My developing shop thread

[Chris Pyle]

I'm going to use this thread to chronicle the development of my shop, tool acquisitions, etc. It started off looking like this:





The space is a 24 x 48 garage and serves as my first dedicated shop space (my wife's car will also be parked in one of the spots). I'm hoping to run a couple more 220 plugins around the shop and then begin insulating and finishing the inside. I haven't determined how I'm going to heat in the winter, many people talk about the mini split systems but I don't know if that'll be necessary. My goal is to keep the temps above 50 in the winter and below 80 during the summer.

[Chris Pyle]

Here's the walker turner bandsaw (model 3331) that was given to me by my wife's family. It was her grandfather's who was a machinist/welder/jack of all trades kind of guy. It sat in the garage unused for at least 5 years and the garage was not animal proof so it's awfully nasty.





At this stage, I have everything torn down except the variable speed drive, where I made a mistake due to impatience (not to be confused with impotence). There was a roll pin inserted in one of the helical gears and I thought it was 1/16th so I drove a punch about 1/3 - 1/2 way inside the opening I saw and my punch snapped off. I then grabbed some degreaser and wiped down the gear head to see I snapped of the punch inside of the pin, which is more like 1/8th or 3/16ths.

Here's the torn down bandsaw:



So I have a hard metal punch head sitting in the middle of a roll pin that I can't drive out. I've attempted to use a new 1/16th punch to drive it out but they just keep bending. I've also attempted using a bigger punch to drive out the pin but it won't budge. I've attempted drilling it out with a 1/16th bit but it's too hard. Someone suggested I heat it up until it gets red hot (which I have no way of ascertaining) then drill it out with a thicker bit, 1/8th or so. So my next step is take a torch to it and hope I can heat it up enough to drill it out so the rest of the variable speed drive can be disassembled.

Unless someone has another suggestion, that'll be my next move.


Here's the Sheldon lathe I picked up a couple hours outside of St. Louis. It was built on a government contract back in the 50s













There is an additional box of tooling I must go back for then I'll set to cleaning it up, oiling the ways and greasing the gears then attempting to turn something (a little scribe or something similar).

[Brian]

Coooool

I'll be keeping a watchful eye on this thread.

[Chris Pyle]

Here are some recent additions made to the arsenal:

A big, hon tsuki nomi - it was unmarked by the maker and it's still lacquer'd up, bought this from So when I expected to have a timberframing course this fall (the course was canceled so I have time to set it up)



Kikuhiromaru tataki nomi:



the pair of tatakis






You can see how big that hon tsuki nomi is in comparison!

I waited as long as I could but no one removed the suggested tool purchase that Chris H. made, so I finally gave in. These are the Konobu Assab K120 8 set from So:







You can see the set in relation to the tatakis, they are a very delicate looking chisel and the boxwood handles are very pleasing to my eye. I don't mind white oak or red oak but the boxwood looks nice in person.

Here are the maker's marks, apologies for the less than perfect images. I need a macro lens! (or so I tell myself)





Here you can see the whole shebang:



Next step will be actually preparing these tools for use (after/during Chris' tool prep course).

[Brian]

Those chisels are sexy. Now I know who got the Konobu's from So, lol.

They popped up like two weeks after I bought all of the Kiku's with rosewood handles....and still I had to sit on my hands not to buy that set.

The Kiku's are really nice looking as well, I notice in photos that the new ones are finished with more detail than the vintage set. Kiku tends to favor a heavy landing around the ura.

The backside of the Konobu are just incredible, I would imagine they're a dream to flatten and would try and take care to keep those sides skinny.

I have some current maker Kikuhiromaru's on the way, I 'needed' some fishtail chisels for use with a hammer and I'm curious to compare more directly between current and vintage (1980's) as my guess is that the current is the son and vintage is the father.

I really like that Konobu is finished with a sen so i ordered a set of paring chisels with rosewood handles....but it will probably be a few more months before I receive them.

Can one of you guys wear a webcam so I can peer in from my shop ? Better than anything on pay-per-view

[djwong]

Chris,

You don't know how many times I came close to buying those Konobu chisels from So-san. Glad you got them.

Would you say that the diameter of the handles on the Konobu chisels are on the small side for bench chisels? My Matsumura chisels are on the smaller side compared to the Oouchi and Funahiro chisels I have. You can see in this photo the handle on the Matsumura is smaller in diameter than the Oouchi next to it. The other chisels are timber and mortise chisels.

[Chris Pyle]

Those chisels are sexy. Now I know who got the Konobu's from So, lol.

