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

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

sigh.....

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

lid and bottom

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

Lowes run

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

practice run

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

roughing sawing the bottom

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

hmm......

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

extra clamps

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

practice run

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

drats, and double drats

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

glued and clamped

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

yikes

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

oops

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

hmm.....

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

the fix

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

the lid

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

new bottom

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

mine on the left, Toshio's on the right

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

gluing up the lid

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

missed it

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

lid cooking

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

handle is ok

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

thinking

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

accidental woodworker

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

Starting to line out with v-gouge and details.

Grounded with panels.

Then on to muntins. Scratchstock moulding.

Muntin carved and grounded.

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

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

$84

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

breaking down the boards

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

top and bottom

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

off cuts

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

glued and cooking

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

the bottom

Sawed the bottom to the same overage as the top.

ready for glue

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

hmm......

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

added two

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

not happening

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

not sure

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

cleaned up

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

hmm.....

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

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

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

accidental woodworker 

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

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

finishing sucks pond scum

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

accidental woodworker 

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

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

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

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

good choice

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

close up pic

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

first coat

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

not super blonde

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

2 of 3 done

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

accidental woodworker

One of the many projects I’ve been juggling this past week was making a new outside cowl for the headstock of the old-as-dirt-but-wonderful Walker-Turner lathe my pal MikeM passed along to me many years ago.  Exactly how and why I was fiddling with it will be told in a series of posts very soon, but for this moment suffice to say that as I was bolting on a new cowl cover this afternoon I had that sinking moment when you feel a bolt wring off.

Impolite words and guttural moans filled the air.

I’m not sure if the bolt broke because I was feeding it in crooked or it bottomed out, but one thing is sure – it’s busted.  1/64″ below the shoulder.

I drilled out the center of the bolt in the hopes of removing it with the reverse thread bolt extractor.  I then spent the next hours in a (thus far) futile search for the set of extractors.   Wherever it is it is hiding skillfully.

But, I did find some other things I forgotten about, so there is that.

I am booked solid for the coming week so it will be ten days before I can return to this particular migraine headache.  If the extraction fails, I will have to drill out the hole and tap it to the next larger bolt size.  Hardly anything more than a First World problem, but it did cast a cloud over Shangri-la today.

Up for sales is my Lightly used Veritas Large Router Plane. It has 2 blades, Allen wrench, blade sharpening holder, Veritas Router Plane Fence and Veritas Router Plane Box. The router sole has a few minor scratches on it. One knob has a spot that is missing a dime size area of finish, this is how it arrived from Lee Valley. One straight blade, one spear point blade, both have been sharpened and used. The Veritas Router Plane Box is in Near Mint condition. Selling as is, no refunds, no returns. SHIPPING TO THE USA ONLY! Link is below

Veritas Large Router Plane, etc.

Here we have the results of my latest challenge; the loveseat is in the room! It’s been over a month of work to meet this challenge but well worth it. The entrance to this room is such that it wasn’t possible to get a piece of furniture like this into it. This piece is about 50″ long and a total of 34″ tall and 30″ deep. One aspect of this challenge was to use barrel connectors and threaded brass inserts so that the piece could be assembled in the room. I covered that process in my first blog. Six pieces in all; 2 leg and armrest, 2 stretchers, the seat, and the back. A common question is always how much money and how much time! For the 8/4 Birch (30 bf), hardware, and seat webbing I spent about $375.00. The foam and material came to roughly $400.00 which includes the work done by a local shop since Diane’s sewing machine couldn’t handle the thickness of the material.

The Birch was resawn so I have quite a bit of it left over which yielded 3/8″ and 1/2″ material which will probably be used for future drawers or boxes. The side pieces and armrests were selected for their grain and coloration. The finish is Osmo 3043 which I apply with Mirka Mirlon abrasive pads. A glass like finish was achieved with two coats using the 1500 and 2500 grit pads. This is the fourth blog on this piece so if you’d like to see more about it check those out as well. This slide show illustrates the process, as always; if you have a question or comment feel free to reach out to me, thanks — John

Things are looking up. I checked the weather forecast for tomorrow and it now says cloudy all day. There is a 1 in 4 chance of rain predicted for the hours between 0700 and 0900. Those are acceptable odds IMO. I'll be looking at the rain radar when I roll out of the rack in the AM. Cross your fingers and toes with me, the more there are the more the odds improve in my favor.

