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Woodworking in a Tiny Shop

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This is my attempt to record some things I'm doing. It's as much to help me remember some details as it is to share with others.
Updated: 33 min ago

New Fence for a Marking Gauge

Thu, 02/06/2025 - 1:55pm

About 12-15 years ago, I met a man on a plane who noticed I was reading a woodworking magazine and we struck up a conversation.  Short story shorter, he ended up surprising me by sending a few tools that he was no longer using.  Among these was this marking gauge labelled "Worth", a name I didn't and still don't know anything about.  EDIT - an internet search came up with a thread on a "Garage Journal" forum where people identified Worth as being a brand from Bigelow and Douse Hardware of Boston, MA.  They further noted that the Worth tools were probably manufactured by Peck, Stow and Wilcox (Pexto) for the hardware store.

The Worth marking gauge

It had a wooden screw to clamp the beam in place, approx 3/8" x 10 tpi

Like many similar gauges, the wooden screw had become loose as the wood fibers were worn away.  Also, the mortise hole in the fence wasn't a great fit for the beam, so this gauge has been sitting in a drawer for a long time.

At first, I addressed the beam looseness problem by putting some blue masking tape on the beam to get a tighter fit in the fence.  Obviously not a long-term solution.  Then I thought about putting a threaded insert in the screw hole and using a metal thumb screw.

Brass threaded insert

It turned out that the brass insert was still a little loose in the hole, so I decided that I'd make a new fence.  If I was making a marking gauge from scratch, I'd mortise the fence first and then plane the beam to fit just right.  For this one, I wanted to use the Worth's beam, both for nostalgic reasons and because I like the scale printed on one side.  It was a little tricky to make the mortise just the right size to fit the existing beam.  I ended up using a caliper to measure the beam's width, locked the caliper at that measurement, then stabbed the inner diameter measuring fingers of the caliper on the new fence to mark for the mortise walls.

Mortise chopped and upper and lower facets shaped for the
curved top and bottom surfaces of the beam

At first, the fit seemed a little too loose, but after some shellac it fit very well.  Next, I bored a hole through the top, down to the mortise.  I had shaped and placed a stick in the mortise so that I wouldn't blow out the mortise's top wall.  The threaded insert went in that hole.

You can see the insert within the mortise

I used a leather punch to make this plastic "coin" (?) so that
the thumb screw would not damage the top of the beam

I get a good solid grip of the beam when the thumb screw is tightened

Then the screw was cut down to length.  To make the thumb screw more comfortable, I inset the "thumb hold" part of the screw into two small pieces of walnut that were carved out to fit the thumb hold and then glued together.  It was then shaped to make a much more comfortable grip and look a bit more like the original.

The new thumb screw next to the original

After shaping the fence for comfort, I gave the parts a few coats of shellac, then waxed all but the bottom of the beam - that's what gets pressed against the lower mortise wall when the screw is tightened and I don't want that to be slippery.

So I now have a nicely working marking gauge.  It looks a little funny being two-toned, but I got to preserve some of the gift I was given and give it new life.

Glamour shot #1

Glamour shot #2

BTW, I changed one thing in my fence from the original: there is more meat below the mortise in the walnut fence.  I like having that extra bearing surface when using a marking gauge.  The original had less than 5/8" of bearing surface to reference against a workpiece.

Spreadsheet for Determining Radius of a Curve

Thu, 01/30/2025 - 6:15pm

This post will be considered by some as an intellectual exercise only.  Maybe it's for math geeks, like myself.  There are simpler methods to do what I write about.  I'm all for simplicity, but I like the math.

When I want to put a curve on the underside of a chair rail or a table apron, a simple method is to place a clamp at either end of the intended curvature and bend a stick (or ruler) to the desired "bulge" of the curve.  While this method will give attractive results, the resulting curve will not be exactly circular.  The stick bends more at it's center than at its ends.  And it may not bend equally both sides of center.

Marked lines 1" from ends, and placed clamps near those marks

Centerline marked and 1 inch "bulge" marked from lower edge

Bend a stick to the "bulge" mark, and draw the curve

Here's the resulting curve

There are times when I want to end up with a curve that is part of a circle.  And when this is the case, I'd like to know the radius of the circle that will give the desired curve so that I can lay it out on the workpiece.

Here's an example, same as in the above pics.  Suppose I have a 20" x 2 1/2" rail and I want to put a circular arc on the underside.  I want the arc to start 1" from each end of the rail and I want it to extend up into the rail's front face by 1".  So that's an arc 18" wide with a 1" bulge.

Using a little math, I can calculate that the radius of the circle that gives the appropriate arc is 41".  I can then use a stick (or piece of string) of that length and a pencil to lay out the curve.  I'll write more about the math below.

This stick will allow arcs up to approx. 48" radius

One end has a shallow slot to run a pencil in

You can put a screw anywhere on the stick for whatever radius you need.
The screw tip exits the bottom side, and it is used as a pivot point for drawing the arc.

Here, I'm using the radius jig to mark the arc on the workpiece.
Note that the screw has to be in line with the centerline of the workpiece.

The two methods give very similar results, so it really doesn't matter which you use.

