Hand Tools

 Today was another warm day but not as hot as it was yesterday. The temp topped at 91F (33C) so not really that much cooler. However, both days after my post lunch stroll I was soaked with sweat. Halfway through the stroll today my shirt was sticking to my skin like it was glued to it. Saturday's weather is still forecasted to have rain in the AM which precludes a Gurney's Sawmill run. The saturday after next is looking promising for a run though. Fingers and toes crossed on that.

smiley face on

Initially it looked like two coats were the charm. But where the wire hanger held the frame showed a white wood spot. I will have to touch up those four spots with an artist brush.

pin baseline layout

Don't know how I missed it but I didn't knife the baseline on one of the baselines. Not a big deal to transfer a nick from the front to the back.

first one checked

I checked the alignment of the the top and bottom half pins. I was expecting some misalignment but I couldn't remember which corner I had screwed up the knife line on.

2nd corner checked

2nd corner and the pins top/bottom aligned. Looking like I dodged the bullet.

dry fitting

One corner was a wee bit tight and I had to trim one pin for that corner to come together.

ta da

This was encouraging see how much height I had above the saw. However, the goal was to see if the saw fit in the interior of the box.

oh what I relief

I felt like I had taken an Alka Seltzer (the old guys should remember this). There isn't a lot of wiggle room on the width - and I didn't have a quibble with that dimension. I was concerned about the height and no hiccups there to deal with.

proud

I would/will always want my pins tails to be proud. All of the corners are proud to varying degrees. It would appear that knifing that one baseline deeper was the way to go.

the lowest corners

The dry fit went off with no hiccups. All the corners will clean up nicely after it is glued it up. The box is looking a wee bit on the large side. Thinking now that maybe I should have used 1/2" thick pine instead of 3/4". Albeit it would still be the same size regardless of the thickness stock used.

less than a 16th off

I couldn't get the box to stay square without a clamp. It has been a long time since I have had to use a clamp to keep a box square.

2 1/2"

When I had eyeballed this with a tape I thought it was almost 3". I needed this measurement for the next step.

ledger for the platform

The ledger strips are just nailed in place. I will glue and screw them after I confirm the saw will fit as planned.

yikes

I didn't check the bottom (unclamped corners) for square. It said hello when I couldn't get the platform to fit. It was square but the bottom of the box wasn't. I had to clamp it also to keep it square. Once the box bottom was square, I ended up with gaps in the platform. I had tried trimming it before I checked the bottom for being square.

slot for the blade and guard

The chisel has to be the most useful and versatile tool in a workshop. Chopping out this slot was something I would have brain stormed trying to do a different way a year ago. Today it was a no brainer to lay it out and chop away.

done

Nice clean looking slot chopped in plywood. On the plus side this was the easiest and cleanest looking slot I have ever chopped in plywood.

hmm.....

Phew! Not a lot of wiggle room on this side. But there ain't much more on the side with the motor neither.

for front to back

Glued on some strips to keep the saw from sliding front to rear and to the right. Used hide glue in case I need to change their positions.

I used hide glue on the box and with it clamped I will wait until tomorrow to install the platform. I'll glue on a plywood bottom in the AM. I am also thinking of maybe using solid wood for a top/lid. I'll decide that when I get to it.

accidental woodworker 

Coming soon: Workbench plans!

On every course and at every show we are asked about our workbenches. We’ve put a lot of thought and a lot of work into them over more than 10 years. Our most recent bench is at least the eighth iteration of a design that is always almost perfect! Just one more tweak…

So it’s time to stop procrastinating and publish the plans. We’re making these available in six different sizes: three in metric, three in imperial, all in the same set of plans. But they’re not just a straight conversion. We’ve designed the imperial and metric benches around the materials most commonly available in different regions and have worked out sensible sizes so that you don’t end up with something silly like a bench top that’s six feet six and forty seven sixty-fourths of an inch!

• 1m/3.5′ – ideal for chairmaking, small and easy to store but rock solid
• 1.5m/5′ – a good sized joinery bench but every piece is manageable when setting up or moving it around
• 2m/7′ – a bench big enough for any furniture project but with a top that’s still moveable by a normal human being

These benches have been designed with five principles in mind:

• Built from easily available materials with basic woodworking tools
• Only very basic joinery skills required
• Easy and quick to set up
• Every component must be light enough to move easily around your workspace
• Rock solid; the fact that it packs down quickly mustn’t make it flimsy in use

The plans will include complete cutting lists for all pieces, a suggested tool list and instructions. Eventually there will be YouTube videos but don’t hold your breath…

We’re setting up a shop page on our website: thequietworkshop.com and when that’s live we’ll send a very short newsletter round. Probably the end of June.

