Hand Tools

 Mettes sister turned 50 this year, and her husband asked me some time ago if I could make a table for her birthday. 

They have recently bought a summer house and wanted a slab table of sorts. 

I showed him some pictures of the tabletop I made a couple of years ago, and some pictures of the Barnsley hayrake tables that I have made. and he confirmed that it was something along those lines that he would like to give her. 

We settled on a family price, and I got the joy of being able to make a complete table this time. Not just the tabletop. 

I wanted to blog about it during the build, but given that it was a birthday gift I couldn't out of fear that the surprise was blown. 

All the wood comes from the blood beech that I milled a couple of years ago, save for the pegs that I used for the drawbores that are made of ash, and the butterflies that are made of elm. 

I had forgotten how much work there is in flattening a massive slab using hand planes, and at one point I considered if I should try to make a flattening jig for a router. But I decided that it wasn't worth the while for just one slab.  

A thing I remembered from last time was that it was important to make the breadboard ends before putting too much energy into the flattening. Simply to keep the split parts of the crotch in place. So that is where I started. 
As soon as the breadboard ends were in place, a regular workout using a jointer plane with a scrub blade in it was the next task. I switched a little with a regular jointer and going either diagonally or traversing the grain. 
The slab had twisted a bit during drying, so one small area in the top end of the crotch kept being about 1/4" lower than the rest of the surface. I decided that it would be a waste of time, wood and energy to remove that much wood from the rest of the slab, just to get everything flat. After all it was an area about half the size of my palm, and I felt that it gave a bit of character to the table. 

I made a bunch of butterflies in progressively larger sizes out of elm, just to give a bit of contrast to the beech. The butterflies serve both to stabilize the split crotch area and to fill up the void so you don't accidentally push a dinner plate through the large hole. 

Once the butterflies were glued in place, they were dressed down to the surface of the tabletop, and I sanded starting with grit 40 on a belt sander and ending with grit 240 on a random orbit sander.

The undercarriage for the table was interesting to make due to the tabletop not being rectangular. I decided that it would look the best if the legs were sort of the same distance from the edges of the table. To avoid any hiccups, I made some full size drawings of each end, so I had something to work from. 
I mounted the two traverse pieces with a tenon through the center, and the traverse piece itself set into the top of the leg (I am a bit uncertain what the technical name of that type of joint is).

After chopping in MMXXV in the lower stretcher, the table got a couple of coats of a wipe on finish (linseed oil, spar varnish and turpentine) And it was moved inside the house to be ready for pick up (and to make a bit of space int he shop again).

As always a challenging and satisfying project. The biggest issues were that he top was heavy and unwieldy, and that it takes up a lot of space during the build. 

I clocked my hours, and all in all there is 60 hours of work in the table.

 

One of my favorite “Favorites” at yootoob is the channel for this hybrid carpenter, standing with one foot firmly in the world of traditional craftsmanship and one foot in the world of modern industrial machines.  To paraphrase Larry the Plumber, he’s a “Git ‘er done” sorta guy.

Given the demographic cliff Japan is going over, you have to wonder how many craftsmen like him will be around in a quarter century.  As an aside it is interesting to note the number of traditional rural homes that are abandoned there due to that very same population decline.

 The posting schedule is back on track now that the internet is working again. Didn't get the toolbox done. I spent the day dealing with a few things on the wife's to-do list. The temp turned upwards again and settled out at 96F - 36C. Glad I did all the yard work before the temps got high.

 

why not

I sawed up the first two toolbox lids to make a box to hold the shop steam iron.

chopping waste

Been a while since I've chopped tail waste like this. Made the chopping easy and quicker then doing them individually.

yikes

I was expecting this. The board had shifted when I was knifing the tails onto the pin board. Still, I was expecting this but not this bad. 

it fits now

It is snug but it is going together. Experience came into play with judging just how tight - I had to shave the pins twice.

dry fitting

Took a bit of fussing to get the diagonals but I eventually got them to be dead nuts.

square and ready for glue

Decided to glue on the top and bottom. That will be 1/4" plywood.

good feeling

There is a little bit of wiggle room for the quasi french fitting I have planned. That will come latter - after the top and bottom is on and the lid is sawn off.

glue up is next

I had made the box yesterday and the first thing this AM I glued it up.

hump - lid #3

The center of the hump is centered closer to the shorter board (on the left) than the right one. This is or will be the up face of the lid.

problem?

