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Hello Carpentry Way readers—both old friends and new visitors,

Amazingly, today marks the fifth anniversary of Chris’s death. It’s hard to believe it’s been so long since I last heard his footsteps, talked with him, or saw him in person.

I still miss him and think of him daily, though it’s much easier now than it was at the beginning. Today feels almost normal—though not quite. Being happily remarried and having Ryden – who is such a great kid and a lot like his dad – certainly helps a lot.

Chris left behind many wonderful things that are uniquely him: his furniture, his architectural work, and his writing. Not everyone gets to leave such a tangible legacy.

It means a lot to me that people continue to visit the blog and purchase Chris’s carpentry essays. Thank you to those who email to say you’re thinking of him or still inspired by his work. That truly means the world.

I pulled over yesterday to take a photo of this stop sign, with Chris on my mind, and that during challenging times, remembering to love the world helps to keep me going, just as it did when Chris was dying.

I wanted to share a few tidbits about Chris you might not know from the blog. He held black belts in two martial arts—hapkido and jujitsu—but eventually stepped away from practicing after a friend asked why he was devoting energy to something rooted in violence. He continued to respect martial arts and those who practice them, but chose to focus elsewhere.

That said, he had amazing reflexes…

The day he went in for the lung biopsy that confirmed his cancer was terminal, we were driving to Boston in early morning rush hour. Despite being ill and facing an unimaginably difficult day, he insisted on driving. At one point, a car suddenly swerved into our lane. With just six inches of clearance, he calmly steered us out of danger—no overreaction, no panic, just precision. Then he took a deep breath and kept driving, completely focused.

He loved mountain biking, disc golf, making sushi and pizza—and he was completely unbothered by changing diapers. His musical taste was eclectic: Blue Öyster Cult, John Coltrane, Selena Gomez, and Mariah Carey all had a place in his playlists. As readers of this blog know, he could be intensely focused and serious about carpentry, and sometimes even a bit harsh in his critiques. But he was also open to feedback, and his sense of humor stuck with him right up to the end of his ability to speak.

To mark this anniversary, I wanted to share a few things with you.

I’ve been reading a book I think Chris would’ve liked—or at least appreciated. It’s called Water, Wood, and Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town by Hannah Kirshner. You can learn more about it and read an excerpt here.

Even though it includes long sections on making sake and hunting—and I’m a vegetarian who’s never been interested in alcohol—I found it captivating. What drew me in was the mindful approach to every aspect of life. As a child, I loved books that explained how things were made. I often felt our modern world was disconnected from the physical reality of how we live—from the food we eat to the tools we use. Chris’s skill, focus, and ability to make so many things by hand always felt deeply meaningful to me. This book reminds me of that spirit and how important it is to traditional Japanese culture, and I think many of you will appreciate it too.

Here are two very short videos that I thought you might like to see.

• From Chris’s birthday in 2015—just about ten years ago, as he died the day before his birthday.
• Chris with Ryden about a year before Chris died.

I hope you enjoy these glimpses of him.

And now, some good news and a big thank you to Brian Holcombe: he repaired the head of Chris’s shrine lantern, which had been damaged shortly before Chris’s diagnosis. [Here is the last post I shared about it.] I now have the repaired lantern head, and once we find the right spot for it, I’ll share an update. Brian recommended placing it somewhere sheltered, as it’s more fragile now and not suited to snow, ice, or rain.

Coming up, my new spouse and I are taking Ryden to see the bench Chris built for the Japanese machiya (merchant’s house) exhibit at the Boston Children’s Museum. The wonderful longtime museum staff member, Akemi Chayama, has kindly offered to show us around. Ryden will also get to see the gate Chris built at the MFA. I’m looking forward to the visit and will share more if there’s anything I think you’d enjoy seeing.

With gratitude and warm wishes,
Thank you for stopping by The Carpentry Way. I keep this going because of you—and because of Chris.

Doug Gordy was introduced to woodturning by his father, Vernon, a master woodturner. Doug recalls going with his father to Highland Hardware (now Highland Woodworking) for the first time in 1985, when he was a teenager. It was a much anticipated and frequent destination as he grew up. When Doug moved away from Savannah, whenever they were visiting family in the Atlanta area, a trip to Highland Woodworking was mandatory. Vernon introduced his grandson, Parker, to woodworking when he was about 5 years old. Parker, a recent GA Tech graduate, has recently started woodturning. His dad, Doug, said Parker has to go to Highland and buy his own Oneway lathe now.

Doug & his wife, Sherri, raised their family in Savannah GA, where Doug had a successful career working for Gulfstream Aerospace. He loved the beautiful woodworking details in the planes and the exacting perfection of what they built. His way of unwinding after a day at work was to work on his lathe for 2 or 3 hours. He says you have to be completely focused to do woodturning, it made him put aside any stress from work & relax. Doug learned from his father & further developed his skills by taking classes and watching master turners. If he saw something new, he took it as a personal challenge to learn to how to do it. Next on his list is turning a lampshade. A bit of a renaissance man, his interests also extend to carpentry, welding, building cars (and planes, of course), and making his own tools.

