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 Had a good day in the shop if being confused with what was at the top of the A list. I wanted to work on the bottom stretcher details and that quickly went south on me. I think I spent twice as much time scratching the bald spot then I did doing anything constructive. By the time I killed the lights I was looking forward to heading topside. I think I figured out how this puzzle of a console table will go together.

step one

I got the bottom aprons dry fitted so I could mark the inside/outside and the top/bottom. I had to cut a dado on the inside face for the bottom cross stretcher.

yikes

This sucks pond scum but at least I found it before I tried to glue it up. The left apron has the inset but the right one doesn't.

found it.

The two need to be shifted over to the right and up. When I flipped this to drill the holes on the opposite end I turned it the wrong way and flipped the reference face 180. Initially I sawed off a new board to get two new aprons before I realized I could fill in the errant holes and drill new ones. DUH.

let the fun begin

This apron thing befuddled me and made feel like I had the IQ of box of pointy rocks. I played with trying to get the aprons dry fitted but I was ending up with one of them not having the inset like the top left one. I drilled new holes, glued dowels in them, and tried again. I'd like to say I got it but it took me over an hour before that light came on.

nice feeling

Both the long and short aprons have the correct inset. I took a short break and then I double, triple checked it again. 

labeled

Used a sharpie to labeled the aprons to the legs. The bottom aprons are easy as they only go in one way.

stretcher dado

 I will glue and use Miller Dowels to secure the stretcher to the dadoes.

sneak peek

I still have to do the cross stretchers. The plan is to glue the bottom shelf to the long and cross stretchers. 

didn't make it

Got the labels aligned and where did the inset disappear to? Went into panic mode and initially I couldn't get it aligned. Good thing I couldn't find my 3lb sledge hammer.

happy face on

I had the labels aligned but I hadn't checked the leg orientation. Once I did them first, the top aprons lined up perfectly. It wasn't 1500 but after all this aggravation I killed the lights. I left this as is and I'll come back to it in the AM.

I had wanted to get the short ends of the table glued and cooking but that didn't happen. But now that I think I won't bury my head in arse again I should get the short ends done then. Fingers crossed on that happening.

accidental woodworker 

Shellac has been in use for over 5,000 years, although not all of its uses were for wood finishes. It comes from a lac bug found on trees. Approximately 300,000 lac insects are involved in producing one kilogram of shellac, although the exact number varies. A significant number of insects are lost during harvesting, which raises an interesting question about the price of this natural resin.

Lucky for us, there are breeding reserves. Or is it lucky for us? These bugs have been producing resin for millions of years, but we’ve only been harvesting it for around 5,000 years. The farms established for breeding provide managed conditions for the insects and their host trees, ensuring a continuous supply of resin.

My favourite choice of finish is shellac. It dries fast, meaning you can apply multiple coats in a single day. It’s stable, doesn’t yellow in the same way many other finishes do, and, depending on the grade, can be exceptionally clear. It’s extremely attractive and has a proven history of lasting on furniture for hundreds of years. Try and get that from poly.

I once made a small box and coated it with so-called Antique Oil from Minwax. It’s an oil-based wiping finish containing resins and solvents. Two years later, the finish appeared to have vanished, and the box was still sitting untouched in my parents vitrine. You cannot beat shellac, no matter how hard they try to sell you their products.

Mixing shellac

Mixing shellac is really quite simple. You just need to know what ratio you’re after.

If you’re using spray equipment, a 3-pound cut is usually recommended by my reseller. If you’re going to brush it on, a 2-pound cut will work, but it can leave a mess. That’s the mess that turns many people away from shellac.

I like to make a 1-pound cut because it’s more forgiving. It’s a lot easier to apply than a 2-pound cut because the coats are thinner. When you apply it with a rubber, there’s no residue, but when you apply it with a brush, depending on how much shellac is on your brush, it may or may not leave a residue. Whatever it leaves behind is tiny next to a 2-pound cut

I always make about 200ml of shellac. That’s enough for one bookshelf, believe it or not. For a clock, half that amount and sometimes even less.

I like to make a 1-pound cut. I use a coffee grinder to help speed up the dissolving process. I use approximately 24g of shellac flakes to 200ml of alcohol. I also use a laboratory mixer that continuously stirs the shellac. Within two hours it’s ready for use, although I usually mix it at the end of the day and leave it overnight.

This particular model is strong enough to mix up to a 1.5-pound cut but struggles at 2 pounds and refuses to stir anything higher. If you make shellac as often as I do, then this machine is a must-have in any workshop.

Choosing the right alcohol

This is very important if you want the cleanest mix.

Denatured alcohol is what is commonly available for this purpose. Denatured alcohol is ethanol that has been mixed with toxic or foul-tasting chemicals to make it poisonous and undrinkable, thereby exempting it from the heavy taxes imposed on beverage alcohol. This is what you should be using, provided it is sufficiently pure and suitable for dissolving shellac.

Pure ethanol, without denaturing additives, is the cleanest option. If you can get your hands on that, it’s an excellent choice.

Isopropyl alcohol will dissolve your shellac, but it evaporates more slowly than ethanol, and I will never use it again.

You cannot use mineral spirits, turps or ordinary lacquer thinner. The alcohol must be close to pure, preferably 95% or higher, with very little water preferrably none at all.