You can see the slight difference in the two methods

But if you're doing a smaller piece, say an arc only 6" wide, then that bendy stick won't bend in that tight a space.  That's when it would be easier to use a radius stick.  For those smaller pieces, I can use my homemade trammel points to create the arc.  I'll show that below.

Another place where drawing a circular arc has come up is when laying out a camber on a scrub plane iron.  I recently made an iron that was 1 1/2" wide and I wanted a 1/16" bulge at the cutting edge.  For this iron, I simply filed a curve to get it close.  But if I wanted to be more precise, I could figure out what the radius of that curvature is and make a template.  Turns out it is about 4 1/2".

Cardboard template, 1 1/2" wide with centerline drawn

Homemade trammel points

Setting the distance to 4 1/2"


Drawing the appropriate arc on the template

Measuring the resulting bulge - it's about 1/16"

Comparing the template to the plane iron

OK, now here's the math part.  It has to do with right triangles and the Pythagorean theorem.  I'll start with the example of a table apron, which I want to put an arc on the bottom edge, starting some distance in from each end and rising up a certain amount.  In the picture below, points A and B are the ends of the arc, and C is a point centered between them.  The width of the arc I'll call "w", so the distance from C to B is 1/2 w.  The bulge of the arc is the distance from the lower edge of the board to the highest point on the arc.  I call it "b".

The workpiece with arc drawn.  The arc has width "w" and height "b".

Now I'm going to zoom out so you can see the rest of the picture.  The arc drawn on the workpiece is part of a large circle, whose center is at point O.  The radius of the circle, given by distance R, is the distance from point O to any point on the circle.  I'm using point B here.

Zoomed out pic shows the complete circle with radius drawn

Another radius is from the center, O, to the point at the top center of the arc, drawn straight up from the center.  That radius is made up of two distances, the distance from O to C, and the distance from C to the top of the arc.  The latter of those I've already called "b", the bulge.  So the distance from O to C is a radius minus the bulge, or R-b.  Triangle OCB is a right triangle, so from Pythagoras, the sum of the squares of the two legs (legs are the sides of the triangle making the right angle) equals the square of the hypotenuse.

R^2 = (R-b)^2 + (w/2)^2       (the symbol ^2 means squared)

R^2 = R^2 - 2Rb + b^2 + (w^2)/4

And simplifying, we get:

2Rb = b^2 + (w^2)/4, and then

R = (b^2 + (w^2)/4) / (2b)

So to draw an arc with a certain width and bulge, you can calculate the radius of the circle that describes the arc and use a stick to draw the arc.  I've put this formula into an Excel spreadsheet.  If you want to do the same, type the following in an Excel sheet:

=(C4^2 + (C3^2)/4)/(2*C4)

In this formula, C3 is the location in the spreadsheet where I entered the arc width (not half width, the whole width).  C4 is the location in the spreadsheet where I entered the bulge.

Here's a picture of what my Excel sheet looks like (replace the word "Iron" with "Arc")

The example shown above has an arc width of 18" and a bulge of 1".  The resulting radius is 41".

Here are the details for the other example of this - shaping a plane iron with camber to make a scrub plane.  It works exactly the same way.

The plane iron drawn in gray, with markings like the earlier example.

Here's the upper end shown closer up

Using the spreadsheet for an iron that is 1 1/2" wide and giving a 1/16" bulge, I get a radius of 4 1/2".

The cambered iron example

For anyone who is actually interested in this stuff, if you can't figure out how to get the formula I wrote above (shaded in yellow) to work in your own Excel spreadsheet, contact me using the "contact me" gadget somewhere on this blog page.  Specify that you want the radius spreadsheet, because I've got another spreadsheet for a different application and don't want to send the wrong one.

New Iron for a Scrub Plane

Thu, 01/23/2025 - 10:14pm
A few years ago I made this scrub plane.  See here and here for details.  For the iron, I used what appeared to be a homemade plane blade I had found at a garage sale.  

Scrub plane from 2022

Body, wedge and blade

The iron, as found

I had no idea what type of steel that iron was made from, and really didn't know if it was any good at all. It was thick - about 7/32" thick. When I made the plane, I hardened and tempered the iron.  I've used it a bit, though not a huge amount, and it seemed to be cutting well for a short time, but needed sharpening quickly.  Last year after using it a while I noticed some chips in the cutting edge.  Apparently the steel wasn't a type one should use for edge tools.  Either that or I messed up the heat treatment.

If you look closely, you can see the chips in the edge

Another view from bevel side

The plane has been sitting on the "rehab shelf" for several months now and finally I'm getting the chance to do something about it.  I tried reheat-treating the iron and got it to cherry red and nonmagnetic, but after quenching in oil, a file still was able to bite into it, so the heat treatment clearly didn't do the job I intended.  Time to punt on that iron.  I had a chunk of 1/8" thick O-1 steel of the same width as the old iron, and I shaped it, hardened it and tempered it.

Old iron and new one ready to be shaped

I drew a 1/16" bulge on the end and filed the shape

Then mounted it in a vise at about 25 deg and filed the bevel.
I followed that with the hand-cranked grinder.

