Mt. Diablo Adult Education - Wood Working 1 (MDAE WW1)

 In the Fall of 2022, I enrolled in the local adult education program to take an evening class in woodworking.  Mt. Diablo has all kinds of great classes and my wife and I will likely take a bunch more over time.

The class I took was "Woodworking 1".  It's the first class and upon completion of WW1 and WW2, you can then take any of the other woodworking classes.  What I liked about the class was two-fold:  it was going to teach me how to use the machines, it cost virtually nothing (ca. $250 for 10 weeks; materials I bought would be extra).  In my home shop, I really don't have much in terms of machines.  I don't want or feel I need a bunch of machines as I like using hand tools because, well, I enjoy the fine skill I get to develop over time.  It became important to me when I stopped working in the lab as a chemist (working with my hands) and became "middle management." Still, I wanted to learn how to safely use them and this seemed like a great way to do so.

The project was a step stool.  Always hand to have a step stool in the home.  Three or four years ago, I made Christan Becksvoort's shaker step stool and my daughter loved to use in; initially as a step stool and later as a chair when she ate food while watching TV.  This step stool would be a bit taller which is good as she has grown quite a bit so something a few inches taller would be helpful.

Construction of the chair was relatively straightforward.  I used Paduk and curly maple for the chair and shellac and wax to finish it.  The wood choices were a driven by what I could find at Rockler before the class.  I had never worked with Paduk before so it was fun to try out a different wood.  It behaves a lot like walnut with hand tools.  It is a really pretty orange and has a nice spicy chocolate scent when planed.  It looks beautiful when finished.  The only thing I didn't like about it was the orange dust that it would leave behind.  Also, with shellac, some color would leach out.  I kept this all in mind when doing the finishing work.

I liked some of the tools, disliked some, and was a bit indifferent to others.  Mostly, that's what I want to discuss as the construction was straightforward (thought that doesn't mean I didn't have to think a bit for parts of it).

Jointer 

They had a nice one - a Powermatic.  In fact most of their tools were nice and they do upgrade on a regular basis.  I didn't really enjoy using it.  Mostly, I don't like the potential risk for serious bodily injury.  In theory, if you do it right, it can be safe.  Sorry, it just raises my stress level at the moment.  I supposed with a powerfeeder that might make it feel safe.  Not in any rush to own one for home.

Planer/Thicknesser

The two of them: a 15" and 24" PowerMatic.  I really liked these machines.  I felt reasonable safe using them.  My biggest struggle working with handtools is getting the wood to desired thickness.  It take a lot of effort by hand and at times I've used wood that has been thicker than I'd like.  When I finished my formal project for the quarter, we were allowed to do other things until the quarter ended.  I brough in some wood for upcomming projects that needed to be thicknessed.  What would have taken me a full weekend of work, I did in a matter of 30 minutes (I am slow by the way).  Now, speed is not my primary goal in woodworking but, I'd like to have a way to get past some of the donkey work.  As such, I ended up getting a DeWalt 735 when it had a Thanksgiving Black Friday sale.  Been happy with it the few times I've used it.  I also know there is a way to use a sled at home to get it to act like a jointer if I need it.

Table Saw

They had a Saw Stop.  Truth be told, I really like the safety features of this tool.  Kind of wish Saw Stop had a larger line of tool types with this technology.  If so, I would buy them.  I would say I'm indifferent to this machine.  It really came in handy for some work I did where I needed to make a bunch of repetitive cuts for a time sensitive Christmas gift I am making.  I don't mind cross cutting by hand or ripping 1" stock by hand.  I have ripped 2" thick stock by hand and don't enjoy that so I definitely need a machine to help with that but the next tool can do that - bandsaw.

BandSaw

I've been wanting a bandsaw for a long time.  I could make long rips in thick wood or resaw thick wood for design consideration.  They had a variety of bandsaws at the school - Delta, Powermatic, and Laguna.  I was happy with all of them.  I did some resawing as well curve cuts with a bandsaw and I felt reasonably comfortable with using it.  When Powermatic had a 10% off sale over Black Friday, I bought their PM1500 bandsaw.  I need to set it up but have a few woodworking things to do first.  Plus, it weighs 400 lbs.  I have a nice way to get it off the pallet and onto the rolling base when I get to it.