I always put the lid back on quickly. I try not to let moisture from the air contaminate the alcohol, so never leave it sitting on your bench with the cap off. Water contamination can cause problems with shellac, particularly when there is too much of it. It can make the mixture cloudy and interfere with the finish, leaving you with a gummy mess that won’t dry or cure properly on your wood.

Application tools

Squirrel-hair brushes are particularly good for applying shellac because they’re exceptionally soft and hold a surprising amount of finish. Their fine, tapered hairs release the shellac evenly, allowing you to lay down a smooth coat with very few brush marks. Of course, this also depends on knowing how much finish to load onto your brush and how to apply it. A good brush won’t compensate for poor technique.

Tools for Working Wood sells these Gramercy brushes. This is great for people living in the US, but it sucks for those of us outside the US because of the poor conversion rate and the high postage costs. If it weren’t for that, I’d buy the other two they have. I already own one.

Then there’s the goat-hair brush that Paul Sellers recommended, and it’s my most-used brush. It’s my go-to because it’s easier for me to clean and hang up to dry in the workshop. It’s easier to clean simply because it’s so small.

I only use the Gramercy brush for larger items like the bookcase.

It’s midnight now, and I think I will finish the article here. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something along the way.

My next article, accompanied by YouTube videos, will be about making a magic box for my granddaughter.

So stay tuned for that, and please leave your comments below. I like reading them.

 

it has been a while

I had to stop and think about this table again. It has been too long since I initially figured out the dimensions. I had to stop and try to remember exactly how I had done it. The problem area is the bottom shelf is shorter on the length then the top shelf. Finally got it - the ends of the bottom shelf sit on the bottom stretchers and over hang them a wee bit.

got it

The top stretchers ended up 23 1/2"  with the legs being inset two inches from the ends.

slow going

The legs and the top stretchers are sawn to finished length. The bottom shelf stretcher I left as is and I'll get its finished length after the table is glued and cooked.

wake up call

Two faces on each of these four legs were rough sawn and I had to smooth them. Started with the 5 1/2 and got short of breath before finishing the first face. I had to stop for a few before resuming but I was ok after that. I didn't lose my breath to where I had to stop. I was able to work through and get all 8 faces done.

drilling the dowels

One good thing about getting short of breath is that it makes me go slow. That behooves me because I have a habit of brain farting on this. I usually drill a set referenced off the wrong face.

checking

I managed to get all the rail dowels drilled correctly.

glad I had this

This is a test leg I drilled to check for the dowel depth and how much I would have to cut the dowels. The important thing was it gave me the reference faces for setting the jig.

nailed it

Got all the dowel holes drilled and the next batter was fitting everything together to check to see if I got it right.

ugh

Drilled the first set of holes (on the right) on the wrong side of the layout line. I drilled the the 2nd set (on the left) off the wrong reference face. Filled in both sets and drilled the 3rd set on the correct side of the layout line and off the correct reference face.

hmm.......

I like it. It is small, delicate and airy looking IMO.

oops

I didn't think the bottom shelf all the way through. I could cut the width but I'm not sure that would look good. I will deal with that later. I have already have a couple of ideas pin balling around in the brain bucket.

hmm......

The holes are a frog hair over 3/4" and the dowels are dead on 1 1/2" long but the rails won't seat fully on the legs. I was going to kill the lights here but did one more task.

hand chamfer

I like to chamfer the dowel holes because it leaves a small place for any glued squeeze out to fill in.

I lied

Still didn't kill the lights because I sanded one face of the legs to remove planer ridges. No problems and the 120 grit easily removed them and smoothed the leg. I was going to stop after one leg but did the other 3. I wasn't sure I would remember which one I had done so I spent an extra 15 minutes completing the other three. Then I killed the lights. Overall a pretty good output considering I didn't get any AM time which I spent running errands.

accidental woodworker

 The saga of the DeWalt belt change and resuming the console table build again is restarted.  I got the planer back today and got the legs planed. The tech told me he almost gave up trying the the belt I gave him. I got two of them off eBay for $12 whereas an OEM belt was over $90 with S/H. I'll keep that in mind if and when I shred another belt.

step one

Before I could use it I had to install the chain and the sprocket. It was an easy do with zero headaches to deal with.

operational again

No problems making a pile of shavings. It was tiring setting up to do it though. My shortness of breath has increased a lot lately. I had to stop and rest to catch my breath several times but I got it done, albeit slowly.

done

Four legs planed square but a wee bit thinner than I was shooting for. I ended up a 32nd under 1 3/16". Still doable and the legs have the slender look I am shooting for.

stickered

I was worn out putting everything away and cleaning up the shavings in the driveway. I am going to let these legs relax until the AM. After I got them on the saw I was going to kill the lights for the day. 

made a detour

Decided to flush the 2nd box bottom before I killed the lights.

hmm.......

I was careful this time and I didn't get any plane tracks on the box sides. I was able to flush plane and sand all four sides without passing out. I got a wee bit winded but I didn't have to stop to rest. I coughed a little but no hissy fit spasms.

interesting

Not what I expected to see. The square indicated 90 at every corner. I thought after flushing the bottom it would have been off.

surprise #2

Both diagonals read 9 1/16". Working wood still holds surprises that make me smile.

box #1

This is the only glamour shot for this box. The Howard's feed 'n wax softened the brush marks and knocked some of the sheen down. I think this going out to Indiana to my sister Donna for her birthday on Nov 12th.

hmm.......