Shaped the back end similar to some other irons I've got

Here's my heat-treating setup

The iron warped a little from heat treating.  The front 1" of the back side was hollow and it took a long time to get it flat.  The bevel side had a belly at the front 1".  The rest (not hardened) stayed flat.

The old iron had a more severe camber on the blade - about 1/8" bulge over the 1 1/2" width.  In practice, I never used the entire width of that iron because it was just too much wood removal.  The new iron I shaped to about 1/16" bulge over the 1 1/2" width.  That's about a 4 1/2" radius for anyone counting.

But because the new iron is thinner, I needed a thicker wedge.  Instead of making a new wedge, I glued a piece of wood to the underside of the existing wedge and planed it down so that the wedge would sit in the throat at the right location.  I thought I used the same wood, but apparently it's not because it looks much different.

Gluing a piece of wood onto the underside of the wedge

It looks a little funky, but it'll be functional

Here's the thing about the wedge.  It needs to be fairly precisely shaped to provide a good fit of the wedge/iron to the plane body.  But almost as important as that (and probably equally as important for other types of planes) is the fit and final location of the wedge's fingers.

Here's a pic of the unfinished wedge from a few years ago.
Note the angled shape of the end of the fingers (left).

Inside the plane's throat, at the bottom of the wedge abutments, the abutments angle toward the plane's sides.  This provides a ramp for the shavings coming off the iron.  It's very tough to get a good photograph of the wedge fingers and the plane body's lower abutments, but hopefully you'll see what I'm getting at.

Looking through the mouth, you can see the wedge and lower abutment.
A close-up image is next.

The red arrow points to the lower abutment that angles toward the plane's side.
The yellow arrow points to the wedge finger (note it is two-tone - both light
and dark colors are the finger).  The finger's angle should line up with the abutment's angle.

I took a couple shavings off the underside of the wedge until the fit was just right.

Well, that's it.  The new iron fits great and the wedge holds it securely.  I put a little BLO on the wedge's added-on bottom and the scrub plane is back in business.  I'll report back if this new iron is not performing as I expect it to.

Shaker Handled Step Stool

Fri, 01/17/2025 - 12:41pm

This is a project I've been thinking about for quite some time.  We have a little step stool in the kitchen that helps my wife reach some things on higher shelves.  But she has to reach to the floor to grab it and move it.  I don't know where I first saw a design like this, but having a tall handle seems like a great idea for a kitchen step stool.

It'll look something like this

I made this out of the red oak I got from a neighbor's kitchen remodel.  The handle is about 30" tall, the step is 8 1/2" wide and 12 1/2" long and is 9" off the floor.  The joint between the step and the low upright (front legs) used dovetails.  It's been a few months since I dovetailed anything, and I felt a little rusty.

Tails cut and waste chopped

Pins cut and waste chopped out

The fit wasn't perfect.  I filled a couple of small gaps after glue-up.  For the joint between the step and the tall handle, I used multiple (roughly) square mortises and tenons.  I left the tenons about 1/16" proud, because I like the look.

Handle board below, step above, marked and ready for cutting

Another view.  The left/right extents of the mortises and tenons were marked
with a panel gauge, referencing off the same side (edge)

Mortises in the handle piece were first bored, then chopped to the lines

Checking for square inside walls

Looking pretty clean

The tenons came out pretty good, still a little paring to do here

Got a good fit

Added a rail under the step.  Through tenons.  The tenons were offset from center
of the rail so that I could leave more meat on the handle piece between the mortises
for the step and the mortise for the rail.  A curve was added to the rail's underside later.

I wanted to add something for visual interest (and so my wife might like it), so I cut out a heart shape at the top of the handle.  The heart doubles as a hand hole.  I practiced with scrap first, and that was a good idea so that I'd get a good heart shape on the real thing.

Practicing on scrap of same width

Making a template: two overlapping circles of 1 3/8" diameter, from the bottom
of those circles, mark down 1 3/8" along the centerline.  Then join the outside of
the two circles with a slight curve to that point.  The larger heart is 1/2" offset from the smaller one.

The heart/handle came out pretty good

Next was shaping the handle piece and creating feet.  The handle had gentle curves starting 1" above the step and ending a couple inches below the heart.  The feet were made by cutting out a half-ellipse, 5 1/2" minor axis and 10" major axis (only half the major axis length was used because I'm using a half-ellipse).

Template used to mark out the shape on the handle

Handle sides shaped - awaiting the half-ellipse for creating feet (no pics)

Before gluing up, I did a few dry-runs to figure out my clamping strategy.  The glue-up went fine, but it always looks so silly with all those clamps in place.  There's a lot going on in the picture below.  They're not seen in the photo, but there are two pieces of scrap placed between the front feet and back feet.  They are the exact length as the distance between the step's two shoulder lines - the dovetail side and the tenon side.  These pieces were placed between the feet so that the joints would stay square when clamped up.

Those deep-reach clamps extending out left and right are clamping the rail to the underside of the seat.  I made these many years ago from plans in Wood magazine (I think), and they really come in handy at times.