The saw stalled on me while ripping some pine boards. It tripped the breaker and the saw blade wouldn't turn when I reset it. I assumed one of the capacitors or both, was toast.

it was the belt

The left arbor pulley ( viewed from the motor) had fallen off. This was a v belt but it wasn't anymore. Finding a replacement proved to be a PITA. I found one on a Delta site for $93. Link belt (the red one) ranged from a high of $89 to a low of $40. I found this after I heard the nut securing the left pulley fall off into the sawdust shelf.

almost forgot this

Got some watermelon to keep my strength up while I install some brass mending plates. Made a quick run to ACE after I got back from post lunch strolling.

one down, one to go

I inlaid it in a stopped notch. It won't be visible from the sides at all. Only the top part will visible once it is hanging on a wall.

doing the 2nd one

hmm.....

Me thinks I should put another screw in this hanger.

warm and fuzzy feeling

One screw is in the side and the other in the top. Not only will this be what the shelf hangs from, it ties the two (side and top) together where gravity will be acting.

shutters

I made shutters for the house 17 years ago (?). Making two more sets for the windows on the back of the house. I had taken down all the ones on the other windows in the morning so my wife can paint them.

short shutters

I know these aren't true shutters but this what my wife had approved.

ran short

The larger shutter need pickets that are almost 5 feet long. I only had enough stock to make 2 of the required 6 pickets. I'll have to make another run to Lowes tomorrow at some time.

measurements

I eyeballed these onto the small shutter I made first. The pickets are the same width and the cross bearers placement looked off to my eye based on this. Besides it is at the back of the house where only wife is happy about having them finally.

accidental woodworker

almost two days

We finally got the internet service back on at 0739 this AM. I wasn't home when that happened and my wife told me when I got back to the barn. No apologies from the internet provider nor any reason why there was no service for almost two days. It is back and I am glad that I don't  have to go to Starbucks to type up yesterday's blog post.

oops

Forgot to factor in clamp rosebuds when I glued and cooked this yesterday. 
 

road tested my shop steam iron

I was surprised to see how much of these rosebuds I was able to raise and flatten out. There were five on each face and the two to the right of these are invisible. 

nope

I flattened and flushed the glue joint up nicely except for this corner. About 3 inches of it slope down and away to the outside edge. I won't be able to use it for a lid now. I was resigned to that happening but I still hoped I could use it. 

thunder boomer damage

Unfortunately this is a limb from our next door neighbor. A violent thunderstorm came through a couple of days ago and it caused a ton of dropped limbs throughout my neighborhood. The city is picking up all damage next week if placed curbside. This branch fell on our new fence and wiped out 4 fence pickets. The good news is the neighbor is giving 4 pickets to me.

another Lowes run

Bought a ten foot 1x12 for $36. Cheaper (and 2 more feet) than buying four foot 1x12s. The short board on the right will be lid #3.

knots are history

I only need the lid to be 14 1/4" wide. I'll have plenty of real estate after I rip off the knots on each edge.

feeling good about this glue bottle

Been using this for a week or so and so far no disappoints although I'm waiting for a hiccup or two. The dispenser spout still remains clear and the glue drips down easily and quickly. I'm impressed with how clear it is before each use. It looks the plastic this is made of allows the glue to flow back down with gravity keeping it free and clear. I'm thinking of buying another bottle and try it with hide glue.

needed extra help

I couldn't get the left side of the glue up to lay flat against the bar clamps. The board had a small cup that I had to use an F clamp to pull the board tight to the bar clamp. Because of that hiccup, along with another F clamp pinching the glue joint tight to the bar clamp, I decided to let this cook until the AM.

I'm glad that I like to read because I got a lot of time to do that yesterday. I think next to having the electric go out, being without the internet is even more stressful. My wife wasn't happy because she had some dead people business scheduled that didn't happen. I was able to listen to podcasts with my phone which helped to pass time. What I don't know is if the cell phone plan covers crappola like that.

accidental woodworker

With the carving mostly done on the top rail and muntins, time to get the plough plane out, and cut the grooves into which the panels will fit.

Chopping out the mortices.

Tenon sawing the shoulders.

And a trial fit of the parts so far. I would normally have all the parts carved before assembling, but as I don't know exactly how the bottom rail will look, I want to see how the existing parts look.

I am pleased with it so far.

Glen Huey was one of the greats. A master of period furniture, his work always had that unmistakable touch. Clean. Precise. Deeply respectful of the craft’s history. I never met him in person, but through his writing, videos and teaching, he made a real impact on me. He was one of my woodworking legends.

