General Woodworking

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."
    - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've been busy in the shop building a prototype footstool from the Maciejowski Bible. At least that's what I thought I was doing.

I made mistakes and lost focus. The footstool I built is a nice little piece of furniture that has all the trappings of Medieval ornamentation. I started out on the project and then let it take me away on a trip of it's own. I often find myself working like that, letting my intuitions and gut feeling take me where it would as I build, and often that leads me down the right path.

This time it didn't.

I returned to my source material last night, and found the mistakes I made with the prototype. I'm going to have to change the way I work when it comes to these projects and reign in my wild spirit a bit. Today I'm returning to the drawing board, literally, and working out the measured drawings I should have made and been using from the start.

The upside I got to work with my new workshop toys.


A set of real, honest to goodness photography lights. Using them has improved my photography, reduced the amount of photos I take before I have one I like, but significantly increased my set up time for each shot. I'll tell you if you want something you build to take at least twice as long, then pick up a pair of lights and try to photo-document the process. All in all it's a delightful conceit.


The results speak for themselves. Because I'm unhappy with the prototype I can't use these photos for much else, but the practice I received taking them paid for the experience.







Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf

Eventually, in every person’s lifetime, there comes a point when you just know that the time has come to pick up and move on. When you move out of the family home you grew up in, there is always some sadness that you’re leaving something behind that you’ve spent so many years and made so many memories with. But at the same time you’re excited for what the future may hold. So it is with the Logan Cabinet Shoppe.

I have really given this a lot of thought over the last several months and, with mixed feelings, I have decided to shut down a large portion of the web site. This has been in the making for some time now, though I have made some feeble attempts to delay the inevitable. I did manage, earlier this year, to get back into the shop to create some new content for the podcast. While I have been able to release a few episodes and even teased you all with a possible new Q&A series, I am sad to say that it just hasn’t been a high enough priority for me to continue with it. Anyone who has made even a feeble attempt at putting something like a podcast together will tell you that the time required to put together a single 15-30 minute video can easily be hours and hours and hours of work. Unfortunately, priorities these days just don’t allow for that kind of commitment.

So it is with mixed feelings that I have decided to greatly scale back on the web site. I’m not shutting it down completely as I feel there is way to much work that was put into it and way too much information to just hit the delete key on the whole thing. However, I will be moving away from a self hosted blog and web site and transferring all of the content to a free WordPress.com site, starting immediately. While I won’t be shutting down the blog, all of the other pages of the web site will eventually be removed. I am paid up on the domain and hosting until September, so I’ll likely keep some things up until these services are ready to expire. However, once these services have expired, all that will remain is the blog on the new WordPress.com site. So with that in mind, this will be my last post here on my self hosted installation of the blog. All future posts will be found on the new site at:

http://logancabinetshoppe.wordpress.com

Because the rest of the site will be gone after the hosting/domain services expire, this will result in a few minor inconveniences for the few folks that care.

First, there will no longer be an option to download any of the past podcast episodes. Since the files are hosted on my web site’s servers, once the site is shut down, the video files will go with it. The videos will still be available streaming through the new blog page and through YouTube. However, they will no longer be available for download. So if you would like to download your own personal copies of the files, you will want to do so before the site shutdown later this year.

Second, there will no longer be a page for hand saw sharpening services. Once the web site has been shut down, I will no longer be offering this service. I have decided that I will continue to offer it for a bit longer, but I honestly don’t know how much longer. For those of you who have already emailed me about getting saws done, not to worry. I am still happy to take care of the saws we have already spoken about.

Third, the podcast archive pages will be going away. I don’t know how many people actually use these pages anyway, and it’s actually easier to just filter the blog to the Podcast category and you’ll have all of them right there.

Finally, the feeds will be different for the new blog content. The easiest way for you to update your feeds will be to go to the new blog page at http://logancabinetshoppe.wordpress.com and click the new feeds in the sidebar. If you are already subscribed to the FeedBurner feed, you don’t have to do anything, your feed will automatically be updated. If you are currently subscribed to the rss feed that comes directly from WordPress, you will need to update your feed if you care to receive future updates. If you are subscribed by email, you’ll also have to re-sign up at the new blog page if you are still interested in following. The iTunes feed will not be available moving forward, but there won’t be much in the way of video content so the iTunes feed is more or less irrelevant anyway.

In terms of future content, I do plan to continue to write from time to time. It is primarily the video content that will not be continuing. And if I do get the rare opportunity to do a short video here or there, it will show up on the new blog page and the YouTube channel.

