Hand Tools

Some of the products our little company makes are what is generally known as eventing inventory.

 Getting a cat or kitten is expensive. Dogs are cheaper which I didn't expect. The least expensive animal shelter was $199 per kitten. This shelter didn't make a distinction between a kitten or adult cat price wise neither. I want two kittens preferably less a year old but older than 6 months. I checked 8 shelters around the state and none had kittens. (the high cost per pet covers the vet visits, shots and spay or neutering) 

It is going to be while before we get another cat. A dog isn't happening because I don't have the back yard fenced in. I refuse to put a dog outside and chain it. 

two coats

The paint isn't covering as well on this pine as it did on the first frame. I went around it 360 touching up the visible light spots but I won't know it for sure until this coat dries.

after dinner last night

I came back to the shop and painted the banding along with the frame. It is going to take several more coats and days before this is done.

Wally Word bargain

These two pkgs of brushes cost me $13 and I consider them throw aways. The ferrules on them don't have the best connection and loosen with each use. But for one off use they are excellent.

wow

I hadn't noticed that it had a bunch of palette knives in it. I grabbed in because it had a lot of foam brushes in it. The paint for the frame lays down so much nicer with a foam brush vs a bristle one. I stuck the palette knives in my scraper drawer to use them for applying glue.

ready to chop

I got both panels laid out yesterday and before lunch I got the tails sawn.

a wee bit off

All the tails on the bottom panel were off square a couple of frog hairs. I didn't need to check them with the square because I could see they were off. Corrected that hiccup with some extra chisel work.

done

Just before lunch - tails chopped and cleaned up. Ready to mark for the pins on the sides.

this will be interesting

On the first cupboard I only dovetailed the top panel. On #2 I'm dovetailing the top and bottom. I put the side in the face vise vertical and laid the top on the 90° squares to transfer the tails to the pin. Used this same setup on the first cupboard.

 

knifing the baselines

Thinking ahead to sawing the verticals for the pins. Haven't decided on a game plan for that yet.

not done yet

I was contemplating how to saw the pins when I noticed that I hadn't done the pins on the bottom yet. Wash, rinse, and repeat for that. After that I set them aside for now. I'm going to have to think on how to saw the pins. I was going to overhang the sides off the workbench and saw them kneeling down. I don't like that idea because I'm not sure that I can saw square off the ends. If anything I'll have to practice on few test boards before committing to the real deal.

3 on the back

There were a few light areas where I could still see the first coat. #3 coverage looks to be the charm. I'll check on it after dinner. Hopefully it is good to go and tomorrow I can start on the face side.

ready for the next coat

I sanded the inside bandings with 320. The paint wasn't flat and uniform end to end. I'll come back after dinner and get what I hope to be the last coat of black on inside ones. The outside bandings only have one coat with two more to go.

accidental woodworker

 I did nothing with the 2nd cupboard today. Instead I worked on the Willa pic frame and a boatload of honey do things. Still have one more of those hanging over my head that I'll get to tomorrow. And I'm not sure what is going to happen tomorrow. One thing on the A list is to visit the Warwick Animal Shelter to check on how to adopt a cat. Some Shelters make you jump through a lot of hoops to take a pet home. I might even look into getting a dog - getting a dog has been on the bucket list for years. Either way I'll find out in the AM.

Willa pic frame

I'm happy with the coverage on the back of this frame. I was on my way to Lowes/Home Depot but before I left I put the first coat on the front and a 3rd coat on the inside edge.

paint build up

I expected this from painting the back going into the front. I sanded this edge 360 with 100 grit feathering it out.

hmm....

It is looking like this is a two coat coverage paint if it doesn't go over a primer coat. I like this first coat coverage. There are no holidays and I can see some of the underlying grain.

new Willa pic frame

This frame is about 2" wider T/B and R/L (inside) than the first frame. This change is due to my wife changing the size of the pics of Willa. I wanted four 5x7s and she told me they were larger due to cropping issues. In one pic she wanted to get her entire tail in the pic. I don't have the sizes and won't until the pics come in about two weeks. Fingers crossed that this frame with the slightly increased interior real estate will suffice.

bandings

The frame will be painted with the paint I used for the first frame. The bandings will be on the inside and outside edges and will be painted black. The bandings will be attached after the frame has been painted.

the back frame parts

These four will create the rabbet for holding the glass, mat, and all the others parts that Maria needs to put in here. Planed the sawn edges and I'll miter this one. I want this frame to be special because it is for Willa's memorial. 

shooting the miters

Maria told me that she only needs about a 1/4" rabbet. The first two that I made this way had about 3/4".

dry fit is good

I got this one right. On previous ones I laid the miters out incorrectly - I put the miter on the wrong side of the layout lines. This rabbet will roughly be about 5/16" deep. That is the layout line I did and that changed inwards a wee bit on one edge and was over it on another.

back frame done

Got 4 good fitting miters. I made the back frame 5/8" thick and 1" wide. I glued and nailed it to the pic frame and set it aside to cook. I may or may out get ambitious and wander down to the shop and paint the back of it after dinner.

ancillary cupboard work

These are the 3 chisels I need to do the dovetails. All three of them need to be sharpened with the one in the honing guide being the worse one. It has a fractured edge with two chips - one on the left side end and the other about a 1/3 in from the right side edge.

about 40 minutes

The chips on the 1" chisel didn't take that long to remove on the 80 sandpaper runway. All the bevels ended up shiny, shiny, and shiny and sharp. These are ready to chop up some pine into sawdust.

