Stu’s Shed
Stu’s site is a virtual extension of his modest woodworking shed in Melbourne, Australia. You’ll find a great combination of articles and videos on techniques, information for amateur woodworkers, and tool reviews. Stu also runs introductory weekend woodworking courses through one of Melbourne’s Technical Colleges, and demonstrates woodworking at local hardware warehouses, wood shows, and a local woodwork club.
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Tidbits
November 21, 2008
Some other pieces of news from around the place: ————————————————– Organoil is reported to have gone into receivership. Given that the now discontinued Triton Oil was Organoil Hard Burnishing Oil, it seems that sometime in the near future, even this won’t be available. Organoil ————————————————– Triton...
Lidwig Clamps Range
November 21, 2008
While posting up photos from the previous video, here are some of the still shots of the different clamps in the Lidwig range. Lidwig Product Range Posted in Uncategorized Read More →
Lidwig and MagSwitch
November 21, 2008
As seen in a couple of images in the preceeding video (and briefly in a recent post), the Lidwig cable clamp, and the MagSwitch Power Hook make for quite a functional duo. I was looking around the ’shop to see what uses I could put the Lidwig Cable Clamp (let’s call it the LCC to save RSI in my fingers!) and each time, I found myself using a MPH (you can guess that one) to complement it, allowing me to place the LCC where-ever I wanted. It got to the point that I started wondering whether...
Episode 42 Lidwig Clamps
November 20, 2008
Episode 42 Lidwig Clamps Australian designed clamps, with 100+kg pre-settable clamping pressure and one-handed operation. Made from either glass impregnated resin, or aluminium. Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv) (Right-click, and select “Save Link As”) Best video quality is achieved by downloading then playing the mp4 version. Posted in Manufactures and Suppliers, Podcast, Tools Read More →
Dovetail Master
November 20, 2008
Quick followup on the Dovetail Master - had a chance to take a photo of the actual one I assembled. Dovetail Master Think it came up ok. Guess I am running out of excuses not to try to handcut some dovetails. Posted in Tools Read More →
A roaming we will go
November 19, 2008
I’m currently sitting in a cafe in Melbourne, with a German Beer beside me, and eating a Greek Fetta Pizza. There is a parcel coming on a boat from China, I am writing an entry on my blog which is hosted in the USA, reading the latest news from the BBC in the UK, watching the cricket currently being played in Brisbane, reading emails from Sydney and comments from Russia, talking to my wife on the phone who’s shopping in Southland, and sending an instant text message to my brother in...
A Jaw Horse is on its way!
November 19, 2008
Was speaking with the manufacturers of the Jaw Horse yesterday, and apparently there is one on the high seas at the moment, floating its way down under so I can review it and put it through its paces! Given that it is (literally) on the slow boat from China, it will take a couple of weeks or so so arrive in Oz, (and add whatever fudge factor to that), then clear customs, be unpacked etc etc, so some time in the next month. If at all possible, I would like to aim to have a review of it out before...
Triton Evening Demo tonight
November 18, 2008
Heading off shortly to set up for this evening - being held at Pakenham Mitre 10 (rather than the Bunnings I thought it was earlier - seeing as there isn’t one!) Covering some of the usual suspects, and the newer benchtop tools. There are some more not far off either, so will start to cover those on here as they become available. I have some cool new router bits to look at over the next few months, and some more of the 3D router carver templates as well, so that will be a topic that gets a...
Triton in the EU
November 16, 2008
As bought to my attention by one of SS’s readers, a new distribution deal has been formalised for the entire European Union, with Toolstream (the company behind the Silverline Tools brand) becoming the sole distributer for the EU. More details here on www.getwoodworking.com Posted in Manufactures and Suppliers Read More →
A Story!
November 16, 2008
In traditional Frederick Forsythyesque style, a combination of fact, rumour, innuendo, speculation and fiction results in the following: A Story. Once upon a time, in the Night Garden….. (you can tell I watch too much 2 year-old TV!) After many years, (6 for me), and meetings (approximately 60), the Triton Woodworkers Club, Holmesglen is no more. From it’s height where membership was around 70 (and coincidentally I was President for a couple of those years), to the point where but a...
Odd Spot
November 15, 2008
Was in Bunnings yesterday buying some particle board for the backing of a noticeboard I’ve been asked to make for work (video is in the pipeline), and found the plans for a picnic table, normally priced at $9.95 (because that extra 5c makes all the difference!), but were being dumped for 50c. Always worth having a quick look at the sales tables - all sorts of strange things in strange juxtapositions when they are thrown together on the tables! Speaking of Bunnings, I will be doing another...