So thanks for all of your support, kind feedback and encouragement over the years. You all were the ones that made the podcast as successful as it was.

Happy woodworking!

Went last year, it was awesome!

We’re giving away some tools! Since we love the craft of fine woodworking, we want to share the love with our customers. To do this, Highland Woodworking is giving away 3 of our most popular Lie-Nielsen tools, plus the highly-rated Tormek T-7 Wet Grinder Sharpening System to one lucky customer.

Lie Nielsen – Tormek Giveaway includes:

# 60-1/2 Low Angle Adjustable Mouth Block Plane 
# 62 Low Angle Jack Plane
Ductile Iron Bench Holdfast 
Tormek T-7 Wet Grinder Sharpening System 

TOTAL VALUE of the Lie-Nielsen – Tormek Giveaway is $1099.

To enter CLICK HERE

To find out the rules and more information about the contest CLICK HERE

Contest Ends Noon Eastern Time on Tuesday, July 15th, 2014

The post Lie-Nielsen – Tormek Sweepstakes appeared first on Woodworking Blog.

With humble delight I am able to announce the exhibit “The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley” accompanying my now-in-progress book “Virtuoso” from Lost Art Press.   My thanks to the owner of the incomparable tool cabinet and work bench for his generosity in sharing these treasures with us cannot be fully expressed.

For the first time in history (and perhaps the last) the incomparable tool cabinet AND its companion workbench, which has never before been seen by the public, will be available for viewing in an intimate exhibit that will be an amazing experience for all Studley Tool Chest aficionados and anyone who cares about brilliant design and skillful craftsmanship.

This three-day-only exhibit will be at the Scottish Rite Temple of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May 15-17, 2015.  The admission for this once-in-a-lifetime event with a unique  visitor’s experience will be $25.  The number of tickets available will be restricted by the logistics of the schedule and the venue.

As additional details are known they will be posted both here at www.donsbarn.com and over a new dedicated site for the exhibit, www.studleytoolchest.com (that site is already loaded with a ton of information).  The schedule and location of this event coincides with the nearby Handworks, so you are bound to risk tool ecstasy overload for one glorious weekend in eastern Iowa next spring.

I hope this explains some of my gaps in blogging, and will reveal the full plate I have facing me now.  Roubo 2.  Studley book.  Studley exhibit.  Recovering from the carnage of winter on the homestead.  Developing and distributing traditional finishing materials.  Yup, pretty full.

No matter what medium I am working – I love creating.

I especially enjoy things like woodworking and illustrating, because they are tangible and obvious. The plane takes a shaving. The pen leaves a line. You see everything you do, as you are doing it. Even when I’m doing graphic design in software where my tools are a mouse, and the arrow at its command, I get to see what I am doing and how it’s affecting the project.

Then there is the dark side of design work – namely the backend of websites, and their vast underworld that is code. It’s not something I particularly enjoy, but like sanding it is a necessary aspect of a project. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had times where code and I had fun together, but tonight I’m sitting in the aftermath of a 72-hour ordeal that’s left me worn and temporarily jaded.

This adventure actually began last month. After going live last summer, this website was stout and dependable. Sure there were a few tweaks here and there, and some added security as news of increased hacking activity spread last fall.

Then last month we started having issues with the server that hosts the website getting hung up on Apache scripts, causing the site to not load (believe me, you do not want me to explain that – unless you’re having trouble sleeping). After chasing that problem for several weeks and working with various support specialists at our hosting company, they finally moved everything to a new server and all seemed well – until Sunday evening.

As my family was finishing Easter dinner, I saw an email from Don pop up on my phone. The site wouldn’t load again, and this time there were two words you never want to see – fatal error.

Long story short, the problem that eluded us was ironically caused by that added security I mentioned. Last month’s update had a bad line of code, and it was not playing nice with others. To assure that the issues were completely eradicated, a colleague and I spent the last 72 hours rebuilding the website.

It is now running strong, and even faster than before. I’ll be doing better tomorrow too, as I’m putting down the mouse for the rest of the week – and picking up a plane.

Jason Weaver is the webmaster for the Barn on White Run. He is a graphic designer, woodworker and pastor, in Topeka, Kansas.

Chairmaker Caleb James shared this amazing video on how skilled joiners used to construct sash windows. I loved it so much that I want to share it with my readers! So what did you think?

Source:

www.arnoldzlotofftoolmuseum.com

The beautiful traditional art of joinery, brought to life in the construction of a sash window frame from raw pine boards through completion using only hand tools.

