I recently purchased quite a bit of rough sawn hardwood from someone closing their woodworking shop. Beauties like 8/4 walnut along with cherry, mahogany and maple were a welcome addition to my inventory; however since these boards were rough sawn they did not all come with a straight edge. In lieu of dropping $300 on a benchtop jointer or plenty more on a floor model I came up with a DIY solution for around $25.00. I purchased a pair of 3-Inch Hold Down Clamps (Grizzly G9589) and made a sled to run along my table saw fence. Starting with a squared up piece 3 ½ “ wide oak (choose your length) I glued a piece of ¼” plywood to the...
After doing some research I purchased a WEN 8” 5 speed benchtop drill press as the latest addition to my workshop. (8" denoting that an 8" wide piece of wood is the maximum width one can center a drill hole) This particular drill press received great reviews while having a very affordable price point ($77). Delivery came within a week, the setup was easy and within no time I was drilling straight, consistent holes that were not achievable with my handheld drills. About a month earlier I had agreed to make some small, simple wooden cars that would be placed in boxes and shipped around the world as part of our church’s Operation Christmas Child. I used basic 2...
