Hand Tools

 I am not sure which pt this is on. I kinda fell to the wayside numbering while doing the dovetails. Those were the go/no go point for this build. Dovetails are done, dovetails are good, time to move on with the build. I think I'll start numbering this one as #1.1 until I get past what have numbered already.

cooked

Ready to check this and see how well it healed. I wasn't expecting any issues because it looked and felt good yesterday. As long as it didn't shift I should be ok.

glue squeeze out

The three sides of the split are aligned and almost dead flush. One side is maybe a half of a frog hair proud. The glue squeeze was higher than that.

super glue to the rescue

Chip is solidly secured and I flushed the top of the chip with a rasp.

hmm.......

I was happy with how this glued back together. There was only a 1- 1/2" long spot where the break was slightly proud. I flushed that with the card scraper.

where is it

I can see the break on the top of the handle but I can't see/pick it out on the outside. I can't believe how well this glue up healed the handle.

prepping time

Got the cupboard on the bench with the back facing up. Checking that my corner labels agree and the top is at the top and bottom is at the bottom.

dadoes are next

Before I glued up the cupboard I wanted to chop the 3 dadoes needed. This one is the bottom dado for the drawer divider. I marked this one wrong - I didn't reach under on the sample divider stick and this dado was a few frog hairs too wide. It is wider than any of the stock I have already planed. I'll have to think on how I will deal with this gaffe.

tight

I got a nice, clean, flat bottomed dado for the fixed shelf. I didn't screw myself marking for it wrong like I did with the drawer divider dado.

sibling dado done

The second one came out as tight as the first one. I purposely made it tight so I can plane the shelf to fit dead nuts.

from Rob Cosman

This nut tightens and looses with an allen wrench. Before I couldn't tighten this to hold the iron. It would slip and move as I pushed/pulled the router. I bought an allen ball driver and that works sweet. Nice not having to deal with the iron going off into La La Land on me. I bought one for all my LN routers.

back to glue up prep

I was erasing the pencil marks on the inside of the cupboard. I usually forget this but not today. I also looked over the condition of the inside and I left it as is (right of the planer). The pic doesn't show it but, I wiped it down with alcohol and the grain popped. This cherry is going to look drop dead gorgeous when the shellac goes on it.

hmm.......

I wasn't having any hiccups erasing the pencil marks with alcohol.  However, the pencil left the impression of itself on the cherry. The aren't too deep but I can see them. I'm not sure if sanding will remove traces of it. These are on the inside corners of the cupboard and will be in shadow/darkness. They also tend to blend in with the cherry.

done

Got all the pencil marks erased on the in and out sides. One more check before glue up.

nope

I'm glad that I checked this before trying to glue it up. This is the corner that popped off and I glued back on. It won't fit and it is about 2 frog hairs too tight. I shaved the half pin 4 times before this corner went back together.

done

All is well in Mudville. I dry fitted all four corners and all four fit. I shouldn't have any surprises other than missing a glue drip.

less than a 16th

Due to the snug fit I used hide glue. I didn't want the stress of having to deal with glue freezes or having it set up before I got the corners seated. I had no issues with the hide glue.

The diagonals on the back were almost dead on. On the front they were off a 32nd. I tried to fuss with it a bit but gave up. I can live with and adjust for a 32nd on something as large as this cupboard.

on the front of course

This corner of the cupboard is a lot higher than I would like it to be. The kitty corner to this one is high too but only by a couple of frog hairs. I'll deal with this tomorrow after the glue has cooked.

accidental woodworker

It took me a while to get over the shock of who won the presidential race before I finally got to the shop, late. I had better news and results there - I survived my first trail by fire with cherry dovetails. I tried hard wood dovetails several years ago making a box out of maple and walnut (?). I don't have that box and I'm pretty sure the dovetails were total crappola. Much better results after fast forwarding a few years. BTW 'sont finis' is french for 'are finished' it is some the few french words I remember from high school.

hmm.....

Getting to the last two that have the potential to go south on me. The 3rd tail shouldn't present any hiccups but I wasn't so sure about the last one.

3rd one chopped

I wasn't sure how this would chop. I was expecting a lot of flaking and chips coming off but it chopped clean.

two chips

Chopped the 4th one with only two chips to deal with. Unfortunately for me I didn't scoop them up right away and lost them. Not particularly fond of the cracks/splits in the pin but it does feel solid. I'll fill the splits with super glue and cherry sawdust after it is glued up.

better

I chopped the pins on the last board without coming in from the end grain. I dealt with chopping the slanted trough leaving the majority of the waste as support. The baselines came out pretty good with a minimal amount of tear out.

fitting the 3rd set of pins

So far all three sets of pins went together off the saw. I was not expecting that all. I would have bet a lung I would have had to do a wee bit of shaving here and there.

bit of a gap

Glue isn't going to swell this shut. I'll shim it after it is glued up.

no appreciable gaps on this face

3 for 3 so far and will I go 4 for 4?

I'm impressed

3 for 3 on no gaps on the inside. This is a 70/30 affair with me. I'm getting better at it but I still not a 100% with it. This is encouraging seeing it in cherry.

Yikes!

I noticed a split on this half pin and I tried to open it a wee bit to get some glue in it and it popped off. Glued it back on without any issues and set it aside to cook until tomorrow.

