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A Good Workshop
In this article, I'll go over what should be in a good workshop, and why. Maybe Ill even make the list alphabetical.
SAFETY!!!
SOME SAFETY RULES:
--ALWAYS wear safety glasses. Wood chips in the eye =/= good.
--When sanding, wear a properly rated respirator/mask.
--Make sure you have good ventilation and dust control.
--NEVER take your eyes off a tool which is running. This goes for saws, sanders, jointers, ANYTHING.
--Keep your fingers out of the way of saw blades. When using a tablesaw or a bandsaw, keep your thumbs tucked in.
--Make sure your work area is properly lit.
--Remember, you get cut less using sharp tools! Keep everything in prime condition. Sharp tools require less force to do the same work. Less force behind a tool means less chance of slippage. Less slippage = less ****-yourself-uppage.
Tools:
BANDSAW -- good for cutting curves (ie, bodies), or along angled straight lines that would be impracticle to do with a table saw, or other saw (ie, necks).
DRILL PRESS -- good all around tool. Can be used for drilling (good for string holes for string-thru, for neck-bolt holes, tuner holes, etc), for sanding (with a sanding drum), and even for polishing/buffing (with proper attachments).
COPING SAW -- small, flexible hand saw. Good for negotiating tight/tough curves.
JOINTER -- good for straightening out edges for gluing together of blanks, wings, laminations, etc.
PLANER/RASP -- used for shaving off wood. Good for carved tops, neck backs, etc. Also, very good in place of sandpaper on acoustic applications, because there is NO SAWDUST to clog up pores in wood.
DREMEL -- versatile tool. Not a standout in any one category, can get alot of things done decently. Works fine for light sanding and very light routing (ie, scalloping, scrolls)
ROUTER -- near must-have. Used for routing neck pockets, control cavities, pup cavities, etc.
SANDING STUFF -- from 80 to 400+ grit. Hand-sanding (ie, sanding blocks) and power-sanding (random orbital sanders are good). Also, if you're crazy enough, angle-grinders are fun too.
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