Surprise #3 - I got four legs out of each of the two boards. Thinking now that I will use these four - they are a few frog hairs thicker than 1 1/4" square. I'll have to plane two faces that have saw marks on them. I'm not going through the ordeal of running them through the lunchbox planer.

they fit

I have not quite a 1/2" on either side of the legs. I can saw the apron length shorter if I don't like the wiggle room. I'll start on this in the AM.

I strained my left arm somehow. When I move it I get a pain on my forearm by the elbow. I must have strained it hauling the planer out of the car and back into the house. At least I wasn't coughing.

accidental woodworker

In the above videos, expert hand tool woodworker, Will Myers shows how to connect a traditional wooden vise screw to the leg of a Moravian workbench! The above YouTube video is an excerpt from

A machine will more readily move rather than cut a piece wood, given the chance. If you are holding the piece of wood with your hand, the hand may go with the wood, maybe to the cutting blade.   Compare the action of a coarse rasp with a machine. Consider the work piece just sitting […]

 

came yesterday Joe

Your hammer looks too good to use but it will get used as needed.

the proud corner

This box isn't as sturdy as the first one I just finished. I don't think it could stand the stress of it being planed so the plan was to flush the tails/pins with a chisel and then carefully sand the outside with 120 grit.

spoiler alert upcoming

When I filled the empty screw hole with super glue I thought about it getting into the scissor part of the hinge. Would it get into and freeze the hinge? Well boys and girls after dinner last night I went to the shop to check on that.

it closed.......

...and then it opened - no binding at all. Zero indication that the super glue got into the internals of the hinge. Happy with how this came out.

flushed the tails/pins first

I used one of my big boy chisels because it was sharp. I didn't want to sharpen one of my bench chisels to do this.

checked for square

The inside of the box was square at every corner, each way, when I checked it with the square. The inside diagonals still were dead nuts too. I didn't bother checking the outside diagonals.

almost too small

The #3 was barely long enough to make the run around the box. Got it done but I switched to the 5 1/2 to finish flushing the top.

checking for twist

The bottom twist removed quickly but the top took a lot of dance steps. The first two runs I made it in the opposite direction of the high corners making the twist worse.

change of plans

I hadn't planned to use this as a box. It was done mostly to see how doing small dovetails would work out. Changed my mind on that and the first regret was not cleaning up the pencils marks on the inside of the box. The box will be getting a bottom and a lid.

hmm.......

This is the off cut from the first lid and I had thought about using as the bottom. It is about an 1/8" thick but the width bowed and I didn't think it would work. I flexed it one more time and it split in two. Glad I hadn't used it now. It would have been nice to have the box be all solid wood.

one more hmm.......

This is the off cut from the 2nd lid and I thought about gluing the two off cuts together to make it thicker and stiffer. If I had one more off cut I could have made it this into a plywood.

bottom glued and cooking

I went looking around the shop for pine scraps to make the lid from and nada. The 3 pieces I found were all long enough but short on the width. I do have a lot of poplar that I could use.

The tool repair guy called and said the planer was ready for pickup. This works in my favor because there was nothing else on the horizon for the next project.

sigh

The brad point poked through on this hinge mortise. I only noticed it when I wiped it with steel wool and Howard's feed 'n wax. I'll have to think on how and what to do about it overnight.

upgrade time

I had upgraded the desk computer two days ago and the shop computer is getting the same one now. Upgrading Linux Ubuntu is so much easier and quicker then any Windows OS I have ever upgraded. The only annoying changes made with either upgrade were the user permissions. I had to change them so I could long in without using my password.

The Rx I got is working. I slept last night like I was dead, it was a blissful night of sleeping without trying to hack up my lungs. During the day I hardly coughed at all and I had zero 10 minute coughing spasms. The only time I coughed was when I exerted myself (walking). Even then it was just a few polite coughs. It is a wonderful feeling not coughing continually all day long and night. The doc gave me a 3 bottles of cough suppression meds. I hope that I don't have to renew it.

Didn't kill the lights yet here. The upgrade in the shop was over WiFi and the connection is slow. I will wandered down twice 15 minutes apart until it was finally completed.

accidental woodworker

We take construction seriously in this city
Happy Halloween!
A few years ago I wrote about the Halloween decorations on the Upper East Side. But in the neighborhood for which the Gramercy Tools brand and logo is named, Gramercy Park, some people also put in a fair amount of effort.

Part two of the construction display

The Gramercy neighborhood is loosely 14th Street to 23rd Streets, Park Avenue South to First Avenue. The area in the teens and twenties was first built just before the Civil War. Small houses with stores lined the avenues and the side streets were full of townhouses. Once upon a time the Third Avenue Elevated train ran along Third Avenue and blocked light and air and consequently froze development. When the El was torn down in the 1950s ("farewell, 'El,' a long, long, long farewell," said the New York Times), a huge expansion of large apartment buildings began on the avenue. The side streets came to include large buildings but also tenement buildings and many wonderful mid 19th century townhouses (that now command premium prices).

