Support Tools - Not too expensive.

Building up a good collection of tools takes time and money. Sexy tools such as compound miter saws, Kreg jigs, cordless tool sets, and table saws costs big bucks. But some of the best stuff isn't too expensive at all. This is especially true with, what I call support tools (maybe there's a better name?). I classify support tools as ones that don't to the actual work of cutting, screwing, drilling, and etc.  Measuring, marking, and assistive tools are critical in successful projects. 

I'm going to show my collection, collected from the last 15 years or so, some even at garage sales. There's plenty more stuff out there, I'd still like to pick up. As usual, I'm including sourcing links if you want to order them from Amazon.com, but you can likely find it at your local hardware store or home center.

In no order whatsoever, other than how I grabbed it our of my drawers:

(1) The folding rule is handy for laying on the ground a lot more rigidly than a tape measure. Plus it's a bit more accurate when measuring using the tip, since it doesn't slide around. I don't use it much, but occasionally it really fits a need. The kids love playing with it; it's mesmerizing fun. ($8-$18)

(2) A combination square is great for measuring and transposing measurements. You tighten the wheel to lock a measurement in place. I use constantly in the workshop and on my renovation projects. I have this little sibling, a 6" combination square that I keep in my nail apron when I'm in the shop. It's perfect for setting table saw height, or simply taking small measurements. These usually have both metric and standard units of measure. These get heavy use. (12" = approx. $10 - $15, 6"= approx. $10 - $12)

(3) Tape measures are critical, period. I usually carry a 25' tape for general use, but a small 10' tape is fine for working in the shop. Most wood stock is no longer than 8' so a smaller tape is perfect for carrying in my nail apron. You can buy either metric or standard, some even come with "cheater" measurements labeled, down to 1/16" of an inch. (approx. $5 - $25, I've even seen Harbor Freight coupons for a free one)

(4) Calipers are also helpful for making tiny, precise measurements. I just use these mini pocket calipers for occasional detail work. Since I don't do machinist type stuff, it's somewhat rare that I reach for them. They make nice electronic, digital ones as well. ($20 - $25)

(5) A carpenter's square is another workhorse. It's good for measuring, drawing lines, and keeping things square during assembly. It's also seen heavy use as a cutting edge for straight line cutting with and X-Acto Knife. In a pinch, you can clamp it and run a cutting tool against it, like a saw or router. This is a mid size one. (approx. $15)

(6) This odd looking rascal is a T-Bevel. It's good for copying angles for cutting or corners for mitering. The wing nut screw tightens, so nothing slips. I've used it quite a bit for moldings. ($10 - $15)

(7) Yes folks,  it's pencils!!!!!!! Seriously, buy a whole stinkin' pack of these #2 elementary school specials and scatter them around your work area . It's an absolute pleasure to have pencils anywhere you reach. I loose them constantly, sometimes they are in my pocket or behind my ear. I hate looking around for something I've misplaced when I'm really on a roll. I do the same with 4-5 tape measures. It's nice to have a pencil sharpener out there too. (approx. $2)

(8) A compass is good for scribing lines and transferring regular measurements. An inexpensive type that takes a pencil is perfect. Mine is overkill, a relic of my days in art school. (approx. $5 -$14)

(9) A rafter square or speed square, is another heavy use item. Not just for rafters or stairs, its a quick 90 degrees. It's a quick straight edge of trimming a 2x4 with a circular saw. It has angles marked as well as a short ruler for length. This one just fits in my back pocket enough to not fall out. (approx. $18)

(10) A utility knife actually does do cutting work, but I still keep it in the support category. Mine is a Stanley quick change model, which is really convenient. Just another great, basic tool to have easily at hand. Careful, these demons send lots of folks to the ER for stitches, respect your knife safety. (approx. $5 - $10)

(11) A cutting guide or straight edge will make breaking down sheet goods with a circular saw a snap. Just clamp it down and run your saw against it. Its good for routing dados as well. I like this one because the two sections clamp together to make a 100" single edge. (approx $25)

