One Minute Shop Tip- Stocking Up

Bruce Dog Up and Running:

Wow! Who knew I could produce so many videos in such a short time! I guess it makes sense when they're just ONE MINUTE LONG. Hopefully these are helpful, and not just the common sense ravings of an egotist with an outlet. I think I'll promise to make the future 'Shop Tip' videos a little more specialized, and not just "How To Turn On Your Lights" or "Using a Screwdriver to Pry" videos.

Next week, "Thermonuclear Power For Your Shop." Or something like that.

One Minute Shop Tip- Screw Cans

Posted by Bruce, the other Bench Dog:

Gettin' a little ambitious, yo! Once I realized how many things I've done to improve the shop it became essential to me to pass them along to you.  This one, I admit, is a little simple-- EVERYBODY uses this tip, I'm certain. So I took it to the absurd. It's kinda what I do.

One Minute Shop Tip- Drill Press

Hey guys , it's Bruce:

I don't want to get too far away from woodworking with these videos, so I bring it all home with a short tip on organization. No matter how much space I have, it always gets filled up, so I devised a way to give myself some more-- by GROUPING. That's great because it's a good solution, but I still have one problem-- now that everything is grouped... how do I make more space?

Episode- The Political Chess Board

From Bruce, The Political Bench Dog...

You all know me as a light-hearted guy, always looking for the fun in life, and I usually like to live up to that image. But recent events have me a little on edge.  You might say I'm slightly nervous. Okay I'm very, very worried. Normally I try NOT to be political-- I never saw the point of, in conversation, raising someone's hackles unnecessarily-- but we're at a dangerous stage in our country's development and it seems that the real truths aren't being disseminated by the media anymore.  

The country is teetering at the edge of our comfortable position as top 'Dog' in the world on many fronts: economic, political and social, to name but a few. We're sending our jobs overseas en masse so the corporations can make more profits (so they can report better earnings to their stockholders, who are us); our bullying international policies are closing down avenues of friendship we've had with other nations for years; we're starting wars for false reasons and killing MILLIONS of innocent people, ostensibly to root out an evildoer named Bin Laden but realistically to line the pockets of aforementioned corporations; and through all this, we're not collecting enough money through taxation to pay for it all, but instead are selling off large chunks of our nation to foreign countries, borrowing huge sums of money (too large to afford the INTEREST on) and allowing extra-national corporations to dictate American policy!

The current administration sees what it is doing as a good thing but I view it as exactly the opposite, and the forecasts by and large agree with me. 

So this video is a reminder to all of you, who hold the power of government in your voting chads, to pay attention to what's important and to elect a thinking man for president. Gather your own information, people! Don't sit back and believe what the idiot box tells you, just because it's in Hi-Def!

About The Project: 

I don't play chess. I don't play checkers. But this project seemed the perfect foil to spread my message. After all, doesn't the term 'chess board' pop up often when discussing political maneuvering? 

I thought I was using oak and mahogany, but the mahogany was really light and the oak (and I don't think it was oak, so I'm going to call it ash on the video) was really dark, so as a chess board, the wood needs to be more carefully chosen for final hue. Because these are reclaimed boards (the 'oak' is leftover flooring and the mahogany is from a hundred-year-old door jamb) I had to machine them for uniformity, as well as removing any prior machining marks. It was very important to account for all future saw kerfs when I planned the size of the squares.

My big problem came with finishing. I'm no expert by a long shot, and I have been experimenting with shellac, water-based polyurethane finish and tung oil (though not at the same time!). I don't have a finish area, so I'm staying away from lacquer for now, though I know that it is a beautiful finish. But when I tried to use shellac, it created a lumpy, wet look that was really junior high shop class in appearance. I used the 3 lb cut straight out of the can-- I think I need to thin it next time. So I scraped and sanded it off, then laid in a tung oil finish which was not as glossy, but looked very homey. Any ideas for better finishes and how to apply them would be greatly appreciated.

Lunch Dogs 1- Roasted Peppers

Bruce at the Keyboard:

The hand of a Bench Dog is not just used for the crafting of wood, oh no. Among other talents, I happen to roast a pretty mean chili pepper. Sit back, relax and watch with a beer in your hand and a couple on deck, and don't forget to keep the fire department on speed dial 'cuz after sampling the wares from this fire-filled episode you are gonna be HOT.

Musical Interlude

Bruce Here.

Horsing around the shop the other day, I recorded something which was so funny to me I had to share it with the world. Funny to ME is no guarantee, however, that it will be funny to anybody else. Take a check it out look see gander and let me know what you think.

Episode- Customer Service Tips For Our Fellow Contractors

Posted by Pete, the other bench dog.

While taking orders in the shop or working with customers at a job site, there are certain signs that the customer might be difficult. By recognizing these warning signs, you can save yourself a potential headache and make your job go more smoothly. In this instructional video, Bruce and I demonstrate how to recognize and handle a problematic customer. Watch and learn.

Bench Dogs Failed Gadget- The Glue Roller

Hey, It's Bruce!

You see it at the top of every Bench Dogs Blogs page- our Mantra.  You know what I mean? The statement about woodworking and sleep? Well, this gadget was designed with sleep in mind, that's for certain.  

