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Hand Holds On Bench Planes

I wonder if we truly understand the hold we have on bench planes, the subtle grips, the slips and slides left and right and then the difference between skews and slides and a combination of both in a sliding skew. Because something has a handle doesn't mean we have to use it. I wouldn't look to a carpenter for sound advice, I've seen too many men's vans over the years depicting a viselike bulldogging grip with two fists whole finger-wrapped around the handles and tote to believe they know very much about planing wood. Perhaps it's because there's a cord attached to their version of a plane and to them, shavings come away in tiny chips spit from the so-called power tool in the millions. In the hand tool world, it's a clutch of long and wide ribbons that spill noiselessly to our feet. Two completely different worlds, thankfully.

Most often it's a dull plane iron that forces a man to use a power grip to get the plane enter and then cut. I have yet to pick up any sharp plane or edge tool that belonged to another in a previous history of ownership that was sharp or anywhere near it. Most people overwork an edge because they are reluctant to take time out to sharpen it. We usually sharpen up long after we should have done.

When George hovered over my woodworking at the workbench, me fifteen years old and a complete novice, he'd nudge my elbow, speak softly or loudly but always with a tone that said, 'Listen and obey' then, depending on my response,"Get a grip!" The firmness in a voice of true authority speaks volumes and my hand hold on my plane searched for the as yet unknown version yet to be revealed. At first, I simply assumed he was saying 'more force' or 'grip harder', but I soon learned after various initiation sessions that he was saying the grip needs adjusting.

Who said you only push a Western bench plane? When the frame on the bench is to big turn, and you cannot get behind the plane because of distance, pulling the plane into the cut might well be the only way to effect a cut.

George was the gentle giant in my teen years of apprenticing. He was big on teaching and training and never let anything slide when it came to hand tools. In general, we worked in 20 different woods and I learned that each different wood type had its own idiosyncrasies with almost no two being the same. Planing wood meant handling a plane accurately according to task and sentience. No one speaks in these terms and though George didn't either, the unspoken worth of silent words spoken by action spoke volumes; I learned from a cough and an 'um' or the heavy industrial-grade clearing of a throat.

I posed this picture to show my general soft grip and hand and finger positioning. See how the hand grip on the rear tote with my dominant hand wraps only three fingers with the forefinger pointing and registered to the side of the plane frog. The front hand is semi firm and relies on the two fingers opposed by a firm thumb. I would say that 90% of my plane work follows this pattern though I hesitate to give it a value. The finger pointing on the tote handle gives verticality and direction to the plane.

Grip is everything in handling any hand plane, but instruction comes best through an experienced woodworker at the bench. I am talking about a man-maker with decades in his hands at the bench rather than a college graduate teacher who scarcely if ever made for a living. My hand holds may change fifty times in pursuit of a smooth surface. The subtle shifts drive for more than just shoving the plane at the wood. That slightest of skews, a square-on equalling out of balanced pressure to get the fullest width, the lifting of the [lane heel and the lightest circular motion here and there that changes the dynamic majorly with so minimal an effort. Of course, that means far too many to remember and recall in the saddle. I always told my students in hands-on classes to take time to experiment even on their projects. Mostly they were too diffident and especially if the plane strokes they were using worked. Why fix what ain't broke isn't really a good maxim if you want to gain mastery for future use. I recall one time planing a wide board absolutely across the grain at ninety degrees to the long axis of the plank and how many woodworking carpentry and joinery 'experts' told me in comments how very wrong that was. With wood grain, there may well be one right way for that plane stroke, you just have to find out which one will give the result you want. It might be one out of the 50, and I wouldn't limit that number to 50 either. A slice cut is not a skew cut, but there are skewed slice cuts mid-stroke over complex grains that deliver smoothness. I had that in my newest and latest two boxes where you might have thought it would be the curly-grained woods causing an issue when it was the straight-grained elm every time.

The inside view of my hand hold on the tote shows the three wrapped finger......while the outside picture of the hand shows where my pointing finger rests in place beneath the cutting iron assembly and the side of the frog. But then notice the not so subtle change in my left hand because my right, dominant hand is my power hand.

Planing the ends of my dovetail pins, smoothness came readily going across the grain rather than with it. Several circular motions planes up my end grain even on small sections. I learned that from George too when I was a boy, and he was only just a man of 25. We tried different techniques and strokes that defied books. Ever noticed how old books rarely if ever spoke of such techniques. They only ever showed rigid hand holds with no versatility. Looking at what I know about woodworking today, I realise how little value they offered to novices

I planed the nubs of the pins down but have yet to tackle that small tear out by the vertical ripples. A little tear out isn't daunting to me as it might have been back 1960s starting out.

Of course, what's right for met might be right for others, but what is often lacking is experienced makers talking about alternatives. Also, though many experienced makers might have been working wood for years and decades, very few of them, perhaps one percent, will use any hand tools for any significant time in a day. This sad reality holds them back. Would I ever use a power router to rout out for a hinge flap? Of course not. Would I level the nubs of my dovetail pins or tails with a belt sander or power planer, hand held or static? I wouldn't. It gets too complicated and absolutely unnecessary in my world of non mass-making. I have the job done in a heartbeat with a sharp plane and a few choice planing techniques.

Would I use a random orbit sander on my work? Or a belt sander? I have no problem with these two creatures. An RA sander loaded with a newish 280-grit disc will leave the very smoothest finish. The advantages of planing is creating the dead flat and true plane. The RA with a fine grit paper doesn't take the surface down more than a small thou of an inch and so retains the flatness you get from a planed surface. Going through various grits from coarse to fine creates problems on fine work..

Last week my brother and I laid the new 2″ HDPE penstock (pipe) for my microhydroturbine system to power the barn (and the cabin if necessary).  Last winter absolutely trashed the existing pipeline of Schedule 40 PVC.

The 2″ HDPE came in giant ~6-foot coils, each of which weighed several hundred pounds.  Once these were unraveled we had a rasslin’ match that looked like a monster movie with giant snakes.  If you’ve never handled large dimension HDPE it is unbelievably tough and strong, slippery and cantankerous.  Not to mention ridiculously expensive compared to Sch40 PVC, but I am expecting it to be worth the added investment.  I got 15 years from the Sch40 PVC so this should outlast my time in Shangri-la.

Even two stout redneck brothers were no match for the Super Slinky.  We wound up lashing the end to a long rope, feeding the rope along the path we wanted the pipeline to follow, and then pulling it up the ravine with my beloved little 4WD S10.  The pipe was more than a match for two ~septuagenarians but was no match for 210 h.p. x 4500 lbs.

Here are the old and new, side by side.  This level of damage to the old penstock was present in about 75% of the 1000+-foot length.