Commissioned by the Arnold Zlotoff Tool Museum in South Hero, VT and featuring joiner Ted Ingraham.

Over the Easter weekend, my wife and I went out to Mid-Missouri for the holiday and to celebrate the significant birthday of a family member. I didn’t grow up in Missouri. My family moved there (via Denver) after I left for college. So, it’s not like going home when we visit. It’s just a nice, small Mid-Western town with no memories or emotional attachments. There was enough family coming to town that we had to stay at a hotel. What a shame.

On Saturday, my wife and I were looking for something to do to avoid the inevitable family drama. Been there, done that. Looking at a list of nearby towns, we settled on a road trip to Hermann, MO. It has antiques, museums, historic houses and food. And wineries. In Missouri! Who knew.

Hermann was founded 1837 by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia to support the “almost utopian goals of a “heart of German-America” where it could perpetuate traditional German culture and establish a self-supporting colony built around farming, commerce, and industry.”

We visited the Historic Hermann Museum. It had a nice collection of antiques and other artifacts. One of the more interesting things there was this adjustable school chair and desk:

Unique adjustable seat:

We then went and sampled some of the many local antiques shops. Nothing too spectacular but a nice assortment of furniture you would expect to see in a Mid-Western town. Much of the furniture is oak and made in the late 19th century. There are a few older piece just to keep things interesting.

One of my favorites was this chest with a single small drawer on the top. I couldn’t get better picture because the shop owner and her friends kept congregating around it. Hard to ask them to move.

More stuff to see. Click HERE to see the rest of the photo set.

Now that Roubo 2 is winging its way to the desktops of the LAP magicians I wanted to take a minute to reprise our work thus far.  That 5-inch thick stack of folders next to my laptop is the version Chris Schwarz will be working his way through in the coming days.  Yes, it really is that big.

I hope to have a bound version of the submitted draft at the local chapter meetings of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers the next two Saturdays; the Virginia Chapter is meeting at the Leesburg, Virginia, the following Saturday is the Chesapeake Chapter at the Woodworker’s Club in Rockville, Maryland.

Even before Roubo on Marquetry was in the production pipeline in early 2013, we were hard at work on Roubo on Furniture Making.  By May of 2011 we began assembling translated sections, with editing and rewriting as time allowed.  Now we find ourselves on the cusp of the editorial phase, and for an abbreviated peek behind the curtain, here are the innings of labor for a project like this.

1st Inning – Michele creates a transliteration from the original text.

2nd Inning – Don chops up all the Plates into individual figures and plugs them into the transliteration; Don engages in in-depth review, editing, and rewriting of the transliteration to make it comprehensible to a contemporary world

3rd Inning – Philippe and Michele review Don’s edits and returns the sections to Don with copious edit tracking

4th Inning – Don reviews the edits and incorporates them into the manuscript, then forwards it on to external readers

5th Inning – Don and Michele sit together at the dining table and Don reads sections aloud while Michele follows along in the original French.  These sessions, usually four hours because that is all the longer I can read out loud, have been astonishingly helpful in catching typesetting errors, syntax, word choice, and overall literary flow.

6th Inning – Don revises the manuscript sections based on the notes from our read-out-loud sessions combined with any comments from the outside readers, and sends them along to Lost Art Press

7th Inning -  Lost Art Press edits the thing; Don reviews the edits

8th Inning  – Wesley designs the books, Don reviews the galley proofs

9th Inning – the book gets manufatured and distributed

And that is where we are right now only thirty-six short months since beginning in earnest, in the bottom of the sixth.

Go ahead, write a book.  I dare you.

 

In a foolish move executed to save $150 or so on my kitchen rehab, I initially purchased hinges and pulls from a mass-market supplier. Upon receiving that package, I opened it, and sighed over the fake screw heads on the bin pulls and the altogether lightweight feel of the pieces. I tried to convince myself that, for a house I’m planning to sell, it was silly to spend the extra […]

The post Too Much Work for Quotidian Hardware appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In the good old days grinders would sit for 8-10 hours a day straddling a 4 foot diameter solid sandstone grinding wheel spinning at a surface speed of about 60 miles per hour. While wheel explosions were rare, early death from silicosis wasn't. It was a known occupational hazard, but in return for pretty good wages a grinder ran a known risk of early death, and at the very least some respiratory problems. Fortunately for the edge tool industry, most people don't think long term and there was no shortage of apprentice grinders.

