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First completed new box in a while. This is based on the plaster mouldings and a chest in the same room, in Bogan House, Totnes. It will be showing at the Birdwood House Gallery 12-18th July.

Riven oak, obviously. Wooden hinges, nailed and clinched.

Mouldings run with a scratchstock, then carved/scratched. Nailed on. Look at that tiger-stripe.

 

looking good

A bit of rocking but the deck here but the deck is as flat as a plowed field. It feels solid and there aren't any gaps at the rail/leg joints. So far I can't see or feel any difference between dowel joints and traditional mortise and tenon ones.

gap fillers

I had plenty of scraps to get the gap fillers for the sides. To balance it out I am also putting another one on the back.

helping hand

The side fillers have to be flush with the tops of the legs so they will cover the gap at the top of the rail. I clamped the filler on top of the board I have clamped across the tops of the legs. I tried to do it without it but with glue on it, it was impossible to clamp and keep it flush. I glued it on with yellow and super glue.

back drawer guide rail

I tried to get this installed with the desk on the bench but it was too awkward. I was fighting the urge to give it free flying lessons. After the desk was back on the deck I got it installed dry - just screwed on.

top attached

I got the table top clips installed with no hiccups. I outlined the leg positions with blue tape so I can put it back together as it is now. 

One of the problems I had with Miles's desk was drilling starter holes for the clips under the drawer guides. No hiccups screwing them in. Once the drawer guide assembly is installed drilling them ain't happening. 

hmm......

I like the look of the black screws against the cherry. I'm thinking of painting the table top clips black now. I've got the time.....

drawer guides

The first one I installed went south on me. I screwed the front down and the rear one shifted. It threw it off square from the front rail. Then I remembered that on Miles's desk I had nailed the back first and then drilled a pilot hole and screwed it. I'll come back to this in the AM.

tilt rails

I had to look at Miles's desk to see how I had installed them on his desk. I used a biscuit jointer and I'll repeat that for Leo's desk. These will installed last and just before the top gets married to the base. 

came a week early

This was scheduled to come on the 22nd. It is for 6mm dowels of which I have a couple of hundred. It is complete with everything that came with the imperial 1/4" jig.

I had room for it

My finger is pointing to the 6mm drill block. The 1/4" one is in the dowel jig and the drill block on the right is 3/8". The styrofoam block holds the 6mm accessories. I might redo that with a wooden version. BTW - the left drill block was for the 1/2" one. I doubt that I would ever use 1/2" dowels.

90° drill block

The only other accessory I don't have for the Dowel Max jig is the 45° plate. My OCD has been quiet on that so I doubt I'll be adding it. I have used the 90° twice already.

accidental woodworker 

A burnisher to sharpen scrapers is widely available from many manufacturers in several variations. What works very well for me is one that I developed. As far as I know, this is unique. The rod was made of carbide in sub-micron grain size at my request by Innovative Carbide Inc. in Pennsylvania. The hardness of […]

2 coats

Decided to shellac the sides and the back before I did the glue up. It is way easier to do as much of that now then after it is glued up.

7 coats

I'm calling this done, for now. It is smooth and I couldn't see any hiccups in raking light. It is going to be a while before it gets married to the base. I may have to do a touch up after the marriage happens.

hmm......

Doing another dry fit before I apply any glue. The drawer rail fit yesterday but today there is a slight gap. I drilled out the holes a wee bit deeper.

done

The back rails fit flush as did the other end of the drawer rail.

ready to glue up

The plan is to glue this up in stages. First stage is to glue one end. I will let that set and cook for an hour or so and then I'll glue the other end.

not quite....

The countersink isn't deep enough and the head is a frog hair proud. I need both to be below the surface so that they don't interfere with the drawers.

done

I got it recessed enough that it won't interfere with the drawers going in/out.

better

Some of the bow in the drawer rail is gone, not all, but some.

prepping

Getting my ducks in row for the upcoming glue up. These 3 sticks are for ensuring a good glue spread in the drilled holes. Planing the sticks thinner to fit in the holes. Got the 6 clamps set and ready. The final step was getting a wet rag and a small container of water.

survived

Clamped up and cooking with no hiccups. I did a few other things while this cooked for an hour.

squaring them up

I like how these little corbel like doo dads look on Miles's desk. I am repeating the same on the Leo's desk. This time I will put two on the back rail - didn't do that on Miles's.

poor mans mitering jig

I've been making these for years now and I still can't get the 45's dead nuts (getting closer) and I have no better luck with the 90. The evidence of that is in the pic above. Easily taken care of with a shooting board.

hmm.......

Good fit and ready to glue in place almost.

hmm......

FYI - initially you can glue bare wood to shellac but it will not last. I speak from experience on this. I scraped the shellac off where I was going to glue this before I did that.

need some help

When I was scraping one of the spots, I had some blow out on the outside face edge. After the corbel is glued I will have to fill the gap. The plan is to use cherry sawdust and super glue to fill it in.

&&#^&%%&^(*)(*^&*^%$( gap

It still amazes how little of gap will make my OCD go into turbo assisted overdrive.

mind fart

I didn't need to glue in dowels here but I did. It shook hands with me when I went to put this end on. The glue had already set and I couldn't pull any of them out. I had to drill them out again which went surprising very well. The biggest headache was cleaning out the crappola that got stuck in the flutes of the drill.

cooking

Survived the last glue up.  I will let this set and cook until the AM. Then I'll get the final coats of shellac on it and then I'll start on the drawers.

oh what a relief

I wasn't sure if these parts for the drawer guides would be long enough. All 8 parts are several inches over. 

nice touch

I got #10 x 5/8" sheet metal screws for the table top clips. Got a 100 of black ones that I think will look good against the cherry. And the cherry on the top is the included screw driver wasn't expecting that.

