Just about all of us have a circular saw in our workshop, but most of us call them Skillsaws! These handy little saws have been around since before we were born. The name Skillsaw is a synonymous with circular saws as Kleenex is to tissues. We buy them, we use them, and we love them. Unfortunately, very few of these saws allow for any dust collection and the ones that do are either hard to find and/or very expensive.
That is a real shame because managing wood dust and keeping it out of your lungs is pretty important. None of us want to end up dragging an oxygen bottle around!
I found a very easy way to add a dust fitting to just about any circular saw. My Skillsaw came with a hole toward the back of the shroud around the blade where the dust shoot out. My solution was simply to epoxy a small plastic dust fitting over the hole in the shroud.
Skillsaw with dust collection
Dust Port on Circular Saw
Adding the dust fitting to my circular saw was very easy.
Dust Port on Circular Saw
I was able to substantially upgrade my circular saw for less than five dollars!
Dust fitting on Skillsaw
OK, so the obvious question is “how well does it work?”. I would be lying if I said that it was as good as a one of the high end saws like a Festool. But, a Festool will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $600. If you can afford that, or if you use your saw very frequently then by all means buy a saw with excellent dust collection. On the other hand, if you can’t justify big money for a saw that you use only once in a while then this little upgrade is a no brainer!
https://jack-bench.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Jack-Bench-Blog-Saw.jpg320400Charlie Kocourekhttps://jack-bench.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jack-Bench-Logo.pngCharlie Kocourek2016-09-07 23:24:482017-11-20 03:17:41Woodshop Tip! How to Add Dust Collection to a Circular Saw
I inlaid decorative black stars in my slab coffee table. This is one of those times when the reason why might be more interesting as the how. The how is good, too but the WHY is a good story all by itself!
The wood slab that I used for the table had a lot of worm holes in it.
I wrestled with what to do with them. Leaving them just as they were would have been a perfectly good choice, but I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I decided to fill them with epoxy.
Unfortunately, what I didn’t consider is that the surface of the slab was end grain. As a result, the epoxy bled beyond the worm holes. Rather than the nice distinct little dots that I had envisioned, I ended up with a bunch of ugly little blobs.
After thinking about it for a while I decided to disguise the, now blobs, by inlaying stars over them. I didn’t want the stars to look like I put them on with a stamp. So, to add interest I purposely drew the stars by hand to ensure that no two would be the same.
Then I scored around the edges with a small chisel and an Exacto knife.
Once I outlined the edges, I excavated most of the waste with a Dremel tool.
A Dremel is perfect for inlay work. Unfortunately, the Dremel base that I had was not. The base that I used is called a “Cut-Out” base and it is more suited for cutting holes in drywall than it is for very fine detail work. The problem is that it is difficult to make fine, or repeatable, depth adjustments. As a result, the excavations were a bit deeper than I would have liked. No biggie, but I would rather have used a higher quality base.
I used a small chisel and a detail knife to clean up the star recesses after roughing them out with the Dremel.
The detail knife was absolutely perfect for this task! The one that I use is similar to, but not exactly like the one in the link.
I masked the stars off with some really high-quality masking tape. It worked well for this job, but after reading the reviews I am not sure if it was the “best” product for the job.
I was a little leery off epoxy after the problems I just had with it so I decided to use something different. I have had very good luck with a water based grain filler called Crystalac, so I decided to use that instead.
I used regular Rit dye that I bought at the grocery store to dye the Crystalac and it worked great!
Adding Crystalac to the star recesses
Crystalac works great for filling grain, but it is not intended for filling these relatively large recesses. The downside was that it tended to shrink back and I had to apply multiple layers to bring it level with the surface.
This is how the stars looked like when I removed the masking tape.
The good thing about the Crystalac is that is was very easy to sand down.
I am very happy with how they turned out. The end result was not only good, but it turned out to be a real conversation starter!
Please check out my other articles on the Slab Coffee Table:
I hope you liked my article and I would greatly appreciate it if you would leave a comment to let me know what you think of it!