They popped up like two weeks after I bought all of the Kiku's with rosewood handles....and still I had to sit on my hands not to buy that set.

The Kiku's are really nice looking as well, I notice in photos that the new ones are finished with more detail than the vintage set. Kiku tends to favor a heavy landing around the ura.

The backside of the Konobu are just incredible, I would imagine they're a dream to flatten and would try and take care to keep those sides skinny.

I have some current maker Kikuhiromaru's on the way, I 'needed' some fishtail chisels for use with a hammer and I'm curious to compare more directly between current and vintage (1980's) as my guess is that the current is the son and vintage is the father.

I really like that Konobu is finished with a sen so i ordered a set of paring chisels with rosewood handles....but it will probably be a few more months before I receive them.

Can one of you guys wear a webcam so I can peer in from my shop ? Better than anything on pay-per-view

If I wore a webcam, the only excitement you'd see is me receiving deliveries from UPS/Postal service. I need to start making things before it gets exciting!

As to the paring chisels, I have a few Konobu and Kiku chisels on order from So as well. I'm going to see if I like one more than the other, then fill in a set. Let me know how you like your Konobu parers (and please post pics). I haven't ever considered rosewood handles but I never really considered boxwood either and now I think that's what I want with future purchases.

To my untrained eye, the Konobu and Kiku both look very nice with the Konobu looking just a bit more...hand finished. I imagine both will be pleasing to use.

Chris,

You don't know how many times I came close to buying those Konobu chisels from So-san. Glad you got them.

Would you say that the diameter of the handles on the Konobu chisels are on the small side for bench chisels? My Matsumura chisels are on the smaller side compared to the Oouchi and Funahiro chisels I have. You can see in this photo the handle on the Matsumura is smaller in diameter than the Oouchi next to it. The other chisels are timber and mortise chisels.

Yes, these handles are definitely on the small side. I'd venture to guess they are smaller than what I see in your photo. I have some other chisels that I'll take a group shot of tomorrow and I'll break out the calipers and measure to let you know. The other bench chisels I have are Koyamaichi and Imai and maybe a Takahashi or two. More details tomorrow.

[Chris Pyle]

DJW,
The sizes on my chisel handles progressively increase as the chisel increases in size.

For reference:

Takahashi 1.5mm = .7455 in
Imai 6 mm = .7765
Imai 9 mm = .7960
Imai 12 mm = .8255
Imai 15mm = .8430
Imai 24mm = .8935
Takahashi 36mm = .9505

Konobu 1.0 mm = .7325
Konobu 1.8 mm = .7305
Konobu 3.25 mm = .7285
Konobu 6.6 mm = .6965
Konobu 9.7 mm = .7240
Konobu 12.6mm = .7640
Konobu 18.6 mm = .8530
Konobu 23.8 mm = .8965


The reason I gave exact measurements on the Konobu is there was enough discrepancy between stated size and actual size that I wanted to call it out for comparisons sake. Surprisingly, there isn't as great of a difference as I expected. It may be the elongated handles, or the shorter neck of the chisel or all of it combined that make these chisels look a little more....svelte.

Here are some comparison pics:







The pics really don't make them look all that different.

[Chris Pyle]

Showing the other machines I currently have in the shop.

General international mortiser that has yet to be set-up



I bought this from a guy when I was living in Denver and it's been collecting dust. I want to build a stand for it, ideally a stand with compound legs but that means I need to complete the hopper, mortised hopper and sawhorse.



Little Inca Jointer/planer. It offers a decent capacity in a small space but the tables are obviously very small and it really bogs down on deep cuts, often the belt will slip and you can even burn up the plastic gear. I'm on the lookout for something a little more substantial. This also needs a stand and once again, I'd prefer to build it with compound legs, both for the practice and beauty.



This is a 15" State disc sander that popped and the price was right so I grabbed it. I don't have an immediate use for it so it'll be sitting at the back of the line for restoration. Band saw and tool stands are at the top of the list, followed by sawhorses and then the sander.

Finally, here is the drill press (not restored by me).



I've been looking for an accurate drill press and this one passed the test. Bonus is that it has a VFD already built so should I need to alter the speeds, it's just a button press away. I look forward to putting this to work.

[Brian]

Certainly will do. I'm tending to lean toward Kiku for availability and to be able to get stuff in a hurry and Konobu for anything I dont mind waiting for. If the parers are absolute sexpots I will complete an order for the full set.

I probably would have been better served to get white oak or boxwood for the handles of the bench chisels, but the rosewood is surprisingly sturdy. Truth be told I think it's better than something like red oak. It does not absorb much shock though.

For paring chisels....why not go wild....