I like these screws for table top clips over wood screws. These screws have larger heads for a broader bearing surface. The threads are coarse, grab tenaciously, and pull tight without stripping, and I have yet to have one fail on me. 

silver ones too

I saw the black ones first but decided to get the same size in silver. These aren't stainless steel according the write up on Amazon. Stainless steel ones were over twice the cost of these.

accidental woodworker 

It stopped raining long enough yesterday for me to hack away at a cherry log in preparation for my demonstration/presentation at the Hand Tool Haven event. Early tomorrow morning, I’ll drive the mere 50 miles to Butler, PA with some … Continue reading →

My sliding doors came together well. With the drawers fitted and tidied up I just have the handles to consider, but probably will not have handles on the doors as such. My first thought was to make my handles, as I often do, but I like the idea of traditional brass pulls and such for this piece.

Just handle hardware or whatever I decide.

I think that this piece will be large enough to downsize my significant gathering of hardware I've accumulated and allowed to spread and drift over the years. I bought 20 boxes of vintage 1/2" #4 brass slot head screws for hinging box lids for when I was teaching hands-on classes to 16 students. That was almost ten years ago when I held my final class – who needs 3,000 half-inch brass slot head screws? Now that is just one package of a hundred other sizes of vintage screws where a cross-headed Philips or Posidrive just doesn't cut it on most of my finessing. You see, for the main part, it's the convenience of having my own hardware stock. Invariably, I can walk out there and find a dome headed chrome or brass or steel screw in under a minute or two. It's hard to let the accumulation go, so what do I do? I build a cabinet, replete with common and half-lap dovetails, sliding doors and keep what I deem to be likely needed.

First thoughts.

It's about a week's work for me, but with the limiting factors of filming and all the other work we do it takes six by the time I'm done. Buying in the wood ready planed four-square simplifies things and saves time, of course it does, and it's really pleasant. Two woods give me the warmest feeling, pine and mesquite. They are unmistakingly distinctive, and both woods have enriched my life long term like no others. Pine goes back the longest distance. The first piece of the pine scent was in 1962 when I begged a machinist in a wood business for a piece of scrap wood I saw in a waste bin to carve and shape a boat from. He made me really work for that piece, "You can't think that such a fine piece of pine was being thrown away now can you?" and then; "Well, now, how much do you think that piece might be worth?" but of course he was joking, asked me what it was for and wished me luck. Mesquite came back in 1963 when I made my first visit to a Texas woodworker in south Texas. Now that is also a highly distinctive scent and wood. My parting pieces, the culmination of my immersive US experience as a maker, are the two credenza designs for the Cabinet Room of the White House.

Previous work. Not quite the same category but all in the fun and reality of real woodworking.

Planning for every piece is critical. I learned this as an apprentice when we worked to blueprints most of the time and then, following that, to sketches on cigarette packets and pieces of wood. Cigarette packets back then were made with sliding innards of white card stock. Often, empty packets were kept for drawing out ideas on. All these are valid forms of communication, but it's more important for filming. Putting things in order that have yet to be ordered and structured is the way of crafting in the multidimensional world we live in. My journals keep something of a record of my evolving pieces and then too, now that it must be filmed, a sort of script stepping out my intentions.

My first thought for my current piece was back on or about the beginning of April this year. I made a few notes in my journal and a quick pen sketch as at top. Then I decided on the drawers.

Recorded progress starts like this.

This list typifies my thought processes. It often changes but 98% of the time it's true to plan.

Planning keeps me sane, and so too those who support my work.

Phasing to isolate stages is important for me. It structures my work and enables me to pass on my goals to those working with mas in filming and editing and such. Filming just about triples my workload because sequences break my thought patterns and activity. It's as important to craft the video work as it is my hand work. Filming must reflect the art of that medium in as much an uncompromising way as much as possible.

This entry was the 15th May. It's still very much a work in progress. In this list, for no known reason, I have not mentioned the doors and door making. A major part.

Notice the date header in these notes below and then the 'note to self' dated today bottom right. It records a month's passing.

And boy did this work well.

The details become more definitive as I go. I'm always confidence but somehow, right before we start the videoing, I am conscious that any mistake I make is never just a second or third take. Once the cut is made, it cannot be corrected, and a new piece must be made. It's a once a year issue or even less, but I don't like to waste the work of everyone behind the cameras.

Detailed drawings make everything concrete.

I often detail my drawings to stand parallel to my cig packet (I don't smoke) sketches. It brings ever greater clarity to the evolving piece.

I consider the work I do as both reflective and therapeutic, simply because of the nergy I put into but then because the conservation of craft cannot happen in museums and reenactments, such like that. Conservation of crafts will only live and thrive in those who practice the work to produce for themselves or others. It's not about making money and all the more about living the life. Hence, my adopting the term, 'Lifestyle Woodworker' 30 years ago. And then too my graduation from just or only being a professional woodworker to amateur status.

done

I got three coats on the underside yesterday. First thing this AM I put a 4th coat on. It looked ok but I felt one more coat would give me a warm and fuzzy. 

first coat

I used a cotton T shirt rag balled up. It went a lot easier than I thought it would. No drips or runs and no brush marks.

drawer rail

Glued on the bottom drawer guide rail. Debated whether to just screw it on dry over gluing it. Another one of these will go on the back top rail and serve as support for the drawer guides.

hmm......

Testing to see if my reverse countersink will work. This scrap of cherry is the same width as the top drawer rail. First step was to drill a hole straight through top to bottom.

lift off

I replaced the tapered drill that came with the Fuller pilot screw/countersink. A #18 drill is the same size as the tapered drill bit. I first tried drilling it in forward but nada. I had to drill it with the drill in reverse as I pulled upwards.

it worked

It is a little deeper than it should be but the important thing is I have a countersink. If this hadn't worked I would have chopped a 'square' countersink.

prepping the drawers

I found two four foot long, 1/2" thick poplar boards in the shop. I also had enough poplar leftover from Miles's desk for one drawer. I also made a Lowes run and bought two 1/2" thick maple boards for drawer bottom runners.

drawers are ready

The lengths of the drawer parts are a wee bit oversized. I'll do the final sizing when the drawer guides are done and I start making the drawers.

hmm......

