Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Gauge Block Storage Rack! 

Have you taken on any home organization projects yourself recently? More shop infrastructure videos here: ru-vid.com/group/PLJtitKU0CAegGi2QUH6ywt4EkjcR0jVam

I love the shop infrastructure builds Something very therapeutic about seeing things need to be put away

Haha those belly slaps & table drummings are the universally accepted way of thinking about a project that you havent really planned too well , great video of someone comfortable on the camera .

Adam, if I may offer a few suggestions... 1/ install a roller shelf for the micrometer box that rolls out far enough to flip the lid safely up while you fiddle. There is enough room still. 2/ Put your small surface plate on top of it. You are officially down the rabbit hole and will eventually acquire a bigger one..... 3/ upgrade the casters to cope with the weight so it moves easily. Love your enthusiasm!

7 minutes of Adam voicing meandering thoughts is just 7 MORE minutes of chill social time we all get to enjoy! Keep it real - don't think twice about cutting that back to have the most concise presentation on the Tested channel. Just my experience enjoying your vids. =)

LOL. my video came up and I saw all the boxes and was like "ooooh. many boxes of things." and then Adam said it, and I felt so damn validated.

I purchased the Diablo 8" stacked Dado Head and I absolutely love it. It has shims to control the width to .001", the OD is matched ground so you a get a very smooth bottom, the teeth have alternate radial grinds almost eliminating binding, and leaves a smooth cut even in thin veneers. Its extremely easy to use just stack the blades to achieve the width you need. The accuracy achievable is better than any set I have ever used and i have been making and woodworking for over 50 years. They are affordable as well at around $100.00.

Forrest 8" dado king saw blade set is a rock solid set. Pretty much anything from forrest. Their blades can also be sent off to be resharpened or repaired.

15:15 “I keep thinking I have a plan, and then I keep changing the plan in my head and I’m not sure I have a plan” 😂 I felt that. I have this conversation with myself every time I build something!

"please realize that...I am a professional amateur" I laughed too Mr Savage. That pretty much sums up my life. You always have some of the greatest quotes.

I’m a Mechanical Quality Engineer working in a precision Machine shop, and just like the previous video, all this is LITERALLY my everyday. STILL, I’d listen to Adam speak about it for hours and hours, as it’s a delight to listen to passionate people. I wish my professors were this excited to teach me how to use these blocks, gauges e such. It was more like: this is a plug gauge, this is a gauge block, this is this and this is that. I wish I can be a better professor myself now, and be as excited and passionate as Adam is!

I live for these shop infrastructure builds

Seeing that box of bigger gauge pins brings me back to nearly four years ago (April of 2019) when I was learning how to do manual machining as part of a local school's machinist's training program. Final three days of class, we had free reign to either do whatever we wanted or to learn how to either bore out a hole (via manual mill) or broach out corners (to make the adjustable part of a tap wrench). We went with the boring project because it was the shortest, so we'd end up with a free day and some change. The boring project was actually simple - drill out a chamfered 5/8ths hole and bore it out to 0.675". Out of the entire 9-person class, I was the only one who didn't end up over-bored. When I went to check my work with the shop's gauge pins, the .676" pin stopped on the hole's chamfer, the .674" fell right thru, and the .675" was beautifully snug. Our instructor actually kept that piece, with a spare .675" pin shoved thru the hole, because I was the first student he'd seen in ten years of teaching that class to get that damn close *on their first attempt*. Thanks for yet another trip down memory lane, Adam.

At 28:32, you have a great taste in music Adam! Also love the shop infrastructure builds a lot, so nice to just sit down and relax while watching you go to work and have fun ❤️

Cabinet maker here. FS tool blades. They are more expensive then Home Depot specials, but they are long lived, readily re-sharpened, and available in the range of sizes to match any application. The quality is unsurpassed. They are an industry standard.

If you're looking for a more affordable Dado set that'll still get the job done, you won't go wrong with the Diablo set from Home Depot that goes for about $100. I've used the professional sets before that cost $200+ and I can say that my Diablo set works just fine for softer wood like plywood and pine. I'm sure it probably doesn't have quite the longevity that a more expensive set would in an environment of constant use like a cabinet shop, but it looks to me like it's perfect for your shop. It'll do exactly what you need it to.

Yes, I'm 54 this year and played at being a professional Harley Mechanic for about 20 years of that. Its been quite a while ago since those days and I always come across some specialty Harley tool I bought some 25 years ago and have no reflection of when I obtained said tool. Or sometimes much less what it was originally for! HA!!!