Doug turns pieces on commission, & now that he has retired & relocated to Milledgeville GA, he looks forward to having more time to devote to his art. Now 86, his father customized a lathe so he can continue to turn in their newly completed shop. Doug enjoys turning large pieces, letting the wood dictate the design. He is happy to work with domestic wood, and will go out with his chainsaw after a storm & help clear a fallen or damaged tree in exchange for some wood. He feels he is giving the tree a second life when he creates something with the wood he harvests. Sherri handles all the finishing, with Danish Oil or Teak Oil and various stains.

Doug is partial to Sorby Tools. He jokes he now has more tools than Highland Woodworking, and with the exception of the tools he has made, almost all of them came from Highland. Doug says the knowledgeable people at Highland, who have helped his father, then him & now his son over the years are an incredible resource. If there was something he wanted & on the rare occurrence that Highland didn’t have it, they would help him search for it & facilitate the acquisition. They love what they do & their customer service reflects that passion for woodworking.

So, the front three panels are taking shape. 

The nearest/right one still needs grounding.

On to the top rail.

An old familiar way of working, with well used tools. I don't get to work this way all the time, so a day on this is joyous.

This board was twisted and I am surprised it planed up ok.

Setting the marking gauge with my Rabone rule for the thickness.

All change tomorrow, hanging a front door.

 I didn't spend much time in the shop today. One thing on my mind was the two desks for the grandsons. The bases will be pine but I don't think that is a good choice for a desk top - it is way too soft. So before I start into nutso mode I'll check with Amanda and see what she wants/expects. I'm thinking a formica top over a plywood substrate and something adult sized so they can grow into them. 

now it is done

The right side has a bit of missing banding - other than that the outside is good. I like the simplicity of this box a lot. The inlaid banding and what I covered the plywood edges with match up pretty good.

inside peek

The veneer I used on the covering the inside proved to be a PITA. It was tissue thin and didn't like being cut, sawn, or sanded. Both the top and bottom lost a couple of silvers around the perimeter.

Stanley poster frames

Sanded the 7 frames up to 220 just on the upside face. On the back I ran the 120 grit sanding block on it once.

oil based primer

I should have bought this when I got the paint for the tile tables. Using oil based because it is better than a latex primer. Fingers crossed that I won't have to put on 3 topcoats to cover it.

waited a day

I flattened these two a couple of days ago and I waited until today to check them. Both them, according to the sticks, are still flat, straight, and twist free.

test time

I ran a knife line 360 and I'm going to thickness this. The weather isn't forecasted to be clear and sunny until wednesday. So I'll thickness this one and check it for a couple of days to see if it does any stupid wood tricks.

3/4" thick

I checked all the rails/stretchers to find the thinnest one and that happened to be 13/16" thick. I was happy to find that out because 3/4" is what I wanted the rails/stretchers to be.

hmm.....

This is an extra and I sawed it to final width (2"). The Dowel jig minimum for drilling two centered holes is 1 1/2". Got me to thinking about how to center two holes on a 2" wide board with it. 

One thing that became apparent was there was no way I could use both screw clamps to hold the board. Turned out that it was held securely with only one. The instructions clearly state that they are to be tightened only finger tight.

nope

The first go around I drilled the left and middle hole. I drilled two holes on the mating piece and the fit was good. However, I wasn't fond of the empty space between the center hole and the right side edge. I put the jig back on and added the right one. It is not symmetrical/centered with the other two.

 The corresponding 3 holes I drilled on the mating piece didn't line up. The first two did but I missed something with lining up the 3rd holes between the two pieces.

WINDRTI

When In Doubt Read The Instructions. However, comma, backslash, there was nothing in the instructions that addressed this dilemma. After eyeballing it I came up with an idea to try out.

step one

The idea was to drill two holes centered but also the same distance away from the edge. Started by drilling hole #1 on the right.

followed by repeating it on the left

this surprised me

I wasn't expecting one screw clamp to securely hold the board but it did. I thought drilling would cause the board to shift and move but it didn't. And it did it with just being tightened with finger pressure.

hmmm.....

The mating piece is the leg stock that I will have to drill the mating holes on. I used a scrap of 1 1/4" square stock to drill into. The holes in the rail look good and it should keep it from rolling on the top or bottom

ain't going to work

The bushings in the jig aren't lined up with the holes in the rail. 

had to confirm it

I could see that they were not going to line up but I checked it anyways. I had a false hope that maybe I could force it if it was only a few frogs off. FYI, it was more than a few.

back to square one

Sawed off the ends of the test piece and drilled two new holes. I then marked the width of the rail onto to the test leg. 

drilling the first hole

This side and the opposite one are the reference faces for this jig. I didn't use them when I drilled the third hole. Because of that I couldn't line the 3rd one up. On the leg I lined up the left side reference face with the top of the leg.

drilling the 2nd hole

I lined the right side reference face with the pencil line on the leg. This is the width of the rail. Drilled the 2nd hole.

dead on

It worked perfectly. There was zero misalignment between the holes on the two.

look Ma, no gaps

I'm using the dowels because chopping mortises for the tenons would be a bit awkward due to the dimensions of the leg. One mortise would be would be less than an inch long and it would run into the other one. Don't have that headache with the dowels.

