General Woodworking

As you may have read in the past couple of weeks, I’ve been appointed the incoming editor of American Woodworker magazine – I begin the new position as of March 15. There is a rich history at American Woodworker. During the mid-90s, AW was full of articles from woodworking legends such as Toshio Odate, Frank Klausz, Don Weber, Kelly Mehler, Jim Tolpin, Mike Dunbar, Patrick Spielman, Silas Kopf and many others. As I began woodworking, I picked up a couple of issues at the newsstand. The issue that I remember best is from June 1995 (shown at left). It’s from this issue that I learned about breadboard ends. Almost immediately I signed up for a subscription.

This past week, I had the chance to visit the current headquarters of the magazine in Eagan, Minnesota to talk with and meet the staff that’s keep that magazine rolling in spite of an almost complete lack of corporate backing. (If you’re a current subscriber, you owe a huge thanks to Tom Caspar, Tim Johnson, Brad Holden, Joe Gohman, Jason Zetner and Shelly Jacobsen.) American Woodworker magazine will move its operation to Cincinnati in the coming weeks, although Tom Caspar and Brad Holden will remain in Minnesota and work remotely as editors. Other members of the team are moving on to new opportunities.

(If you’re not a subscriber to AW, may I suggest that you purchase a subscription quickly. Tom and his gang are working on issue #172, and the new regime takes over for the following issue. I can say with great conviction that you won’t want to miss a single issue.)

While in Eagan doing what I needed to do, I walked around the office, workshop and a couple of storage areas to see the operation. On a wall in one area photos – hundreds of photos – are thumb-tacked to the walls. It’s a visual history of American Woodworker magazine. There are, of course, images of projects from the many issues, but what caught my eye were the photos of past authors and woodworkers. There is a young Mike Dunbar shown looking through a couple of squares while handsaws hang on the wall behind him. Another image is of a younger Thomas Moser seated in a Moser-designed rocking chair. There are lots more photos. (Sorry that my photos of the photos are a bit fuzzy.)

Those photos were not the only historical records uncovered. Back in one of those storerooms are box upon box of old American Woodworker magazine files containing scads of original transparencies – how magazine photos were taken prior to digital cameras. Each box held the contents of 10 to 14 issues, and each issue is broken into articles. I was able to find the folders for each of the articles in the issue shown in the opening photo. You talk about history – and memories. I cannot wait to get started. Get your subscription now.

Build Something Great!

Glen

I read a comment on a woodworking forum last night stating: “I wouldn’t take a Sawstop table saw if you gave me one for free!” Or at least that’s what it said in paraphrase. That got me to thinking. If Sawstop offered to give you a free table saw would you take it? No strings attached, no cost, nothing, just a free saw out of the goodness of the company’s heart.
Or lets say you really love your table saw and wouldn’t want to give it up, so Sawstop came up with a free adder to retrofit your current saw with their safety technology free of charge. Would you take that offer? I’m curious to find out the answers here, because there is a lot of backlash against Sawstop and many claim that price has nothing to do with it. So please feel free to comment and let me know what your reasoning is either way. Thanks.

Over the past several months I’ve made fuzzy mention about SketchUp classes for 2014, and I’ve been receiving requests for a schedule. Before I go out on a limb, I’d like to gauge the interest of my audience about class … Continue reading →

This one’s for all the woodworkers who are happy to be on the disavowed list…

Am I the only woodworker that thinks most woodworking plans suck?

Before I start, I will be forthright and admit that I often don’t follow woodworking plans, at least not to the letter. When I start a project, I will usually draw up a rough sketch with the dimensions I am looking to achieve and go from there. However, some of my sketches are not fully original and are sometimes based off pre-existing furniture and/or from already published plans. It is during those moments that having plans with at least some degree of certainty would really come in handy. Unfortunately, most woodworking plans are very, very vague; as in “What?”. Lately, I’ve been looking at and making chests, firstly because Kate Upton is hot, and secondly because I recently made several and my wife wants me to make another. While making a box may sound pretty straightforward, it sometimes can be a little more tricky than would be thought. For instance, attaching a lid to a box is not always easy, or at least not always easy to do it correctly. One plan I looked at for a blanket chest simply said “mortise the back for the hinges and attach the lid when the case dries.” Another plan didn’t even make mention of attaching the lid at all! It just assumed that the reader would figure out a way to do it. I don’t know about any of you, but the reason I subscribe to and read woodworking magazines is to pick up helpful little tips and tricks for performing tasks such as attaching a lid to a blanket chest. No offense, but an article on making a piece of furniture probably should contain information that will actually help you make it.

Am I the only woodworker that thinks the “Roubo” workbench is a huge waste of wood?