Both the planer and bandsaw I purchased will trigger the need for proper dust collection in the shop.  Fortuantely I had been saving for that.  It will be either Oneida or ClearVue.  Honestly just waiting for either of them to have a 10% off sale.  Since I really don' need either tool I purchased, I could easily wait a year if I need to.  If there is any upside to the anticipated recession, is I should be able to get a dust collector for a discount.  Also keeping my eye open for used models from Oneida as well.

Drill Press

They had two from PowerMatic.  I liked them.  Then again, I used my dad's drill press from time to time and I knew I would.  I will get one in the near future.  I don't think it will get much use but handy to have one.  Currently on the lookout for a vintage one (art deco era) that has been restored.  

Router - hand held and table mounted.  Didn't enjoy using them at all.  I have no intention of owning one.  I call it, along with the jointer, the spinning blades of death.  Will that limit some of my woodworking options.  Yes.  That's fine.  I'm not into molding (yet) and if I were, I already have an ok set of hollow and round planes needing some light restoration.  As for making grooves, I have Veritas small plough plane and quite a number of blades.  It's a handy tool and I like it.  Also have the Veritas skewed rabet plane as well.

Oscillating spindle sander

It was handy to use when I had made a bunch of band sawn reindeer as donation gifts.  Eventually, I will likely get one at home.  More than likely I will see about getting an inexpensive one for home.  I don't need it that often but I can see making more band sawn reindeer for donations that the school can sell at their holiday boutique.  In that case, less time per unit means I can provide more for the donation if I don't to have to sand them by hand.

Drum sander

They had a Grizzly and are now upgrading to a Powermatic.  It came in handy for a few things.  Felt safe to use.  I don't see myself getting one for home.  I use hand planes and I have found ways (by learning from others) how to plan thin stock ca (1/16 to 1/8" thick) by hand.

Chop Saw

They had the Dewalt one.  I've used my dad's in the past.  I am comfortable using it. I don't intent to get one.  It doesn't take long to cross cut a 12" wide board by hand and I actually like doing it.  After 7 years, I can saw by had reasonably well so it's not like the chop saw will produce a better cut.  Again, I'm not a production shop.  If I have to make a half dozen to dozen cross cuts on rough stock on a weekend that would be about the max I ever need to do at once.

Handheld rotary sander

They had one.  I didn't use it.  I use my hand planes for almost all of my final smoothing of the wood and a little bit of sand paper if I have curves or round overs to smooth out.  As such, I just don't see the need for one at home.  

Table top mortiser.  

The school had one but we didn't need to use it.  I have one at home, a Powermatic.  I didn't feel confident in my ability to make a good mortise and bought one.  I like it.  At first I "needed" it to get a decent mortise.  Since then, I've learned how to do a mortise by hand.  As such, unless I have a lot of mortises I need to do, I prefer to do them by hand.  For me, the whole woodworking journey was to develop the hand skills.  I really liked my days as an active bench chemist doing highly skilled technical work.  I am very good at my management roll, but, I wonder if I had to do it over again if I would have left the bench.  Then again, almost all of my peers in grad school, who stayed techinal, ended up no longer working at the bench as most reached a level where managing those who were at the bench became their job.  As such, I may not as easily had a choice.  Well, that's crap the more I think about it.  We all have choices we can make or not make.  I just don't think I gave it as much thought and most folks don't.  That's ok I have woodworking now to work on my hand skills and at the end of it, I have nice furniture that I likely couldn't afford to purchase.

All in all, very happy with the MDAE WW1 experience.  I like the instructor and the school and the teaching assistants.  It's a good place to be.  So much so, I am now taking woodworking 2.  Enjoying it as well. They have woodcarving and woodturning classes as well as other hobbies.  As such, I plan to take a lot of classes over time.  I used to do a bowling league (till bowling started to hurt my hand) and enjoyed the one night out a week.  These classes have that similar feel.  I still enjoy woodworking at home but it's nice to woodworking around others from time to time as well.