I think getting the "First" of anything is always hardest. You know you you will want something more specific in the future that you may spend more money on, but you want to start with something that will teach you what you want from the "thing" first, be able to take a little abuse from a novice, and not break the bank. That's actually why I don't mind "not great" stuff if it works and it wasn't too expensive. If it can't do something or I get frustrated with it then when I'm ready to upgrade I'll know what to pay attention to and have a real understanding of why I should value it

When are you going to make an updated google maps walk through of your shop. Just looking at it on video is a pleasure, but being wheeled around it and being able to look at everything would be awesome. It feels like something between a movie set for an eccentric maker, and a museum exhibit of a prop collectors shop.

At around 10:00, was anyone else terrified that the stack of boxes would fall and those beautiful ceramic gauge blocks get damaged?

Shop infrastructure builds and the machining videos are gold to me, I watch them over and over, it’s like COMFORT FOOD for the eyes

One of my next tattoos might be my new favorite Adam Savage quote. “The plan keeps changing in my head, and now I don’t know if I have a plan”

pretty happy with my 10" Forrest dado king set. Magnetic shims with them come in handy.

Cleaning time-lapse music was in perfect sync with the Swiss Army knife display in the background. Well done.

Considering you have the space, put some slider tracks under the box with a thin sheet of plywood and two cast iron weights in the space between the box base and the roller base to offset when you pull the box out on the sliders. That way, you can open the box "in situ" without having to cart it out every time.

One thing to keep in mind - for some of those gage pins/fixtures you need to make sure you're at the right TEMPERATURE as well, especially when you're looking at the 0.001" increments.

As a machinist, I am so so jealous of those ceramic gauge blocks!

Dado shims can get messed up when they slide down into the arbor threads when tightening. To remedy, either get magnetic ones or touch with a little oil so they stick to the chippers.

Wow, I can’t get over the fact you stacked all your gauge pins and blocks! And with the Cera Blocks on top of your smallest set!!! I… Could… NEVER!!!

Any sharp dado set can make clean cuts when sharp. The key to blow-out-free cuts is a zero clearance insert. And if you're building one, build a stack, and use them as consumables to get you perfect cuts when you need them. The trick is that sometimes you really do only need to widen a slot by a .1 or .2 mm increments, so shims are inevitable, which is the biggest "pain" of dado sets.

Getting a new tool always makes me super happy, and the only thing that comes close is building a home for it. I absolutely love it when everything has a place, organization is so satisfying. Like tool sets with nice foam or wood cutouts where everything fits perfectly.

I can recommend the Ridge Carbide 8" Super Dado. It is not "cheap", but is reasonably priced for a quality, buy once for a lifetime of use product.

I love that camera angle at 12:16, the lowkey comedy of it hits the spot.

I love to watch your thought process when you are measuring for your plan. I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in pausing and thinking, rethinking, pausing, talking to myself, then remeasuring...

Favorite part was the belly drumming while planning. Glad I’m not the only one who works on paradiddles and triplets while formulating a plan.

Just a suggestion. you might want to but the Mic box on a pullout so that it easier get to. Boxed with handles on the top can be a challenge to retrieve in a tight fitting cabinet,. for the simple reason that they tend to weigh a fair bit and the handle is not accusable. Considering that it is already built, you might want to put it on a tray with a handle so that you can pull the tray out until the handle is exposed. Maybe 1/4 Baltic birth. Just FYI

I love the random staple gun sounds on top of the high speed footage. No need to wait until there is actually stapling going on, just throw it in there randomly. It'll hit the mark occasionally...haha

One tip for combating rust if you take medicine or know anyone who does you can gather the small dessicant packs and put them wherever needed I put them in my gage blocks angle blocks parallels v blocks live center etc pretty much anything bare metal has 3 or more dessicant packs also if you need more or bigger packs you can make your own you can buy raw dessicant beads at most auto paint stores and you can make pouches with pantyhose or any lil mesh I use them for machine tools I also put some in my welding wire storage as well as lil containers full in the wire door on my mig machines 👍👍👍

Adam, I started off with a common Diablo Dado Stack (about $90). The chippers had 2 teeth on them. It produced a nice dado (very little tear-out) but the bottom of the dado cut was usually anything but flat. Most of the time the worked well and I still have that set but I only use it when the dado bottom doesn't matter and I want to save my "better" set. I have added the Freud 8" x 24T Super Dado. Not only does the chippers have 4 teeth but it produces a fairly flat bottom and the Left and Right blade rarely produce tear-out in plywood. If the veneer plys are super thin or poorly glued I might get a small amount of tear-out but if I slow down the tear-out is at most minimal and rare. The Freud Super Dado is about $170. Keep up the good work. I love your channel.

When those gauge pins glide down the hole only slowed by air moving aside you know it's perfect. Nice shelf Adam. Perfect solution!