My own experiences with workbenches is not all that extensive. I’ve used the benches at the handful of woodworking classes that I took over the past few years, and I’ve messed around with the benches at tool shows and woodworking stores whenever I had the chance. When it came time to make my own bench, I built one based on the “French” workbench. For the record, it’s been a good bench for me, and for a while it was the only frame of reference I had for a bench that was made specifically for woodworking. As far as I was aware, most woodworking benches were similar to my own, and after taking a few classes with benches that were like my home bench, the nature of workbench design was a topic that I stopped giving a lot of thought to. Then, I attended a Lie Nielsen handtool event which for some reason had a Veritas bench present among all of the Lie Nielsen tools. For whatever reason, I went over to the bench with a board, saw, and a hand plane and messed with it for a few minutes. The bench worked just fine, which was surprising to me considering everything I had read about work benches with “thin” tops and legs. The Veritas bench was only half the size of the bench I have at home, yet I noticed no difference in how I used it. It got me to thinking that I could have made a bench similar to the Veritas at home in half the time and using much less wood. Now, the Nicholson, or “English” workbench has been popping up on woodworking blogs and forums and it seems right up my alley. It is easy to construct and uses half the material of a French bench, and from all appearances looks like it would have no problem doing anything that a larger and heavier bench would do. As for lighter benches “jumping around” during use; I just don’t buy it. At 205lbs, I am neither small nor weak, and I’ve never had a bench “jump” while using it unless I purposely made it happen. I think most of those movement claims are very exaggerated. If you are making a 200lb bench move while you are using it, whatever you are doing will also make a 300lb bench move. If you are that worried about your bench moving, stick it on a rubber matt instead of making it a foot thick; you’ll save a lot of time, money, and wood.

Am I the only woodworker that thinks tools are becoming overvalued?

I’ve slowly come to the realization that amateur woodworkers are overvaluing their tools. What do I mean by this? It seems to me that more and more we are being sold on the value of tools; which tools to buy, how to care for them, how to store them etc. and less regard is given to the actual furniture we are making. How many times do you read stories about “the old time craftsman” and how he lovingly stored and protected his tools and passed them on to his son when he retired. Know why he did that? Because his tools were his livelihood. The old time craftsmen sold all of the furniture they made, they didn’t get to keep it and in general they wouldn’t even be able to afford to purchase what they were building. I would bet that if the woodworkers of yesteryear did keep the furniture they made those pieces would have been even more lovingly cared for and passed on from generation to generation than a tool set.
I’m not blameless here; I fell into the same trap; I found myself becoming a tool worshipper and not a furniture maker. Being a tool worshiper doesn’t mean you have a lot of expensive tools or even a lot cheap ones. A tool worshipper woodworks to use tools, not build furniture. A tool worshipper worries much more about the sharpness of his chisels than the usefulness of his current project. A tool worshiper spends more time on his tools than he does on projects, period. Like I said earlier, look at the plans in a woodworking magazine; they are often afterthoughts, but an article on sharpening a saw will have a dozen detailed photos and drawings of the process.
I’m not trying to undervalue tools, but I am trying to put more value on what I make. I woodwork to make things, not play with tools. Don’t get me wrong, I like tools, I enjoy owning them and caring for them, but I like making things more. At that, I say own as many tools as you can afford and use them all, just try to remember why you have them. I’m not trying to tell anybody what to do here; do whatever you like. But I want to make furniture.

To see Day 1 of the class, Build a Continuous Arm Windsor Chair with Peter Galbert, CLICK HERE

DAY 2:

DAY 3:

Using angled mirrors (no smoke!) and reference guides set with the correct angles the student is able to drill the holes in the seat blank at the correct splay and rake needed for the chair to sit as designed:

DAY 4:

With scorp, travisher, drawknife and spokeshave, the shield-style shaped chair bottom is sculptued forth.  The seat is scooped out with the scorp and travisher and the unique outside shield pattern is created with the drawknife and spokeshave:

The post Build a Continuous Arm Windsor Chair with Peter Galbert – Days 2, 3, and 4 appeared first on Woodworking Blog.

Another 1-to-1 spoon carving day, this time with Dan Lawrence who I’ve watched developing his skills over the last few years and is now aiming to make his living from greenwood carving. He came on my short course at Spoonfest … Continue reading →

I keep thinking about Richard Nixon. I don’t want to, but it happens. Remember when he famously stated “I’m not a crook.”? Well, of course he was lying…

but I have  been splitting & hewing crooks into spoons lately. Right after that cherry haul (and another cherry haul) I got 2 small piles of birch.

Most of these are just one spoon in each bend; there’s knots underneath the crook. splitting them is a combination of froe & hatchet work.

 

 

Then I start in hewing to begin to “see” the eventual shape.

 

Placement of the bowl is the hardest part to wrap your head around. The mistake I usually make is to place it too far forward. Here you see how the bottom of the bowl flows along the curved grain.

 

Then it’s back to more axe work. The more you take off here, the easier life is later.

