They’re called “dessert forks” in the same way that some people call the small spoons “dessert spoons”.

Until now, I’ve never seen anything with epoxy that I found visually impressive. And you went all the way to stunning!

Looks like it still has rubber tires, so probably just fine.

I can see why! That’s beautiful!

And if you tape it into the corner of your combination square:

• the rule part of the square keeps the reference faces aligned vertically
• the nail can’t tip toward one board, causing vertical misalignment
• consistent centering (or off-centering, if that’s what you want)
• I find it’s easier to position the rule on my layout markings than to position a handheld nail. There is a slight offset, of course, but if that’s a consideration, do your layout to compensate.
• I find it’s quicker, too.

If you are doing floating tenons, just mark the ends. If your tenons need to be vertical with respect to your reference face, use a long nail or screw, mark the tops, adjust the height, mark the bottoms.

If you can tolerate more offset or are willing to always layout to compensate, drive a woodscrew vertically in a long narrow block with only 2 square faces. Adjust the screw depth as appropriate. The block gives you something to hang onto without taping anything.

And now I bet you’re envisioning the construction of your own dedicated jigs made from scraps and wood or drywall screws.

@MaggiWuerze@feddit.de

Thanks for the book recommendation!

It’s fairly expensive, but it turns out that there are several copies of both first and second edition available through my local library.

Even with proper dust collection, I’d rather just wear PPE. At this point, I view having good dust collection as more of a time saver for cleaning than actual protection.

That’s pretty close to my own view. I’ve moved the tough to manage stuff outside and leave the easy to manage stuff inside. I still wear PPE in both cases, because that is the simplest, cheapest, and, most importantly, reliably does the job.

Some of my equipment pretty much has to be outside anyway, because my shop is just too small for both boat building and a bunch of dust makers.

I’m also doing more of my work with just hand tools. I find it pleasurable and being just a hobby, it’s not like there are any time pressures. And now I’m retired, so I’ve got even more time.

+1 for Windsor. I don’t know what they’re like out there or how they compare to other options you have, but they are my go to place in SK. Whenever we travel to Saskatoon for appointments, etc, I try to stop in, if only to marvel at the selection.

They are beautiful in themselves, with a kind of delicacy of form. I’ve tracked down places to purchase them. They’re not as expensive as I imagined, so I’ve added them to my Xmas and birthday lists. :)

Thanks.

What the hell are those clamps? Did you make them yourself? I’ve never seen anything like them. I probably won’t buy or build them, but they do look cool!

Ha! Fair enough. I really don’t have a good idea what the real risk is for a reasonably cautious hobbyist. For me, it was trying to address the dust hazard that made me realize just what a pain dust has been for me. The shop is so much easier to keep clean. My bright finishes come out so much better. It’s just all over nicer.

(Wall of text warning!)

When I decided to turn occasionally working with wood, mostly outside, into more of a regular activity in my retirement that would be mostly inside I did a bit of research and concluded that dust was the probably the biggest unaddressed hazard in most hobby shops. We all know to not stick our fingers into the blades and to not breathe the fumes from most finishes, but dust is generally treated as an annoyance rather than a hazard.

So, when I was building my shop, I put dust control at the top of my list. It quickly became clear that I couldn’t afford to handle dust the way I wanted and still have tools and equipment and lumber, so I figured out how to work around the problem. That’s when I decided to go with a shopvac with a HEPA filter and a cyclonic add-on and to build an outdoor workstation for the worst of the power equipment.

Those cyclonic add-ons to a shopvac are an amazing convenience. If you have a HEPA filter, opening up the intake to the shop air after finishing with the tool and directing the vac output out to the room for good circulation will clear virtually all remaining hanging dust in just a few minutes. If you have the space and a bit of spare cash, a box fan running in an enclosure of good furnace filters mostly takes care of hanging dust as you’re working. Those techniques might not meet OHSA, but it’ll be darn close, especially given you’re probably not producing dust 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. Slap on a decent mask for a few minutes and that will get you to OHSA, so that’s what I do.

As I said up top, I don’t actually know that dust collection needs to get OHSA levels to manage the risk associated with a hobby shop, but it’s the route I took. Not knowing means I also don’t criticize the choices others make. I’m just happy to see that most people are creating much safer environments by doing something more than opening a window, even if they’re doing it for reasons of convenience, not safety.

Yes, I’ve looked at them and seen some very good ones in action. I’ve yet to see one that will pass OHSA rules without PPE. My bandsaw set-up gets close enough that I wear a mask only during a cutting session and few minutes after. Mitre saw and circular saw go to my outdoor workstation and I still wear a mask.

OHSA compliant dust collection is possible, but not in my budget.

As you already know from your door work, a plane slices shavings of wood whereas sandpaper basically just chews away making dust.

The result is that the plane produces extremely smooth surfaces. Smoother than any sandpaper you’re likely to use. Did I mention the dust?

If you have a fair bit of material to remove, but not so much that a saw is useful, a decent plane with a sharp blade on a well supported workpiece will often do the job faster than a sander. Yes you can start with a coarse grit and get ever finer until you have both the right dimensions and a smooth enough surface, but the plane is smooth all the way and the amount removed in one pass is based on how thick a shaving you take. That makes it easier to “sneak up” on your dimensions. A reasonable compromise is to start with coarse sandpaper and finish with a plane, but did I mention the dust?

A plane takes a bit of time to get tuned up, but once done, it rarely requires more than sharpening. Once you get the hang of sharpening, it doesn’t take much longer than swapping out sandpaper (except for the those Velcro-like sanding disks), but a plane doesn’t produce dust.

As you can tell, I hate dust. Unless you spend a fortune on dust collection, dust will always get everywhere, making a general mess, spoiling finishes, and clogging lungs. I’ve never heard of a dust collection system that eliminates the need to wear good PPE.

As a bonus, setting up the plane the right way with a sharp blade lets you take nice curls of wood, even from scrap, that can be turned into wood “roses” and such for decorations, gifts, or the craft market. The regular shavings can be bagged up and used (and even sold!) for kindling, small animal cages, or mulch. Be careful with your wood species, though, as some are toxic. All the more reason to avoid creating dust! :) As far as I can tell, wood dust is basically just a potentially harmful substance, even from non-toxic specifies, with few if any practical uses.

About the only place I like to use sandpaper is to do a quick pass by hand with a medium or coarse grit to roughen a surface for gluing or to get a mechanical bond with additional coats of epoxy when I let the previous coat cure too long.

Look at that, joinery and everything! Excellent!

Nice job! I’m still hard at work on getting my shop renovated and reconfigured, but bandsaw boxes are at the top of my list once I get that taken care of. I know that looks can be deceiving, but it just seems so straightforward to let the creativity fly.

While you’re at it, maybe plane or scrape a couple of rounds, too. If sanding marks and raised grain really do increase the exposed area, getting rid of them will reduce it.

I would think someone out there has already done the experiments, but I didn’t find anything with a quick look.

Also, if you’re not committed to shellac, there are coatings that are less permeable to water vapour.

I find it interesting that the untouched rounds are (so far!) doing better. I don’t have any answers, but I’ll speculate.

Shellac is pretty permeable to water vapour. I don’t know how much it slows the exchange of water vapour, but it might not be much.

I would be curious how sanding alone affects stability. I can imagine sanding increasing the surface area exposed to the atmosphere, speeding up the exchange of water vapour.