(12) Mechanical center punches are excellent for marking an indent in metal, prior to drilling too keep the bit from wandering. (approx. $20)

(13) Scratch Awl is a basic utility tool good for marking, especially on metal. (approx. $3)

(14) I love the Calculated Industries 8510 Home ProjectCalc Do-It-Yourself Project Calculator This little guy handles full mathematic function using fractions. I know it's easy enough to do calculations by hand, but this is just great. I use it constantly. ( approx. $20)

(15) Bubble Levels, get a lot of use on remodeling projects I use a 24" I-Beam Level and I have several torpedo levels for smaller work. Don't drop them or they loose their accuracy. You can check by holding two levels together and seeing if they read the same. ($10-$20+ for 24") and (approx. $10-$15 for a torpedo)

(16) Another one of my art school veterans, it seems like I reach for this T-square for various layout work. It's quick and handy. (approx. $10 - $15)

(17) I found this large carpenter's square at a garage sale. I like it's larger size for occasional use.

That's it for now. I'm sure this list will grow, as these things always do over the years. The deal is, you can get away with a tape measure and a pencil for most tasks, but it's quicker and easier to have some specialized support tools. Most are less than $20.

Power Tool Storage

In cleaning up the garage after a couple weeks of heavy-duty weekend-warriorsmanship, I decided I'm not using my storage well enough. I'm having difficulty getting everything put away without heaping it up. There's two sets of double wall cabinets that I picked up on clearance about four years ago. They're cheap pressboard, but they're serviceable and seem to be holding up fine.

I picked some choice specimens from the scrap pile and used the illustrious Kreg Jig Jr. to screw a sub-shelf together. (Honestly, I look for excuses to make Kreg Jig Projects) I made it shallower than the shelf-pin holes so I could hang the blade-guard of the circular saw below its edge and still get the door shut. It's a better use of vertical space.

 

 

A thin (reclaimed pallet wood) shelf below the tool shelf holds extra blades and accessories. The whole sub-unit is able to slip out in one piece if necessary. There's plenty of room for more on the base of the cabinet. I stored my beloved Jorgensen Miter Saw way up top, where I'll need a step stool to reach it. I haven't used it since I got the mighty DeWalt Sliding Compound Miter Saw, but maybe I'll have a use for it and bring it back to the fighting front lines. Otherwise, I'll Craigslist (a verb now?) it later for a few bucks and clear the space.

 

I made a similar unit over in the cordless-tool neighborhood, but without the sub shelf. It needed the room for the drill and impact driver to slip in and out, with their batteries attached. I'd robbed the factory shelf for another cabinet earlier, but this worked better due to the circular saw trick. I may add a second story riser, but this is doing the trick now. I drilled a hole in the base for the charger cord so I can top up batteries right in the cabinet. This cord is pugged into a switched receptacle so I can simply shut it off from below when I close down for the night.



 

I ran out of time for goofing around with the Kreg Jig and the Miter Saw making these high-end, custom-crafted beauties, so I just picked up a simple wooden box I'd made when I was practicing with the dovetail jig. Perfect! Yep, that's a dovetailed, 3/4" custom sander stand. You just can't put a price on such hand crafted finery when you're stacking a pair of wood chewing DeWalt sanders (Random Orbital & 1/4 Sheet Orbital)

 

The routers are upside down to protect the bits that are set juuuuuuust right.

 

Done. All the tools are put away. I still need to re-jigger my whole storage setup at some point. I still have nail guns piled in a mechanic's tool chest drawer with other assorted stuff.

 

I even vacuumed the shop before coming in for pizza. Perhaps tomorrow after work, I'll pull out the planer and start working on interior door number three. This floor isn't meant to be free of sawdust for long.

 

 

 

The "Ted's Woodworking" Scam

In the normal course of working on this blog, building readership, I did a search to see how it was showing up on Google. I searched some terms that were fairly unique, like "...too busy kicking old house ass..."   before searching "AZ DIY Guy's Projects". I found this odd little link at the bottom of page one:

Fine Woodworking Plans?

