XLeblanc Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 I bought a new set of Bahco chisels a few weeks ago and decided on a little experiment. I had a quick shot of chiselling some oak and then decided to regrind and hone the whole set of chisels. Whilst doing so I found that they had not been ground very well in the first instance and when the long arduous process was complete there was a marked difference in the performance of the chisels.The Tormek to me is an invaluable piece of kit and makes the job of re-sharpening so much easier.I have been watching this part of the forum for some time with great interest and hopefully soon I will be able to contribute with some pieces of my own. I have everything I need, a one hundred metre square workshop, panel saw, tenoner, thicknesser, planer, moulder, four sided moulder, bandsaw crosscut saw, morticer, auto copy lathe, full workshop extraction system and an abundance of kiln dried, air dried oak and beach. I have just not had the time unfortunately with working away from home.My first project I have to complete is two kitchens one for our house in the Limousin and then a second for our house in Brittany. I plan on making the first one using plywood and fitting an oak facia to the front of it. The one in Brittany will be solid oak with stand alone movable units and not fitted.I am particulary interested in the restoration of medieval woodwork and have so much to recreate for our medieval house in brittany as we intend to restore it to how it would have looked when it was completed in 1671.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postie Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 100m2 - a gift from heaven!!!! [B] Blimey XLB you're gonna get lost in there - don't you want to share a bit that space! I have a diddy little shop (about 25m2) & have to cram all my bits into it & still have space to fabricate the pieces, quite a challenge in itself . You should be able to create some masterpieces with all that kit, Fine Woodworking here we come. I look forward to the pics of the finished products. Best of British with the kitchens - especially the one in Brittany, it's quite a project you've taken on [:D]. Postie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLeblanc Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 It still is not quite big enough as it is 20m by 5m and as such the wrong shape to be able to work in efficiently. I still have to site the crosscut saw and bandsaw. The crosscut saw I got from a local guy along with a big three phase compressor. It actually runs on rails which must be twenty feet long. So if you are cutting heavy timber you can move the saw instead of the wood. I also have to get some more ducting from truduct in the Uk to get another couple of the machines permanently ducted.I don't suppose anyone knows of anywhere who sharpens planer blades in the Limousin.Incidently where are you located Postie?I will try and figure out how to put some pictures on here so you can see what I mean.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postie Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 In South Vendee XLB - look torward to the pics. Had to make steel trolleys for a few of my machines or I would have to nowhere to work. What a pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 I don't want to be pikky here XL, ut do you reall mean 100 X 100 or 100 sq meters?[:D][:D]. As I see from your second post it's the latter, but it didn't arf make me sit up and take nitice!!Good luck with it mate. Mine is about a third of yours and is big enough for what I love doing. Just messing about really and turning bits a bobs lke this little ring box in French box wood. It's all of 1.5 inch diameter... Made last Saturday as a petty rien for a friend's birthday next month.I hope that you have as much pleasure in your workshop as I do in mine!!![IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Ringbox.jpg[/IMG]I have tried to fid one of the threads that tell how to post photos, but no luck. Perhapse one of the 'milk monitors' will be able to help. It's dead easy really!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 [quote user="Jonzjob"]I have tried to fid one of the threads that tell how to post photos, but no luck. Perhapse one of the 'milk monitors' will be able to help. It's dead easy really!![/quote]Did you call??? [:)]It's here: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/819635/ShowPost.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLeblanc Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 [IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0012-1.jpg[/IMG]Her is a picture of my workshop with a few of the machines sited. In the foreground there is a Robland D630 thicknesser. middle left a Robland E45 dimension saw, back right with a cover over it a Multico chisel morticer and lastly back left a sedgewick three headed tenoner.As you can see the workshop is not that wide but very long.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLeblanc Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 [IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0011.jpg[/IMG]This image shows the extraction system for the D630 thicknesser and the extraction feed to the tenoner at the back right of the picture.. In the foreground under the blue dust sheet is a Robland 310 planer thicknesser.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLeblanc Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 [IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0009.jpg[/IMG]Here we have a similar picture with oak for my new kitchen ceiling/bedroom floor and a Moretens multi moulder with a power feed fitted. It is quite a special machine as the angle of the spindle is adjustable through a hundred and eighty degrees meaning it can be used as an overhead router. It also has a router spindle so router bits can be used with supplied collets and lastly an XY table which alloes the table to be moved backwards and forwards as well as left and right.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLeblanc Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 [IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0002.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0001.jpg[/IMG] A couple of pictures of a small platform I made for Horse Riding for the disabled France. In one of the pictures you can see a metal ramp. They were worried that the children would fall off ther other side of the horse when being lifted on so I designed and made the platform for them.Some of you may recognise Patrick McLoughlin in one of the pictures who runs horse riding for the disabled France. as well as the stage courses for the Chambre D' Metiers in Limoges.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLeblanc Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 [IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/bed.jpg[/IMG]Here is a bed my dad calls the "Desperate Dan Bed" I made it when I was having a go at timber framing.Ubustable no matter how rough your sex life is.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLeblanc Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 [IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/IMG_0069.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/IMG_0071.