The glue-up

These cauls were used for clamping the multiple tenons (top)
and the dovetails (bottom)

I'm happy with the result.  The dovetails look pretty good and the the through tenons fit well.  The following pics are after a first coat of shellac.

The dovetails and through tenon of the rail

The multiple mortise and tenon joint, with rail tenon on the handle side

And the final product:

First coat of shellac applied

I've got three coats of shellac on now, and I'll give it another coat or two tomorrow (but not on the underside).  Time will tell if it gets used in our kitchen.  It's intended to replace (or be in addition to) a step stool that has huge sentimental value to my wife.


2024 Review

Sun, 01/12/2025 - 9:32pm

I probably wrote the same thing last year, but it seems like I didn't do enough woodworking in 2024.  As I look back on my posts, here's what I got.

Projects

I started out the year strong with a really attractive box to hold tea bags.  The project came out great and my wife loves it.

Tea box in mahogany (or some mahogany imposter)

Then a neighbor gave me a bunch of red oak from their kitchen remodel, so I made them a two-step stool from that wood.  I was quite happy with how it came out.

This is probably the 4th of these I've made

In April or May I modified our silverware drawer with a nice organizer.  This has worked out nicely.

The top level slides back to reveal the lesser-used items in the bottom

In May I had a request from a neighbor for a pet food stand for their cat.  It was a simple three-sided "box", but I made it a little more complicated with angled dovetails.

The neighbors really like it

I didn't write about this one during the year, but in May/June I made a couple of Roubo phone stands for family who were visiting.

Woodwork complete, awaiting a finish

In June, I made a wooden toolbox to carry tools to the "Repair Cafe" that I volunteer for.  This was a really nice project and it came out great.

It has a lift-out tray, storage under that, and a drawer at bottom

My most involved project last year was a Schwarz stick chair, completed in July.  It was very challenging to build, but it came out great.  Still, it's not as comfortable as I thought it might be.  And more than one person has tripped on the front feet, which stick out a bit too far.

The Schwarz "short back" chair

My last project of any importance was a stool for the granddaughter.  The woodworking was easy enough, but my wife did a really spiffy job painting it.

Stool for Felicity

Tool Making or Rehab

Knowing that I was going to make a Schwarz chair sometime during the year, I had to figure out how to make a rounder plane.  After some prototypes, I made one for 5/8" and one for 1/2" tenons.

5/8" rounder plane for making cylindrical tenons

As further preparation for making the chair, I bought and rehabbed a couple of auger bit extensions.  Unfortunately they were too large a diameter to fit my needs for the chair, but I'm still glad I got them. One was pristine when I got it and the other needed significant work to get it working right.  As it turned out, I found another one with the appropriate diameter a couple weeks after I finished the chair.  So I'll be ready when the next chair project comes around.

A Craftsman (above) and a Stanley #180

I finally got a chance to pick up some centre bits for a brace.  I had wanted to try these for a long time.  Now, if I can get my hands on some spoon bits, much of my boring fascination will have been satisfied.

A dozen centre bits

At a few estate and/or garage sales, I was able to score a few new-to-me tools.  They have all been rehabbed and are nice additions to the shop.

From an August garage sale

From a couple of August or September estate sales

Lastly, in October, I made a cap-iron screwdriver from an old steel hinge and a scrap of wood.  Just today (end of December) I used it for the first time.  I guess that shows how much woodworking I've been doing lately.  But I really like the screwdriver - it fits the cap-iron screw perfectly in my Stanley planes.

Looks and feels great

Miscellaneous

The only thing I have for this category is my early December tour of the Museum of American Heritage.  Actually it was a tour of the warehouse where they store all the items that they rotate in and out of the museum.  MOAH is in Palo Alto, CA, but the warehouse is in San Carlos.  It was fantastic - there was so much stuff, and woodworking tools were only a small part of it.

This post drill was just one of thousands of items at the museum warehouse


Well, it was a pretty good year after all.  Here's hoping 2025 will be even better.  Happy New Year everybody!

The Museum of American Heritage

Mon, 12/30/2024 - 9:32pm

In early December, I had the great fortune to be invited to see the warehouse of a local museum, the Museum of American Heritage.  The museum itself has interesting exhibits that rotate a couple hundred objects in and out periodically. But the exhibits pull items from the warehouse, which is jam-packed with thousands of vintage items.

I only took pictures of the woodworking items, but there was so much more.  From a wooden-framed bicycle made during WWII metal shortages, to the original calculators, to a punch-clock machine from the company that would later become IBM, it was unbelievable.  I wish the lighting had been better for taking photos.

A couple of post drills

Here's a better pic of the one on the right.
I love these things.  Even got to turn it a bit.

A saw set - probably a Stanley #42, not sure

Two spoke pointers - one of them was huge!

Poor picture of a large and LONG T-handle auger

Vintage Shinto rasp - and I thought these were a fairly new tool design

A couple of wooden plow planes

Top shelf has drilling tools and wrenches.
Middle shelf has various wooden planes and side rabbet at far right.
Bottom shelf has a Stanley 45?, Stanley 75 and Stanley 39 dado plane.

Check this out: an old powered jointer with a wooden frame and tables.
Never seen that before!