 

Megan Fitzpatrick swiped a photo of mine from last time; here’s her teaser about an article I did for Popular Woodworking:

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/editors-blog/spoon-carving-next-hot-thing

 

 

I’ve studied furniture from the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries for decades and done my fair share of inlay (the table leg to the left is an example). When the talk around the office this week turned to Rob Millard’s much-anticipated DVD, “Marquetry, Veneer & Inlay for Furniture Makers” (buy your copy here), it brought up memories for me of Woodworking in America conferences past (learn more about WIA here…OK, […]

The post Inlay & Marquetry & Bandings, Oh My appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I was back in the shop the other night, boxing up the Adria dovetail saw to go to its new owner… (That’s right; you gotta be fast around here! If you hear me say something is for sale, and you’re interested in it, speak up quickly!) … when Finley came down again, wearing his slide-on […]

Last fall the good folks at Popular Woodworking very kindly asked to adapt and re-publish  an essay I wrote for To Make As Perfectly As Possible: Roubo On Marquetry, which they titled Hammer Veneering.  It came out a couple of issues ago but I got distracted and forgot to put it here also.

Here it is.

Last month (February) was a rough one for me. The temperature rarely made it above freezing, and I missed six days of work because of illness, and when you add in another three missed days because of snow you get a lot of missed time. A lot of missed time means a lot of missed money, and a lot of missed money means very little woodworking. At the moment, I cannot afford to purchase any material, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t be woodworking in the near future. I have some rough sawn Walnut that’s been waiting in my garage for some time to be planed down and made into something. I have a surface planer, but I try not to use it in the house because of the noise and dust. The problem is my lawn has been covered in snow for three months, and I don’t plan on running my surface planer while standing in nine inches of slush. Call me a puss, but I don’t fancy getting shocked. I’ve been doing electrical work for a long time, and nowhere does it recommend running a motor while standing in water, GFI protection or no. Still, there are a few things I need to do this weekend to get ready for woodworking season.

The first thing I need to do is flatten my workbench top. I don’t worry about workbench flatness all that much, but mine is in pretty sorry shape. I noticed it when I set the tool box on the bench top last week and it started to wobble. I checked it with a piece of angle iron and it has a pronounced crown, but I can fix that pretty easily. I also need to add some more dog holes for my holdfasts, currently the bench has only four and I would like to add four more. I also need to add the base for my Kreg Clamp. I have a Kreg Clamp and I love it. It’s made by Kreg, the destroyer of traditional woodworking. Kreg: the company that makes everything too easy. I love the thing. It’s not as versatile as holdfasts because it needs to have a base recessed into the bench top, but it does a great job of holding whatever is clamped into it. I will then do a little more sharpening because it’s “a gateway skill!” Well, I don’t like buzzwords, and I think that much of the time they are used by one person repeating another person because it’s easier to do that than to think for yourself. I sharpen my stuff because if it’s not sharp it doesn’t work, and if you need somebody to tell you that then it’s quite possible that woodworking may not be something you want to do.

Lastly, the toy chest I made last fall developed some cracks. I knew it was going to shrink a little, but I didn’t expect it to split the way it did. It didn’t split at the joints, but across the entire length. I made it from Pine that probably needed to dry a little more, and when the temperature dropped in a hurry and stayed that way it was too much for the wood to handle. I’m still going to keep it for now because it’s in no danger of falling apart. At the same time, once I get a replacement chest started I’m going to cut it up and see if I can reuse some of the wood. I didn’t finish it except for some wax, so I may be able to get some useful boards out of it.

So all in all it was a rough winter. I have no money, little material, it’s still frigid outside, and it doesn’t look like things will be improving any time soon. After all of this I’m thinking of converting to Anarchy after all. From where I’m sitting, they have all the wood, all the tools, and all the money.

CLICK HERE to read Part 1 of Lee Laird’s Wooden Square Build.

Now that we’ve created a perfectly fitting half-lap joint, let’s move on.

First we’ll address the shaping of each leg, at the opposite end from the half-lap joints. On my design, I measure from the outside edge of each leg, and mark it at 1/2”. Using a marking gauge, start at this point and mark down the leg about 1 1/2”. Using a small square, draw a line from the last mark, approximately ¼” towards the inside edge of the legs. This is laying out the flat between the two curves that are on the end of the legs. From this line drawn across the leg, measure down an additional 1 ½” and make a small pencil mark on the inside corner of the leg. Take your pencil and draw a curve from the outside corner of the end of the leg, to the outside most portion of the line across the board. This curve should bulge towards the inside edge of the board. The second curve is drawn from the pencil mark on the inside corner of the leg, back to the square line across the board, but meet at the portion closer to the inside edge of the board. The second curve’s bulge is towards the outside edge of the board, or the opposite from the first curve.

The first cut to make is from the inside edge of the board, along the square line you drew. This makes it easier to cut the curve at the end of the board, and not need to back out after reaching the end of the cut. Next cut the remaining curve from the inside edge of the board. You can make the curved cuts with a band saw, a coping saw or any tool you have that you feel comfortable using. Since I planned to make multiple squares, I made a small wooden template for this double-curved section as well as the upcoming ogee. The ogee template is something I might make, even if I was only making a single square, so all six of the ogees on the square are close to identical.

