Daphne has finally given up on totally independent living. To retain her mental agility she engages with crosswords and jigsaw puzzles. I along with others are helping to sell her bungalow, Stripped of all the items of value, emotional and financial, left two bedroom cabinets.
The cabinets are great examples of 1970’s chipboard design, of no value beyond humour
I however see things rather differently. The cupboards are wonderful of Obtainium. Despite the vanilla ugliness designed in by folk who thought the Bay City Rollers were talented, they offer potential much potential value.
Melamine coated chipboard or MDF was a revolutionary material, turning sawdust into useful panels. The addition of a melamine coating revolutionised kitchen design. Normally scorned by crafters for whom the populist aesthetic is just too much. We can however put chipboard panels to good use behind the scene releasing funds to buy more of our hallmark lovely wood .
As a factory produced rather than a grown material, chipboard provides a flat stable surface. Whilst lacking the ductile strength of timber it will provide us with a reference surface capable of challenging granite, marble or steel, which demand a considerable outlay to buy. In the form of Obtainium, melamine coated chipboard from the kitchen, bedroom or just plain shelving can be pulled into the service of fine woodworking.
Perhaps, like mine, your bench is somewhat lacking in the flatness department. This can be overcome by laying an ex-wardrobe door or side on top. Fixing this temporary surface presents no particular challenge.. Clamp a batten across one end will become a planing stop as well as holding the surface in position. Alternatively, if you use dog holes, fitting of a couple of dowels together with chipboard’s inherent mass will keep everything in place.
Melamine is the secret weapon of these universal and normally free to us boards. Rather than using iron on strips of low friction plastic to enable the sweet planing of your shooting board, build the whole unit on a kitchen door. A few feet of 19 mm board will take a roll of sandpaper and enhance the tuning of your planes as well as speeding up general sharpening.
The reason Daphne figured at the start of this article is that she needs a Jigsaw table. In my head thi is a sheet of plywood with a solid wood edging to aid both grip and to prevent the puzzle sliding to the floor.
My wood store has appropriate ply. but is sadly lacking in suitable moulding for the trim. As someone who is skip centric, I need to create the moulding with material I already possess. Skip wood., I can rip to thickness and width but will need to use an edge following rebate plane to create a seamless edge, not to mention a mitre shooting board to get the joints fitting.
As someone who struggles with effort and has a keen interest in both shortcuts and technology, I have decided that now is finally the time to make a router table.
If I am careful this could be mounted on legs to become an outrigger for my low bench. Should I create some additional tops, surface mounting a jigsaw or circular saw would present some cost effective contributions to my workflow.
As someone who struggles with effort and has a keen interest in both shortcuts and technology, I have decided that now is finally the time to make a router table.
If I am careful this could be mounted on legs to become an outrigger for my low bench. Should I create some additional tops, surface mounting a jigsaw or circular saw would present some cost effective contributions to my workflow.
Whilst still in the machine zone. I depend on found lumber for much of my projects, so devote many hours to planing smooth and resizing construction lumber. To control this chore ,
I acquired a discounted Planer/thicknesser, whilst being very helpful it does have a habit of ruining wood with snipe. Constructing a false floor from Melamine coated chipboard extending beyond the factory fitted support, both the infeed and outfeed sides neatly resolves this issue.
Apply a coat of wax, silicon, PTFE or oil and you can create useful extensions for your table saw. Even helping the smooth running of crosscut sledges.
Leave the lubricant out and you have a useful assembly bench, largely immune to glue damage and can be stored away against a wall. Finally, whilst I would be very hesitant to use chipboard in a client based project, I don't think I have paid for a sheet in the last 40 years and it has been incredibly useful in my workshop. Daphne’s cupboards are being converted into tool store backs as well as the router table . God bless Freecycle!