Weird. It clearly referred to my General Tools EZ Pocket Hole Jig review post. Then the next phrase isn't mine. Huh? I thought I'd follow whoever shared my post and kindly ask them for a proper back-link. Here's where it went:

Huh? (Again). I kind of remember something about this from about a year ago. I checked around. Sure enough, this is the scam that Steve Ramsey of Woodworking for Mere Mortals posted several times about. Here's links to a few of the good ones: April 2, 2012, April 7, 2012, April 10, 2012.

Basically this site appears to be a shady affiliate in the Ted's Woodworking pyramid scheme of selling woodworking plans that have stolen from magazines and reputable sites around the web. There's tons of info out there on this huckster syndicate if you want to look for it, and can wade through all the paid advertising with fake reviews. I'm surprised they are still going, but these shadow scam things are hard to stamp out. I've researched a similar tactic from the Build Your Own Solar Panels for your Home scam in the past. It's all crap.

I even followed some comment links and found good old "Ted" AKA "man with gray hair smiling" at iStock Photo. Yep, good old  "Ted" himself is a $29 image from a stock photo house.

Screen capture of iStock Photo

I wonder how the guy who sold his mug to a stock photo house feels about the way it is being used. The poor schlep is likely to be recognized on the street by an angry, wronged woodworker and get socked, unsuspecting in the jaw.

I'm not posting clickable links to this garbage. I don't want to give it any sort direct traffic. Here's where it gets me: how the heck did they embed my story title and text into a Google search?

I searched around a bit and, as near as I can tell, it's coming from paid, automated software that "legally steals" or "ethically steals" back link traffic. What the hell is that? Programmers create this stuff. People behind the sites sell and operate it. Bastards all.

Selling someone's plans without permission or plagiarizing their written word's in an effort to misdirect / or trick the web surfing public into a scam site that sells the stolen plans is stealing. It is unethical. Legal or not, if you take part in this, you are a scumbag, period. You are making money on the art created by the talents of others, without their permission, and from what I understand against their express statements denying permission.

So far, I've only been slightly wronged, maybe a tiny bit of misdirected traffic. I'm angry anyway. This site is barely two months old. Others are probably suffering actual damage. Plus, the artists that created plans that have been stolen have certainly been wronged. Please don't support it by buying this garbage. Do your research. Wait until you hear about the actual product you will receive.

OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION:

I hereby prohibit any of my created works, images, text or media of any kind from being utilized in any form to support the sale of Ted's Woodworking products.

Disclaimer:

This post is written with the research I was able to do on the web. I trust the sources I found, supporting my conclusion, as good and upstanding, and have no reason to doubt their claims. If I am wrong in my belief that the Ted's Woodworking Plans operation is a filthy, scamming, operation of thieving jack-ass-dom, I will remove this post and offer sincere apologies, without crossed fingers, once I see proof otherwise. I invite the scumbags to contact me, since they cannot be contacted directly to inquire.

Back to sunshine, rainbows, and happy projects next time, my friends. Promise.

Interior Door Project

Having successfully wrapped up the first of our interior door replacements last weekend with the

new pocket door

, I'm moving forward with the project. The rest of the doors are standard hinged style. The next one to tackle is the guest (

kids

) bathroom. It's one of the most visible in the house, we'll enjoy it being complete.

Pre-Primed, and too big

Rather than the more efficient, prefab / assembly line approach of buying all the doors, trimming all the doors, painting all the doors, etc. all at once, we're going with the slower, easier on the cash-flow approach of doing one door at a time. I suppose a benefit is that I don't have to stage doors all over the place as paint dries. Plus, we get to see some finished work a little sooner. The drawbacks are the repeated shop cleaning between each door's planing and painting as well as the wait time between paint coats.