Assuming that all of your gage set boxes retain their contents securely no matter what the orientation as long as their lids remain closed, you could simply store them on edge. You would need something like a U-shaped book rack as wide as necessary to accommodate all the sets. In essence the sets are stacked as before, only horizontally instead of vertically. As long as you withdraw only one or two sets at a time, the remaining sets will continue to stand. This saves having to build a separate shelf for each set. How many of we peons would like to be saddled with the horrible burden of figuring out how to store all of our gage sets? :-)

I love watching these types of infrastructure videos as a primer to get me "In the mood" when I need to embark on one or a simple cleaning/reorganizing of my humble home hobby room.

Diablo has served me well. I've had a set for years, and for the amount of use it gets (a few times a year), it's always sharp, has a nice case and the visual guide it came with helps easily to get the stack size you need. It's easy to use and is always sharp!

It’s a kinda a old fashioned tool now but a wobble blade is my preferred way of making Dados. One blade can cut many different widths! If you want a loose fit, you got it and if you want a very tight fit you got it too, no need for placing spacers in between stacked blades!

The Fraud Dado set, is the best Dado set i have ever used on my table saw. It's worth every penny !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Commanding your Alexa to play, activated mine and I'm currently listening to "Every Tool's a Hammer" by Adam Savage, narrated by Adam Savage. I was amused by watching you putting me in a situation where I had to listen to you 😂

These are my favorite type of one day builds!!! Can't wait to watch.

I wouldnt worry so much about Dado set brand - get an 8" set with 24 teeth on the scoring blades and 4 or more teeth on the chippers. And I highly recommend magnetic shims. The 12 tooth scoring / 2 tooth chippers really dont cut as well. I recommend Ridge, Forrest, CMT, and Freud, in that order.

The ridge carbide dado stack is amazing, it'd last a lifetime for your purposes. Easy to set up and has a high ceiling for pro joinery if you ever find yourself getting into that. Can be sent in and sharpened many times because of the large amount of carbide but you can put a ton of mileage on it before that's necessary.

The thing I love about Adam is that he cares about and for his tools. Many people are open to damaging their tools because they're supposed to be rugged, but when you genuinely care for them, they last so much longer, and it really shows here.

These shop infrastructure builds reminds me of New Yankee Workshop so much! Love these types of videos. Please keep them coming!!!

*i love designing boxes for my various art supplies...i aim for a tactile aesthetic and the boxes looking very old but well maintained for decades but above all functionality and ease of use and practicality are of paramount importance*

I especially liked seeing The Cave from different angles than before! It’s a chance to get ideas on organization, as well as appreciate how he has put so much in a small space. The early time lapse showing from the bench to the table saw worked.

I have to say I do really enjoy these build videos. The one thing I miss is the ** TABLE SAW NOISES ** during the Timelapse sequences.

Ah, at last, like a divine switch was thrown. What was once always referred to (incorrectly) as Arctic Birch Plywood is now thankfully Baltic Birch Plywood….the Baltic states appreciate it, and OCD subscribers too!

what I'd give to be a day in this shop just to see Adam go at his business. Awesome video

My recommendation is to use a router with a set of plywood dado bits. The bits are dimensioned for actual plywood thickness (-1/64” nominal size), so you’ll get tight dados. Based on my experience it’s easy to set up dados with a router and straight edge, and there’s none of that fussing around with a dado stack. Plus you can readily sharpen router bits. Lee Valley Tools sells them for $13-$22 for common plywood thicknesses.

One thing I found helps with dado's is to score the lines to mitigate tear out. Another tip is to cut your side panels apart after you cut the dado's.

I use a zero clearance insert when using my dado set. Supports the fibres when the blade is exciting the cut.

You could use a couple of side handles to drag that around.

I'm a quality assurance inspector, I'm jealous of your collection.

Dude. Thank you. I got a project for you: New shop chair. I think a lot of us would like to see what you think. Go crazy. Stay safe.

Another option or two for the dado set would as follows: 1. I like the set from the same manufacture you have for you bandsaw. (Dewault) 2. Besides cutting a dado, you could use a hand-router... or an electric router and some clamps with wood as a fence. 3. you can build up the routes for the shelves, by using 2 sizes of plywood and glueing / Screwing a panel to the sides, rather than cutting the channels out. 4. you can have the horizontal be longer and have angles in the corners instead of sides... many options here. vertical members don't have be a the sides, they can be in the middle sometimes, etc. just a few options off the top of my head.

I am IT Engineering who woodworks on the weekends. I find the Freud 6" x 10T Pro Dado Set (SD206) both easy and extremely affordable at under $70

Adam, Try the 8 1/4 Dato King. It come with the standard 1/8 inch chippers as well as a 1/16, and 3/32 chipper which eliminates the need for most shims. The set is not cheap, but it only hurts once, and you will love it for years. I have had mine since 1994, and I've yet to have it sharpened.