end grain

I should have oriented the end grain to go from side to side rather than front to back. With it side to side it would have aligned with the sides and top/bottom of the carcass. Regardless, I sanded what I had with my sanding sticks, smooth  and soft as a baby's butt. 

glued and cooking

I'm impressed so far with this new glue bottle. Definitely like the ease it takes to dispense glue but what I like even more is the dispenser tip. So far it hasn't clogged and there has been zero dried glue blobs at the tip. It hasn't been that long but so far I'm impressed with how the tip drains clear. I'll wait for a couple of months more before I make up my mind on it.

gone

I wanted the knot to be in the veneer so bad I could taste it. I tried to trim the edge above it but I got nowhere with that. It kept splintering and I tried cutting it with a saw, a razor blade, and my marking knife. All 3 sucked pond scum at cutting it clean. I did get a clean saw cut when I cut the knot out.

glued and cooking

Glued the veneer on with a caul but it was short on the width. The spring clamps got the top 1/2" or so.

creative clamping

Had to take the quick grips from the front and put them on the rear to make room for the spring clamps. That is why the big quick grip clamps are in the face vice. 

trimming the veneer

I was surprised that I was able to trim the veneer with this veneer saw. This veneer was thicker then most of my other veneers I have. I had glued the veneer on flush at the bottom so I only had to saw a bit off the ends and the top.

pretty good fit

The sides fit but it is stopping at the top front. I planed that and it fit but it was snug at the front sides. Planed that and got a nice sliding in/out fit.

the winner

This is the winner from the choice between 4 brass knobs. You can't go wrong with shiny brass against a dark wood.

hmm......

This is just enough to stand out against all the pine. But I think I should have beveled or chamfered at least the top edge of the drawer enclosure.

last step

Gluing on the back of the drawer enclosure was the last woodworking step. Just needs a finish to get a check mark in the done column.

insurance

The rabbet for the plywood is shallow and only on the top and sides. I decided to add a few brads to help things along.

oops

Got one coat of shellac on the drawer when I noticed this. I forgot to plug the holes on either side. Looks like one more woodworking step to go.

accidental woodworker

 The weather broke overnight and it felt cold today. The temp at 0700 was 71F - 22C with a breeze blowing. It was the breeze that made it feel cold after 4 days of temps in the 90'sF. Cloudy tomorrow but saturday is still forecasted to be a rainy day. Hope that I don't have to wait 11 weeks again before there is another sunny saturday.

hmm.....

It seems that I didn't think the rabbet for the back all the way through. I'm not making a new drawer enclosure so I'll fill this in.

drawer parts roughed out

Initially I was going to use half blind but changed my mind and used through dovetails. Went with through dovetails because I'm veneering the front of the drawer and the tails won't be seen.

dry fit

Back is in rabbets and I am using drawer slips. I grooved the inside of the front for the plywood bottom to come.

dry fit

 Notched the dry slips and checked the dry fit. Glued them in and set it aside to cook.

drawer enclosure

Got the plywood back dry fitted. I'm leaving it off for now. I need the back to remain open so I can get clamps on it when I glue it in place.

3 choices

Walnut at the top left, mystery veneer top right, and big piece of cherry veneer on the bottom. Decided to go with the mystery veneer for the drawer front. I like the sapwood and grain pattern it has. The walnut and the cherry is a bit on the bland side compared to it.

drawer is done

For its size it is a decent size drawer for whatever? It more for looks than for function.

it fits

I got lucky with this. I was expecting it to be much tighter and not fitting at all.

catching here

The right side of the drawer clears but the left side is catching. Must be due to the twist I planed off the bottom. It will disappear once I plane the top edge of the drawer.

hmm......

Drawer enclosure clamped where it will live and the drawer stopped here. Happy with the fit and it won't take much to get a loose, slip fit.

accidental woodworker 

 The high temps of late were supposed to top out today at 71F-22C. But Mother Nature didn't get the memo because the mercury stopped rising at 100F-38C. Tomorrow is forecasted for a high of 71F again but only if the memo gets read.

yikes

This was the temp when I got back to barn after having breakfast. I didn't know then that the high was supposed to be only 71F.

fingers crossed

I was happy that after the clamps had come off that both shelves were still square to the sides.

happy times

This was the shelf I was most concerned about because I used this square to hold it that way when I clamped it. The bottom shelf I had doubts about too because I have used the big black squares before and what I used them didn't turn out square.

hmm......