We finally connected the new pipeline into the system and had water flowing!  I discovered that even at the bottom there was a crack in the PVC joints, so that needs to get replaced as soon as I can find the time.  It’s working, now, but who knows for how long?

The work is not done by any means.  I’ll let the new HDPE pipeline relax and lose its coilification to the greatest degree possible, then work the line from top to bottom leveling and lashing it.  Reducing the up and down of the lay is critical to making the flow have as little turbulence as possible.  If all goes well I will be able to run the system year round.  Here’s hopin’.

first one

Last night after dinner I went back to the shop and put on the first coat of shellac on the shelves, the top, and the drawer. Doing the tops of them first followed by the bottoms. I hate this part of a project. I don't enjoy applying finish and certainly not the wait time between applications. Not to mention I can't do much of anything else while I do these dance steps.

got 3rd coat on

This one pound coat isn't building and it is going to take more than 3-4 coats before it shines like I like it.

hmm......

I hadn't forgot this box for the Kreg pocket hole jig. I got the layout for the tails done but I don't have any room to get the Moxon vise on the workbench.

in the workshop

The humidity is/was high today. I didn't want to bring it up to the driveway and chance having the shellac blush on me. 

first coat

The vertical slats look darker than the legs and rails. It was a little awkward applying the shellac to the interior - there wasn't a lot of room to spray.

PM session

Got 5 coats on the shelves, the top, and the drawer front. I got four coats on the interior of the drawer and I'll put four on the bottom of the drawer.

hmm........

Got two spray coats and I rubbed them down with 4-0 steel wool. Applied the 3rd coat and I didn't have a warm and fuzzy with how much spray shellac I had left.

its dead Jim

The can went dry spraying the on the 4th coat. I only got one side of one of the vertical slats before it gave up.

hmm........

Used about 2/3 of the batch I mixed up yesterday. I hadn't expected to use so much of it just on the shelves and the top. I still have the bottoms of them get shellac on. I got a pound on order but it won't be here until next week. FYI - the cost of 1 pound of dewaxed  super blonde, with S/H, was $87. That is about $20 or so more than my last order. 

I had bought it from shellac dot net and the price of the same shellac on 4 other sites were all within a few dollars of the shellac dot net price. I then checked on Amazon and dewaxed  super blonde was the same price. However I found blonde shellac, 1.1 lbs, for $30. I don't know if it is dewaxed or not but I'll have it tomorrow. Fingers crossed that I will have enough of the current batch to finish this project.

accidental woodworker

I started blogging here 16 years ago today. Now I have decided to bring the Literary Workshop blog to a close. This is the 400th post on the blog, and I expect it to be the last one.

When I started the Literary Workshop Blog back in August 2010, I was just a couple years out of graduate school and had only a couple kids. A whole lot has changed since then.

When I started the blog, I didn’t set out to build an audience or promote a business or anything like that. Here’s how it happened: I used to post regularly on a woodworking forum called WoodNet, but the posts on that forum lasted only a year before being deleted. As an avid hand-tool woodworker, I enjoyed showing off my projects and trading woodworking advice with other traditional woodworkers. So I started this blog as an archive of the longer posts and projects I had put on that forum. Eventually the blog took on a life of its own. Internet forums declined in popularity, and I continued to learn about hand tools, make furniture, and discover traditional woodworking techniques. I’m a compulsive writer, so describing these things came easily to me. Part of the fun of starting a new project has often been planning the blog post(s) and photos that would feature it.

So what has changed in the last 16 years?

First, today’s media ecosystem is different. When I began the Literary Workshop Blog, most of the high-quality information on hand tools was still on forums and blogs, as well as in a few select magazines and books. If you wanted to work wood with hand tools, the information wasn’t going to find you. You had to read up on it. Now in 2026, the online space is flooded with short-form how-to videos, and once social media algorithms figure out that you’re interested in hand-tool woodworking, it will keep delivering that content to you automatically. The sheer amount of video content available is overwhelming. And a surprising amount really is fairly high in quality. That means there’s less demand for written content than their used to be. But I’m a writer, and I’m just not interested in creating video content. And even if you’re more of a reader than a video watcher (like I am), you can get very high quality content on hand tool woodworking from several good sources, like Lost Art Press and Mortise & Tenon Magazine.

I also maintain this blog at the pleasure of the WordPress platform, which I don’t control. Tomorrow the owners could decide to delete everything I’ve written over the past 16 years. If I were going to keep writing seriously about woodworking, I would want to publish it in a more stable, permanent form: a book. But I’ve written books, and I know what kind of time and expertise such a project takes. There are much better woodworkers than I am writing books right now, and I’m very grateful for them. I have neither the time nor the desire to compete with them for a publisher’s attention.

I’m also concerned about the rise of AI large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, which have taken advantage of all the free information on the internet and are able to synthesize it for users, often without regard to the credibility of the content, let alone the identity of the people (like me) who labored to produce that content. I am not interested in providing even more free content to feed those AI beasts.

But more importantly, my free time has become more limited of late. Writing about a project takes a significant amount of time, and the more time I devote to the writing, the less time I have for the woodworking itself. That’s one reason why I’ve gone from posting a couple times a month (at my peak) to posting just a few times a year.

If you’ve never tried to write up a project for a magazine article or a blog post (or done a video shoot of it), it’s hard to imagine how much extra time it takes to do the content creation on top of the actual woodworking. I estimate that writing a high-quality series of blog posts about a project can add a good 50% to the total time the project takes. If the project is really involved, doing the content creation can easily double the time. So if it was a 12-hour project, but I want to document each step and write up a series build-along posts, it’s now an 18-hour project, at least.

These days, I don’t have a lot of time for woodworking itself. Most of my kids are teenagers, and I’m always running them to practice or rehearsal, or attending a game or a show they’re in. And my oldest now has kids of her own, so my wife and I are having fun doing the grandparent thing. I’m also in a leadership position in my local church, which is an honor but also a big time-commitment. And my current job doesn’t allow me to step away from work during school breaks like my previous job did. All in all, it’s a good phase of life! But I have fewer stretches of uninterrupted time in which I can get a project done. Woodworking is still important to me, so if I’m going to spend any time woodworking at all, I can’t also be committed to writing about it.