Happy that I sorted this out. I've been thinking about it for a few days now.

my back up

If I couldn't figure this out I was doing to use these imperial dowel points. I also have a set of metric ones - why, I don't know but I had to have them.

ready to go

Ran my knife lines and darkened them with pencil. Thinking now that maybe I shouldn't have done this. If any of these have stupid wood tricks yet to spring on me, I'll have to do new knife lines.

Killed the lights here and headed out to get a coffee with the wife. Maybe I should get some ground coffee before the tariffs put it out of reach. Giving up coffee would be a ship to far for me to abandon. I wonder how the restaurant I have breakfast at every monday will deal with it?

accidental woodworker

Last weekend, my wife and I were antiquing in Dayton, Ohio, when we stopped in an antique store in Tipp City. I went into the back of the store when I saw this thing sitting on the shelf. I immediately knew exactly what it was as I owned one of these tools many years ago. It’s a No 40 Langdon Millers Falls Portable Mitre Box.

When I was a kid, I went to an Ohio Tool Collector Association meet-up and saw one of these miter boxes on a silent auction table. I thought it was cool as it was something I had never seen before. I put a silent auction bid of $20.00 and hoped for the best. Sure enough, I won the auction! The guy selling it wasn’t too happy about the price it received as he said that’s what he paid for it.

The tool is simple in its concept. There’s a fence that you clamp to a board and disc that you turn and set your angle with positive stops. You can even adjust the accuracy of the angle by adjusting the two screws on either side of the positive stop.

I wanted to try it out, so I grabbed a piece of scrap wood and clamped the miter gauge to it, then swung the fence to 45 degrees.

Since it’s made to be portable, the craftsman would just use a panel saw and cut the board while on the job site. The miter box is small enough that it would easily fit in a toolbox.

After I took a cut, I was surprised how accurate it was. That’s a pretty good 45 for trim carpentry work on a house.

Millers Falls made a compound angle version of this tool called the No 41, but I have never seen one in the wild.

I paid $15 for this miter box, which is cheaper than what I paid for the first one 35 years ago. People don’t know what these things are, so if you find one in the wild, chances are you’ll pick it up for a good price. I sold my first one years ago when I was unemployed and needed money. I really didn’t want to sell it back then as I thought I would never find another. Maybe the antique tool gods like me. 

 Got what the next two projects are going to be. Amanda thought of using the old back door as a desktop. I nixed that and said I would make Miles and Leo both a desk. Of course other than being a desk, I'll have to make the two of them different. Can't have them getting identical desks. The thoughts about making them have been transiting my brain bucket since I got the word on them this AM. Still working on massaging the blob of ideas into something coherent.

detour

This is the self in a cabinet I made last year(?). I didn't make any pockets for the shelf pins then so I'm doing it now.

where the shelf calls home

This is not the first time this has happened. What is that you ask? Well, when I take anything off the shelf it comes forward a little and a pin falls out, and the shelf comes crashing down. Annoying but it finally pissed me off enough to now end it this AM.

The pockets sit down and around the pins so when it is pulled forward slightly, no pins fall out and it stays in place. I double, triple, checked it 4 times to confirm that.

flush

I should have made the banding a wee bit wider. It is only a frog hair proud of the tile. Not a lot of meat left for clean up.

first one done

I glued and nailed the banding to the substrate. I clamped the miters to fully close them up. I let this cook a few hours before I removed the clamps.

2nd table substrate

I got a good fit on the miters on both of these. The clamps are more for insurance to provide a good bond on the miters.

ready for paint

I got a good fit on the miters on both of these. The left one is 1/8" wider and longer than the right one. Sawed the plywood board in half on the wrong side of the pencil line.

not going to be easy

I can already feel my OCD trying to downshift, and punch the accelerator to the floor. Both of these will use 140 of these irregular tiles to fill in the field. Along with the irregular tiles I will have to contend with irregular spacing between the tiles for grout.

This is the 2nd table that I'm making. My initial thoughts on it were to use black tiles around the perimeter and mix up the other colored tiles to fill between the black ones. I laid out one long and short side to eyeball that and I'm wavering now. I'll wait until I get the whole lot of tiles before I decide on what to do.

calling it done

I like this box but not the me-steaks I made on it. I learned a few things and I should do better (hopefully) the next time I try inlaid banding.

nope, not done

I saw a drip and tried to feather it out with 4-0 steel wool. I managed to do that and also to break off a piece of banding. I super glued that back down and put on another coat of shellac. Fingers crossed that tomorrow it will be done. I consider this to be below a 2nd but now maybe a bit too fancy to use as a shop box.

 accidental woodworker

Those of you who have followed me over the last 18 years know that every now and again I sell off parts of my tool collection.

