When building doors for our Chicken Coops, we use a biscuit joiner. Now 99% of the time we use #20 biscuits for our work.  But while building the models for our Monster Mayhem display I had to switch to small #0 biscuits. And when I put the tool back, I left it at that position (since I’d be building more models).

Unfortunately, Evelyn didn’t know that, and when she went to make some speed carts for the base of Monster Mayhem — well, she was a bit pissed off. She made the cuts, all at the wrong depth.

This little adventure reminded me when I went to fasten some 5mm panel for some coop doors. Ka-thung! Boy, that nail seemed to go deep. But I kept going. Only later realizing that the 5/8″ brads I thought we in the tool were actually 1 1/4″ brads we use for the coop core frames. That door was nailed to the bench!

So, what to do about the situation. Well, sure, always triple-check everything. But when a tool is set up a certain way 99% of the time you reach for it, and use it, without thinking twice. Almost always use #20 biscuits. Almost always use 5/8″ brads. Except when we’re not.

To help, I borrowed an idea from the aircraft industry: Remove before flight. The idea being that if a tool is left in a “non-standard” configuration, and you put it back (because you know you’re using it later for the same task), let the other person know — or let yourself know, if you forget. On aircraft, this is done with little flags. So I used the same idea.

Here, I’ve just finished cutting dados into some 1×2 material. The slot / dado is where some wiring will sit for our models. Because it’s deep, it’s done multi pass. And I left the tool in the “high” position. If I forgot that, I tried to cut another piece, it would (best case) bog down the router and (worst case) throw the material across the room (been there, done that).

Here, I’ve left brads in the nailer, but don’t know what size. So I flag it:

If I had left the biscuit joiner in a non-standard position (say, a #0 biscuit cut), I would flag it:

All those flags are are some plastic spring-loaded clothes pins with a piece of old red t-shirt tied to them. Nothing fancy, but something that’s easy to remember and easy to spot.

So now if I see a tool with a red strip attached to it, I know that it’s in a non-standard configuration (different brads, excessive depth, high speed, etc). It’s an easy way to remember in a shop where we quickly move from one task to another.

He needs a home. Old neighbors left him (a year ago). Then someone was taking care of him, but over the past week he’s been very needy. So I think that whomever was taking care of him moved away. An outdoor cat, but craves to go inside. I’ll have to build him a condo.

Here’s how you turn your garage into a TV. A SONY, of course.

The theme this year is Monster Mayhem.
Think: 1950s Japanese Godzilla movies.

Here are some early shots of work in progress:

Above we see Evelyn working on our version of Godzilla and Gamera. Godzilla is about 4 feet tall and over 4 feet wide (including his long tail). The “core” of his body is about 26 inches across. Gamera, the one Evelyn is drawing in the photos, is 3 feet wide and about 22 inches tall.

Here’s Godzilla taking a walk outside:

The figures are being drawn in charcoal and chalk pastels on 5mm thick plywood. Why plywood / 2D? Well, if I told my story in order it would make more sense:

See, we’re trying to make a scale model diorama of a fight scene. Instead of trying to make a lot of complicated, and difficult to store, 3D models, we’re going back to a neat papercraft art form. A sort of 3D Decoupage. (You can find some example on this most excellent site: Canon Creative Park). We will be laying 2D models (monsters, buildings, etc) to give a depth of field without all the depth.

The goal is to have all this stuff fit on a platform about 8 feet wide by 2 feet deep. Here’s a scale model (of a scale model) Evelyn built out of paper (using her CNC paper cutter). It will give you an idea for what we’re going for.

The above model is 1/4 scale sized to our “full sized” scene — so 1 foot in this (which is the height of Godzilla) is 4 feet in the final product. The final scene, of course, is a scale model itself — we don’t quite have room for a 164 foot tall Godzilla. And yes, we have exact measurements for all the characters. Evelyn is an Engineer, after all.