Many homeowners and landlords put up either "Autumn" displays Or full blown Halloween experiences. Here are a few:

Carving a pumpkins takes skill

All three carvings are on 18th street between 2nd and 3rd Ave
Stuyvesant Town has a huge fall display
A simple fall display
One of my favorites
Who knew gourds and pumpkins came in such an assortment of colors
A frightful freight entrance of a modern apartment building. Simple - but it shows imagination. "Sir - can you send someone up - there are giant spiders creeping up to get me"
This takes real effort to do well - I'm impressed
The most elegant of displays - inside a ground floor living room window

before the teeny dovetails

The finish is done and the Soss hinges are getting secured. There is a 'space' on both sides of the hinges for a screw and I'm only using one screw on the box and one on the lid.
 

hmm......

Hindsight sucks pond scum. It would appear it would have behooved me to screw the lid first and then the box. I stopped here and went to the VA to get the Rx pulmonary put in this friday past. This got done before I started the next box.

The trip from the front door of the VA to the pharmacy was not a walk in the park. I got as short of breath as I did on Saturday. But this time I had to do with traffic and for the first time I wasn't looking to walk around slow moving vets, because I was one of them too. On the way out I had coughing fit and had to sit for a half an hour to catch my breath and calm down. I was hoping then the pills were magical and would kick in real quick.

yikes

With the screws in the lid, it became hinge bound. The screws were causing it so I removed the ones in the lid.

no longer hinge bound

The hinges were a snug fit in the mortise holes but I didn't have a warm and fuzzy that a year from now that would stay the same.

worth a shot

I filled up the hole that had the screw and wicked in some all the way around the top. Fingers crossed that this will hold.

sizing the box

Initially I sized the the box about 2 to 1. The long sides are 7 1/4" and the short ends were 3 1/2". I didn't like the look of the box based on those measurements. It looked squished up and too small. I like the look of the short ends here. They are 6" which makes the box still a rectangle. I think the difference of the side thicknesses is helping to balance out the look of the box.

hmm.........

That is an awfully thin baseline. The tails are going on the long sides and the pins will be on the short ends.

fancy dovetail saw

This is the saw I bought for doing Kumiko. It was expensive and the teeth are finer then my bench japanese dozuki saws. It should do a good job on the small tails and pins.

half pins

No knife walls for the half pins. I sawed directly on the baselines. No hiccups so far and I was expecting the smallness to go south on me somehow.

tails done

First half of the dovetailing without any problems. The tails felt solid and not flimsy. Clean up was easy and the middle pin socket chopped out in nothing flat.

it worked

The depth of the saw cut wasn't that deep and I couldn't see the baselines. I put blue tape on the baselines to give something better visually to guide me.

pins done

Chopping the pin sockets surprised me. First I didn't have to chop from both sides on 6 of them. The pin socket waste popped off on those 6 from one side. They were all clean with very little bits and pieces to remove from the corners.

off the saw

All the corners went together off the saw. I didn't have to trim any of the pins to get the tails to seat. I was concerned about the thinness of the pins but I no had problems with them.

happy face on

All the tails/pins closed up without gaps with hand pressure. I couldn't get the diagonals on the outside to agree but no headaches with the inside diagonals agreeing dead nuts.

hmm.......

I think the outside diagonals were toast because the pins/tails on one corner were proud. There was no way I was getting those diagonals to read square. 

glued and cooking

No clamps needed but I did have to tap down on a couple of pins to fully seat them. I'll let this cook until the AM and hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow.

I didn't run into any hiccups, speed bumps, or headaches doing these tails/pins. In the end they were done just like any of the 'bigger' dovetails I normally do. This only thing I did was to size the tails to my chisels. I was going for 3/8" but the middle one came out smaller than 3/8". A small annoyance at best. 

accidental woodworker

The folks at Lost Art Press have confirmed the Roubo On Marquetry, the volume that got it all started, is now at the printer for a second production run.  The expected availability is around Christmas, after having been sold out for the past year.  Just in time, if you get my drift.

The book is the result of the answer to a simple question I asked of Michele Pagan: “Could you translate a little of this?”  It contains the wisdom related to my great interests, marquetry and finishing.

I’ve got a smile on my face.

We’re inching closer and closer to the end of the build. In this part of the build, I’m going to make the arched panels. These panels will have simple carvings and cut-outs along the bottom edge. They serve no purpose other than decoration, but to keep the bookcase historically accurate, I had to include them. I do think they add beauty and character to the bookcase.

The first step is to edge-glue two boards together to get a wider board.

Now, I know they’re not identical, not even similar to each other. None of that is a problem because they’ll be stained, and the difference between the two won’t even be noticed.

I only planed one side because the other will never be seen. This was common practice 200 years ago. Cabinetmakers concentrated their efforts on the surfaces that would be visible, leaving hidden surfaces less refined. I suspect the change towards preparing both faces came gradually as machinery made the work quicker and easier.

I think preparing a surface that will never be seen is a ridiculous waste of time. Why spend time preparing something that serves no purpose other than to be hidden? Before machinery, that extra work would have taken time and effort that could have been put to better use elsewhere. Today, with modern machinery, preparing both faces takes considerably less effort, so I can understand why the practice has changed. But when you’re working by hand, I see no reason to do unnecessary work simply because that’s what people expect.

When I need to carve something, I always draw it on the computer and print out the drawing. I then glue the printout onto the wood and carve from there. Some people trace their drawings onto the wood, but I find that doubling up on the work. You’ve drawn it once, so why draw it again?