1st coat dried

If I come back to the shop to paint the 2nd frame I'll do this one first. It isn't needed now because I'll stick with the second one. I really like the bandings on it. That frame I originally made for my Navy patches but it was too small.

three 8 footers

The fencing at Lowes was garbage for the one I wanted or what Diane wanted. What Lowes had all looked like it was made with pretzels. This is a gothic fence but it was all the Home Depot had. The pickets we have now don't have the circular cutouts at the base of the angles. The wife was fine with them and I was prepared to bring them back if she didn't.

from our ash tree branch

There is a huge ash tree to the left out of this pic frame and it lost a limb. Lucky for us that it didn't fall on the neighbor's house. It destroyed 3 sections of the fence and my last honey do is to remove the fence section on the far right.

coming down

This is the ash tree and it has 4 trunks growing up and out of one base. The neighbor's house is to the left of the garden shed. This is coming down in about 2 weeks.

2nd one coming down

I sawed off 4 limbs from this maple that were overhanging onto our roof. It is a big weed tree. It drops a bazillion seeds and I have to go around and pull up all the small maple trees trying to become big maple trees. If I don't get them young I'm screwed. The grow a deep root in a hurry that you have to remove entirely. If you don't it will continue to grow.

There is another maple to the left of this one that is mostly dead or dying. It is $4000 to remove the broken branch and these two trees. When they come if they say a thousand or less to remove the middle maple it will be history too.

accidental woodworker

N.B. Things have been crazy busy in a wonderful way and I’m looking forward to a more sedate pace in the coming days.  Stay tuned. — DCW

Three weeks ago I gathered with 10 novitiate varnishistas from around the country for a three-day romp down the long and winding trail of historic woodfinishing hosted by Joshua Farnsworth at his Wood and Shop facility near Charlottesville VA.  Over the years I have evolved a very tight syllabus to make sure every participant leaves with a set of successful exercises under their belts, or fingernails as the case may be.  This solid foundation allows me to work around the edges and incorporate some new things as I did this year, with mixed success.

A large part of the course success is due to the fact that I supply EVERYTHING for the students to use.  Though that is a substantial undertaking it does guarantee a greater chance of success than if I mail out a supplies-and-tools list.  After a couple experiences of wasting several hours of class time scrounging up supplies, tools, and projects for the students who forgot them I tossed that concept overboard many years ago.

The routine should be fairly familiar to anyone who follows this blog, so this year I will simply be posting a gallery of images to capsulize the three days.  There is no way a few pictures can convey fully the richness of the event from either a learning or fellowship perspective, plus there were many portions where I had no pictures because I was, well, teaching.  There are entire exercises that were not included in the photos.

And much, much more.

So there’s a snapshot (pun intended) of the recent gathering.  I know we will have the class again next summer at the school in Earlysville VA.

 Made some progress on the cupboard today. I took my time and frequent breaks whenever thoughts of Willa wandered into my brain bucket. I am ready tomorrow to start making it look like a cupboard. I'm also looking ahead to the next project which I started this AM.

Willa pic frame

My wife ordered 5 pics of Wila that we picked out together. They will come in a couple of weeks which pissed my wife off royally. Me, I can be patient about some things and this is one. Besides it will give me a chance to get this frame ready. I don't remember where this is from but it is the perfect size for one 8x10 and four 5x7s.

top panel

I sized this to match the width of the side. The length (R/L) is 17 1/4". This is about 1" more than cupboard #1.

bottom panel

Before I could size this one (R/L) I had to square one end and saw it to length.

ready for tails

I laid out the tails and I knifed the baselines with the marking gauge. Normally I don't do this because I don't like the knifed baseline showing. But this one is going to be tricky to transfer the tails to the pin board. It will also be painted so it shouldn't pop out too much.

two other interior panels

These two are the shelf for the middle open portion and the shelf underneath that one. I am going to put the 3 dividers in this one like the magazine has. My wife doesn't like drawers and doors. She prefers her cupboards/storage units to be open. Both of these will be in stopped dadoes with the front edge of the bottom one flush with the sides. The top shelf may or may not extend beyond the sides. I will have to wait until I get to that point and see how it will look.

won't fit

The distance between the screws is a little over 16" and this is a little over 17". 

plan B

This worked and I sawed all the tails without any hiccups. I am finding bending over to saw tails/pins this low is getting problematic. I saw/felt a slight difference (for the better) in sawing the tails between this setup and the smaller panel I did in the Moxon. I do have another Moxon that is 24" between the screws.

it almost bounced

The Moxon fell off the bench and the plastic insert over the handle broke. That was the extent of the injury to it. It is a 5/16" threaded handle that I got from McMaster-Carr. I'll get another one on order because this will bug me to no end in sight.

