Woodworking
Something different today. I made a workbench. It took me the whole day and I made a lot of mistakes. But I also learned a lot.
I have a Dewalt tablesaw. It handles small pieces of lumber fine. But trying to rip a piece of two-by-six using the built-in guide was impossible. It was simply too wobbly for working with large pieces. I’ll probably have to build some sort of workbench to hold the tablesaw, as well as a larger guide to really make sure I can get perfect rips.
I used a circular saw to do most of my cuts. It is a very flexible tool. Now that I have a real work bench, I can put the circular saw to better use, as I’ll have a secure place to clamp down the material I’m working with.
I have a 20v driver drill and a 20v impact drill. Having both was a life saver. I can use on drill to drill pilot holes and the others to drive in wood screws.
I have shitty drill bits. Trying to drill the pilot holes for my wood screws was a nightmare. I’ll have to do some research on which types to get.
I might have bought the wrong lumber. I bought douglas fir pieces from the local Home Depot. The two-by-six pieces were really wrapped, thus hard to work with. I thought I could fix them by ripping off layer using my tablesaw. Well, see my issues with my tablesaw above. A douglas fir has a Janka hardness of 660. White pine has a hardness of 420. Yellow pine, however, has a higher hardness at 870, but can be lighter and easier to work with. Not really sure here. I’m also at a loss where to get lumber other than Home Depot or Lowes.
I spend 3 hours shopping and planning, then 4 hours in the sun putting things together. I was exhausted by the end. Had a blast though and got a great tan.