Yet another newbie joins.

**mgbeheler** · Dec 13, 2015, 12:59 AM

I am retired from a variety of jobs, but the first job I ever had was drafting plans for church furniture. (I was still in college.) A company's blueprints had all burned in a fire, and I was given samples of their products to measure and recreate the drawings. After some experience doing that, I'd be shown pictures of other items, and I'd draw plans from those.
I'd help my Dad tear down a house & use the lumber to build a garage-workshop when I was 12, and had taken several drafting courses in high school and college - but I really didn't know much about what I was doing. Employer was happy to have my drawings, though.
I had a few woodworking tools, but not a real "shop" when my home was flooded a few years back. I finally have my own work space again (12 X 20') and have gotten my tools out of storage. I'll need to remove a little rust, but I think they'll all work. Belt-sander has never been out of the box. I received it as a gift from my son shortly before the flood.

**Jon** · Dec 13, 2015, 09:56 AM

Hi mgbeheler - welcome to HomemadeTools.net

Sounds like you are about to have some fun.

Any homemade tools that you're considering making?

**mgbeheler** · Dec 13, 2015, 02:16 PM

I "consider" lots of things, and actually do few.
I am in the process of setting up shop with the few tools I already own. It takes tools to make tools, so I have to be careful about SEQUENCE.
Basically, I have a table saw (with one "combo" blade), belt sander with disc, drill press, small wimpy jig saw, portable drills, orbital sander, and an assortment of hand tools - most of which are pretty junky. (Almost everything was in storage for a few years after my house was flooded, and rust is a problem.)
Yes, I "want" lots of other tools - especially when the directions I find for making a jig for the ones I have require some other gizmo, like a band saw or router.
For instance, I needed a push stick for the table saw, and I looked at lot of "easy to make" suggestions, most of which required something like a band saw or router to complete. Come on, people - the table saw is my first real power tool!
Then, I found out making a usable one was as easy as gluing a small rectangle of wood to a larger one. I also got sidelined by a lot of "chicken foot" designs until I saw a video in which a guy explained why being able to hold down on the wood as it went past the blade was so important, and the chicken foot would not give that control.
So, that's where I am, at the very beginning.
Planning to make some very simple magazine cases for Christmas gifts. Bought myself a few decent bar clamps, and will probably make a "clamping box" first. Better than a workbench - The Clamping Box - All
After Christmas, I'll be trying to figure out if I have the tools to make clamps I'll want when I make other projects - maybe a kitchen island that will hold the trash basket that now gets shifted from place to place in my kitchen. Maybe some supports to hold shop lights above plants I have on an 18" by 8 feet shelf above the back of my couch. Maybe a better looking stand for my TV and the plants beside it. Lots of maybes, and a very, very, small budget.