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Please join us in wishing Paul a happy 76th birthday! Can you believe he is 76? We can’t! Thank you for all your support for him. He loves showing you all his work and has much planned for the year ahead. – Paul’s Family

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came last night

All three came at the same time even though Amazon said two were coming on the 5th. I might buy another blue pigment, this one has shiny things in it. I want a flat blue color. I'll have to think on it for a while.

how to waste hours

We had an Epson ink jet as the main printer but it went south. After days of paper jams and ink jet headaches I tossed it. I bought this Canon 6030w because it supposedly is Linux ready. That ain't so boys and girls. The drivers supplied didn't work. I loaded and deleted them a bazillion times before I cried NO MAS.

On the Canon website, the drivers offered were garbage. They had none for this model laser printer - I loaded and tried the ones offered but none worked. After pissing away hours I gave up loading drivers. I have to add, that I needed the drivers to access the WiFi.

The printer came with a USB cable and that worked but it also gave me fits. I didn't have a free USB port on the laptop. Everyone one of them were taken for the keyboard, mouse, etc. I thought I had saved a USB hub but if I did I couldn't find where I hid it. So I ordered two of them from Amazon - insurance in case one won't work.

The printer worked with the USB cable with no problems. I use it 99% of the time to print out my sudoku and crossword puzzles. The added headache is the printer USB cable was short and I don't have anywhere to put it close to my desk (because no WiFi). Where I want to put it would require a 8 foot USB cable and I don't like using USB cables that long.

Needless to point out, the time line on the bookcase has slipped once again. I finished getting shellac on the doors before I started playing with the printer around 1000. I said NO MAS with that at 1408. Maybe tomorrow I'll ooh and aah along with letting out a long breath of relief.

why???????

I saw a half can of this on eBay for $250. I've had this can for a bazillion years. I don't use it much because the smell of it gives a headache. I'm using it to wax the door fronts - this knocks down the brush marks and smooths it out.

needs a 2nd application

About 90% of the doors got smoothed out. What didn't get smoothed sticks out too much IMO. I rubbed and shined the first coat and tomorrow I'll do a 2nd concentrating on the spots that are being a PITA.

accidental woodworker

Happy New Year, everyone! Hopefully everyone has fully recovered from their New Year’s Eve partying and is back in the shop. I certainly am. As with every new year, I try to tackle a few small but important projects (I call them “fixgasms“) around the shop. The term is not exclusive to the workshop. A […]

 I think this is the last step for the bookcase before the oohs and aahs commence. I still haven't come up with an idea for latching the right hand door. I don't have a warm and fuzzy that the door will stay shut on its own. I have time to figure that out. I'll have to find someone that wants this because I don't have the room for anywhere in my house. I'm hoping that daughter #2 will say yes to adopting it.

still no lid stay

I went to ACE and my neighborhood hardware store, and neither had a small lid stay. They both had the exact same one I had that was too large. I searched Amazon for 30 minutes before I found one. It will work and I hadn't expected it to be so hard to find a small one. 

Jewelry box lid stays were too small and most of the Amazon offerings were for large, heavy lids. All I want is the lid won't flop over and rip the hinges off. And no, I didn't want to use a chain as lid stay - I have had too many of them snap off on me. IMO this lid is too large/heavy for a chain stay.

done

Back side of the doors are done. Four coats of shellac and they look good. I am glad that I planed the glazing bars flush with the muntins.

almost done

Four coats on the front but it will get at least one more. I'll get one on after dinner and decide after that if more coats are needed. Either way I'll hang the doors in the AM or PM tomorrow.
 

hmm......

Applying shellac only to the bottom as it won't be visible. The rest will be painted. The interior of the of the miniature chest will get shellac too. I applied shellac to the underside of the lid - for now. I may end up painting it but for now the plan is to go with shellac. 

This was it for today's output. I don't know what the next project for Ralphie's workshop will be. My stash from Gurney's is almost gone. I only have four 1x12 boards left. I really want to start on the desks for the grand kids. That will involve making a road trip to Highlands in New Hampshire.

accidental woodworker

Been a while since I last posted. I made a small video of my current project rather than writing about it. There is an aweful lot that many lessons could be derived from it, but I just found it a little simpler to show it to you rather than go into any great detail on how I arrived making a smooth round table by hand.

