Woodworking: Collecting workbench hold-down ideas

| January 20, 2021

It is common when woodworking on a bench to use some kind of vise or clamp to hold down a work piece. For longer boards I’ve always used either a couple of clamps on each end or my home-built vise and square hardwood bench dogs. (below) BUT … I’ve envied woodworkers who have 3/4” holes […]

Cleaning, reorganizing, some sanding and new ZipGuard finsih

| October 4, 2020

In my goal to gain space in the poolhouse garage (a failure) and clearing out and cleaning the east-side wall, I shifted my attention to the beat-up bench top. Part of this was just clearing the workbench of junk, then reorganizing and cleaning each shelf. The boxes have been sort-of shuffled (drawers ignored), but I […]

Woodworking worktable and new machinist’s square follow-up

| February 4, 2020

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Keeping woodworking bench dogs handy but out of the way

| January 23, 2020

It has taken years, but I’ve finally decided to move my woodworking bench dogs from the tool tray (see below). A bench dog is an accessory used on a woodworking workbench to allow clamping of wooden items while being worked or planed. Ever since building my work table and vices with bench dogs back in […]

Archive: Reorganizing my workshop and a new outfeed table

| November 24, 2019

While I was suppose to be cleaning up and throwing away junk that has taken over some of my basement woodworking shop, as usual ended up sidetracked in making a few jigs for my upcoming projects AND reorganized a couple of cabinets that were buried under boxes and clutter on a back wall. I moved […]

A workbench repair and a cool oil filter wrench idea

| August 31, 2019

Last week I brought my old Poulan chainsaw back to life for a few dollars after giving away my newer one, but I ended up damaging my workbench while adjusting the carburetor jets. The saw was still in several pieces (without filter, the bar, chain or guard on) while making tune-up adjustments and I accidentally […]

How do you hold your iPhone for video conference calls?

| May 28, 2019

Just a little bit of wasted time this weekend after realizing I need a better way to hold my iPhone when using it for video conferencing and FaceTime calls. In the past I’ve used a little rubberized tape on the edge of ceramic plate that sits under my iMac … … but it was never […]

Sidetracked again, this time added a drawing table drawer

| November 18, 2018

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A snowy winter day, a warm fire and distractions

| December 10, 2017

The first cold snowy winter day was the perfect time to fire up the woodstove in the poolhouse garage … unfortunately the distraction of a warm fire lead to other distractions and  keeping me from the day’s list of projects. Instead of finishing the Corbett Christmas letter, updating the mailing list, decorating and working on […]

Two more florescent to LED replacements – shoplight this time

| May 15, 2016

  After having success in replacing a couple less expensive warm white 2 foot florescent light tubes with LED tubes the other day, I opted to order a couple 4 foot LED tubes to replace my failing "cheap" shoplights over my garage workbench (eBay $22 w/shipping). I often leave this light on 24 hours a […]

Finally added the corner desk area to my workbench

| November 24, 2015

After cleaning out the garage workshop to prepare for my woodstove addition, I removed the drawing table/desk area that I added when I was building the Sonex airplane (no longer needed since selling my project). The desktop was almost a perfect fit for the corner area in my basement workshop so I put it in […]

My 2002 Honda Odyssey gains a shelf and workbench

| July 21, 2015

The weekend project is coming together in the back of the “new to me” low-mile 2002 Honda Odyssey minivan I bought for $3700 from my dad. I wanted a shelf/workbench that can serve a couple of purposes. It doubles the storage use of the area behind the rear seat and enables me to fold all […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog