My Hammer K3W Crate

[patriot]

I have no idea how some 'ideas' pop into my head, but one item way high on my to-do list has been a sharpening station. Needless to say, we woodworkers must keep all of our edged tools sharp - as best we can - and having a functional sharpening station at our fingertips is a very good thing to have at our disposal.  This has been wishful thinking for years because I have never had a bona-fide sharpening station.

That being said, after I un-crated my new Hammer and got it up and running, I was left with a lot of expensive knotty Austrian pine.  That's when the 'idea' popped into my head.  So, I drew it up and got to work.  The result is shown in the following images.  The only wooden items that did not come from the Hammer crate were the drawer bottoms (plywood) and the top (melamine) and bottom (construction plywood) members.

View attachment 1

This image shows the Hammer off of the pallet and the crate material studded with screws. What a chore!

View attachment 2

This image shows the front of the cabinet.

View attachment 3

This image shows the four drawers of the cabinet.  I had three 14-inch slides and one 18-inch slide laying unused in the shop so that is what I used for the drawers.  All of the drawers are 18-inches deep so obviously the top three do not pull out all of the way, but that is not a problem.

View attachment 4

This image shows the rear of the cabinet.  I use this thick glass plate (found in a Chicago alley) when I use wet-dry sandpaper to flatten the backs of my plane irons.  It has bounced around for years in a cardboard sleeve and now it finally has a home as do all of my sharpening gear.

This project was a ton of work removing all of the screws, sorting out the best sections and so on, but I am extremely happy with the result. A lot of the drawer members had to be edge-glued (and biscuited) to get the height required.  The following image shows the glued members joined together.

View attachment 5

Another thing that I added to this cabinet was nearly two 50lb bags of sand in the bottom. (This was noted in one of my previous threads)  This has made a huge difference in keeping the cabinet firm when in use.

My dear grandparents raised me and one thing that they instilled in my DNA was that I should never waste ANYTHING if I can help it. I don't always meet that lofty goal, but in this case I think they would be proud of me.

Thanks for looking.

 

[ear3]

Sweet.  The plate glass component was a stroke of genius.

 

[patriot]

Sweet.  The plate glass component was a stroke of genius.

Thanks for the kind comments, but I am not sure about the genius part. 

To be honest, I have dragged that poor plate glass around for years and years and why it has not been broken - especially in the move from Chicago back to New Mexico - I have no idea.  But when I need to flatten the back of a plane iron nothing beats using wet-dry sandpaper on plate glass IMO.  Having it readily accessible is nice even it is not used that often.

Thanks again.

 

[bkharman]

Sweet.  The plate glass component was a stroke of genius.

Thanks for the kind comments, but I am not sure about the genius part. 

To be honest, I have dragged that poor plate glass around for years and years and why it has not been broken - especially in the move from Chicago back to New Mexico - I have no idea.  But when I need to flatten the back of a plane iron nothing beats using wet-dry sandpaper on plate glass IMO.  Having it readily accessible is nice even it is not used that often.

Thanks again.

I have a few 12x12 granite tiles that I use. Smaller and less likely to get shattered by stupid stuff I do sometimes.

Great recycling of the crate lumber. Let me know how you like that Hammer. I have been debating one for a few years now. Should have pulled the trigger by now!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[patriot]

[member=21412]bkharman[/member]

Thanks for the comments.

I have to admit that the granite tiles are a lot more manageable than my large glass plate.  When I have to flatten the back of an iron I normally begin with 500x and move up to 1000x before fine-tuning with my waterstones.  The glass is large enough to for both 9x11-inch sheets of wet-dry which works well.  However, I have to have a large flat surface on which to lay the glass.  So, if I used granite tiles, I could do all of this on the new sharpening station whose 23-1/2 x 33-1/2 inch top has sufficient room for two tiles if one dimension were about 1-inch less that 12-inches so they could sit side by side.  This is a great idea.