We have a small (1 small car) garage which houses our shop. In total square feet, our shop is fine. The trouble is that we also build chicken coops — and they take up a 3′ x 6′ footprint — therefore, we have to keep the front 1/4 of the shop clear as a work / lumber storage area. So, we have to be clever about tool placement and storage.

There are a couple of dedicated stations for frequently used tools (ex. the bandsaw, drill press). Hand power tools are stored on a small bakers shelving unit. The big Makita Miter Saw sits on its own rolling cart (still need to build out its proper in/out-feed fences), etc. Recently, my collection of proper hand tools has been growing (ever so slightly), which means new storage solutions.

I have a rule of thumb about tools, materials, and parts: KEEP THEM VISIBLE

How many times have I rooted around the shop to find a glue gun I forgot I had. Or had made due with another tool when a better solution was in the shop, but hidden and forgotten about. This not just important with tools, but also materials. It’s critical to keep your materials “out there” so you can always be reminded of what you have. I know this can be difficult, but having all those tools and materials out there in front of me often sparks new ideas.

Now back to the till…

A saw till is a storage unit, usually for large hand saws. It keeps them safe, organized, and available. I’m mostly a power tool guy, but I do own some hand saws which were owed a better storage solution than a nail on a wall. Here you can see how the dovetail saws (these are Veritas) as stored:

It’s a frame made out of 1×4 pine, with some dowels (or, in my case, a ripped piece of pine, rounded over), and another piece of pine with slots to hold the blades. There a bunches of ways of doing this — I built this till for a very specific use, storing these Veritas saws.

After building out the unit I found I had space toward the top that wasn’t being used (where the blades slide under). Instead of wasting that space, I tacked on a chisel holder:

As a bonus, the top is flat, so I can store other stuff behind the chisels (that blue container, which holds some spare bits).

But I could not neglect my two (I know, only two?) planes. So, the bottom area is for storing them. (The till was sized to hold a #5 Jack plane and at least 5 dovetail saws.) here’s how everything looks:

The Jack is an old Stanley we found in Puerto Rico, rusting away (and still needing a rebuild). Above it is a Veritas DX60 block plane, which was pretty much perfect out of the box. Those Canadians do know how to build hand tools.

You can also see that I have space to hang saws on the outside — the left side has a small Japanese utility pull saw–frequently used, the other side has a Japanese Ryoba (two cutting edges).

I so liked how the saw till came out, I decided to make a matching unit to hold a couple of common screwdrivers and hammers.

An important design note on the screwdriver section: I tilted it at a pretty significant angle (I’d guess 30 degrees forward). Two reasons for this. First, it saves a LOT of space. Second, it makes getting the drivers out a LOT easier. If you are building screwdriver storage, try tilting it outward. It makes a big difference in space used and ease of use.  (In the middle you’ll see that I can also store mechanical pencils here, along with a Japanese nail set.)

My Incra rulers were feeling a little neglected, and my second-hand rules too, so I repainted my measuring device storage area black (for contrast, and I had it on hand). Twelve and eighteen inch rulers hand from the bottom, and a 6″ Pinnacle centering rule sits in the middle. (I love that ruler–so sturdy and a handy length. You can get them at Woodcraft.)

Here is the Heroic Trio, mounted to studs in the walls. (I need to make some of those fancy french [?] wall bracket setups, but too many things are above that on my to-do list.) I’ve even space for a bottle of glue (top of hammer one) — Evelyn found that at a local Korean market. It’s for storing sauces, but is perfect for glue.

I’m happy how everything came out. Not only do they look nice and professional, but they also (more importantly) keep my hand tools at hand.

I’ve written about my Dahon Folding Bike before. It’s the one that I configured as a city apartment bike (read more here). The Dahon is a fun bike to ride. With its tiny tires you feel like you’re on a kids bike. It has a three speed hub gear system, so it’s easy to use. And it has fenders and chain guards, so you don’t have to be outfitted in bicycling gear to ride it.