 Today is a holiday. I didn't know that and I didn't know until my wife told me that. After lunch I went to ACE but it was closed. No biggie, I thought it was because it had snowed and they were closed because of that. Almost  two hours later, and after going to 3 other ACE stores that were closed, I headed back to the barn. I wanted to get a small lid stay but that will be delayed until tomorrow.

last night after dinner

Took the left door off so I could plane a tapered rabbet. I couldn't wait until the next day before I did it. Before I did the rabbet I planed the glazing bars down to the muntins.

sigh

The middle screw hole is toast. Both the top and bottom screws were pulled out by the weight of the door. I filled them in with unfinished maple golf tees.

2nd round

Missed getting a pic of the fit after the first planing run. Not all of the taper was gone - I would guess ta mate that 95% of it was. I had planed down to the layout line on the first run. On the 2nd one I planed the lines away. The 2nd fitting had to wait until the AM.  

happy face on

The 2nd planing run was the trick. I am happy with how the right door is laying up against the left one. Tiny bit of a gap at the top but I am not going to obsess about it.

hmm......

The margin I have is more than I expected. But it might be in my favor come summer time. I don't anticipate the doors to move much but this will afford some room for it.

80 grit

The bottom shelf had gotten dirty with all the times I put and took the doors off. IMO the quickest way to clean it was to sand it.

the forgotten pic

I don't understand these two doors. Both of them lay flat on each laying here on the bench. Why, how, and what is causing the left door to toe in at the bottom when it is attached to carcass.

attaching the knobs

 The centering of the knobs on each door was different. The right one is centered on 1 3/8" while the left on an 1 1/8".

hmm.....

The knobs don't look unbalanced to my eye. The astragal serves as a distraction for the eye.

more shellac work coming

Sanded both doors, inside and outside with 80 grit. A few planing defects popped out that I had missed. I sanded the edges of them smooth, feathering them out as much as I could.

sigh

One knob didn't fully seat. I noticed it when I sanded the door.  It had only been a few minutes which made it easier to remove. Sawed off the knob and drilled out the tenon. I checked to make sure the next knob fully seated dry first.

done

I hadn't checked before but the tenons on the knobs weren't the same length as the thickness of the stiles.
 

2 coats

I applied shellac on the muntins (both sides) and the inside face. Four coats on the back and then I'll flip them and put 4-5 coats on the front faces. Rehang the doors for the final time (?) and figure out a door catch/latch for the right one.

accidental woodworker

 Made progress on mopping up the bookcase today. I'm going out on a limb but I am confident that I'll be done with the bookcase this weekend. I didn't get any sleep induced ideas but this AM I finally thought of something. It wasn't what I wanted but I have too many calories expended on this already. Starting over again at square #1 or #2 is not an option.

over 14 years old

I can date this as being made before 2011 because the drawers aren't dovetailed. A painted bookcase because the wife wanted it painted. Pretty much the same theme as the current one, sans the drawers. I don't remember having any hiccups with the doors on this.

door astragal detail

I should have looked at this when I did the astragal on the bookcase in the shop. This one has a bead and the two doors are rabbeted on the latch/knob edges.

left side door

I plan on putting this catch on the current bookcase too. You can swap the two parts of this catch. The left door is held in tight to the top door stop and the right  door closes up the rabbet without any type of door closure, latch, magnet, etc.

rehung the doors again

Stood here giving it the absolute goofiest looks I could muster. That usually cracks something open in the brain bucket but not today. I took the doors off and laid them on the bench to see how the two laid up against each other.  No taper between them - the closing side was flat and straight top to bottom. (forgot to snap a pic of that).

hmm......

The right side isn't square at the bottom or the top but the left side is. I don't see any connection/cause between this and the taper between the doors. Besides I planed the left and right side doors to fit their respective openings.

right side door

I thought maybe the hinges mortises weren't aligned and that was causing the taper. However, both the stiles on the right hand door are dead nuts square with the top and bottom shelf. Scratch that off the blame list.

ta da

Problem solved. This I can understand causing the taper. It is a 1/4" off square at the bottom. It is square at the top though. Now that I know what the monkey wrench in the gears looks like, I'll have to put on my nuclear powered thinking cap and big boy pants  and figure out how to fix it.

lid stay

I thought I had a smaller one but as usual I couldn't find where I hid it. This one still had the directions with the measurements. I think these are handed - either left or right. This one is a right hand but I reversed the layout to use it on the left. I just naturally wanted to install it on the left so I did.

