General Woodworking

Last weekend, I finally got started on…and almost finished… the table build for the curved corner of my kitchen. The base is 34-1/2″ high and will get a top of butcher block that will be curved at the back to match the wall (which reminds me…I need to pick up a new band saw blade). The “ankles” – now “cankles” – are a little thicker than I’d originally intended…for reasons […]

The post Jointer Makes Quick Work of ‘Cankle Table’ Tapered Legs appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I built my wood shop workbench about 25 years ago and the hardest thing about it was not having a bench to build the bench. Sometimes holding your work is one of the things which takes up as much effort as the work.

I started carving a gargoyle a while back (do you have one? Don’t judge me) and holding that thing was a real chore.

Gargoyle

One thing I added to my bench recently is a holdfast.  The traditional forged ones simply drive into a hole in the top of your bench a little bit like whack-a -mole with your bench mallet.  They have a flat hook on the end and the sideways pressure in the hole locks it in place. You loosen it by whacking the shaft sideways. Works like a champ and sometimes you can find a local blacksmith to make one for you.

Forged Holdfast

A more modern version has a small screw on top of the clamp part, and fits into a metal bracket set in the top of the bench.  It is related to the traditional style in that it locks into place with a sideways warp in the bracket.  To use this clamp, just drop it in the hole in the center of the bracket and then a quick twist to the screw puts a large amount of pressure on the work.  To release the clamp, loosen the screw and then pull up on the top of the shaft.  The grooves on the shaft release from the grooves in the bracket and it is free.

New Holdfast

Installation is simple once you decide where it needs to go to be most useful. You can use a simple straight hole in the bench and it will work fine, but the better installation is with the bracket. I drilled a pilot hole in the top of my bench, and then used a larger hole saw to drill in the depth of the bracket flange, plus a little bit. Then without removing any wood, I used a smaller hole saw to drill all the way through the top of the bench still using the same pilot hole. That way I had concentric holes and could chisel out the flange depth by hand.  Worked like a champ after I dropped the bracket in place and added some screws.

Holes drilled for bracket

Between the new holdfast, my new leg vise, the shoulder vise on the end of the bench, the bench dogs on the top of the bench, the bench “L” vice on the end with two clamping points, and various and sundry other pipe clamps, I bet I could clamp a herd of cats.

Finished Installation

The post Discussing My New Bench Holdfast appeared first on Woodworking Blog.

Recently Chris Schwarz lamented that that much of the historic literature on craft is stuffed with geometry but doesn’t explain how to set up a smoothing plane. And to make matters worse the geometry lessons quickly spin out of control with drawings that look like some freakish nightmare.

Back in the day, books were expensive. A modest book in the 18th century could easily cost a weeks wages so a treatise on things like milking a cow or setting up a smoothing plane, or constructing window sash never entered anyone’s thought. In a village of a hundred souls, ninety-nine knew how to milk a cow and half of them could set up a plane in their sleep. Yet no one in the village, possibly no one in the county might know (let alone share), the knowledge that lies behind the smoothing plane, window sash, or that magnificent cathedral up on the hill. That my friends is geometry. But hear me out. It’s not as devilish as it sounds. This artisan geometry of the trades doesn’t involve memorizing a boatload of theorems and formulas that make you want to light up a cigarette and knock down a shot. Well you might want to do that for the pleasure of it, but not because the geometry drove you there.

I admit when I first explored what the old writers had to say, I complicated it by my own ignorance. I often passed over the simple stepping stones of knowledge and then skinned my shins. Here’s an interesting bit on this path of artisan geometry best illustrated by Plate one, figure one from Roubo’s monumental collection of engraved drawings.

Plate 1, figure 1 from Roubo

Plate one, figure one starts with a point. Roubo isn’t alone in beginning at this humble starting place. Many similar examples could be cited, often there is a break in forty pages of medieval Spanish text with a single          .           followed by another twenty pages of narrative. Point being you can learn to visualize and build some really marvelous things if you begin at the right beginning. And that beginning is the humble point.

Jim Tolpin and I are at it again, writing a workbook that takes that historic knowledge and walks you through it step by step. Who knows? Maybe there’s some window sash, elegant chairs, or even a grand cathedral inside your head just waiting to be made if you knew what they knew.