While I had previously outfitted it with a lighting system, etc, it was lacking a good way to carry stuff. It has a really nice rear rack — but the wheels are so small that you can’t use regular pannier bags. It needed something like a milk crate.

Trouble with milk crates is that they look like milk crates. And any attempt to make it look nicer simply resulting in a nicer looking milk crate. I’d have to build my own.

So, out come some 1×12 scrap boards, and some knowledge recently gained from a new Super Secret Project. Here is the core:

The front, angled parts, and sides are all 1×12 pine boards. The front is 6″, angled 4″, and sides 8″. These dimensions were chosen because (a) my scrap of wood was only 30″ long and (b) it just happens to be exactly the right size for my rack.

In this shot you can see the angle cuts:

This is where having a gigantic miter saw really paid off. I was able to make those 22.5 degree bevel cuts right on the Makita. You can also use a portable circular saw, a good straight edge, and a steady hand.

Why 22.5 degrees? Because if you cut your lumber equally you’ll make a hexagon. I wanted a hexagon-like shape for my box, since I didn’t want it to look like a cube. The other huge added benefit it that the angled parts allow my feet to clear — if I made a cube my my pedals/feet would have whacked into the box. Luckily, my aesthetic choice was also a good usability choice.

The sides were glued up and allowed to dry using a strap clamp to hold it in place (this was a big pain and the hardest part of the project).

If you look carefully in the above photo you can see that I also used small pieces (cut at 45 degree angles) as braces. Why 45 degrees? Because 45 + 22.5 + 22.5 = 90. Geometry in action. The braces are glued in and then bradded (using 2″ brads — thank goodness for my DeWalt nail gun).

Again, by lucky happenstance, my scrap lumber and it’s dimensions lead me to one very important conclusion: It’s ideally sized to hold a 6 pack of bottled beer. If you are going to build your own, make sure it can accommodate 6″ x 8″ x 10″ tall. Unless you drink from cans, then you can reduce the height.

For the back, I used a piece of scrap 5mm plywood held in place with brads. You can use 1x if you have it (I was out). The bottom is another piece of high-quality 1×12 that I’ve had around. It’s held in place with about eight 1 5/8″ deck screws. Make sure the bottom is fastened well — it’s the primary mounting point to the bike.

Now that I knew this would hold beer, or a picnic lunch, or both, it was important to add some insulation. Two reasons for this: (a) to keep stuff cool in the hot Texas summer and (b) to keep things from rattling around while I’m riding.

I had some spare garage door insulator lying around (it’s like silvered bubble swap) which would work perfectly:

The insulation on the sides is one piece, held in place with construction adhesive. The bottom is more insulation, but is NOT adhered to the bottom. It has to be removable so that you can bolt the box to the bike rack.

This being Austin, I knew that I couldn’t leave the box plain black. That would be too boring. So we finally put to use some of the many, many bottle caps we have collected:

The caps are hot glued to a piece of Kommerling Komacel. Komacel is a plastic material that is weatherproof, cuts like wood, and can be purchased in a variety of colors. It’s a great material to work with. We had a scrap of white, so I spray painted it matte black. The resulting panel is then mounted to the rear 5mm back using 4 machine screws and nuts.

You can see that the top is cut to mirror the shape of the box, has the edges rounded over, and then mounted with a single hinge. Since I was out of larger boards, I biscuited and glued up two 1×6 boards and then cut to shape. Insulation was also glued into place so that the entire box is insulated.

Next up, some designs for the side:

A nighttime test ride:

I’ll try and get some photos of how the box gets mounted to the rack, and some more of the top.

For the final touches, we’ll decorate the sides some more, and probably put a latch (perhaps magnetic) on the lid so it doesn’t bounce around. (I noticed a little movement in the top — mainly because I used a cheap leftover hinge. If you have one, use a piano hinge.)