I understand that some people believe the paper will dull their chisels more quickly, but so will the wood itself. Others might be concerned about removing the glued paper afterwards. I see plenty of people scraping it off, and I don’t understand why they go to all that trouble when turps will reactivate the glue, allowing the paper to be wiped off easily. It also doesn’t affect the finish.

Now I repeat the same on the other three panels.

This is the other side of that panel, and as you can see, the surface isn’t prepared at all.

The next step is to attach the panel to the inside of the bookcase. I was going to use brads to nail it onto the ½ inch lip of the strips that I attached earlier in the project. It was too risky to nail it down without possibly breaking the glue bond and breaking off the strips, so I just glued it in place and it worked perfectly. This wood is hoop pine from the 1930s. Hoop pine straight out of a kiln is a little hard to work with using hand tools, and it certainly gives your body a workout. But when you cut rabbets and other joinery it’s so crisp that not even a machine can repeat it. Once it properly acclimates and settles at around 8%, it planes easily and cuts easily, but you do lose that crispness. I haven’t come across a woodworker who makes anything from hoop pine, and nor have I ever come across a timber yard that doesn’t try and talk you out of buying it. Timber yards all try and slander the wood, but they’re all dead wrong. It’s a fantastic bit of wood that should be used for more than just broom handles.

came this close

I got 5 coats on the box and the lid and I'm calling that part done. In the AM I'll install the Soss hinges and I'll rub down the box and lid with Howard's Feed 'n Wax. Then the oohs and aahs can commence followed by much dancing and rejoicing in Mudville.

I spent most of the day resting and doing nothing. I made two trips to the shop to slap on shellac and that was it. Last night I hit the rack at 2200 and 5 minutes later I launched into a 15 minute coughing fit. After that I coughed on and off for the rest of the night. The last time I looked at the clock it said 0235. I must have drifted off after that and woke again at 0330 coughing again.

The rest of the night pretty much stuck to the same dance steps. I finally went vertical a little after 0700 feeling like crappola. That feeling stayed with me all day long. Tomorrow I'll go to the VA and pick my Rx and I'm looking forward to getting some relief. Everything on my body that can be crossed is, not that I'm superstitious. 

accidental woodworker

As Edward Tufte walked around the seminar room holding up an original printing of Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, he repeatedly said, “Sign Your Work!”  He showed us Newton’s handwritten signature on the flyleaf of that book.  Then, he turned to the back flyleaf and showed the signature of the man who set the type and printed the books.

That was from one of Tufte’s seminars that I attended several decades ago.  At the root, Tufte is a statistician, data/information analyst, and artist.  His gift to our world is how to visually organize data in useful, instantly understood ways. Perhaps he was the father of what we now call “info graphics.” 

Today, if you are interested, that seminar is still relevant and is an online course.

At the time I attended his seminar, he was publishing 3 books, the bottom 3 on this stack.  He was such a stickler for detail that he created his own publishing company, Graphics Press, and did all of the finicky typesetting and illustration placement for these books.  

Those books were invaluable to me as I progressed through 40 years of work at IBM, ending up in what was then their prestigious Research Division.  My son. also a data driven geek in the earliest stages of the AI/SI industry now owns those books and I sometimes remind him “Sign Your Work.” Be proud of what you do and let others know who you are.

In recent years, life has changed a lot for all of us and sometimes not. Watching and listening to any news might leave anyone thinking about hoping in a future. But if you go back to the 1960s, as I can now, you will recall distinct similarities with the advent of nuclear threats with capabilities between two world powers as power-filled nations and a potential outcome that could signal the end of the world as we knew it. So what's changed? The goodness of our COVID year was a year of recognising elements of humanity that came to the forefront instead of having been quite buried; it was a belief in humanity doing the right thing as we saw sacrifices made on every level, kindness, support, willing and open compliance for the better good of all and then international unity. It didn't take too long for that to leave us and for life to go back to the old normal of dysfunctionality. People who had drawn closer become self protecting rather than considering the better good of the whole, we see that that seems to have waned in our going backwards instead of forwards. We have threats of wars since COVID that we have not seen in almost a century. Nothing's much different than the 1960s with wars and rumours of wars and nothing's off the table. Violence is the violation of any limits. But it is different these days, of course it is. Violence is always distanced from the perpetrators when projectiles in the form of bullets and rockets are used. It's very different than physical attacks and all the more by a laptop directing drones with warheads. But violence is violence, no matter how it's carried out.

The fence stretches from front to back and then across the back from left to right. Concrete posts and gravel boards make for longevity and easy replacement.

The significance of establishing boundaries is that they keep things in place. Think shelves and cupboards, houses and boxes, carrier bags and balloons. The importance of limits in joinery and woodworking for we woodworkers is that they make the work critical by boundaries we set. I first heard it in the US: "Good fences make good neighbours." Today, I see a million boundaries designed to force life to work for all things. The contents of a tree stem, 70% water is tightly held to deliver the essential life support to the leaves through which we exchange or breathe for fresh air Understanding parameters keeps life sane and sanity is what craftsmanship is all about.

The knife defines the dividing lines between waste and wanted. Its cut wall that severs the fibres across the grain.

I use crisp walls made by knife, knifewalls, I renamed knife mark made by a marking knife because it doesn't match the outcome; knife with wall does, so I married them as a single word so now it exists much more accurately than knife mark because the sharp knife doesn't merely mark or only score the surface, it delivers a definitive wall created by a knife-edge cutting capability, a means to separate the waste from the wanted; areas more deeply defined in crisp cut lines we then cut directly into with other sharp tools like chisels and saws, planes, spokeshaves and such like that.

