heathicus
11-13-2008, 02:00 PM
Hello, my name is Heath. After lurking for a while, I decided it was time to speak up!
I'm just really starting to dive into the world of woodworking. I've been interested in it all my life and my dad was a DIY kind of guy, but his material of choice was metal. When we built our house when I was in high school, he framed it and built the trusses out of steel pipe! I preferred using a table saw to a cutting torch so didn't pay attention when he tried to teach me to weld (which I regret now), and never really had a chance to learn the fine art of woodworking.
So until recently, my woodworking projects have been simple things I could make with a Skill saw and a hammer. I'd watch shows like New Yankee Workshop and This Old House and such. I'd drop a lot of not-so-subtle hints to my wife ("Honey, if I just had the tools I could build that dining room table you want.").
Finally, for Father's Day this year my wife bought me a table saw (Hitachi C10FR). Since then my dad has given me an old router with a box of rusty bits and a 10" miter saw that he was given on trade for some work he did. More recently, he gave me an old jointer and a heavy-as-all-heck lathe, neither of which have a motor. I don't even know where he got that stuff! Still, my projects have been simple but those better tools (especially the table and miter saws) have helped!
About a month or so ago, I was visiting my dad and was talking with a friend of his that is a master woodworker. I was telling him about my interest in the craft and how I wanted to learn. So he gave me an old Shopsmith he didn't have room for anymore. A model 10ER. It was missing a lot of parts and needed a lot of care and maintenance done to it but that has really ignited a fire in me! I had never heard of Shopsmith before, but I have spent way too much time this past month researching it. I cleaned up and repainted the 10ER (before and after pics to follow), I've downloaded all of the documentation I could find as well as pictures of other people's machines and jigs they've made and things they've built, I've watched a good number of the Sawdust Sessions, and other YouTube videos both on the ShopSmith and woodworking in general. I've been lurking on several woodworking message boards, reading and learning, but haven't spoken up on many yet (just the 10ER Yahoo group, SSUG.org, and now here).
And I'm tackling what I feel is my first "real" project. The house we're in now has a fireplace with a brick hearth, but there is no mantel. It is surrounded by tile that is really bland and ugly and was applied rather sloppily. So I'm building a surround and mantel for the fireplace. I was hoping to have the ShopSmith restored and the missing pieces acquired so I could use it in this project, but my wife wants it done by Thanksgiving so I don't think that will happen. I'm using MDF and keeping the design simple because I feel that I'm likely to screw something up and when I do, it won't be a costly mistake. I'm not removing the tile, just covering it. I'm looking at this as a training exercise. Maybe in a year or two I can go back and redo it with real wood that can be stained instead of having to paint it.
Here are some before and after pics of the 10ER I was given. I'm still trying to acquire the missing pieces.
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Heathicus/Woodworking/Machine%20Restorations/Shopsmith%2010ER%2013927/7cdc.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Heathicus/Woodworking/Machine%20Restorations/Shopsmith%2010ER%2013927/IMG_5119.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Heathicus/Woodworking/Machine%20Restorations/Shopsmith%2010ER%2013927/IMG_5154.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Heathicus/Woodworking/Machine%20Restorations/Shopsmith%2010ER%2013927/IMG_5148.jpg
I'm just really starting to dive into the world of woodworking. I've been interested in it all my life and my dad was a DIY kind of guy, but his material of choice was metal. When we built our house when I was in high school, he framed it and built the trusses out of steel pipe! I preferred using a table saw to a cutting torch so didn't pay attention when he tried to teach me to weld (which I regret now), and never really had a chance to learn the fine art of woodworking.
So until recently, my woodworking projects have been simple things I could make with a Skill saw and a hammer. I'd watch shows like New Yankee Workshop and This Old House and such. I'd drop a lot of not-so-subtle hints to my wife ("Honey, if I just had the tools I could build that dining room table you want.").
Finally, for Father's Day this year my wife bought me a table saw (Hitachi C10FR). Since then my dad has given me an old router with a box of rusty bits and a 10" miter saw that he was given on trade for some work he did. More recently, he gave me an old jointer and a heavy-as-all-heck lathe, neither of which have a motor. I don't even know where he got that stuff! Still, my projects have been simple but those better tools (especially the table and miter saws) have helped!
About a month or so ago, I was visiting my dad and was talking with a friend of his that is a master woodworker. I was telling him about my interest in the craft and how I wanted to learn. So he gave me an old Shopsmith he didn't have room for anymore. A model 10ER. It was missing a lot of parts and needed a lot of care and maintenance done to it but that has really ignited a fire in me! I had never heard of Shopsmith before, but I have spent way too much time this past month researching it. I cleaned up and repainted the 10ER (before and after pics to follow), I've downloaded all of the documentation I could find as well as pictures of other people's machines and jigs they've made and things they've built, I've watched a good number of the Sawdust Sessions, and other YouTube videos both on the ShopSmith and woodworking in general. I've been lurking on several woodworking message boards, reading and learning, but haven't spoken up on many yet (just the 10ER Yahoo group, SSUG.org, and now here).
And I'm tackling what I feel is my first "real" project. The house we're in now has a fireplace with a brick hearth, but there is no mantel. It is surrounded by tile that is really bland and ugly and was applied rather sloppily. So I'm building a surround and mantel for the fireplace. I was hoping to have the ShopSmith restored and the missing pieces acquired so I could use it in this project, but my wife wants it done by Thanksgiving so I don't think that will happen. I'm using MDF and keeping the design simple because I feel that I'm likely to screw something up and when I do, it won't be a costly mistake. I'm not removing the tile, just covering it. I'm looking at this as a training exercise. Maybe in a year or two I can go back and redo it with real wood that can be stained instead of having to paint it.
Here are some before and after pics of the 10ER I was given. I'm still trying to acquire the missing pieces.
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Heathicus/Woodworking/Machine%20Restorations/Shopsmith%2010ER%2013927/7cdc.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Heathicus/Woodworking/Machine%20Restorations/Shopsmith%2010ER%2013927/IMG_5119.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Heathicus/Woodworking/Machine%20Restorations/Shopsmith%2010ER%2013927/IMG_5154.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/Heathicus/Woodworking/Machine%20Restorations/Shopsmith%2010ER%2013927/IMG_5148.jpg