He had a way of explaining things that cut through the noise. No fluff. No ego. Just straight-up knowledge from someone who clearly loved what he did. Whether it was a dovetail joint or a full-blown highboy, you knew that if Glen was behind it, it was going to be solid and beautiful. He didn’t just build furniture. He told stories through timber, with a quiet kind of authority that didn’t need to shout.

After he left Popular Woodworking Magazine, Glen co-founded 360 Woodworking. It was his way of keeping the teaching going. The content there had the same tone. Personal, direct, and full of useful detail. You could tell he cared about sharing the craft, not just showing off. That site became a place where his voice stayed strong and clear, and I found myself returning to it over and over.

What stood out to me most about Glen was how generous he was with his time and skill. He gave so much to the community. Articles. Books. DVDs. Workshops. He helped so many of us lift our game. For people like me, working alone with hand tools, having someone like Glen on the page or on screen made the bench feel a little less quiet.

He passed away in June 2025. His death is a real loss. Not just to woodworking, but to those of us who found inspiration in his work and his way of being. He’ll be missed. I’ll still turn to his books and videos like old mates. That’s the kind of legacy he’s left. One of skill, passion and honesty. Rest easy, Glen. You gave us a lot.

 I am now at least two parts past where I thought this toolbox would be done. Made a road trip to Lowes this AM and got a new lid fitted in the PM session. It was all good up to that point but then it quickly boarded express going south. I am feeling like I am in a perpetual loop of taking two steps forward and one back. Still no check mark in the done column for at least one more day.

for just in case

I only needed one board but I got a second one for just in case. The clear one was the only board in the 1x8 pile.

wow

This glue up took me a bazillion hours to glue up. I couldn't seem to get the two edge joints  to lay flat along the length, especially the last couple of inches at the ends. I lost count on how many times I seesawed from almost flat to gaps. I managed in the end to get the joint line flat and seamless end to end. I had expected this to take 10 minutes at that most.

locking battens

4 inch wide and it will give up the fixed and sliding battens.

another headache

Another PITA to get done. I planed the bevel on both and initially they were way off. This was another thing I thought I would sail through in seconds. It took me over 30 minutes before the two laid up against each other seamlessly.

fitting the lid

Planed the width until I got a slip fit that was a 16th short. After that I super glued one fixed batten and marked the length of the lid.

sigh

I was getting ready to superglue the other fixed batten when this happened. I dropped the lid on the workbench and this chunk fell off.

no warm and fuzzy

I couldn't get the top or bottom to be flush or even anywhere close to it. I barely had any clamping pressure on the bar clamps - too much and the slanted break off would slide up. This was the best I could do and I don't think it will work. I wonder if I could do a stand up routine about this toolbox. 

accidental woodworker

PS posted late because the internet is still down. I finally found a Starbucks where the WiFi was working. Not too sure if I'll be able to post tomorrow. If I do it will be late again because I'll have to come back here to type it up and post it.

I am, among many things, an opportunist. Two of my daughters, who share a big bedroom with no closet, have been after me to build them a proper wardrobe. I had been putting the project off because it was going to require a lot of both time and material. But when the material suddenly appeared free for the taking, I decided it was time to build the wardrobe.

My university had announced late last year that they would be tearing down an old academic building and building a new one. So before demolition began, I asked permission to salvage some of the hardwood trim and a few other items that were going to come down with the building. I soon realized, however, that many of the old offices had built-in bookshelves, so what began as a quick salvage project became a multi-day effort to remove as many of the old pine shelving boards as I could before time ran out.

I recruited a couple friends and a few family members to help, and between us we were able to carry away about 100 pine boards that were 10″ wide and between 4′ and 5′ long, as well as numerous trim boards and a few whole shelving units. My 2-car garage had (temporarily) become a no-car garage.

Free, salvaged material always comes with interesting challenges. There are the usual the nail-pulling challenges, as well as the working-around-massive-flaws challenges. But I’m used to that. The added challenge here was building a 6-foot-tall structure using only boards that were 4′-5′ long. Now where is that mythical board-stretcher when you really need it?

In truth, woodworkers make long boards out of short boards pretty regularly. There are all manner of scarf joints and other techniques that allow us to do that. In my case, though, I opted to butt shorter boards together and use trim boards to join them together in a big panel while also hiding the butt-joint in the middle. These panels will become the two sides of the wardrobe.