Holy bat turds Batman

The chisel felt funny when I was chopping with it. I ignored it initially until I saw a big crack in it. I'm pretty sure that the handle is bubinga of which I don't have any. I bought a set of these Ashley Isles chisels for the grandsons so I could use that 1" chisel in the interim. Making a chisel handle will be another first time attempt for me.

another chip

I paid attention this time and taped it to the board right away. Of course it is on the outside face. It is too deep to plane and it would behoove me to glue the chip itself back in place vice making a dutchman for it.

went 4 for 4

The ordeal and fight in my mind about doing cherry dovetails has proven to be unfounded.I would rate these cherry dovetails a notch above any of my outings in pine.

one more )@O(&@^(%_)@#*% gap

Got a gap on the tail side but they are all seated pretty good. The gap and the seating cancel each other out.

pin side

This tail board is a wee bit proud. It is a tapering proud too going from high on this end to nothing at the other end. This will plane off easily. I just hope the grain is running from this end going to the left.

wow four for four

I was happy with all four of the inside joints. No gaps at all or they were so small I didn't pick up on them.

hmm....

What to do with this? The only viable option is to remove it and make a new one. Before I drive down that road I'm going to attempt to glue it back together. However, that will negate being able to strike this chisel with a mallet.

cooking until the AM

I got a better squeeze out and a tighter fit in the vise than I got with a couple of clamps.

accidental woodworker

How do you spell cap iron anyway?  Two words? One word? Hyphenated?  Maybe I should just say chip breaker.

Recently I saw a Bill Carter video and on his bench was a cap iron screwdriver.  Seems like I'd seen him talk about it (though I can't recall where) and he espoused the virtue of using it rather than using the lever cap to uncouple the cap iron from the plane iron.  I've been using my lever caps for almost 15 years without any chips to the lever cap, but I thought I'd make a special screwdriver for this task.

I roughed out the shape on paper and found an over-length piece of scrap wood to use for the handle.  I also found an old hinge leaf to shape into the blade.

Some initial thoughts and some steel for the blade. These weren't the final measurements, but they were close.

I started with some careful layout on the wood blank and removed a bunch of material with saw and chisel.  Then it went on my bungee lathe to turn the ferrule post and the "waist" of the driver.

Shaping the front end of the handle on the bungee lathe

While I had the bungee lathe set up, I also turned a small piece of dowel so that one end would fit tightly into a brass plumbing adapter and the other end would fit into my drill.  The plumbing adapter would later become a ferrule.

Brass barb to thread adapter (most of barb end has already been cut off)

At first I thought I'd be able to file the barb end with it chucked into my drill, but it turned out to be far easier to file it while clamped in a metal working vise.

Here's the adapter with mandrel stuck into one end

And chucked into the drill

Filing while in the drill was not optimal - too much flex of the drill

So I just filed it while held in a vise

then sanded and polished it smooth and shiny in the drill

I cut off 5/8" length of the smoothed brass adapter and fit it to the ferrule post.  I sawed and filed a slot in the post for a good fit to the screwdriver blade.  I didn't get any pictures of it, but I filed the piece of steel hinge to the proper shape to fit into the ferrule post.  It's 5/8" wide at the business end to fit a cap iron screw full width.  It's a bit wider where it meets the ferrule and fits that nicely with no sharp edges protruding.  I also rounded the tip of the bit, since the slots in cap iron screws are made with a circular blade and are a little deeper in the center than at the ends.

Put a slight curve on the tip

After several coats of shellac, sanding between some coats, then a rub with 0000 steel wool followed by some paste wax, the handle feels very nice and looks great.

And here it is, ready for service

Fits perfectly

I did have to grind the tip a little to get a good fit in the slot.  The hinge metal was about 3/32" thick and the slot is about 1/16" wide.

Another very satisfying project for sure.  Now I'll never have to worry about the lever caps chipping - that is, if I can break my old habit of using the lever cap and start using this new screwdriver!

Three Saturday’s ago I went to our friends Pat and Valerie for their annual apple butter day.  It’s a local tradition that we have gladly glommed on to.

Great fun and fellowship abounded.

At the start, apple chips are just dumped into the copper cauldron and stirred with a canoe paddle.

There is a lot of standing around while we watch the person with the paddle.  This is where the tall tales and gripes about taxes emerge.

As it cooks down more apple chips are added and the stirring switches to a custom designed stirring paddle.

Hours later it is all cooked down and ready for adding the spices and sugar.  Occasionally they make a batch of sugar free apple butter, that is the stuff we like.  But this was a sugared batch.

Once that is all cooked and stirred some more, Pat conducts an “all finished” viscosity test by depositing a dollop on the underside of a sauce pan.  Too runny?  Cook some more.  When it is ready it gets canned in jars.

At this point my job was to carry the cases of still-hot jars into the sugar house for later labeling and, eventually, selling.

The big highlight is that after all the work is done, Pat’s sister breaks out the bin of fresh, still-warm biscuits we use to scrape the residue out the cauldron.  The moaning of delight commenced.

Mmmm, mmmm, mmm.

I make classical guitars in a small workshop, well perhaps I should say I work in a tiny workshop. Actual working space is 9 feet wide by 13 feet long (117 square feet), there is additional space at the back of the room that is 9 feet wide by 7 feet long (63 square feet) and half of that space is occupied by the well head, well pump and pressure tank. 

Photos of one of my most recent classical guitars, this guitar has a Western red cedar top with Santos rosewood back and sides.

This is my space:

Tool racks for the hand tools I use on a daily basis, a set of low shelves and new workbench that accumulates workshop detritus.

Here you can see the back wall of my shop, on the other side of that short wall that the air cleaner sits on is the well head, well pump and pressure tank for our house. My best tonewood is on the metal shelves.