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/IMG_0196.jpg[/IMG]Here are a few pictures of my new kitchen ceiling / upper bedroom floor all in oak and machined using Ryobi chain morticer and Makita 355mm frame saw.I am stuck in Aberdeen right now but will post more pictures of the workshop and machinery when I get back home in the next few weeks.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLeblanc Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 My lathe is quite big although it does have a rest and I have bought a set of turning chisels and I can not wait to give it a go. I think it can turn around 1.8m in lenth and probably about 300mm in diameter.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postie Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 As I said before XLB - you've got some serious kit there. Looks like the sort of stuff pros use. [blink] I think most of us on the Forum are hobbyist & probably can't afford gear like yours so we do the best we can with what we have at our disposal. Best of luck with whatever you are doing - and as JJ says ENJOY it, that's the most important thing. [:D]PS JJ, the little box is great - I love it when the grain matches on both pieces & people wonder how it's done!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Making those little boxes is the only teaching that I have had. I spent a very interesting weekend with a guy called Ian Wilkie near Hereford. Seems a long time ago now!That is a heck of a workshop you've got there XL! That lathe of yours sounds interesting. I take it that you are either still a pro or was until receintly??My planer/thicknesser is a 14 inch record plane. Bloomin hard work sometimes too![:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XLeblanc Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 Can you see the pictures as I could last night but cant at work today for some reason. No I am no professional. I have a very good friend in the UK who is however and I have learned a bit from him over the years.I work as a control systems engineer in the oil industry.It all started with the decision to buy a few bits and pieces of machinery to make my own windows etc. I bought a sawbench with a moulder on the back of it. The small planer and the dimension saw and a small roll around extraction unit. Whilst buying this I was introduced to a guy called Terry from Chichester. He had been working for a dealer who had died and the guys wife had asked Terry to sell all of the equipment. This guy also ran a sharpening and grinding service so there was an abundance of moulder tooling lying around.The guy was a dealer for Moretens and Robland but also bought and sold second hand equipment of any manufacturer. I had what I needed and was happy with that. I did however keep in touch with Terry as he was collecting moulder tooling for me. Every time I spoke to him the equipment that was there was becoming cheaper and cheaper. For example I picked up a Moretens PH260 four sided moulder with a pile of brand new blocks and the Robland D630 thicknesser which was also brand new with all of the options for £6500 pounds. This was ten grand less than it should have cost. So I then came back to France and sold some of the original bits and replaced them with new equipment where it was available. I then thought I would run it as a business as I was working month on month off at the time. But that has not happened yet.The lathe is a prototype made by Startrite. I do not think that it went into production. I have not acually used it yet but can not wait to see how it performs. It can take a sheet type template or an actual spindle in the back which the cutter follows when you set the tool and pull up the lever.As as said when I get home from Aberdeen I will try and get started and take some more pictures.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 If your lathe is as good as my Startrite band saw then you will be very happy with it. I hadn't realised that they got into lathes? I have never tried copy turning as I love the challenge of trying to get the second, etc, as near the first as I can. One of the most difficult things I have made are chess sets. The most difficult part of that is turning the pawns and 'trying' to get them similar. Then again if you want them identical???[IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Chesssetbox.jpg[/IMG]I can see that a copy lathe would be a god send if you are making a stair case with 50 or more balustrades! I had to make 50 serviette rings for a Notingham hotel once and I was nearly boss eyed at the end![IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/DSC06952.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/DSC06950.jpg[/IMG]As I said, my workshop is about a third the size of yours, but it is good for me. Keeps me off the streets too!The insulation in the roof is a must. It in't the cheepo stuff from the sheds/bricos. I got it from a company in the Alps, can't remember the name at the moment. It was worth paying a lot more for it because it works so very well. It was easy to fit too and is very tough.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postie Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Nice tidy shop JJ - Mrs Postie would be very impressed if mine looked like that. I'll take a pic of my diddy little shop (she'll probably make me tidy it first). I've no insulation in the ceiling as yet, too busy sorting out our living space & no time for niceties in the shop. You are right about insulation, it's a must. I suffer from VWF & if the workplace is cold I am totally useless, cannot do anything, fingers loose all feeling & takes ages for the circulation come back. I like your air filter (I'm a JET fan) & that is probably the last big investment I make for my shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Not very tidy, but I do try. After the state my workshop was in the U.K. I made myself a promise that it would be cleaned up at the end of each job or the end of each days work. 3 years on and it still works much to my surprise!VWF? Don't know what that is, but if my hands get cold then the arthritis in my hands make me useless, or even more useless, to the people who know me [:D]That filter is very importaint to me. It takes out all the airbourne muck and that's got to be good. he insulation makes it possible to work both summer, when the 'no shade' temp is in the high 40s and in winter when it's in the -ve. The roof is just the terra cotta pan tiles of this area and nowt but the beams and joists between me and the sun. It works very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postie Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 VWF - vibration white finger. Must have got it while working as a boilermaker (plater) on the mines in Africa. Too many hours with anglegrinders, I guess. If I'd worked in the UK I would be eligible for a few quid compensation - but Africa, no chance, so I just have to live with it. I have a lot of respect for JET equipment & now have a Jet bandsaw, lathe & most recently, a tablesaw. I think they are exellent value for money, even Mrs Postie is happy. She keeps close control of the purse-strings, some would even say a bit tight!!! [blink] Will keep my eye out for offers on a filter like yours. Busy making fly/mozzie screens at the moment, have to make about 8 of them. Think the neighbours will after a few as well. As you say, keeps us off the streets & the Mrs happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now