I pare cut the shoulders using the knifewall to slot my chisel in before pushing. The cuts are pristine, so the shoulders come tight up to the stile inside and out..

Cut away from these knifewalls and the joint will be either loose or too tight. If it's loose, there is no appropriate remedy, too tight means more work. Force doesn't work without a split and bruising occurring somewhere at some point. We strive for an accuracy that mitigates miscuts and mistakes with every incursion in one way or another. My dovetails come straight from the saw and the resulting saw kerf becomes key to keying surfaces that ultimately absorb the glue which then interlocks the surface fibres by a water-based expansion so that when the glue dries lock the meeting surfaces permanently together. When the glue swells the fibres, two and more meeting surfaces permanently tie the knot of permanence in the process. Most woodworkers look for a perfect insertion of one part into another with no surface fuzz and fail to give value to the reality that the surface fibres left from a handsaw cut, compress and expand to key the surfaces with these interlocking fibres and that's because we can scarcely see or feel what's taking place inside the joint but they are there nonetheless permanently bound as one.

I see the composition of hands and keep working though i am tempted to stop and take in the sight and sound, even in a knife cut.

Future and the belief in it wakes me with hope first thing for my everyday. I have seen this work for six decades so far. In the sixties, when we were really concerned and worried by "The Bomb!" the threat was as real then as it is now. The remoteness of distant, non-physical contact aggression established by missiles capably crossing great and short distances with an accuracy never seen before, has not made humanity any better but even worse if that's possible. But we know that acts of aggression warrant defence when we have something worth defending. It was when I went to work and made, when I saw that my handwork could distance the threat of nuclear to a fading distance of nothingness, I realised that my hands on my saws and planes, chisels, etc., took me into a place of safety and, well, nothing happened at that time and not for six decades. That's not the case these days. A drone sent by a man operating a keyboard can and does cause some very serious issues. If AI takes this on and human emotion and empathy are eliminated, who knows what the next new level will be. Some of you may not know of my police days when I worked shifts and carried a firearm. It became my normal for years. But my arrests were mostly people with other means of violence than guns. An axe here, a knife there and then too a car often became as much a weapon of offence as a broken bottle in a pub bar. In my day back then, bricks were lobbed of motorway bridges onto passing cars below. I dealt with worse than that.

No machines on this next project. Plane cuts and saw strokes all the way through. Twelve mortise and tenons, four half housings, four housing dadoes, tongue and groove backboards and coves from a homemade plane.

I'm about to launch into a new project for our next woodworking masterclasses Sellers' home project. I intend to replicate one I designed and made 20 years ago, one that has a reliable and genuine mechanical mechanism and one that I have found can be adjusted to the microsecond if that's what matters to anyone. I have taken the oak from my desk cupboards to repurpose them in new piece. The new office space disallows the whole desk I once had, so this will be a positive outcome.

 First thing this AM after posting the blog I went to the VA to pick up a Rx. I finally got a hold of pulmonary and they gave me a new Rx. It is for managing the cough but when I got to the VA the pharmacy was closed. No weekend pickups. I should have gone on friday but I didn't want to deal with the school bus traffic.  I'll have to go back on monday to get it. Which is just as well because the doc told me to make sure that I get my flu and COVID shots up to date. With my current lung issues getting either one of them would suck beyond  drinking pond scum.

cooked

I came back to the shop last night after dinner and resisted the urge to take this out of the clamps. I let it be to fully cook overnight to impart as much strength as possible to the miters. 

better

I got the 3rd coat of shellac on the box and the lid. Now I can see a wee bit of shine and a definite difference between the shellac and the raw pine. It would appear that 3 coats are needed for that to pop. 

Based on the last outing with this shellac I am wiping down the shellac with steel wool between each coat. So far it appears to be setting up and drying unlike the last time. I haven't feel any stickiness between the coats so far.

doesn't fit

The front to back (long sides) fit nicely but the short ends don't. The right side will drop in but the left won't. I penciled the over and it is a strong 32nd. The decision was where to remove to get it to fit. Removing it from the base would be difficult so I opted to plane/sand the box bottom.

took a while

I took my time planing/sanding the bottom until it fit. I didn't want to end up with ugly looking gaps. The gaps changed on me with a slight one on the front right. I tried reversing the the box 180 but the gap was still there. 

There was also the gap on the back left short side that was there on the dry fit up. With the base glued and cooked, it shrunk a little.

I was careful with the fitting because I didn't want to have any of the miters open up on me. I still don't have good luck with miters staying glued but today they cooperated.

based glued on

I have to rely on glue only because there is no way to get screws to hold the base to the box. I let this cook until the PM.

When I went to the VA the shortness of breath kicked my arse big time. The pharmacy is a hike even though I got a good spot in the parking lot. I had to stop and catch my breath 4 times walking to it. Last week when I had my podiatry appointment I had gone to the pharmacy and I got winded but I didn't have to stop and catch my breath.

