Workshop Addition
Some Long Overdue Shop Upgrades
Although I’m rather anxious to make progress on the acoustic guitar project, the recent departure of a close family friend caused me to shift gears briefly to build them a going away present. During the glue-up process, I was frustrated by the lack of suitable bench space. My old glue up table was a $50 … Continue reading
DuPage Woodworkers Pay a Call
I had the distinct honor of hosting the DuPage Woodworkers as they toured my shop this past weekend. I had a great time talking about the shop and sharing ideas with the club members. I had a blast meeting you all! Thanks!
The New Woodcraft Magazine is Here!
On Friday afternoon I arrived home to find a package containing 10 freshly-printed copies of the Oct/Nov Woodcraft Magazine which includes the feature story on my shop! It went something like this: Navin R. Johnson: The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here! Harry Hartounian: Boy, I wish I could get that excited … Continue reading
Photosynth of the Workshop
I’ve finally had a chance to clean the shop…so I took some time this evening to “photosynth” it. Click the image below for the result and let me know what you think!
Woodcraft Magazine Photo Shoot
What a blast! Last Friday, Woodcraft Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jim Harrold spent the day visiting my workshop to supervise a photo shoot of the shop for an upcoming issue. With him was Chicago-area photographer Mike Crews, his assistant John, and numerous road boxes filled with some pretty slick photography gear. A Dust-free Dust Collection System The … Continue reading
A Couple Minor Shop Enhancements
Over the last couple months things in the shop have been fairly quiet…mainly due to things in the house being more noisy! Of course, our now 5-month-old son Nathan’s an absolute joy and easily the least-demanding baby of the three. This weekend I snuck away for a bit to put the finishing touches on my … Continue reading
Very Cool News
I’ve been informed today that my entry into the WoodCentral.com/Woodcraft “America’s Top Shops Contest” won third place! Be sure to check out the other entries — especially the first and second place winners. Truly impressive! Thanks!
My New Big Honkin’ Machine
I love craigslist. Around the same time I begain the planning for my new shop, I started using “igoogle” for my browser homepage. I also discovered a couple cool “craigslist” widgets for igoogle that display search results for preconfigured searches on your homepage. So, for example, if I’m considering the purchase of, say, a new … Continue reading
Shop Air, and Sheet Goods Get A Home
My original design for the shop included multiple compressed air outlets scattered about the shop. At the heart of this system would be a 60gal Ingersol-Rand 2-stage compressor providing at least 15 SCFM@tenonandspline.com90psi. Now months later, I’ve significantly revised and downgraded my plans. Part of it was financial, but most of it was a realization … Continue reading
An Hour Here, a Half-Hour There and a Few Saturday Mornings
Over the past month I found very little contiguous time to make progress on the shop setup. Consequently I never felt like I had made significant enough progress in any given week to warrant a new post. While I’m still quite some distance from the finish line, I finally feel like I can actually say, … Continue reading