If you haven’t been on one of our courses yet but would like to see one in action then come along to…

Cambridge Open Studios

Every July, for the last 51 years, artists and craftspeople in and around Cambridge throw open their doors and invite you into their studios. It’s an incredible celebration of the creativity of the people in the area. 223 studios and 12 larger venues will be open over the four weekends of July. We’ll be taking part on the 1st, 2nd and 4th weekends: 5-6th, 12-13th & 26-27th.

We’re on page 62 of the guide. We’re listed as number 144 under my name: StJohn Starkie. The number has nothing to do with our workshop address which is 41 High Street, Great Wilbraham! We look forward to seeing you in July.

Shows this year

We had a lovely time at Living Crafts Fair at Hatfield House. If you haven’t been before we thoroughly recommend it; we’ll definitely be back next year. If you missed us there you can catch us at one of the following:

• 14-15th June Cambridge Town and Country Fair, Parker’s Piece, Cambridge
• 5th-6th, 12th-13th & 26-27th Cambridge Open Studios – right here in Great Wilbraham
• 9-10th August Cambridge Country Show, Stow Cum Quy
• 13-14th September The Wonder of Wood Fair, Burwash Manor, Cambridge
• 24-25th October London International Woodworking Festival, LDE UTC, Royal Docks, London

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

Stools

The simple stool courses are our most popular. This two day course started with the little one rung milking stool but more and more people are asking to build them bigger. When you book this course on craftcourses.com it will default to the smallest stool. If you want to build a stool that works well under a dining table or as a bedside table choose the option to add timber for a 50cm stool. If you want it to work well at a kitchen counter select the option to add timber for a 70cm stool. These are nominal heights for the leg blanks. The seats are actually at about 46 and 64cm respectively and have been designed around long-standing conventions that suit the majority of people and living spaces. But you can always make them shorter!

Adding rungs means a bit more work rounding legs, drilling mortises and cutting tenons so it’s a slightly longer first day but you get a beautiful piece of furniture that fits your home.

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.

Enjoy your time in the workshop.

StJohn & Bryony

 Summer officially arrives on the friday the 20th of June. You wouldn't know that by the temps today. It was sunny with clear, blue skies but the temp was oppressive. It topped out at 96F (36C) - a wee bit warm. It wasn't overly humid but there was no mistaking that it was hot.

A few years back I got heatstroke on a post lunch stroll. The temp then had been 85F (30C) so it was ever present on mind as I ambled about today. I took my time walking and it ended up taking me a little over two hours to do it. I didn't experience any of the symptoms I had on that fateful day but if it is as sunny and hot tomorrow as it was today, I'll bring a water bottle with me. Being hydrated will help with the walking.

happy with this

I like the coverage of two coats on the back of the frames. This is so much better than my last outing with this black paint. Doing the grain raising definitely was worth it. Got two coat coverage and the the paint laid down without feeling like sandpaper after it dried.

Lowes run

This blade was $16 and the three 1"x12"x4' pine boards were each $17. I need to have some stock in the shop to play with. This saturday is supposed to be raining in the morning so I won't be going to Gurney's Sawmill. 

measurement time

This was an awkward thing to measure in every dimension that I needed. I think I added enough to be generous hopefully. One dimension I'm not truly getting a warm and fuzzy on is the height. I think I am pushing the limit based on the width of the stock. I don't want to glue up to get a wider board for this box. I plan on gluing plywood on the top and bottom so I don't lose any interior height I would for a top/bottom inset in a groove in the insides.

40 tooth blade

Wow is all I can say. I thought the cut would be clean but there is almost zero fuzzy wuzzies on this saw cut. The end grain cut is baby butt smooth too. I wasn't expecting this nice of a cut with such an inexpensive saw blade. Made me glad I didn't buy the other, higher priced, 40 tooth blade.

the fuzzy part of the cut

The pic says it all. I also cut on the wrong side of the notch in the saw sole. The notch (on the saw sole plate) matches the width between the pencil line and the right side of the board. I should have guided the saw on the left side of the notch and not the right side.

dovetails first

I was a bit on the cautious side of this sawing. There was something nagging me as I sawed these out. I'll have to wait until I got this together to see how well I measured this.

hmm......