This next portion is to create the ogee on the inside edge of the legs, just before the legs narrow. Measure 1 inch back towards the half-lap joint (and mark it with a pencil) from the step in the leg you created earlier when you removed the 5/8” wide section of wood. (This section is used if you did not create an ogee template.) At this mark, use a square to create a line across the thickness of the board. Using a crosscut saw, cut down approximately ¼” at your line. The ogee begins from this cut and ends at the step. To create this ogee, draw a half-circle up from the bottom of this saw cut to the same surface where the cut began, and back down. The half-circle should have a radius of approximately 3/16”. At the other end of the half-circle, create a smaller half-circle that swings in the opposite direction, or away from the inside edge of the board. The end of this second half-circle should end just short of the step, so the end isn’t overly weak.

To create the ogee shape you’ve drawn, I like to use a chisel and rasps, but you could cut them with a saw if you’d rather. Place the leg into a vise or clamp with which you can restrain the leg while you work to remove material. The section closest to the saw, cut across the board’s thickness, is where I use the chisel to remove the small corner, beginning the start of the ogee, and then follow that cut with a very fine modeller’s rasp. To help expedite the process, I also cut down to almost the very bottom of the second half-circle with my crosscut saw. A fine rat-tailed rasp and a modeller’s rasp are both very useful at removing remaining wood while providing a good amount of control. Sand the ogee surfaces, with fine grits until you are satisfied with the look/feel. Repeat this process on the other leg’s inside the ogee.

You probably won’t believe it, but it’s finally time to glue the half-lap joint together. Get your glue, a small brush, a couple of clamps, a rag or two, a cup of water (to use when cleaning any excess glue), and the two small slabs you removed when cutting the half-lap joint. I usually lay down some wax paper or some plastic on the surface where I plan to glue so I don’t have a lot of cleanup after I’ve finished. I also like to apply some paste wax to the faces of the wood slabs so I can use them as cauls without them accidentally getting glued to the project. I pour some glue onto a small paper plate and use a tiny brush to apply it to the joint surfaces. This can help provide a nice level of control over the volume of glue in the joint. After the glue is applied, get the pieces together in the correct orientation (make sure the nice pretty ogees are on the inside edges of the legs), and put the slabs on each side of the joint and apply a little clamp pressure. Since this is such a small joint, it doesn’t take much pressure as you’re really just trying to keep the joint solid and prevent the parts from moving around. Give it one last look to make sure nothing has gone crazy, and if it’s good, set it aside to dry.

While the legs are clamped together, you can lightly offer the cross member up to them, so you can mark where the inside surfaces of the legs will mate. Once you have those marks, you can proceed to layout and create the ogees on this board (four of them), as well as the narrowing of the center section. If you aren’t in a hurry, you can always do these details later after you’ve cut the angled half-lap joints that mate the three boards together. Waiting isn’t really such a bad idea, as the center section of the cross member does get fairly narrow and with that, it’s strength is reduced. I’d hate to have you snap that board, after spending time creating the ogees and all, while cutting the joints and cleaning them up. I cut the remaining half-lap joints on the few I’ve made before moving on to the ornamentation, but in the end, its up to you. When laying out the ogees on the edge of the cross member that is closest to where the legs join, the saw cut is approximately ¾” in from where this meets the inside edge of the leg board. The overall length of these ogees are the same as those previously created on the legs. The ogees on the lower edge of the cross member are approximately 1” in from the inside edge of the leg boards. At the end of the ogees, make a saw cut across the boards thickness, down approximately 3/16”. The wood between these last cuts will be removed, leaving a lighter feel to the straight line between the ends of the ogees, while also stepped down.

After the  leg joint is dry, offer the cross member up, and when the placement looks good, clamp it in place on both legs. On my squares, I placed them so the top of the cross member was approximately 8” down from the end of the leg (the half-lap end). With the cross member clamped in place, scribe around all sides of the mating pieces. Similarly to the earlier handling of the leg’s half-lap, work the joint surfaces to just shy of fully half thickness on adjoining pieces, and then sneak up on the perfect fit. I used my crosscut saw to make multiple cuts (5-7) in each of the remaining joint areas, cutting close to half the way through the board, and then followed that with my chisels to remove the rough waste.

The router plane followed, as it does such a great job of creating a surface parallel with whatever the plane rides on, and if that is an already flat face, the joint surface will also be flat and in the same plane. Leave the cross member at full length until after the square is glued up and dry. Its easy to trim the remaining ends off at that time, and the outside ledges help to hold it together, mainly requiring just a little pressure over the joint. Handle the glueup in the same manner as the leg half-lap and there shouldn’t be any problems.

After the glue has dried, trim off the excess ends of the cross member, as well as any little excess that protrudes at the leg-to-leg half-lap. Check your square to see that it is truly 90-degrees from one leg’s outside edge to the other. To check this, you can place it inside a known good square, or line up one leg’s outside surface with a known flat surface, like the front of your workbench. Draw a pencil line across the surface using the opposite leg’s outside edge. Flip the square over so the same leg’s outside edge is aligned with the front of the bench, and draw a second line using the outside edge of the same leg. Check to see if the two lines are parallel. If they are, you passed and the square is “Square”!

It’s not the end of the world if this isn’t the case, since you can adjust these to bring them into square. This is one of the nice things about making these from wood. If the angle between the outside edges of the legs is reading less than 90-degrees, a little material should be removed down towards the leg’s joint area on both sides. If the angle is more than 90-degrees, some material from the outside edge near the toe section should be removed. Of course, when removing any of this wood, you’d need to feather the amount removed into the full length of the same edge.