Stanley #113 circular plane (compass plane)

This is just a sample of the woodworking stuff that I saw.  I also saw a treadle scroll saw, several braces, more planes and other items.

Woodworking was only a small proportion of the overall warehouse.  Everything else was fantastic and fascinating as well.  And I never would have known that it existed.  I wonder how many other small museums (with large collections) exist in other towns around here - or elsewhere for that matter.  If there are any small local museums in your area, by all means check them out.

Mohawk Shelburne 10" Ratcheting Brace

Wed, 12/18/2024 - 1:18pm

This post is about fixing up a hand brace.  For most people reading this, there won't be anything new or ground breaking, so maybe this post is for those who don't already know much about braces.

One of the tools I found at the estate sales that I wrote about recently was a 10" ratcheting brace with the inscription "MOHAWK SHELBURNE / MADE IN U.S.A. / NO. 1710".  I didn't know anything about this brand, so I looked into it.

The Mohawk Shelburne No. 1710

The inscription

Info from the Old Tool Heaven website indicates (look about 3/4 down the linked page for the 1700 series) that this was made by Millers Falls as an "economy" line of tools.  This one is likely from the 1935-1948 time period, though I would have thought it was newer than that based on its condition.  It was a little rusty, but it cleaned up easily and is in great shape.  For an "economy" brace, this thing is built very solidly.

The first thing I did for this brace was to sand lightly (about 400 grit paper) all the surfaces to remove rust.  Fortunately it didn't need much.  I also used some 00 and 0000 steel wool and a wire wheel in a drill to clean things up.

Well, that looks a lot nicer!

The jaws that hold an auger bit need to be able to slide easily inside the shell.  I have skinny fingers and can fit one inside the shell with some fine sandpaper or steel wool to clean up the forward (conical) part of the inside of the shell.  If you've got fat fingers, use a padded screwdriver or something similar.

The shell and jaws

Looking from back end of the shell, note the shiny, smooth front conical portion
on the inside.  That's where the jaws need to slide.

Pointer shows where to get a nice smooth surface for the jaws to slide well in the shell

After cleaning up these parts, I gave them both a little oil to guard against rust and ensure they slide easily against each other.

Next is to clean up the threads on the inside of the shell and on the brace's main body where the shell screws on.  A brass brush or toothbrush works well here.  But when the dirt and gunk are a little heavier, then a pointed tool (like in the previous picture) can help clean them up.  A string can also be used to help clean between the external threads.

Clean threads allow the shell to screws on easily

The ratcheting mechanism is next.  For this brace, I shot some WD40 in all the joints to loosen up any crud.  Work the forward and reverse mechanism to loosen any dirt underneath it, and then spin the external threaded area in both directions to ensure the lubricant gets spread to all locations.

Here's the forward / reverse mechanism ...

... and the ratchet mechanism

So far I have not had the courage to do it, but if the ratcheting was not working (or working very poorly), you can knock out some pins to take it apart.

I think these two pins hold the ratcheting "pawls" in place

There's another pin here for disassembly of the ratcheting gear

I shook loose and wiped away as much WD40 as I could and added several drops of oil to keep things in nice working order.

Now for the handle - not sure what to call the rear handle, but that one.  I noticed early on the ball bearings that are used.  You can see them in the next picture.  If this wasn't already in good condition, I could have taken it all apart to clean the bearing race.  As it was, I just gave everything a good oiling and put it back together.

In this pic taken pre-rust removal, you can se the ball bearings

Under the handle, there are three screws, ...


... but these aren't the only thing holding the wood handle to the base.
Note the threads that the wood handle screws onto.

If I wanted to access the ball bearings, I could remove this C-clip

I opted not to scrape and refinish the two handles.  They were in pretty good shape already.  Not that they couldn't use some new finish - it just wasn't that urgent.

And that's it.  There's not too much involved in cleaning up a brace, especially one that is already in pretty good working order.

All cleaned up and ready to go

Catch you all next time.

Estate Sale Finds - Part 2

Wed, 12/11/2024 - 4:57pm

This is the second post about some tools I found at a couple of estate sales back in August.  Last week I wrote about the boring tools: brace, bits and an auger bit extension.  This post is about the three chisels in the lot.

The tools I got at two estate sales

Of the three chisels in the picture, the two smaller ones were made by Swedish maker E. A. Berg, the "Eskilstuna" brand.  Both are about 7/8" across the edge.  Remarkably, they were found at two different estate sales (and on the same day)!  You'd think I'd find them together!  These made me think of a guy in my tool collectors club, Jeppe Eskilsson, who died unexpectedly during the pandemic.  He was an avid collector of, and had tons of knowledge about, Swedish tools.  I enjoyed talking to him and wish I had spent more time with him.

I made a handle for the handle-less Berg chisel, just a simple shape.  But as I was rehabbing that chisel, I found that the blade had a serious crack in it.

E. A. Berg 7/8" chisel

The logo

The crack from the flat face ...

... and shown on the beveled side

Handled and sharpened

Due to the crack, I'll never use this chisel with a hammer or mallet, but it sharpened up nicely and can pare like nobody's business.