Fast forward 150 years to present day Brooklyn. In the Gramercy Tools workshop we do what some might consider an excessive amount of hand filing. We hand sharpen all our saws, and used to file every last decorative detail on the Kings County Hammers. We do/did it that way because it's traditional, we love the old ways, and honestly the results speak for themselves. However in both cases we have found the learning curve for filers to be high and the people who have the skill for the work don't want to do it day in and day out - no matter the pay.

Nearly all of our top filers have experienced hand/elbow/wrist problems at one time or another. It's not the sort of thing that makes us feel good about hand work. Part of the issue is that we've grown. We simply make more saws now than ever before. In addition the files that are available today are of a significantly worse quality than a few years ago, and don't remove material as quickly. So, we have to file more. This raises our cost and in general makes it more work to get a consistent product we are proud of.

The issues raised by repetitive stress injury caused by following traditional manufacturing methods are substantial, and increasingly relevant as we see more and more folks interested in returning to traditional methods of manufacturing. Is grinding without proper dust collection "old timey" or simply stupid? Is repetitive stress injury an acceptable by-product of a world class saw or hammer? In both cases the answer is obvious. No product is worth endangering the well being of an employee, after all it's no longer the "good" old days.

As we see it a responsible company has the following possible solutions:
Stop making hand filed products.
Drastically reduce per filer-workload and raise prices accordingly.
Outsource the work so that it becomes someone else's problem.
Automate portions of our process, reducing the necessary hand work.

We are highly invested in growing as a company, in maintaining our reputation for the highest quality, and in the health and well being of our employees. For that reason we felt that automation is the only way forward.

With the Kings Country Hammers the reason we were hand filing the decoration was that our CNC Machine shop, whom we've worked with for years, didn't think they could machine the details - even if cost wasn't an issue. The slight asymmetry of the decoration (which makes it look right to the human eye) makes for exceptionally complicated cutter paths, fragile cutter geometries, and several tooling changes, not to mention complicated fixturing.

After the first batch of hammers were hand filed, we threw down the gauntlet, and asked the crew over at the machine shop to try again. It took them about a month to get back to us, and the conversation started out - I think we got it, but you're not going to like the cost.

But it wasn't the cost that was the big surprise - well not exactly. The HUGE surprise, was that our hammers cost as much to produce on a CNC mill as they do with a hand file. Almost to the dollar.

So the New Kings Country Hammers have decoration done entirely by CNC. We touch up the decoration after polishing if need be, but that's the only time they see the business end of a file. And were glad to say, that using CNC gives us a crisper. more consistent look, with a lot less wear and tear on our staff.

So what does this all mean? Are we giving in to computers and machines? We don't think so, to us, it feels a lot like pulling our head out of the sand. There will always be processes that require hand work. For instance, each hammer head still undergoes extensive hand processing. From patina, to differential tempering over a flame, to mirror polishing, and grinding, there is a ton of hand work in the New Kings County Hammer. What there isn't is the sinking feeling that we're asking the guys and gals in our shop to do something that could lead to injury. And we've also steadfastly kept production local, and in the hands of craftsmen and women who take pride in producing top quality work. The end result is a better product than we had before without the dumbing down of the design that automation sometimes brings. I think this combined result of hand and CNC puts us squarely in the modern craft tradition - one that dates back to tilt hammers and Jacquard looms.

Producing the Kings County Hammer has taught us a lot - and raised some very interesting questions for anyone engaged in craftsmanship at a high level. We've explored these issues before on this blog, most notably when I talked about our saw handles. We are firm believers, that tradition has shown that progress is a good thing. Gramercy Tools never has and never will make replicas, or period correct tools. It will continue to produce tools, and upgrade its production processes in such a way that the tool you buy tomorrow is a better tool than you can buy today, not only in its function, but in its form, and manufacture.

As of this writing I am working on motion control software to help us file saws. We plan to do the rough tooth forming on custom automated machinery that we are building and programming ourselves. Kris, our head saw filer, is counting the minutes - but it's not because a machine is about to take his job. It's because, it's a waste of his time to do anything but the final hand sharpening. Just about everyone agrees that hand filing produces a better saw than machine filing and our competitors seem to agree. They all either machine file to save money, or machine file then hand file over it. We have added a few programming tricks but the real test is coming.

"The Turing Test" Proposed by mathematician Alan Turing was an idea to place a human and a computer behind a screen and have people ask questions of them. If the audience couldn't tell which was the machine and which was the human, then we can say artificial intelligence works. Once our new system gets operational, we plan to have a little test - We call it "The Tim Test". We take two saws, one totally hand filed, one filed by machine with final sharpening done by hand. If Tim Corbett, our head designer or anyone else can't tell which is which - then we know we have something we can offer the public. Otherwise - it's back to the drawing board.