)(&@%)*%_)_)^_*)#)_%#

As an aside, the comment is called a gralix. The first time I installed it, it opened and closed. It was hard to open initially so I repositioned where it was secured to the lid. Now the lid won't close any further than this. Removed the lid stay and filled in all the screw holes.

sigh

This screw hole split when I plugged it. I will make a road trip to ACE and buy a smaller lid stay. I have several pairs in my stash but they are all for larger and heavier lids.

step one of the final fix

The top of the doors need a full length stop to close against. Getting a new one installed is in the on deck circle.

checking the stop

Clamped the right side of the door stop to see how the left door is laying against it. There is a 2 frog hair gap which I like.

wash, rinse, repeat on the right side

Gap disappeared at the far end of the door stop. Not sure how to address this here. Both doors line up flush on the front face where it matters. If need be I can plane a few frog hairs off there.

The door stop is installed dry, no glue, with only 3 screws. After the doors are 100% done, I will put in two more screws.

hmm......

I had to stop and think about this for a few. I wanted to ensure that I wasn't looking at this from left field. The gap at the bottom is a strong 1/4" and it peters out around 18" up.

taper layout

The bottom gap is 3/16". That will give me a 16th of wiggle room to play with. Up next is setting the rabbet plane and planing a tapered rabbet going from 3/16" at the bottom to nothing at the top.

layout

Pencil wasn't working on the shellac. I used a micro black sharpie to lay out the lines.

took a while

I don't want a wide margin between the astragal and the rabbet. I had a devil of a time setting the fence on the rabbet plane. It took 9 attempts before I got where I wanted it.

almost

With the left door hung again (the billionth time), The rabbet at the bottom is few frog hairs shy of being flush with the front edge of the bottom shelf. What I was hoping for - I have wiggle room to remove more. 

happy face on

95% of the gap is gone. This was a good time to kill the lights for the day. Tomorrow I will plane a wee bit more at the bottom and fingers crossed, I'll get 100% of the taper to disappear.

accidental woodworker

The next few posts will cover a major woodworking task: how to join boards together from an end-grain edge to a side-grain long edge. As you are planing and designing a project, it helps to be aware of the many available options. To make a project, we want to engage in effective, pleasant working tasks […]

 While paring kumiko In the past I’ve often thought that I could create a tool to make this task a bit easier and possibly more ergonomic as well. Recently I had a customer/friend contact me to inquire as to whether I would be interested in creating such a chisel for him. 

I made a list of the criteria we put together for this chisel:

(1) Wide blade for easy registration on the jigs typically used in kumiko work.

(2) Shorter blade so the pressure point of your hand is close to the cutting contact point. Something butt chisel length.

(3) Shorter handle as compared to a bench chisel so the end would fit comfortably in your hand and provide a way to push with the butt of your hand.

(4) A lower bevel angle to make for a better paring cut.

(5) Lower heat in the tempering process to leave the chisel a bit harder than standard. Paring and chopping are very different task. Leaving the steel in the blade a bit harder promotes a sharper edge better for paring than chopping.

(6) All sharp edges on the chisel blade where one’s hand may come in contact are broken/softened to make the user experience more pleasant and less wearing on the hand.

Below are pictures of the product created using this criteria. Woods are Desert ironwood, olive and figured resin infused maple.

Ron

 I recently completed this set of Dovetail chisels using Resin Infused Curly Maple for the handles. I also implemented a new ferrule design. The change is not obvious as it is concealed in the handle. The new ferrules feature an integrated threaded stud that actually threads into the handle and once thread locked it becomes integrated into the wooden handle.

 

 

This new feature allows all the components to become one thing and makes the final assembly a bit more predictable as well.

 

I had intended to list these chisels on the Tools Available page today but a former customer discovered that I had these in process and contacted me about purchasing them. Chisels are SOLD.

Ron

The last Awls I added to the Tools Available page sold out quite quickly. I've just added 3 more of these awls to the tools available page as of 9/2/20.

To access that page follow this link. Tools Available

If you have any questions please contact me at ronbrese1@gmail.com

All Awls are sold. 

The awls featured in the last post sold quite quickly so I set about making another small batch of these tools in various woods. I also thought this might be a good time to create a page specifically for the tools that I have available for sale at any given time. Tools Available link.

I have more awls than any one person needs. That's because I have an issue with awls. When the tip of an awl becomes less than sharp it will skid and not hold locations as compared to a sharp tipped awl. This is especially a problem on end grain when marking centers in preparation for turning blanks. Because the blades are permanently fixed in those awls it's not an easy thing to regrind a perfectly symmetrical tip.

I guess if I really wanted I could fashion a jig to accomplish this task but as of late I've just made a new awl.