Paring end grain with the freshly sharpened Berg chisel

The second Berg chisel is a much heavier duty square-sided "firmer" chisel.  It has the same logo as the bevel-edged Berg chisel.  It's got a steel ring at the back end and this chisel has been bashed by hammers many, many times in its life.

E. A. Berg 7/8" firmer chisel

Unfortunately heavy pitting on the flat side

A stout steel ring at the back end

Got a nice mirror finish after flattening and sharpening

I had to spend a lot of time flattening this one to get down past the pitting.  It also required that I remove about 1/8" from the length to get past some unevenness and deeper pitting.  And because the chisel was fairly thick, it took quite a while on the hand crank grinder to create a new bevel.

This flat at this tip shows how much I had to grind back from the edge

The third chisel is a 2" bevel edged chisel with the mark "YALE" on it.  I tried to research this, but got conflicting results.  I found on eBay a chisel box labelled "C. I. Yale Mfg. Co., successors to G. I. Mix & Co., Yalesville, Conn, USA".  But I dead ended there.  There is also the Yale Lock Company, who've been around for many decades.  The logo on the chisel does not appear to be the same as logos used by the Yale Lock Mfg. Co., which later became the Yale and Towne Mfg. Co. that apparently made (and still makes) fork lifts.  But these Yale companies were founded by Linus Yale, so not the same as that C. I. Yale Mfg. Co.  Someone suggested that a known manufacturer could have made chisels for Yale Lock and stamped Yale's name and logo on it.  I'm guessing that's the case.

Anyway, this chisel had quite a side-to-side belly on it's flat side and it took a LOT of time and effort to flatten it.  But eventually it got there and sharpened up nicely.  Its handle had been broken off and apparently someone kept using the chisel with the tip of the handle still in the socket.  The broken handle had been hammered into the socket so much that not only was it very tough to remove, but also the rim of the socket was seriously deformed.  I filed the rim reasonably smooth and made a new handle for it.

The logo

As found: tip of handle hopelessly bashed into the socket

Drilled a hole and put in a screw to try to pull out the handle's tip (to no avail)

I had to drill out the handle's remains and followed up with a metal pick to pry loose some debris.  Filling the socket with water for several hours helped loosen the fibers and eventually I got it cleaned out.  But look at the rim of the socket!

Totally deformed from years of pounding from a metal hammer

And here it is after filing the rim

I made a new handle with the "London Pattern" from some scrap wood.  Fitting the tapered tip into the chisel's socket was fit/pare/fit/pare/fit/pare and repeat. because the interior of the socket was anything but a regular cone shape.  I marked the inside of the socket with sharpie to gauge progress and eventually got a good tight fit.

Turning an octagonal blank to the London pattern on the bungee lathe

Fit the end into the socket to find where it rubs more and file/rasp those marks away

This is the very tip of the chisel handle: it shows how out-of-round the hole was

The finished handle before the shellac finish, shown here next to a 1 1/2" chisel

Handle with shellac, then wax; edge sharpened

These chisels cleaned up nicely.  Aside from the bevel-edged Berg chisel with the big crack in it, they will be nice users.  But even that one should be useful for lighter paring work.  I shudder to think what might have become of these had I not seen them in a cabinet at those sales.  Probably the scrap heap, and that would have been a shame!

Estate Sale Finds, Part 1

Thu, 12/05/2024 - 9:06pm

Back in August or September, I found a few interesting things at two estate sales.  The combined haul was not huge, but included an almost complete set of auger bits, a 10" brace, an 18" auger bit extension, 3 chisels and some used and unused hacksaw blades.

The modest haul was still worth the time

This post will cover the boring tools and a follow-up post will cover the chisels.

The auger bits comprised an almost complete mixed-maker set.  They were all fairly rusty, but they cleaned up nicely using the rust removal formula I wrote about a couple months ago.  There was at least one bit that was too far gone to be useable - it's cutting spurs were bent horribly and there wouldn't have been enough left to be functional if I had filed them smooth.  A couple others had spurs that were about even with the cutting lips, so I filed the cutting lips down to allow the spurs to score wood before the lips would start removing material.  Filing the lips that much is not optimal, but at least they'll cut a hole now.  And if I'm careful, the hole will be reasonably clean.  Here are the sizes and makers or markings (a slash "/" denotes different lines of markings):

  • 3/16     No markings  (unusual size - not sure I've seen one before)
  • 4/16     ACRABORE / TAYLOR-GUEDE / MADE IN U.S.A.
  • 4/16     RUSSELL JENNINGS
  • 6/16     CLEAN CUT / TRADEMARK
  • 6/16     No markings
  • 6/16     GILMORE SPECIAL  (This one is beyond restoring)
  • 7/16     ACRABORE / TAYLOR-GUEDE / MADE IN USA
  • 8/16     IRWIN / USA
  • 9/16     GREENLEE / ROCKFORD ILLINOIS / MADE IN USA / No. 22
  • 10/16   IRWIN - U.S. of A.
  • 13/16   GREENLEE / ROCKFORD ILLINOIS / MADE IN USA / No. 22
  • 14/16   THE JAMES SWAN CO. / SEYMORE CT, U.S.A.
  • 15/16   THE JAMES SWAN CO. / SEYMORE CT, U.S.A.
  • Small Expansive Bit (Small Cutter Only)   CLARK / CONVALCO / EXPANSIVE / U.S.A.
  • Large Expansive Bit (Long Cutter Only)   HSB & CO. / OUR VERY BEST

The missing sizes were 5/16", 11/16", 12/16" and 1".  By coincidence, I found a C. E. JENNINGS & CO. No 10, 11/16" bit in great condition at a garage sale within a couple weeks of finding these.