It has been a long time since I have made a boo boo like this. When I flipped the board to knife the half pin, they didn't line up from the front to the back. I knifed it to the deeper line. Another boo boo that will shake hands again when I fit it together.

temp at 1320

This was the temp when I got back to the barn (it was 88F when I left). It zoomed up one more degree to 95F for the high for the day.

tails sawn

After I got back I parked my cheeks in my desk chair and chilled for an hour. I went to the shop and killed the lights. I'll chop the tails in the AM. Not sure how far I'll get with the pins.

nice and cool

The shop is 20 degrees cooler than the living room. I put the AC in the bedroom to start bringing the temp down from 89F (32C). I can't sleep if the temp in the bedroom is above 70F (21C).

accidental woodworker

I’m starting to get back in the swing of things again. I’ve been working on a settee and a set of barstools, visiting my mom a lot, getting my book finalized, going through my father’s papers. Recently, I found this:

These directions guided my dad and me to Jonesborough, TN in April of 2002. My first visit to Curtis Buchanan’s. From there, the direction of my life became gradually clear, and it revolved around Curtis’s chair shop.

Now, 23 years later, I teach chairmaking. This year, I have two classes booked in August and October; both have had cancellations and so now have openings. And I’ve added two more classes, for a total of four this year. Here’s the lineup, all with openings:

LOOP BACK SIDE CHAIR
August 4th to 9th, 2025 (at my shop)
September 8th to 13th, 2025 (at my shop)

GREEN WOOD WEEK with Eric Cannizzaro   October 6th to 10th, 2025 (at the Lost Art Press shop near Cincinnati)

 

18th CENTURY LOOP BACK WINDSOR CHAIR
December 1st to 6th, 2025 (at my shop)

The post New Classes and Old first appeared on Elia Bizzarri - Hand Tool Woodworking.

One bite at a time, of course.

A couple weeks ago we ventured back into Mordor to do some yard work and house work in preparation for the return of Youngerbarndottir’s family to the region, as they might need to encamp at that house for an indeterminate time.

Unbeknownst to us there had been a microburst storm a few nights earlier and we were greeted with the sight of a large chunk of maple tree laying in the yard and on the deck.  While I had brought my chainsaws, this was an unexpected, uh, pleasure.

To give you a sense of the scale, the trunk snapped off about twenty feet up the tree, and the base of the snapped off section is just under 24 inches in diameter.

I have made no bones about my fandom for the Craftsman 20V product line, owning several drills, saws, string trimmers, and chainsaws.  Are they the “best” performing cordless tools?   No.  Are they the least expensive cordless tools?  No.  But I do judge them to be the best value of the type.   (PS- as much as I would welcome Lowes/Ace/Craftsman to support and underwrite my tool acquisition disorder, these are all tools I bought myself.)

The 20V chainsaws are invaluable for routine yard work and even more demanding work.  Just before leaving Shangri-la the little chainsaw made short work of a 12-inch locust post.  With that in hand I worked many hours in cleaning up the tons of maple, one bite at a time.  75% of the cleanup was accomplished with the little 20V chainsaw, including sawing up to a foot of trunk.  Admittedly it took a couple of fresh batteries, but I had them on hand, so it was no big deal.  For the more routine cutting the trunk into roughly four-foot boles I used my gas-powered Stihl.

Although the silver maple is somewhat of a junk tree, I decided to salvage the best of the trunk stock for some future use.  I was particularly interested in two crotches which will be turned into some sort of bowls on the lathe.  But first, that will require fabricating an outboard turning plate on the ancient lathe my pal MikeM gave me eons ago.  That will be its own series of posts later in the summer, I hope.

For the moment the boles are laying in the yard awaiting relocation to the old goat house where they will remain protected from weather and dry out slowly until I can cut them into whatever I need them to be.

Finally got around to painting the 7 frames I made for some Stanley advertising posters - reproductions. I think I made these 3 months ago?. The plan is to paint them all and then bring them 2 at a time to Maria to be matted and framed. The hardest part of this is where can I hang them? The wall space in the house is on the sparse side. And I have 11 other prints of tools I want to frame also. Same hiccup regarding vertical wall space.

road test time

Slapped a 4AH battery in the new skil saw I bought. I'm going to saw up this piece of 5/8" exterior plywood for its first taste chewing up wood. I went into this blind never having used a battery operated skil saw before.

wow

I used the 18 tooth blade that came with the saw. I sawed half of it cross cut and half rip - as best as I could considering it was plywood. The saw didn't bog on either one and it did throw up the obligatory storm of plywood dust and splinters. 