Rolled up the same T shirt rag I used to apply shellac to the slats and used it to apply shellac to the tabletop. I brushed on 4 coats and there were a few hiccups with the first rolled on one. There were a few drips and droplets that shook hands with me. I think I had too much shellac on the rag and squeezed it too tight a few times. 

Other than that, I was happy with how the rolled on coat looked after 15 minutes (sans the hiccups). I'll put on a couple more rolled on coats before I put a check mark in the done column.

I got 4 coats on the slats and they look good. I wasn't sure how the coverage would be on them with a rag doing it. The coverage is smoother than a brushed coat but the build seems to be a wee bit less. I'll put on a couple of more coats and evaluate it again.

accidental woodworker

During my ongoing/never-ending efforts to impose order in the barn I came across some pieces of very large bamboo (~5″).  These were no doubt the remaining fragments of a pickup load I harvested thirty years ago from the giant bamboo forest of Clemson University when I was there for a conference.  If I could ever connect with someone there again, I would return to get more.

These pieces caused me to reflect on what I could do with them, and once again Maki Fushimi was a source of inspiration.

Stay tuned.

 

fixing the slots

I let all of the slot fillers cook over night before sawing them off. Flushed them with a blockplane next. The new slots are a frog hair above the first one. I went a little nutso doing slots on the drawer rail to help with the bow in it.

back rail

The back rail and the drawer rail I could do with the plunge router.

new slots

Did the first ones on the wrong side of the layout line. I put super glue in the filler just in case. 

hand chopped

On the sides I could use the plunge router to do the center slot. I had to chop the two outside ones by hand. Practice makes perfect, these 4 are almost as clean as the routed ones.

prepping the top

Sanding the end grain wasn't working. It was smoothing it but the scratches from the saw were still visible. I used a card scraper to remove them and smooth down the end grain ends. I still sanded them after that up to 220.

wooden #4

Used this to smooth the two long grain edges. I have never really warmed up to this plane or any other wooden bench plane I have used. I prefer metal Bailey planes but this one did leave a better surface then the 5 1/2.

sigh

Go fast, go slow, take a shallow run, it didn't matter. The cherry burned on the end grain ends (expected) but it also burned some on the long grain too. Cleaned the burn marks with the blockplane, sanding sticks, and a card scraper. Of the 3, the card scraper worked the best.

The top is ready for shellac. I sanded the face side starting with 80 grit and ending with 220.  The bottom I only did with 100 grit or was it 80?

arris work

What a difference in the feel after knocking the edges back. Before it felt like the edges of the slats could slice my fingers open. There are zero sharp edges on this desk now.

first coat of shellac

The underside of the top is getting 3 coats. I should be able to get 3 on before I hit the rack. Tomorrow in the AM I'll start on the top which will get at least 5-6 coats.
 

sapwood

I think I'm one of the few that likes sapwood. IMO you can't paint a better picture than what Mother Nature does in wood. My best friend hates it and he is a magician with hiding and blending it in with the heartwood.

leg bottoms

I used to do the chamfers on leg bottoms with a blockplane or a chisel. I now do them with the Shinto rasp. Quick, easy, and almost as smooth as a chisel or blockplane would leave. After rasping them I followed it up with a 120 grit sanding stick.

It is supposed to rain until saturday in my part of the universe. However, the sun did come out today but the wind was blowing and gusting pretty good. I wanted to spray shellac the slats outside but it didn't happen. 

Rather then sit and wait with my thumb in my A-hole I will shellac the slats with a balled up cotton T shirt rag. I really want to get Leo's desk done and in the boneyard before the next weekend comes around.

accidental woodworker 
 

My late uncle Archie used to say that getting old wasn’t much fun, but it beat the alternative. It’s been about 40 years since he told me that, and he was correct. In a few months I will celebrate (or at least experience) my 72nd birthday. The first 30 years of my career was as a skilled trades person, in the cabinetmaking and millwork industry, and the last 25 have been mainly in writing, editing and publishing. I have been blessed to have spent the last half-century doing the work I loved to do, and I don’t regret that I didn’t sell out somewhere along the way to make more money.

My health issues, according to my doctors, are things I will die with, not from. A few years ago I realized that I couldn’t work in the shop for very long at a time without a lot of pain, and the quality of my work wasn’t what it used to be. A bit more than a year a year ago my lovely, charming and talented wife and I had a serious talk about who we are now and what we ought to do in the time we have left. I decided that it was time to stop woodworking, which meant that we no longer needed a shop and all the tools and equipment. If we didn’t need the shop space then we didn’t need the house that was perfect for who we were a decade ago, but too much for us to keep up with now. We came to Cincinnati in 2004 to take the magazine job, and if we sold the house we could live anywhere we wanted that we could afford.

If you’ve read this far you likely have a few questions; like what will become of Bob’s stuff? and what will become of this website/micro business? Let me answer those in order. When I decided it was time to let go and move on I gave away most of my hand tools to people starting their careers and sold most of the rest to students in the career program at the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute in Adrian, Michigan. Shipping a house full of stuff across the ocean is quite expensive, so in addition to selling the house, we have been liquidating almost everything, except for the cat who is going with us.

I still have several things that need good homes that I need to sell:

My plan is to create several posts over the next week or so with details and asking prices here on this site. I’m hoping to sell most things for local pickup and I’ve been listing things on Face Book Marketplace. You can find me on that platform at this link.

I have a PDF of the furniture pieces that you can download here. You can also reach me by email. I can’t deliver or help load, but I will gladly assist in arranging white glove shipping if you can’t come to Cincinnati.