George R. Walker

One of my earliest traumatic memories is being mortified by my mother searching for a scratched butterfly chair at the functional equivalent of a Kmart. She enjoyed seeking damaged goods and then indignantly demanding a discount at the register. This tactic worked far too often. This only reinforced the behavior.

The Butterfly chair. The one back then was yellow with black piping.

This was the first piece of mid-century modern furniture I remember actively disliking. First of many, I might add. And now it’s back. Vintage and reproduction. I just can’t get away from the stuff.

Ironically I was at a local auction preview (mid-century modern) when I read Chris Schwarz’s Lost Art Press blog quoting  George Nakashima on modern furniture. I don’t think he liked it.

Who can forget the stressless chair, this style attributed to Charles & Ray Eames:

This chair is still being made.

Animal prints were big:

Stylish design and attractive fabric. Stereo is from the ’80’s.

This is a complete living room set with the kidney-shaped, glass coffee table, animal print floating couch and multi-headed floor lamp:

We never owned a kidney-shaped coffee table.

I was impressed by the back of this furniture. Look at the size of those Masonite® back panels. Each one is a single board. Can you imagine the size of the Masonite® trees they came from? Might be river bottom wood-like material.

The fronts are interesting, too.

If you would like, you can click HERE and see the rest of the collection.

If you must…

By Joshua Farnsworth

In the above video you’ll see my fascinating trip to Colonial Williamsburg as part of a study of a relatively unknown type of molding plane, called “Mother Planes”.

On a grant from the Early American Industries Association, Bill Anderson, Larry Preuss, and myself studied Williamsburg’s collection of 400+ Mother Planes to see what we could learn about molding plane construction.

 What is a Mother Plane?

In the 1800’s, larger molding plane manufactures used “mother planes” to cut a particular profile to larger quantities of molding planes. An attached fence is a main characteristic of a mother plane.

The folks at Colonial Williamsburg were kind enough to host us for several days in the top floor of the historic Capitol building.

Below you’ll see our research team (from left to right) Bill Anderson (the founder of the project), Larry Preuss (an expert plane maker from Michigan), Erik Goldstein (Curator of Mechanical Arts & Numismatics at Colonial Williamsburg Foundation), and Joshua Farnsworth (I took sevaral thousand photographs & scans of the mother planes):

Our study took place over several days in October 2014 and Feburary 2015. I’ll have to admit, prior to Bill’s invitation to join this study I hadn’t even heard of Mother Planes. But I quickly fell in love with the lovely mother planes, just as I had with molding planes in general.

This is my “cave” where I spent several days photographing and scanning nearly 400 mother planes:

After removing the iron and wedge, we scanned the “toe” of each mother plane, then photographed each side. Here are some photographs of different views of some fascinating mother planes:

In addition to photographing and scanning each plane, Bill and Larry spent considerable time inspecting each mother plane for interesting characteristics such as cutting profile, dimension, size marks, and maker marks.

Details were meticulously recorded on detailed data sheets that Bill created, and each plane was assigned a number:

Erik Goldstein was kind enough to spend many hours with us to ensure that the valuable plane collection was handled properly:

Over the course of our stay, Erik gave us some amazing tours of rarely-visited parts of the capitol building, including incredible tool collections and a trek up the steep steps of the bell tower, which has only been visited by a handful of people since it’s dedication by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940’s.

Below you’ll see some fun photographs that I took of the Capital Building at Colonial Williamsburg (I highly recommend a visit to this 18th century wonderland):

March 1st. Spring is right around the corner. I spent the past 3 months complaining about the cold and snow and unpleasant working conditions in my garage. But with the onset of March I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, sort-of.

Yesterday I actually got to woodwork a little. I felt a good way to begin the month of March would be to start the repair of my tool chest. Of course, the snow was falling, the winds were howling, the temperatures were plummeting, and my garage was freezing. I can tell you this, our next house will have at least a two-car garage, as well as a dedicated workshop specifically set-aside for woodworking. I understand that I might have to fork out some money to make that happen, but we only live once, and life is too short for certain compromises, my happiness being one of them.

Piece of Walnut somewhat rough.

My chest needs two new parts; a new front panel and a new lid. The winter and my garage haven’t been kind, and the chest is taking a major league beating. I decided to replace those parts with some walnut that I’ve had set aside for quite some time. I started with the front panel, as I knew it would be the easier of the two parts to fix. Because it was far too cold to open my garage door for any extended period, I decided to do as much as I could by hand.