Every now and again has arrived.

I will post a link to an eBay auction for a LN No. 212 small bronze scraper plane today. More auctions will follow.

Some of the tools that I may sell are:

Stanley No.5 jack plane, type 11

Stanley No. 3 smooth plane, type 11  

Stanley No. 9 1/2 low angle plane purchased in 1994

Lie-Nielsen floats, never used, never sharpened with original packaging material and instructions

Maybe some vintage socket chisels, maybe some vintage Disston hand saws.

Why am I selling all these tools and more, it’s called downsizing. I have all the tools I need to make my beautiful guitars.

Our Mondo March Marathon of Travel is now in the rearview mirror, we are back home in Shangri-la where Spring has definitely sprung.  Were home exactly two days last month in between visits to grandsons old and new (and their parents, of course), an exhausting trek for these two geezers.  The final push of 700 miles in one day was just about enough to put us in traction.

But now we are home and (mostly) recovered and the chores of spring are in full bloom.  Flowers are popping up all over the place and Mrs. Barn is feverishly getting all the garden beds ready for her ministrations.  This is her version of being “in the shop.”

I, on the other hand, have gone to the shop only long enough to package up my Donsbarn.com store orders.  This will likely continue for another fortnight.

I have spent a couple days working in the greenhouse installing the new thermostat controlled solar powered ventilation fan.  We’ll see if it is adequate to the task; the day before I started working on it the space was well over 100 degrees.  Yesterday the fan brought it down to the mid-70s, but it was a cloudy day.  I’m thinking I will have to augment the fan with a shade cloth.  I’ll now spend a couple days finishing up the window framing before proceeding to moving in mulch and soil and building the main raised bed.  I am looking forward to now getting fresh vegetables year-round.

Being Spring time it has been my time to re-activate the hydroelectric system. Every year I check the line to repair any winter damage which results from trees falling on the 2” PVC penstock. Normally this occurs at the beginning of March but since Grandson #3 was born on February 28 and Grandsons #1 and #2 have birthdays in mid-March…  This year there is much less damage than normal but I am taking the opportunity to reroute a few stretches of pipe in order to flatten out the inclined line of the pipe.  Near the bottom and alongside the pond I disconnected, pulled out, then rerouted a 150-foot section, moving it up about three feet but weaving it in behind several trees.  Ever try to “sew” with a 200-pound piece of thread?  I am very pleased with the result but that one little step took more than two days and my shoulders still ache.

Next week I will do the same thing for three sections before reconnecting it at the top and harvesting the watts.  If I can get the incline straight enough, with no swoops and swails all the way to the top, I can (theoretically) keep the system running almost all year long.  Maybe all year long in reality.  The final project in the coming weeks will be to construct a Coanda cover for the penstock intake.

One problem to be solved this year involved re-setting the debris catcher on the top of the pond drain stack.  Heavy ice in the pond this winter pushed it aside (sorry, no picture of that) leaving it sorta in place but pretty womperjawed, hanging off to one side.  To set the strainer on its axis I had to strip down to my skivvies and shoes and venture neck-deep into the 50-degree water.  Brisk.  But, I got ‘er done.

That all said I can hardly wait to complete these necessary tasks and get back into the shop with the multitude of projects awaiting me there.  Tool cabinet parquetry and fittings, full and 3/4 scale Gragg chairs, writing, editing, writing editing, and more of the same.

Stay tuned.

 Since monday construction crews have been working on my street installing new gas lines. Today they finished up doing my house and the one directly across the street from me. There are 6 more to go so they'll be back on monday to finish it up. After they are done with my street (3 blocks long) another crew will be installing new gas meters and new gas lines on the inside of the house. It wasn't that bad other than the street being crowded and little noisy at times, no heartaches.

hmm.....

This confirms I'm brain dead. The 4 at the top didn't rock at all when I checked the reference face on the tablesaw. The lone one did rock a teeny bit but when I checked it with the sticks they said it was flat and straight.

no rocking

On this one board, it didn't rock on the rough planed face neither. All four of the top ones checked flat and twist free with the sticks. I did say I would toss this if any these showed any twist but I changed my mind. The amount of twist in one board was minimal. Maybe the boards are finally done doing stupid wood tricks? I'm going to move forward on that thought.

finally some good news

The two long ones on the right checked flat and straight with the sticks. I was a little surprised by that because I was expecting to sight over the sticks and see a pretzel. I sawed these two up because I needed two stretchers and one short rail.

ta da, happy times are here

I checked 9 boards and 6 were flat and straight. 3 had a little bit of twist, a ton less than what I saw on the first two rounds of planing. It took only a few wispy shavings to remove it. I now have a positive feeling about this stock. 