Now you can sand and finish your square in any manner you see fit. I sanded to 320 grit and followed that with some Tung Oil, which really brought the wood to life. I always mark my pieces with my burning tool (I still need to design and order one of the marking tools, so my mark is more consistent) and include at minimum the year, but sometimes the month and year. I think its cool for your family, friends, and customers to look back and recall when a piece was made.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the article and will make at least one wooden square. There are a range of techniques you’ll use during this build and like most things, the more you do, the more proficient you become. Please let me know if you have any question or comments.

Lee Laird has enjoyed woodworking for over 20 years. He is retired  from the U.S.P.S. and works for Lie-Nielsen Toolworks as a show staff member, demonstrating tools and training customers. You can email him at lee@lie-nielsen.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/is9582

The post Wooden Square Build-Part 2 appeared first on Woodworking Blog.

Craft apprenticeships never took hold in the United States in the way that they did in Europe. Apprenticeships existed here but even in colonial times an ever expanding country, and a constant demand for talent, meant that anyone with a modicum of skills could get a job - even if they weren't fully trained. There was little incentive for a skilled apprentice to complete their indenture, little enforcement, and a steady stream of immigrants to fill the need for trained craftsman.

In the United States today some forward looking companies have apprenticeship programs of one sort or another, but in general a person gets out of school with a BA or something like that and tries to get work in a good shop. Of course the shop needs them to produce, so while ideally there might be some training, most of the time it just learning production.

In Europe, via a combination of industry support, strict rules on hiring and firing, and government aid, apprenticeship systems exist for recent school graduates. You can actually go to University to study to become a joiner and in the process of your schooling work as an apprentice in cabinetmaking shops. Unlike the old days when one would start at age fourteen, the apprenticeships are more like what in England they called "improvers". People who knew the basics and were now traveling to new shops to round out their experience and broaden their horizons. In Germany today there is even a group of journeyman who are following the strict medieval rules of journeymen and are walking from town to town, working in shops along the way.

Laura, a friend of ours in Copenhagen is at University training to be a joiner. In Denmark when they train a joiner they mean it. She has mastered both traditional skills and modern machinery so as to be fully ready for the twenty-first century. Her training, and frankly the training of a lot of joiners in Europe, is the reason why you can still buy well made, well designed furniture in Europe that reflects a great combination of modern machinery and hand skill.
runn
Summer is coming and Laura is looking for an apprenticeship position in the United States running from May through August. The apprenticeship is mostly paid by her school but in addition the shop must contribute $585 per month to her expenses.

Currently she is working at www.rudrasmussen.com, a 140 year old Furniture workshop in Copenhagen that designs and produces hand crafted wooden furniture. Here is a short film of the shop that Laura works in. Laura makes an appearance in the second half. Note the mix of old machines, new machines and hand work.

Laura is a capable hand, and machine woodworker - in her spare time she makes- you guessed it - furniture.

If you run a professional woodworking shop - in any discipline - furniture, cabinetry, etc. - and you would like to host Laura, please email us and we will forward your information to Laura so she can contact you directly. She speaks English so don't worry about communication. Please include the name of your shop or a link to your website.

This is a great opportunity for the right shop, and for Laura. You get skilled labor - and she gets hands on experience.
Note: The work in the pictures are all pieces done by Laura.

In other news: The Joiner and Cabinetmaker, is back in print. The only contemporary narrative training course from the pre-machine tool age this book, originally published in 1839, tells the story of how Thomas was trained as a joiner. Complete with projects, instructions, and a villain. Originally published 1n 1839, with historical commentary by me. All three projects in the book were build by Chris Schwarz. If you don't already have a copy, you can get one here!

Buying an antique metal hand plane not only provides excitement & nostalgia, but also a huge potential financial savings! Below you’ll see what I look for when buying old hand planes from flea markets, junk shops, farmers, or eBay. You can also read my separate article on choosing wooden hand planes.

• MISSING OR BROKEN PARTS: When I first started buying old metal hand planes I didn’t understand the parts of the planes very well and occasionally came home with planes that had broken metal frogs, missing blades/irons, missing screws, or broken wooden totes & handles (not easily or cheaply replaced). Definitely steer clear of planes with cracks in the metal.

• RUST: Surface rust is okay when buying an antique hand plane, and can be easily removed. In fact, rust usually lowers the price and gives a great opportunity for value. Just make sure that you avoid “pitting”. Pitting is a result of rust eating away at the metal over time. It looks like the metal has been hit repeatedly with a nail. Some people remove the rust from the pitting, so keep an eye open for shiny pitting!

• JAPPANING: “Jappaning” is the paint that plane makers used to apply to plane parts. Most older planes are missing some japanning, which is okay…especially if you’re only concerned with function, not performance. But I really love beautiful planes. When I do substantial plane restorations I usually remove bad japanning and re-spray the parts with engine primer and black engine enamel. Or you can do some research on how to conduct traditional japanning to your plane (difficult).

