Creative Woodworks & crafts 2003-11, страница 26

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most important tools in my shop. I didn't always feel this way, but after a friend of mine wound up in the hospital after cutting some exotic wood, I corrected my thinking. His X-rays showed that very fine sawdust had been accumulating deep in his lungs, where it will be permanently. I had not realized how much my eyes, sinuses and respiratory tract were being affected until I started using the filter system faithfully. I mounted the box filter above my saw, cut a hole in it, made a box to hold the filter for my mask, and mounted that to the box filter. That way the air I breathe is triple-filtered. I also mounted some other essentials to it: my telephone, intercom, pattern transfer/removal iron, extension cord, hammer, clipboard and the bits for the rotary tool that hangs just above my head when sitting at the saw. That box filter sure is handy (see Fig. 8)1

On the saw itself, I used the rod of the hold-down foot to hold my supply of blades (cigar tubes). Then I added a magnet above each tube to hold used blades as I switch between them (see Fig. 9). This contraption keeps growing. It now holds an assortment of little things I use quite a bit and like having right at hand. It grew again when I added the oil bottle for the saw. I think it grew for the last possible time it when i added a swing arm to hold a magnifying glass for detail cutting and drilling with the mini-drill presses (see Fig. 10).

In the way of creature comforts, a window air conditioner through the back wall keeps it cool in summer. For heat, I have an electric ceramic heater. It's a little smaller than a six-pack and will run you out of there on the coldest of days. If you noticed the PVC pipe behind the drill presses, it goes into a dry well behind the shop; it's a guy thing, enough said (sorry ladies, you're on your own on that one).

My shop is a work in progress and there's still quite a few things I've got in mind to do fo the place. I'm just not sure there's enough shop left to do them to! Maybe I'll have to move up to one of those bigger shops in the other articles... Nah!

If there aren't too many letters to the editor complaining about how they wasted valuable page space on this, more specific articles about the jigs and odds and ends I use will follow. Many of them came about over the 20-plus years my wife and I were doing craft shows. Finding easier/faster ways to get the job done not only increased profit, but made the job more fun.

If you'd like to ask John any questions relating to this article, write to him at 3000 Charlefon Court, Waldorf, MD 20602 or email him: fretsawyer@att.net.

Fig. 10. A magnifying glass, Held by a swing-arm, makes short work of detailed cutting and drilling.

keep John's scroll saw blades organized.

28 » Creative Woodworks & Crafts November 2003