The first thing I did was cross-cut the boards to rough width using a basic STANLEY carpentry saw. I then opened the garage door, rolled the table saw over to the opening, and ripped the front panel to size. Once that was done I was able to shut the door and put away the table saw. I had the panel nearly fit to the opening, so I planed the edges to get a nice fit, then placed the panel on the workbench and used the smoothing plane to not only clean up the board, but also match the thickness of the rest of the chest, as it was just a hair wider than the boards I built the chest with. Once that was finished I used my block plane to clean up the end grain, and more importantly get a nice fit side-to-side. Now, I know that a lot of professionals, and some amateurs, like to make the claim that most woodworkers “don’t know what sharp is”. Maybe that is true, but my amateur ass managed to not only beautifully plane the front panel smooth and flat, but also take full-length end grain shavings on Walnut with a block plane that “never knew sharp”. Am I bragging? Yeah, you’re God-damned right I am.

Planed smooth, bead added, with one coat of linseed oil.

I then made new hinges for the front panel, which are basically two small battens that lightly overhang the bottom, and I transferred the original catches for the latch from the old front. I glued and screwed both the hinges and the catches. Lastly, I thought a little bead would be nice, so I used my “new” ¼ inch beading plane to add one. A coat of linseed oil (I’ll add another next weekend) and the front was done.

I had a little time left so I decided to edge joint the other two boards I had set aside before I called it an afternoon. Neither had an edge that was remotely straight, so I made a mess of shavings to get them flat and level. Thankfully my jointer plane was sharp, though I can’t figure out how since I am a rank amateur that doesn’t know what sharp looks like.

Edge jointing finished

I have enough walnut to do one of two things: either make a traditional frame and panel lid, or glue up a lid and make battens for it. The frame and panel is what I’m leaning towards, and it would probably look nicer, but I will decide on that next week. When I placed the finished front panel in the chest I discovered that Walnut, as usual, looks awesome on anything, and my tool chest desperately needs a coat of paint. This time, I’m going to make it shine.

More to come of course (bios, class descriptions, etc.), but because we’re on deadline for the June issue this week (and I’m dealing with roof problems), for the nonce I’m posting the list of expert woodworkers (four of whom are SAPFM Cartouche winners) we’ve lined up to present sessions at for Woodworking in America 2015, Sept. 25-27, in Kansas City, Mo. (I’ll be there, too…and I can tell a hawk […]

The post Woodworking in America 2015: The Talent is Legion appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

March. Hmm… it means two things to me right now. One is turn the page on the Yurt Foundation calendar, the other is to march, get going, quit fooling around. This is the month that my schedule picks up. So rather than just picking up whatever project happens to catch my fancy at any given moment, it’s time to knuckle down and get some stuff done.

Oak:

spoons:

oak:

spoons:

I keep shifting back & forth. I have to ignore these spoons in the daylight right now, and get to work on my desk box, and the 2 chests with drawers I have underway. At least by having these spoons roughed out, I can carve them at night.

Spoons and baskets for sale today – here: https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/spoons-baskets-bowls-for-sale-march-2015/

Daylight is for heavier bench work…so the goal for this week is to get the desk box all cut and ready to assemble, then work on cutting joinery and laying out carving for the chest with drawer that’s the focus of my class beginning later this month.

Enough. Here’s details on the 2 classes coming up this month. The first is a 2-day class in spoon carving at Plymouth CRAFT – 2 spaces left they tell me. The class is March 14 & 15 – details here. http://plymouthcraft.org/?tribe_events=carving-wooden-spoons-with-peter-follansbee  There’s knitting, cooking & egg decorating classes at the same time – http://plymouthcraft.org/?post_type=tribe_events

The other class is the first entry in the 5-month “build a chest with drawer” class at Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. We can squeeze another joiner or two in…If all goes well, I’ll be showing you some of oak for that class tomorrow. http://www.schoolofwoodworking.com/woodworking-classes/29-speciality-weekend-classes/534-build-a-17th-century-joined-chest-with-peter-follansbee.html

and the rest of the schedule is here: https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2015-teaching-schedule/ including two weeks teaching in Olde England – I’ll write about that next week. 

