Spucing up the workshop

I've had the top for this router table for almost a year, so I finally started building a base for it. Here I am, finishing off the drawer. I'm going to add another drawer, but one should do for now.

Here's the router table with the Lee Valley top and fence. I build it out of scrap I had lying around. The melamine and pine are taken out of our bedroom when we demoed it. The case for the router fits perfectly at the bottom (I didn't even plan it that way). There's room for another drawer, when I get the time to use it. I'm still getting used to the router table, figuring out how not to get tear out etc. I want to customise the fence, so I can mount some featherboards on it. It seems really precise, almost more precise than I need. There is micro-adjust on the fence that moves it in thousandths of an inch!

This the portable planer I just got today, it's General International. I need to make some 1" thick trim, for above the doors. I made a small test piece today, using the bandsaw to cut to 1-1/16", then planing the remaining 1/16' off. The finish looked really smooth, but I've heard you still need to sand, otherwise marks show up, when you put the finish on. It had a dust collector, to collect the chips.

I also go this contraption, the Dust Deputy. It works with your shop vac, and had cyclonic action. It collects 99% of the dust, before it gets to the vacuum. I've only used it today, but so far so good. It's a lot easier to empty the bucket than the vacuum as well.

I got a couple new blades for the bandsaw too. A 3/4" thin kerf blade for resawing, and 1/4" blade for cutting curves. I tried the 3/4" blade today, and it worked great. I set the fence for the new blade (you need to do that for every blade), and it cut great. We'll see how it goes with resawing a 6' piece.

I'm going to build a base for the planer too, eventually. I'm going to build it as an extension table for the tablesaw, and then store the planer in there when I'm not using it. I'd like to build some drawers under the workbench as well. The shop is small, but it could be a lot more organized. It gets a little better every year.