The new larger 9oz Kings County Hammers will be available again in limited starting this Friday. We currently have a few of the the small hand filed hammers in stock but we have no plans to reintroduce the smaller size when we run out.

In the good old days grinders would sit for 8-10 hours a day straddling a 4 foot diameter solid sandstone grinding wheel spinning at a surface speed of about 60 miles per hour. While wheel explosions were rare, early death from silicosis wasn't. It was a known occupational hazard, but in return for pretty good wages a grinder ran a known risk of early death, and at the very least some respiratory problems. Fortunately for the edge tool industry, most people don't think long term and there was no shortage of apprentice grinders.

Fast forward 150 years to present day Brooklyn. In the Gramercy Tools workshop we do what some might consider an excessive amount of hand filing. We hand sharpen all our saws, and used to file every last decorative detail on the Kings County Hammers. We do/did it that way because it's traditional, we love the old ways, and honestly the results speak for themselves. However in both cases we have found the learning curve for filers to be high and the people who have the skill for the work don't want to do it day in and day out - no matter the pay.

Nearly all of our top filers have experienced hand/elbow/wrist problems at one time or another. It's not the sort of thing that makes us feel good about hand work. Part of the issue is that we've grown. We simply make more saws now than ever before. In addition the files that are available today are of a significantly worse quality than a few years ago, and don't remove material as quickly. So, we have to file more. This raises our cost and in general makes it more work to get a consistent product we are proud of.

The issues raised by repetitive stress injury caused by following traditional manufacturing methods are substantial, and increasingly relevant as we see more and more folks interested in returning to traditional methods of manufacturing. Is grinding without proper dust collection "old timey" or simply stupid? Is repetitive stress injury an acceptable by-product of a world class saw or hammer? In both cases the answer is obvious. No product is worth endangering the well being of an employee, after all it's no longer the "good" old days.

As we see it a responsible company has the following possible solutions:
Stop making hand filed products.
Drastically reduce per filer-workload and raise prices accordingly.
Outsource the work so that it becomes someone else's problem.
Automate portions of our process, reducing the necessary hand work.

We are highly invested in growing as a company, in maintaining our reputation for the highest quality, and in the health and well being of our employees. For that reason we felt that automation is the only way forward.

With the Kings Country Hammers the reason we were hand filing the decoration was that our CNC Machine shop, whom we've worked with for years, didn't think they could machine the details - even if cost wasn't an issue. The slight asymmetry of the decoration (which makes it look right to the human eye) makes for exceptionally complicated cutter paths, fragile cutter geometries, and several tooling changes, not to mention complicated fixturing.

After the first batch of hammers were hand filed, we threw down the gauntlet, and asked the crew over at the machine shop to try again. It took them about a month to get back to us, and the conversation started out - I think we got it, but you're not going to like the cost.

But it wasn't the cost that was the big surprise - well not exactly. The HUGE surprise, was that our hammers cost as much to produce on a CNC mill as they do with a hand file. Almost to the dollar.

So the New Kings Country Hammers have decoration done entirely by CNC. We touch up the decoration after polishing if need be, but that's the only time they see the business end of a file. And were glad to say, that using CNC gives us a crisper. more consistent look, with a lot less wear and tear on our staff.

So what does this all mean? Are we giving in to computers and machines? We don't think so, to us, it feels a lot like pulling our head out of the sand. There will always be processes that require hand work. For instance, each hammer head still undergoes extensive hand processing. From patina, to differential tempering over a flame, to mirror polishing, and grinding, there is a ton of hand work in the New Kings County Hammer. What there isn't is the sinking feeling that we're asking the guys and gals in our shop to do something that could lead to injury. And we've also steadfastly kept production local, and in the hands of craftsmen and women who take pride in producing top quality work. The end result is a better product than we had before without the dumbing down of the design that automation sometimes brings. I think this combined result of hand and CNC puts us squarely in the modern craft tradition - one that dates back to tilt hammers and Jacquard looms.

Producing the Kings County Hammer has taught us a lot - and raised some very interesting questions for anyone engaged in craftsmanship at a high level. We've explored these issues before on this blog, most notably when I talked about our saw handles. We are firm believers, that tradition has shown that progress is a good thing. Gramercy Tools never has and never will make replicas, or period correct tools. It will continue to produce tools, and upgrade its production processes in such a way that the tool you buy tomorrow is a better tool than you can buy today, not only in its function, but in its form, and manufacture.