Besides, I feel like I’ve said pretty much everything I wanted to say about woodworking and related topics over the years. The really important things I’ve learned and shared here can be summed up pretty easily:

• Make things you need. You get started by figuring out what you need, learning some skills, and trying to make it work with the tools and materials you have most readily available.
• Read widely. You can learn things about your craft from the most unlikely of authors.
• Sharpen your tools. Sharp fixes everything.
• Simplicity is a virtue. You can do so much with a small kit of essential tools.
• Use what you have. Most jobs don’t require new tools. You may already have something that will get the job done.
• Keep your eye out for good material. There is a lot of good stuff out there if you know what you’re looking for.
• Be picky about what you keep. There’s a lot of junk that’s not worth taking home or holding on to.
• Quality matters. Spend the money to get the good tool, and spend the time to make the joint fit just right.
• Specialize. There are so many sub-fields in woodworking, and nobody can learn them all. Pick just a few and get really good at them. Skills in one sub-field will transfer over to another.
• Build relationships, not just projects. It’s good to bring people into your process and to share what you have with others.
• Selling your work will change everything about your craft. You may or may not like the changes.
• Learn by imitation and experimentation. Find excellent models to imitate.

I do want to say thank-you to you, my readers, especially those of you who have taken the time to post encouraging comments on posts, or to ask follow-up questions. The writing comes easier when I know there will be at least a few people reading. And if you find yourself wanting to read more of my writing, you can always go back to the very beginning of this blog and start reading from there! A lot of the pictures are now gone from my earlier posts, but many of the really important photos remain.

If you run across a post you like, but you find broken links and/or missing photos, please post a comment letting me know. If I have time (and if the photos still exist), I’ll try to update the post with the missing material. And if you want to interact with me about woodworking, I am willing to reply to new comments on old posts, at least for the time being.

Eventually, though, I will close down users’ ability to comment on posts and turn this blog into a true time-capsule. I have no idea how long it will remain accessible to other people. I suppose it could still be floating in a digital archive a century from now. Maybe in a couple hundred years some historian or anthropologist will stumble upon one of my posts and discover something really interesting about the Hand-Tool Woodworking Revival of the early twenty-first century. Or maybe some distant descendant of mine will get interested in genealogy and discover more about his or her ancestors than anybody really needed to know. Or maybe a freak solar flare will obliterate this whole blog before the end of the year. There’s no telling how long anybody’s writing is really going to last.

Even though I won’t be writing new blog posts anymore, I’m not really going away. I’ll still be right here, doing the things that I’ve always written about: reading books, building furniture with hand tools, making spoons and spatulas, and spending quality time with my wife and kids.

Farewell!

Stephen J. Schuler

Springfield, Ohio

To finish this series, here is a suggested list of the remaining tools to add to the shop as it builds.  1. Cordless hand-held power sander. The 5” diameter is the most versatile and  practical. I like the 3M Xtract Cubitron II Net Disc 710W sanding discs.   2. Flashlight. Cordless in the brand you […]

hmm.......

This back doo dad thing needs to be secured now. There isn't any way for me to clamp it after the top is secured. And speaking of the top, it is going to be tricky to do. I will have to place the carcass on the top upside down so I can screw the table top clips. The doo dad thing is going to be a PITA then.

centered

I got the top, the doo dad thing, and the carcass aligned on the center. The overhangs are less then a 16th off. I thought I would have trouble getting an even overhang because the the top was out of square. It looks good to the eye and no one is going to measure it.

 

hmm......

I have cleaned up glue squeeze out a bazillion different ways. A toothbrush, hands down, has been the easiest and cleanest way to remove it. I've had toothbrushes in the shop for years and never used them. I saw a japanese You Tube woodworker using a toothbrush to clean up squeeze out. I won't be using a rag and a putty knife to clean it anymore.

cooked for 3 hours

Probably wouldn't have mattered but I planed the doo dad thing flush with the back edge of the top. 

overkill

I used 5/8" pin nails to temporarily hold the top while I screwed it. Two of the pin nails were proud and I hammered them flush. I'm not going to bother with setting and filling them. Who (besides me) looks at the inside front of a drawer?

hmm.......

Missed filling in two. I filled in the back and the opposite side yesterday and missed these two.

snug fit

I sawed a piece of the same wood as the drawer box. Used a chisel to shape it to fit the hole. When the drawer is opened now you won't see any holes.

another oops

The end grain on the ends was coarse and rough to the touch. This would look like crappola with shellac on it. Sanded the ends from 80 to 180. My 220 sanding sticks need fresh sandpaper.

slight gap at the bottom

The gap was a lot bigger. I had loosed the screws on the inside at this end and clamped the drawer front to the drawer box. Tightened the screws again but I didn't get it all. I did manage to get the opposite flat and tight. There is a slight cup to the drawer front that wasn't there yesterday.

branded

I like to apply the brand to a fixed, non removable part of anything I make. The top is removable as is the drawer and shelves.

for tomorrow

I had a little over 3 ounces of flakes so I mixed up a 1 lb cut. I'll have to put on a lot of coats to build it up. I have pound on order.

hmm.......

The end grain chamfer is a little rough. I was expecting this to be smooth coming off the router. I felt it when I playing around with the doo dad thing.

done

I didn't need to go through all the grits. 150 and 180 made it baby butt smooth. I did the three shelves also. Now I think I'm done with the woodworking.

canned shellac

The left can is almost empty but the right is full. I intend to use the spray shellac on the vertical slats. If it is sunny in the AM I will try to get 4-5 coats on them before the lunch bell rings.

accidental woodworker

Sandusky Tool Co. was in business from 1869 to the mid- or late-1920's.  I used to think it was named for a person, but it was named for the city in which it was located, Sandusky, OH (about 50 miles west of Cleveland).  This rabbet plane started life as a 3/4" wide plane.  It was a little shy of that when I got it, but it's thinner now after I had to plane one side a bit to get it back in shape.

Sandusky 3/4" Rabbet

The logo on the toe.  Looks like it also has a "146".

On the heel: I think this originally read "3/4"

Thanks to the Internet Archive, I could find a 1925 Sandusky catalog, and there was a #146 skew rabbet plane shown.  The 3/4" size sold for a whopping $1.40, though that was probably a lot in 1925 dollars.

The plane needed some truing up.  The sole was not flat - it was a bit high just behind the mouth.  And the right side was twisted such that behind the mouth, the plane body stuck out about 2 mm more than it did ahead of the mouth.

High spot on the sole behind the mouth

You can see by eye how much higher the body was by my finger than it was ahead of the mouth.

I planed the sole and right side flat and square to each other.  I did these things with the iron installed, but safely out of the way of my bench plane iron.  With the iron and wedge installed and tightened, a check of flatness on the sole gave a different result than when the iron was out of the plane.  I didn't bother truing up the left side of the plane.  That doesn't make any difference in how I'll ever use it.

