Couple more pictures to critique......

[Alan Mikkelsen]

Everyone seems to have enjoyed the photos I posted in my introduction, so here's a few more of some recently finished pieces.

[Karl Laustrup]

MIghty fine woodworking, Alan. Not sure what the large piece is. Could you enlighten us? I'm calling the other piece a writing table with bench.

Mighty fine view, also. Used to live in Nevada. Miss those mountain views.

[Roger Barga]

really like the design of your work - thanks for sharing the photos.
roger

[Dick Parr]

Very nice work but I have to ask, what is that under you outfeed table for you table saw?

[David Fried]

You can store the writing table and seat in my living room, any day, for as long as you want! That's super nice!!

[Paul Thompson]

First of all, let me say - beautiful work!

Now, with that said, a thought. I called my wife to the computer to look at the pics of your beautiful work. The first thought we had was, WOW! However, the next thought we both had was that the corners of the desk and stool needed to match - either both rounded or both squared.

Just a thought.

[Alan Mikkelsen]

Ok, hope I can remember what all the questions were. First, on the rounded vs square corners on the telephone stand & stool. The table is gone, but the stool was an afterthought and thrown in. It turned out to be the stool from hell. I started with a sculpted seat, and through tenons. I was using a power carver on the seat, and on my very last pass on a really nice seat, I hit the biscuits. (I shouldn't have used biscuits in the first place.) After some not very nice words and a lot of grumbling, I determined I could fix the mistake with some butterfly inlays. I found the proper combination of router bushings, and then the phone rang. After hanging up, I grabbed the router and cut out a butterfly. Oh #$%##$$##. I used the inlay bushing, not the bushing to cut the recess. I now had a huge hole. I was ready to throw the stool away. I grabbed a hand saw and cut the through tenons at the bottom of the seat. I grabbed a blank that was laying around, put it on the legs with dowels and called it good enough. But I didn't like it either.

Under the table saw outfeed table are dust collection manifolds on each side. You're looking at the dust gates for the jointer, router table fence, router table base, and a vacumn hose drop.

The large piece is a storage bench. It sits beside a door, fitted mostly like a built in. When the children come in, they store their boots, mittens, coats, etc in the bench. The walnut splines are simply finger grabs. The dovetails are a brace that runs across the center of the bench. There is no back rail or anything else because it sits under low windows going around a corner. It's all cherry and cherry ply for the panels. Finished with two coats of Sherwood catalyzed finish.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Alan,

You do wonderful work! Once again you have posted some great pictures for us to admire!

[Warren White]

Welcome! I can sympathize with your frustration in 'finding' the biscuit! Can you stand one more shop question? It looks like you have a Performax drum sander. What model and how do you like it?

Warren

[Alan Mikkelsen]

The floor sander is the Performax 16-32. I like it, but I've read a lot of threads by people who didn't, too. I think part of the problem is what you expect of it and what you want it to do. It is NOT a planer. I use it for flushing up rails and stiles on panels, doors, etc., to sand very small, thin pieces to final thickness, things like that. It's also great on glued up panels. I work with white oak, cherry, walnut and maple, for the most part. I've never had a bit of trouble with burning of the sandpaper, or other problems you read about. I used to use 80 gr paper most of the time, but for the past couple months I've used 120 with no problems.

You'll see complaints that the breaker on the motor trips. I've tripped mine maybe 3-4 times in a year. It's from taking too deep of a cut or feeding too fast. If I move the handle 1/8 turn, keep the speed at about 50-60 on the dial, I never have a bit of a problem.

The one problem I did have was with the original feed belt delaminating where it is glued together. Over a period of a couple days, it slowly came apart more and more, until it was unusable. I replaced it with a new one (didn't check about warranty) and ordered a spare, also. I've had no problems since. Feed belt alignment has not been a problem for me. Hope this helps.

[Warren White]

I am sorry I took so long to say 'Thanks' for the reply regarding the Performax sander; I really got busy! I am about to order one of Performax's models, along with a DC system. Your advise was excellent, and I agree with your caution not to consider it a planer. I have a DeWalt 735 that I really love, so to the limit of its capacity I will continue planing with it and sanding with the new sander when I order it.

I appreciate your kindness in helping me decide.

Best to you,
Warren