How do I position the support leg? This was the first option with it centered under the shelf.

2nd option

Support leg flush with the back. Of the two I like the 1st one.

new toys

This glue bottle came up on the sawmill site. Lately it has been flooded with top 5 lists of everything. A few days ago it had a top 5 of glue bottles. What caught my attention was this bottle dispenser supposedly won't clog shut with dried glue.

interesting tip

I bought this kit along with the other glue bottle. I was expecting the bottle in it to be the same as the other one but it wasn't. However, the tips seemed to modeled the same as the none clogging tip.

this tip sucks pond scum

I've been using this style for a bazillion years. For years it has clogged shut with 3 different glue layers. Dried, hard glue at the tip, semi cured glue beneath that, and then a plug of liquid glue.

cautious optimism

I had used this 3 times already and 3 times the tip drained back down into the bottle. No glue stuck in the conical tip at all. The bottle is squishy soft too which makes it incredibly easy to squeeze it to dispense glue.

found it

Three Miller dowels in the top and bottom of the support leg. It didn't need anything more than this because it won't be subjected to any stress.

dead nuts

This is a huge improvement over my last attempt at this. 

for the drawer

Decided to go with a drawer. I need a top and two sides thinned down to 5/8".

caught it

I happened to catch the support leg had a gap, it must of happened when I flipped it to pound the Miller dowels in on the opposite side.

the sides

Initially I thought of thinning this to 1/2-7/16 inches but I chose 5/8". The drawer will be 1/2" stock. I plan on using the overpriced 1/2" poplar I bought at Lowes for that.

house for the drawer

Gluing the sides on one at a time. I let this one cook while I went on my post lunch stroll.

This

popped up

I was glad when I clamped the leg support that I was able to pull 99% of the gap out. I'll trim this dowel head tomorrow.

done

I have been putting off making new sanding sticks for a bazillion years. Checked it off the list today - 80, 100, 120, 150, 180, and 220. I got lucky and I was able to reuse all the sticks except one. The sandpaper refused to come off that one.

opposite side

I used two sides so that one side of the drawer wasn't sliding in/out on the side of the carcass. This also makes it much easier to secure on the bottom, inside corner.

Miller dowels again

Only used 3 dowels again to keep with the number I used on everything else.

twist

There was a bit of twist that I planed off with one run with a blockplane.

hmm.....

This was the second choice. The first was above the larger shelf at the top right. In the back of my mind I'm thinking of putting a 2" square drawer there? I like this placement but I think it is too high. I what more of a height separation between the drawer and the larger shelf.

better

I like this asymmetrical layout. The other drawer is nixed. I think that would make this look crowded.

Tomorrow I'll make the drawer and the woodworking on this will be done. I will be using shellac as the finish, 5-7 coats.

accidental woodworker 

It’s been more than six months since I put this project aside (not my longest hiatus for sure — my Ultimate Portable Workbench project has been dormant and partially assembled for several years now) and the time has come to move it forward.  The Japanese planing beam is something I have wanted since first reading Toshio Odate’s book more than four decades ago (!), and more recently inspired by Adrian Preda’s video from three years ago.

Given the many moons of settling and relaxing it was time to true the beam and remove the 1/16″ of wind it had from one end to the other.  Since I am all about cultural appropriation I appropriated Roubo’s technology for flattening stock, beginning with his winding sticks on stilts.

Using my shoulder plane I shot declining rabets on the necessary opposite sides until the winding sticks aligned.  This picture is just a stroke away on each rabet to be done.

Using my #5 set up as a foreplane to work off of the tapered rabets I got the beam flat in a few minutes.  With that done I rotated the beam 90-degrees in both directions and used a cabinetmaker’s square to square up those edges.  I did nothing to the underside.

Up next — working on the ~400-pound bolt into the base.

 The temp when I got up this AM was already high at 84F-29C. It was 98F-37C when I left for my post lunch stroll. It was 102F-39C when I got back. Warmer today but it felt hotter yesterday. I shortened my stroll today due to the temp. I also took a water bottle with me and I drank it all too. The high for today topped out at 104F-40C. The temps the past few days aren't a normal for june here abouts.

hmm......

It would seem that securing the two shelves is going to be a bit of a PITA. Clamping it wasn't the problem, it was clamping it square that was proving it to be tricky. It took 15 minutes of fussing and adjusting the clamps before I got it square. 