No hiccups or problems doing a long 48" rip cut. I eyeballed the line I was sawing and the saw didn't pull L/R at all. The kerf was cleaner than I expected it to be. The weight is balanced nicely either holding the saw or pushing it through the wood. The biggest surprise was how quiet it was. No screaming AC universal motor assaulting my ears. I was wearing ear muffs and I could barely hear the saw when it was on. Overall I was impressed with it. Sufficient power, light weight, centered balance, and nicely made. No fluff or casting/extrusion lines with burrs. 

missed it

I used my new allen wrench holder to install the saw blade. I plan on replacing it with a high tooth count blade to make clean crosscuts. I'll look over the offerings at Lowes the next time I go there.

done

7 coasters done and ready to go to North Carolina. I checked and I didn't see any grout bubble holes in any of them.

which color?

After looking at both of them decided to split it. 4 of the 7 will be black and 3 will be blue. I have more than enough to do all 7 one color.

new method

I have done several frames already with this milk paint. On them I didn't raise the grain first before applying the first coat of paint. I wiped down the entire frame with a soaked rag. Virgin territory for me - can't recall having raised the grain before.

hmm......

The frame still felt 'wet'. I can definitely feel a difference between the frames I wet down and one I hadn't. It took well over 30 minutes before the wood felt 'dry' to my touch. Lightly sanded it then with 320 grit.

hanging out

Not sure if I maybe wet the frames down too much. I could feel some grain fuzz when I ran my fingers over it. Before I had raised the grain I had sanded all the frames up 320 grit. Not sure if that played any role in the drying rate. Most resources I checked only sanded up to 180-220.

I like this wax

I am developing a love relationship with this stuff. I like the smell and feel of it along with the ease of application. The fact that it looks pretty good after buffing isn't too hard to take neither. This is the box that I had previously said no finish but it ended up with 3 coats of shellac and one of this hard wax.

first coat

It will take at least one more coat but I can see a difference with this being raised first. I got the first coat on all four and hung them to dry.

PM session

This isn't a true milk paint but a latex version of it. Applied a 2nd coat on the back only. I am only doing 2 coats on the back regardless of the coverage. I'll sand the fronts tomorrow and paint them then. I liked the coverage of the 2nd coat on the back. I'm hopeful that I'll get away with 2 coats on the fronts too.

accidental woodworker

I occasionally sell prints of my photography, which has made me keenly aware of The Price of Art. The price of art varies from zero dollars to hundreds of million dollars for a possibly forged DaVinci painting. The interesting thing about purchasing art is that (money laundering aside) the art won't do anything other than sit on the wall. Certainly, whatever you hang on your wall should bring you pleasure, but ultimately it's a thing on the wall. People rightly look at art as a luxury -- precisely because it doesn't do anything. That being said, our lives are always made richer by having a nice environment.

The same goes is true of custom-made furniture. Whether you make a chair as a present for a relative, for yourself, or for sale, the real value of the piece isn't that it's a chair. I can get a chair at Home Depot for 100 bucks. A maker can establish a price to account for time and materials, but that is different than the user's idea of the value. While the chair has utility, its sale price is really driven by the joy and satisfaction it is expected to give to the user. This is the art price. And this presents the issue that affects every single one of us who makes furniture on commission, or even gives their work to a relative or friend for free: Will they value it? I'm constantly reminded of a kitchen that I had built in my last apartment. I designed it; it was all custom-made by highly skilled friends of mine; I loved it and felt inspired as a cook by its beauty and functionality. And then I moved. I was still in touch with my neighbors, so I learned that a couple of years after I sold the apartment, it was sold again. The new buyer, a young man, commented that he would like to replace the kitchen, not because it wasn't perfect, but because it wasn't new. His assumption was that a new stock, or Ikea, kitchen would be better because he valued brand-newness above all else. He had no understanding of the quality or replacement cost; and most probably he didn't care. (BTW, my former neighbor did tell him he was insane.)

If you build a dining room set for your daughter and 30 years later she downsizes, will someone else value the set? Truthfully we cannot and should not sit around wondering about these questions. It's too stressful. We hope our work will always be valued. Even if you sell something for $10,000, there's no guarantee it won't go out in the trash in 2 years. And in our society that's the way it is. But as people who produce creative and skilled things, we have a responsibility not for the future of the things we make, but in creating an environment here and now so people who make things can explain their value. And this is the point of this blog.

It would be wonderful, if every person who walked into a craft fair, art show, or furniture gallery could perceive the value in what is on offer. If that were the case, more people would be willing to buy custom-made stuff - and there would be more work for us. Now don't get me wrong, very few people have the budget to afford the same amount of furniture made by individual crafts people in the US compared to the same amount of furniture made in an Asian factory. But what really bothers me is that we have created a culture where even the person who can afford it can't tell the difference, or is encouraged to believe that the expensive-for-the-wrong-reasons laminate stuff they have in their house made by sub-minimum wage workers is high quality simply because of its high price. And it does not occur to them to have better furniture custom made by people like you - with probably happier results.

