Fri 9 Jan, 2009
Please provide feedback to Chiefwoodworker aka Swamp Road Wood Works aka Joe Zeh. Tell me what you think about my web site or blog, custom furniture, artisanship, or anything else that comes to mind. If there are specific areas of woodworking or related subjects you would like to see covered here, please make suggestions. I welcome all your comments and suggestions, positive or critical.
When leaving a comment please do not include any contact information in the body of the comment, since that information will appear publicly. If you need to send me contact information please use my email address jpz@srww.com.
karen hawkins says:
could you email me the plans for the gun cabinet i could not get them to download and could you tell me if it would be easy to convert this to hold twelve shotguns by making it slightly larger
Joe says:
Will do. I tested the download and it worked for me. You might want to check and see if your browser has the download add-in. If not you can easily get it from the internet. I will send the plans in a separate email.
Joe….
Nate says:
Love the site, just found it today. found your website through woodworking.com. I am just getting into woodworking myself. I am building a house in a nearby town from you and had 4-5k bdft of lumber cut from the trees taken down when clearing the lot. Now I just have to find time to use it all.
Joe says:
Nate, Welcome to the Hilltowns and to Swamp Road Wood Works. With 4-5k bd ft of new lumber you should be set for quite a while. Stop in some time if you are close by.
Joe….
Dave says:
Hi Joe,
Just wanted to say how much I enjoy passing by your site every so often. You’re doing what I’d love to do! Especially enjoy seeing pictures of your work, sketchup tutorials and really enjoying the photography blog.
Keep up the good work!
Dave (checking in from the UK)
Joe Zeh says:
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the encouraging feedback. We share a lot of interests. I just posted Part 1 of a new SketchUp tutorial you may be interested in. I also hope to post Part 6 of the photography tutorial tomorrow. So keep coming back.
Joe…
Ralph Barhorst says:
Yesterday I downloaded your Sketchup file for the “Office Table”. It looked like I could easily modify it to use for my Hall Table. I am using the free Version 7 Sketchup.
I ran across a problem with the table legs. I want to move the individual legs so that I can get them correctly spaced for the hall table. All of the legs move when I try to move just one leg.
Do you know how to move the legs individually?
By the way, I love your website. It is one of the best.
Ralph
Joe Zeh says:
Hi Ralph,
First, thanks very much for the kind words. I am glad you like my site.
Did you download the file from my Free Plans page? I just downloaded it and Using SketchUp 7.0 had no problem moving individual legs. Give me a call at my home phone number (see Contact above) and I can talk you through it.
Joe….
Jim Biffle says:
Hi Joe. I want to thank you for your website and especially your SketchUp tutorial. I have some questions about the Bedside Table tutorial. I am using V7 of Sketchup.
1. Were you useing V6 or V7? I ask because I can’t find any xray icon.
2. Also, I don’t see how to perform the sequence of events where you say to select front, ISO, and Zoom Extents to get the Carpenters Rule. Are those in a drop down menu?
3. Finally, looking at the comments at the end, it appears you were convinced by the commentor that you only need to save to Layer 0. Is that try and does the change your Rules? And, did you update the tutorial to so reflect.
Thank you in advance for any response.
Joe Zeh says:
Hi Jim,
When I developed that tutorial I was using ver. 6. I don’t think it will make that much difference thought. The X-Ray tool, ISO, Front and Zoom Extent all exist in version 7. I will send you a jpg in a separate mail attachment to show you where they are. The carpenters rule may not exist in version 7. I will have to check.
The rules, as they are are good. I believe I wrote an email to one other person clarifying them and I will see if I can pass that along to you also.
Thanks for the kind comments.
Joe…..
Jim Biffle says:
Joe, I have another question about the SketchUp tutorial. In the setup before you start drawing you say,
“Click the Shaded tool icon in the render selections. Using the Select tool select the square, right click and Erase.”
Where/what is the ‘render selections’? If I know that I am hopeing it will become apparent what is the ‘Shaded Tool Icon’. Next, when you say “select the square”, where is that, and then is the “Erase” a subfunction of the ’square’, or do you mean to click on the Erase icon?
Sorry to be such a pain, but I know from experience that with computers and software, GIGO is a law.
Joe Zeh says:
Hi Jim,
The tool you are looking for, Shaded, is in the Face Style tool bar. Face Style is more commonly referred to as render or rendering in the 3D graphics and tools industry. I will send a picture in an email.
Erase means use the Eraser tool. The square is a geometry you just drew or is there as a remnant of drawing something. I will have to go back and look at the tutorial to fully explain what I meant.
Keep chugging along.
Joe….
Rick Roberts says:
I want to thank you for your generosity is publishing the Sketchup tutorials on your Web Site.
I just went through the beginning tutorial and have started to “sketch” a tool chest I recently acquired. You tutorials have helped me tremendously and I am having a great time putting the drawing together. Your techniques and “rules” have saved me much frustration and time.
Thanks again,
Rick
Joe says:
Rick,
Thanks for the kind words. I am glad the tutorial helped. After many SketchUp drawings I feel I have become a seasoned SketchUp user but I still follow those rules and they have helped me too.