2nd coat

The coverage is pretty good on this go around. I didn't prime this and slapped the first coat on bare wood. It covered way better than the one I applied over primer. The second coat looked ok and I went around the frame 360 checking and covering any holidays. I think 2 coats is going to do it for the back. I have to time to apply more paint but this coverage looks to be 100%. Tomorrow I'll start on the front and I intend to put on 3 coats there. I'll wait a week or so and put on few coats of shellac. 

I lost 2lbs this week which is 2 more than last sunday's weigh in. At least I didn't gain but I was expecting to lose. Over the past 5 weeks I've shed 25.3 pounds. I am going out for breakfast tomorrow and I'll walk there and back if it isn't raining. From my house to the diner takes me a little over 30 minutes - I avg about 34. That should work off some of what I'll eat. 

I walked 5 days this week losing one day to rain that threatened and never fell and sunday which I take off. Feeling better and sleeping better too again now that I'm back to strolling. I am working my way back up to the distance I was covering and I should be at it by thursday.

accidental woodworker

I’m not the only ex-museum professional in this household. My wife was a curator at the museum where I used to work. We’ve been sifting through some books that she’s done with now – and our house is busting at the seams. These might be of interest to someone out there – pottery, archaeology, one about horn, one about glass. Museum reference materials are pricey and often go out of print immediately. Our challenge is to find the audience for these books, rather than just recycling them at the book bin at the transfer station. I’ve looked up prices for each of this and listed these lower than what I found. Prices include shipping in US, book rate through USPS. If you are interested in any of them, email me at Peterfollansbee7@pfollansbee – thanks, and sorry for the intrusion/non-woodsy, non-bird stuff.

Medieval & Post-Medieval Finds from Exeter 1971-1980 by J.P. Allan (Exeter Archaeological Reports: 3, 1984. Hardcover. $75.

a view inside:

Next one:

Excavations in the Donyatt Potteries, R. Coleman-Smith and T. Pearson1988. hardcover. $50.

A sample inside that one:

—————–

One about horn – I used to make lanterns at the museum, with horn panes. Amazing material.
Horn: Its History and Its Uses Adele Schaverien, 2006, hardcover $75.

The table of contents for this book:

Hundreds of illustrations. One of the last books we bought before my wife left museum work…brand new condition.

One more for now – glass. Early Post-Medieval Vessel Glass in England, c. 1500-1670, Hugh Willmott, Council for British Archaeology, 2002. softcover. $65.

and inside:

My wife, Anita, and I were antiquing in Madison, IN, yesterday when I stumbled upon this little workbench. 

It was cute little Sloyd style workbench from the 1800s. I couldn’t believe how small it was, so I imagine it had to be built for a little kid.

It had to be about 3′ 6″ tall by 5′ long. What was so amazing about the bench was how well worn out and used it was. The child that worked on this bench used it a lot as the top is full of tool marks.

Obviously, it could have been for multiple children in a school shop class, but I never had a bench like this in elementary school, let alone a shop class.  Can you imagine being the kid lucky enough to work on this bench?

No, I didn’t buy the bench as I couldn’t afford the $350.00 price tag as I’m too cheap. Plus, I didn’t want to drag it home because I had no place to put it. But it’s definitely the coolest old workbench I’ve ever seen.

 Another day with no PM session. I got a lot done in the AM one but I petered out. I couldn't get Willa's passing out of my head. Especially the cries she made before she passed. For 5 days she barely made a sound. I tried to scratch her chin which she loved to have done but this time she cried in obvious pain. I thought it best to call it a day because I didn't want to have rash of me-steaks because I was elsewhere.

last night troubleshooting

The battery has a 18v charge still but my wife tried to charge it she said this is dead. It is your typical switch mode power supply charger. I had power in and zero out.

dead?

I'm not sure exactly how these work but I traced power over to this thing. Had power going into it but nothing coming out. These cost $27 on Amazon Prime so my wife ordered a new one.

LED power light

If I traced the signal right this LED only comes on when power is available to charge the battery. The LED works because I used a battery and it lit. I will save this and see if I can find a circuit diagram for it. 

no hiccups

I checked the glue line on both pieces and both had a seamless glue line. It was almost dead flush on both of them too.

squaring the bottom first

I aligned the front edge of both sides with the bump out at the top. I penciled the overhang at the bottom and sawed it off. After squaring this wide bottom end I did the top.

these edges need to be flushed too.