It will be a few more days before I get to use the lunchbox planer. I will only use it to surface the leg stock. All the rails and stretchers I will plane to thickness by hand - they are too short IMO to run through the planer.

done

The two short boards on the far right are the ones I planed a wee bit of twist out. I purposely set these apart from the others so I can check them again tomorrow.

ditto

The 3 top left stretcher/rails are the ones I planed twist off again. Separated these too for the same reason.

I saw this finish being used on a You Tube vid and I was impressed with how it looked. The big one is a blended tung oil finish and the smaller one is a wax topcoat. I will try it on a future project. The You Tuber used it on walnut but mine will most likely be pine.

hmm.....

It would appear that I dodged another bullet today. These sticks are destined for banding the table tops of the tiled tables. All of them look straight with no discernible twist, cup or bowing. 

prepping the screws

Sanding 10 of the screws that I am painting the heads on. None of the screw heads were ding or burr free. Sanded starting with 100 grit and ending with 220.

first of 3

I will put two coats on now. I'm sure that I'll need a 3rd one after driving them home on the kitchen ladder.

one down, one to go

I thought I would get at least one of these assembled today but it didn't happen boys and girls. The plan is to glue and nail 3 legs on and than plane and check the last leg until it fits.

done

I managed to get both sets rough sawn and fitted before 1500 rolled around. I am still taking my time working because my wrist doesn't ache anymore but I am having occasional drop-sees when I pick up things. It wasn't too bad doing these two.

love this color

The keepers are from a table top - it was solid mahogany. I love the chocolate brown color that develops in it after I apply shellac. I keep an eye on Facebook Market place for tables. I have gotten 3 since that one but the last 3 were all veneered. I used up the last bits of that table for the keepers and the top and bottom bandings.

accidental woodworker

My latest classical guitar. 

The guitar is assembled and waiting for me to start the French polish, which is a beautiful finish created with shellac and all work done by hand. I put the two “E” strings on this guitar to check the action and boy, is this guitar loud!

Approximate date this guitar will be available is May 30, 2025.

 It's been a while, and I do love it so.

Those East Devon joiners and carvers, whoever they were, made something special 400 years ago.

I was going to re-create one chest from the several that have survived. Looking over them, I realised that apart from the one, this was based on:

there were elements on each, that I was not so keen on. So I decided to scavenge my favourite elements from all of them, and put them into one.

As always there's a few South Devon influences as well. I do live in South Devon, after all.

There was so much space before we put the benches in!

Come and visit our workshops in July!

We finished the expansion of the workshops over the winter and are now running all of our courses with six participants. If you don’t have the chance to come on a course why not visit us one weekend in July? This year we’re taking part in Cambridge Open Studios and invite you to come in and see what we’re doing. There might even be biscuits…

COS has been running for over 50 years and is an annual opportunity to meet artists and craftspeople in their studios. This will be our first year opening our doors for this event and we’re really looking forward to it.

There are several local artists in the Wilbrahams and Fulbourn who will also be taking part and they’re very much worth a visit so if you’re free for a weekend in July come and see us.

We’ll be open from 10-5 on both Saturday and Sunday of the 5/6th, 12/13th and 26/27th. We’re running a course on the 19th and 20th so we won’t be open for visitors then but look forward to seeing you on any other weekend in July.

Course Dates: 2025

Loads more courses and more spaces on each course. Our course schedule for 2025 is now on our website. There might be a couple of tiny changes but if you book a course we won’t change that date.

Shows this year

We’ve had a couple of changes to our show calendar and are delighted to have been accepted to Living Crafts Festival at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. If you haven’t been before it’s worth the trip; it’s one of the biggest and most diverse craft shows we’ve been to and has an unparalleled range of workshops and activities.

• 8-11th May Living Crafts Festival Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
• 14-15th June Cambridge Town and Country Fair, Parker’s Piece, Cambridge
• 9-10th August Cambridge Country Show, Stow Cum Quy
• 13-14th September The Wonder of Wood Fair, Burwash Manor, Cambridge
• 24-25th October London International Woodworking Festival, LDE UTC, Royal Docks, London

If you think there’s a craft show within an hour’s drive of Cambridge that we should attend please drop us a line. We’re always grateful for new opportunities.

Books

We often get asked for book recommendations. Whilst there are lots of books about building Windsor Chairs there are fewer that are great for ladder backs, post and rung and rush-seated chairs. The two I got started with are often available used and are both an excellent introduction to the craft. They’re by no means exhaustive though. When describing the process of building the legs of a chair one of the authors writes, “Turn or otherwise round the legs…” which leaves plenty to the imagination. A little face-to-face instructions won’t go amiss!

Jack Hill’s book is often very reasonably priced but copies of Langsner’s book are sometimes eye-wateringly expensive. Setting up a search on Abebooksco.uk is worth doing.