The obvious solution is to make an awl with a removable blade that is then easily chucked into a drill and spun against an abrasive to create a newly sharpened tip. This past week I've made a prototype of such an awl and have also made a small production run of removable blade awls.

It's mid summer here and too hot to be outside much after mid morning these days. Luckily we're having afternoon thunderstorms and that cools things off in the evening. Makes for better porch sitting time in the evenings.

I've suspended outdoor projects for a while and have retreated into the shop to resume tool making.

I've recently completed another set of the diminutive Dove Tail chisels. This set features resin infused very curly maple handles. My friend and saw maker Ron Bontz is set up to do this infusing work and has a good bit of experience in the process. The maple turns much nicer after being infused and the figure is dazzling.

Sizes are 3/16, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8 and 1/2".

I've used Presco 0-1 tool steel for the blades on this set. It's a very high quality tool steel. It's the same tool steel I've used and enjoyed for plane irons.


Enjoy the rest of the summer, stay cool and safe,


Ron

This weeks accomplishments include a 6 piece of set of Desert Ironwood chisels and an Awl.



You may think this set of chisels looks quite similar to the chisels in the last post and I would have to agree but there is one significant difference. The steel used in the blades is Japanese Hitachi White Paper steel.

The Hitachi steel is proclaimed to be very pure steel and I have to say I could tell a difference as soon as I started roughing out the blades in the bandsaw. This stuff works lovely. Given the expense of obtaining this material I'm glad there were more benefits than just a difference in the hardened results.



 The White Paper Steel requires just a bit more effort at the sharpening stones as compared to most high carbon tool steel but it feels great on the stone and the edge that results from that effort is most satisfying. It visibly came to a higher polish. A while back I made myself a set of chisels from this material and the edge life is surprising.

Considering the price of the White Paper Steel these chisels are priced at $110 each with $5 per chisel discount for purchasing the entire set of 6. Total $630.

I had intended to post this latest set of small Dovetail chisels earlier this week but a very close encounter with a tornado delayed things a bit. The line of storms that ripped thru the southeast Sunday night to early Monday morning caused a lot of havoc. We were awakened at 2:00 am Monday morning by our phones instructing us to "TAKE SHELTER NOW!!!"

We heard the distinctive roar of the tornado as we were standing in our bedroom closet and then it was over. We made the assumption that the tornado had passed over in the upper atmosphere. The next morning revealed a much different reality.

The tornado was a mile wide and was on the ground for 10 miles. The edge of the swath of destruction it left was literally 100 yards from our house. We were unbelievably lucky. Less than 2 miles from our property a house was moved from it's foundation intact and deposited in the middle of a state highway.  Just a bit too close to OZ.

We were without power or cell service for 2 days. Obviously that wasn't much of an inconvenience compared to the devastating effect the storm had on the lives of the people in the path of destruction.

Now about the chisels. This is a 4 piece set and as I like to have all the handles in a set from the same piece of wood, I could only coax 4 handles from this piece of wood. This is especially true of Desert Ironwood. It can be so different from one blank to the next.

As a lot of you know I've been on somewhat of a hiatus from Tool making.  It's been refreshing to pursue other types of work and it renews the spirit of creativity. I have made some tools along the way but mainly for my own needs.

I built what I would consider my dream shop for a someone else last year. It was a major construction undertaking that I wasn't sure I could accomplish. As in a lot of situations you find that you're capable of a lot more than you can imagine. For quite a while we could work at our leisure and then cover everything from the elements. We did this thru putting in the foundation, framing the floor and subsequently framed the walls and had them laying flat on the floor system. We could still cover everything with tarps so the weather wasn't much of a worry but then there's the day when you stand up walls and then you have all that time and material exposed to the elements and then it's a push to get dried in. It was a lot for two old guys to do but after a bit of trial and tribulation there came the day when it rained no more in the building. I can't even begin to express the relief.

But I digress. I then began pursuing some woodworking projects that had long languished on my list of things I wanted to make. Most of those things were joined with dovetails in one manner or other. I had a very adequate array of chisels for this work but soon discovered that I did not have what I would consider an optimum set of chisels for these task. I found myself picking up and putting down tools really more than should be required and finally came to the realization that with a proper set of chisels I could eliminate a lot of unnecessary movements. I began putting together a list of criteria that would describe this set of chisels.





 I owned some shorter dovetail chisels that I really enjoyed, however they were 1/4" thick and given the way I typically layout my dovetails they would not fit between the ends of the tails to provide for incising the point where the side of the dovetail meets the baseline. In every case I had to put down one chisel to pick up another that was thin enough to fit.