Our prototype panel is above. We decided that the black background looked better than white.

It’s been busy. About a coop a week through most of March and April. And the IT work. So I’ve unfortunately not had a lot of time to blog. Ah well.

One think I’d like to mention: If you want to save your hearing, buy better tools.

You see, we’ve been gradually upgrading our shop from our first-time tools (like the Skil miter saw, Rockler HVLP sprayer, Arrow stapler) to something more production worthy (Makita miter, Earlex sprayer, DeWalt electric nailer). It’s been a gradual swap-out, as the cheaper tools have either failed, have started to fail, or could not longer support the strain we put on them.

What I’ve found is this: With each (big) upgrade we’ve had a big decrease in sound levels. The Makita saw, while far larger and more powerful than the Skil, is at least 1/2 the loudness. When our $120 Chinese special HVLP sprayer started dying, I went to an English made Earlex — and it’s about 1/3rd as loud as the cheapie. And so on.

The loudness is important for a couple of reasons. First, we have a home shop, and want to be respectful of our neighbors. We realize that hearing banging or cutting all day long is no fun. Second, the quieter it is, the less stressful it is. I find I can cut longer, with less aggravation, with the quieter saw. (Even though I’d use earplugs.) Sure, the saw is of higher quality and makes better cuts, but the decrease in noise seems to make cutting more enjoyable.

In general, I’m finding that a quieter tool is a better made tool. Better fit and finish. Higher quality parts. More attention to detail. My loudest tools are also my cheapest.

I removed my “old” scrap wood boxes from the sides of my cart, replacing them with some new “wings” for my Makita miter saw. Actually, more like re-purposing. I took the boxes apart and used them for the wings. They were 1×12 material, so gave me the size I wanted.

Here is the left-hand (feed) side:

A 24″ long 1×12 is bolted to the cart (just like the scrap boxes were) using a couple of 1/4″ bolts. To keep things strong and level, I added two 2x4s cut at 45 degree miters. They act as braces for the top. The work surface is another 1×12 standing on a couple of short 2x4s. The 2x4s, with some washers, bring the deck to exactly the same level as the saw.

If I had put the saw on a new deck, I wouldn’t have needed this more complicated setup. However, I was trying to avoid buying more lumber and wanted to re-use what I had on-hand.

Everything is pine, which isn’t exactly the most stable material, but it will do for now. I “finished” the top with a couple of layers of the ever-stinky Johnson’s Paste Wax.

I used the wing for all of my cuts — what a difference it makes! The extra support on the left side is amazingly helpful. And I really don’t lose any space — my scrap can fits right under the wing. This is great, as I can just toss odds and ends right in.

After finishing my cuts, I noticed that I could use some support on the right (out-feed) side. I’ve been playing around with this design:

On this side, I need it to drop / stow out of the way, because I have very little room in the shop (see band saw in right background). So, I attached the wing to the existing handle on the cart. Now I need a way to keep it in place while cutting (right now I’m using a little clamp, visible). Since this is just the out-feed, and I usually use 1x4s, this is a 1×6 piece of pine cut to 24″.

Update: Ye old saw is shifting around on my baker’s cart, throwing off the alignment (and height) of the side wings. Looks like I’m gonna have to build a new platform after all. Ah, well. I’ll make it out of MDF, which is a lot more stable (less likely to warp).

A couple of months ago I realized that our miter saw was on the way out. While the “old” (10 months) Skil saw did a good job, it just isn’t able to handle production work. It was getting sloppy on 45 degree miters — which was deadly to us, since our coops use those cuts extensively. Something like 64 miters and 48 bevels and dozens and dozens of straight cuts. In other words, our miter saw is really important.

I knew my upgrade would require a couple of things:

• Greater depth of cut. My little 10″ Skil could barely handle a 1×6.
• Greater height of cut. The Skil had trouble with 1x4s on edge.
• More accuracy. I need a tool that’s less likely to be sloppy.
• Something pro level which could handle production work.