What’s the plan for this website, and my other site craftsmanplans.com?

• I plan on keeping both sites up and running, but there will be a significant change.
  • Around the first of September, 2026 I will stop selling and shipping printed books and plans.
  • More plans in PDF format will be added to the store in the next year.
  • My online SketchUp class will continue and the PDF version of “Woodworker’s Guide to SketchUp, 3rd edition will still be available.
• If you have an interest in taking over the fulfillment of printed books and plans I’m interested in talking to you about that. It’s not a cash cow, but it has kept me from becoming a greeter at the local Walmart for quite a while. It would be nice to see that end of the business continue, but I won’t be able to do that from outside the USA.
• I probably will have time to post more often.

Once again, my family and I thank you for your interest in my work and for your support over the years.

Over the last week or so I’ve had a couple of people question me over the new Lost Scrolls of Handwork logo. Some were disappointed that I used AI to create it while others immediately assumed that meant I was about to start making fully AI generated podcasts and content. So let me explain where I actually stand on all this.

Yes, I used AI to create the logo. And yes, I probably got a little carried away experimenting with it because truthfully this was the first time I’d ever seriously used AI for anything.

But let’s get one thing straight. I could redraw that logo myself without much difficulty at all. I’ve worked with graphic design software for years. Recreating it manually would not be some impossible task for me. The issue was never ability. The issue was time.

Between work, woodworking, writing, researching, designing and trying to keep all these different projects moving at once, there simply comes a point where you physically cannot do everything yourself no matter how much you want to.

So I decided to experiment with AI as a tool.

And after spending weeks learning this stuff I can honestly say this. Some of it is useful. A lot of it is overrated.

Most of these companies are trying to convince people they’re good, but in reality they’re not.. Especially when it comes to animation and lip syncing. What looks simple on the surface quickly becomes very complicated once you start trying to do it properly yourself.

I still haven’t completely figured out the lip syncing side the way I want to, although I did eventually get another character working surprisingly well after a lot of trial and error and many late nights learning all this from scratch. I’ve been getting around three hours sleep a night just trying to work through it. Right now it’s 3:30am and I’m getting up at 5:00am.

But what bothered me was seeing people immediately assume that because I used AI to create a logo, that somehow means everything I do will suddenly be fake. My track record already speaks for itself.

For 28 years, longer if you start counting from the age of 7, I’ve been building clocks, furniture, studying woodworking, writing articles, sharing knowledge and trying to preserve the craft. My gallery is full of work made with these two hands. Only one year of those 28 years I’ve use machinery, the rest of those years it was only hand tools. That should say some thing. My blog has served readers around the world for years. I also ran a magazine alongside my mate Matt McGrane who painstakingly edited my work issue after issue.

None of that came from AI. Heck AI didn’t even exist then. And none of that suddenly disappears because I experimented with a tool once.

Many of you also remember my old YouTube channel that was hacked and eventually wiped out along with years of videos and over 50,000 subscribers. Starting again from scratch after something like that is not easy, but I kept going because the purpose behind all this never changed. That purpose has always been simple.

1. To preserve the craft.

2. To pass knowledge on.

3. Not hoard it.

After giving this a lot of thought, I’ve decided the podcast idea will not be moving forward the way I originally intended.

The blog simply makes more sense for what The Lost Scrolls of Handwork actually is. That’s where the real substance has always been.

What I will continue doing however is creating narrated videos on YouTube using my own recorded voice while discussing subjects like shellac, tools, techniques and historical woodworking. The only difference is there will be a 2D character lip synced directly to my voice while images and material related to the topic are shown on screen. After all, there is no point throwing away something I’ve spent many sleepless nights learning.

I’ll still be recording the voice myself. I’ll still be editing the audio myself in Resolve. And I may still upload the audio versions to Spotify for people who enjoy listening while driving home from work or spending time in the workshop.

As for the logo itself, some of you probably noticed I already changed it back to the original one. Yes, I drew that one myself years ago in Illustrator before eventually replacing Adobe software with Inkscape. I still enjoy using open source software wherever I can and saving money in the process.

 Yesterday when I quit the shop my lower back hurt and my joints were achy. I thought after a good nights sleep that all would be well in Disneyland. Well boys and girls that didn't happen. I woke up stiff, still achy, and my right foot hurt like hell. I think my days of going balls to the wall are over. Or maybe if I do more of them I'll get used to it again.

It took a while before the back and joints stopped aching. The foot took a while longer. I went slow and easy for most of the AM/PM sessions. I killed the lights early and I'll probably repeat today's routine tomorrow.

didn't fit

I  had to drill the dowel holes a bit deeper. I only did it in the legs. After that the drawer rail fit tight to the leg.

back rails dry fitted

It took a couple of taps before the rail aligned top and bottom. I moved the top rail only to make sure the bottom of the slats were fully seated in the bottom rail mortises. There is about 3/16" of dead space in the top rail mortises. 

flushing the epoxy

The mound of epoxy was still proud of the top. Removed the bulk with the blockplane and cleaned/smoothed it with a card scraper.

underside

I am not going nutso on the underside at all. I flushed the glue joints with the #4 first and sanded it with 100 grit.

done

Smooth and clean. I kind of like this side of the top - there is a shimmering quality to all 3 boards in the glue up. But I'm leaving it as the underside.

sigh

Made a boo boo doing the slots for the table top clips. I routed on the wrong side of the layout line. The table top clip wasn't bearing down on the bottom of slot - it wouldn't work for holding the top down tight to the rails.

a ways off

The bottom line was the first slot position. The top one is where it should be. 

before I committed again

Used a couple of scraps to test the slot position. This one was iffy. The clip wasn't bearing down on the slot sufficiently. Micro adjusted the slot upwards a few frog hairs.

made a test slot

This one was too high and there was a gap under the clip where it screwed to the board.