Before I could do these I had to get the bottom edges of both sides flush, flat, and square to each other. Then I used those edges to square up these edges to it.

squaring the bottom

This one wasn't as easy to do as a single one. I clamped the two sides together to plane to my knife line. I tried to use the LV jack plane but it was too big and awkward to use. I got it done with the low angle blockplane. Had a ton of misery trying to keep the bottom edge square and flush. I finally got it but it took a lot of dance steps and checking to do it.

squaring this edge

I had sawn both edges roughly yesterday and they were pretty close to each other. I used Big Red to run my knife lines because the 18" Starrett was about 6" too short.

squaring the top edges

This one easier and I did better squaring it too.

a few dance steps

Planing this way is not something I do often and that is why I had problems keeping the plane square. Even though it looked/felt like I was planing square I wasn't. There must have been a parallax error of some kind. Once I compensated for that my planing was closing to 90° to the face.

squaring the bump out

The top and bottom are squared off and flush as is everything else above the top edge of the bump out. I removed most of the waste with each side held individually in the face vise. I saved doing the final strokes to the knife lines for when the two sides were clamped together. Used the low angle to plane to do the final planing.

hmm.......

All the front edges are square and flush. The back edge is kind of the same. The top board is proud of the bottom around the middle-ish area for about 18-20 inches in a hump. It is proud at the bottom for a 4 inch tapered run. I don't have a warm and fuzzy that this is square. I ran two pencil lines and it is square from the bottom but not from the top on one line. The other line is the opposite. Stopped here a while to go upstairs and think about it.

double triple checking myself

This corner is square both ways. Check. All the front edges are aligned and flush, check again.

ditto for the top

This is square both ways, final check.

bump out is square

I checked it for square off both sides and together where they join.

slightly off

The blade isn't touching at the top couple of inches. It is less than the thickness of a piece of paper. Nothing is married or referenced off of this so I'm letting it be.

dead square

Mr Starrett says this corner is square for at least 18".

6 foot square

I laid it flush with what the 18" Mr Starrett said it was square and the far end of the level is a frog hair within the top back corner. This cupboard is about 65" tall so I'm going to say that it is square. I used the low angle blockplane again and flushed the two back edges.

wow

This last panel is within 2 frog hairs of being dead on flat. I planed the glue line and the wee bit of light I saw first under the rule was almost all gone. 

opposite side

This is the flattest I have ever gotten with a panel glue up. There is the teeniest bit of light showing under the rule. I planed the face from side to side and called this done. I don't know what I'll do tomorrow. It depends how I feel and whether or not I can keep thoughts of Willa out of my mind.

accidental woodworker

Trying to catch up with updates here on the house work in Tomobe, and I’m about a week behind at the moment. I’m probably not going to keep up weekly updates indefinitely but these first few weeks at the house have been full of interesting work and discoveries, which I though might be interesting to… Read More »Tomobe House – Week 2

The post Tomobe House – Week 2 appeared first on Big Sand Woodworking.

Being comfortable with hand tools and using machines for basic dimensioning of materials has not translated to a quick and easy bar stool project. Mistakes have been made, lessons learned and in some cases re-learned and the project is far from complete. One area of woodworking that I have avoided is the use of routers for mortise and tenons and pattern routing. That’s partly what this project is about pushing new skills.

Reviewing the project videos it became clear that I would need some jigs for the mortises. Fine Woodworking had an article in Feb 2023 edition showing the Morley Jig and it was clear that this had probably been used when Morley made the original stools. The videos used alternate methods but the jig worked well and I can see its use in the future.

No need for me to show any more build details since fine woodworking did an excellent job in their article.

I use screws as temp clamps to help me nail wrought iron nails

 One step forward and two backwards. That is what happened in the AM session today. Came across a couple of hiccups with the glue ups when I unclamped them. Good thing I don't do this for a living. I would be subsisting on plain ramen noodles if I was.

3 of 4

Ready to see how well I did. 

lined up

Both sides have a small cup in them but the two line up pretty good. The plan was to square the top and bottom edges first and then flush the sides.

first hiccup

This has to be fixed. The other side is tight and I didn't look at the back when I clamped this. 

planed

Got a good seam from end to end. There were no gaps on either side of the glue line.

first hiccup fixed

I went a wee bit nutso clamping it this time. I'll let this one cook until tomorrow.

pit stop

Stopped to sharpen the iron in this blockplane. There were some stains (?) on the bottom that a razor blade wouldn't remove 100%. Broke out my granite reference flat stone (grade AB) and sanded the bottom of the plane smooth and shiny.

the other side is good

This side of the carcass has a tight glue line on both sides. I sawed off about a 1/4"  on the short glued on board before planing it square. It didn't fit on the shooting board so I had to use a low angle blockplane to square it.

square

This wasn't as awful as I pictured it being in my brain bucket. I was concerned with keeping the edge 90° to the face but it wasn't a problem.

first use in years

I have 4 panel scribers and both of these didn't work that well. Both of the heads are loose even though I thought I had fixed that years ago. Instead of doing a precise scribe I made it long and sawed it. When the other side comes out of the clamps I'll plane the two sides flush.

the right long side

Planing the glue line flush made the light under the square go dark. I had left the small cup in the first cupboard in. I planed the entire length, on both sides, flat and straight.

1st panel glue up

Before I did any planing of the interior pieces I double triple checked both sides of the glue line were gap free and tight.