The shop looking towards the sliding glass door. To the right is my workbench that I originally built in 1994 and has been renovated several times. The guitar that is hanging up has a Western red cedar top with East Indian rosewood back and sides, those tonewoods are over 20 years old and this guitar has an elevated fretboard.

I do get asked why I use only hand tools to make my guitars. It is a choice I made when I first started down the lutherie road and small spaces like this aren’t suited for power tools.

My favorite hand plane with a toothed blade. This side is California Laurel that will be part of the next guitar.

“No! Try not! Do or do not! There is no try!” That is what Yodo said to Luke Skywalker in “The Empire Strikes Back”. That movie line is still valid today. 

If you can’t make something in a small shop with simple hand tools, then there is a good chance you won’t be able to make something is a huge shop filled with power tools. 

Today was a beautiful day with blue, sunny skies with a high temp of 76F (24C). Two mornings past the temp was 32F (0C) when I got up. I wanted to spend the day outside and enjoy it. However, the gas people parked their heavy equipment outside my house. They were digging up the road to install new gas lines. I couldn't drive so I walked. Went on two walk abouts today. Once in the morning to run errands and after lunch. If this weather holds true this winter is looking to be a mild one again.

ready to saw

I knifed the top end and dropped my square lines on both faces. I then knifed my baselines - I only knife each pin between the pencil lines. 

knifing the pins

I reach under the pin a frog hair - about the same as I do for dadoes. I then use the knife line to saw in. I usually always get a snug fit when I do it with pine. Doing it the same way for the cherry. If they don't fit it will be because they are too tight and I can shave the pins if necessary.

sawing the pins

No hiccups or heartaches sawing all the pins. I first saw on the top knife line and then I saw downward at an angle following the pencil line. Exactly the same way I would have done it if this was pine.

think I dodged it

There is knot on the first pin socket on the right. At first I thought I would have to chop the knot but I don't think so after eyeballing it. The baseline is clear and knot free so I shouldn't have any issues. 

chopping the pins

Other than not excavating as much waste, this went hiccup free. I took my time and spent a lot of calories initially chopping on the baselines. I took 4 small bites before I did a healthy thump on the chisel. I did not want to move the baseline with a chisel chop.

Lee Valley tool

Came today - a multi tool for setting shelf pin cups. It has 4 different size heads and I have 3 different size shelf pin cups. 

over a hundred

I bought a 100 more cups and it doesn't look like I added any at all to what was already in there. 100 cups is enough for 25 shelves. 

2nd one?

I would have bet a lung that I had bought one of these last year? I searched and couldn't find it so I ordered another one. For a 12gauge wire extension cord the price Lee Valley is selling it for was too good to pass on (again).

one side done

This is something that I rarely do for through dovetails. I try to leave as much waste attached as possible chopping from both sides. I was having trouble chopping down and digging out the waste. So I came in from the ends like I was doing half blinds to remove the waste. 

first pin cleared

No break out in the middle. I was expecting some but I got lucky. I was going slow and easy, doing lots of chopping and removing waste in small bites.

second pin socket

Got a line with a little bit of break out. Not that it would effect the fit if it did happen.

sawing

This is the back side that I don't see when sawing at the front. For the most part I sawed right on the pencil line removing it. I'm getting better at sawing square on the back sides.

3rd pin socket

This is the type of break out that I was expecting in all the sockets. This isn't that horrible looking nor does it eat up much of the socket.

done

One good, one almost good, and two not so good. Considering I was chopping unsupported wood this is better than to be expected. And again, it doesn't matter to anyone except me. Seeing that break out makes me think something is OTL (out to lunch).

hmm.......

The pins and tails are started with no creaking, groaning, or any other protestations. I was expecting this to be tighter than this.

can't complain

I think there will be a gap on the right half pin. There is a chip missing from it too and I'm not sure if it is on the back or the front.

left half pin

The fit on the left side is as good as the right. This half pin doesn't line up that good. There is a definite gap that is larger than the right one.

I wet myself

To say I wasn't happy with this would be like saying ducks don't like water. I gently tapped this together with a mallet. No headaches or hesitations driving it home. I didn't feel or see any binding or hold ups neither.

extremely happy with this

A couple of tails aren't full seated but overall the fit is fantastic for off the saw. In cherry too on my first go around with cherry dovetails.

it can't get any better

No gaps on the inside and this isn't even glued and clamped. One down and 3 more to whack out. I stopped here for the day because I didn't want to jinx myself and try and hurry up to get the other end fitted. I'll come back to this in the AM.

 accidental woodworker

There is no part of this video that I did not find captivating.  The blend of traditional excellence with modern technology is simply sublime.  It appears to be “manufactured housing” and if so, there is much we can learn from it.

In this video the back eventually gets reunited with the rest of the body!

Cheers Gary

The cherry cupboard progress continues in spite of my doubts. Today I finished the tails on it. Survived that ordeal I put myself through and I am happy with the results. They didn't come out any different then ones I have done in pine. 

I was thinking about the cherry clock I made so many years ago and I know it didn't have any dovetails in it. I still have the plans for it and I looked them over last night. The carcass was put together with rabbeted joinery and even the moldings were in rabbets. Today I would make this same carcass with dovetails and forgo the rabbets for the moldings (5/8" cove moldings). Instead of using rabbets to house the moldings I would mold them on the front and sides with a molding plane. Things have changed and my skill level has risen a few notches in the past 40 plus years.

hmm......