3 times was the charm

The 2nd one was still too high. It was like the 3 bears fairy tale.

I had to glue in fillers in the slots I did earlier. I will let them cook until the AM and redo all the slots.

The plan for today, sans the aches and pains, was to bring the side and back slat assemblies topside to the driveway and spray shellac on the slats. The over spray goes everywhere in the shop and it leaves fog. Yesterday was sunny and I don't know what tomorrow will be like. I want to spray the slats before I glue the back and drawer rail to the sides. Fingers crossed tomorrow will cooperate. 

accidental woodworker 

5 Ways of driving things in the lathe
We've talked a lot about our folding treadle lathe. But let's not lose sight of the attachments, which also deserve our focus.

When using a lathe, the work is driven by the headstock and supported, if necessary, by the tailstock. Bowls and similar pieces can be gripped or screwed on to the headstock and wouldn't need tailstock support. A long spindle can be held multiple of ways, but it is driven by the headstock, and the tailstock simply functions to support it.

Old turning manuals show a million ways of holding the work. If you look at 19th century and pre-19th century depictions of lathe tools and attachments, you'll see a lot of effort devoted to driving the work. The reason is very simple: Turners of that era did not have our wonderfully made three- and four-jaw universal chucks. They also didn't have standard interchangeable tapers and threads.

Modern wood lathes all have hollow spindles, so some-sort-of center tasked with holding the work will be able to be popped into the spindle. Some very inexpensive lathes use a set screw and a collar to hold the center, but better (but still inexpensive) lathes have a tapered hole in the spindle, which can hold a center by friction. The standard American woodturning lathe will have an MT2 (Morse Taper 2) hole in the spindle for a center driver, and a threaded outside, 1"- 8 TPI, for screwing on larger chucks and face plates. Larger lathes will have all larger tapers and threads. All standard accessories with MT2 shafts and 1"-8 threads are interchangeable. This includes the lathe accessories we sell. All similarly tapered and threaded accessories from other vendors will fit our Gramercy Tools treadle lathe as well.

Long, thin work is typically held between headstock and tailstock centers. Bowls and other short workpieces are typically held in a chuck in the tailstock. But all sorts of work-holding arrangements arise depending on the situation.

The tailstock is simply there to support the work and keep a long piece steady while you turn. The headstock center is what actually drives the work. Whatever way you are holding the work, the headstock center has to force the work to turn and not slip when cutting force is applied.

Four Prong Drive Chuck

Historically, the most popular way of driving spindle work is by using what's known as a "four prong center" or a "four prong chuck." (see photo above). You'll see these centers in old turning literature, but other options are eclipsing them. The four prong center is very simple to use. You drill a small hole in the center of the the piece and then put two saw cuts at 90 around that. Some people will just put in the center hole and then use a hammer to bang in the prongs. Then it goes in the headstock. The prongs in the slots drive the work. To make it work, you'll need to make saw slots or bang in the prongs, and I don't like either method. So we supply a crown center with our lathes, which we think is a lot easier to use.

Crown chucks
A crown center (above) looks like a crown, hence the name. The center pin of a crown center is spring-loaded. To mount your work, just put a center mark on the work at the center; put the loaded pin on the mark; and then tighten up the tailstock. With the tailstock tightened, the crown edge digs in. Thats it - youre done. If you manage to do something silly and accidentally jam a tool, such that you would stop the work from spinning - and this is especially true on an electric lathe, as treadle lathes really dont have the power - a traditional four prong center will just keep on moving. This can cause real damage to the work, split the wood, break a tool, etc. With a crown center, on the other hand, the work is held more gently by crown points that do not penetrate the the workpiece that deeply. Because the individual crown points are not stuck that deeply, a jammed tool causes less havoc. The crown points just slip and work a groove in the work. Not ideal, but not a big deal. The turner just notes the problem, tightens up the tailstock again to engage the crown points again, and then resumes working.

We stock two sizes of crown driver; a 1 inch crown, which comes with a lathe, and a smaller half inch crown. I like them both. The only real downside that I can see for a crown drive is when your workpiece's diameter is very, very small diameter work and even a 1/2" crown driver will be too big.

Faceplate
While it is rarely used today, a traditional way of holding the work is using a faceplate. The work is attached to the faceplate - typically with screws, but also sometimes with little clamps - and away you go. There is no built-in centering mechanism, so it's not surprising that nowadays the faceplate is the workholder of last resort. Ive personally never used one, but it was a very common traditional way of mounting.

A screw chuck (left) and a Four Jaw Universal Chuck

Here we have the most common way of holding a bowl for turning. You start by drilling a hole in the center of what will become the hollow side of the bowl blank and screw the stock onto a screw chuck (above left). The screw chuck can be driven a bunch of ways. In this version, the disk at the bottom of the chuck is clamped in a four jaw universal chuck. With the work in the lathe the outside of the bowl is turned, and in this particular case I also turned a recess in the base. With the outside done, I then flipped the blank around and clamped the work by expanding the four jaw universal chuck (above, right) into the recess I cut in the base. This method works solidly and reliably and is probable the most common way of clamping a bowl.

On wood lathes, four jaw chucks like the one above are standard. The jaws move as a group so the work is centered. Independent four jaw chucks are used mostly on metal lathes when the work is not round, or needs very careful manual centering, more accurately than a universal lathe can provide.

The four jaw chuck for a wood lathe comes in all sorts of permutations. We stock a nice but fairly primitive one without the attachments. The price ranges from "not a lot" to several hundred dollars, depending on features, precision and capacity. The jaws come in various sizes and are usually interchangeable on a particular chuck. Depending on which jaws are used, you can clamp on the inside of a recess by expanding outward, or on a lip clamping inward. The lips of the chuck jaws are tapered so grab the work solidly even if the recess or ledge on the work is pretty small.