What’s for tea?

All of the food on our courses is hand-made by Bryony. She trained at Le Cordon Bleu as a patisserie chef so her standards are rather high!

As always, if you’re interested in coming on a course please give us a ring (07778 397328) or drop us an email. You can book all of our courses through the links on our website.

Enjoy your time in the workshop.

StJohn & Bryony

 I've had carpel tunnel for over 30 years and every now and then it wakes up and says hello and wants to shake hands with me. I don't want the surgery because I'm not 100% sold on it working for me. So yesterday afternoon it woke from its slumber. When I got up this AM it ached and did so throughout the day. The bad side of it that is I lose my grip and sense of touch. I get no feed back on picking my coffee cup and when using planes and other tools. It usually goes away if I take it easy and limit stressing it. It is a good thing I'm at a stopping point with the current project(s). Made for another slo mo day in the shop.

looked promising

I eyeballed everything and the reference faces looked good to my eye. I didn't bother eyeballing the edges. Of the 8 legs I had to plane a teeny bit of twist out 2 of them again.

dipsy do

The stretcher/rails were a different story. This leg here dips inward L to R at the far end. Didn't pick up on that yesterday. 2 of these had just as much twist as they did on the first two planing runs. Wasn't looking good for the home team with the first two I checked being OTL (out to lunch).

happy days again

I had lost one of these in the shop somewhere months ago. I found it yesterday when I was cleaning it up. It had fallen through one of the bench hook holes on the workbench onto the shelf beneath.  Nice to have found it and at least something is going my way.

not good

The far stick was showing over 3 lines of twist. I don't know if this is one of the original boards from day one that had this much twist too. 

cutting my losses

7 of the 9 boards are toast. 2 had a lot of twist and the others had a healthy amount. At this point here I thought that these were a lost cause and I just wanted to give them flying lessons.

hmm.....

Two of the rail/stretcher boards have no twist and the other a couple of frog hairs. Because I am obviously brain dead I am going to try and salvage this one more time. If it goes south on me this time I'll process the last poplar board for new rails/stretchers.

fingers crossed

Here's the new plan. I sawed up the wonky full length boards into the long and short rails and the center stretchers. I checked them and several of them were tapered across one face. All of them had some twist but nowhere as bad as when they were one board. Fingers crossed that being smaller/shorter now they won't do any more stupid wood tricks.

banding

The full length board in the preceding pic I cut up to get this banding. This will cover the perimeter of the table and provide a enclosure for the tiles. Just had a thought about this - will the wonkiness pop up in this thin banding now?

sneak peek

This is how the table will look. The rails will not be flush with the top of the legs. Instead they will be set down from the top the width of the legs. 

I haven't decided on how the table top will be attached to the legs. No matter which way I chose, it won't be replaceable. The tiles negate getting any access to how I'll attach it.

humph....

There was a cloud of poplar wood dust in the shop. Most of the pile under tablesaw is a talc like dust. Pine doesn't throw dust throughout the shop like this poplar has each time I've sawn it. I had to turn on the dust fan box to clear the air in the shop.

confusing myself

This rail or stretcher is dead nuts flat and straight, end to end. This face is square to the top edge. The face is tapered and it is twisted. Couldn't wrap the brain bucket around how it can be flat/straight and still be twisted. Even the diagonals said it was flat/straight.

parallel upcoming

I had to try this to unscrew my thinking about it. I ran a gauge line 360 off the reference face and I planed that face down to the lines.

NFG

Planed a lot of wood off and it is still twisted. Both faces are parallel now and both faces exhibit the same amount of twist. This one got tossed into the shitcan. On the flip side, it didn't unscrew my thinking.

last chance

I am going to check this again in the AM and if any of them show twist they are going directly into the shitcan. I am not even going to pack rat them for some other use.

2 coats

I took my time planing the twist this time. Not sure if I over did it or not. If it still hurts/aches tomorrow I'll take the day off from the shop but I'll check the rails/stretchers for twist. That shouldn't effect it to any extent.

accidental woodworker

 Day two after planing a reference face and edge on the wood (poplar) for the tile tables. Because the weather isn't anywhere near what the weather seers say it will be I double check what I had planed. Tomorrow it is supposed rain off and on but if it is clear, I plan on using the lunchbox planer. I want to get the poplar processed and in table form before it does any stupid wood tricks.

double checking

Checking my reference edges and for the most part they were still flat, straight, and square to each other.

the first sigh....