NOTE: I provide very honest assessments of the tools and materials I use in my projects, but I want you to know that many of the links on this page are affiliate links and will earn Jack Bench Woodworking a small commission. Using these links adds NO COST TO YOU, but helps keep Jack Bench sustainable and ensures that I can continue to offer woodworking videos and articles. Thank You!
https://jack-bench.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Jack-Bench-Star.jpg320400Charlie Kocourekhttps://jack-bench.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jack-Bench-Logo.pngCharlie Kocourek2016-08-11 22:48:442017-11-20 03:20:47How and Why I Inlaid Decorative Stars in my Slab Coffee Table
I met Braxton Wirthlin in January of this year at his wood shop in Boulder City, Nevada. Well, actually we met at a local pub first, but I digress. Braxton is a very creative guy and he loves making things. His interests range from traditional woodworking, to digital woodworking (with CNC’s), to wood turning, to welding, to ceramics, to cooking, and videography. I am sure there are others; these are just the ones that I am aware of!
Braxton studied Visual Media Production at the Las Vegas Art Institute. His creativity and his skill with video production really show through in his videos. A great example of this is the video where he demonstrated turning a pen and the entire demonstration is filmed in reverse. It is nice to see YouTube videos that include a bit of artistry. Not everyone can pull this off, but Braxton does! See for yourself here: Braxton’s Pen Turning Video
One of his more clever ideas was to to buy an ice cream scoop, a nut cracker, and a bottle opener at the dollar store. He then stripped off the cheap plastic handles and added custom made wooden handles. What impressed me about this was that he was able to think out of the box and save a ton of money as opposed to buying similar items from a dedicated woodworking supply store.
He got his start with video production by filming his friends riding their BMX bicycles when he was a kid. Braxon also built the wooden ramps and half pipes that they would ride over and this gave him some of his first exposure to woodworking. He says that he was one of those kids who was fascinated with all things mechanical, and he was always taking things apart to see how they worked. Sometimes he couldn’t put them back together again, but that is how we learn!
In addition to making YouTube videos, Braxton also keeps himself busy with commission work. One of my favorite pieces that he made was a tap handle for a local brewery. This might look like a simple project, but it required use of his skills with design, traditional woodworking tools, woodturning, digital woodworking and wood finishing. Not to mention his ability to get the commission to begin with by marketing those skills.
Tap Handles by Braxton Wirthlin
When I met Braxton he was taking wood turning lessons from Jimmy Clewes, so it is no wonder that he is such a good wood turner! He had also just purchased a new welder and was planning to incorporate more metal into his work.
Lidded Bowl by Braxton Wirthlin
Natural Edge Bowl by Braxton Wirthlin
Vase by Braxton Wirthlin
Wood and Metal Cabinet for a client
With all of his accomplishments, Braxton manages to live a well-balanced life. He is a true family man and a stay at home dad who keeps his priorities straight. I very much enjoyed meeting him and I look forward to the day when our paths cross again.
Charlie Kocourek and Braxton Wirthlin
Here are a few of my other articles and interviews that you might like:
Peter Brown is known for doing crazy things on his YouTube videos. He combines woodworking tools with unconventional materials to make some of the most creative videos on YouTube. He melted a box of crayons into a solid block and turned them on a lathe to make a bracelet. He made a ring out of a bundle of colored pencils, and he made a knife out of some off the shelf epoxy. The knife wouldn’t cut anything, but that was not the point. Because for Peter the destination truly is less important than the journey.
I interviewed Peter Brown at his woodshop in Santa Rosa, California in January of 2016. Peter’s shop was a tiny little building in the back yard of his house. I think the dimensions of his shop were something like 12’x16′, but his little shop DID have a bathroom!
Peter’s YouTube channel is wildly successful. He has 197,000 subscribers and over 18 million views on his videos and I was quite interested to learn how managed to build such a loyal following.
Peter told me that he enjoyed woodworking, but he especially enjoyed working at the lathe. He also wants his hobbies to pay for themselves and not be a drag on the family budget. So, when he first discovered and got good at woodturning he decided to sell some of the pieces that he made. As it turned out he was also quite good at selling and before long his work was selling both on the internet and in local craft shops. He was so successful with this that working in the shop and running the business became an all consuming endeavor.
One day he decided that he had enough and he just quit. He told me that “it stole my joy”. Not only did he quit the business, but he was so burned out on woodworking that he quit going into the shop altogether.
Some time later he was watching a Jimmy Diresta video and he thought to himself “that looks like fun”. His take on it was that Jimmy did just exactly what he wanted to do. That was an ah-ha moment for Peter. He wanted to reclaim the fun times that he had in his shop before the business got out of hand. The next day he went back into his shop and made his first YouTube video.
