How to build a Young Woodworker’s Toolchest

I recently submitted my entry to Summer’s Woodworking‘s 2014 2×4 competition, and I have been asked to put together plans for the toolchest. At first I thought that it would be tough since I improvised my way through this project, but as I thought about how I could do it anyway I realized that I could at least share with you how I went about buiding the chest.

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Quick & Dirty Center Finder for the drill press

Repurpose the paper tray of an old printer to make a cheap center finder for your drill press. It does not take much – apart from the paper tray, of course – to turn this into a simple center finding jig for your drill press. Combined with a piece of scrap wood or a sufficiently large drill press table, this center finder works a treat.

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2×4 competition entry – Young Woodworker’s Toolchest

Introducing the Young Woodworker’s Toolchest. So It finally has arrived – my entry to Summer’s Woodworking’s 2×4 competition, after hours and hours of trash talking (and procrastinating). It is meant as a toy (for children, not the kind that comes with a plug and push sticks) and contains a collection of basic woodworking tools. I made a mallet, two chisels, an angle gauge, a measuring stick, a square, a handsaw and a plane.

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Rotating Tool Stand

Build a stand for rarely used tools, saving space while keeping them in the shop. This project was inspired by Jack Houweling’s design (as far as I know there are no plans for it as of now), but it turned out much less sophisticated (and not knowing the mechanism he used, I venture to say that it was also much less complicated to build). Check out the video and if you are interrested, there are some thoughts and ideas I had during the build that did not make it into the final cut, as well as some thoughts on further improving the design.

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Woodworking safety day videos

Today is Woodworking Safety Day, dedicated to all things safety-related in and around the workshop.

Video #1 – Cheap push blocks

Not in response but as an addition to Steve Ramsey’s funny video (see below), these are the push blocks I made for use with my table saw (mostly). They work and are made from scrap or leftovers, but they are still pretty basic. But more professional solutions cost money, so this is intended to fill this gap – between nothing and something properly built and testet. Yes, there are many things you can do yourself rather than buy expensive pre-made solutions, but I do not think that this applies as strongly to safety items as it does to other jigs. At some day I will upgrade – I hope.

Video #2 –  Cheap music earmuffs

This is in relation to Mark Spagnuolo’s video, where he talks about some nifty upgrades for several important safety features. One of them are earmuffs that allow you to listen to music. I have tried making something like that myself, and here is how I did it. Again, it is cheap but far from perfect.

Other WWSD videos:

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