2nd hiccup

This panel glue up has the same problem as the first one. Tight and seamless on one side and a gap on the other side. This would/will be buried in a dado but I sawed it apart, planed the edges, and glued it back together.

got it right

This is the 2nd panel glue up and it is good to go. Tight glue line on both sides.

more reasonable

I didn't go nutso on clamping this one. Used 3 which is sufficient for the size of this panel.

flattening

Planed the humps and cups away. It doesn't matter if the four interior panels aren't the same thickness.

reasonable flat

I didn't go full blown anal planing these four. I have two the glue ups to do tomorrow. I will check all of them for twist and plane any that I see.

defect

This one will be easy to fix. The rabbet for the back should remove all of it. Either way this is the inside back of the right side.

big arse defect

This came from me sawing a 12 foot board in half at Gurney's. This one is on the inside bottom but I don't think the rabbet will remove/hide all of it. This is/will be the bottom back behind a door so it won't be readily seen.

last one

I don't know what this defect is but it is what I brought home from Gurney's. I will sand this and fill it in with wood putty. Cupboard #2 will be painted just like #1 was.

No PM session today. Willa passed sometime between 1005 and 1041 this morning. She was crying in pain then (1005) and my wife cuddled with her on the bed and she calmed down and closed her eyes. That was the last I saw of her alive. Diane and I had 3 wonderful years with her and I will always have fond memories of our time together.

I didn't feel like going to the shop after burying Willa. The past few days of checking and comforting her were hard and I'm glad that is over and she is at peace now.

Willa

accidental woodworker

Started the 2nd cupboard today. I am pretty sure that this one will come out better than the first one. I have it to steer me on the 2nd one. Today was spent prepping and gluing up the carcass parts. After that I kind of went dead in the water working in the shop. I'll pick it back up tomorrow.

last night

I went through the boards and picked the 3 flattest ones I had. I laid them up here to wait for me the next day. These three will give up the carcass sides and a top and maybe a shelf. All three were still flat and straight in the AM.

squaring up the ends

The reference for the build will be from the bottom up. I squared it off on the shooting board. It worked a lot better than I anticipated it doing.

bottom sides pieces

I have to glue a 6 1/2" wide piece at the bottom front of both sides. I am go to try and stick to the same measurements as the first one. The aren't carved in stone for the 2nd one and I like the freedom to be under or over them.

first one glued and cooking

I had this same problem with the first cupboard. The glued boards bowed as I applied clamp pressure. An extra clamp on the bar clamp kept the glue up flat and straight.

2nd side glued and clamped

No hiccups with either side. I squared off the top edge of the 6 1/2" wide board. I set that squared end at the height of the middle shelf. This was something I missed doing on the first one.

another learning experience

I got the four cross panels for the cupboard prepped. On the first one I didn't get them as long as I initially wanted them. I thought I was being generous with being over but it wasn't enough. This time around I was generous with 3" longer vice 1". Two of these needed to be glued up to increase their width. One for the bottom and the second one for the middle shelf.

I really wanted to unclamp these after I got back to the barn from my walk. But I was a good boy and just looked at them. I will let them cook until tomorrow.

3 from Fry

I have always been fascinated by Greek mythology. I ordered these 3 (from 2 separate sellers) and a fourth one from Amazon. These came the day after I ordered them. The 4th one (Why we get fat and what we can do about it) was supposed to come next day. Well boys and girls that didn't happen. It slipped from next day to the next weekend. Then it slipped again to the 2nd of sept and then to the 3rd and it is now coming on the 4th.

I'll start reading Troy first and I'll have check which one is next. I can't remember if Heroes was written before Mythos or other way around. Either way it turns out it will be while before I slog my way through Troy. Small print (hard to read) and it is 273 pages long. It should definitely fill me in on everything I didn't need to know about ancient Troy.

accidental woodworker

So I've got the seat, legs and arm/back support sticks prepared.  The next part to make was the arm bow.  I figured I'd do a prototype to work out the kinks.  With a prototype I can use mismatched and totally unsuitable woods.  This arm bow is made up of three pieces (eventually it was five pieces).  The middle piece is a 1 5/8" thick chunk of redwood and the rest is 3/4" red oak laminated to make pieces wide enough.  The parts are joined using barefaced tenons on the redwood piece and the oak is glued to that, kind of like a lap joint.

Redwood sitting on the arm bow template with two angled ends

The ends have had a 3/4" thick section removed underneath

The oak was glued into the removed section (big rabbet?), creating that lap joint

You can see in the above photo the special clamping blocks that pull the joint together as the clamp pressure is increased.  These worked OK, but the adhesive-backed sandpaper that was supposed to keep the blocks from sliding didn't work perfectly - the adhesive slipped.  But in the end it worked well enough to get a good glue joint.

Here's the (mostly) shaped arm bow

And here it is roughly in place, positioned using the arm bow drilling jigs

Unfortunately, it seemed like the arm bow was way too short.  It started out 10" along a centerline from the inside curve at the back to the tips of the arms.  I half-lapped on another 3" piece to make the arms 13" deep.