I bought another six-panel door at Home Depot this morning. I also picked up a new brushed nickel, lever-style "door knob" (

What do you call it if it's not a "knob" anyway? The packaging doesn't even say

.) and a bulk pack of matching brushed nickel hinges. By buying the bulk pack of 12 hinges, I saved over ten bucks vs. buying them individually.

Buying in bulk!

Back at home, prepping this door was exactly the same as prepping the pocket door. Only this time I managed to screw up the edge planing of the first side. I sort-of tapered the door somehow; it was 1/16" off at one end. I must have twisted the depth knob when I was interrupted by a little girl offering to keep me company in the garage,... if I'd fix her a bowl of cookies 'n cream, ice cream.  It took a bit of tweaking to get it squared up again.

I really like the Bosch planer . It took a bit of practice, but I have the hang of it now. The only struggle I have is the necessity to walk while cutting the long edge. Sometimes I get a little bobble in the cut. I ended up doing a shuffle / shimmy / slide / step-behind maneuver. It would probably be better to set the door on edge. I'll try that next time.

Grab your popcorn folks! Here's the world premier movie of AZ DIY Guy in action. I'm really much better looking in person, this particular role required a dusting of grey hair at the temple and an out of shape appearance. I think I pulled it off. It's certainly Oscar worthy.

There's a dust storm rolling in! Hold your breath and cover your eyes!

Gracie's been bugging me for a week to help with the painting, so I let her have a go of it. She did pretty good,... mostly. I had to keep reminding her not to scrub (destroy) the brush and tried to keep the splatter to a minimum. I lightly, quickly brushed over her work to keep the strokes with the wood grain. Despite the exuberant assistance, It turned out pretty well.

The paint dried fast in today's 78º, dry weather. I need to put one more coat on in the morning. Hopefully, I can get it done tomorrow.

<UPDATE>

Up before 6am Sunday morning, while the family slept, I put a coat of fresh paint on the reverse side of the door. I ran out of paint right at the finish line, dang-it. I scraped that can as clean as Gracie's bowl on a spaghetti night. I need to go grab some paint first thing and finish if there's any hope of installing it today.

Installing the New Pocket Door

I'm installing the new pocket door for the master bath today. I'd already prepared our new six-panel door, trimmed it to fit, primed the fresh edges, and painted the whole thing with a couple coats of white, semi-gloss last weekend. If you missed the story, find it here; it's a cliffhanger. The last coat of paint went on 6 days ago, so it's nice and dry, out in the workshop.

The dang thing keeps falling off its rail, plus it rubs on the inner walls of the pocket as it sways loosely from the track. I've already replaced the track mounting screws with larger screws, they seem to be holding. Look how ugly that beat up old slab door looks!

I pulled the top two trim pieces (casing?) off to access the mounting hardware, showering the whole area with bits of drywall from the rough edge behind. It isn't the best looking installation of trim I'd seen, with heavy globs of caulk filling the voids. Maybe when we redo the bathroom, I'll re-trim the whole thing with wide trim.

There was a side piece of molding that kept me from swinging the door out from the bottom. First a quick score with the utility knife to break the paint / caulk line: 

 

I used a wide-blade putty knife to slightly pry the molding out enough to stick my mini-prybar/ nail puller behind it. Having learned from several past remodeling disasters, this time I took my time, gently wiggling the tools, then the molding itself as it slowly broke free. I want to reuse it when I reinstall the door. It actually came out in one piece! If you look close, you can see the horrendous tile in the shower. Don't worry, it's on the to do list.

Jack stopped in and pulled all the nails that were left. The narrow head on the mini-prybar/ nail puller made it easy without scuffing up the paint on the remaining trim. He had fun with it and did a great job. There's another glimpse of that horrible black tile in the shower on the left.  

Child Labor Rocks !!!

I learned why the door was swinging free, dragging on the pocket sides. There were plastic guides originally installed, but they were yellowed and brittle. They had snapped off sometime in the past 30 years. I also saw old water damage from our wonderful house flood a few years ago. (A toilet feed line had ruptured - I'll cover that in future story).