I had planed all the legs and a 3rd of the rails before I realized I had missed something. I was just checking the faces and edges were square. I thought it would be wise to check for twist and I'm glad I did. All the legs had some twist in them. Nothing major but I did have to go back and plane the twist away. After that I had to check/adjust that the reference faces and edges were still square to each other.

no warm and fuzzy

The wind got sucked out my sails here. I wasn't expecting the legs to move as much as they did. They weren't as bad as the rail and stretcher boards. Those went absolutely postal. Not only did the face show twist, but the edges did too. I was surprised but how much wood movement I saw. Of the nine boards (for the rails/stretchers) 4 had a ton of twist, 3 had a little face and edge twist, and two were kind of normal - just a tad bit of movement.

the worse one

Fingers and toes crossed that at a minimum the leg stock will still be flat and straight tomorrow. I had eyeballed the stock and it looked ok but the sticks told me different story. I don't have much hope the boards for the stretchers/rails behaving though. Based on the initial amount of wonkiness and what I planed away again today, the odds are on stupid wood tricks 4 to 1.

almost done

It was past lunch here with four more legs to go. It took me over 3 hours to get to this point. I tackled the last legs after my post lunch stroll.

not all of it

This is the shavings I produced flattening the stock for the 2nd time. This always amazes me how big of a pile I generate from just a few boards.

deja vu

This is how it looked before I checked and corrected for twist again. One face looks straight and other rounded and rough. Learning that my eyeballs aren't as calibrated as I think they are.

I'll let these go until tomorrow and I'll check them for twist with the sticks before I do anything else. If the rails/stretcher boards show twist I'm done with them. I have one more 4/4 poplar board that I will process for a new set of rails and stretchers.

This is all I got accomplished today other than sweeping the deck twice. This was disheartening because this poplar wasn't cheap. The 8/4 and two 4/4 quarter boards set me back almost $100. I can feel some nightmares about stupid wood tricks happening tonight.

accidental woodworker

 Today was a beautiful spring day. Blue skies, bright sunshine, and white fluffy clouds. I heard birds singing this morning and buds are popping up everywhere I look. As nice as today is, the rest of the week ain't looking so good. The forecast is rain and cloudy conditions until thursday after next. That is putting a damper on me using the lunchbox planer.

Today was April's fools day and I went on a post lunch stroll for the first time in months? I haven't walked since I tripped on the sidewalk in dec? It has been a while and I felt it today. I barely did half of the walk I was doing before I got hurt. My thighs got a wee bit sore walking and I was a little breathless walking up the one big hill on the trek. I was able to walk up it without stopping but not in the steady stride I was doing it before. It is going to take a while for me to get back in shape. I'll keep at the 1/2 way point until I get my stamina back.

what a relief

I was hoping that it wouldn't happen but I was expecting the 3 boards on the right to do stupid wood tricks overnight. The board had some significant twist in it and that usually means it has a strong tendency to move again after planing it like I did. Sometimes you get lucky with it.

had to force myself

Calling this box done. I had to force myself to finish it up - it just needs a finish to be 100%. I mitered the banding around the bottom and glued the last two keepers in place. I still have a great fit with the lid on the bottom part of the box.

sigh

I piece broke off while I was sanding the top edges of the keepers round. I didn't lose what broke off and I was able to super glue it back on.

the color of the tables

This is the color Amanda picked out and I got it today from Benjamin Moore. I only have to get the grout to have everything I need to make the tables.

sawed the rails and stretchers

The rails and stretchers will be 2" wide and I was concerned with the the hump on the unplaned face. The hump is still there but it isn't as pronounced as when the board was whole.

the bottom of the box

This detail looks odd to my eye and it is something that I will change on the next one. I will size the rabbet width so the banding will cover the bottom banding. I have to live with as is for this box.

cleaning them up

I didn't plane the two faces parallel to each other. I just planed the rough sawn face off along with most of the hump. This should make it easier to plane the faces parallel when I do run them through the lunchbox planer.

As an aside I was asked why I don't use the lunchbox in the shop. Two reasons - the first one is the noise. I have used it in the shop and the noise is much louder then doing it outside. I'm a little nutso protecting my ears from loud noises so the shop is out. The 2nd one is the mess. A shop vac can't keep up with the amount of dust and chips the lunchbox spits out. That dust also gets into every single nook and cranny in the shop and it will also migrate upstairs.

stickered

I made a change to the legs. Instead of going with 1 1/4" square legs I changed my mind and they will be 1 1/4" thick by 2" wide. That will be a more stable footprint for the table.

The rails and the stretchers will be roughly 3/4" thick by 2" wide. I'm thinking of using my dowel max to attach the rails to the legs. The stretcher I will probably do with a stopped dado similar to way I did the front rails on Leo's dresser.

