Tools For Working Wood

The third step of the lesson - roughing out
How can we learn the craft of woodworking? People learn in different ways. Some people learn from books and magazines. Some people learn from YouTube. And some people are lucky enough to be taught by someone who knows something. I suppose nowadays most people do some combination of all three. The topic grabs your interest in one medium or another, and you slowly dive into everything else that's out there.

I tend to learn mostly from printed material. My primary formal woodworking instruction was decades ago - and woodturning played only a minor role. But now with our forthcoming treadle lathe I've had to re-learn it again from scratch.

As it happens, I have tons of old material in my library - and by old, I mean dating back to the 17th century, on turning, but the big problem is that I want a systematic approach. I really want a lesson-by-lesson instruction manual on using a treadle lathe. Videos are fantastic for showing a particular operation, but probably less efficient than reading for providing systematic information. I went through all the material I have on lathes. Most of the early pre-19th century material isn't suitable for beginners or is more of an overview than a coherent course. (The 19th century marked some changes in pedagogy in general and the beginning of what we would call shop classes.) A book that that resonated with me is "Elementary Turning" by Frank Henry Seldon. I have an original copy from 1907, but I'm using is the online edition, which is free. You can print out a PDF with pages that lie flat and can be reprinted if they get messed up in the shop. The instruction is designed for a powered lathe but I still find it great. The first lesson is on centering work. The second lesson is on taking a small square of wood and roughing it out into a cylinder using a roughing gouge and a skew chisel. Each lesson thereafter - there are 31 lessons in all - gets more and more involved. The first series of lessons are about basic techniques using a very limited set of tools. Seldon's approach might not appeal to you. There are many ways to learn things. And to a large extent it doesn't matter which lesson you follow, or which guru floats your boat. What is important is a consistent approach that you get by following one systematic approach. Learn from everyone, but initially follow one approach.

In other news, we have a opening for a part-time salesperson (or salespeople) at our Brooklyn showroom for several days a week.

Sales at Tools for Working Wood is an interesting job. You get a range of customers and that's what makes it interesting. We have people who come in who've been doing this for 40 years and will tell you everything you've ever wanted to know about 80 grit sandpaper. After they leave, you experiment yourself to see if you agree. And then a week later somebody, a newbie, maybe just a newbie in that particular area, will come in and you will get a chance to repeat back everything you've ever wanted to know about 80 grit sandpaper. And frankly this is how we learn. You keep your ears open, you keep your brain functioning, and all interactions are really interesting. Some people come in knowing what they want and some need help. Our goal is to point people in the right direction - and as many customers can attest, even if that direction is to a different store or product we don't sell or to the bad news that no such tool or process exists (yet). And you meet some interesting people too. We're looking for people who are interested in woodworking even if they're not experts because while we can teach people woodworking we can't teach you enthusiasm. I suppose I should mention the employee discount, which if you're outfitting a shop is not a bad thing to have. The most important thing we are looking for in the candidate gets along with people and a desire to learn.

We haven't posted this job elsewhere yet. We're hoping someone who reads this blog is looking to work in the craft and woodworking industries. So if you are interested in a great opportunity we'd like to talk to you. Send us an email.

Lesson one - Marking centers
Lesson two - Mounted in the lathe ready to rough out

After roughing out - smoothing with a skew chisel
Done - a pretty smooth cylinder - The instructions say it won't be perfect - mine isn't but I am pretty pleased
Elementary Turning and behind it an illustration from Manuel Du Tourneur, 1792

I visited another Christie's auction exhibition over the weekend. I like going to see what's on auction because there are many pieces of art that will be seen once and then disappear into a private collection for another 50 years. This time it was their "classics" auction - a mix of decorative arts, old Masters and some antiquities. I certainly couldn't help wondering while looking at the antiquities about how many of those objects were taken from their original resting place in the dead of night or with a bribe to multiple officials. But what really struck me is how little has changed in craftsmanship in 3,000 years.

To put it another way: the 3000-year-old version of ourselves probably had exactly the same imagination, creativity, and technical skill as we do today. What they didn't have was steel - or the ability to seek guidance from experts from all over the world and share techniques. They also didn't have electricity or motors.

The death mask at the top of this blog (945-715 BCE) is only 4 1/2" high and was originally covered with gesso and colored paint. I'm assuming it was a fair likeness of the individual it represents. It is a beautiful, expressive carving that any modern carver would be proud to have accomplished. And this was done with bronze tools, stone shards, and patience. The time it must have taken to make this mask with the available tools would have been considerable.