I know how much work it is to run a business and I know how much effort some people put into their YouTube videos. I find Peter’s decision to do only fun things in his shop and on his videos both counter-intuitive and refreshing.
Charlie and Peter Brown
Peter is a great guy and I genuinely enjoyed meeting with him. His YouTube channel is called Shop Time and I encourage you to check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3CrzXzBFVqEopj5T1jiRtA
I just completed my road trip interviewing various woodworkers throughout the western United States.
This was an amazing trip, I met and interviewed some of the most talented woodworkers in the country! The interviews and the videos will be fantastic, but I the best part for me personally is that I made so many new friends.
I was on the road for 7-1/2 weeks, I drove through 11 states and I put 6800 miles on my car. Another unfortunate statistic is that I gained 7 pounds while I was gone, a pound a week! It is a good thing I got home when I did because I would really be in trouble if I stayed out much longer!
I interviewed a total of 11 different woodworkers: The Wood Whisperer – Marc Spagnuolo, David Marks, Peter Brown, Matthew Morris, Andrew Klein, Ray Mowder of Tab Left Workshop, Braxton Wirthlin, Zac Higgins of NV Woodworks, Michael Cooper, Chad Schimmel and Chris Kerschner of Adventures in DIY.
During the trip I met a total of 14 different woodworkers and filmed at least 22 separate videos. Over the next several months I will post all of them to myYouTube channel and put them on my blog.
During the last leg of my trip I met woodworkers in Phoenix and Denver. The Wood Whisperer, Chad Schimmel, and Ty Moser live in the Phoenix area. I then met with Andy Klein in Denver.
I will post more details about all of the interviews as I complete the editing and get them up on YouTube! Unfortunately, my computer is having trouble handling the huge video files and editing is taking a lot longer than I thought it would. The computer problems is just a bump in the road. I am sure I will work through it and start posting those interviews very soon!
Charlie with The Wood Whisperer, Marc Spagnuolo at his shop outside of Phoenix, Arizona
Chad Schimmel in the pen making section of his woodshop in Chandler, Arizona.
Charlie with Andy Klein in his Denver woodshop.
Charlie with Ty Moser in Phoenix
I also got to meet Ty Moser while I was in Phoenix. I didn’t even know that he lived there, but through the magic of social media we connected. Ty is a great guy!. He and I met for lunch and I liked him very much. In fact, I would like to do some kind of collaboration with him, but I have NO IDEA what that might look like!
It was a wonderful trip, but I am very happy to be back in my shop. The travel and the interviews were an experience that I will never forget, but am a woodworker and I want to get started on my next project!
After meeting with Zac Higgins in Reno I drove to Sacramento to meet with Ray Mowder of TabLeft Workshop. Ray has some very clever videos and I have really enjoy his YouTube channel. From there Michael Cooper, David J. Marks and Peter Brown have all been an amazing part of this trip!
Charlie and Ray Mowder
Michael Cooper with his latest sculpture in progress.
I really enjoyed meeting Michael. I saw a presentation that he did at the Furniture Society Symposium a few years ago and I have always been a big fan of his work. My time with him far exceeded any expectations I had ahead of time. He and his wife Gayle are two of the very nicest people that I have ever met. Spending time at their beautiful home was icing on the cake. In addition to many of Michael’s beautiful sculptures, their home is tastefully decorated with artwork and custom furniture by some of the great furniture making icons of our time.
Michael still has several of his sculptures on his property and it was great to see them up close. Michael was very generous with his time and we made several videos while I was there. In one of the videos he showed me his most recent sculpture which is still in progress. (See photo above) He also did a video describing his technique for making wooden coil springs and another one on his technique for making the convoluted compound curves that is a signature of his work.
Wooden Coil Spring
Michael showed me how he makes the compound curves as seen in the exhaust pipes of this sculpture.
It so happens that David J. Marks lives very close to Michael. I saw a seminar that David did for the Minnesota Woodworkers’ Guild and, well, he is David Marks! I was quite pleasantly surprised not only that David agreed to meet with me, but by how generous he was with his time. We spent the whole day together and we made two videos. The first one is about the fabulous 30” vase that he is currently working on. His wife Victoria joined us for the second video which was a complete tour of the David J Marks Woodworking School. David and the school are both great and I would encourage anyone who is considering taking a class to take a look at his school.
