We offer many small shop services at IsGood Woodworks but we can’t offer everything - here’s some local places that complement our offerings around the Seattle and Pacific Northwest area
Checkout your local libraries and Maker Spaces
King County Libraries at Bellevue and Federal Way
We often get calls or walk-ins from people who ‘just need to make a quick cut’ or ‘drill a quick hole’ and they have heard we rent out shop space. We have to tell them that it’s a member only shop with required training or that we charge a non trivial shop rate to do the work for you.
One of our biggest risks as a rental shop is the liability of our customers and our equipment. It’s not worth us taking the risk that you or the equipment will be damaged resulting in a big claim which cancels or increases our insurance costs. This could end with us closing the business or increasing our rates which would be unpopular with our members.
So to use the tools in the shop we require that you are a member of the shop and have completed our safety training class. Here are details on membership and the class. https://www.isgoodwoodworks.com/start-here/#memberships
Or we can do small jobs for you at our regular shop rate see https://www.isgoodwoodworks.com/start-here/#ShopServices
I understand these options may be excessive for small jobs in which case tools can be rented from your local home depot or many areas have tool libraries that will let you borrow tools for free or a small donation. https://www.google.com/maps/search/tool+library/@47.6738221,-122.5321219,10z?entry=ttu
Size is important when it comes to flattening and smoothing your wood.
IsGood Woodworks has a Grizzly 20” helical head planer and a 18” wide belt sander - so what if you need bigger?
Buy us a new planer/sander - warning they are not cheap ;-) But we will name the tool in your honour!
We have a router sled setup that you can use but its time consuming and messy
There’s a few places around the area that have wider sanders (wide planers are pretty rare but the sanders can flatten with low grit paper) or big CNCs - they charge by the hour.
Noble Woodworks in Ballard has a 52” sander
Makerologist in SODO has a 37” sander and a CNC that can level 5’ x 15’
AK Designs in Tacoma has a 4’x8’ CNC machine
Live Edge Hardwoods in Duvall has a 6’ x 16’ Woddwizz CNC and a 52” planer (and they also sell some amazing slabs)
Earthwise lumber yard in SODO has a 24” sander/planer and a woodmizer for milling large stock
Our address is 4660 E Marginal Way S - but don’t put that address in your GPS or you will end up on one of the busiest road in Seattle with no parking.
Instead head to South Alaska St and Ohio Ave S which will bring you to the South East corner of our building.
Park along the south side, or if you have materials to unload you can temporarily park at the loading dock. Come in through the back door and IsGood Woodworks will be the first door you see when you come in.
When you join IsGood we will take you to every machine and walk you through how it works, the right techniques to use and how to stay safe. We will demonstrate the correct usage and then ask you to repeat the action. We have a video that reinforces this teaching and we encourage members to always ask us or other members whenever they have a question. Some people learn in classes and others learn in 1 on 1 mentoring. The result is the same we consider you certified for that machine for solo use.
But then there is the lathe! Using the lathe isn’t as simple as ‘stand here’, ‘push that button’, ‘hold this here’, and other instructions. It takes a lot more time to learn all of the skills and that is not a skill that I (Andy) have.
But we have a solution! If members take an introductory lathe class at a local school we will consider you certified to use our lather as long as you come down and put the training into practice within 4 weeks of the class.
The places we recommend are:
Pratt Fine Arts Center
Port Townsend School of Woodworking
Woodcraft of Seattle
The lathe classes are often booked out and waitlisted months in advance so plan accordingly
The Seattle Woodturners Association may also be able to help you
I have reached the age when mortality is a real companion. I am seeking to transform IsGood to a non-profit community asset and step back to a smaller role. My vision for my life’s work is for it to become an enduring community asset: With 1) User ownership 2) A core group to handle general oversight, shop floor management, teaching, and office. 3) a good balance between collective and autonomous decision making. 4) Robust opportunities for small groups to imagine and create exciting innovations and improvements.
This idea has been passed around among several of my committed users, and judging from the potential resources and overwhelming interest revealed it should not be hard to achieve. After 40 years in business, 14 of them as a public access shop, I have proven the model, now I need to pass most of it on. All the systems are in place and scalable.
