Kamikaze Tailstock

Illustration: Steve Bjorkman

Kamikaze Tailstock

I often wax finished projects as they spin on my lathe, so it’s natural to wax the lathe’s bed at the same time. Waxing the bed prevents rust and makes the lathe’s banjo and tailstock glide effortlessly.

Unfortunately, after waxing the bed the other day, I gave the lathe’s 70-lb. tailstock a shove to get it out of the way—and watched helplessly as it slid effortlessly down the bed, sailed off the end and crashed to the concrete  floor. Fortunately, only its spindle wheel shattered; nothing else was damaged.  Now the vice-grip pliers that substitute for the broken wheel constantly remind me to handle the tailstock carefully. –Tim Heil

Too Tall

I recently purchased a pocket-hole jig. A book that came with it included plans and instructions for building kitchen cabinets, so I decided that new upper cabinets would be my next project. My shop space at home is limited, so I built the cabinets in my father’s garage shop (he’s an avid woodworker). Over several trips, I built a corner cabinet and two others, one to go on each side. I was so excited, I decided to mount these three cabinets as soon as they were stained and finished.

After removing the old cabinets and installing the new ones, I stepped back to admire my handiwork while my wife began moving the countertop appliances back into place. Unfortunately, none of them would fit under the new cabinets. I’d followed the directions and used the dimensions given in the book, so I couldn’t figure out what had happened—until I measured the cabinets I’d removed. They were 2″ shorter than my new ones. –Jonathan Lipscomb