Finally got around to doing something that’s been on my list for awhile. When I first did my bench top I admittedly didn’t do the best job. I had some high and low spots and depending on where I put a board, it would wobble. I kept saying I’ll redo it but I never really got around to it. Using the bench top to clean up tools and make saws didn’t require a flatter top and I haven’t done hardly any real woodwork. But I’m not a stay at home dad anymore, extra money I’ve made rom saws isn’t going to bills anymore. I’ve slowly bought back a lot of my hand tools I’ve sold and bought a couple cool toys for myself. Like the mill and the Burr Saw Filer and retoother.

I kept too busy making money with saws and tool flipping to upgrade garage and help with bills that I never got around to using the workbench for hand tool woodwork. Well that changes now, I’ve moved it away from the wall, and put the tablesaw on casters. Originally the bench was away from the wall but as I bought a few things I moved it. Tablesaw made its way in the middle of the garage and a second one filled in the space beside it. I wasn’t sure if I needed a fence system that could handle a 4×8 sheet but I told myself I’d use the table saw as is for awhile before making the decision to cut the rails shorter.

I’ve now decided making cuts like that will not be in my regular woodwork. I’ve cut the rails and put the table saw on retractable wheels. I don’t use it all that often and want to use handtools more anyway. Plus, I kept piling stuff on it and using it as a workbench! Its now against the wall and I’ll pull it out as I need it.

The 2nd tablesaw won’t fit next to the 1st one now that I’ve cut the rails. I was about to sell it when I thought, I have a great use for it. Now that the workbench is in the middle of the shop and I can go all around it, I wanted the Burr Saw Filer off of it. I was going to make a cabinet for it and sell the 2nd tablesaw, but why go through the trouble? It fits great on the tsblesaw and looks cool haha.

Garage is still a mess but its coming together.

I mentioned catching up on personal projects and one project I’ve decided to tackle is to make a violin from scratch. I have zero experience but I have enough scrap lumber. Initially I started looking into building a guitar, had that project on the back burner for a while. Once I started looking into it and looking through what lumber I already had, I decided I could either glue up small pieces, buy new lumber, or build something smaller. I decided on the violin. I’ve always liked the violin and after I recently saw a guy do a challenge in a local woodworking club build one from a piece of 2x material from the big box store, I’ve had the idea in my head.

This was an excuse to buy a few oddball tools too lol. I have the material to start the mould, and I’ve planed, resawn and will soon glue up what I think is some mahogany for the back.

I’m very fortunate in that I can say my shop work pays for my shop stuff. I’m not making a living making and or sharpening saws, and that’s not the goal, but it does sustain me when it comes to buying tools and materials. Sure, I occasionally use money from our incomes for some things, but most everything shop related, especially the the more expensive purchases, are paid for mostly from saw work.

I sometimes flip tools, but lately I haven’t really felt the need to constantly search and slowly upgrade what I have and sell the old that I’ve cleaned up. Which is saying something, because I spent most of three years constantly chasing slightly better tools and buying and selling the old. I was determined to let shop stuff pay for shop stuff, it meant having to be patient but its pretty rewarding. Sometimes you meet just the right people too. Went for a router, came home with a $200 8 inch powermatic jointer for example. All there, nothing wrong with it. The guy loved delta, bought an auction lot, sold off non delta cheap just to get rid of it.

And, it definitely helps if you are willing and able to take on projects. Things like bearings are cheap and if you can take apart electric motors…. well that just opens up opportunities. Before I was a teacher, I was a mechanic and after taking apart and rebuilding personal car projects including body work, painting, engine, electrical, ect… tools aren’t so bad.

But to start to even buy tools I needed a way to fund the searches. Saws have been a constant, and I think even as I jump from project to project, saw sharpening will always be in the shop.

I thought it was funny today how I have this Burr mfg saw filer and I slid the filer part off to the side and used the vise to hand sharpen the saws I worked on today. The filer is still new to me and takes a little practice to get used to. I decided not to practice on small teeth yet and especially not customers saws lol. The vise itself is pretty great though. The second vise from the other filer is set on a stand for now just because I like it and I’m not ready to put it up.