These boards are also edge-joined with tongue-and-groove joints, which will allow for seasonal expansion and contraction in the panel. My Veritas plow plane (with the optional tongue-and-groove kit) got a lot of use in this project.

I also spent a lot of time composing each panel. All these shelving boards are knotty pine, so I sorted through many to find ones with straight-ish grain on the edges and the knots in the middle. It’s no fun trying to plane a tongue or a groove straight through a pine knot.

I had also salvaged several long trim boards, and those became the key to joining up the whole panel. After joining together all the panel boards with tongues and grooves, I clamped and temporarily screwed the trim boards to the face-side of the big panel. The beauty of working with salvaged wood is that it’s already pre-distressed, so a few extra holes will hardly be noticed. They can be filled with putty, or just left open as part of the overall distressed look.

While this project came together mostly via the rough work of driving nails and screws, it also involved some fairly precise work, like cutting material right to a knife line–while cutting around flaws and notches left from the boards’ first life as office shelving.

After all the trim boards were ready, I flipped the whole panel over. (It covered my entire workbench, and then some.) I screwed the panel boards to the trim boards from the back. With careful placement of screws, I think I should be able to force the expansion and contraction toward the tongue-and-groove joints on the inside edges of each board.

I was also able to attach the trim boards so as to create big rabbets on the top, bottom, and back of each panel. These rabbets will allow me to assemble the whole case with just nails, nailing through each rabbet at the four corners of the case. More on that later.

After taking the above picture, I re-thought the placement of a few of the screws and moved them closer to each other. Old pine should be fairly stable dimensionally, so putting in screws 3″-4″ apart shouldn’t cause too much trouble. Putting them farther apart is more risky, as the wood is liable to split when it shrinks in the winter.

Even the screws were salvaged. We must have backed out a couple hundred old drywall screws while removing this wood from the building. And while they’re not as nice as genuine wood screws, they were free! And most of them were perfectly serviceable.

While I built the panels for the case in my basement shop, I decided I did not want to haul the whole thing up two flights of stairs to the second floor. Instead, I brought up the main pieces and put everything together right there in the room. The top and bottom got nailed on just as planned. There’s also a shelf near the bottom that got nailed onto battens.

The back boards also got nailed on. To allow for expansion and contraction, they are just shiplapped, just for variety. I was kind of tired of tongues and grooves at this point. The back boards add a lot of rigidity to the case and also help keep it more or less square. Most modern pieces would have just used plywood for the back, but I had over 100 shelving boards to pick from!

You can see in the above picture how the case is assembled, with the trim boards creating the rabbets at the corners. The shelf is set on top of battens that will also serve as drawer runners, and there are more drawer runners nailed to the bottom of the case.

Normally I would not use pine for drawer runners, as they will tend to wear out after years of regular use. Hardwood lasts much longer. But these runners are extra-wide, so once they do wear down somewhat, they can be pulled out, flipped around, and reinstalled so the drawers run on full-thickness boards again. And if they wear out yet again, they can always be replaced or reinforced with hardwood runners–but that should be another lifetime from now.

As I was putting the case together, my wife suggested that I put the whole thing on swivel casters, so as to make it easier to move for cleaning behind. That sounded like a good idea to me. So I screwed some spacers to the bottom and installed the casters. I made sure the grain of the spacers was running the same direction as the boards they are screwed to. That way, they will expand and contract at roughly the same rate, and the screws will pose no problems.

But for the cross-grain battens, which I installed to help reinforce the skirt boards, I used nails. The nails will allow for a little more expansion and contraction than will screws.

The doors are very plainly constructed. Each one is made of two boards joined on edge with a tongue and groove joint and reinforced by battens screwed on from the back.

I put cabinet latches at the top and bottom of each door, and now each door will close securely–without the risk of locking anybody inside.

The drawers are very simply constructed. They are joined at the corners with nailed rabbets, and the drawer fronts are screwed on from the inside. While the result is a very thick drawer front, that extra thickness isn’t noticeable in a case of this size. Plus, the drawer front serves as a stop. And I was able to make the drawers just a little bit under-sized because the drawer front takes care of the reveal around each drawer.

Normally, the bottom of a drawer like this would be a piece of 1/4″ or 3/8″ plywood set into a groove. But again, I was using only the wood I had salvaged from the building, and that meant making the bottoms out of 3/4″-thick pine boards. I glued up two boards to make a wide enough panel, then beveled three of the edges to fit into grooves I had plowed in the drawer sides and front.