The rails won't be flush with the top of the legs. The table Amanda picked out has the rails set down from the top about 2-3 inches with the stretcher running between the short side rails. It is an interesting design and not one I would have guessed that she would have picked.

accidental woodworker

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 Finally got the Firesticks installed and working. The first one I stumbled a bit with the pin number screen but I resolved it. The second one on the bedroom TV initially had me frustrated but fixed that after lunch today. Both TVs now have prime video, Amazon Silk (internet browser), and You Tube installed and working. I can't get a USB keyboard to work on the bedroom TV. I thought that would make it easier to surf the WWW but I was wrong. I can't surf the internet because I don't know how to input/type anything in the search query. I'm sure I'll figure it out because after all I'm retired and got lots of time to waste how to.

table legs

This is a rough sawn piece of true 8/4 poplar. It is 54" long and just under 6" wide. I can get 2 sets of (4 legs each) out of it. The legs will be 1 1/4" to 1 3/8" square. More than likely it will be closer to 1 1/4" because I'll lose wood sawing the individual legs out.

has some twist

I sawed it in half length wise and I flattened one face and edge. I almost missed checking the edge for flat and straight.

rails and stretchers

I got one extra out of this poplar board. From each board I can get four rails and one stretcher. The extra will give me some oops. 

true 4/4 boards

Another rough sawn poplar board but this time it is 4/4. I didn't know it here but this board had twist, cup, bow, and humps in it. The plan was to flatten and straighten one edge and one face. Then sticker them until I can use the lunchbox planer in the driveway.

a 1/8" cup

The cup is so large on this end that I could see it. The plane just confirmed what the eyeballs told me.

a lot of calories

As you can see I took a lot more off the near end than the far end. The cup at the far end was a strong 1/16". After I got the board flat I expended 3 time the calories planing the twist out of it.

finally done

I don't have a warm and fuzzy with this board not doing stupid wood tricks on me. I had to plane the twist out of this board in quarters. The twist was horrible and the only way I removed it was to plane the first quarter and then the 2nd one etc etc. Checking for twist with the sticks at the ends just had me pissing in the wind.

more fun

The cup at this end of the board is over a 8th.

the other end

This end is barely a 16th. Almost as bad as the first board I did. This one took me just  as long to flatten and straighten - about 40 minutes.

removed a lot of wood

I am a frog hair shy of this board being 7/8" thick at its thinnest point. My goal was to have 7/8" thick rails but it is looking like I'll have to settle for 3/4".

last one

This board was a ROYAL )&(@%*_^)(@_+)^(%* PITA to do. This one I had to flatten the opposite face partially first. I prefer to flatten the cupped side first but the hump wouldn't let me do that. This one took me the longest to do and I was only doing one face and edge too. I flattened the face by doing it in 5ths. Fingers are crossed that the 3 of them don't compete with each other as to who will pretzel the most.

yikes

I initially criss crossed the board and then planed it at 90 with the #6. That was to rough flatten it and I checked it for twist. There was a ton because the board corkscrewed from one end to the other. The sticks had almost 4 lines from the front to rear sticks - each line on the sticks represents 1/8".

frustrating

This was not the face I wanted to flatten. It had a huge hump on this side. I didn't go nutso on it - I planed enough (twice) to get it to lay reasonable flat so I could work on the cupped face.

almost an hour

I thought I was getting closer but you can see that I still show a couple of lines of twist. I didn't bother checking the ends and switched to completing it by 5ths.

worked through lunch

I wasn't expecting to spend this much time flattening these boards. I'll have to sweat it out and see how they behave overnight. I do have another 4/4 board that I can get the rails and stretchers from if these don't behave. This is longest time I recall flattening one board - over two hours.

sigh

This is the practice frame which might be a plus. I had a spot on the other frame that I covered with black magic marker. That was a me-steak because I could pick it out in raking light. I don't know if I should strip off the poly or just touch up this spot with the black paint. I'll try black paint first and then deal with it if it goes south.

I got the third coat on the kids frame and I think I'm going to leave it at that. I'll bring it to Maria on wednesday.

hmm.....

I don't have any way of cutting these tiles - they are 1" square. The tile substrate needs to be sized so that whole tiles end up within a 1/8" of the sides. That should be adequate for grout. I played around with this and settled on a substrate that has ten tiles on the short side and 14 on the long ones. 

need more tiles

Amanda wanted the table to be 12" by 16" and that would require 192 tiles. This layout needs 140 tiles which makes what she shipped to me 40 tiles short. As you can see the tiles are not even remotely square. That will leave ragged out grout lines but it will match the not so square tiles.

sigh

This keeper broke but I'm still using it. I super glued it back together and used yellow glue to glue it in the box.

ghost sticks

I went nutso on these because the right side keeper broke in two. I will leave this be until the AM rolls around.

underside of the lid

This was not the result I was expecting. The veneer is too fragile and splits, breaks, cracks, and splinters just breathing on it. On the next box I will use thicker banding than this paper thin veneer. I will bandsaw some a strong 16th thick. 

top of the box

This is 1/8" thick banding and looks substantial unlike the veneer on the underside. This box is almost done. I killed the lights here and tomorrow I'll finish it by getting 1/8" thick banding on the bottom. 

When I got done typing this blog I noticed that yesterday's blog showed it was still a draft, not published. I would have bet a lung that I had published it in the AM. I am a creature of habit. I proof and publish the blog each morning before I eat breakfast or have my first cup of coffee. Hope it isn't another blogger hiccup to take a bite out of my arse.

accidental woodworker