As of this writing I am working on motion control software to help us file saws. We plan to do the rough tooth forming on custom automated machinery that we are building and programming ourselves. Kris, our head saw filer, is counting the minutes - but it's not because a machine is about to take his job. It's because, it's a waste of his time to do anything but the final hand sharpening. Just about everyone agrees that hand filing produces a better saw than machine filing and our competitors seem to agree. They all either machine file to save money, or machine file then hand file over it. We have added a few programming tricks but the real test is coming.

"The Turing Test" Proposed by mathematician Alan Turing was an idea to place a human and a computer behind a screen and have people ask questions of them. If the audience couldn't tell which was the machine and which was the human, then we can say artificial intelligence works. Once our new system gets operational, we plan to have a little test - We call it "The Tim Test". We take two saws, one totally hand filed, one filed by machine with final sharpening done by hand. If Tim Corbett, our head designer or anyone else can't tell which is which - then we know we have something we can offer the public. Otherwise - it's back to the drawing board.

The new larger 9oz Kings County Hammers will be available again in limited starting this Friday. We currently have a few of the the small hand filed hammers in stock but we have no plans to reintroduce the smaller size when we run out.

As far as the world of written woodworking is concerned, I am probably considered little more than a foul-mouthed thug from the inner city. There was a time when I would have hidden from my past in that regard, but now I embrace it-not so much proudly-but just as an indisputable fact of my existence. But like the would-be gentleman paupers of old, I’ve spent much of my life in an effort to improve myself, with some success. I was an intelligent kid and a good student, and I worked hard to increase my intelligence and knowledge of the world around me. It was not my station in life to study among the great minds of our time, and sit through the lectures of angry geniuses gifting the lesser minds scattered about them with their teachings. I went my own way, reading from my own version of “The Harvard Classics” which has left me with a somewhat incomplete but interesting collection of knowledge.

Part of my self-education was music. Like most kids from my generation, I was introduced to classical music not by my parents, but by watching the Loony Tunes, as my parents were fans of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, et al. As I got older I broke away from my parents tastes in music and became a fan of the popular music of the day. Still, good music transcends the generations, and like most teenagers I had delusions of rock stardom, so I took music lessons, guitar and piano to be precise, and during those lessons I was introduced to a wide range of musical forms. Later in life, I decided that I wanted to teach music and took classes in college to attain that goal. College music theory courses consist mainly of jazz and classical. Why? Probably in order to teach the two basic theories of harmony: diatonic and chromatic. During that time I acquired a decent collection of music and music books, and once the new-fangled iPod became available I uploaded a good portion of that music to the player. I now have more than 1000 songs on my iPod, and I’ve found that truly enjoy listening to music while I woodwork.

So what type of music do I listen to while woodworking? Everything. My player goes from modern to classic rock, country, classical, jazz, film scores, rap, blues, folk and pop. If you happened to stumble by my garage while I was woodworking you may hear ‘Water Music Suite No. 2 in D major’ followed by ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’. No, my music tastes aren’t “eclectic”. Because I’m a Cretan thug I don’t like the word “eclectic.” People who use that word really aren’t “eclectic” at all. Good music is good music; period, and I don’t care what “genre” it’s a part of.

But if I had to pick one genre of music to listen to while woodworking what would it be? I have to say that it would be Classical. I like to woodwork early in the morning, and Classical seems to be a lot easier to digest at 7 a.m. than your typical Black Sabbath song. Don’t get me wrong, I can stomach a little ‘War Pigs’ cranked up to ear-splitting levels at sunrise, but I don’t think anybody else in my house could. Still, if a foul-mouthed, vitriolic hooligan like myself can appreciate a little Chopin while woodworking, then maybe the rest of my journalist degree lacking, uncouth, unrefined, unholy, insincere, inconsiderate, and obnoxious woodworking cronies can too.

As far as the world of written woodworking is concerned, I am probably considered little more than a foul-mouthed thug from the inner city. There was a time when I would have hidden from my past in that regard, but now I embrace it-not so much proudly-but just as an indisputable fact of my existence. But like the would-be gentleman paupers of old, I’ve spent much of my life in an effort to improve myself, with some success. I was an intelligent kid and a good student, and I worked hard to increase my intelligence and knowledge of the world around me. It was not my station in life to study among the great minds of our time, and sit through the lectures of angry geniuses gifting the lesser minds scattered about them with their teachings. I went my own way, reading from my own version of “The Harvard Classics” which has left me with a somewhat incomplete but interesting collection of knowledge.