As it happened, I had some spare cabinet handles on hand, so I didn’t even have to purchase the pulls. The only parts of this wardrobe that I bought were

• Nails
• Hinges
• Catches
• Casters

Everything else was salvaged material I got for free. While this is one if the biggest pieces of furniture I’ve ever made, it is probably also one of the cheapest.

To finish everything off, I added some simple molding to the top of the case. The front of the whole case is very plain and minimalist. Had I had a little more time and been inclined to do more work, I might have set the doors into a proper frame instead of building them as flat panels with nothing around the edges. But they are rigid as constructed, and I felt that the material lent itself to this aesthetic. Plus, these boards all have finish on them which, while distressed in places, is still in fairly good shape. I wanted to leave the original finish on these boards intact, and doing more framing and/or trimming would have meant making a lot of cuts that would have revealed fresh wood, and I would then have had to then match or at least complement the original finish In some way. And I was not about to try to replicate an old, distressed finish on the front of the piece. Sometimes you just have to work within the constraints of your material.

The whole project took me about 4 or 5 full work-days, which were spread out over a couple weeks. I now have significantly fewer than 100 shelving boards in my garage. I can park one of our family vehicles in there again, and the girls finally have a place to hang their dresses. So that’s progress all around.

I did warn them that I was not going to build in a portal to another world in the back of this particular wardrobe. It hasn’t stopped them from checking, however.

That other famous wardrobe, you may remember, had been built from wood grown from an apple seed brought here from that other, magical world. That’s why it opened the way for the four children to enter Narnia.

This wardrobe, however, has been built from wood that came from an even stranger world called Academia. So if on some rainy afternoon the children are playing hide-and-seek and stumble through their wardrobe into a world populated not by fauns and witches and lions but by undergraduates and adjuncts and post-docs, well… who knows what adventures they might have in such a strange land?

 Still not done. Well I was done but then I made a U turn. One more day before I will be able to say it is done. Maybe, it depends upon whether or not I have to make another U turn.

fitting the lid

Wasted an hour or so trying to figure out why the lid didn't fit. The measurements of the lid still agreed with the the plan. I felt dumber than a box of pointy rocks but I conceded defeat. I cut the lid down an inch before it fit.

bottom battens

Got the battens on with screws only. This way when the snot is beat out of them they can be easily replaced.

too tight

Needed to shave a wee bit off this end so it would slip under the top batten.

hmm.....

I didn't like the gap between these battens. I want this to be seamless or at the least have a consistent minimum of a gap. I did that by positioning the lid in situ and then laying the lid batten up against the top batten. Bob's your uncle.

which way

In the plans this diagonal goes kitty corner from the outside edge of one lid batten to the other. Or I could tuck that inward so it goes kitty corner from the outside edge of the lid to the other outside edge. I'm leaning in the direction of the latter.

lid batten

Glued the batten on and I let it cook while I strolled after lunch.

helpers

These I glued in temporarily with super glue. These will provide support for this end of the lid. 

the U turn

Decided that I don't like this lid and its closure detail. I decided to go with double sliding bevel battens. Of course that means I'll have to make a new lid. I'll set this one aside and use it for something else. Road trip to Lowes coming in the AM upcoming.

practice

This was another thing about this lid that was bugging me. With it closed there was a 1" gap between the lid and the outside battens. It was also not square - used the Record 073 till I got a consistent, even gap.

not dead nuts

I planed both ends of the batten from the outside to the middle until I got it kind of square. It took a bit of fussing but I was satisfied with what I saw. The overall gap is consistent (it dips in/out around the middle) and with the sliding batten to come it should tighten up. 

accidental woodworker 

This post is presented annually, revised a bit from time to time.  Despite dozens of recitations, I can never read the last line of The Declaration out loud because I am overcome with emotion. – DCW

Tomorrow my fellow Patriots and I, however many of us there are, will commemorate and celebrate the 249th anniversary of the most profound statement of human aspiration ever known.  We have already endured two violent wars of secession, the first from 1775-1783 and the second from 1861-1865, and I pray that our third one can be avoided by a peaceful segregation of a populace that no longer shares a common vision.  This year I am especially drawn to the passage “mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”  This sentiment was later expressed by John F. Kennedy, as “When peaceful rebellion is made impossible, violent rebellion becomes inevitable.”