I think those are the major pitfalls to look for when choosing an antique metal hand plane…please let me know if I missed something!

What models to look for? “Patrick’s Blood and Gore” website is a great resource for old Stanley hand plane model identification.

Some traditional woodworkers really prefer using all wood hand planes or transition planes (hybrid: metal plane w/ wooden sole). Some people use them because they love the traditional appearance. Some love them because of the unique feeling in their hands. And some love them because they are lighter than metal or transitional hand planes. Most traditional woodworkers love them for all of the above reasons.

But even if you use metal hand planes, chances are that you are still in the market for wooden molding planes, beading planes, etc. Some incredible reproduction wooden hand planes are on the market today. Here is one great company that makes them. But due to the time involved in making wooden hand planes, the prices are pretty high.

This leads most traditional woodworkers to look for inexpensive antique wooden hand planes. But the problem with many of the antique wooden hand planes is the condition. Here’s what to look out for when buying traditional wooden hand planes:

1. Cracks & Splits

Cracks & splits are the most common problem to avoid on old wooden hand planes. Closely examine the plane’s body (especially the heal, toe, and sole) for cracks. Handles & totes can be replaced (if it’s worth your time) but the body of the plane cannot. Just walk away from wooden hand planes that have major splits & cracks.

2. Loose strips

{photo coming soon}

Box wood strips on the bottoms of molding planes and beading planes have sometimes separated from the plane’s profile, and can greatly affect the accuracy of your cut.

3. Smashed parts

Traditional wooden hand planes are usually adjusted with small taps of a hammer or mallet. This has left many vintage hand planes with a “mushroomed” heal, toe, or wedge. This problem doesn’t always affect performance, but can reduce the aesthetics of the plane…which might be a good thing if you’re purely interested in function.

{photo coming soon}

4. Worm holes

text….

5. Warped / Twisted

Old wooden hand planes, especially longer jointer planes, can be tested with a straight edge and winding sticks. If laying the straight edge along the sole reveals serious warping, then you probably can’t plane or sand it flat. If the sole’s warp or wear is minor (which is typical) then you can easily remedy it with a flat surface and sandpaper (or another plane). If your winding sticks reveal that the plane is seriously twisted, then you should probably look for a different plane. Minor twist can be remedied.
If you’re interested in learning more about wooden hand planes, or building your own, check out these resources.

Every once in a while I’ll see a tool/project that calls to me. You know, one of those “whatchamacallits” that real people probably don’t really need, but looks so cool? As you might imagine, the majority of THOSE projects never see the light of day in my shop. Luckily, there are also some other projects that REALLY, REALLY, call to me, and just happen to be both cool and useful. This article is about one of these latter types of projects.

Christopher Schwarz, who is a friend of mine, and someone almost everyone in the woodworking community knows, teaches how to make a really cool wooden square. After seeing his, I just had to give it a try. While Chris’ pattern is straight from an old original square (which I believe was inadvertently destroyed when in transit by a package handling company), I created my pattern simply by eye-balling the square Chris showed on Roy Underhill’s “The Woodwright’s Shop”, and extrapolating what dimensions looked right to me.

After seeing that the square is made from only three pieces of wood, I figured I’d go spend an hour or two in the shop and have a square. Well, I’d have to say my time estimation and management skills must have been very lacking that week. Ok, it didn’t actually take me a week to make the first one, but the time was certainly adding up. And this was with me already having the necessary wood milled up to 1/2” thick, which I’d originally planned to use on a dovetailed box project. The box will just have to wait!

To start out, I cut two legs 22” long x 2” wide x 1/2” thick, and one cross-member 20” long x 2” wide x 1/2 thick. Before cutting any of the decorative shaping, I hand planed each board, making sure they were both square and flat. Much of the next work is focused on the two “leg” boards, since its only after they are glued into a solid unit, that you can identify exactly where the cross-member will intersect the legs. If you try marking the locations to evacuate for the cross-member, without first gluing the legs, I’d suggest your chances of success would be diminished.

Before marking either of the two “leg” boards, you’ll want to examine them for any imperfections and read through the meat of the project, as it’s possible you just might be able to plan for any problem areas to fall in the region that will be removed as waste. Since the square’s design uses a half-lap joint where the two legs intersect, there is a fair amount of wood removed, which you can also view as an opportunity. If either of your leg boards have any tear-out or other quality type issues in the first 2” of the board, you can orient them so the problem section will reside on the slab of wood you remove when forming the joint. But, before finalizing any cuts or using any cutting tool to mark, I find it’s a good idea to lightly sketch out the complete layout, so you can weigh your options on which areas of wood might create the least amount of extra work. At the minimum, this will at least give you the chance to choose the best orientation for each board. It may just be that the half-lap joint area is of less concern than another area. If you’re really into planning, or end up being lucky, you may also find a similar benefit when positioning the cross-member, but there are only a few ways to orient three boards. You’d may as well take every advantage to eliminate blemishes on your project, especially when it only takes a few moments to flip the boards around, testing for the best orientation.