This tail on the right side wasn't square to the face. I didn't need the square to tell me that because I could see it. I used this to check all the tails for square. This was the only one OTL (out to lunch) on this end of the board.

checked the baselines too

I do not undercut my baselines. I try to chop them flat and square to the face. It doesn't make any sense to me to undercut them and only have two super thin edges supporting it. IMO it is akin the edge on a tool be it a chisel or plane iron. You want the two edges to come together and reflect no light. Not much meat there for support eh?

done

Sawn, chopped, and cleaned up. Again, I fretted over this for nothing. I have been dovetailing now for almost 15 years. I wonder how well I'll do on the pins. Will I be able to achieve a fit like Paul Sellers does in oak as easily as I breathe air?

thinking out loud

After eyeballing my first side board I starting thinking about it. The first thought was maybe I should have used the dovetail guide on the right. It is a 1:7 and I don't know what the left one is. That is the one I use to mark without regard to what the wood is or the purpose of them. 

The second thought I had was maybe I should have added another tail. That would have decreased the  end grain to long grain glue surface. However, I went with this number of tails to decrease the sawing. Besides I like the wider look of these tails.

another 1:7 advantage

Using the 1:7 guide would have also resulted in the outside top tips being less pointy. That is one thing I have noticed with pine tails - if I'm not careful the tips will break/chip off. That is less of a concern with cherry or at least I hope it is.

the difference

The 1:7 guide straightens the angle a wee bit. If I do hardwood again I will try to use the 1:7 guide. I don't think it would have any negative effect on the pull out of the tails and pins. I might try it on my next pine project to verify that.

just noticed this

I have had these chisels for several years and I assumed that they were all the same length. Of these four I use the far left one and the two on the right the most. I never realized how much I had sharpened and ate up some of the length on these.

McMaster Carr order came

One thing I like about McMaster is the fast shipping. I ordered these on saturday night and they came today. They are expensive on some things but they usually have what I am looking for. Fingers were crossed on the springs bringing some joy.

Got 3 boxes of #4 brass round head screws to up the order $. I hate paying close to or more for shipping than what I bought.

all #4 screws

I now have 3 types of wood screws to choose. Flat head, oval head, and finally, round head. I thought I had some black oxide and shiny nickel screws but I didn't have any #4s.

much rejoicing in Mudville

I was not too sure about these springs. They didn't seem to compress that much. However, they were a dead on match for the springs in the working quick grip. They fit and worked a charm. I couldn't feel/see any difference in this quick grip with the McMaster springs and original springs. Glad to finally have this working again - it has been over 7 years (?) broken and useless.

McMaster P/N

These springs fit the bigger Quick Grip clamps and will not fit in the smaller 6&12 inch Quick Grips. I don't know if they will fit in the Irwin clamps - they bought out Quick Grip and then changed the design of them.

overblown

I thought this little knick was a lot worse than it actually is. When I was sawing it I thought I had ruined this side of the tail. Easily chiseled away and squared up. This was one of 3 non glitches.

feeling better

Got the tails done. These took me all day to do and it was all I got done. Normally I would have had this glued and cooking by now. But I purposefully took my time and double triple checked everything I did. I chopped each and every tail - I don't saw the tail and pin waste. That would have certainly shortened the time line.

pin boards

I'll start these tomorrow. I didn't want to start on these and not complete them before quitting time.

using this more and more

The piece of pine is the setting block for pin boards. I set the pin board flush with the pine set up block.

ready to mark

Lay the back end of the tail board on the steady rest and knife the pins. I always place the pin board with the outside face towards the front jaw of the Moxon. That means the outside face of the tail board always faces up and inside face down.

reference edge

I label the bottom/back and that is my reference edge. I square up that edge to the front face of the pin board. I always do it this way and the times I haven't, it saved my bacon. Something would look odd, out of place, or not what I expected if I don't stick to this regimen. 

quitting time today

I could have probably knifed one pin board before 1500 but nixed it. I am still a little reserved about rushing this. I'll start in on it fresh eyed and bushy tailed in the AM.

I spent the early dismissal time watching the last of the Elementary series. I am on the last season with 3 more episodes to watch. I'll have to find something else on prime to occupy limited attention span.

accidental woodworker

With stout posts driven 36″+ into the ground I was ready to move forward and ordered the requisite 1/4″ hardware cloth to cover the entire floor space (to keep out all the little rodents that make Mrs. Barn’s gardening life one of frustration) and the pile of 2x8x10′ PT/SYP to build the knee walls and other components.  Now that was a shock, as the price was 3X more than the last time I ordered any meaningful quantity of construction lumber.  Those who are Inflation Deniers clearly do not comprehend either the definition of the term nor its manifestation.  But Don, are you saying you are smarter than the President and Secretary of the Treasury and Chairman of the Federal Reserve and all those other “experts”?

Yup.  Why that is would be another blog post, or better yet, in some other universe of discourse.  Hint: it all boils down to the “Austrian” strain of economics.

I laid the hardware cloth and began screwing the 2x8s to the posts.  I bought enough material for a four-course wall but Mrs. Barn decided three was better, so I managed to build my reserve inventory of that supply even more.

With the three courses in place, I fired up the chainsaw and lopped off the posts at the top of the knee wall.  Carpentry by chainsaw is definitely a thing.  Those scraps will become bench legs in the greenhouse configuration.

Setting the edge with string I lined up all the sill plates on top of the walls and posts, readying everything for the addition of the cattle fence panels that will form the arched roof structure.

Stay tuned.

