The toolbox is nearly done. Haven't been around the last few days to work on it though. Just need to do a bit more sanding and apply polyurethane to a bunch of it.

I also picked up a Disston rip saw on ebay for a couple dollars, going to clean it up and sharpen it. Should work well.

thoughts on tools

Find some of my thoughts on tools on the Motoring North East site.

http://www.motoringnortheast.com/blog.php?page=blog_id&id=7

Decided this morning to make a simple marking gauge with some scraps that were laying around. It came out fairly good, though it is by no means the finest marking gauge in existence. It should do the job though.

Picture is of the parts, will add another later of it assembled after the polyurethane dries.

Well, got the main part of the toolbox pretty much finished. Put a second layer of poly on it. Tomorrow I will work on the drawer possibly. Will see how it goes. Things aren't really coming out as even as I wanted though.

Today I worked a bit more on the tool box. It is starting to come along well. I like it. Haven't made the drawer yet though. Not sure what type of joinery I am going to use for it. Thinking just simple box joint. Like it enough though that I am considering making a scaled down version for my model making tools. Would be cool to have the pair like that.

I also re-potted the Japanese maple saplings I got from Abby. They look so nice in their little pots. Now if only they grew like my bamboo.....

quick picture of the toolbox so far

Working on building a carpenters toolbox today out of pine. I am using only hand tools, except for a drill. I dont have a hand cranked drill, so will have to use a powered one for the two holes that the handle sits in. Other than that it is all hand saws and hand planes and the such. Doesn't really take all that long to do. I know that cutting with a circular saw would only take a couple seconds, where crosscutting with a hand saw takes about 5 minutes. But for something like this, it really isn't all that bad.

The part that is a pain is not having a good workbench. The one here at the house is kind of crappy, the top is all torn up, doesn't have any vises and is a pain to clamp to because of the way it was designed. I am thinking that after the toolbox and a glue caddy I will need to build a foldable workbench. At least have a flat surface to work with then. Hopefully I can get some MDF and stuff and completely redo the regular workbench sometime soon too. Would be really nice to have one that doesn't suck.

Still need to add a strike plate. but it is so cool....

Figured that I should have a seperate blog for my woodwork projects, since it really doesnt fit the theme of my other blog, which is mostly science and tech oriented(emt-scientist.blogspot.com). This is more primitive stuff. The big thing right now is rebuilding the workshop in the garage and bow building. I love archery, and also love bulding things so it is very natural that by extension I have gotten into making my own archery gear. For right now that and shop stuff are what I will be doing for woodworking. One day I hope to extend beyond that and maybe try building a small sailing pram and the such. But one thing at a time.