After looking around, I decided to go with the brand new Makita LS1216L 12-Inch Dual Slide Compound Miter Saw.

Now, in typical fashion, I’m going from a $100 entry level saw to a $650 high-end beast. It’s kinda like moving from a Hyundai Accent to a BMW 6 Series. This side by side gives you an example:

The photo doesn’t give really great scale — the Makita is far bigger than the Skil. Mainly in depth, because it has a much bigger depth of cut. How much? Well, here is the Skil:

Realistically, the Skil can cut about 5 1/2″ — almost — at zero degrees. It’s a fixed 10″, so that’s pretty fair. (It’s not a fault of the saw — that’s just the limitation.)  Now look at the Makita:

That’s right — it will handle a 15″ cut — almost 3 times what my Skil could. This is approaching Radial Arm Saw territory (saws which, unfortunately, are rarely sold anymore). Why in the heck get such a reach when most of your stuff is 1×4 and 1×6?

Well, because we also make owl boxes and Leopold benches. And that’s 1×10, 2×10, and 2×12 material. Currently, I have to cut all of those free-hand with a circular saw. Which means cutting the angles with a Speed Square, which takes time. By having such an enormous depth, I can make a majority of my cuts on the miter saw — which is far faster and more accurate.

The table swings 52 degrees left and 60 right, which beats the 45 limits on the old saw. And it bevels in both directions (left and right), 45 degrees each way.  And notice the gigantic fences on this saw — it can cut up to 8″ crown molding. Now, I’m not planning on doing trim work, but it’s nice having the capacity.

Lucky for me, my little portable stand I made is just big enough to place the saw on:

With me in the photo you can get a better sense of scale. The saw is sitting on a 24″ x 18″ deck and it takes up that entire space.

Above, you can also see that the motor is set at a 45 degree angle — this keeps it away from your work and allows it to cut that tall molding. This is a godsend for me, as the motor assembly on my old Skil used to knock into the work all the time.

The motor has smooth start and a good electronic brake. It’s remarkably quiet — I’d say about half as loud at the old one! This was a VERY pleasant surprise for me, as the Skil is noisy (I had to wear earplugs and use only during the day). I can use this one in the evening (if need be) and feel less like a bad neighbor. The blade stops in probably 1/4 the time of the old saw. Just a few seconds.

My initial impressions are positive. The saw has a huge reach, is well built, quiet (for a power tool), and looks to be a fine addition to my shop. The true test will be tomorrow — when I make about 500 cuts.

Update #1

• My first runner up for this saw was a sliding Hitachi. I liked the feel of the Hitachi better than other brands in the store. This is a brand-new saw, so I couldn’t test it in-store first. However, the older / smaller models had good reviews, and I’ve been very happy with my Makita drills.
• It’s assembled in the USA. Being a US based manufacturer myself, I appreciate this.
• I’m going to re-rig my rolling cart so that my scrap storage bins act as “wings”. The saw comes with no external tables/supports.

Update #2

• Spent the morning making a new lead-in “wing” for the saw. My advice to miter saw owners? Make at least a lead-in wing — better yet, one on each side. I never realized how useful these are until I had them in place. Makes cutting a LOT easier — and you have a work surface right at saw height.
• Make lots of 45 miter and bevel cuts today. The tall fence makes bevel cuts a lot easier.
• With my new “wing” on the left, I was able to set up a temporary jig-like setup for cutting some of my door parts. This sped up the process a lot.
• An accurate laser is a wonderful thing. I could line up the laser to my tape, avoiding marking. Must faster cutting. The Makita laser is extremely accurate.
• The quick electric brake means I cut properly with this saw — I wait for the blade to stop, like I should.
• The lower noise is a godsend. So much more comfortable to work with the saw for longer periods of time.
• I’m going to install a Kreg measuring system on my left side, to make repeat production work easier.