The former owner had made this neat holder from a big chunk of wood

A few of these bits needed remedial attention.  They hadn't been taken care of and had a hard life.

The Gilmore Special 3/8" bit looked like it had been down a kitchen
sink "dispose-all".  The spurs are hopelessly dubbed over and the
lead screw threads were beyond repair.

The 1/2" Irwin - USA bit was in rough shape.  The left spur has been
filed here, the right spur is dubbed over and is next up for filing.

Because I had to file the spurs down, the cutting lips also needed to be
filed so they wouldn't start cutting until after the spurs engage.
Not optimal, but it does work now.

Here's the lot of them, all cleaned up

The smaller of the two expansive bits was a Clark.  I'd never seen one so small.  It can bore holes from about 1/2" to 1" diameter.  The expansive bits I'd seen previously were for boring holes larger than a typical set of 1/4" to 1" diameters.  I'm guessing that this bit was made for people who didn't want to buy a full set of bits.

The Clark (below) and the H.S.B (above)

There is a problem with the Clark bit.  The spur on the moveable arm is bent inward a little.  This means that it might get stuck in a cut because the top of the spur cuts a smaller diameter than the rest of the spur will fit into.  I tried to straighten the spur, but didn't get it much better, if at all - I was too worried about breaking off the top of the spur.

You can see the problem in this picture.
Note how the tip of the spur bends in a little.

I tried tapping the spur to get it to proper shape, to no avail.
I may try to heat it to make it more malleable and then tap it.

The larger expansive bit is from Hibbert, Spencer and Bartlett and it will cut holes like all the other expansive bits I've seen: about 1 3/4" to 3".  The smaller cutting arm was not present.  The spur on the main body is a bit short - about at the same level as the cutting lip on the main body.  But it will still cut a hole because the spur on the moveable arm is plenty long.

The business end of the HSB expansive bit

I've sharpened both of these bits and they'll cut, but they could be better.

The auger bit extension that I found looks like it was user-made.  There is no maker's mark, it's not exactly straight and an auger bit just fits in the end with no locking mechanism at all.  It was really rusty as found, but I cleaned the rust off and it looks better.

The auger bit extension

The business end - looks to be hand forged

Probably hammered around another auger bit's square tapered shank

A defect

I bought this because recently when making a chair, I couldn't fit my other bit extensions through a 5/8" hole in the arm to bore a hole in the seat.  My other bit extensions have diameters of 11/16" where they hold an auger bit.  But this one has a diameter of about 9/16", so it would have worked in that instance.  Too bad I found it a couple weeks too late!

The 9/16" extension above, 11/16" extension below

Lastly, there is this 10" sweep brace.  I still need to clean it up, but I can tell that it'll clean up easily and work perfectly.  I don't know anything about this brand.

It's marked:
MOHAWK    MADE IN U.S.A.
SHELBURNE          NO. 1710

I can see the ball bearings in this ring below the handle

That's it for this post.  Next time I'll write about the chisels - they were quite interesting.


Making a New Tote Toe Screw for Stanley #5

Wed, 11/20/2024 - 2:14pm

The Stanley #5 that I found recently at a garage sale came with a poor excuse for a tote screw to hold the toe of the tote.  It was all wrong: wrong head, wrong thread, just plain wrong.

The tote screw as found

Here it is next to a correct screw from another plane.
You can see the difference in threads and head.

Unfortunately for us plane enthusiasts, Stanley used a 12-20 thread that did not gain wide use elsewhere and therefore is not made by anyone these days.  At a recent tool show, one of the guys said he had spare tote screws and would bring one to the next tool show. But when I was looking into this, I read somebody suggesting the use of a 1/4-20 screw, modified to fit and I had to try it.  It has the right number of threads per inch, just a larger diameter.

The 12-20 screw has a major diameter of about 0.211".  I started with a 1/4-20 machine bolt that has a major diameter of about 0.248".

A 12-20 tote screw above, 1/4-20 machine bolt below.
It was very helpful to have the extra length on the 1/4-20 to chuck it
up in a drill without damaging the 1/2" of threads that I needed.

Here, I'm filing 1/2" length of threads to about 0.211" diameter.

I followed that using the edge of a small half round file
to deepen the valleys between threads whose peaks I had filed down.
I started with a triangular file, but that was cutting way too wide. 

Then I filed the head round and then to a rough domed shape and put it 
back in the drill to file and sand it smooth

I hacksawed and filed a slot in the head, then cut off the unneeded length of threaded portion.  I'd still like to make this look darker like the correct screw shown in the first picture, but for now, it works perfectly.  If anybody knows a DIY method (using stuff I have - no harsh chemicals) of turning this screw dark, I'd love to know it.