Note: On the subject of beautiful stuff for your walls: The video above is a time-lapse of the Art Committee at the Salmagundi Club hanging the Black and White Show early this year. I'm a member of the club and the committee, and if you look carefully I'm in the back on the right hanging pictures. (Yes, it's easier to hang art when you already have a full kit of tape measures and magnet holders from the store.) I'm not in the roundup at the end because I'm behind the camera "directing."

 I thought that it would take a few days to get all the crappola in my pickup sawn up. It took only one day which surprised me. My right shoulder still aches from all the sawing I did along with my lower back. It has been a long time since I went balls to wall like I did today. The upside is I now have an empty pickup bed again.

the last thing

Sawed off the top rail with the hacksaw first. After that I got the sawz-all to cut up the rest. The inner core is some OSB like wood that was like sawing stone. I was going to saw up the bottom panel but I left it whole. Even with the sawz-all it would have been a nightmare to do. It fits in the shitcan and it is going bye-bye on garbage day this thursday.

big screen, 2 storm windows

The two storm windows are very well made along with the screen. I put them on the sidewalk to see if there is any interest in them. If they are still there in the AM I'll put them in the shed. I already have making a wooden door with them percolating in the brain bucket.

PITA

I can't bring this to the dump because it has paint on it. It is a 2x4 piece of 5/8" plywood that I'm not sure how to cut up. But this wasn't the last of it. After I got back from Post Office I noticed 3 more fence rails in the pickup bed. They blended in with the white of the bed. Got them cut up against the protestations of my right shoulder.

new toy

I brought this for my next trip to Gurney's Saw Mill. I buy 12 foot long boards that I saw into 6 foot lengths - by hand on my pickup tailgate. This new toy will make that a whole easier and less stressful on my body. Came from Amazon as I was typing this blog post. It is a bare bones tool ($99) - I already have plenty of batteries. In hindsight I should have held off on what sawing I did today by hand.

accidental woodworker

There can be no telling which path destiny takes a person through. For Abid Ali (56), destiny took him first from a career in the hospitality industry to the world of sports as an ace tennis coach and finally to his passion: fine woodworking – first as a hobbyist, then as an instructor and now as a distributor of world class woodworking hand tools.

Born and brought up in Delhi, he spent most of his years as a tennis coach, which he remains. He moved to Gurgaon in 2003 where he bought a house after his marriage. This allowed him to develop his love for woodworking, something he had picked up from his uncle while very young but had found little opportunity to pursue. He made a dedicated work area for himself in the back balcony of his house. From then on there was no looking back.

“I started my woodworking journey with hand tools. Back then, it was not possible for me to buy power tools as most were very expensive or had to be imported - I am talking about 40 years back,” he recalls. “Since then, I fell in love with the entire experience of working by hand - it's a therapeutic process for me. I also like the quiet, slow process of making things. I am not in a terrible hurry to finish projects, so hand tools fit in my work flow very well.”

Asked whether he considers hand tools as an end in themselves or merely as a means to make things. Abid says he sees “them as an important part of the process of making.” He believes the use of hand tools are an essential skill that all woodworkers must learn. “While machines have their place too - I use them for heavy grunt work - if one is looking to do fine, heirloom quality work, hand tools are the way to go,” he points out. It was this focus on fine woodworking – as compared to run of the mill furniture making – that led to a growing interest in high quality hand tools. Unfortunately, in India most hand tools used tended to be crude and an impediment rather than an aid to first rate hand work. This led to his transition from being a hand tools enthusiast to a hand tools evangelist and finally to a niche supplier of quality hand tools, particularly Japanese hand tools which are considered the finest in the world.

“All this stemmed from my frustration over the lack of access to high quality Japanese tools here in India. There were a few companies selling Japanese hand saws, but beyond that, none of them had the knowledge or the inclination to increase their range of tools. Meanwhile, there was a steady increase in demand for Japanese tools from the Indian DIY community,” he says. One fine day, he decided to reach out to Kakuri Tools in Japan, because they had a wide range of quality tools at an affordable price point: “They decided to take a chance with me, to the extent that this was the first time that Kakuri offered a dealership to a new business. I now sell the largest range of Japanese tools in India.”

Abid serves a niche but growing market. “The big chunk of buyers are from different DIY communities and groups. I essentially cater to hobbyist woodworkers looking for high-quality tools, as well as small-scale artisanal woodworkers who are doing some interesting work with wood.”