On a final note, here are some pictures of some of a couple of chucks from Bergeron's 1742 "Manuel Du Tourneur." We see the elements of a faceplate and screw chuck - and even a very early independent four jaw chuck from a time when cutting screw threads was a big deal. But figure 8 is both interesting and practical. Particularly for production work, the turner would make a collet by drilling a piece of wood the same size as the stock; then cut slots in it thereby creating fingers; and then use a ring to force the fingers tightly closed. Or course this would only work for one size of stock, but for that size it works fast and tight. These types of collet chucks were very popular especially in production work.

I am barely scratching the surface of the different type of chucks that were used, but for most of us, a crown center coupled with some sort of four jaw chuck will cover 95% of the work were going to do. If you find yourself do oddball stuff, thats when you start doing some research especially in old books.

I'll talk about the tailstock when I next write about centers.

Various chucks from Bergeron's Manuel Du Tourneur Paris 1742 - #8 - collet chuck. #9 - Faceplate chuck with screws. #10 what looks like a very early four jaw independent chuck

Disc support for holding handles for drilling - Bergeron's Manuel Du Tourneur Paris 1742

Is it still spring? It’s been such a busy start to the season that we suddenly seem to be in summer already. Thank you to everyone who has come on courses already; just as it starts to calm down we move into show season.

We’ve been invited back to the Festival of Upholstery and St.Alban’s Upholstery School to teach expanded workshops at both: at the festival we’ll be teaching a three day weaving course which will cover our standard square weave, L nail weaving and the envelope weave. Participants will be putting together a stool from a kit and will take home their final project. We’re really looking forward to it; we had a great time there last year.

We’ll be teaching another Danish cord workshop at St.Albans in September and then a dedicated envelope weave course in January. At these workshops you bring your own chair to weave so start looking out for one now!

Our vice screw kits have had a good reception and we’re almost out but we’ll be restocking over the summer.

Course Dates 2026

The dates for all of our courses for the rest of 2026 are available on our website. They link through to Craft Courses for booking.

So that we don’t disappoint anyone we always run courses that have bookings; on the rare occasions that just one person books on a particular date then that course will run. Whilst this makes no financial sense whatsoever we feel that if people make plans in advance they should be confident that they’re not going to be disappointed.

If you’d like a course for a small group and our dates don’t suit you please get in touch. If we haven’t had a booking at a time that does suit you we’re always happy to move things around.

Shows – 2026

Our show season started with a lovely four day exhibition at Hatfield House for Living Crafts. It was great to meet so many people who are interested in traditional crafts.

• 13-14th June Cambridge Town and Country Fair, Parker’s Piece, Cambridge
• 4-5th, 11-12th, 18-19th & 25-26th July Cambridge Open Studios – right here in Great Wilbraham
• 8-9th August Cambridge Country Show, Stow Cum Quy
• 12-13th September The Wonder of Wood Fair, Burwash Manor, Cambridge
• 30th-31st 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.

Danish Modern kit

If you want to learn L nail weaving or just want to build an elegant and comfortable stool at home we’re launching a new kit.

The kit will contain all the materials needed. You just provide a few basic tools and a couple of clamps. We’re working on a video to talk you through putting the stool together and weaving the seat. When it’s ready we’ll make it available in our shop.

Fresh Bakes

Lunch and refreshments are included on all our courses. Three times a day we down tools and decamp to the conservatory to eat Bryony’s lovely bakes and talk about chairs (and anything else). We think these breaks are really important to give you an opportunity to go back to the workshop well-fed and refreshed, ready for more chair-making!

Open Studios – steam bending demonstrations

We’re opening the workshops to the public every weekend in July as part of Cambridge Open Studios.

We often get asked at shows how we bend timber for the backs of our chairs so we’re going to do a steam bending demonstration at 12 noon on the 18th July. If it’s not raining this will be outdoors.

As always, if you’re interested in coming on a course and you want to find out more 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. If our dates aren’t perfect for you or you want to book for a group give us a call; we can usually work something out. Don’t forget course fees include all materials, lunch and refreshments each day.

Enjoy your time in the workshop.

StJohn & Bryony

chamfering the holes

This doo da does an acceptable job chamfering the dowel holes.

problem

I initially knocked down the top of the holes with a chisel but I could still feel a wee bit of a raised bump. The hand chamfering tool got rid of that. I didn't want anything to keep the rail from laying up tight to the legs. It also gives a little relief for glue.

sigh

I need to chamfer for the head of the screw I intend to put here. I have off set screwdrivers for driving the screw but no offset chamfer doo da. I have an idea percolating in the brain bucket. It is a trick I saw on a Popular Woodworking You Tube post. Fingers crossed that it will work.

back rails

I had to take the back rail slats out again to plane/clean up the top edge with the mortises.

two taps

Doing the last dry clamp before gluing it up. I put a piece of blue tape on the leg face that the side rails will be glued to.

hmm.......

The offset that I knew about shook hands with me. Rather than glue a piece on the top I am leaving this as is. I will glue a thin piece of cherry over the face like I did on Miles's desk.

ditto

The other rail has the same offset. 

less than a 16th difference

survived the first one

Paid attention this time to getting all the glue squeeze out cleaned up on both sides of the rail. Had a slight panic attack due to glue freeze. It took a while to get glue applied to the dowels and the in the holes. The clamps pulled the legs tight to the rails.