Now that you’ve looked everything over, its time to get on with the design, which obviously includes the areas you’ll cut away as well as the design features on the legs. To start, I measure down approximately 6 inches from the end of the board that will contain the half-lap joint and place a pencil mark across the board, on what will be the inside edge. This top section of the board will stay full width and includes both the half-lap joint as well as some figurative work before the leg narrows. Measure in 5/8” from the location you just marked, and using a square, run a line to the other end of your leg board away from the half-lap end. This line should be parallel to the edge of your board.

Repeat this process on your other leg board, as the design is identical on both legs.

Cut the short 5/8” deep cut from the inside edge of the board first, followed by the long cut from the end farthest away from the intended half-lap joints. Making the short cut first is much easier than trying to back out of a long cut. Use whatever saw you have available that can reach this far into the wood, like a band saw, a bow saw or a panel saw. This cut will generate a 5/8” wide piece of wood that is approximately 16” long. (anyone up for making a kite?)

The next step is to mark out for the half-lap joint for the legs. Set your marking gauge directly from the width of the first board, and add a hairs width extra. With the gauge head riding against the end of the second board, lightly mark across the width of the board, which transfers the first board’s dimensions. Make a couple of additional passes, applying a little more pressure on the marking gauge on each pass.Before moving on, take your pencil and make an “X” on the leg above the mark you just made. This will remind you that this is the side from which the wood is removed, which can help prevent errors. Repeat the process for the other board, but remember to set the gauge from the opposite board’s width, just in case they aren’t exactly the same size. Next you’ll mark the center line of the board’s thickness on the end and the sides of the board, down to the line you’ve just marked across one face. I dial in my marking gauge directly from the thickness of the board, by lightly touching the cutting gauge to the board while the head is against one side, and then doing the same from the other side. When the gauge hits the same spot from both sides, you’re there. I still like to add an extra hair’s width, so there is a little extra material to dial in the perfect joint, which I’ll talk about later.

While holding the gauge’s head against the side of your leg that will remain (the side without the big “X”), mark across the end and down both sides, to your line across the leg. If you accidentally reverse the gauge, so the head is against the side you plan to remove, you’ll end up with a joint that’s isn’t as thick as the original leg.

Now that your leg’s half-lap joint is marked, it’s time to remove the excess wood. The first cut is at your mark across the leg, but I like to give myself the best chance to succeed. Instead of just grabbing my crosscut saw and going for it, I use a razor sharp chisel to carefully pare away a small angled piece of wood, across the width of the board. I do this on the waste side of the marking gauge’s line, to create a small V-shaped path, which helps keep the saw from wandering during the initial strokes. Now use a crosscut saw to carefully saw down, until you just about kiss your gauge lines on both sides, which is very close to half way through the board.

The next operation is to saw down length-wise following the marks made on the sides and end. Since this cut is with the grain, use a fine-toothed rip saw, of which I prefer to use a thin-bladed dovetail saw. Place the first leg board into a vise with it tilted so the top end of the board is just slightly away from you.

This is another good place to apply a helpful tip, which is to remove a small wedge shaped piece of wood at the corner of the board closest to you. With a sharp chisel, place it so the flat back lines up with the mark you’ve made across the end of the board, push the chisel into the wood so it is contacting the corner. Turn the chisel around so it’s back is away from the line and at about a 45-degree angle, push in again, so the two cuts meet. This should pop out a small wedge of wood that will act similar to the cross-cut version earlier, but the starting “V” is not all the way across the end. Start with the toe of the saw raised up slightly, so it is not making contact across the full width of the board’s end. With light, short strokes, let it gradually drop, as you look to make sure you follow your mark. When the saw is down to the point where it is touching across the full width, focus on following the line on the side of the board closest to you, cutting down to the baseline. This ends up being an almost purely diagonal cut, since you are only trying to advance the saw plate on the side you can observe.

Next, remove the board from the vise and flip it around so you have the other side of the board facing you. Again tilt the board so the end is slightly leaning away from you, and again make the same diagonal type cut down to the baseline on this side. Next, it is just a matter of placing the saw into the already created kerf, and while holding the saw so the teeth are parallel to the baseline, cut down through the remaining triangle-shaped section of wood. Be very careful at this stage, especially when you’re getting close, that you don’t cut down below the baseline, which can happen if the saw tilts forward. Since you can’t see the opposite side of the cut, without moving your head around, this is the most common place to over-cut. This will leave you with your basic half-lap shaped end on your leg board.

Repeat these steps on the other leg board. When I make these cuts, I saw so I am cutting really close to the line, but making sure I don’t dip down into it by accident. You can base how close you cut to your lines, on your comfort level with a saw, but remember I’ll share additional techniques that will help create a perfect fit.