Today was the first day I managed to get in a few hours worth of woodworking in quite a while. I got started on the repair of my tool chest. There was a lot of repetitive work to be done, rip, cross-cut, plane etc. I didn’t mind it, I was actually pretty relaxed. It then dawned on me that I hate IKEA.

Why do I hate IKEA? Do I really need a reason? I just hate the place. I hate that people go there. Why do people have to go there?  Nobody should be allowed to go there. We should ban it!  I mean, from what I’ve heard they basically force you to go there and buy stuff. I see how it works. I see what they’re up to, and I hate it. That store is just ruining my life. I can’t really explain how, it just is.

Well, even though I hate it I probably shouldn’t. Because the one good thing about IKEA is that it gives me something to write about when I can think of absolutely nothing intelligent to say. I can just mention how crappy I think IKEA is and I have an instant woodworking article! No thought, no talent, no real opinion, no substance, no sweat!

There is no “right” way to sharpen hand tools, but there are a lot of wrong ways.  My own sharpening regimen has developed serendipitously, but it fulfills the essential requirements of a good sharpening routine:

1. It is simple.
2. It is fast.
3. It is easily repeatable.
4. It results in a keen edge.

I offer the following not as a tutorial on how you should sharpen, but as an example of the essential elements of a good sharpening routine.  I’ve tried to keep my explanations very simple, but I’ve added some footnotes for anybody who really wants the nit-picky details.

Mixed Media

Aside from my bench grinder, which I use only for repairing damaged edges, I have three pieces of sharpening equipment: a DMT coarse diamond stone, a soft Arkansas stone, and a strop.  I’ve been using the diamond stone for about eight years now, and it still cuts quickly.(1)  The strop is a piece of leather glued to a flat piece of hardwood and rubbed with honing compound.(2)

Let’s begin with this chisel, whose edge I chipped the last time I used it.  Here is the edge as it came from the bench grinder.  I ground it at about 25 degrees.  Most of the time, I’m sharpening tools that are merely dull from use, but either way, I take the edge through three essential steps.(3)

Coarse

Beginning on the coarse diamond stone lubricated with mineral spirits,(4) I rub the bevel side to side.  Normally I use two hands, but I needed one of my hands to hold the camera.

The coarse stone has removed metal all the way to the edge.  You can see where the stone was cutting at both the top and bottom of the bevel.  Because the grinder leaves a hollow, it will take several more sharpenings before the entire bevel is flat.(5)

More important is the part you can’t see, but that my finger can feel.  There is a substantial burr on the back of the edge.(6)  This burr tells me that it’s time to move on to the next stage.(7)

Medium

I now move to a finer abrasive, this time a soft Arkansas stone, also lubricated with mineral spirits.(8)  I rub the bevel on it side to side, just enough to remove the scratches left by the previous, coarser abrasive.

The burr is still there on the back, but the bevel is shinier now.

Now I flip the blade over and rub the back over the stone.  This flips the burr over to the bevel side of the edge.  Just a few circular strokes is all I need before moving on to the final stage.(9)

Fine

I now strop the bevel (only pull, never push!), taking perhaps 30-40 quick strokes.  This flips the burr over again, and it also polishes the cutting edge.

Finally, I turn it over once more and strop the back.  Usually this removes the burr entirely, leaving a very keen edge.(10)  Sometimes with a really stubborn burr, I have to go back and forth between bevel and back a couple of times until the burr is completely gone and the edge is brightly polished.

The Test

There are as many ways to test the sharpness of an edge as there are ways to sharpen it.(11)  I like to test on wood.

An edge that will easily pare the end-grain of soft pine and leave a smooth surface will cut other woods just fine.

This whole process doesn’t take long–two or three minutes from start to finish.(12)  A bigger cutting edge, such as a hewing hatchet or a drawknife, might take a little longer, but not much.