Deciding on what tools to import and which to source locally is critical. He mostly imports traditional Japanese woodworking tools, which are not available anywhere in India, as well as European and Japanese style carving tools. “We have some really good machine tool makers in India, so I don't see the point of importing those,” he feels. “Instead, I source their export quality range to offer my customers. I also collaborate with small custom tool makers to bring hard-to-find tools, such as a range of high-quality wood turning chisels, to the community.”

One great help and motivating factor that prompted Abid to take the plunge into the business of importing and distributing hand tools was his wife, Shinjini (46), who decided to join hands with him. This changed everything, including their lives.

“My wife has been my biggest supporter in everything that I've done. Once I got my tool business off the ground with the help of friends, it was only a matter of time until I would have had to streamline everything. The thought of dealing with all the paperwork was daunting, given everything else I have on my plate. That's when my wife decided to come on board with me.”

His wife worked in the corporate sector for 25 plus years but remained an artist at heart. She is a mixed media artist, tarot reader, and writer. Her work can be viewed at her website (moderngypsy.in) which is beautiful summary of her journey as an artist. “Once she had saved enough money for herself, she quit and we formed a partnership firm, Beyond Boxes Enterprises,” he recalls. “She takes care of the billing and invoicing and some of the logistical details, while I focus on the parts of the business that I excel at. It's all working out pretty well for us!”

When Shinjini isn’t helping Abid with his business, she’s either in her studio, painting, filming videos for an online video course, which she generally runs in collaboration with international artists, or writing, or curled up in her favourite nook with her nose buried in a book. She also takes care of their two cats, Simba and Loki. In all, the couple aren't complaining!

But hand tools is a very niche business and the going cannot but be pretty tough, especially if someone wishes to make a viable business of it in today's India. “I'm not in this business primarily for the money,” Abid points out. For him, “it's about building a community of like-minded people and providing solutions to anyone wanting to do the craft themselves. From a purely business point of view, I think we have a big and growing market for hand tools, but I don't think it will be a viable business for some time to come, if ever. To make it as a business, one would have to add on power tools as well.”

But things are changing. When Abid started off, woodworking as a hobby was practically unheard of but over the years the DIY community has grown with more and more middle-class Indians are taking to woodworking. This is encouraging especially considering that it was never in the Indian tradition for better off people to use their own hands to make things. “I feel that there is a deliberate effort to break away from mundane pastimes like mall visits and shopping over the weekend. Youngsters these days are eager to try something new,” he argues. “With a lot of my students, I've noticed that while they are great at creating things digitally, or adept at working on the computer, they hardly make anything by hand. This hobby gives them a feeling for doing things by hand, and they appreciate the tactile nature of wood and its versatility as a material.”

Abid believes that this new found yearning to get beyond the mundane is widespread and growing rather quickly, especially down south. He says: “Bangalore has a lot of maker spaces and a few individual teachers who focus on the thriving DIY community there. In fact, my biggest client base for woodworking tools is from down south!”

Abid’s and Shinjini’s hand tools can be found at their website (https://beyondboxes.in) where he has his contact details. Anyone interested in reaching out to him to learn woodworking could write to him at abid@beyondboxes.in.

Let’s wish the couple all the best for venturing into the brave new world of high-quality tools for fine woodworking.

Indranil Banerjie 3 June 2025

 My annual eye exam this morning was excruciating. Last year they thought there were some problems with the macular. Checking that involves an intense light that is scanned vertically L/R and horizontally U/D. That brought tears to my eyes and left me with a dull ache at the back of my head that lasted for hours. The good news is there was no change noted when compared to last years scan. I'll endure the intense light as long as it gives good results.

The pupil dilation meds they give me seemed better this year. I had better vision and the usual discomfort waiting for it to wan wasn't that bad. I still had to wear my sunglasses for over 5 hours. 

That was appointment #1. #2 went just a well. #2 was with urology and the doc was pleased with my progress 2+ weeks out from the TURP. I'm still passing blood and scabs/clots with the blood color getting less and less. I still have 4 weeks to go before I'm fully healed.

nope

I went to the Warwick dump but they don't take construction debris. They will accept unpainted wood but not metal storm doors. However, I can cut it up and put it in the garbage can. Based on how much room is available in it each week I think it will take me about 4-6 weeks to be rid of all of it.

the upcoming workload

I didn't get anything done this AM. The appointment and going to the town dump ate up most of the morning. Blurry vision kept me out of the shop. After my post lunch stroll I sawed enough of the fence to fill one shit can. The plan is to saw up all the fence parts and the storm door. Fingers crossed that I'll be able to hacksaw that up. Anyone need storm panels? Not sure if these are standard. I'll put them on sidewalk and see if anyone wants them.

accidental woodworker 

 250mm long, 39mm deep, 17 TPI Ripcut (cuts hardwoods cross as well.)   Pedderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12692353908068506678noreply@blogger.com0

Prior to fabricating and installing the new Coanda-style cover for my hydroelectric capturing box, every couple weeks I would notice a drop-off in the water flow to the turbine.  Sometimes it stopped altogether.  So, I had to turn off the water at the bottom, flip up the turbine housing and remove the nozzles.  Invariably the orifice was crammed solid with a crawdad body, sometimes compressed to the point where I needed to drive it back out with a metal rod.  It happened so much I kept a tool right there for the task.