Episode 41 Wetstone Jigs and Stone Dressing
November 11, 2008
Episode 41 Wetstone Jigs and Stone Dressing The wetstone sharpeners are just one part of the system - the jigs that are available make it a very versatile machine. This video covers both some of the jigs that are available, as well as dressing the stone, so it is flat and parallel to the jig support arm. Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv) (Right-click, and select “Save Link As”) Best video quality is achieved by downloading then playing the mp4 version. Posted in Podcast,...
A Night at the Opera
November 10, 2008
Or more like, a night in the shed :) Got a number of things done out there which was very refreshing, and actually felt like real woodworking for once. I even got to make some sawdust! As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve had some trouble with my current inadequate power supply to allow me to use dado blades on my tablesaw. As a bit of a test, I purchased a tradesman’s extension cord yesterday which has a 1.5 mm core rather than the standard 1.0 mm (or even smaller) in typical household...
Chris Vesper Joinery Knife
November 9, 2008
As long-time readers of Stu’s Shed will know, I am quite a fan of, for want of a better term, cottage industry products, such as are made by Terry Gordon (HNT Gordon Planes), Colen Clenton, and Chris Vesper. These tools are both a pleasure to use and own. The Chris Vesper Joinery Knife is no exception. A combination of a well thought out design, precision manufacturing methods and stunning timber results in a tool that is destined to become an heirloom. Chris Vesper Joinery Knife This particular...
Linbide Flush Trim Panel Bit
November 9, 2008
The Router bit-of-the-Month is the Linbide Flush Trim Panel Bit, with twin flutes and interchangeable cutters. The bit is 1/2″ shank, 19mm diameter and 63mm cutter length. Linbide Flush Trim Panel Bit This bit is certainly a significant step up from previous flush-trim bits I have used in the past. It has a twin bearing at the top, which gives a large contact area which is an asset when using a material like MDF as a pattern to follow. MDF is a great pattern-making material, but it can...
Triton Wood Rack
November 7, 2008
Just occurred to me that I don’t think I have ever really spoken about the Wood Racks that I use to store timber. If I have, then even I have forgotten! I have a couple of Triton Wood Racks, one in the lower shed which is used to store bulk timbers (pine), and one in the main shed for the better timbers. I actually plan to add an extra set (of two) of the Triton Wood Racks to the main one, so it can cope with all the varying lengths. There are 6 shelves, each capable of supporting 50kgs....
Garage Sale tomorrow (Sat 8 Nov)
November 7, 2008
Been a busy few days getting ready for this one! Never done a garage sale before, and given how much crap we seem to have accumulated, looks like we should have had one a long time ago! If you are interested, it is running from 8am to 3pm, in Carrum Downs. As mentioned before, not prepared to put my address all over this site (because Google crawls it almost daily these days, so it would be permenantly all over the web), but if you drive along Hall Road (particularly at the shopping centre intersection),...
Stats, Stats and more Stats
November 6, 2008
Found an interesting website that grades your website, so thought I’d give this site a quick go. Given that the site is hosted on wordpress.com, it lost some points, and more because some aspects of the site (such as keywords etc) are attached to www.stusshed.com, rather than the site’s actual address http://stusshed.wordpress.com All that aside, and as a test (with its limitations) of stusshed.wordpress.com, we got the following results: Website Grade This initial score is the final,...
A New Triton Product?
November 5, 2008
A couple of months ago (according to the article), GMC/Triton became the Canadian distributers for the CarveWright system. CarveWright Don’t know anything about the product at this stage, but it kind of looks like a pen draughting printer that uses a small router bit rather than a pen, and cuts into wood rather than drawing on paper. Carver Bit Wonder if it will ever be seen Down Under, in traditional Blue (with carbon fibre shell), or Orange livery? CarveWright and Triton That is certainly...
Shed Wall Decoration
November 5, 2008
As a result of some of the demonstrations that occurred at the Melbourne Wood Show, I now have some new wall decorations for the shed. SawStop Blade and Brake This was a carbide-tipped blade that (deliberately) contacted a surrogate finger (a sausage) during a cut. It caused the brake to fire, driving the aluminium block hard into the blade, bringing it to a stop in phenomenally short amount of time. As you can see, a lot of the energy from the blade is dissipated in significant distortion in...