I really like these little saws. I’m taking a small break from making saws to catch up on some personal projects but when asked for one of these I decided to go ahead. I really think more woodworkers should give this saw a chance. I’ve compared it to the no 5 jack plane. It’s not a specialty plane, smoother or jointer for example but its a great all around plane to have. I feel this saw falls in that category. Cutting down lumber or doing some joinery, and you don’t have to keep grabbing or carrying various saws. Just something to think about.

Yesterday I found another saw filer, a Foley f61. And this one had an original foley stand! I’ve never come across one before and I’m glad I got to it before the owner decided to trash the filer and use the stand for a grinder or something. The top is shaped for the filer base and the original pieces to hold bandsaw filing attachments ate still in place. I won’t be sharpening any bandsaw blades but I’m very happy to get this filer. This one came out after the f16 and before the 200 and 387s.

I’ve seen quite a few Foley Belsaw machines but another brand that occasionally pops up during searches is Burr manufacturing. The retoother is a solid machine and I had always wanted one and I recently learned they made a saw filer. I couldn’t believe it, I was asking around for an Acme saw filer and a handsaw friend had a Burr one with a reoother and bars. This filer came out before the Acme one I think and was sold by the same company. Or at least Acme, Burr, and Bemaco were all owned by the same company at one point.

If you’ve seen videos of an acme, the vise moves back and forth and you control the file arm. On the Burr the vise stays stationary and the filer part moves on a track on the back. Very heavy, very sturdy and I’m extremely lucky to have it.

A month ago I started setting up a 387 saw filer. As much as I keep meaning to set these filers up I’ve still been filing by hand and just haven’t used them yet. On another recent tool run I got my hands on a sf1000 saw filer. It came out after the 387. Very minor changes but they are a couple of convenient ones. Plus I like a project, so I’ve been taking it apart, cleaning off some rust with evaporust and washing off grime and repainting it. Maybe I’ll finally get one set up and use it.

I’m shipping saws out left and right but occasionally I take a short break for other projects. My 4 year old has been wanting another train car, one that has a crane on it. We are finally cutting one out. In this picture I’ve cut all the pieces down, since then a few have been finished or glued. He has been a big helper here’s another picture of him drilling the axle holes.

I’ve set up two Foley saw filers, an f-16 and a 387 with the intention to start using them. I’m faster by hand but I’ve noticed that after a few saws or after a big frame saw plate that I can feel the strain in my wrist.

This strain is very minor but has made me think of the future, I’d hate to cause any trouble for myself down the road if I can help it. I have foley filers, so why not start to use them? They are very consistent and once setup, you can sit back.

So I dug out a third one lol. I’d like to have my smaller f-16 to be used on smaller saws, smaller teeth. And one 387 for regular full sized saws and to setup another for my large frame saw plates. Different files and file holders are needed and it would be convenient to not have to mess with them too much, and since I have multiple machines, I can more or less set them up for different saw types.

I have one small cart for my f-16 and I have a large cart with a couple retoothers, a setter, and a filer on it. Its about a 3×3 foot cart with wheels. I roll it off to the side and spin it around for whatever I need. But for my latest 387 I needed another stand. I looked up quite a few different options and nothing quite fit. I almost bought a 24x24x38 cart, height is perfect for this but I knew I’d just fill the shelves with junk. So I went to harbor freight and bought this cart instead. I had a couple like it when I was younger as a mechanic.

Now, I’m sure some people may have noticed this cart has a lid that opens and an area to store stuff on top. With a filer on top you can’t access this. And I’m ok with that lol! I remember this top area just repeatedly getting filled with clutter and knew I’d do it again. So I decides to remove the drawer locks so they open when the lid is closed, add blocks inside so that the center of the lid sits solidly and won’t flex or cave in. With the filer on top, 3 small holes in the top to screw the filer through the lid and to the blocks, and some more underneath have made this sit nicely.

It looks nice, has drawers and wheels, fits my area for it perfectly and later on if I want to use a different filer stand, its completely reversible. I left the removed locks and pieces inside the lid. Now I just need to clean this one up get a new drive wheel.