I needed another set of hands for the next step. Jack pushed the bottom of the door from inside the bathroom while I lifted the door up with the top of my foot from outside. The door pivoted from the track, hanging like a garage door. It took my mini pry bar and my favorite, beefy, slotted screwdriver to pry the track and wheels apart. FREEDOM!!! The door popped out. I could see the wheels were well worn, compared to the replacements I have bought.

Looking inside the wall with a flashlight I can see I'm in luck. The track mounting screws inside the wall have not worked themselves loose, like the ones in the doorway had. I could only reach one with my screwdriver; it was tight, thank gods of remodeling. The whole plan to avoid cutting the drywall had hinged on this. Whew! 

Like most men, I have a one-track mind.

In order to replace the broken plastic guide on the bathroom side of the door, I had to pry the inside molding up a bit. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it free. The floor tile had been installed after the trim piece and was encasing it. I tried out a tool I'd never used before, a "Variable Speed Oscillating Multifunction Power Tool". It plunge cut, flush with the floor, slicing the wood like butter. 30 seconds = done! Mine is a Harbor Freight cheapie that I picked up a couple months ago on a whim; it was on sale. I'm sure it's not lasting quality, but it's a great concept. I'll definitely buy a nice, quality one whenever this one dies.

I pulled out the molding a bit, removed the old one that was installed with a finishing nail, and screwed the new one in. I'll adjust it later when the door is in.

I lugged the old door out to the workshop and laid it on top of the new one. Perfect match. With luck or possibly the benevolence of magical, midnight workshop elves visiting, I had managed to use the planer for the first time, to trim the new door down to a duplicate size without removing the old door.

It was interesting to note that the top, bottom, and pocket side edges were bare, unpainted wood. That's apparently a big no-no in humid environments. I didn't see any ill effects though.

Using the old door for placement, I matched the location of the roller hardware and installed the new ones by measuring, pre-drilling, and running the screws in tight with the impact driver. The new hardware seems a lot heartier. The big hex bolt adjusts the height of the rollers, more on that later.

I also copied the location of the latch from the old door. A very close call, I nearly cut the same size slot, but for some reason I read the instructions and learned that the new latch was 1/8" smaller. I shudder to think what foul words I would have befouled the neighborhood with if I had ruined the door by cutting an oversize hole. The old latch was painted and had a broken mechanism. My wife even cut her finger on it two days ago. I couldn't have used it.

I managed to scuff the new paint by dragging the old door's latch across the new one's face. To avoid more damage, I taped off the face of the new door, drilled a starter hole in the back of the slot and made three slow, steady cuts with the jig-saw. The new brushed-nickel latch fit perfectly. 

Go time! I tipped the new door top first into the head of the opening and slipped the rollers easily into the track. Of course that is complete bull, a bald-faced lie.

I grunted and sweated that bastard into place crawling on my hands and knees back and forth, in and out of the bathroom trying to get those rollers to get into the track. For as many times as I had popped the old door back on track, I should have been able to do it with my eyes closed. AAAAAAAGHHHHH!!!

Finally, I turned my brain on for a second and adjusted the rollers so that the wheels were completely extended. It just took a few turns with a 1/2" wrench to extend them. Having only turned on my brain, "for a second" I was quick to realize that by cranking the wheels all the way up, it drove the door down, wedging it into the floor. I couldn't budge it. Idiot.

Turn the brain back on,.. climb back up the step stool,... crank the wheels back up,... climb down the step stool,... swing the door out,... climb back up the step stool,... extend the rollers again,...

This time, a quick prying motion with the mini-crowbar on the roller and the same with the screwdriver against the rail. Click-click, POW! Locked and loaded. I adjusted the rollers back up with the wrench making the leading edge square with the wall so there is no gap. The door slid closed smooth and easy. I installed the second guide at the bottom and tightened both. This door will not rub.

The original trim goes on with a quick "skadoosh!" from the finish nailer. It was easy to place since the original razor cut-line fit back together like a tight puzzle.