An extension piece on each end added 3" to the arms (shown before shaping)

The next step was to figure out how to bore the holes through the arm bow, in a direct line to where the holes in the seat need to go.  I had laid out the hole location in both the arm bow and the seat.  The key to getting the chair together is to get the arm bow holes to line up with the seat holes.  I noodled about this for quite a while and tried a few things before I got it right.

First idea: using a straight stick from seat to arm bow to align the auger bit to. The right side of this stick (where my finger is pointing) is aligned with the  arm bow hole and seat hole locations.

Using this method, I had to place the bottom of the stick a distance forward of the seat hole location that was the same as the distance from the arm bow hole location to the front of the arm bow (about 1 1/4").

Boring a hole in the arm bow, lining the bit up with the stick

I also had a mirror on the workbench giving me a view from a right angle to see if my bit was lined up with the stick

But this method left too much to chance, as evidenced by the arm bow holes not coming close enough to being in alignment with the seat hole locations.

My next idea was to use a special stick with one end pointed so it could sit in a small hole (made with an awl) at the seat-hole location.  The upper end of the stick had a glued-on extension to help point the auger bit.  This also wasn't quite right.

This stick has a point in line with one side and an a triangle-shaped extension at the top end

Here's another method I tried.  I'm trying to line up the holes in arm bow and seat using a ruler and square.  This also wasn't the answer.

After trying several things, I realized that I could line up the bit in this direction (left and right in this view) fairly well by eye. But I still needed something to dial in the front / back lean of the bit.

It took a few days for this to gel in my mind, but here's the solution. The stick has a point at the bottom end (left in pic).  The two extensions that are glued to the stick are 5/16" different in width.

With this stick, the upper extension can rest against a 5/8" auger bit, bringing the bit in better alignment with the seat hole location.  The width of the two extensions was large enough for the stick to clear the arm bow when in use.

The stick in use.  It's not easy to see in this picture, but the bottom of the stick has a point sitting in a tiny hole at the seat hole location.

Note that the auger bit has to align well with the edge of the upper part of the stick

Finally I was getting holes bored in the correct alignment!  Most of the arm bow holes were bored before getting this stick right, so they're not aligned properly.  This arm bow was a prototype, so I'll be making another, and that'll be in another post.

 Not much happened in the shop today. Did some painting and did some shellac. Now it is just hurry up and wait. Being overly cautious I'm thinking the dresser and the box will get a done check mark friday? As for the next project - a 2nd cupboard - it is itching for me to start. 

I still have the first one and I plan on making another one that will be almost a clone. The one change that I have in mind is to do the tiles differently. Currently I'm thinking of putting them in a frame within the panel. I'm also of thinking of going with dividers that would replace where I put a drawer in the first one. The dividers would probably work better for Diane - I'm making it for her.

I went for a walk today and it was iffy. The temp was 86F (30C) which was about the same temp when I got heatstroke last year (it was a lot more humid too). I decided to go on it because there was a nice breeze blowing. And it blew on me for the entire stroll too.

lines

The lines aren't too bad but I can see them under the paint. I sanded it with 220 to feather them out before putting the another coat on.

ironing

I weighed the two boards down to flatten the peel 'n stick. It was still trying curling up on me. I let this go as is over night and this AM it was flat and stayed that way.

ok

Still couldn't see or feel any problems with the shellac. I can see the build up of shellac along with the sheen from 2 coats. I'm happy with it and I stopped at 3 coats.

2nd peel n' stick

The second peel 'n stick laid down well. Flattening it out definitely helped out with laying it down. I got a few slight gaps on the right side. The other 3 are tight and gap free. This is a huge improvement over the first one I did. Vacuuming it clean also paid off. No bottom nibs popped up into the peel 'n stick and this one seems to be sticking better too.

caught it

The hinge mortises are at the top and that is the back of the box. I first laid down the peel 'n stick with the flowers a 180 out from the pic. 

done

I think I got 4 coats on this. Even if I don't, I like the coverage I have. This is the inside of the lid so it doesn't need a bazillion coats.

measuring

This is what I'm thinking of doing for framing the tiles. I plan on using the same tiles on this cupboard too. The top door isn't tall enough for the top tile frame pieces. I don't need or want the same distance on the sides as on the top but the first door dimensions need to be stretched T/B a minimum of 3 inches.

glamour pic #1

The lid frame has 4 coats on some parts and 2 on others. Overall I am ok with the coverage and I'm calling this done. 

glamour pic #2

I don't know what Donna will use this for if anything. I was thinking maybe quilting supplies etc that won't fit in the 5 drawer miniature dresser.

glamour pic #1

This (and the box) are hanging out in the living room for a few days. For all intents and purposes both are complete. The bottom drawer is sticking a little. I have to ensure that I pull it out and push it in straight. If I deviate a frog hair off straight it throws a hissy fit. I'll evaluate it after it has sat for a few days.

Noticed a hiccup with the knobs. The first of the 3 large drawer knobs are off. The bottom two drawer knobs are inset 1 1/2" and the first one is 1 1/4". I doesn't look too terribly OTL to me. I don't think I could move them over a 1/4" and cover/hide the first hole for the tenon. I'm leaving it as is. 

