The Homemade Workshop

Book excerpt: Less cost! More features! Bragging rights! Let's face it: Woodworking isn't cheap. Wood and materials alone can cost a small fortune. And well-designed commercial woodworking machines are often so expensive that they are beyond the reach of many home woodworkers. So what's a woodworker to do? Do what Stumpy Nubs does and build your own! In The Homemade Woodshop, James Hamilton, creator of the popular Stumpy Nubs website, shows you how to build woodworking machines for a fraction of the cost of store-bought models--and with more features to boot! You'll discover 12 detailed projects for building precise, durable shop-made machines including: • Sliding-top router table that makes joinery safe and easy • Multi-function downdraft table that combines dust collection with countless workholding applications • Sliding crosscut table that gives your table saw the precision and convenience of a high-end European saw • 24" band saw that offers all of the throat capacity of an industrial model in a size that will fit on a benchtop • Crosscut "super-sled" that allows you to create box joints, splined miters, tenons and more • Table saw workstation that affords you a complete workshop in a 4' x 8' footprint • And 7 more! The projects in this book not only save you money, but they allow you to add more features and, ultimately, greater precision and more versatility to the machines in your shop. And let's face it: Having a shop outfitted with machines that you built yourself is just cool.