Operated in slo mo today. Not because of something wrong physically with me but due to the dovetails to come. I have been thinking about it all night long. I don't usually think about dovetailing - I just do them. But cherry dovetails aren't the same as pine ones. Cherry doesn't have that forgiving compression factor that pine has. I am going to have to mark and saw more carefully. Hence the procrastination on my part. I wish I had done some practice cherry dovetails before tackling this cupboard.

eyeballing the approximate size

I squared and sawed the sides to length. Stepped back to eyeball the size of the carcass. The OD on the width is less than 17" and the ID is less the 15". These are about the same as the prototype. I thought of changing the top and bottom boards but decided to stay with this.

solid top or bottom

I wanted to take a look of using a one piece top/bottom. I don't think it changes anything. I can see the same look with using a 2 1/2" wide flat molding. Solves that problem and I now have some left over cherry.

big boy pants on

I like using the Glen Drake scriber because the groove it makes matches the kerf of the dovetail saw. I wanted all the help I could muster sawing these dovetails.

ready, set, go

I sawed these slower than I normally do. I go right to left and then left to right. That didn't change except for the speed and time. I first made sure that I had sawn in the groove and that it was square across. 

survived

Got the first two tails sawn with no hiccups. I did notice that when I made minor corrections that I made nicks on the tail side and not in the waste. I'm not sure how or if they will swell and close up come glue time. Or I could be quibbling about nothing. I tend to be a harsh critic of myself.

first side done

Another step that I was concerned with. The half pins on the left side are done and all four looked good. 

done

Survived the first part of sawing the dovetails. I didn't feel a big difference and I was overly concerned about nothing it seems. The sawing action is the same, but it takes a bit more to saw cherry than pine. Now that I'm done sawing the tails I can start fretting about the pins.

Got the 4 chisels I'll need to chop the tails and pins. That were sharp but probably not good enough for cherry. Time to expend calories getting them sharp and shiny.

hardcover

Both of these are first editions (not that I care about that) and my wife's college friend gave them to me. I have both of these in softcover but I prefer hardcover books to softcover ones.

top right end of the shelf

About 15" of that shelf has my Eric Sloane books. He wrote a lot of books and I think I have all of them except for 7. There could be more because I can't find a definitive list of the books he had published.

This is my overflow bookcase. I have two upstairs that are full and this one is about 65% occupied. I have one more bookcase to the left of this one that I made in 1995 when I got out of the Navy. That one has all fiction and non fiction books but I'm thinking of thinning them out. At the rate I'm going I'll need it for the woodworking books I keep buying.

sharp and shiny

I sharpen my chisels with a honing guide. I will occasionally sharpen a chisel by hand but 99.9999% I use a honing guide. Today when I set the bevel distance on them I didn't have to use the runway to flatten the entire bevel. Something or someone was watching over me.

25 or 30 degree

I use these two to set the chisel in the honing guide. I put the guide on the top and drop the chisel down to the 1/2" aluminum angle. What happens next was I used the guide on the stone and the existing chisel bevel angle didn't match what the stone did to it. Until today. I've had in the back of mind changing this current set up to something different. I must have been doing something wrong that I'm still not aware of.

Tomorrow I'll chop the tails and saw the pins.

accidental woodworker

 Short time in the shop today. I went on a road trip to visit my wife's best friend from college. I still managed get some things accomplished. The next upcoming step is dovetailing the carcass. I am a little concerned with this because I don't have a lot of hardwood dovetailing under my belt. So I'm procrastinating a wee bit. I'll put on my big boy pants before I start doing them.

two more

The longer board will give up the fixed and adjustable shelves. I decided to leave that one long rather than plane it as two separate boards. I am also going to plane the short board, it isn't needed for the cupboard.

I'll take it

non reference face

All I did on this side was to knock down the wings - this face was cupped. That makes the lunchbox work easier. And it takes less trips through it to get it flat.

reference face

It is smoothed but not 100%. I don't see the need to go that far before running it through the lunchbox planer. 90% of this face is flat and that is sufficient for the bed of the planer to plane the non reference face.

done

These two came out a 64th thicker than the ones I did yesterday. I'm not going to quibble about it because it is impossible to see a 64th difference. Plus I may lose more than a 64th when I use the #3 to smooth them out.

relax time

Just as well I went visiting with my wife. That will give these time to relax and get any stupid wood tricks out their systems.

accidental woodworker

A few days ago I wrote about fixing up a Starrett combo square that I found at a garage sale.  It had all three heads - 45/90, protractor and centering - but I could only get the centering head to clamp the rule securely.  Turns out it was user error and I'll explain a bit here about that.

Here's the 45/90 head with rule in place

The clamp screw, spring and nut

You can see at the left end of the clamp screw, there is a raised tab that fits into the groove in the rule.  When the clamp nut is tightened, the tab pulls the rule tight in it's slot in the head.

The groove in the rule

Here's where I went wrong.  Note the little nub on the side of the clamp screw, roughly centered along its length.

The nub in question

This nub's purpose is twofold: to keep the clamp screw from sliding too far down in it's hole and to keep the clamp screw from rotating in the hole.  But there's a catch.  It turns out on older Starrett combo squares (and accessory heads), there's a small recess cut on the side of the shaft into which the clamp screw goes.  This recess extends from the bottom of the slot (in which the rule slides) towards the clamp nut for about 1/8".  I tried to get that in a picture, but it's very tough to photograph due to its location.

Looking down into the rule slot of the 45/90 head The camera is actually a bit to the right of being straight above the hole (the round hole is for the clamp screw)

Closer-up pic showing the recess for the nub

An even closer pic - if you use your imagination, you can see the recess. We're actually seeing the bottom of that recess.