Next, we’ll get out the router plane, which is a perfect companion for the upcoming tweaks to the wide mating surfaces of the lap joint. Clamp a leg board so it is sitting with the half-lap portion facing upwards from the bench. Place the other leg on one side of the first leg, and the cross member on the other side of it, so the router plane can ride on two rails of the same thickness. With the router plane on the two flanking boards, lower its iron down until it just grazes the highest point on the lap joint. (It’s also a good idea to check to make sure the iron isn’t below the line that was earlier marked down the side of the leg board, as that could be close to removing too much material.) Move the router plane back and forth so it’s iron travels over all areas of the half-lap, while riding on the two side boards. Gradually advance the iron so a very light shaving is taken from all areas of the joint. Before removing any material below the lines you marked earlier, do the same process to the other leg’s half-lap. Test the two pieces together, to see if the joint is still thicker than either leg, which would indicate additional material is still remaining. Continue to remove very light shavings equally from each surface until the full joint is exactly the same thickness, when compared to the original thickness of either leg.

The last half-lap related assessment for this joint is of the earlier-cut shoulders, across the legs. Check to see if the shoulder is both square across the board and square to the inside faces. If either of these are out of square, they will prevent the two boards from mating properly, with gaps and/or legs that are not 90-degrees from one another. If there are obvious gross adjustments needed, you can use a sharp chisel (or a rasp) to get it close to the proper alignment, but I’d hesitate to use that tool for the final adjustment. The shoulder plane is my tool of choice for this work, as its wide sides register against the earlier flattened faces, creating perfect 90-degree shoulders. Set the shoulder plane for a very fine shaving, and make sure to keep the side of the plane against the reference surface. Also, check to see if there is any grain runout in either direction, as the shoulder plane works equally well on either of its sides. It only requires you to set the iron so its outside edge is in line with the plane’s body. If you cut the earlier shoulders just proud of your marking lines, you can easily bring the excess material down to the line, knowing you’ve reached the stopping point. If you didn’t leave your line, you could always re-mark down about 1/64” (remember to do this on both legs, and reference from the joint end of the board, just so everything stays symmetrical), so you don’t have to guess where to stop. This isn’t super critical for this tool, as long as the shoulder is square in both discussed dimensions, no one will notice if you don’t tell.

Now, before you get excited and decide to glue your perfectly fitting half-lap joint together, remember we still have some more work to do and it is much easier to accomplish while the legs are still separate from each other. We’ll get to this in Part 2, so stay tuned with our Wooden Square Build!

Lee Laird has enjoyed woodworking for over 20 years. He is retired from the U.S.P.S. and works for Lie-Nielsen Toolworks as a show staff member, demonstrating tools and training customers. You can email him at lee@lie-nielsen.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/is9582

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Woodworkers love hand planes. But in a period shop, the bench planes that are so coveted and extolled today were actually among the minority when it came to the tool inventory. The joinery planes and molding planes vastly outnumbered the bench planes. Today, amateur woodworkers are once again beginning to realize the usefulness of the joinery and molding planes in the small home shop. So the next few episodes are going to be a series on tuning up and using the joinery and molding planes. To kick off the series, I’m starting with the simplest of all the joinery planes, the unfenced rabbet plane.

 

As far as I know these are my teaching/hosting commitments for this year.

March 8/9 and 15/16 – For the next two weekends I will be demonstrating at my pal David Blanchard’s shop on Main Street in Monterey VA during the Annual Maple Festival.  If you are in the neighborhood stop in to say “Hi.”

March 21-23  I will be teaching a parquetry workshop at the Kansas City Woodworkers Guild.

May 30 – June 1 will be the Finisher’s Retreat, an annual event I host for the two chapters of the Society of American Furniture Makers in which I am active.  This year it is the Virginia Chapter.  For more information contact Bob Mustain at mustainrw@juno.com

June 24-26  The Eighth meeting of the Professional Refinisher’s Group, and the third time the event has been at The Barn.  For more information, contact Ben Myre at bcmyre@hotmail.com.

July 18-20 will be a weekend parquetry workshop at The Barn.

August 11-17 will be a week with plane maker Tod Herrli at The Barn.  the first three days will be a workshop on making a hollow-and-round pair, the next four days will be something a bit more advanced; topic not yet finalized.

September 12-14  Woodworking in America, Winston-Salem NC.  I will be presenting two topics, the first being Traditional Finishing and the second being Gold Leaf.

October 3-5 will be a weekend workshop in Boullework Marquetry at The Barn.

October 21 I will give a presentation to my dear friends of the Washington Woodworker’s Guild.  At the moment the topic is probably Inlaying Pewter.

When you combine this schedule with settling in out in the mountains, submitting the manuscript for To Make As 
Perfectly As Possible: Roubo on Furniture Making sometime in April-ish, and the manuscript for Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley some time around Thanksgiving, it seems like a pretty full year.

 

This week, Highland Woodworking is hosting master chairmaker, Peter Galbert, who is teaching a 7-day class entitled Build a Continuous Arm Windsor Chair from March 3-9.

After Day 1, students have already made progress on building their own chairs, which they will get to take home at the end of the week:

Students are holding their own on their horses while they pile up the shavings using drawknives on rived red oak stock, which will become the back spindles for the chair.

Pictured above, you can see one student’s results from a good productive first day on the shave horse. A batch of chair back spindles roughed out and ready for the drying box. Once they lose some moisture, they will be pared down to final dimension.

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