Another thing that caught my eye is the reveal between the bottom of the last drawer and the base. It is barely an 1/8" and it looks lost compared to the spacing between the other drawers. I should have reversed the reveal by putting the bearers for the bottom of the dresser 1/8" from the top of the base leaving a 3/8" reveal. 

right side

The taper that was here matched the taper that was on the left side. Don't know how it disappeared after painting but it did.

blurry left side pic

You can still see the shim I put in to fill the taper. It could stand to be another inch longer. I don't think my sister will pick up on it. You else besides another woodworker is going to check out all sides on this?

the back bottom

This is the second shim and I'll check on it in few days. I need to ensure that the shellac 'glued' this and the tapered one on the left side in place.

Willa is still hanging on. She moves constantly during the day but only within a one foot radius. Her breathing is getting shallow and the respiration interval is getting longer. Still isn't eating or drinking. She doesn't seem to be in any pain or discomfort because she still likes to be patted and caressed. She doesn't flinch or meow when I do it neither.

accidental woodworker

How to Choose Antique Hollows and Rounds Molding Planes Bill Anderson shares advice on choosing a set of antique Hollows & Rounds molding planes for hand tool woodworking.   By Joshua Farnsworth  |  Published 28 Aug, 2024 How to Choose Antique Hollows and

Not every marking gauge works well for every species of wood. This is how I tackle it.

Moving forward and moving backwards at the same time with the dresser and the box. I think it would be overly optimistic saying they will done next tuesday. I looked over both of them studying them so after I painted them I wouldn't find any gotchas. I can repaint in 2-3 hours but I am going to wait 12 or do it the next day. I just wish the paint was as easy and quick to do as the shellac.

base attached

The blue paint is a PITA. I ran my finger tips over the top and left a trail of the four of them being dragged across it. And it attracts dust like a magnet sucks up iron filings. Now that the carcass is done I will bring it upstairs and let it chill out for 3-4 days.

back

The coverage is good with no light streaks of primer showing. I like this color a lot - blue is my favorite with cobalt blue #1.

filling it in

The gap at the back is a couple of frog hairs shy of 3/16". I don't like the look of it so I am going to fill it in. I found a scrap and planed it until it fit.

done

I had to notch the ends to fit because the back is recessed in from the edge. I am leaving it proud too because it is at the back.

tapered gap filler

There was a tapered gap on on both sides before I painted the carcass. With paint there is only a tapered gap on the left side. I was going to fill it in with caulk and paint but I don't know what I did with the caulk. It took me two attempts to make the tapered shim. It was a bit awkward trying to plane it and I had to sand it to fit.

double, triple checking

All the drawers fit yesterday and today they still do. All five went in and out without any hiccups.

shellac for glue

No woodworking glue on the back or the side shims. I covered both of them with shellac and put them in place. Throughout the day I applied several more coats of shellac to glue them in place.

hinges done

No hinge binding and no oil canning on the leaves. Lid goes up and down smoothly throughout its range. I am putting in a new peel 'n stick. The first one was bugging me. There were gaps between it and the sides and there were a ton of dust nibs in it. I didn't vacuum it out before I applied it - I brushed it out.

almost done

I still have the 3rd coat of paint to do on the lid. That is what is holding up the done check mark .

double lid stays

The chain is delicate and I didn't have a warm and fuzzy with just one.

proud

I was going to leave them as is but reversed myself. I wanted to avoid having to paint it but it is what it is.

better fit

This is the first one and I was dismayed at how easily it separated from the bottom. I rubbed this too to insure I got good contact with the plywood. The second one is a much better fit and hopefully I'll do a better job of getting it laid down.

why not

Since the peel 'n stick was gone I decided to shellac the sides. I got four coats on before I killed the lights.

looks so much better

Looking at this pic I am seeing that I should have planed the entire length of the side. The strip of paint in middle may show lines when I paint it. I will definitely check that tomorrow.

hmmm......

I went back to the shop after dinner and this still had the wet look from the Goo Gone. I put Goo Gone on the dry areas until the entire panel look was uniform. Today I applied the first of 3 coats of shellac to it. A half hour later it was dry and I didn't see any problems with the shellac. Wasn't sure if there would be any problems with the shellac sticking to the Goo Gone.

missed a spot

This is the back of the lid and I am not planing it flush. I had already chopped and fitted the hinges in the mortises. If I planed this edge it would change the hinge leaf fitting the mortise. And I got a 4-0 fit too.

Willa is hanging on to what I don't know. She is just a bag of skin with bones. She hasn't eaten anything going on 4 days now and this morning I saw she was having trouble trying to get a drink of water. The desire to cling to life appears to be the same for cats as it is for humans. I know what is coming but I'm still not ready for it.

accidental woodworker

Things with the dresser and the box  time line have slipped on a banana peel. The dresser will be done (maybe) before the box but both will done closer to the upcoming weekend than sooner. I have touch up on the dresser that will take a couple of days and some planing on the box. I will have to flush the tenons and then 2-3 coats of paint  which equates to a couple of days. Good thing a gun isn't being held to my head, eh?