Not only was David generous with his time, but he also gave me a nice piece of exotic hardwood called Pernambuco as a gift! Obviously, David is very high on my list!
Charlie and David Marks
Charlie and Peter Brown
The trifecta of this portion of my trip was the opportunity to meet Peter Brown. Peter has a very good and extremely popular YouTube channel. Peter is a very fun guy and really enjoyed myself that afternoon. Even though Peter has made a name for himself with his “crazy creations”, he is not a crazy guy. To the contrary, I found him to have the admirable qualities of being sincere, personable, and fun too!
https://jack-bench.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Jack-Bench-Blog-Tube.jpg320400Charlie Kocourekhttps://jack-bench.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jack-Bench-Logo.pngCharlie Kocourek2016-01-25 16:15:492017-11-20 03:31:454 Woodworking Gems in Northern California
One of the absolute high points of my 2016 winter road trip was meeting Marc Spagnuolo, aka The Wood Whisperer at his shop outside Phoenix, AZ.
I posted on Facebook when I was in Arizona that I would like to interview another woodworker while I was there. I had heard that Marc lived in the Phoenix area, but I never expected that he would have the time to meet with me. To my surprise he responded to my Facebook posting and invited me to his woodshop for an interview!
I was meeting most of the woodworkers that I interviewed for the very first time when I met with them. Rather than just show up and start interviewing, I usually arranged to meet them at a restaurant for lunch to get a chance to get to know them first.
When Marc arrived at the restaurant I was pleasantly surprised to see that his wife, Nicole, was there too! They were both very nice, down to earth people and I felt very comfortable around them.
Marc and Nicole Spagnuolo
After lunch we headed to the Dream Shop that he built behind his house, and yes it really is a Dream Shop! There is even extra space around the machines, I don’t see that very often! Dream Shop Build Video
We broke the interview into three parts:
Marc’s background and how he came to be known as “The Wood Whisper”
The business side of “Wood Whispering”
Marc responded to a few viewer questions that I had solicited through Facebook and YouTube.
I wanted to hear about Marc’s background and how he got started with all this. I am also a big fan of David Marks and I wanted to hear more about how they got to be such good friends. The most surprising thing I learned is that Marc is a molecular biologist! I didn’t see that coming, but it is amazing how many woodworkers have scientific backgrounds.
I was most interested to hear about the business side of The Wood Whisper web site and the Wood Whisperer Guild. I wanted to ask Marc why he thought that the Wood Whisperer web site and Guild are so successful and what does he do differently than most of the other woodworkers on the internet? Marc was very open about his business. His advise to others who want to develop internet woodworking businesses is “Don’t do it”. The main reason he says that is because there is so much more competition on the internet today than there was when he started out.
We could’t get to all of the viewer questions. Most of them were serious woodworking questions, but some were just for fun like Peter Brown’s question about why doesn’t Marc like Batman as well as Superman!
The last thing I did before we wrapped it up was to give Marc one of my Jack Bench Woodworking stickers and he graciously pasted it on the wall.
Marc Spagnuolo with Jack Bench Sticker
This blog article is just a recap of the interview, so be sure to watch the Video!
Marc is a fun guy to hang out with and I really enjoyed meeting him. If you have ever watched any of his videos or listened to his podcast then you have a good idea as to what I mean by that!
The first leg of my trip was driving from Minneapolis to Reno so that I could interview Zac Higgins.
The drive was long but pleasant. I haven’t been in the mountains for a few years and the scenery through Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada was beautiful!
There was a long stretch outside of Casper WY where the sky was bright and sunny, and the surface of the snow was crystallized. For miles and miles, the snow looked like it was coated with bright shimmering diamonds. The word “awesome” is overused, but it was just that.
Reno is a special place for me because I lived here when I was younger. I attended elementary, middle, and high school here, but this is the first time I have been back since I was 17 years old! I really looked forward to seeing how it has changed and I was surprised by how familiar was to me. I recognized all the major streets and had no trouble finding my way around. I drove past my old schools and the places where I had lived and was very surprised to see that they are still there.
Reno is a nice town and the one thing that did surprise me was how close and how big the mountains are! I guess since I grew up there I didn’t recognize how special that really is.
Unfortunately, downtown Reno does struggle with some of the same problems that other cities struggle with.