I am thinking of redoing the tutorial as a video. In your opinion, would that be a better learning vehicle than the written text?
Joe….
Tony says:
Hi,
I just wanted to say thank you for making your plans / sketches availible.
It is very much appreciated.
I am about to start on my first major project, a queen sized beed for my 18 year daughter (Birthday present) and was looking for inspirations and help.
Thank you again.
Tony
Joe says:
Tony,
You are very welcome. Glad to hear you are using your woodworking skills for such a deserving “customer”. I found that not only do my kids appreciate my furniture pieces, but they are likely to stay in the family for many years to come. Good luck with it and pass on some pictures if you would.
Joe….
Todd Bynum says:
Joe,
I am a former finish carpenter and hobbiest furniture maker. I am renewing my interest to the extent that my father an I are contemplating opening our own custom wood working shop. I simply wnated to thank you for the time and detail you ahve put into your website – especially your Google Sketchup tutorials. You willingness to share your knowledge and craft is refreshing and appreciated. I hope I have the honor of getting to know you better.
Joe says:
Hi Todd,
Thanks for the kind words but the honor is actually mine. I get to know a lot of woodworkers through my blog and website. I enjoy two way sharing of project information, stories and opinions on tools. Let me know how the venture with your dad goes and send me some pictures of your work some time. If you have, or create a website, please forward the link. I love browsing other people’s sites. I’ll try to stay in touch.
Joe…..
Nick Dobrowsky says:
I found your Sketchup Tutorials today and must compliment you on how well you have put these together. They are easy to follow and you make it seem so easy to use this amazing program. I also checked out your project gallery and was pretty impressed by the quality and excellent craftsmanship of the work that you do. I can only hope to become half as good someday. I certainly look forward to visiting your site on a more regular basis to help improve my Sketchup drawing skills through your tutorials. Thanks ever so much for your help.
Joe says:
Nick,
You are very kind. Thank you for the feedback. I hope the tutorials work well for you and if you have questions or get stumped feel free to call. I can help from the phone. My contact information can be found on the menu above. Are you a beginner with SketchUp or more advanced? Are you also a woodworker?
Joe…..
Bob Schlowsky says:
Joe
Thank you for spending the time talking about Sketchup for woodworking. I have spent a couple of hours researching the education possibilities and have found that it is an amazing community. I am going to definitely go with Sketchup. I think I will start with the free program, even though the input & output is limited. After I am sure i want to pursue it, about 90% now, I guess I will spring for the pro version.
After looking at your website a bit more, I laughed, both of us out of high tech, both into wood at about the same time. Although I guess my CNC is still all tech, but it does make some very nice sawdust!
Again thanks for your time and for developing those very nice tutorials
Bob
Joe says:
Bob,
I assume you have come across my Beginner’ SketchUp tutorial. If you go through that you will have no problem mastering SketchUp. Have fun and if you need any help just call or write.
Joe….
Kurt says:
On your bed drawings that I really love I was interested in knowing how you were able to do the notch out on the legs? I was able to do I notch like that but once I got to the point where the notch stopped it squared off and didn’t curve up nice like yours!! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Joe says:
Hi Kurt,
I used a 45 degree chamfer bit with guide bearing such as the Freud 40-118. This make a nice curve at the end simulating a poor man’s lamb’s tongue. But the radius of the curve is not equal on both sides, you may want to touch it up with a sharp chisel to make them equal if that is bothersome to you.
Joe…..
Mike Schmitz says:
Hey Joe+1, first of all wow, what a great resource you provide. Very informative and thorough and hitting on all the right points,not surprised coming from your engineering back round.
So here is an idea that I have been pondering while considering a plan for dust collection. Have you ever heard of a design that includes a way of sucking up the dust through a vent on or near the ground? A while back I was at a house that had an in home type vacuum system, where the intake has an auto on function and the duct work is behind the sheetrock. The one I saw had connections all over the house and as soon as you connected the hose, voila instant suction. It also had a vent for collecting debris in the kitchen where you could just open a vent and sweep debris right into it. For a shop it would be nice to have a couple of strategically placed vents with metal grates. One could just sweep piles of dust next to it and open the vent for a second or 2. Again great site and thanks for sharing.
P.S. I hope the recent arctic blast did not make to much chainsaw work for ya.
Joe says:
Hi Mike,
I had an apartment with a vacuum system like that once many years ago. The wall outlets were low voltage switches that were tripped when you plugged in the hose. Not sure it would work too well in the shop though since you have 4″ or larger hoses to deal with not to mention the number of hoses connected at the equipment end.
The sweep vent would be a good idea. I sweep my shop almost every day I use it. I always push the pile to the same area and then scoop it into the trash. However, I don’t think I would want general dirt and trash ending up in my dust collector. My son-in-law uses the saw dust in his gardens.
Joe…..
Bob says:
Hi, the Fine Woodworking Sketchup Blog link on your Sketchup Overview page goes to a ‘page not found’ page on “Fine Cooking’!!
Joe says:
Bob,
Thanks for the catch! I fixed it and it should work now, though you may have to refresh your page to pick up the change in your cache.
Joe….