Sole and right side square to each other

For the iron, I ground a new bevel and ground a little of the right side so it would sit in the plane right.  When set up as I've read it should be, the right side of the iron should sit proud of the plane body by a few thousandths of an inch.  I went though a few iterations of grinding and fitting in the plane until I was happy with how it looked.

I also noticed during these fitting steps that the iron's bed (back wall of the mortise) had a step that didn't allow the tang to move right of center.  So I fixed that with a chisel.  Fortunately that didn't affect the fit of the wedge, though I might still mess with that a bit.

After sharpening and honing the iron, I made test cuts in pine and oak.  Both came out good, though it's always a challenge to get an unfenced rabbet plane started.  I prefer to cut the rabbet a little shy of the width line, then clean up with sideways cuts to the line.

Cutting a 1/2" x 1/2" rabbet in pine

Cleaning up the side wall, pulling the plane back toward the camera

I think this will be a nice plane.  It's practically perfectly quartersawn and the grain patterns on the sides are beautiful.

Update: I've used the plane a few times now and it's a real winner!  It outperforms a homemade 3/4" straight-across-iron rabbet plane that I made long ago.  The skewed iron really makes a nice difference.

Bill Anderson shows how to Identify Antique Molding Planes to Discover Rarity and Historical Significance Affiliate Disclosure: When you purchase through certain links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission, at no cost to you. Learn more.

There’s no doubt that QCAD is my go-to 2D CAD software. I turn to it for virtually all of my design work. I do enjoy working with 3D software packages such as FreeCAD, but I always seem to find myself coming back to 2D. Perhaps that’s because I started out with AutoCAD, where I spent years drawing all sorts of things. One example is this drawing of Bedford, QLB, which I created for a company in the Netherlands. It was drawn accurately to real-world scale.

I love drawing, and I love the accuracy I can achieve with CAD software. Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I am not sponsored by QCAD. In fact, they don’t even know I’m writing this, which, I think, says a lot. Over the years, I’ve tried many different 2D CAD software packages. The first one I ever used was AutoCAD, and there’s no denying that it’s an excellent program. But bloody expensive, and for us woodworkers, I think it’s completely unnecessary.

We don’t need all the bells and whistles that come with professional engineering and architectural CAD software. What we need is something that allows us to draw accurately, work to real-world dimensions, make changes easily and, most importantly, get on with designing our projects.

So, what is QCAD?

QCAD is an open source 2D CAD software package. No, it doesn’t do 3D, but you can draw in isometric mode and create the illusion of 3D, just like we used to do back in high school. I still do that sometimes, just for fun. There are two versions of QCAD: a free version and a paid version called QCAD Professional. The Professional version has some additional features that aren’t available in the free version, and you also get 12 months of free upgrades. In addition this a one off payment, not a subscription.

Is it worth paying for?

Everyone is different, but for me, absolutely. It’s only $72, and you get free upgrades for the first 12 months. Renewals are discounted as well, so you really do get a lot of bang for your buck. When you compare that with what other 2D CAD packages cost, QCAD is very affordable.

If you’re interested in having a look for yourself, click here to visit QCAD.

I haven’t said a great deal about QCAD, but I think you get the gist of why I like it. It’s accurate, capable and, most importantly for me, it’s a pleasure to draw with.

What I want to briefly touch on now is a new project I’m currently working on.

My son commissioned me to make him a bookshelf. He wanted something special that he could, God willing, one day pass on to his own children. So I’ve chosen a traditional design and taken it a step further by adding floral carving and chip carving to both sides. As far as I know, this particular style of bookshelf was never made with this type of carving historically. The patterns I’ve used are based on a Bosnian cabinet I came across in a photograph from a museum in Konjic, Hercegovina. I don’t know the exact date the cabinet was made, but I believe it could date from somewhere between 1901 and 1923. The style of bookshelf itself goes back much further, however. By combining that traditional form with the carving patterns from the Bosnian cabinet, I believe I may be creating something that is genuinely unique. As far as I know, this particular combination doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. There won’t be any videos of this build. I’m tired of competing with the algorithm, so this one will be strictly for the blog.

I hope you enjoy following along as the project takes shape.

last one

What a PITA installing the back screws on the bearers. I hope that the next time I make one I'll remember this hiccup.

hmm......

Replacement shelf fitted. No more gaps at the front/rear between the legs.

another sneak peek

I sawed another shelf and the top first thing this AM.  This is the new shelf fitted along with the top dry fitted. I didn't feel like screwing the other bearers on to see what all the shelves looked like. This was good enough to give me a sense for the overall look.

Lowes run

Laid 1/4" spacing on all four sides and attached the drawer front with pin nails. I was happy with the fit of it and secured it with six 3/4" #6 FH screws.

still catching

With the drawer front applied the drawer is catching again. The bottom edge of the drawer box was catching on the top forward edge of the bottom rail. I rounded it over removing the arris - it helped but it was still catching. I don't know what else I can do to stop it so I'm leaving it as is.

last one

Planed the top and the 3 shelves smooth. The step for the final prep is to sand the end grain edges - 80 grit up to 220.

routed the chamfers

Routed a chamfer on the drawer front first. The top and the three shelves I chamfered just the sides and the front. Left the back squared off.

had to check the look

I like the look of the chamfer. Readily evident at the front and not so much on the sides. At the back from 4 feet away I couldn't tell you if it was chamfered or squared off still.

I was hoping to get this fully prepped today and ready to apply shellac. That didn't happen boys and girls. The shelves and the top are ready for shellac but the carcass needs the arris knocked back on the legs and the slats. But I think the all the woodworking is done. I'll have to screw the table clips and the shelves but that is a minor operation. 

I had to quit early because tomorrow is garbage day and I had to saw up some branches. They won't take anything that is longer then 3 feet. I had to drag two 33 gallon shitcans full of yard waste out to the curb. That was a chore. What should have taken 3 minutes got stretched out to 20. The shortness of breath is getting worse. I had to stop and rest several times bringing them curbside. Maybe I'll sleep good tonight because I'm feeling dead tired as I type this blog post.

accidental woodworker

The view from our booth

I don't have much of a blog this week because I've been busy preparing for Handworks. Handworks is the best hand tool show in the world. The show is held in Amana Colonies, Iowa, next Friday, Sept. 4th, and Saturday, Sept. 5th, 10am - 5pm both days. Admission is free. Here are some pictures from the last one - in 2023. We showed off our prototype folding treadle lathe at the last Handworks, and this year we'll have lathes for sale, along with lots of other stuff. The real attraction for us, however, is getting a chance to meet in person so many people who have supported us over the years. It's wonderful to see the energy behind hand tool woodworking. People have a great time.

So this past week we have been putting things in boxes and putting the boxes on pallets. I'll be representing TFWW at this year's show along with Alyson, whom many of you have spoken with on the phone or in person.