Part of my self-education was music. Like most kids from my generation, I was introduced to classical music not by my parents, but by watching the Loony Tunes, as my parents were fans of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, et al. As I got older I broke away from my parents tastes in music and became a fan of the popular music of the day. Still, good music transcends the generations, and like most teenagers I had delusions of rock stardom, so I took music lessons, guitar and piano to be precise, and during those lessons I was introduced to a wide range of musical forms. Later in life, I decided that I wanted to teach music and took classes in college to attain that goal. College music theory courses consist mainly of jazz and classical. Why? Probably in order to teach the two basic theories of harmony: diatonic and chromatic. During that time I acquired a decent collection of music and music books, and once the new-fangled iPod became available I uploaded a good portion of that music to the player. I now have more than 1000 songs on my iPod, and I’ve found that truly enjoy listening to music while I woodwork.

So what type of music do I listen to while woodworking? Everything. My player goes from modern to classic rock, country, classical, jazz, film scores, rap, blues, folk and pop. If you happened to stumble by my garage while I was woodworking you may hear ‘Water Music Suite No. 2 in D major’ followed by ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’. No, my music tastes aren’t “eclectic”. Because I’m a Cretan thug I don’t like the word “eclectic.” People who use that word really aren’t “eclectic” at all. Good music is good music; period, and I don’t care what “genre” it’s a part of.

But if I had to pick one genre of music to listen to while woodworking what would it be? I have to say that it would be Classical. I like to woodwork early in the morning, and Classical seems to be a lot easier to digest at 7 a.m. than your typical Black Sabbath song. Don’t get me wrong, I can stomach a little ‘War Pigs’ cranked up to ear-splitting levels at sunrise, but I don’t think anybody else in my house could. Still, if a foul-mouthed, vitriolic hooligan like myself can appreciate a little Chopin while woodworking, then maybe the rest of my journalist degree lacking, uncouth, unrefined, unholy, insincere, inconsiderate, and obnoxious woodworking cronies can too.

Today, April 22nd, 2014, is Earth Day, a globally recognized day of support for environmental protection. As woodworkers, there are many ways in which we can help contribute to environmental awareness, and one of these ways is how we use and recycle wood finishes. Alan Noel shares his environment-saving (and money-saving) finishing tips in this classic Wood News article.

Click here to read Alan’s article on ‘Saving Money (and the Environment)

What are ways in which you are helping to contribute?

The post Celebrating Earth Day with Some Environmentally Friendly Finishing Tips! appeared first on Woodworking Blog.

Working on projects with stump feet is fun. One thing you have to remember is how to handle end-grain feet on a floor. If you just leave them come straight down to the floor, you run the risk of continual tear-out. The easiest way to eliminate the problem is to plane a little chamfer around the foot. This ensure the outermost fibers that are rubbing against the floor are being […]

The post Taming Tear-out Tuesday appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

VIDEO 15/15 of Joshua Farnsworth’s free hand cut dovetail video series shows how to finish the dovetail box carcass by gluing and clamping the tail board and pin boards together.

This is a very detailed tutorial designed to teach beginners how to become expert at dovetailing by hand. It is offered as a free resource to encourage the revival of traditional woodworking.

This detailed video series was inspired by a 5 day class that I took from Roy Underhill and Bill Anderson: world-renowned experts on traditional woodworking with hand tools.

Which traditional hand tools should you buy?

If you need advice on which hand tools to buy (and not buy), then definitely read my 13 category buying guide article: “Which Hand Tools Do You need for Traditional Woodworking?”

Shortcuts to Dovetail Videos 1-15:

• Part 1: “Arrange the Boards & Mark the Reference Faces”
• Part 2: “Square the Board Ends”
• Part 3: “Prepare the Layout”
• Part 4: “Lay out the Half Pins”
• Part 5: “Layout the Tails”
• Part 6: “Mark the Tail Angles”
• Part 7: “Cut the Tails”
• Part 8: “Remove the Tail Waste”
• Part 9: “Clean the Tails”
• Part 10: “Layout the Pins”
• Part 11: “Cut the Pins”
• Part 12: “Remove the Pin Waste”
• Part 13: “Clean the Pins”
• Part 14: “Join the Pins & Tails”
• Part 15: “Glue & Clamp the Dovetails”

I found this box at an antiques extravaganza in Charlotte, NC., a semi-annual thing. They have monthly shows but only the extravaganzas are worth the drive.

I liked the box and found it interesting. I walked away from it initially and only came back for it as I was leaving. What bothered me was that I couldn’t be sure is was actually a genuine antique or an “antique” just off the boat from Indonesia or Mexico.