I also use the glass plate for flattening the bottoms of my wooden planes when new or in need of tuning.  In so doing, I have to pull the large sheet of sandpaper that I use very taunt over the glass plate to keep from rounding the edges of the plane as I run it over the sandpaper.  In this case, the glass plate - and a large surface - works perfectly.  Using the joiner for this has never worked because I use a very brittle wood insert in front of the iron edge, so sandpaper is my only good choice. 

All of this said, the glass plate will always have a function in my shop.  I've been known to do a few dumb things myself, so hopefully I will not break it where it currently is.

And, as to the hammer, it's one awesome machine.  I intend on starting a thread on this in the very near future.  Perhaps tomorrow.

Thanks again.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Good job Phillip!
I don't sharpen as often as I should, partly because I always have to gather stuff together, make room for it somewhere, set things up, sharpen, then clean, diassemble, and replace everything in storage.  A nice station like yours would make it easier for me to develop better habits.

I like the pulls built into the sides of the drawer fronts - keeps things clean looking.

Bravo!
Jess

 

[patriot]

[member=457]Jesse Cloud[/member]

Hey Jesse!

Great to see that smiley face.  Man, do I wish I were in that cold snow scene.  It's been hotter than blazes down here.  No point in going on about something I can't do a thing about.  We'd invite you down, but you're too smart to come down here. [big grin]

Thanks for the kind words.  So far, this sharpening cabinet is working out perfectly.  With all of my sharpening gear in one place I no longer have to go around screaming because I can't find this or that to sharpen something.

As to the pulls - all it took for me to look for a 'better pull' was to smack my knee on a metal pull and back to the drawing board I went.  I now have these 'pulls' on four of my woodworking cabinets.  Routing them out in not fun, but next time I will carve them out, which is what I should have done this time.

Thanks for dropping by.

 

[krudawg]

I have no idea how some 'ideas' pop into my head, but one item way high on my to-do list has been a sharpening station. Needless to say, we woodworkers must keep all of our edged tools sharp - as best we can - and having a functional sharpening station at our fingertips is a very good thing to have at our disposal.  This has been wishful thinking for years because I have never had a bona-fide sharpening station.

That being said, after I un-crated my new Hammer and got it up and running, I was left with a lot of expensive knotty Austrian pine.  That's when the 'idea' popped into my head.  So, I drew it up and got to work.  The result is shown in the following images.  The only wooden items that did not come from the Hammer crate were the drawer bottoms (plywood) and the top (melamine) and bottom (construction plywood) members.

View attachment 1

This image shows the Hammer off of the pallet and the crate material studded with screws. What a chore!

View attachment 2

This image shows the front of the cabinet.

View attachment 3

This image shows the four drawers of the cabinet.  I had three 14-inch slides and one 18-inch slide laying unused in the shop so that is what I used for the drawers.  All of the drawers are 18-inches deep so obviously the top three do not pull out all of the way, but that is not a problem.

View attachment 4

This image shows the rear of the cabinet.  I use this thick glass plate (found in a Chicago alley) when I use wet-dry sandpaper to flatten the backs of my plane irons.  It has bounced around for years in a cardboard sleeve and now it finally has a home as do all of my sharpening gear.

This project was a ton of work removing all of the screws, sorting out the best sections and so on, but I am extremely happy with the result. A lot of the drawer members had to be edge-glued (and biscuited) to get the height required.  The following image shows the glued members joined together.

View attachment 5

Another thing that I added to this cabinet was nearly two 50lb bags of sand in the bottom. (This was noted in one of my previous threads)  This has made a huge difference in keeping the cabinet firm when in use.

My dear grandparents raised me and one thing that they instilled in my DNA was that I should never waste ANYTHING if I can help it. I don't always meet that lofty goal, but in this case I think they would be proud of me.

Thanks for looking.

As a Hammer K3 owner myself, I am impressed with the sharpening station.  My biggest issue with un-crating the K3 was getting it off the pallet! I bought a pallet jack at Harbor Freight but the forks were fixed and the spacing between the forks did not slide underneath the pallet.  I eventually slid one fork underneath the pallet and balancing the entire pallet (with the Hammer K 3 sitting on top) with one fork on the pallet jack, I lifted the pallet up and got it to the center of my garage.  Then with 2x4's I managed to lift the rear of the Hammer up high enough to attach the wheels on the rear, built a ramp and rolled it off.  But dang, I wish I had saved the wood for a project like yours.  Well-done!

