table goes, I like the breadboard option and am going cut off the end and reattach it using the breadboard technique. I will buy the Hoadley - Understanding Wood book. Thank you for the suggestion. I enjoy learning about new things and it looks like this book contains quite a bit of information.” - Andrew