I've got it on the run now! Quickly swapping the nail gun for a caulking gun, I keep on shooting.

With wet caulk, I have to pause to address the more important task of enjoying a grilled cheese sandwich, a bag of Fritos, and a Diet Dr. Pepper that Sweetie whipped up for me. There's enough time to eat, clean up, and type up the story while it dries.

After a couple hours, I hit the trim and the door scuffs with a quick touchup of white paint. It's nice that I didn't have to remove trim from anywhere against wall color paint. It was all trim on trim / white on white, therefore no masking, just a quick layout of old newspaper on the floor to avoid drips.

 

Finished! I think it looks 100% better than before. It really dresses up the room a lot. The ladies will be pleased that the door finally, actually locks and won't fall off the track, trapping them in there.

Overall, it wasn't a super difficult project. It did take time to prep the door, but today's portion only took a couple hours to do.

What do you think? Better?

That's the only pocket door in the house. Next, I have six standard doors, the door to the garage, and a louvered closet door to replace. 

Prepping a replacement pocket door

I'm going to kill two birds with one stone, start the interior door upgrade project my wife asked for and cross one item off the to do list. The master bath door is constantly falling off the track. Several times, my poor wife or daughter has been trapped, hollering for rescue when the door has gotten wedged. I'll find the unfortunate lady, peering furiously through a five inch gap.

I initially wanted to replace the track with a two rail type, where the wheels cannot easily disengage. However, based on my research, removing and replacing the track requires highly customized tools to get at screws deep in the pocket where you cannot reach, or opening the wall up. I'd rather not open the wall and get into a bunch of drywall repair and painting. I'm going to see if I can simply replace all the hardware and tighten up what I can get to. I'm replacing the beat-up, scratched, over-painted, bleeeechh slab door.

I picked up a 28" W x 80" H hollow core, six panel door at The Home Depot for $30 along with new hardware. Like all of our interior doors, the standard size was too big. I had bought a new tool, a handheld planer. I'd never used one, but I'd used a jointer, the same principle, just move the tool, not the work piece. I chose a Bosch 6 amp, 3 1/4 planer. (Maybe I'll review it after I've done all the doors in the house - so far, so good). It took a few passes to get the hang of it, but slowly felt comfortable taking deeper cutting passes.

Notice my work bench? Yep, that's the (still) unfinished hall organizer project.

On my first couple passes, I got some splinter-out as the cutter leaves the surface, following the cut. I used a little trick I saw Tom Silva do on This Old House, although I think he was working on window casings at the time. I clamped a sacrificial strip of MDF to the exiting edge of my cut with three way clamps. The MDF took the blow-out and the snipe, keeping my edge straight. (shown to the right above)

I took the door down to 27 5/8' W x 79 3/4" H, in multiple passes, learning the feel of the planer. It threw a fair amount of sawdust, but not a ton. The collection bag filled up twice. If it was green, it would have looked like Easter Basket grass.

I hit the freshly planed faces with the Random Orbital Sander and slightly eased the edges by a quick 45 degree pass, to keep the veneer from chipping out later.  

Grace always loves playing with my sawdust. These shavings took it to the next level. She made some sort of dinosaur / Angry Birds amusement park. It was a constant, "Watch this Daddy,...Daddy watch!,.. Look at this guy!,...  Hey, watch this!,... Daddy look!...Daddy,..." She had an absolute ball,... then she tracked it into the house. 



Since I had taken all the factory priming off the edges, I hit the bare wood edges with two coats of a good primer. Since this is a bathroom door, subject to moisture, I want too make sure it's sealed up really good.  



I applied a couple coats of semi-gloss, white latex on the whole door and left it to dry. Well, at least I painted five sides out of six. Even though today was a beautiful 70 degree day, the paint was still a little tacky when I decided to clean up and head in for the Super Bowl.

I headed out to the shop and checked it at halftime. The paint took beautifully. I'll probably paint the reverse side tomorrow after work.

So far, this is a pretty easy, enjoyable project. Follow the exciting install next!