So it turns out that the clamp screw only goes into the head one way.  The nub has to go into that recess.  If it's turned 180 deg, the nub gets caught on the bottom of the rule slot and you can't tighten the rule enough.  Turned the proper way, the clamp screw goes 1/8" deeper in its hole and you can clamp the rule tightly.

I'm glad I figured this one out - I was considering filing off the nubs on two of the clamp screws!

Now, here's a newer Starrett combo square for comparison.  This was one of the only high end tools I bought new when getting started, and like all Starrett stuff it's been great.  It's probably 10-12 years old now.

The clamp screw, a special washer, spring and nut

There is no nub on the newer clamp screws.  Instead, there is a flat milled on opposing sides of the clamp screw and the washer's hole has two flats that match the flats of the screw.  There are two tabs on the washer that fit into recesses in the head casting and that is the mechanism that keeps the clamp screw from turning in its hole.

A flat milled on the clamp screw (the washer is in place, but isn't easily seen in this pic)

A tab on the washer up into its recess

So the clamp screw can go into the head two ways.  There is no nub to require it to fit only one way.  I hope this clarifies the way these squares clamp the rule and that it helps someone who is up against the same issues.

Frequently, for both relaxation and edification, I watch videos of chainsaw magicians felling trees.  Big trees, troublesome trees, trees leaning the wrong way, trees in the wrong place.  As my own tree-felling is part of life on the homestead (I am confident in my ability to fell trees the size of my thigh, not confident in felling trees the size of my waist) I try to watch and learn.  Other times I just watch to be captivated by the skills of these men doing this dangerous work with caution and confidence, sort of my version of ASMR.

This video documents the felling of the largest tree I have even seen, executed by a barefoot lumberjack working without eye or face protection for the most part, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth a hundred feet in the air.  Since I watched this with the sound off I am not really certain of the context of where or when this occurred.

But I was impressed.

Yesterday I planed the stock for the upcoming cherry cupboard. I made a prototype out of pine to work out the dimensions and any kinks. About the only thing that will be different with the cherry cupboard are the dimensions. The cherry one will be deeper (9"), higher (~24"), and wider (~19-20"). What is still up in the air is the overall size of the door opening and the drawers (there will be two of them). Making this cherry cupboard will the be second big project I have made with a hardwood. The first one was a cherry clock I made about 45 years ago.

Wasted my AM time running around to four Wally Worlds trying to find Starbucks decaf coffee K cups. I found no joy and all four were dry. Plenty of other Starbucks K cups just not what I wanted. After I got home I went on the Wally World website and found the decaf K cups on sale for $6 down from $15. I ordered 6 of them and they are supposed to come in today. When these come in I plan to buy 6 more if they are still available. As of this typing it still hasn't arrived.

good sign

All but one of these are looking dead flat and straight. One long board has a small bow in it. Nothing major and I'm sure that after it is married up the bow will disappear.

selecting parts

I plan on using this one for the two drawer fronts. I happen to like sapwood streaks and I will leave it. The second part of this is whether to put the sapwood on the bottom of the drawers or on the top. 

cherry is drop dead gorgeous

This is going to be the top or bottom of the carcass. The sides which are much more visible than this are straight grained with smaller cathedrals.

the luck of the draw

These two boards were one board 4 days ago. It amazes me how much the grain can change in such a short distance. This board was roughly 4' long.

carcass parts

I ran the Stanley #80 over all the faces on these boards. There were a bazillion ridges left on them from the chipped blades on the lunchbox planer. I find these to be annoying to feel as I work on the boards. 

carcass labeled

I have the four parts sized to width which ended up being 9 1/16". The height will be about 23 1/2" (not carved in stone yet). The width I haven't decided on yet. If I maximize the width it would be close to 20". That doesn't look balanced in my minds eye. I will probably knock that down to 17-18". I want a rectangular carcass and not a square. Both of these measurements are the outside dimensions.

sweet planing

This cherry is a dream to plane. Even where the grain gets squirrely it planes ok. It tears out but not as bad as other hardwoods I've worked on. Using the #3 to smooth out the planer snipe on all the boards I planed yesterday.

thinking out loud

Eyeballing this as a potential treatment for the cupboard. Instead of 2 or 2 1/2 inch wide flat molding on the top and bottom, attach a full width top/bottom with a 1" overhang on 3 sides.

not a problem

Usually cathedrals this large would result in a ton of torn out grain in other woods. Instead I just generated a pile of fluffy shavings.

hmm.....

Making my first change. The far board on the right was going to be the top for the cupboard. The right board laying flat on the bench is the top. I'm switching the board on the left to be the top now. That will make the top/bottom a better match for color and grain. I will use the discarded board for rails/stiles for the door.

fingers crossed

I found some springs on McMaster that were a dead on match for the springs in the complete quick grip. They are corrosion resistance and I'm not sure about the compression specs and differences, if any, between what were the OEM springs and what I'm getting. 5 of them cost less than $17 so fingers crossed that they will work.

the top/bottom

This won't be readily visible but if someone anal like me looks they will find that they match pretty good for grain and color.

the sides

There are some cathedrals but they are tighter and smaller than the ones on the top and bottom. I wouldn't like the top/bottom being on the sides - that would feel like they were shouting at me.

hmm......

I thought this board was 20" but it ain't. This will dictate the overall size of the width of the cupboard. Less than 17" but more than 16".

forgot it big time

I need two more parts for the cupboard. I need one fixed and one adjustable shelf. I will mull over whether or not to thickness them by hand or use the lunchbox planer. I think that will depend upon the weather. 