On a sadder note, my female cat is going to be passing any day now. She has been suffering brain seizures and has deteriorated health wise badly for the past six months. The vet said there is nothing medically that she can do for Willa, even CMO is out of the question. She recommended putting her down but my wife and I said no. She isn't in any obvious pain and as long as she exhibits that she will stay with us and go when her time comes.

2 more points for the home team

Firstly and most important all the drawers go in/out easily. Fingers are still crossed that they will stay that way even after I paint the dresser again. One area I'll make sure to address are the bottoms of the front bearer rails. The white primer shows up like a beacon.

looks good

The green of the peel 'n stick compliments the blue frame nicely. A bonus is the flowers are going top to bottom (or B/T). I think I might buy a roll of wallpaper and all the ancillary crappola just to have it in the shop for a future box(es). This was a dry fit and the mortise cheeks are proud at all four corners.

another snag

This was a big blog of paint that stuck out like a sore thumb. I used a chisel to remove down to bare wood.

more paint blob removal

There were some blobs on the inside on the grooves that snagged the peel 'n stick and rolled it up a little. I scraped all of the grooves with the marking knife.

inside edges

Before I could glue this up I had to paint the inside edges (tops of the grooves) first. I don't want to even entertain trying to paint them after the panel is inserted and the frame is glued up.

dresser was next

The dresser looked pretty good coverage wise. When I lightly sanded it with 320 it looked like crap again. There were a few dust nibs that when sanded went down to the primer coat. That means at least two coats to cover them.

Still on the fence about applying shellac on the drawers where I removed it previously. I'm little gun shy  about the drawers sticking on me again. But IMO they look crappy having sides and tops showing bare wood. As it is I have lots of time to decide what to do.

read the can

The cans says a minimum of two coats (no mention of a primer coat) and 3 for hard wear surfaces like tables. Application is under optimal conditions with a 3 day curing period before applying general finishes oil. If anything I will be using shellac.

traditional hide glue brushes

I have tried several times to buy these at various luthier sites but no joy. They were either out of stock or mostly they didn't sell them anymore. I found these after reading a Lost Art blog post - I got these two from the BRODART CO. After I got them I found them at Tools for Working Wood. If they aren't the same they look to be awfully similar. I got them for the clear piggly no wiggly glue from LAP.

haircut time

This december I will be 70 and I am surprised at how dark my hair still is (what I have left). My father had less hair then me at 69 and what he had was gray and mostly white. I have a sprinkling of gray around the temples with the rest of my hair being black. Go figure on that. BTW buying a full size cordless hair clipper was a game changer for cutting my own hair.

hmm......

Just picked up on this in raking light. In spite of the thickness of the hinge leaves, they oil canned on me. The alloy used for the brass is soft because this is pine which itself is soft. I'll have to pay better attention to these when I tighten the screws down.

3 hours later

Inserted the panel dry and then pulled it out to check the peel 'n stick. I found one spot where it had rolled a bit on me. Fixed that, applied some glue, clamped it and set it aside to cook.

more shellac

I branded the bottom of the box and slapped on another coat of shellac. I got four more on before I killed the lights for the day.

one of 3

I wasn't expecting to find blobs on the top. They usually accumulate on the edges of 90° corners. The white one on the left was a dust nib and the right one was ????

the back

This where blobs tend to be. When I painted it another long blob popped out on the bottom edge of the back thing. I had scrape that off too and that went down to bare wood also.

two coats

I didn't like the look of the bare wood against what had shellac. I put on two coats only just to cover the bare wood. Fingers crossed that it won't bite me on the arse when fitting the drawers.

white streaks

It is more like a white bluish haze but that indicates that it will need at least one more coat to cover. Covering all these spots is what eats up a lot of time.

inside of the lid

I got a few smudges of blue paint on this when painting the frame. I tried to clean them up right away with a wet rag and nada. It barely did anything to remove the paint.

Goo Gone

This stuff is pretty good at cleaning up latex paint but this is the first time I have tried it on something like this. It did better than the wet rag but it still didn't remove it all. The next step I tried was to sand it and scrub it again with Goo Gone. that got 95% of it and I'm leaving it as is. What tiny bit of blue paint left blends in with the grain structure of the panel.

a question mark hmm......

I hope that the Goo Gone doesn't leave a stain. It had been about 15 minutes and the panel still had this wet look. If it does stain it I'll wipe down the whole panel to get it 100% 'wet'.

nope

I tried sanding it again to see if the friction and heat from the sandpaper would dry it and it didn't. I'll leave this be and check on it in the AM.

A big thunderstorm is rolling through my part of the universe. It is dumping a lot of rain along with a lot of noise but no lightning that I could see. It is freaking out my male cat especially when the thunder cracks and booms. He either hides under the bed or he keeps circling my feet. Today he decided to circle.

accidental woodworker