You can get a sense of the influence and excitement Handwork generates with the following story. A customer came in this week mostly to buy Festool, but he also loves hand tools. At the spur of the moment he decided to go to the show and began looking at plane tickets. I'm hoping that many of you reading this post can indeed find attendance worth the airfare, long drive, etc. Friday is usually mobbed; Saturday is a little mellower - but a great time is had by all.

The reason that all the pictures except one are from the Festhalle Barn, where are booth is, is that being a vendor, unfortunately, I never get a chance to see the show and rarely leave the barn. If I grab you by the shoulders and ask you keep an eye on the booth for a little while - it's because we need a break.

Roy Underhill doing the keynote speech. This year it's Chris
Alan Dorsey explaining what's going on with the treadle lathe
Pat Leach's booth of vintage tools which was across the aisle
Awesome display of miniature tools by Paul Hamler
Demo rasps and saws at our booth
The one time I got outside at saw stuff in the tent

 

half laps done

The shelf bearers fit perfectly F/B. These were on the to do list for today. Spoiler alert - got to them in the PM session.

can't see it

Got lucky that the errant groove is the front of the drawer. I hadn't tried to match it for grain/color but I stumbled into it. It took me a while before I could pick it out.

fitting the drawer

It is a snug fit on the height and no go on the R/L. This is ground zero and I'll have to account for the drawer opening being out of square.

drawer planing set up

The clamp on the left (by the coffee cup) keeps the drawer tight to the workbench edge and from lifting up. The 5 1/2 tends to lift up the back end as I planed forward. 

knocking down the top

I got the side to side partially fitted but the top needs to be dropped down a few more frog hairs. There is only a paper width of clearance and I want at a minimum a 32nd.

hmm......

I thought I had the side to side but I was wrong. It is hanging up before the 1/2 way point.

one step forward, one step back

At this point I had already planed the top edge 3 times. There some clearance but the drawer while being pushed in was binding and being uncooperative. However, I like the process of planing, checking, and fitting. One important thing I have learned is to resist the urge to take one more swipe. That is the difference between a smooth in/out and a sloppy, binding, hesitant in/out.

wee bit more than 1/2

The first half is smooth but the back corners of the drawer are up tight on the side rails. There is clearance at the front so I only have to plane in about a 1/3 from the back of the drawer. This is because of the out of square hiccup.

done

Drawer slides in/out easily and smoothly. There is no annoying shifting and binding as the drawer goes in/out.

top needs more love

Although the drawer is moving in/out ok there still is barely more than a paper thickness of clearance. I almost went nutso on this but caught myself and calmed down. I made four passes and I was happy with the gap I had at the front between the drawer top and the top drawer rail.

hmm.......

The arris on the back was catching on the bottom drawer rail as the drawer was pushed it. Planed and sanded the arris off and all was well in Disneyland again.

hmm........

Due to the out square hiccup, the drawer front needs a little more love. I want the applied drawer front to lay flat against the legs and the rails. I will have to plane off a taper that is about a 16th at the widest point.

fixed

I got some tear out planing the taper but not a problem, It will never be seen again once the drawer front is secured to the drawer box.

nope

This was going to be the drawer tilt doo dad but not anymore. Centered on the back means there is a conflict between it and the table top clip slot.

the work around

Going with two tilt doo dads positioned between the table top clips. I am going to screw these to the underside of the top. The front to back length is about 1/4" short which is for expansion. That gap will be placed at the drawer front.

hmm......

Forgot that I had these - hide glue brushes. I had wanted to buy more of them but the French company stopped making them. Found these while working on my bar clamps.

came yesterday

I couldn't find the little tubes of this so I bought these - the cheapest price I saw. I also two more clamps, I have 14 of them not 12. The bars I got from my old work in the attic. These were the hangers for the fluorescent lighting circa 1958. The bars are thick walled and heavy, perfect for clamps. Now I don't have to deal with the clamping heads rotating as I use them. 

ok

Drilled a pilot hole in the bottom of the shelf bearers. Checking to make sure that the screws aren't too long.

finally

Trying to get the screw in the back of the shelf bearer was a miserable job. I tried a bazillion different methods and the vise grips got the Kewpie doll prize. It was still slow going due to the space constraints I had to deal with. Glad that I only have four of these to do.

the goodie parade

The big problem with the back screw, other then the lack of space, was I couldn't get a pilot hole for the screw. I'm securing the bearers with brass #8 round head screws and they suck for trying to screw into wood without a pilot hole. So what I did was to vise grip a #8 sheet metal screw to make the pilot hole for the brass one. Worked fine on the first two but it was slow going.

sneak peek

Got the shelf bearers for the top shelf done. I will remove the bearers and the shelves before I slap on the shellac. It would be a ROYAL PITA to do that with all the shelves/bearers in place.

nope

I wasn't getting a warm and fuzzy with this shelf. The gap on the left was noticeably wider than the right. This part of the carcass is relatively square when I checked it. The top is off 3/16 and this space is a strong 16th off.

better

The vertical slats aren't in line with the inside edge of the legs and that was throwing me off a lot. I got the shelf to be snug at the front between the legs and the same for the back. I had to plane the outside edges at the back a little to get the shelf to fit properly.

happy with the fit and look

I am going to chamfer the edges of the shelf. Thinking of just doing the front and sides and leaving the back squared off. Plenty of time to figure that out. 

Tomorrow I'll finish the shelves and make the top. The drawer front I'm thinking will be 1/2" poplar. Lowes has 1/2" poplar and a 1x4 would be perfect. The drawer opening is 3" and a 3 1/2" wide poplar board would span the opening by a 1/4" on all sides,

accidental woodworker

I recall the year quite vividly, September 2019, hard to imagine 7 years passing so quickly. I was invited to be the keynote guest speaker at the Men's Sheds Shedfest that's been a growing entity through recent decades and now 900 Men's Sheds host community gatherings to support members in a social enterprise that helps individuals find their space in local communities. I've spoken with many leaders and members through the years, and it's impressive to see how many people volunteer into the wellbeing of others in a wide range of social ways and especially sharing shed space to work alongside one another in small cluster groups.

Home | Men’s Sheds Association | UKMSA

We support Men’s Sheds Association in the UK. Men’s Sheds are community workshops where men can create converse and connect.

There are other associations similar to Men's Sheds that may go under other names, but the term 'sheds' is often used in the title and speaks volumes as spaces men like myself like to be in the day-to-day. Many countries have their own version, and it might take a degree of courage to break through your inhibitions. I doubt that you will ever feel unwelcome! Here's a link to get you started.