So, I leave it up to you, my faithful readers. I seek your opinion as to whether it is old and then if it is an import. Someone out there must have a clue or some actual knowledge.

And this is the box:

And here is a close-up of the corner and a foot.

Click HERE to see the full set of box images.

I didn’t pay a lot for it. But I do like it.

 

Although I can recite my travel schedule like Rain Man, fat lot of good that does folks out there looking for it written down. so now, 4 months late, I have updated the list. here’s the link, in case you’re looking for something to do.

http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2014-workshop-schedule/

 

If you want to skip the details, here’s the Readers’ Digest version

Apr – Rochester Woodworker’s Society

May – Lie Nielsen – spoon carving

June – SAPFM mid-year lecture/demo

June – Historic New England, lecture/demo

July – Lie-Nielsen Open House

July – Lie-Nielsen 17th-century carving

Aug – Woodwright’s School, make a joined chest

Sep – Heartwood (MA) – make a carved box

Oct – Lie-Nielsen – Spoon carving

Oct – Ct Valley School of Wood Working – Make a carved frame & panel.

 

Like the hair on the heads of most of my co-workers, or a fine strand of gossamer, or perhaps the skin of many woodworking writers, my time spent woodworking lately has been very thin. Why? First off, I just haven’t felt all that great to be honest. I’m hoping it’s nothing, but in any event it was enough to keep me grounded for a week or so. Secondly, with the Easter holiday just passing we had a fairly busy week around the house, not only visiting our relatives, but also having much of the family over visiting us. Still, I did manage to get some work done on my plant stand here and there on Saturday morning, and at that I got a good amount accomplished.

Last week I had milled the stock and finished the top, so next on the agenda was chopping the mortises, and I decided to chop out the mortises for the bottom stretchers first. It’s been months since I chopped any mortises, so I felt that starting at the least visible portion would be the smart thing to do. Each leg has two ¼” mortises, which are intersecting. Intersecting mortises are theoretically easier to chop by hand because if you chop them plumb and square, you automatically will have a flat bottom for each side by virtue of the intersection. The job wasn’t difficult; I had sharpened my mortising chisel last week so it was fully ready to go, and the Fir legs of the soon to be plant stand work easy enough. I didn’t use a mortising machine because I don’t own one and I never really had the desire to, though in this case I wouldn’t have minded. It took around an hour of work to get the bottom eight mortises finished, along with the fine tuning done with a regular chisel. I guess I could have used the router table, but they don’t do all that great a job with mortising in my opinion. I don’t enjoy repeatedly adjusting the depth of cut as there’s just too much room for error.

Rather than continue in a logical sequence and chop out the top mortises, I decided to fit the tenons for the bottom stretchers instead. At first, I used the shoulder plane, but found that a sharp skew chisel and a bench hook did a much better job. I own two skew chisels, ½” Narex LH and RH. Though I don’t care for the bulky handles all that much, they sharpen nicely and hold a good edge. I think I paid $20 for the pair and they were well worth it. To fit the tenons I took a light pass on the “face side”-meaning the side of the tenons on the visible portion of the stretcher, but I did the bulk of the work on the inside portion of the tenon. I learned that if you are going to make a mistake fitting a tenon, it’s best to do it on the “inside” portion. The job didn’t take long, less than an hour, and I had all eight tenons fitted. Only one tenon, the back right, had a shoulder which was a little off kilter, meaning it had a minor gap. It doesn’t matter though, as it will be covered by the bottom shelf and will be completely invisible.

The last woodworking act of the day was sawing the miters on the edge of each tenon. I used the table saw for that job, as it was faster and more accurate. Once the miters were sawn I did another test fit, and found that the tenons were a hair long. To fix that problem I used the jack plane and bench hook to “shoot” the ends of the miters just enough to nibble off the ends a hair. Strangely enough, I had just mentioned to another woodworker that I very rarely “shoot” boards. Once I had finished that little task I did a final test fit using clamps. The shoulders closed up nicely, but I very well may use dowels to reinforce the joint once it’s together; I’m thinking one 3/8” dowel on each tenon should do the trick.

I’m going to estimate that chopping the mortises for the top and fitting the tenons should also take roughly two hours. After that, I will begin the arduous task of planing and sanding the stand. I am planning on beading the stretchers after the sanding is completed. I’m still on the fence with beading the corners of the legs, though I am 95% sure that I will stick to the bead. I’m thinking that a larger bead may be in order, 3/8″ rather than 1/4″, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, but the toll for the crossing may be the first new router bit I’ve purchased since before I started woodworking.