2nd one done

No hiccups with this one. A bit of a PITA getting the squeeze out cleaned up. Noticed that I forgot to do the slots for the table top clips.

sigh

Had a mind fart. Initially I glued one end of the rails to the wrong face of the leg. Even though I had put blue tape I still managed to ignore it and screw up. Lucky for me I noticed that the offset on the rail  with the leg wasn't correct. I caught it within a couple of seconds. I had to clean out the glue in the holes. Before I glue up the back rails I will run a drill through these holes again.

another oops

I assembled this and the diagonals were OTL (out to lunch). One was 38 3/4" while the other was 39 1/2". The distance between the two rails was 14 5/16" R/L. I had a parallelogram. The top and bottom mortises were misaligned. (Don't know why I have four fingers here - can't remember why).

success

Aligned the mortises correctly and checked my diagonals again. This time they were both dead nuts on 39 1/4".

missed it

The first time I assembled this I noticed that the center wide slat looked crooked. I assumed that it was because the rails were slightly offset R/L from each other. Should have checked for alignment then rather then assembling the entire thing.

sigh

I had glued the chip now missing here with superglue. It didn't last at all. The chip missing is on the top rail so it will be difficult to see, if at all.

the misalignment

This is the result of not centering the layout stick. I had centered it on Miles's desk and had no hiccups with his.

aligned

sizing the top

The top has to lose about 2" off one of the long edges. This last board is a little more than 7" wide. That will leave this at roughly 5". hmm...., don't like that much.

the other option

If I take 2" off this edge it would balance out the two outside boards better. However, it would remove this knot defect that I want to keep. Sucked it up and sawed 2" off the other edge.
 

hmm.......

This was surprising because the 'hole' didn't look that deep. It had been less than a minute and it had already sunk. FYI - You don't need a pound of dye mixed in with the epoxy. I used less than a 1/4 of what I used previously. The color is still deep and with no clear spots.

first saw cut

Used my cordless skil saw to do both the long rip and cross cuts.

yikes!

Where is all this epoxy going? Less than 5 minutes after doing pour #2, I had to do a 3rd one.

hmm.....

The diagonals are off by 1/8". You can't see that amount eyeballing the top. I doubt anyone would throw a square on it or break out a tape and check the diagonals.

no choice

I had no choice. I couldn't fully lower the blade below the top. This mess has a 'hole' that the gear extends into when raising the blade up/down. It was packed full and it was a solid blob of saw goo. I dug that out thinking I had fixed the problem but I was wrong.

tight quarters

This rod (I removed the handle and nut) turns a worm gear which engages a half circle toothed gear that raises and lowers the blade. Everything from this view point seems to be working as it should.

sigh

That looks a lot like a hole for a pin that would keep the worm gear from spinning as the handle turns it. And spinning is exactly what the worm gear is doing. It will spin forward, stop, engage the toothed gear, and lower/raise the blade. What it won't do is lock down and keep the blade at a specific height. Which the problem I have had with this saw for a while now.

time flies

I came to the shop just before 0800 and worked through lunch. This was the time when I checked it. Been a long time since I worked this much and missing filling the pie hole. I kept on trucking.

4 times filling this

It has been over an hour and the epoxy is still raised. When I checked it again before I killed the lights it was the same. Hopefully it will be same in the AM.

side drawer guides

Used the scrap from sizing the desk top to get the four guides. Fingers crossed that I won't use them for something else without thinking of them.

1/2" maple

I've had this piece of maple in the shop for 5+ years. I can get 3 bottom supports for the drawer guides from this. I'll address the cup after I rip out the pieces.

hmm......

Planed the hump first and then I attacked the cup. Started with the #3 criss crossing and switched to the #4. I thought it might be difficult to remove the cup on such a thin width but it wasn't. 

done

I got all three flat and straight. I'll need to make a Lowes run and buy a 1/2" maple board for the 4th guide.

accidental woodworker

Podcast Update

I’m happy to say that I’m almost finished the first episode of the podcast.

Without question, the most difficult part of the entire process has been creating the characters for YouTube. I honestly underestimated just how much work goes into lip syncing and animation. There have been plenty of setbacks and moments of frustration along the way, but the tenacity and perseverance that hand tool woodworking teaches you kept me going.

Originally, I planned to use myself as one of the speakers. Unfortunately, the lip syncing didn’t turn out as well as I hoped. Still, I’m not giving up on it. I’ll continue experimenting and refining the process, and if it ultimately doesn’t work, I already have another character ready to step in.

Despite the challenges, I’m genuinely excited about this project. Ideas keep flooding into my head faster than I can write them down. In many ways, I feel the same excitement now that I did back when we started the magazine. There’s something deeply rewarding about creating something from the ground up and sharing it with others who appreciate the craft.

Podcasts have become incredibly popular, yet I haven’t really come across one dedicated specifically to hand tool woodworking. My hope is that this becomes a positive, informative, and enjoyable addition for those who love the craft as much as I do.

I truly hope you gain something from it, whether that’s knowledge, encouragement, inspiration, or simply enjoyment while listening.

I’d also encourage you all to subscribe on Spotify so you’ll receive notifications whenever a new episode is uploaded: Spotify Podcast Subscription

The video versions will be going onto YouTube, which is the reason I’ve been putting so much work into creating animated characters for the presentations.

As for Apple Podcasts, there currently seems to be some sort of technical issue with their links. At the moment they appear to be broken, but I’ll keep working on it until it’s sorted out.

Stay tuned. There’s much more to come.

About 35 years ago as our girls were getting tall enough to use the bathroom sink and help Mama in the kitchen we used large, unwieldy folding stools for them to accomplish the tasks.  I decided to use some scrap birch plywood and made a foot-high two-step stool for each of them, Older Daughter, Younger Daughter, and Mrs. Barn.  They were simple and sturdy, painted with some leftovers from unknown projects; black, red, baby blue.  They were stout enough that all three of them are still in service today after three decades of service.

A couple years ago I made a similar one for L’il T, painted in what were at the time his favorite colors with a little pizzazz.

Last week I finished the stool for his little brother, ‘Dozer.  (L’il T is long and lean, ‘Dozer is not, and not.  A nose tackle in the making.)  We weren’t sure what his favorite colors were, are, or will be so I left it to my own discretion.