Retirement is not an easy space to fill for men. One day, they enjoy a certain type of camaraderie and the next they can feel inadequately lost, displaced and eventually, the loneliest person on the planet. When I hosted classes on two continents, I found it remarkable the way men came together with a common cause to learn and work together. In a matter of minutes of not knowing one another the barriers came down and suddenly, they were interacting with comments, jokes, smiles and nods as if they were the best of friends. Many of the men developed substantive friendships that lasted for years. It was a revelation to me that the very unique condition of transparent vulnerability, not knowing about something, could actually become a unifying factor to bring down barriers that leads to uniting people through a common goal to know and learn together.

My reason for this blog post is to encourage anyone who has found themselves isolated and lost to reach out to a Men's Shed somewhere, pay a visit, and join in the common goal to help others as you gain new control of your future. I'm glad I was able to give that talk. It felt wholly good to be there amongst like-minded people.

Plow plane to cut beads Completed Profile

Before I talk about carving just a brief explanation of how I create my closed corner frames. They begin with 5/4, rough Basswood. Most of the time I use what I call my 15° profile so it will accommodate a stretched canvas. I lucked out on this piece of Basswood, it was actually 6/4 so my 15° profile method wasn’t needed to fit the canvas. If you’re unfamiliar with that method and are interested in it here’s a LINK to that post. After the machine work is completed I always use my bronze smooth plane to eliminate any marks left by the planer. For this profile 3/16″ beads were plowed to leave a 2″ wide area for the carving. Sight edge has a slight chamfer and is rabbeted to accept the canvas. Once the profile is complete the profile is mitered and assembled using biscuits. Frames are glued and clamped and allowed to dry overnight before any other work begins.

Left & Right Chisels Used Noting Chisels used on Frame

This may seem like overkill and I don’t always find the need to do it. Since there are 4 corners and 8 hopefully similar designs it’s very easy to get confused and …. one wrong chisel cut is all it takes to mess things up! To me it’s worth the time to at least flip the pattern in a Pages program so that I have a left and right to look at, believe me; when you are bent over the bench and it’s 105° in the shop the mind gets a bit fuzzy. Sometimes I’ll write notes on the wood too. After I’ve done two of the corners most of it is in my memory but still; better safe than sorry! Without a doubt, there are some minor mistakes you make that are easy to conceal but in my experience these precautions save time and possible confusion in the long run.

Initial Outlining of Design Initial grounding out with #2/5

The way I prefer to carve is to first outline the design with the appropriate chisel. I use a a small, 11oz. brass mallet for that initial outline. That is followed up by grounding the design out, generally I only use a #2/5 and start 1/4″ +/- from the outline. Next the chisels are used to outline again but this time only with hand pressure, going all the way around the design. On the second round of grounding out I’ll use the widest #2 , #3, or whatever will work to get the area around the design about 1/8″ deep. The reason I prefer my outlining technique over using a V-chisel is the limited space and grain changes especially by the miter. For me it’s too easy to slip with the V-chisel in tight areas, especially between leaves. Keep in mind that a picture frame; unlike carving a piece of wood that can be repositioned to accommodate grain direction, can only be accessed from the outside edge of the frame.

There’s a lot of wood that needs to be removed at the miter so using the widest chisel that fits is a wise choice. Small fishtail chisels and spoons are helpful as well. I try to get an all around depth of 1/8″. The areas between leaves require small tools, one of my favorites for that is a small Pfeil spoon gauge #2a/3 which allows me to almost “pluck” the insides out after they’re outlined. Chiseling is followed by lightly sanding with 220 grit paper. The leaves and stems are modeled, separated , etc. until I’m satisfied with the overall look of the frame. Wood is a living thing and subject to changes in how it works, cuts, smooths, etc. More often than I’d like to think it’ll happen that one side of the miter works like butter and the other side feels like it’s made of granite!

Sweet Sunshine by Diane Eugster

Here is the completed work. The painting is oil on stretched canvas and measures 20″ x 20″. For the finish I used Real Milk Paint from RMP Finishes. It’s a product I’ve been using for quite some time and I really like it. This is their Arabian Black topcoated with dewaxed Platinum shellac. What I like about it is that it comes in a powder so there’s no waste. Two ounces of powder, mixed with water is plenty for a frame of this size. I apply it with a foam brush and use Mirlon 1500 and 2500 pads between coats to smooth it out. The shellac is sprayed on with a mini airbrush from NoName this little gun will put down a 3″ wide pattern so is perfect for my frames. I allow the shellac to fully cure for about a week and then use a short, stipple brush and rottenstone to reduce the natural gloss of the shellac. The final step is an application of Liberon Black Bison neutral wax.

I realize this got a little bit long winded (no surprise!) but if you were able to get some information from it I’d appreciate hearing from you. Many times I’ve mentioned how my blogs serve to continue my teaching career and sharing but also to remind myself down the road the many ways I’ve conquered a challenge in my woodworking — John

I want to address a few of the most commonly asked questions I hear about Suction Controller. If you have others, please ask away in the comments section at the bottom.

Q: Can suction be directed to both hoses, or is it either one or the other?

A: Suction Controller allows full control over how suction is directed to the two ports. The ratio of suction going to each side can be set at any level – just slide it left or right to reduce or increase suction as required. It’s perfect for fine-tuning the suction going to sanders, as too much can cause pigtails and make the tool difficult to control. Or, if supplying suction to two sanders, send 65% to the 6 inch sander and 35% to the detail sander. If feeding suction to the top and bottom of a router, you can use the Suction Controller to direct suction where it’s needed – 70% to the fence’s port and 30% to the top.

Further, Suction Controller can be used with one hose or two. With two hoses, it allows effortless switching between two tools (e.g. mitre saw and sander). With one hose, you can dump excess suction out the empty port so you have just the right amount of suction going to your sander to prevent those pigtails, or suck up all the dust and wood chips off your bench without getting the heavier nuts, bolts, and screws.

Q: How is Suction Controller different from Festool’s Y-Adapter (452898)

Festool’s Y-Adapter is designed to allow you to connect two hoss to a dust extractor. The long neck provides the necessary clearance for it to work with their compact CT MINI, CT MIDI, and CT15 dust extractors which have ports inside the hose garage. However, that long neck makes it stick out a lot from the front of any other dust extractor, including their CT SYS, CTC SYS, CT 26, 36, and 48 models. Made of a single piece of antistatic plastic, it is not adjustable in any way.

Suction Controller, on the other hand, is very compact and protrudes minimally from the front of a dust extractor or workshop vacuum. It is fully adjustable, as mentioned in the previous answer, and is available in either antistatic (CT-Switcher-D or regular (VAC-Switcher-D) models.