As our nation is seemingly rife with incurious, gullible and servile inhabitants, we would be well-served to reflect seriously on the document encapsulating the mission statement for the greatest nation ever known to man, the only nation ever founded on a creed rather than solely geography or lineage.   It was and is of course imperfect, no institution created by fallen and sinful men and women can be anything else.

I am unabashedly proud to be a partisan in the cause of Life, Liberty, and Property (the original wording) and find The Declaration of Independence to be the most noble civil document ever created by mankind.  I pray you will read and reflect on the ideas expressed by men who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to pursue the path of liberty.  Reading it is much like reading the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament; more up-to-date regarding the human condition than tomorrow’s headlines.

God Bless America, and may righteousness flourish and wickedness be overcome.

========================================================

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn

Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

John Hancock

Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton

George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross

Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris

Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple

Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry

Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery

Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott

Matthew Thornton

 Well, boys and girls, what I thought would happen and what actually happened are again two different things. I got awfully close but I didn't cross the finish line. I thought I would finish the toolbox today but....

new battens

I only had to make 3 new battens. The bottom ones have knots in them (won't be visible) and the top battens are all clear pine.

flushing the glue joint

Ran into a wee bit of tear out. Pine can be a royal PITA to plane sometimes but it is probably the same with other woods. Most of my work is done in pine. Along with flushing the center glue joint I also had to deal with a slight hump. 

sigh......

These two nails caused splits. I clamped and glued the end one but its sibling said, 'nay, nay moose breath'.

first handle

Planed a 45 first and then planed on flat on the toe a strong 1/8" wide. Then I rounded that over with the LN 102 and sanded it smooth.

end battens

I glued and clamped the handles on first and let them set up for 20 minutes. After that I removed the clamps and put 3 screws in each handle. The end battens were glued on and clamped. I let them cook for 30 minutes before nailing them off.

snug fit

I like that the lid is a snug fit. The fit is directly off the saw. I planed a 16th gap after I got back from my post lunch stroll.

frustrating

Planing this end square was proving to be like shoveling sand against the incoming tide. I would get it square registering against one long edge but when I checked it from the opposite long edge it would be OTL (out to lunch). 

I measured the width at a bazillion points and all of them were less than 32nd off. The diagonals however, were off by almost a 1/4". I felt better about chasing my tail on this because the length was almost 4 inches too long.

gave up

This is the 5th run at squaring the ends. The wildly off square readings were smaller but still not square from both sides. The diagonals were a 16th off. I gave up finally when the idea light bulb in the brain bucket went dark. I tried to address the hiccup with everything I could think of and nothing really worked.

a strong 32nd

The square reads dead on at the bottom edge and it wanders off a wee bit at the opposite end.

dead this way

There was a slight hollow around the center but the two ends were tight with no light showing. The other end was about the same so I stopped chasing my tail and decided to live with it.

sigh.....

I thought using Big Red would make things better and easier. It didn't make any difference. The battens didn't read square from either side. The readings were exactly the same when I checked them with the Starrett combo square.

done

Glamour pic #1. I still think that this would look better if it was foot or more longer R/L.

Glamour pic #2

I am giving this to my sister. She has a lot of small bric-a-brac that she can display on it.

not quite done

I need to add some kind of a mending plate so the shelf can be hung. I thought I had some brass ones but nada. I have some plain steel ones but I want what will show to be brass.

massive tear out

This long side was proud and the flushed length of it looks like a mud country road after a rain storm. I tried planing it with 4 planes coming from every possible direction and I got tear out no matter what.

cleaning and squaring the end grain

Planed it first and before I shellac it I'll sand it with my sanding sticks.

wee bit proud

I planed this flush by eye from this point to the other end.

2nd to last step

I attached the battens on with two drops of super glue. This way I can fit the lid so it won't fall into the toolbox.

sigh

Doesn't fit - it appears to be an inch too long.

???????

Other than the width, all the toolbox/lid measurements agree with those in the plans within a 16th. Stared at this until I got blurry eyed and then I shut the lights off. I'll come back to this hiccup in the AM.

accidental woodworker 

Dear readers, you might wonder why I started writing again last week but was gone for over two years. (This site started in 2008.) Here is the story. I was in excellent health – regular doctor visits, no medications, excellent diet, weight, and exercise. However, at the gym one day, I fully collapsed, immediately unconscious. […]

 This is a simple project but if you don't pay attention to the numbers, it will bite you on the arse. I got bit early on. I survived though and I'm hoping to be done with the toolbox tomorrow. What strikes me as odd is this is a toolbox for transporting tools, not for stowing them. I'm still trying to wrap the brain bucket around that concept. How do you separate the two?

sigh.....