The screw finished

I'm not much of a metalworker, but damn, that is satisfying!

Making a Cap Iron Screwdriver

Wed, 11/06/2024 - 8:03pm

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!


On Older and Newer Starrett Combination Squares

Sat, 11/02/2024 - 4:45pm

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.


Cleaning and Fixing Up My Garage Sale Finds

Thu, 10/31/2024 - 2:45pm

In early August I posted about finding some tools at a garage sale.  These tools were incredibly dirty and grungy.  Finally I've had a chance to clean them up.  The first up was a small pair of Stanley 84-120 needle nose pliers (made in Japan).  All they needed was some Simple Green, a brass brush and a little sanding.  These cleaned up beautifully and are already proving quite useful.

As found

Cleaned up

Next was a C. E. Jennings & Co. #10 auger bit, 11/16" diameter.  I used the rust remover that I posted about a few weeks ago and it came out great.  A wire wheel in a drill cleaned it up nicely.  It's now sharp and the spurs and cutting lips are in good shape.  And a bonus - this was one of the sizes missing from a set of bits I found at another sale recently.

As found

Cleaned up and sharpened

Next was the Stanley #51 spokeshave.  This needed a little more work.  After de-rusting the parts, I flattened the sole.  A wire wheel in a drill helped to make the other parts shiny and presentable.

As found

The sole was far from flat before this

Cleaned up

I've not used a #51 before, but I found the adjustment of the iron to be less of a problem than I thought it might be.  I advance it with a hammer, and if I need to retract the iron, I've got to loosen the lever cap and pull it back manually.  But it seems to hold it's position fine.  I had thought it might shift left or right in use.  I'll judge later how it performs in the long run.

Next up is the Stanley #5, WWII era.  I think this is a type 17 because it has the hard rubber depth adjuster knob and black (or very dark) painted/lacquered hardwood (not rosewood) tote and front knob.  It was disgustingly dirty, but cleaned up pretty easily with Simple Green and a toothbrush and brass wire brush.  The iron and some screws needed some de-rusting as well.

Stanley #5, type 17 from WWII era.
It's got the hard rubber depth adjuster and an inappropriate tote toe screw.

The iron says "VICTORY" and "MADE IN USA

Filthy, disgusting! (said with a French accent, from some childhood cartoon)

Starting to flatten the sole - this needed a lot of work

Good enough

The VICTORY iron de-rusted and cleaned up

I scraped off the old paint/finish from the tote and knob, then added some "Dark Walnut" stain and about 5 coats of shellac, sanding between coats.  Then I removed the sheen with some 0000 steel wool and waxed them.  They look and feel great.

Almost finished

In the picture above, I had borrowed a tote toe screw from another plane.  But since then I made one from a 1/4-20 bolt.  I'll post about that separately.

It took a few tries to set the frog properly for a thin shaving, but once I got it, the shavings felt great.  I think this has potential to be a great user plane.

Finally, there's the Starrett combination square with all three heads.  This was also incredibly dirty and needed a fair bit of work to clean up.

Starrett combo square with all three heads - what a find!!

First up was cleaning with Simple Green

The blade and blade-locking hardware were then soaked in rust remover and then cleaned with a wire wheel.  The protractor head had its scale wire-wheeled and the flat surfaces were rubbed briefly on sharpening stones and lightly sanded.  On all three heads, I used a tip from Alfred, who commented on my earlier post about these garage sale tools.  He said to make sure to clean out the slot for the rule, especially the grooves on each side of the raised ribs on which the rule sits.  I used some cardboard, sliding back and forth until all was clean.

Here's the protractor head looking a lot better

All parts cleaned up

The blade looking much better

Unfortunately, there are three issues with this set.  First, the blade locks firmly into place in the centering head, but it will not lock into the protractor head or combination head.  It seems the small crimp on the clamp screw is slightly off of where it should be.  I've got to look into this some more to figure out what to do about it.  It's possible that the clamp screws were made for a blade of greater width.

Here's one of those clamp screws.  The little crimped nub is
on the left side near the middle.  It keeps the screw from going 
too far down its hole and from rotating in the hole.

Second, the protractor head has a tiny screw that locks the rotation at the angle you want.  This screw has had half of it's head broken off.

That little screw goes in the hole I'm pointing to and the screw head locks the round part

Here's a close-up shot of that screw missing half its head

The thread is something like a #3-56 or something near that size.  It's tough to count the threads on something that small.  I'll take it to my local hardware store and see if they have a thread gauge that small.

And third, the scribe could not be held in place in the 90 / 45 degree head.  I think the grime is the only thing that held it in place all those years.  After I cleaned it up, the scribe was free to fall right out.  But thanks to a Bob Rozaieski video that addressed this exact problem, I was able to fix it.

Back end of the 45/90 head.  See the brass bushing in the scriber hole?

I got it out with a bent paper clip and pliers

Those fingers on the brass bushing should be bent inwards to provide
a tight grip on the scribe

This was a great fix.  So glad to have found that video.

All-in-all, great finds at a garage sale for little money.  I'm very happy about how easily they cleaned up.  And they all should become user tools.