The problem with glue is... well, there are many. The problem I refer to now is that it takes a good amount of time to spread glue all over, evenly. This gadget was supposed to solve that problem, giving me more time for... you guessed it. Sleep. Since it didn't work, it earns the title of Failed Gadget and gets its own video as a fitting bon voyage for its final journey-- as smoke,  up my fireplace flue.

Episode- Plane And Simple

Posted By Bruce.

While we were on the subject of gadgets, I got to thinking... when is a gadget so complex that it becomes a tool... or a machine? Here I incorporate a power plane into a table I construct of cherry wood. There's only one moving part--  a guard-- so I can't be sure if this is a gadget, a tool or a machine. I'll just call it a thingamajig.

Bench Dogs Failed Gadget- The Glasses Keep

Hey There, Folks-- Bruce The Bench Dog Here:

Jigs and fixtures... what red-blooded craftsman doesn't have at least a few of them knocking about the shop? And what close cousin of these brothers is always on hand? Why, yes, I'm talking about the gadget. And what is a gadget more than simply a solution to a problem unique to your shop, or a broader one that the industry hasn't addressed yet. Whether it be a rocking-chair type glue dispenser, a velcroed ever-ready pencil at each work station or a handy place to stow your old razor blades, you know there's a plan for something like it that looked good on paper, but just didn't work as designed. Well, Bench Dogs have no shame, so we present to you the first of (we hope) many episodes that begin with the title "Failed Gadget."

Yuk it up, kids. Just pray there isn't a friend with a videocamera around the corner when YOU bite it.

Episode- The Taming Of The Shrub

Hello Folks, It's Bruce!

I was preparing for bed. It was a night like any other. It was NOT a dark and stormy night, though it was a dark night. Not THE Dark Knight-- that would be Batman. Now THAT was a hero. But I miss Robin-- whatever happened to him? And how come Alfred is still alive? He's gotta be a hundred and thirty... Umm, where was I? Oh, yeah.

I was preparing for bed when I heard a crash of ungodly proportions coming from another part of the house. "What the heck was that?!" I thought to myself, dashing for the living room, imagining the front end of a 94 Civic crushing my credenza, or finding two refrigerators in my kitchen, one being the upstairs neighbors... or yet another single engine Cessna with its propeller up my patio. But no... it was none of those things.  It was---

Let's not spoil the surprise, since I'll tell you all about it on the video. 

Episode- Making a Frame For a Mirror

A Post From Pete (the other Bench Dog)

Bruce and I love the challenge of transforming scrap and other unused materials into useful products. Bruce has been doing this for years. When I met him, he was living in a house built entirely of plastic milk crates. Unfortunately, we don't have any video of that masterpiece.

One afternoon, I put an old piece of glass mirror into my truck along with some scrap pieces of redwood that I'd used to make a railing. I called Brucey and said, "Hey, let's meet at the shop. I got a fun little project."

Watch this video to see what happened.

More On The Dog Pound

Here's the west wall of the shop, certainly the most unplanned area to date. It serves mostly as a catch-all for projects under construction, experiments gone wrong, and immoral acts of carpentry. Notice the bench made of an old solid core door. That was the first piece of 'furniture' in the room when it was just a drop zone for Doorhanger. This whole back wall needs to be reworked. I see another Bench Dogs video!

Hopefully you understand how difficult it is to build anything in here larger than, say, a belt buckle. Still, we try.  Not bad for a dog pound.

The Bench Dogs 'Pound' Revisited

You asked for it, and here it is. The other pics of relevance, starting with the east wall. It features another four power tool work stations. The wall has a wide array of hand tools, clamps, drill and router bits, and stereo equipment. The drawers are loaded down with extra bits, belts, blades, discs, knives and parts boxes filled with disassembled gearage, springs, clips, spanners, stembolts, hoosits and of course, junk. 

Here's the 4x4 shop bench that occupies the center of the shop. It's multifunctional-- the table saw is hooked to it, as is the wood vice. You can faintly see the holes for the bench dogs opposite the vise. If you peek around to the right, my hand-plane-turned-jointer is hooked to it also, hanging by french cleat. 

Under the bench on both sides are full-depth drawers filled with fasteners and parts. On the right is a through-shelf for scrap wood up to four feet long. Two sliding boxes also hold small, odd-shaped wood scraps. In other words, firewood.

Bench Dogs Quickie: Dismantling A Lighter For Recycling

Have you ever gone to a garbage dump?  It's a chilling prospect-- we humans are a messy, wasteful bunch.  An enormous amount of product that can be reused ends up there. I do my small part with this video about stripping down an ordinary disposable lighter to its individual parts. The metal pieces go to recycling, but I save the colored plastic bodies for projects. I thought I might break 'em up, melt 'em down and turn 'em into a stained glass project. Either that, or I'd make a colorful house using lighters as bricks. I have enough lighters collected by now to build a small doll house, but my kid prefers to create her own Jenga game with 'em. Maybe I can give the whole lot to Chuck E Cheese's, and they can use them instead in the ball pit. Or, create a video of a domino cascade in colorful plastic. Or better yet, you can add your ideas here and we can do a video on the best one (or the silliest one). And I promise, this is the last non-woodworking video for awhile.  I actually DO know how to work wood!