In a year I’ll be making one for grandson #3, and the same for grandson #4 the year after.  These are so simple that they are not really even “woodworking,” but they are treasures that will likely last several lifetimes.

Building precious memories and robust traditions, one stepstool at a time.

round 2

What will it be this time? I heated the top on all sides before clamping and setting it aside to relax over night yesterday.

hmm........

It closed up a wee bit more but still not enough. I can effortlessly close it flat with hand pressure. I clamped the center and set it aside until I need it. I am definitely leaning in the direction of screwing it to underside of the table.

made good progress

Got the rest of the slats trimmed and fitted for the back. I was having problems aligning the slats to their respective holes and switched to clamping it. That worked way better than I expected without all the nightmare scenarios banging around in the brain bucket.

I started the first two in their mortises and then used the clamps (one at each end, one in the middle) slowly closing them as I worked from left to right. I have a good, snug fit in all the mortises and when it comes time to install it I'll do it dry. There isn't any need to glue the slats. Plus it will make it easy to replace one if ever needed.

no hiccups

I was expecting to do some adjustments to get the rails to align with the legs but I didn't. I didn't have to tap either rail in any direction to have the dowels in the rails align perfectly with the holes in the legs. I quick and painless dry clamp.

hmm.......

The top of the rail is flush with the top of the legs. I thought after yesterday it would have been down about 1/8". Having the top flush like this will make installing the drawer guide assembly a lot easier.

first side done

Trimmed and fitted the slats on the first side and dry clamped it. I had to do a couple of mallet taps on the top rail before the dowels in the rails aligned with the holes in the leg.

last one

The holes are the same on the legs so this works for checking for fit. Two taps on the top rail and the fit was like a hand into a well worn glove.

final prep

Planing and sanding to get the side assemblies ready to glue up. The master plan is to glue up the two sides first and let them cook. Then I will glue the back and drawer rail. After that is making drawers and attaching the top. IMO doing the slats is the hardest part of building this desk.

careful time

I can't mix up the slats. They have been individually fitted to each rail and aren't interchangeable. I have a bad habit of not adhering to that particular policy.

ready

Rails have been planed and sanded. Ready for gluing and shellac. Where did I put those two cans of shellac? 

I planed all the rails when I fitted them. I eyeballed each one to make sure they were clean and smooth on all four edges. I won't be sanding them and I'll go with the finish off of the plane.

I'll prep the legs in the AM and hopefully get the two sides glued and cooking.

accidental woodworker

drawer rail

After dinner last night I went to the shop, unclamped this, and heated it with my heat gun. Clamped it back together and let it go until the AM. Any bets?

hmm.......

It straightened out a wee bit but not enough. Yesterday it was less than a frog hair more then 1/8" at the center. Today it is a couple of frog hairs under 1/8". I heated it again with the heat gun, clamped it, and set it aside. I'll check it in the AM. I'm not betting the ranch on it working.

done

Got the last slat mortise chopped and cleaned up. Stopped here and brought Miles's frame to the Frame it shop.

heebie jeebie dance time

I find doing this a tad nerve wracking. It so incredibly easy for me to miss and not position the jig correctly. Which is exactly what I did on the first holes I drilled. I was so focused and intent on getting the jig positioned correctly that I forgot to also make sure it was also on the right face. 

Got lucky with boo boo. Because it was the front leg I was able to erase the old reference marks and do new ones based on the leg being rotated 90°. Sometimes you get lucky.

hmm.......

I did this one wrong. The right side edge was the original one for the slat mortises. I changed my mind and did the mortises on the left edge. The hiccup was I had already drilled the holes before I made this change. The hole spacing is not the same R/L L/R. Not sure how I'll deal with this.

another hiccup

The mortises are a wee bit off too. I did the layout from the left end  going to the right on all the rails. I have to align the bottom rail keeping that in mind with the top rail.  I think this is the last hiccup I have to account for.

hmm......

I got the holes drilled for all the top rails. Before I did the bottom rails I had to determine where they were going to live. I eyeballed it and 5" up from the bottom is what looked good to me. The slats ended up being 15 1/8" long.

done

I survived another round of drilling dowel holes. Other then the initial brain fart, I got all the holes drilled exactly where they should be.

lifesavers

This mark is worth its weight in gold squared. I used to do this with RF and LB etc and  with numbers. This can't be beat and I used it extensively when setting up the doweling jig.

done

Got all the slats sawn to the same length. Fitting them is in the on deck circle.

first one fitted

Started with the wide center slat first. Got it fitted in the bottom and top rails.

first 8 slats

I was going to fit the slats in the bottom rail first and then in the top rail one at a time. I only did the first rail and stopped. It was too awkward moving the rails in/out of the vice. So I did them the same way I did Miles's desk, fitted them all in the bottom ones first and then the top.

That plan went south because I came upon two cracks/splits among the slat mortises 9 thru 16. I had to glue them and let them cook. Instead of killing the lights I fitted the first 8 slats into the top rail. 

Then I killed the lights for the day. I should have this glued up by monday?

Amazon came at 1804

I had to satisfy my curiosity about the fluted dowels. I would say that they are 6mm and not an imperial 1/4". I'll have to check and see if Dowel Max has metric bushings.

metric equivalent of 1/4"

This is a spiral dowel. Extremely happy that I got a true 1/4" dowel. (6.30mm = 1/4")

a 1/4" is 0.250

This is close enough to 0.250 IMO. These dowels were a loose fit but tighter than the 6mm ones. 

accidental woodworker 

Vertical grain. Why riven oak? Radially riven oak is the most stable, because the rings of the tree are at 90 degrees to the face of the timber, or vertical. Better than quartersawn. Come and see how it's done in practice. Sign up for a course, or see demonstrations at Birdwood House Gallery, Totnes 12th-18th July. 'Jonathan Bayes (&Co)-Carving History'