There is a bald spot by my finger that I missed. It only shows up in raking light. I put on one more coat and I'll check it in raking light in the AM.

lid and bottom

It only took a few to flush the glue joint lines in both. I fuss a bit to ensure them being flush at least on one face as best I can helps a lot when it comes time to plane them flush.

Lowes run

Made an early road trip to Lowes to get two 1x12x48 pine boards. I couldn't wait for saturday being this close to finishing this. Two sides and two ends ready for the next step.

practice run

The ends will be inset from the ends 3/4" - the same as the scrap I have clamped on the end. Clamped it because I didn't want to deal with any holes from nails or screws.

roughing sawing the bottom

I planed the opposite square and I sawed it to a rough length a 1/8" longer than the plan dimension.

hmm......

It self squared when I gently tapped the ends up tight against the clamped scraps. However, each end at the top wasn't flush with the sides. I had to tap the ends from the bottom to flush them with the top of the sides. It was looking like it would be a wee bit awkward to nail off the ends. 

extra clamps

Happy with this set up. The ends are flush and tight top to bottom. I had just enough room to get a nail home at the four top corners.

practice run

Cut up some scraps so could I nail it together with cut nails. I predrilled each one before nailing it off. No splits on any of them. I was concerned especially with the two end ones.

drats, and double drats

Not one but two splits. Kitty corner from this one is #2.

glued and clamped

I got a good feeling about clamping these because the clamps easily closed the splits up. 

yikes

I thought I had sawn the bottom a 1/8 inch longer than the carcass. The bottom is barely a 16th strong and I still have to clean up this sawn end grain.

oops

This is why I don't like making things from a plan. The bottom is 14" wide and the plan says the bottom should 13 1/2" wide. Didn't know here exactly what the hiccup was, that came later.

hmm.....

The numbers don't lie. Still clueless as to where I screwed up.

the fix

I don't like gluing thin boards up with wider ones. The other option was to saw the bottom in two on the glue line and glue it back together with one wider board. That got nixed because I didn't have a wider board.

the lid

The plan states for the fit to be a 16th less than the inside width. This is a few frog hairs over a 16th. 

new bottom

The board I used on the glue up is thicker than the other two. I flushed it with what will be facing the inside of the toolbox.

mine on the left, Toshio's on the right

I thought the one I made first was big. I like Toshio's better especially the height.

gluing up the lid

I don't like the gap with the lid so I'm going to glue on a thin piece to build up the width.

missed it

I thought I had sawn this off and I had. The piece I'm gluing on is the offcut from this board and it has a defect like this on its right edge.

lid cooking

I feel better about this glue up. I would rather have it too wide and plane it to fit.

handle is ok

Only one of the battens is long enough to use. All the others are too short being 14" long. This is where I found the mind fart that led to my hiccup. The ends are 14" long rather than the plan's 12". I'll be making new battens.

thinking

I thought of removing one side as they are only nailed on but nixed it. Clueless as to how I missed not sawing the ends to the plan's dimension. I hope I can get the longer needed battens from the off cuts from yesterday.

accidental woodworker

Been very busy of late, but managed to find time at the weekend, to do some carving of chest parts. The top rail roughed out in chalk, inspiration and sketch ideas.

Starting to line out with v-gouge and details.

Grounded with panels.

Then on to muntins. Scratchstock moulding.

Muntin carved and grounded.

I was having a clearout and found this carving the other day. By co-incidence Peter Follansbee posted a box for sale with this motif  a day later. I must have carved this when Peter was here in the UK, because it has his cross stamp on it, and that was the only time I ever had chance to use Peter's stamp. TBH it's a bit rough, and I have no memory whatsoever, of carving it.

I couldn't wait until saturday so I made a road trip to Lowes and bought some pine today. I got enough to make the bottom and the lid since those two were glue ups. I'll wait until saturday when hopefully I get a load of 1x12s from Gurney's.