This little trip sapped my strength and made me tired. I spent most the morning sitting at my desk resting with my eyes closed. I made a brief appearance in the shop in the PM to finish up what I started in the AM working on the box.

chamfers

I planed a chamfer (20 strokes on each side) to finish up the base. I did the chamfer to lighten the base and make it look thinner. I am finding that the less I walk around in the shop the more I can do. Most of what I accomplished in the PM involved me standing at the bench mostly. 

first coat

 I'll try to get back to the shop at least once more to slap on the 2nd coat. I still don't have issues walking down the stairs but coming up them against gravity ain't so good anymore. I have to stop in the back hallway to catch my breath before I navigate the final 3 steps up into the kitchen. 

This box would have taken me no more than a couple of days pre lung surgery but that is the way it is. Next month marks one year since the initial lung cancer diagnosis and June will be one year post tumor removal surgery. I'm settling into a rhythm with this now. I'm comfortable with working in the shop whenever I can. I like that a whole better then vegging out sitting on my arse or worse laying in bed staring at the ceiling.

accidental woodworker 

one down, three to go

The left short side was done first with the front long side next. I worked my way around the bottom until all four miters closed up.

a lot to remove

Rabbeted miter corners confuse me a lot. Rather then saw the miter closer to the line I used the plane and shaved it to the line. When I got close I stopped and took one shaving, checked it, and repeated until the miter closed up at the corner.

um.......

The back left corner has a small gap with the other three sides pretty much seamless. I am not putting a small molding on top the base. So I had to play and fuss with it a bit to get to this point. This gap is due the corner of the box being slightly out of square.

happy face on

Got the base band clamped and the box dropped into it without a problem. I can live with the gap.

final cutout

Clamped the sides together and drilled a 7/8" hole 1 1/2" in from each end.

double line

Before I drilled the holes I had ran a line to mark where the base cutout would be. I cut the line out on the bandsaw. 

needed some massaging

When I tightened the band clamp pulling the miters tight, it also twisted the base. After tightening it I saw that the base wasn't laying flat on the tablesaw. I loosened the band clamp until the base laid flat with no rocking. I added the quick grips closing the miters up tight. This will cook until the AM.

first coat

I was not expecting to get the shellac on the box today. But once the base was glued and clamped there wasn't anymore woodworking to do.

hmm.......

I almost made the me-steak of applying shellac to the whole box. Glad I thought it through because you can't glue over shellac for the long term. Instead I applied shellac to the inside and the top of it. I'll do the rest of the box after I glue the base to the box.

2 coats

The build ain't happening as quickly as I would like. It barely looks any different then raw pine. I had planned to put only three coats on the inside of the box but I'll probably have to be put on more than that.

accidental woodworker 

The next step to this project is making the moulding. I haven’t done much moulding since I made my set of moulding planes back in 2017. Ironic, isn’t it? In this age mouldings aren’t called for unless you’re reproducing antique furniture. While I made a complete set, half a set is really all you need, and take “need” lightly, because truth be told it is more a desire than an actual need. Let’s be honest, if I could have every shelf, row after row, filled with moulding planes, I would. I love hand tools, I love looking at them and using them. I also love history, so let’s have a quick look at the history of mouldings. I won’t be diving into the history of moulding planes. That would need an article on its own.

The earliest mouldings were architectural features, particularly in stone and masonry. Ancient builders shaped stone to create projecting edges, recessed channels and decorative profiles. These features helped define the boundaries of buildings and created patterns of light and shadow. The ancient Egyptians used moulded architectural details, and the Greeks and Romans developed sophisticated systems of architectural profiles.

Woodworking followed its own path. Early craftsmen could create mouldings by carving, scraping and cutting wood with edged tools. As woodworking techniques developed, specialised tools made it easier to reproduce the same profile repeatedly.

Greek architecture developed a sophisticated vocabulary of profiles, including the torus, ovolo, cavetto and cyma, and the Romans inherited and further developed these forms.

Wooden mouldings developed alongside architectural woodworking, although the precise chronology is difficult to establish. The Romans certainly used decorative mouldings in their furniture and wooden interiors. The important point is that the idea of a moulding was not invented for woodworking. Woodworkers adapted an established architectural tradition to their own material.

Designing a Profile

I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, so I drew a few profiles. Now I don’t rightly remember whether I took these profiles from historically existing ones or came up with them on my own. They all looked good, but I didn’t want to fuss too much around them and settled on this one.

Preparing the Profile

Using the rabbet plane I made back in 2017, I first cut a rabbet along the length of the timber.

People often wonder how to start a rabbet without using a fence. The trick is to lean the plane so that the arris rests in the groove you made with your marking gauge.

Start by carefully widening that groove with the plane, keeping the arris running in it to guide the cut. With each successive pass, gradually tilt the plane towards the vertical position until it is standing upright. Once you get the hang of it, it’s a straightforward way to start a rabbet without a fence.

I then cut two smaller rabbets to form tracks for the moulding plane to follow.

Shaping the Moulding

It’s difficult to film while holding the plane in one hand and the camera in the other, but I’ll explain what I’m doing.
To form the cove on the lower half of the profile, I used a No. 7 round. As I push the plane along the timber, the lower half of its sole rides against the bottom rabbet, guiding the plane as the iron cuts the cove.

It’s funny, though. According to Graham Blackburn, the English call this a hollow because it forms a cove or hollow. It makes perfect sense. Who changed the name? No one knows. For the upper part of the profile, I used a hollow. These are the results I got.