Q: My dust extractor already has a variable suction control. Why do I need this?

Many of the better dust extractors do have adjustable suction levels, but sometimes they are stepped and usually they do not go low enough for all situations. Two examples are hand sanding blocks, which require very little suction and with too much “stick” to the workpiece, making sanding difficult; and vacuuming up lighter materials like wood dust and chips and leaving behind heavier items like metal fasteners.

Further, most workshop vacuums don’t offer adjustable suction, and Suction Controller provides a simple and affordable way to add this useful feature to any dust extractor.

Learn more about Suction Controller on Instagram!

 The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. There isn't much left to do on the honey can you project. I just have to finish the drawer, put on the top and the three shelves and I'll be done. A couple of days to slap on some shellac and I can be oohing and aahing maybe this coming weekend.

drawer stock

Got a snug fit on the height and the R/L. I didn't have to be so fussy with this because I am applying the drawer front to the drawer box.

last one

Went together directly off the saw, no trimming necessary. 

flushing the bottom

Before I could do the grooves for the bottom, the bottom had to be flushed and straightened out.

oops

Got the bottom fitted and saw a boo boo. I brain farted when I sawed the grooves for the bottom. I don't know if this is the back/front of the drawer or not. If it is I'll put this at the front.

the fix

I used one of the off cuts from the drawers to fill the groove. This isn't the first time I've been to this rodeo.

drawer runners

These will be screwed on only, no glue. These are a high wear item and just being screwed will make it easier to replace them.

double checking

The drawer runners are square and straight to the front leg and bottom drawer rail.

hmm........

The shelf bearers got thrown a curve ball. The inside edge of the front leg isn't in line with the inside face of the back leg. This will make the shelf bearers a wee bit interesting to do.

test bearer

I had an extra bearer and used it check that my layout was correct. It is looking like I won't be able to center a screw at the back but I'll find out for sure when do it.

I am going to change the shelf spacing because it will no longer be adjustable. I had played with it briefly but nothing is carved in stone yet. I'll do the final spacing when I have the two middle shelves to play with.

the front edge

This looks a bit softer than leaving it squared off. This may get rounded in the final iteration. Depends on which compass point the wind is blowing from.

for the AM

Got the angle done on the bearers and in the AM I'll do the half lap for the back end. Three shelves and the top are on the A list for the AM too.

accidental woodworker 

 The last word! The Nava New Model mandolin and its happy owner!

Cheers Gary

 

sigh

As I was eyeballing this I saw two gaps that I know weren't there on the dry fit up. Way too late for an immediate fix now.

ugh and double drats

The bottom shoulder is tight but there is a 1/8" gap on the top one. How? Maybe it has something to do with the top being 3/16" out of square?

right side

There isn't a gap on the right. The 'gap' is actually the pencil layout line. The teeny gap here I would call borderline acceptable.

drilling jig

The plan was to use two adjustable shelves. I had initially planned for two shelves to be 10 1/2" apart. These shelves will be11 1/4". I glued two pieces of 1/2" thick plywood together and after it has cooked I'll drill the holes.

nope

I was going to make the drawer box out of 3/4" poplar but nixed it. That is too thick IMO so I'm using 1/2" thick New Zealand pine that I've had in the shop for a couple of years. I will apply the drawer front to the box which will be 3/4" poplar. I'm going with an overlay drawer front, not an inset one.

yikes

There isn't any room to drill holes on the back legs. There also isn't any room for the back of the shelf neither - the slats are in the way. Change one upcoming.

done

I chopped three slots for the table top clips. I forgot to do them with the router before I glued it up.

top drawer rail

I put a one inch #6 screw into each tail on the top drawer rail. I will attach the top to this rail with a couple of screws. The screws will beef up the rail and strengthen it against the pull of the top. Glued in a shim to close up an ugly looking gap on the left tail.

bearers

The bottom shelf will be fixed and secured to the bearers. One each on the four sides.

hmm......

The heads on these clamps will not stay tight. It is annoying when using them and the head flops around. I have 12 of them I'll try red loctite on each of them. Spoiler alert - ran out of Red Loctite, more on order.

happy face on

The left end of the bottom rail which had the big 1/8" gap. I had to stare intently at it at the distance I shot the pic and had trouble finding it.

ditto

The left side looks just as good. I can't say the same for the top rail gaps. I filled them with the long grain shims facing out. At least 2 of the 4 came out ok.

accidental woodworker 

...and my, does this design of mine deliver punchy simplicity in making the simplest router plane you'll ever make!

My smallest homemade, handmade user-router plane came from a worn-out, worn-down, overused flat file I kept in a worn file box for the day when I needed tool steel for whatever and then the scrap bin of bits of wood. The brass wear plate is not really necessary, in the sense of an essential, as the wood can always be replaced for free if it does wear, but that would take a lifetime, and the plane remade from scraps is free and easy anyway. But I like the idea and the thinness of the extended front edge extension. The spalted beech is an ideal wood of free character, but any wood, even a softwood stud, will work anyway.

When I made my first router plane, I wanted something inexpensive and simple for anyone to make. This is the absolute simplest of my hand router plane designs and one you will reach for whenever needed.

This is an ultra-pleasant plane to make and have ready to use; inside an hour or so, I'm almost together with it, but now I have designed and made so many router planes, 30 or more at least; I know exactly where I am going point on point. I downsized the components and used my making methods from the original instructionals we did to pass on to others via my YouTube channel and my blog here.

It's my own hand router plane tool design and warrants my stamping it with my signature stamp from 1965 when I was 15 years old. It works on wood and metal.

I know that you can make router planes smaller than this, but, really, why would you? Such smallness gives no value and meets no necessity for 99.9% of furniture-making needs. A narrow-bladed plane like this, 3-4 mm (1/8" - 3/16") offers the most minimal of resistance in the cut.

I lowered the bed angle (the slope the cutting iron sits at in the plane body) to 44 -45º+- from my original 52º in my original router plane to see what it felt like on so narrow a width of cutting iron. That was just to simplify the angles so I could use a combination square's existing 45º. The steeper angle works well on regular router planes, so I won't change that. With this downsized version, you can barely feel the shavings lifting off as long as you don't take too deep a cut.

Narrow-bladed router planes are really handy for small and fine refining work in narrow places and pinch points of woodworking. The essence of a spiral thread adjuster is its infinite micro-adjusting capabilities. A small fraction of a turn on the depth adjuster delivers thousandths of a millimeter in accuracy for the depth of the final pass cut.