The sides had set up without any hiccups and both the back and front diagonals were dead nuts on.

the small shelf

I anticipated this being the worse of the two but it was easy. I got it square on the first dry fit lickety split. Wasn't too sure once glue went on that I could duplicate the ease of the dry run. 

hmm.....

I saw this shelf on a blog post and I made my version of it in cherry. The drawer is poplar with walnut veneer front. I want to do a similar drawer on the new project. I am also thinking of maybe putting a 'box' with a lid in place of the drawer.

big Miller dowels

I went with the big ones vice the mini dowels. I used 3 at each corner, top and bottom.

cooking

I got all the dowels in and I flushed them. After that I put the clamps back on again until the glue on the dowels had set. I let it cook until after I got back from my stroll.

survived

This went surprisingly well. Nothing anywhere as close to the nightmare I imagined this would be. I only glued the end of the shelf in the stopped dadoes. Tomorrow I'll do the support legs. The plan for them is to secure them with Miller mini dowels. The only hiccup is the room underneath the small shelf. I checked the fit with the drill and the bit and it was too tight of a fit. I can get my 90 ° chuck to fit but I'll have to find it because it is MIA.

accidental woodworker 

Yes, I’m still here. The last post was over two years ago, so perhaps you wonder what has been going on with your devoted author. I will tell you but in the next post. Here, I want to go way back and tell you first about when I began woodworking. I mean way back. Enough […]

 Decided to make a prototype of the new project. I'll save the cherry for something else because the prototype will be bigger than any of the cherry boards I have. It will be a fly by the seat of my pants design. I have an overall idea of what I envision it will look like but that is subject to change as I build it. It was a lot of fun to have that freedom to do it.

Lowes haul but.....

The cost of short lumber like this from Lowes is getting to be ridiculous. Two, four foot pine 1x10's and three four foot, 1/2" x 6"poplar boards. The poplar was more expensive than  pine. Total cost to walk out the door was $88.

hmm.....

The initial layout I thought of. The bottom right is wider/longer than the one at the top left.

top/bottom and sides......

I like this layout and I was thinking ahead as to how to secure the two shelf units? The first step was to secure the sides in stopped dadoes.

sigh

3 of the stopped dadoes came out self supporting. One is on the loose side because I made the dado too wide. One dado was too tight and I was able to chisel it a few frog hairs wider - came out self supporting. The other one I chiseled it a frog hair too wide, not self supporting.

I plan on using Miller dowels to secure the sides in the dadoes besides glue. I like that option better then using screws.

fuzzy pic

The sides were set and I decided to use stop dadoes for the two shelves. They will be in the sides and I was still working on how to secure the support legs. I had already discarded a few different ways to do them at this point.

another change

When I started this, this shelf was the same width as the side was. I changed that by ripping almost 2" off the width of the shelf. I did that to kind of be similar to the offset of the sides on the top/bottom. I repeated the same for the top left shelf.

another change

I was thinking of using a small width support for the left shelf. I liked the look but I changed my mind on that. I didn't like that it sucked up some real estate on the bottom shelf.

The shelf on the right I made the support leg shorter than the width of the shelf - initially it was the same. The 2nd change I made was to inset it in from the left edge. I was going to put it flush but I didn't like the look of the end grain showing. With it inset I don't mind the end grain being visible now.

I like this

The inset matches the inset on the bottom and top. The end grain doesn't look bad this way because there isn't any long grain flush with it. I think I settled on a way to secure the support legs. I will use a stopped dado on the shelf and a mating one on the top and bottom. A couple of Miller dowels and Bob is your uncle.

Today was a another scorcher with the temp reaching a high of 97F (36C). When I left for my post lunch stroll it was 93F (34C) and I hesitated for a few. I almost didn't go but I did. I walked at a slow pace paying attention to how I was feeling and I got a Del's lemonade on the return walk back to the barn. I changed my route for today because of the heat focusing on ensuring there were places I could duck into with AC going just in case.

Seeing another benefit of the TURP - I can do the whole route I walk without having to pee. I can go about 2-3 hours before I feel the need to go. That makes the strolling more comfortable because I don't need to plan the route for a pit stop. 

accidental woodworker

If you know me at all, watch my videos and such, you’ll see me mark my chisel to the length of my tenon with a Sharpie so that I know when to stop the main chopping…but then you’ll see me make another lighter pass taking the mortise slightly deeper. Why is that? Well, when the...

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