$84

I got three 1x8x48 and three 1x12x48 pine boards. I'm making this toolbox as close as I can adhering to his measurements.

breaking down the boards

The length of the top and bottom are both over 30". I had planned on sawing the boards in half to make the top and bottom each from one board. That got flushed real quick and it took two boards to make the top and bottom.

top and bottom

One good thing about using two boards each was being able to saw away the knots and defects. It didn't make any difference for the bottom but both it and the top are clear and free of knots.

off cuts

There is more than enough off cuts to get all the battens needed for the toolbox.

glued and cooking

This will be the top - an inch longer in the length and 2" in the width than final dimensions.

the bottom

Sawed the bottom to the same overage as the top.

ready for glue

Aligning the grain and color I did for practice. It is the bottom and won't be readily visible.

hmm......

This toolbox doesn't have a locking batten. I just noticed this and I might be changing it - I like the locking batten detail.

added two

Got all the battens sawed to width and 1 1/2" longer than length. I am adding two battens to go on the bottom. I don't like having the entire bottom sitting directly on whatever the toolbox will be set upon.

not happening

It didn't ring any bells with me on the diagonal batten not having any measurements in the drawing. Only the width of it was given - the length of this is to be determined in situ.

not sure

I got the two battens set at what the top length is. This should be several inches longer than needed. I have another board that I can get a diagonal batten from if needed.

cleaned up

I didn't go nutso trying to get pairs of battens to be exactly the same width. They aren't married together so there is no need to do it.

hmm.....

I have two boards left over - one 1x8 and one 1x12. Not enough to get the sides and ends from. The sides are over 8" wide and the 1x8 is only 7 1/4" wide. So the best I can get is two ends or one side and an end from the 1x12.

I might make another road trip to Lowes to buy what I need to finish this. I doubt I can wait until saturday to finish this.

I got two more coats on the shelf unit but it needs at least one more and probably two. I'll get the 5th one on after dinner tonight. Tomorrow I'll know if I need to lay down more shellac.

accidental woodworker 

 The temp topped out today at 94F - 34C where the rest of the week probably will be the 90'sF again. The important thing is this saturday is still forecasted to be cloudy in the AM and sunny in the PM. What I find odd is there is a 2% chance of rain in AM and a 12% in the PM. I think that it should be the opposite of what the seers are predicting.

On a bright note, I am now under 200 pounds. On today's weigh in the scale said I now weighed 199.8. I haven't been under 200 since may 12th of this year when I loaded the scale to 196.4. When  I further searched my weight loss log I noticed that I've bounced up and down around 200 pounds for 16 months. I doubt that I will get back down to 185 but that is my goal. I don't plan on changing my diet and I've come to terms with what my weight plateaus out at. 

finishing sucks pond scum

The underside is done and I'm now applying shellac to the show surfaces. Two coats so far and a 3rd coming after dinner. After that 2-4 more. It'll be a few more days I put a check mark in the done column.

accidental woodworker 

Orson Cart seems to be the only one doing anything round here at the moment! Jack Plane

Orson Cart seems to be the only one doing anything round here at the moment! Jack Plane

I have made many pieces in my lifetime as a maker. Occasionally, some pieces, large and small, ended up being somewhat overworked. I look back into the history of my craft and I might consider the work made for the highly privileged, mostly the wealthy charlatans of past life, though extraordinarily remarkable, and almost all...

Source

It was cloudy this AM and the radar was clear for my part of the universe. All this in spite me waking up late (at least for me). I didn't get up until almost 0700 which is an hour later than usual. The initial look see at the radar was encouraging but it quickly went south. There was a solid blanket of rain clouds starting just over the Massachusetts line all the way out past Gurney's saw mill. No going there today by next saturday is forecasted to be partly sunny.

good choice

Three coats of shellac on the drawer front and (IMO) I think it looks good. A better choice than the walnut or cherry picks. I got one coat on the bottom surfaces of carcass and shelves.

close up pic

Got 3 on the front, sides, back, and bottom. I'm calling those parts done except for the drawer front. I will put 3-4 more on just that. I am also applying shellac to the interior of the drawer, 3 coats and that will get a check mark in the done column.

first coat

The shellac I'm using is a clear, dewaxed shellac I got from shellac shack dot com. This shellac imparts a tiny bit of lemon/orange color. I had wanted to get some super blonde but it wasn't in stock at my last order.

not super blonde

This is going to be my next batch of shellac. This is supposedly one step below super blonde. Looking forward to seeing how clear this one lays down.

2 of 3 done

I am applying only 3 coats on the undersides. The rest of it will get 4-6 coats depending on how the finish lays down. I have a couple of more days of slapping shellac on it this before it is done. I plan on returning to the shop after dinner to finish up the bottom work.

accidental woodworker