Heating the file with a blowtorch to bright orange and leaving it to cool until handleable means you can cut the steel with a hacksaw as easily as mild steel and then file it with a hand file. No need for a mechanical grinder at all. I like to leave evidence of the original tool steel source in the metals used so file teeth, though filed down to evenness, are self-evident. 95% of all the cuts in the steel, the bevel, the notches, etc., came from the hacksaw and were finessed with a flat file. A final rub with wet and dry -400 left the steel feeling soft and pleasant. Aesthetically, the final look I wanted is achieved.

The brass plate can come from anywhere. In my case it was an old finger plate retrieved from a discarded vintage swing door years ago.

The 1.5 mm brass plate cuts easily with both hacksaw and file. There will be some conflict between the wood's exchanges of moisture levels and the brass remaining true to the original cut size.

I used contact cement to maximise adhesion quality. This will never turn loose, but I also added extra belts and braces by using some screws through the plate.

Hanger bolts come in many sizes (diameter and length wise) and are easier to find and size in metric......as are the knurled thumb screws.

The hanger bolts are common enough hardware available online via eBay and Amazon, as are the 4mm (M4 by 10mm) by 10mm knurled high-type thumb nuts. Three of the 4mm by 40mm hanger bolts and thumb nuts, plus two 4mm split washers and four 4mm washers takes care of what you buy in as hardware.

The spring or split washer between two ordinary 4mm washers allows mechanical pressure to be applied to the retainer bar, which spans the blade in situ. Instead of cinching both nuts tight, cinch them tight and then turn back a single turn. This then gives enough pressure to keep the cutting iron hard down while at the same time allows for any further adjustment without having to tighten and slacken the retainer bar nuts.

The simple physics of this needs no description. No need to lock down too tightly, as compression on the spring washers is infinitely adjustable. Finding the balance and not overtightening allows micro-adjustment plus or minus.

The simplicity of making this hand router plane is the single piece of wood and the two scallops each side where the thumbs provide the push points in using the plane rather than attaching knobs.

My thumbs fit nicely on each side to give a low centre of thrust exactly where needed on either side of the cutting iron. This means no need for knobs to be made and applied

The slight discrepancy between wood and brass wear place is of no material consequence, but consider making the brass plate 1 mm undersize, and it will never show.

The overall length of the retainer bar is really up to you and the plane you will make to suit your needs

The retainer bar is 68 mm (2 1/2") long by 20 mm (3/4") wide and 3 mm (1/8") thick.

The two anchor pins are on 2" centres.

The two 4 mm holes in the retainer bar are bored on 50 mm (2") centres.

You can see the compression of the spring in the split washer between the two washers and under the knurled thumb-nut. This works so well, for applying constant pressure.

The blade recess is a millimeter less than the thickness of the blade, so pressure on the back of the blade from the retainer bar holds the blade firmly to depth.

I've got twelve increments in half an inch distance, so each one is give or take a millimetre apart. Of course, the files will be different according to levels of fineness. This size is visible to the naked eye, and I like that for simplicity

If you like the idea of measured increment marks, measure the teeth of the file. Often, as in my case here, the teeth will be at metric increments. I know that it seems odd, but I live in both imperial and metric measuring and use both all the time and at the same time. Measuring my half inch and dividing the number of teeth showed that a single full revolution deepened the cut by a fraction I could relate to my work. Because the bed angle is near enough 45º, a full revolution of the depth adjuster deepened the pass by a fixed amount, and I could set the depth according to the teeth on the file. A full revolution deepened the cut by half a millimeter. I mark the adjuster with a Sharpie to see exactly where the turn starts and ends.

This has to be the simplest way of measuring and knowing depth you could possibly have for a homemade, handcrafted , hand router plane.

It may not be obvious, but the two notches allow for deeper housing dadoes. Also, you can flip the knurled thumb nut, which gives you from minus zero on through whatever depth you need.

You can still support our work by buying our full-size hand router plane kit which provides all the hardware here.

I will post on another couple of hand router planes I have made that you will also love to make and own soon.

last chance

Eyeballed the sides for a while before the glue up. I was thinking about what to do next and if gluing the carcass up would interfere with that. I couldn't think of anything but I went topside for a coffee break first.

Lowes run

Decided to add pocket screws to the front and back, top/bottom rails to strengthen them. I was a little shocked at the cost - this haul was $49. Cheaper options were available on Amazon but I didn't want to wait for it to come from them.

instructions

The instructions are clear and a little confusing at the same time. There is no indication for 1" stock. It jumps from 3/4" to 1 1/2". I was putting the  pocket screws in 1" thick stock. I had to play with it on a scrap of 1" thick stock to figure out how to set the drilling guide. It took me 5 tries before I got it.

step one

I glued the dowels in to each rail, each end first and let them cook for an hour. This should cut down the time needed to glue and clamp the carcass up later. Made the Lowes run while these dowels were cooking.

done

This step gave me the heebie jeebies. I must have double, triple checked myself continually a bazillion times. Didn't catch her but I drilled the pocket holes on the back top rail on the wrong face. Missed that there weren't any slots for the table top clips on the same face.

hmm.....

I did twenty bazillion checks of the connection before I drilled the pocket holes. I kept confusing myself because I was flipping the rail from one side connection to the other the wrong way. I finally sorted it out but delayed doing it. I went topside and filled the lunch pie hole.

update

I bought this glue bottle last year (?) and so far I'm happy with it. I thought the size would be a PITA to keep refilled but that hasn't been a headache at all. I next thought I would give it flying lessons because it dispensed glue through a tiny opening. Again, not a hiccup at all. I've found the amount of glue it dispenses actually worked in my favor. I  found out that I don't have rivers of glue squeeze out to deal with like I did with pint/quart Titebond dispensers (which clog shut regularly).

I had tried this bottle because I was tired of the other dispensers clogging shut. This one isn't perfect and it has clogged on me a couple of times. Clearing the clog was easy and it was due to me not cleaning the tip after each use. Even with this infrequent hiccup it performs 100% better then other dispensers I've tried.

yikes

I had clamped up the carcass and moving it around on the workbench the top back rail came off. I had to run a clamp from the bottom rail to the top to pull it back into alignment.

hello idiot

Not paying attention before doing the drilling. At least it is at the back and won't be seen. I had sawn out a1/8" thick piece of poplar to fill it but nixed it. 

clamped and cooking

I checked the diagonals on the inside of the top and they were off by 3/16". I checked it late and I couldn't fix it. I tried clamping across the long diagonal and nada - it didn't budge a frog hair.

next project

I'll need a box to stow the Kregg pocket screw jig. I will make it big enough to hold four boxes of screws - I'm missing the 1" & 2" sizes. I'll finish this maybe tomorrow but definitely some time next week. 

accidental woodworker