The first step in transitioning the shop to the new vision is to bring together a group who are sincerely interested in the idea to begin developing a healthy design. I have lots of good offers for advice including a pro bono legal work on making the idea water tight.
The biggest obstacle is IsGood does not have enough cash flow (it IS improving) to pay good salaries for a core group. I cannot engineer this change myself because I am battling cancer. I want to leave Seattle with an enduring community owned asset.
If this idea is compelling to you, please join us as a member to get to know us and give us your ideas
When it comes to woodworking, there are two popular tools that are used and often get confused with each other: the jointer and the planer. Although they have different purposes, they both play important roles in preparing wood for shop use. .So, what exactly are they and how do they differ?
Jointer showing how the wood motion is controlled to make a flat face
Planers have the cutter head ABOVE the table. The material is passed through the gap between the table below and the cutter above. The space between is set to a scale with a wheel and produces the set thickness
How do jointers work?
The jointer is used to create smooth flat planes on any face or edge of a rough piece of wood. It does this by guiding the wood across a cutter using two flat surfaces to keep it from tipping out of the plane as it travels
The planer is used to reduce and control the thickness of a piece of wood while also producing a smooth, but not necessarily flat surface.
Whether you are a seasoned pro who works with wood for years or just getting started with DIY woodworking projects at home, sooner or later you will need a wood planer. Wood planers smooth surfaces and control the thickness.
So, how do these two complimentary tools work together? Jointer flattens one face, planer copies that flat face to the opposite side. Both machines are needed for making lumber flat and to a given thickness.
If you're not sure if you want to invest in a planer or jointer, don't worry - you can always rent one! That way, you can try it out and see if it's the right tool for you before making a purchase.
That’s why woodworkers. hobbyists, and professionals alike have chosen as their go-to woodworking shop.
IsGood Woodworks provides a professionally equipped shop for rent, so whether you're just starting out or you're a seasoned pro, we have everything you need to get the job done.
With IsGood Woodworks, you'll be able to get the most out of your woodworking experience. You can also find expert coaching and guidance from expert woodworkers.
This short video walks you through drilling the adjustable shelf pin holes with a shelf pin jig. We have a line boring drill that can drill 14 pin holes at once,. The cabinet does not have the height for 14 holes and it really looks wrong to run the holes right to the bottom of the cabinet. We instead use the line boring drill to make a jig to drill holes individually. Three is the best number for this little cabinet.
Our students are not going to have a line boring drill, but no worries, they have a choice to sign up as woodshop members, or ready made jigs for one hole at a time are available.
You may have searched for a while to find this reliable information about drilling adjustable shelf pin holes.. We write and vet every article to ensure you receive expert advice and guidance. See our full library of woodworking training videos and articles.
Here we provide a blueprint including a video showing how you can assemble a table base frame. You will need a very flat table and dead blow mallets and wood glue. You do NOT need heavy and expensive standard wood clamps.
Our unique and very fast method of assembling a table base joined with dominos or mortise and tenon joints saves you the struggle of using heavy and bulky wood clamps. We deploy a very common and inexpensive packing and shipping material to apply the clamping pressure very quickly.
Many people who read this article may also want to learn our fast and simple way of gluing up an edge joined solid wood table top..
Please check out our structured online learning page or our classes reference for related teaching articles. Everything is on our blog if you just want to look around.
This is IsGood Woodworks own method of quickly edge gluing solid wood to create table tops, door panels, or any other wide solid wood panel you might need. Our edge laminating method produces flat wood panels free of twist with little effort or practice..
To use this method you need:
A very flat table that is paste waxed to keep the glue from sticking
Curved clamping cauls
Glue in a roller bucket (optional)
Clamps.
Quick bullet point recap:
Lay the boards on the table as they will be glued, with the edges running left to right.
Stand all of them up on edge except the one farthest away from you.
Roll ample wood glue onto the up facing edges and drop them back down on the table
Push the edges together to prevent the glue from drying from exposure
Place the cauls on the boards (across the joints), about one every two feet, curved side down
Clamp the cauls down just until they are bent flat to the surface
Clamp across the joints with enough pressure to squeeze out a bead of glue.
Give them at least a half an hour (for yellow glue), then unclamp
For related issues check out our structured online learning page or our classes reference for related teaching articles. Everything is on our blog if you just want to look around.