Today was another nice day here in my part of the universe. It is November 1st and the mercury topped out at 81F (27C). Tomorrow is supposed to be partly cloudy and 20 degrees lower F. Still not a bad day for november 2nd. FYI the clocks {P_)@%&*)(#^)(#_))_)@$$@&^ spring ahead fall back on sunday.

I got a reply from LAP concerning replacement hammer handles for the Exeter Hammer. She said that currently that don't offer that option but they are working on it. I got a reply last saturday but I kept forgetting to post it on the blog.

accidental woodworker

In light of the positive response to Elia’s midsummer wild hair to sell reduced-price Reamers in the Raw — and because it’s just an all-around good idea — we’ve decided to expand the concept. We are now pleased to offer both Travishers in the Raw and Tenon Cutters in the Raw.

I’m coming up on eight years working with Elia at Hand Tool Woodworking. For most of that time I’ve been carving out a niche as resident toolmaker, primarily producing our travishers and tenon cutters. While making hundreds of the same tool can get repetitive, it thankfully also lends itself to gradual refinement. Knowing that each batch of tools I make has been a slight improvement on the previous batch keeps things interesting and preserves a creative spark.

Over time our tools have become more precise, more practical, more consistently uniform, and — if I may say so — easier on the eyes. This has been a collaborative process, often with me problem-finding through hands-on workflow hiccups and Elia problem-solving by acquiring the right equipment or nifty jig-making. All of this takes time and has led to steady increases in our tool prices. By selling these tools “in the raw” we will be able to still provide quality tools at a reduced price and leave the level of finishing up to you.

When Elia first brought up this idea I was unsure about it. How would I feel about stopping at a certain point in the toolmaking process before a tool was finished according to my normal standards? It’s been an adjustment, but a good one. I’ve had to look through my toolmaking “recipes” and figure out which steps could be reasonably passed on to an adventurous end-user with some brief instruction — or even left undone and still produce a working tool. It’s actually been fun to whip through a couple batches of tools in record time and shake up my routine.

So what will you get? For the travishers, I’ve done the essential tooling of the brass soles but the blending and smoothing of those cuts is left undone. Each sole is matched to the individual blade that comes with the tool, but the blades will need to be sharpened. For the body of the tool, aesthetic chamfers and sanding have been omitted, as well as our shellac finish. Each tool will, however, come with an instruction list on how to make it workable at minimum, and how to — if so inclined — make it sexy. Both standard and wide-radius versions are available on our travishers page for $150 each, half the price of our finished tools.

For the tenon cutters, I’ve cut the blade beds, reamed the cutting holes, turned the handles, and hollow-ground the blades. All that’s left on these, besides finishing, will be to hone and set the blades. Setting can be a little tricky, but instructions are included and I’m always an email away for stubborn cases. All three of our standard sizes are available on our tenon cutters page for $70 each (also half our normal price).

So, while this won’t give you a purely soup-to-nuts DIY experience, it will hopefully provide an affordable and moderately challenging option for those of you who would like these tools, but have been hindered by the price tag.

Here’s to wild hairs, and may your blades be sharp enough to split them!

We are smack-dab in the middle of a fortnight-plus stretch of simply spectacular weather, sunny days in the 60s and nights in the 30s and 40s.  we are taking full advantage of the opportunity to get tons of outside work done.  Matter of fact I have not been in the shop for nearly three weeks other than to package orders for mailing out.

Thanks to our connection to a stout young local lad, we’ve been able to keep up with the routine yard work much better than years past.  One of the things we really appreciate is his mowing of the large hillside area directly above the garden.  It keeps the underbrush under control and the expanse of green is a delight.

A picture from eight years ago when I first got the beast.

In order to expand that vista and perhaps make more space available for other things, an orchard is in the discussion, I spent several days with my DR Brush Mower whacking away at the ~4 acres of hillside adjacent to this mowed area.  It’s the brown-ish area just beyond the green.  I can only work on this about every third day as my shoulders need a lot of recuperation time these days.

For the first time since we bought the property almost 25 years ago that section of hillside is all cleared except for the woodland we are keeping.  With this step our young fellow is certain he can keep that area mowed as well.  There is definitely a difference between a cautious old man with a $4K lawn tractor and a fearless 16-year-old with a $10K lawn tractor.

In addition I cleared a 1-1/2 acre section between the driveway and the creek, an area we always called “the orchard” since there were a few apple trees there.  That field is chock full of large rocks and I walked it ahead of time, marking each big rock with fluorescent spray paint.  It was still several hours of arduous work, with many more hours of work yet to come.

Hi Everyone,

This is Ilana, Chris’s widow. Hope you are healthy and faring OK as this year draws to a close (and if you are in the U.S., as the election draws near as well)!

I have a fun and practical post that some of you will hopefully find useful. I still get questions about Chris’s recommendations for all sorts of things, from tools to machines to where to purchase chisels. Although I am not into encouraging consumerism, if you are going to buy things (I can see into your mind and know you want more tools!), why not buy ones that are recommended by Chris?

I do not get any money from any of this. This is purely in response to the occasional questions that I receive. Seems good to have it all in one place. (If you do want to support the blog or our family, you can buy Chris’s carpentry drawing and joinery PDFs. I use the proceeds to cover the cost of keeping the blog active and anything left goes directly to our family.)

Feel free to chime in using the comments if you think I have forgotten something, you agree, disagree, etc. It’s subjective, so there’s no official right or wrong here!