In the stairwell of the downtown parking ramp:
One of my best memories from growing up in Reno was visiting the Harrah’s Automobile Collection. In its day this was the largest and probably the best automobile collection in the world, really! At one time the collection contained 1400 cars! It is not that big anymore and it is now called the National Automobile Museum, but there was no way I was going to pass on a chance to stop in and look around!
I know this is a woodworking blog, but these cars are just too cool!
John Wayne’s 1953 Corvette
1936 Mercedes
OK, back to woodworking!
I met Zac Higgins at his shop in Carson City, NV. He shares a 4000 sq. ft. space with his father. His father is a pretty cool guy, too!
Zac and I spent several hours together and I did both an interview and shop tour with him. Zac has a full woodshop and lots of cool lumber, but his main focus right now is casting specialized pen blanks. Zac has spent a lot of time honing his craft and I am quite impressed with his methodical and disciplined approach. I will say more about this when the videos are ready, but suffice it to say that if you are at all interested in specialized pen blanks then you owe it to yourself to check out his web site http://nvwoodwerks.com/ and YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaiEQvv5CgXjk1qN7qevQUQ
Zac has zillions of ideas for pen blanks! His most popular blanks are inspired by college and sports team colors.
This is his Saints pen blank.
Zac is not too happy with his bandsaw! There will be more about the bandsaw and Zac’s color matching in the upcoming videos.
My next stops are:
Sacramento to visit Ray Mowder of TabLeft Workshop
Sebastapol CA to visit the great wood sculptor, Michael Cooper
https://jack-bench.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Jack-Bench-Blog-Reno.jpg320400Charlie Kocourekhttps://jack-bench.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jack-Bench-Logo.pngCharlie Kocourek2016-01-15 16:06:532017-03-07 21:29:44Made it to Reno!
I have been very busy lately! I have been working on my YouTube channel and a few projects, too. Not only have I been busy, past tense, but I also have plans for a lot of cool things going forward, too. I thought it would be nice to let people know a bit about what I have been up to. I also want to let people know about some of the cool things I have planned for the near future. So, I decided to do an update video.
I know many YouTubers do regularly scheduled updates on their channels. I can’t commit to regularly scheduled updates at this time. I think later this year I am likely to begin some kind of regular update, but I am just not ready for that yet.
Fast Acting Twin Screw Vise
My friend, Andy Klein, asked me to help him with the prototype on a fast acting twin screw vise that he designed. I spoke before about this, but it certainly is one of the bigger things that I have been working on. For a variety of reasons, Andy was not able to work on the prototype for the vise. I ordered material from an online supply house, fabricated the parts, welded them together, and assembled the completed prototype. Along the way, Andy and I worked together to refine the design. This was a lot of fun!
Four Way Parallel Clamps
Before the vise was even completed, Andy presented another new design to me. This one was for some four way parallel clamps. The clamps were another very fun project that I recently worked on.
Jack Bench: Series of Interviews for YouTube
When the projects with Andy started to slow down I decided that I would conduct a series of interviews for my YouTube channel. My idea is to conduct face to face interviews with prominent woodworkers. Many of the people I will interview are well known on YouTube and on the internet, but there are some fabulous craftsmen, wood artists, and makers without a strong internet presence. I am interested in meeting anyone with an interesting story whether they have an internet presence or not.
I interviewed George Vondriska of the Woodworkers’ Guild of America. Actually, I did 3 interviews and a shop tour with George. George also discussed workbenches. As it turns out, George likes Adjustable Height Workbenches. He likes them so much that he has not one, not two, but three of them in his shop!
I also interviewed Tom Caspar. Tom works in a fabulous shop and we did a video tour of his shop. Unfortunately, my el-cheapo microphones failed and I was unable to salvage any of the footage from the shop tour with Tom. Hopefully, he will be nice enough to give me another chance.
Last week I interviewed Matt Cremona. Matt is involved in a really exciting project with the Wood Whisperer, Marc Spagnuolo. Matt is conducting an on-line woodworking class for the Wood Whisperer’s Guild. I also got to see some of the cool things in Matt’s shop. Among the coolest was a 16″ circular saw! The best part was the Matt let me use it, that was fun!
Going forward, I have commitments for interviews from Zac Higgins at NV Woodworks, Ray at TabLeft Woodworks, Matthew Morris at MM Wood Studio, and from my friend Andy Klein. There are several others who I plan to interview, but I don’t want to say more about them until I actually schedule the meetings.