Timber of-the-Month: Brown Mallee Burl
November 4, 2008
Brown Mallee - Eucalyptus Dumosa (?) The inaugural timber of-the-month from Brad’s Burls is a piece of Brown Mallee Burl, which looks very interesting in it’s as-cut state, and stunning when given a quick sand and oil (let alone any serious finishing). Brown Mallee Burl as-cut There is always a lot of tortured, gnarly grain in a burl which always leads to some very striking patterns. The edge of the burl has a much lighter shade which will make for an awesome natural-edged object. ...
Testing a New Input Method
November 4, 2008
I’m trying out a novel way of creating blog entries, and at this stage not sure if it is entirely successful or not. It is using voice dictation software, but I am unsure whether I can actually think any faster by speaking than I do when I’m typing. Let alone, the number of small mistakes this product is currently making that I have to keep going back and correcting. I guess with practice, that both it and I will learn how to work with each other to improve the overall accuracy, and once...
One on One
November 3, 2008
I’ve been wondering if there would be any interest in a one (or two) on one woodworking course, particularly for new(er) woodworkers? The courses I run at Holmesglen will still be continuing, but don’t always get to run as frequently as people might like, and with a (small) group, it isn’t as targetted as one on one can be (obviously). It could be as short as an hour, through to a full day, all in my workshop. So I thought I’d throw the idea out there and see if there was...
Some more on the Garage Sale
November 3, 2008
Been doing quite a bit of sorting out of things for the garage sale this weekend, and it is quickly growing bigger than Ben Hur. Well it might be if anyone turns up! Thought there might be a few tools in the collection, but wasn’t sure……until I started going through the shed today. So far the collection includes: 40L GMC Air Compressor & some accessories, 2 jigsaws (one GMC still in its box), a couple of new 3 million candle power torches (can it still be categorised as a...
November Already
November 1, 2008
Unbelievable. Plenty of stuff to look forward to this month I think. In the next day or two, I will be starting a new section on here for “Timber of-the-month” as I start to try to improve my knowledge of all things wooden (or at least get to know some of the range of timbers out there, and hopefully start to be able to recognise them, both in an as-cut as well as in a finished form). Brad’s Burls as I mentioned have been very supportive of the concept, and I’m really...
Rockler and the Roving Reporter
October 30, 2008
Stu’s Shed’s unofficial roving reporter got over to the USA recently, and had an opportunity to get to the Rockler Store (lucky bugger). So I now have a new cap and a very interesting catalog (deliberate use of US spelling ) from their store. It kind of looks like a magazine from the 80s! I am also surprised just how many non-woodworking specific items were listed - toilet roll holders for example. Guess they were missed from the Carbatec catalogue this year! Even more disconcerting...
A nostalgic look at the Triton Club’s final page
October 28, 2008
Here lies: Triton Woodworkers Homepage RIP. At one stage, this site I created and ran was the largest Triton-based website in the world. A huge amount of work and energy went into creating and running it (although it pales in comparison to the amount of time involved in Stu’s Shed!) I created it firstly as a single page on the Woodwork Forums server on 9 September 2002, before creating this site, built from the ground up and launched 30 May 2003. Since then, it received almost 50,000...
New products from MagSwitch & Lidwig
October 28, 2008
A bit more on the new products out there, and these have pretty much gone straight into use in the workshop - solutions to problems I have been working around without even realising it! MagSwitch Jigs & Solutions The first is more using the current items in different ways. Working from left to right, I have my MagPowerBoard - a standard power board fitted to a piece of crapiata, with 2x 40mm holes cut with a forstner bit, and 2 MagJigs dropped in so I can position the powerboard wherever it...
Episode 40 SawStop at the Melbourne Wood Show
October 27, 2008
Episode 40 SawStop Some very impressive technology for the woodworking workshop. As seen demonstrated at the Melbourne Timber and Working with Wood Show, October 08. The buggers also give me a bit of stick while filming :) Thanks Brendan! Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv) (Right-click, and select “Save Link As”) Best video quality is achieved by downloading then playing the mp4 version. Posted in Manufactures and Suppliers, Podcast, Safety, Tools ...
Latest from MagSwitch
October 26, 2008
I had these air freighted to me from the States (almost) in time for the show ( I had them there for Saturday and Sunday) There are a few more products in the extended range as well, and all (I hope) will be around before Christmas. MagSwitch - MagFence Combo Kit MagSwitch - MagFence Combo Kit (Back) This is the packaging of the combo kit, although the items are available individually as well. No pricing is known as yet. The combo kit comes with a couple of $50 MagJigs. MagFences Assembled MagFences...