Brands of Tools (and some places to find them)

Screwdrivers – Wera. He would usually get them from KC Tool in the U.S.

Japanese tool sellers – he had some personal relationships with Japanese tool dealers, but I think he would probably send you to Hida Tool (based in California) if you don’t speak Japanese and are in the US.

Pliers and related tools – Knipex

Clamps – Bessey

Digital Calipers – Mitutoyo

Other precision tools and granite surface plates – Starrett (which is within driving distance of where we live -the factory is in Athol, Massachusetts – and you can go on a factory tour! Chris did that and thought it was very cool.)

Drills and Impact Drivers – Makita and also Bosch for the big ones (including hammer drills).

Tool Cabinets – Kennedy

Shop Vacs and small dust collection systems – Festool, and he probably would have been happy with some others too. He also got a Harvey dust collector toward the end of his life that he didn’t have a chance to use much, but he thought it seemed great. It was a smaller one – not one of the big ones on the site linked above.

Machines

I will mostly forgo a list here, because most of you probably have your own machine opinions and know he was a fan of Martin machines. He had a shaper and a jointer, both of which he loved. Before Chris was ill, he hoped to eventually get a table saw and planer as well – either Martin or Hoffmann. In the last few years, he became equally, if not more, enamored with Hoffmann, partially because they are a smaller company and have an excellent reputation for customer care.

For band saws, he was very happy with both of his Hitachi saws.

He loved the Shinx super surfacer, and I don’t know what other brands are good for those!

He also really liked his Festool chop saw.

Wood

All around fave

Honduran mahogany, because of its stability, rot resistance, suitability for both outdoor use and furniture, medium hardness, workability, ease planing (most of the time!), and ease finishing.

Furniture

Probably bubinga, because of its stability, strength, beauty, potential for figure, potential to get quarter sawn if you look hard enough, and visual similarity to huanghuali, which was used extensively in Ming period Chinese furniture. Those of you who have used bubinga know it can be nearly impossible to plane without tear out and it’s very hard and heavy, but if you are OK with those qualities, it is fabulous. Chris made some gorgeous pieces out of bubinga.

Chris also found that avodire was a good alternative to softer woods traditionally used in Japan when creating indoor spaces using traditional Japanese style elements that would have higher traffic, and therefore would benefit from a more durable material. I am almost positive that he used avodire for his project at Colgate University, where he redesigned rooms in the East Asian Languages & Literature Department, one with traditional Japanese elements and one with Chinese elements.

North American woods

Cherry and walnut. He didn’t use either too much in the last few years, but he liked both and I don’t think I have to tell you why if you are a reader of this blog!

Other harder to find faves:
(Some of these are on the CITES Appendices or IUCN Red List, so Chris would try to find them from retiring woodworkers who had been storing them for years.)

• wenge – for dark accents. He also liked Gabon ebony for dark pegs and wedges, but that is endangered and extremely hard to find, as you probably know!
• jatoba – harder to work than bubinga and even a little harder but extremely strong and polishes well
• shedua (AKA ovangkol) Chris also liked that it is related to bubinga and found it paired well visually and for joinery, as he found it moves similarly and not much)
• lignum vitae – super duper hard and heavy, but so strong and rot resistant. And it is waxy/oily in a way which makes it perpetually slippery, ideal for applications like the bottoms of sliding doors or even drawer runners . Also, you can bury it in the ground and have your grandchildren dig it up when they are ready to retire and want to build something.
• cocobolo and the other rosewoods. Even though they are now very mostly listed, hard to find, and brittle!
• If you are an avid reader of the blog, you know he also loved working with Cuban mahogany, but that isn’t exactly kicking around much these days. It was actually prone to breaking because it’s short-grained, which of course he didn’t know when he started his last cabinet, because he had never met anyone who had used it!

Japanese blacksmiths

Funahiro and Kiyohisa – um, hard to find, as you probably know!

Books (I will add more to this section, based on books I still have of his!)

Including a few links to reviews on this blog that you may have missed! A reader of the blog recently asked me to help him find the book recommendations, so that is what got this whole thing started!

For inspiration on motifs: Chinese Lattice Designs and Japanese Design Motifs from Dover. He would often consult these when thinking about lattice designs and other decorative details in his pieces. Often, he ended up with something that was inspired by a motif in one of these books even though he rarely copied them exactly.

Book in English on Japanese Gardens: Japanese Garden Design by Marc Keane

He liked Get Your House Right and provided a detailed review in a 2011 post.

Shoji and Kumiko Design Basics – 2-part, detailed review here from 2012

He loved (and at times found very frustrating) the incredible and huge book by Louis Mazerolle, Traité Théorique et Pratique de Charpente. It is very expensive, only available in 19th century French, and has some errors in the drawings that may have been printing errors or may have been intentional, to throw off readers from competing woodworking guilds! All that said, the book is amazing and has huge, fold out carpentry drawings of a variety of complex structures, using French joinery and layout techniques of that time period. If you don’t want to buy your own copy and you happen to be in the Northeast of the US, feel free to contact me about dropping by to see the book and some of Chris’s furniture.

Place to see roofs and roof treatments in North America:

Quebec City, noted in his 2011 post, Road Trip.

I will work on adding a section on historic houses that he liked too!

Right now, I will start by adding a shout out for the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina in the US, which was recently hit hard by Hurricane Helene and is still recovering. Chris was very impressed by it.

Oh, and his favorite temples and shrines in Japan would be a fun addition, though if you go to Japan, you may already have your own list!