Very attractive, and that’s the real beauty of hollows and rounds. You have an endless variety of profiles to choose from. You can reproduce existing profiles or design new ones, rather than being limited to the profiles of dedicated moulding planes.

If, however, you regularly use a specific profile, it makes sense to have a dedicated plane for it. Speed and efficiency always win hands down.

Shooting the Mitres

Another important tool is a mitre shooting board. It allows you to refine the mitred ends of your mouldings so they fit nearly together.

Why Make the Moulding in One Length?

In this next example, I wanted to show you why you should make a moulding long enough to cover the entire bookcase rather than making it from several shorter pieces.

As you can clearly see, the two pieces don’t match perfectly. It’s difficult to reproduce exactly the same profile on two separate pieces of wood when shaping them by hand.

Whenever possible, make the moulding in one continuous length to cover the entire section of your project. This avoids mismatched profiles at the joints and gives you a cleaner result.

Hence why, back in the day, workbenches were often 9 or 12 feet long. Joiners’ benches were typically 12 feet because they worked on larger pieces than furniture makers.

If you put everything together, it comes out nicely and gives the bookcase that perfect finishing touch.

 

 

I am very pleased to confirm that Joshua Farnsworth over at Wood and Shop has scheduled my Boullework Marquetry class for this upcoming year.  I’ve been working on persuading him for some time, this one is pretty far outside the comfort zone for the school, so I urge you to support us in this listing.

I look forward to seeing you in Earlysville VA, September 20-22, 2027.

Woodworking Class: Boulle Work Marquetry with Don Williams (3 Days)

 Still slugging my way through the box. It is taking a lot longer than I thought it would even with the health issues factored in. It is a small project but the devil is in the build steps that I changed again today. I'm so close to the slapping on some shellac but no check mark for the done column today. Maybe tomorrow or the.....

new lid

Resawing it as much as I can on the tablesaw. Like the first one I'll complete it with the japanese saw.

hmm.....

I tried to resaw the web evenly top to bottom but wandered off. I was doing good until I flipped it to complete the cut from the opposite direction.

new lid

Got 8mm dowel locators in the holes in the box. These are made for twist bits and not brad point drill bits. Regardless, they locate the drill point in the lid. 

hmm.....

Soss hinges dry fitted and the back looks good. The joint line is consistent R/L but it isn't dead nuts flush. The lid is off a couple of frog hairs but not along the entire length.

ta da

I like the 'no hinge' look of these. They don't act like a stop hinge but that might change once I secure the hinges with #2 screws.

????

The lid gap is tapered, close on the left and wider on the right. The Soss hinge on the right isn't centered on the box. In spite of that the lid opens and closes smoothly. No binding or hesitation at all.

hmm.....

First change with the box build. Decided to put a base on the box to dress it up a wee bit. I sawed the 3/4" stock down to 5/8" because 3/4" looked too thick and clunky looking. The initial plan was to glue up the box, install bearers, and then glue the box to them.

change two

I didn't like the thickness of the base at 5/8". I sawed a 3/16" wide rabbet in the base for the box to sit on. That leaves it a wee bit less than a 1/2" - you can see the difference in left and short (thicker) side.

sneak peek

I changed to this because when I was dry fitting the base I made the first long one short. With the rabbet I now have a 1/4" plus of wiggle room. I plan to do a cutout on the bottom of the base. I'll do that before I glue the base together.

Last night was peaceful with little coughing and lots of uninterrupted, blissful sleep. I had 3 toilet trot races but no coughing and I dropped off to sleep right away. When I went vertical in the AM, no coughing. Usually that is a given and it varies from a few fits to seemingly endless as in when will I stop trying to hack up a lung. I was looking forward to having a nice relatively cough free day with a AM and PM shop session.

All that got flushed after lunch. I went into a spasm that left me light headed and wanting to lose lunch several times. This fit was the worse one I've had since the lung surgery in June. It wiped me out and 30 minutes after it stopped I was still wiped slick. I went to the shop late in the day just to get my camera. At least one more day before this box gets done.

 accidental woodworker

Sorry for the long gap between articles. I could say I’ve been busy, but the truth is I’ve been vegetating. With that out of the way, let’s get into it.

This time I’m tackling the front frame. Normally you’d add one to hide the exposed edges of the plywood. My reason is different. I want to carve some leaves into it, so here it’s purely decoration.

I skip the tape measure. I hold each piece against the bookcase and mark it with a knife where it needs cutting. On the first side that’s directly below the top moulding. After cutting, it’s a perfect fit. I repeat the same thing on the opposite side.

Then I lay both pieces on the bench and carve the leaves. I don’t lay them out first, I just cut them by eye. I carve them fairly deep because I apply stain with a rag, and a rag skips over the carved out areas. They stay the natural colour of the wood while the surface takes the stain, and that contrast of dark and light is what gives the frame its Spanish, Andalusian look.

I now finish the top and bottom by repeating the same method as I did on the sides. Once all four are carved, I glue and clamp them to the bookcase. The frame is wider than the thickness of the bookcase sides, so it leaves a lip. That lip is where the arched panel will attach, which you’ll see later in the project.

Because it’s softwood, 30 minutes or so is enough for the glue to grab. After that I nail the frame and putty the nail holes. I could have left the glue to cure overnight, but I wanted to get it done.

Next up, I’ll make a small moulding that sits directly below the top moulding.