There are three tools in my shop that I never thought I needed, but now find indispensable. The Band Saw, the HVLP Sprayer, and the Brad Nailer. Why are they so important to me? Because, in a production environment, every minute counts. Saving a minute here or there doesn’t sound like much — until you look back over a week and realize you shaved hours off of a build. I’ve talked about the Band Saw, so let’s look at the Brad Nailer.

A Brad Nailer is just that — a machine that nails brads (small nails). The most common range of brads is 5/8″ up to 2″. I’ve been looking at them for a while now, but haven’t pulled the trigger (so to speak) because of the complicated setup and the limited use in our shop.

Why complicated? Because most of the nail guns run off of air, so you need a compressor. A compressor means more noise in an already noisy shop. And, more importantly for me, another big current drain in an already underpowered shop (the whole house only has 60 amps coming in).

And it would be a limited use tool, since our coops use screws throughout. However, we had identified a couple of places (interior supports, temporary fixtures, ramps) which really didn’t need to use screws. In fact, screws were a big downside, as it takes a lot longer to fasten with them (drill hole with countersink, drive fastener — a two tool process).

So I was stuck. I knew I could use a nailer, but not enough to want me to hassle with air tools.

Luckily, while scanning through my tool blogs I saw something I was unaware of: The cordless brad nailer. Ah, ha! This could be the solution to my problem.

Unfortunately, I went looking for the brand the one guy mentioned (Senco) but couldn’t find good / consistent pricing on them, and most of the on-line shops were out of stock. Not a good sign. Fortunately, I found that DeWalt makes one. While I knew I’d have to pretty much pay list (DeWalt doesn’t allow much discounting), at least I could walk into Lowe’s and pick one up.

Now before I go much further, let me get this out of the way: This is a $300 nailer.

If you are a weekend warrior, don’t bother. If you already have air in your shop, don’t bother. If you need to sink something other than brads, don’t bother.

A finish carpenter? Get it. Install kitchens? Get it. Rapid assembly? Get it.

DEWALT DC608K 18-Volt 18 Gauge 2-Inch Brad Nailer Kit

Loading the gun is super easy. You slide a panel open and lay the brads in place. There are little grooves which the different sized brads lay in. This is NOT like loading a staple gun. It is infinitely better. You can change from 5/8″ brads to 2″ brads in the time it took me to write this sentence. I can’t tell you how much I love the simple easy loading mechanism.

You can run in single-shot mode, or “bump” — which is what I use when attaching 5mm panels to our coop doors. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. I can lay down 30 brads in under a minute. We use the single-shot mode when making our core frames — what used to be a 10 minute process of positioning, holding, drilling, fastening, is now down to maybe 2 minutes. It saves that much time.

But remember, this is a nailer, and a pro tool at that. So it’s big. See the battery pack on the bottom? That’s a standard 18V pack. It gives you an idea of how big the head is. And the head isn’t plastic — that’s metal up top. It’s heavy, about 8 pounds or so, but not horribly so. It’s a great tool for building biceps.

Remarkably, this big tool can get into some pretty tight spaces. And that’s when you really appreciate that it’s battery powered — no hoses to deal with! I climb inside the tight confines of a coop, bam-bam-bam-bam, done. I honestly don’t know how I lived without it.

It’s also quiet. Press against the work to rev up the flywheel inside (pretty quiet) and pull the trigger to sink the brad (quieter than my Arrow staplers). I’ll do a SSS video on how I use it.

Its limits? Well, it can only fire 18 gauge brads, from 5/8″ to 2″. So it’s very specific in what it does. But if you need to pin things into place, or attach finish work, or hold something in place while the glue dries, then it’s an excellent tool. I find myself looking for more uses for it — like knocking together suet feeders.

The executive summary: If you do production work and are sick of trying to use electric staple guns to fire brads, get one of these tools. It is big, heavy, and expensive, but I wouldn’t give up mine. It has saved us time and frustration.