Notes

1. Diamond stones have a reputation for wearing out quickly. I have had one diamond stone, a cheap off-brand, wear out very quickly, but good ones do not. They do, however, lose their initial aggressiveness quickly. (It says so in the instructions that come with the stone, but who reads those?) Don’t be shocked when this happens. A diamond stone isn’t really dull until the nickel matrix holding the diamonds on the steel plate has worn off. It’s pretty obvious when it happens.
2. I use the green honing compound from Lee Valley. You don’t need much. I still have most of the bar I bought eight years ago.
3. I have Chris Schwarz to thank for the “coarse-medium-fine” phrase, though he applies it primarily to hand planes.  It applies to a lot of processes in woodworking.
4. Diamond stones can be used without lubrication, but I prefer some liquid. It prevents the swarf from building up under the surface being abraded, and I think the stone works more smoothly with lubrication. I prefer mineral spirits over water because it won’t rust the tool if I neglect to wipe it perfectly clean.
5. Some woodworkers prefer to maintain a hollow grind on their edge tools, so they must grind more frequently. It may be helpful, but it’s not necessary. In an ideal world, an edge tool of mine would be ground only once in its lifetime–before it leaves the factory–and I wouldn’t need a grinder. But the world is not ideal, and edges get chipped or otherwise damaged. Therefore, I own a grinder.
6. Some people call this a “wire edge,” while others call it a “feather edge,” even though we’re all talking about the same “burr.” If you hate nomenclature that is confusing, please choose a hobby other than woodworking.
7. This applies only to single-beveled tools, such as chisels, gouges, and plane irons. Double-beveled tools are sharpened on the coarse abrasive on both sides alternately until a burr develops. I then proceed as follows.
8. I’ve tried several lubricants on my natural Arkansas stones, and mineral spirits work well. They prevent the stone from clogging better than anything else I’ve tried.
9. Some tools, such as carving gouges, require a more polished edge, so usually I insert a second “Medium” step here: a hard Arkansas stone, also lubricated with mineral spirits.  I hone the concave backs of carving gouges with a black Arkansas slip stone, which takes the place of a strop.
10. Sometimes, if you watch closely, the burr will detach all in one piece, and suddenly you’ll see what looks like a bit of extremely fine wire laying on the strop. Do let the strop remove the burr. Never break it off with your fingers, or it will leave a jagged edge that won’t cut as well as it should.
11. Thanks to the Internet, the “arm hair test” has now become the ultimate test of sharpness–if your edge tool can pop hairs off the back of your hand or arm, it’s sharp. That may well be true, but it doesn’t tell me what I really want to know: will it cut wood? Besides, by the time I’ve sharpened a few chisels, usually the back of my hand is a bit sweaty, not to mention gummed up with sawdust, so the arm hair test is usually impractical for me.
12. When I was first learning to sharpen, I took longer, but once I established an effective routine, I sped up a lot. If your standard sharpening routine takes more than five minutes per edge on the average, then you probably need to simplify somewhere.

My friend BillF asked me to post the image and plan of the tilting saw bench I use for cutting marquetry with a jeweler’s fret saw.

Okay Bill, here they are.  I’ll see if we can get the PDF of the plan on the Writings page.

I think I first saw this tool in a c.1900 book on fretwork, and have since seen it many other places and books.  I made a passel of these at one time, and have used and gifted them for years.

I’ve spent a chunk of today unpacking from the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event I did at Goosebay Lumber & Sawmill, in Chichester, NH this weekend. It was a small show by some standards, but very nice venue. here’s some photos I got.

Both days were bright & sunny. Didn’t snow. Goosebay is a very nice place. Lots of sawn lumber, both local and otherwise. http://goosebaylumber.net/index.php

I saw many logs there, red oak, ash, maple, pine and more.  Both Carl and young Carl assured my that if you are looking to buy a green log for riving, they can help you. You just need to give them some advance warning.

Sawn stuff too.

Here’s the Lie-Nielsen crates – these things have a lot of miles on them…

When you go to the upper level to look for wood, you can view down where the action was/is. I was carving spoons off to the right in the 2nd photo. But not while I was shooting these…

Thanks to Carl, Carl, Ted, Kirsten & Danielle – and to the folks who came out to see us. Next time, the rest of you can come too! We had a great time.

I almost forgot – this one’s for Chris, made by “Down to Earth” = I forget the whole story… I’ve made several, but never a paneled one. Ahh, another project. picture it carved.

Tomorrow some spoons, baskets and hewn bowls for sale. About 10AM my time, east coast US.

This morning Chris Schwarz emailed me the complete set of page proofs from VIRTUOSO: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley for my review.  I am nearly lightheaded with delight.

Forgive me while I crawl into my easy chair and spend the evening ogling the book with a red pen in hand.