Chopping base lines. When chopping to the baseline there should only be a minimal amount of material to be removed so an extravagant thickness is not required of a tool to accomplish this task. That sets one criteria. The second was length. It's nice to have a chisel short enough so that the base line where you're sticking the edge of the chisel and the top where you strike the chisel is in one line of sight. With longer chisels I would put the tip of the chisel in the base line and but when I changed my focus to where I would strike the handle the tip would move slightly. If you don't notice this then you end up with a wonky baseline. That sets another criteria to design for.

Personally I prefer good ole high carbon steel for my woodworking tools. At the last Forp Event where French/White oak was being worked profusely for days on end I noticed that everyone's chisels had serrated edges as the result of chopping in wood that had varying degrees of density. It didn't seem to matter if the chisels were A2 or PMV11 or High carbon steel. The end result was the same. The difference was in the time it takes to recover the edge. I realized years ago that a high speed steel edge that fractured took longer to recover than anytime one could possibly gain in edge longevity. I much prefer the sharper edge to be gained from using high carbon steel. I don't mind maintaining the edge as I work and when the edge does need to be restored with good technique it just doesn't take very long to be sharp and working again.

Evidently there are many others looking for a similar set of chisels because when I began posting pictures of the chisels I was making on my Instagram account I immediately started getting requests for these chisels. I took measures to get set up to produce these tools with a bit more efficiency and after a lot of trial and error and subsequent testing I was confident that I had a process by which to make very nice versions of these chisels.

The first 4 sets went out the door as soon as they were made and the set with Desert Ironwood handles pictured in this posting are the first I'll be offering for sale here on the blog.

As I mentioned this particular set has Desert Ironwood handles that all came from the same piece of timber. The ferrules are of course brass and the tool steel for the blades is New Old Stock Starret 0-1 tool steel. The overall length is 6". The sizes in this set are 3/16", 1/4", 5/16", 3/8" and 1/2". They are ground to have zero land on the edges but that edge is then broken so that it doesn't cut one's fingers as they are used. It's as minimal a land as can be had and not be dangerous to the user. The backs are polished and they come honed and working sharp.

The blade tips are taken into the heat treating process in a blunt state so that portion doesn't take such a beating in the hardening process and are subsequently ground back twice prior to final honing to make sure they are worked back into good steel.

I've recently killed the Brese Plane web page. Sometimes when people notice a change of this nature they assume the worse. Don't. I can manage my offerings just as well thru this blog and my Instagram page. That being the case there was just no reason to maintain the Web page and it's nice to shirk the cost associated with web hosting.

What I said about assuming the worse. I'm doing well, in fact I'm better than I've been for a while. In the last couple years I've shed 56 lbs. I'm more active than usual and feeling great.

I've been pursuing other interest, in fact I've been the General Contractor on a construction project since this past spring. As this project is winding down I'm back to restoring vintage machines and making planes again. I'm also doing more woodworking than I have for quite a while, in fact I'm about to embark on another work bench build. Not for myself. This is a commissioned piece for a client.

So there you have it, I hope you are all well and enjoying your woodworking,

Ron

Catharine Kennedy and I have a patron that fuels our work with his request. In this case a solid brass "Brute" shooting plane engraved inside and out.

Just making this plane in the simplest functional form is quite a task. Coordinating both our efforts together adds an entire other element to this work but that keeps it's fresh and interesting and also makes it quite a challenge.

This is how it goes. I make all the parts. I mask all the areas of the interior of the plane that she is not to engrave and send them along to Catharine. She engraves the interior surfaces and all the movable/removable parts and sends them back to me. I then deburr, rub to a satin finish and oil the surfaces. Then I assemble the plane taking great care to preserve the engraved surfaces. There is no going back from here.

I then send the assembled plane body back to the Catharine to engrave the exterior of the plane body. She subsequently sends the plane body back to me. I work and oil the exterior surfaces, add the wooden bits, the iron and actually make the plane work.

Then it is shipped to our patron John Rexroad. Yes, these plane parts are quite traveled before this is done.

This is the third in this collection of tools. To date we have done a Winter Smoother, Winter Panel plane and now this Shooting plane.

When I post pics of these tools I always have people comment to me that this is way over the top for a "tool", and I realize this is not everyone's taste, however this format of tool making makes for a very rare collection of highly functional tools.

Ron

"The greatest challenge in life is discovering who you are. The second greatest is being happy with what you find"