With the former configuration the intake was covered with 1/4″ inch hardware cloth, even then the little crustaceans figured out how to get into the capturing box and were sucked into the pipeline.  A minute or two and 1200-feet later they wound up crushed at the bottom when their carcasses were too large to fit through the turbine nozzles.  Hence the need for regular clean-out.

Since I installed the new cover there have been zero crawdads in the nozzles.  .

A big step forward.

I've been putting off making a dump run for over a week now. My pickup has the old storm door and moldings in it along with 40 feet of an old picket fence. The town dump is a 20 minute ride one way from my house. I have checked on line several times to see if this dump accepts construction debris. The site is as clear as mud on this. If not I'll have to find a statewide dump that does accept construction debris. 

Tomorrow I have two medical appointments at the VA. My annual eye exam is at 0830 and a follow up GU appointment at 1500. I couldn't rearrange the appointments so I'll have to make two trips. The plan is to go to the dump after the eye exam. Fingers and toes crossed that the town dump will accept my load. 

YIKES

Decided to grout the coasters in the AM session. That turned out to be a fiasco. It went not only south, it went sideways and did a U-turn. Things were a wee bit frantic for a few but I was able to salvage it. The first hiccup was the hole I cut on a corner of this quart bag. The first squeeze and a 30 pound blog of grout spit out on the coaster. It took a lot of calories to clean it up.

done

I was frazzled when I finally got the grout in the 7th one. I then spent the next 2 hours wiping the grout haze off the tiles every 15 minutes. I wasn't expecting this to be such a PITA to do. 

I also found a lot more bubble holes in the two tiled tables. Way more than I thought I had. Got all of them covered and smoothed out. Did the wiping the grout haze dance steps with the tables too.

hmm.......

I only got two pieces to fit the holder from one full sheet of sandpaper. I played with optimizing it for while and still only got 2 pieces, it was the best I could do. Tomorrow I'll start raising the grain and sanding the 7 picture frames. With all the other interruptions going on it is shaping up to be a short day shop wise.

accidental woodworker

I remember we men in the 70s signing parts of the work we’d made as a team with a soft pencil and doing it somewhere discreetly. Whether you spell it with an ‘S’ or a ‘Z’ is of little consequence, that simply gives the continental divide and the common divergence from one English to an...

Source

 

all seven of them

This is next on the hit parade. Made these 7 frames for some Stanley advertising posters. This is all I got done today in the shop - took these from the boneyard and put them on the workbench. The plan was to wet them down with water to raise the grain and then paint them. Maybe tomorrow.

Even I need a day off and lately I haven't been exactly pushing any projects out of the shop. It was raining this AM so I couldn't go to Gurney's Sawmill and next saturday isn't looking too good neither. Got lots of ideas and things I want to try out but can't do it because I don't have any wood.

accidental woodworker 

I love taking care of old buildings. This one has been standing for 500 years and contributing to it remaining so, makes me a happy man. Water ingress and retention is one of the main causes of decay in traditional buildings, so keeping on top of leaks is of vital importance, and having breathable coverings allows them to dry out, if they do spring a leak.

Enter quicklime. Mortar made from sand slaking quicklime, is the best thing for rendering traditional stone built buildings. What we are doing here is moving in that direction, for this building; as the sliding sashes are renovated, they are being re-sealed with oakum and slaked quicklime.

Slaking the quicklime.

Soaking oakum in the still-slaking quicklime (after the reaction has cooled some; much heat is given off when slaking quicklime).

Sealing around frame with mortar made from sharp sand and the hot lime putty. This is not sand slaking (which is addition of quicklime to damp sand, a dryish process, where more water is added later to beat up a workable mortar). I have done it this way because I wanted three products from the same mix; oakum/quicklime 'filler', hot lime putty mortar to point the oakum, and thick limewash to coat.