 

[dltflt]

Nice!  Great use of the crate.

 

[patriot]

As a Hammer K3 owner myself, I am impressed with the sharpening station.  My biggest issue with un-crating the K3 was getting it off the pallet! I bought a pallet jack at Harbor Freight but the forks were fixed and the spacing between the forks did not slide underneath the pallet.  I eventually slid one fork underneath the pallet and balancing the entire pallet (with the Hammer K 3 sitting on top) with one fork on the pallet jack, I lifted the pallet up and got it to the center of my garage.  Then with 2x4's I managed to lift the rear of the Hammer up high enough to attach the wheels on the rear, built a ramp and rolled it off.  But dang, I wish I had saved the wood for a project like yours.  Well-done!

Thanks for your kind words.

Ah, getting the K3 off the pallet ... those words have a familiar ring to them because I had the same issue.  However, I did not have access to a pallet jack because where I live the rental stores are all closed on Saturday, which naturally, was the day I was unpacking my new K3.  So, I had to improvise by resorting to "Plan B".

Bottom line:  I installed the wheels while the K3 was still on the pallet, improvised an off ramp to the pallet and rolled the K3 onto my shop floor.

You can read more about this "adventure" on this page.

Thanks again.

 

[patriot]

Nice!  Great use of the crate.

Thanks for your kind words.

The sharpening station has, naturally, been very useful.  All of the drawers are loaded with all of my sharpening gear.  When it's all in one "spot", it makes me wonder how I've come to accumulate so much sharpening "stuff".  [big grin]

 

[Motown]

Congrats on the new saw and sharpening station! I have the B3 and remember how excited I was when I got it.

 

[patriot]

Congrats on the new saw and sharpening station! I have the B3 and remember how excited I was when I got it.

Thank you!  Now that I am familiar with this wonderful saw, I wonder why I fought so hard not to purchase it.  Live and learn.  [smile]

 

[krudawg]

As a Hammer K3 owner myself, I am impressed with the sharpening station.  My biggest issue with un-crating the K3 was getting it off the pallet! I bought a pallet jack at Harbor Freight but the forks were fixed and the spacing between the forks did not slide underneath the pallet.  I eventually slid one fork underneath the pallet and balancing the entire pallet (with the Hammer K 3 sitting on top) with one fork on the pallet jack, I lifted the pallet up and got it to the center of my garage.  Then with 2x4's I managed to lift the rear of the Hammer up high enough to attach the wheels on the rear, built a ramp and rolled it off.  But dang, I wish I had saved the wood for a project like yours.  Well-done!

Thanks for your kind words.

Ah, getting the K3 off the pallet ... those words have a familiar ring to them because I had the same issue.  However, I did not have access to a pallet jack because where I live the rental stores are all closed on Saturday, which naturally, was the day I was unpacking my new K3.  So, I had to improvise by resorting to "Plan B".

Bottom line:  I installed the wheels while the K3 was still on the pallet, improvised an off ramp to the pallet and rolled the K3 onto my shop floor.

You can read more about this "adventure" on this page.

Thanks again.

As for the saw; it is the finest saw I have ever used.  I went ahead and picked up the Forrest Dado and several Forrest blades.  My philosophy has always been "buy the bust and cry once". 

 

[dltflt]

Nice!  Great use of the crate.

Thanks for your kind words.

The sharpening station has, naturally, been very useful.  All of the drawers are loaded with all of my sharpening gear.  When it's all in one "spot", it makes me wonder how I've come to accumulate so much sharpening "stuff".  [big grin]

I don’t know about you but when I moved 12 years ago it took a 26’ trailer for my shop I moved again 6 months ago and used a 25’ pod and already had some of my tool in a different storage unit.