HOLY COW, just looked up the cost of the ceramic gauge blocks Adam has, 10K plus, AWSOME he said he was gifted them from the manufacturer

Ridge Carbide and Forrest dados are top of the line but also rather expensive. Freud Industrial is extremely close in quality and significantly less expensive. Freud is the parent company of Diablo and the Diablo blades are more of the high end consumer line. Any dado stacks from these companies will easily perform great and they all have excellent sharpening services. Great build for the storage rack, you could probably use full extension drawer slides to support a sliding shelf for the micrometer box so you can slide it out easily and possibly open the lid without having to move it.

I’m so grateful I live in a country with metrical system

Love you dude, hope to see you making things for another 100 years. Love, respect from Egypt 🖖🏻

Freud Dado sets make a very clean cut

Fun to watch as always. A couple of undermount drawer slides on a flat platform would make your outside micrometer box much easier to get out.

your workshop makes me feel so much better about my living room

Nice to see baltic birch appreciated.

Don't be sorry for your rants / monologues! They are a big part of why I love to watch (or listen!).

Thank you for being so darn cool

I too, on occasion, will play the belly bongos when deep in thought. Lol. Thanks Adam.

For the Dato parts, i'd go over Bob's channel on I Like To Make Stuff, i have a memory he did an entire Bits video on table saws including all the different blades. That might help you out complete your collection!

I have the Oshlun 8 inch 42 tooth dado set and have been happy with it. It makes score marks on the outsides of the cut to help prevent tear-out, so they don't make a perfectly flat dado, but I have never had any chip out in the 5 months I have had it. So for projects like cabinets and such it works great because those score marks are hidden. If you were going to do more visible joinery, then this might not be the best set. They do also have a flat tooth set, but I don't have any experience with it.

Adam when it comes to blades you can't go wrong with Forrest blades. I finally got myself the "Dado King" Dado Set and it will be the last I buy. Has carbide blades to help with splintering of plywood and melamine. Comes in a nice case with magnetic and plastic shims that allow you to get with in a 1/32". Made in the USA!!! You will not be disappointed.

Only one direction left for more space: Up! You should get one of those overhead garment conveyor systems like dry cleaners use, only hang tools off it :-).

Would love to see a series of Adam rearranging his shop and changing things up a bit, I think I'd find this really fun :)

I would love to watch a build through a helmet cam mounted to your face. Seeing inside all the drawers as you run around would be really great. I know a lot of people hate helmet cam views but its worth it.

Thats a Savage Monolith of measurements. Good work!

The Freud dial adjust dado is affordable and easy to adjust by using a fine adjustment on the blade without shims.

When you asked Alexa to play, mine started this completely random but awesome selection of music. Thanks for that I've saved it to my favorites:)

The music in the cleaning montage completely synced up with the Swiss army knifes movements. Awesome.

Shop infrastructure videos are my favourite 👍🏻

I love watching one day builds 🙂

Have been very happy with my 8" Freud dado set. Good set of shims with clear marks. Organizer/storage caddy is solid and easy to stow.

Freud SD508. super 8 inch. People rarely buy 10 inch dado sets. For $200 the super 8 is great for plywood. It’s 24 tooth. For more money get the Forrest 8 inch dado. The plastic box it comes it should be replaced ASAP. Highly recommend building the Woodsmith dado caddy. It’s perfect for throwing around in shop.

Just cleaned out an old Lufkin mic my uncle gave me. 3 in 1 oil is what we use at work

I love your shop infrastructure builds because they feed my inner need to be organized and also make my OCD side happy.

...i thought the paradise doesnt exists but now im watching it with my own eyes !! 🙂🙂🙃🙃

I actually own those two smaller pin sets (look like they may even be the exact ones). I mainly got into them when building my own 1911 pistol from scratch. Worth every penny!

I think you would enjoy a festool domino machine for future builds like this as an alternative to cutting the housings as well as many other joining applications

Chasing zeros is my favorite band

Diablo and Ridge both put out fairly decent dado stacks, ranging up to three quarters of an inch, and they have carbide teeth on them that you can get sharpened a few times. Ridge might be slightly more expensive but they've also lasted longer (at least for me).

I love shop infrastructure

Hey Adam. I purchased the diablo 8" stacked dado set about a year and a half ago. I personally love it. All the dados I've cut with it have been perfect in one pass. I believe that it can cut dados from 1/8th" to 7/8th". They have remained sharp and work as good as the day I purchased them. I am a amateur woodworker and have only been making things for the past 2 years. That being said I've cut a lot of dados with this set and it has held up very nice.

I'm not sure if I was just over complicating it, but most of the way through I was expecting drawer slides allowing you to pull a specific thing out in place