Quicklime mortar (and the oakum filler) will give a much more breathable seal around the windows. The wood will last longer and the masonry which was built with clay/lime mortar, will be able to dry out if it does get wet. The cast iron gutter, hopper and downpipe have been re-jigged, so they all meet up, and dispatch rainwater away from the building (instead of into the wall, which was happening).

The new massive sweet chestnut sill, from Zav at Dart Valley Sawmills, will be shedding rainwater off this window, for many years to come.

The implication of using quicklime, is that it takes a long time to set. It is not hydraulic, i.e. it does not set by the addition of water. It sets by 'carbonation', the re-absorption of the carbon dioxide, that it released in it's making. It is effectively re-becoming the limestone, from whence it came.It needs to be protected with dampened hessian while this process takes place, so that it does not dry out too quickly. It's worth noting that modern portland cement, does not do this 'carbonation', it does not re-absorb the C02 that it releases, which means it is responsible for 8% of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, it releases CO2, but never re-absorbs, because it sets HARD. It's not breathable and causes moisture from leaks etc to stay in the building fabric. It's a no-brainer. Using quicklime (air lime) and caring for old buildings in this way, is caring for the planet. It's exciting, why do anything else?

The chemical explanation of this.

The practical side of this; covering with damp hessian, and keeping the oakum/mortar/limewash misted for at least a few weeks afterwards.

The bottoms of the boxes and cheeks have been repaired, with new timber spliced in. The sashes have been to the window hospital, and have been re-installed also. The above box sash, and the below horizontal sliding sash, with another piece of the lovely reclaimed greenheart, for replacement sill.

Putty all tidied and paintwork re-freshed.

"Thankyou for taking so much care".

After a long stretch away from the shop I often find the best way to ease into the swing of things is to clean and (re) organize my work stations.  And, as a result of my habitual untidiness and in-and-out forays into the barn, there is always cleaning and organizing to do.  Unlike my longtime friends MikeM and MartinO, I am not by nature, temperament, nor habit a tidy person in the shop.  Their studios look like something staged for a photo shoot, but in fact that is how they are.  It is only one of the many things for which I admire, respect, and resent them. ;-)

This past week I spent a few days working on the Waxerie.  Unfortunately, I did not take a quick picture before I started, but the corner sorta looked like the Junk Monster had vomited in the space.  After intensive cleaning and organizing, with a new plywood work surface on top of my map case full of veneers, mother of pearl, and other exotics, I am pretty pleased with myself.  We’lll see how long I can hold the Law of Entropy at bay.

I’m not sure which work station I will work on next, but there are more than a dozen to go.

After a very long winter here in Cape Breton, we’re pleased to announce our Summer/Fall 2025 class schedule is open for registration.

Join me for a one day workshop or a week long intensive.

Lots of dates and options are available with topics to suit everyone. Beginners are welcome!

If your schedule doesn’t work for any of our listed dates, I’m offering private, half and full-day options this year. A great way for you or a small group of friends, co-workers or family members to spend the day, woodworking with me here in my shop on Cape Breton.

Check out the CLASS SCHEDULE for details.

Classes sizes are limited so reserve your space today!

Hope to see you soon.

The post Cape Breton Classes appeared first on The Unplugged Woodshop.

  I went to Home Depot twice today. The first trip Joe was at lunch so I came back an hour later to meet with him. I wanted to buy the door and pay for the installation today but that didn't happen. HD requires someone come and measure the door. Once they give that info to Joe I have to go back, pick out/order the door, and pay for it all. I was hoping that I could have avoided all this BS because they had already put in a full install back door. Turns out I was wrong, oh so @)%$&@)%*I_@%_ wrong.

raking light

The ladder passed everywhere I looked at it with the light. Packed this up and stuck it in the boneyard. I'll email my sister and see when I can stop buy and drop off all the projects for her and Sue. Doing that will free up 1/2 the real estate in the boneyard.

road test

I don't know the grit of the sandpaper - it is either 100/120 grit. I like this sanding block a lot. The size was just right to grip and control while I sanded this box. It cut through the wood putty and left it flush and smooth. Can't wait until I try the rounded parts on something. I'll keep this on the workbench as my go to sanding block.

big blog of putty

I have on occasion sanded big spots of putty like this and had the sanding block pull it out. Not this time, it is still intact and flush/smooth. I hadn't planned on sanding this box but it was a convenient object to try it on.

sigh

There were 3 spots that still showed a few streaks of white primer. I'm hoping that this will be it. I'll check it again in the AM and see if there is finally Joy in Mudville.

why not

Putting on 3 coats of shellac and that is it. And I'll be done with it today. I'll be heading back to the shop after dinner to slap on the 3rd and final coat.

accidental woodworker