The second piece below is a small, not quite 6", elegantly turned bowl that in my view any modern turner would be pleased to produce. The walls are thin and uniform, and the proportions are excellent. It also happens to be made out of Diorite, a hard stone (similar to quartz) and dates from 2686-2566 BCE.

If the material were wood turned on a modern lathe, it would be a simple, elegant turning that evidences competence at turning with a really good eye for form and shape. If were made out of stone today, it would be hard work - even with diamond and carbide tools, cutting stone is not fun. But 4500 years ago! I cannot imagine the labor it took to make this. This was done on the lathe, not even a lathe with a treadle, more like a pole lathe. The tools were probably other stones and bronze tools enabled to cut stone using a slurry of sand and water. And since those craftsmen from 4500 years ago were probably very similar in temperament to craftspeople of today, I'm pretty sure there were lots of complaints about where to get the best sand, they don't make it like they used to, etc.

The exhibit also had a lot of old Masters, really second tier stuff, "school of" and studies that were never really meant to hang on a wall. Even so again, I was struck by the craftsmanship and how good the work was across the board.

I get the following takeaways from seeing these ancient masterpieces. Nothing has changed except the tools and technology. The basic dexterity, imagination, and tool ingenuity have stayed exactly the same. Second, we makers are following a long, long tradition. We make stuff. We make it to the best of our ability and craftsmanship and skill level. And sometimes the work we produce turns out fantastic.

Maybe the third thing is that the humans are known for what they leave behind, specifically what each culture leaves behind, which are examples of their skill in making things. And I am proud to be part of that tradition.


A side view of the death mask

An occupational / avocational hazard many of us have faced as woodworkers: a request to make a piece of furniture. It might be for a significant birthday present; it might be for payment (or not). Its just a stool (or picture frame, or jewelry box, or bench - to be fair, it typically isnt a Queen Anne Highboy. In other words, its a reasonable ask - except its sometimes hard to make the time and space and effort to make it.

There are many factors driving the interest in spoon carving, but surely the relative speed, space demands, material demands, skill demands, etc. of making a spoon versus making a piece of furniture helps promote spoon-making. The joys of creation and the joys of gifting meet the joy of (relatively) immediate gratification!

But if you dont want to make a spoon, or if your intended recipient doesnt need or want your spoon, you can give another gift that uses your hard-won skills: knife sharpening.

A friend who took a cooking class brought her newly-sharpened chefs knife (her knife; my gift of sharpening) to class. She immediately got a gold star from her teacher. A woodworker did this! They really know what sharp means! The teacher then devoted 10 unscripted minutes of the class to talk about sharpening and its importance in making culinary prep easier.

If you have chisels and plane blades, I hope you have learned to sharpen them. What about your kitchen knives? They work best when sharp too!

It's beyond the scope of this blog entry to go through all the lessons and things you need to know to specifically sharpen knives. But basically it's exactly the same skill you would use in sharpening your other blades. But - even better - kitchen knives are typically cutting softer material than wood and therefore they don't need to be as sharp as woodworking tools.

In woodworking we aim for that glass smooth edge. The smoother the edge, the fewer scratches, the longer the edge will last. That's because wood offers a fair amount of resistance to cutting, which stresses the blades. With cutting food, on the other hand, you can actually get away with a fairly coarse edge. A sawtooth can slice away at a piece of meat even when it isnt super sharp. You can get a lot of use out of a second- rate serrated knife. You even see serrated knives recommended for delicate cutting tasks such as cutting a tomato because a dull serrated knife will do a much better job getting past the tomatos skin than a dull chefs knife does. But on a delicate piece of fish the sawtooth will grab and tear. Kitchen knives also can quickly get dull because they get pushed against cutting boards, which is bad for the edge. (BTW plastic cutting boards are just deadly against a sharp edge.)

As is true with saws, even poorly sharpened knives will cut better than dull knives.

In the pictures I am sharpening several kitchen knives. The series of stones I am using are 400 grit (to bring up a wire edge); 1200 grit (to start chasing the edge); and 5000 grit (to finish and polish the edge). I then strop with newspaper. Why do I use that sequence of stones? In the shop I would use diamond stones; here I am using some older waterstones that I dont use for woodworking anymore - so I might as well use them in the kitchen. Although diamond stones are faster, everything works. When I am feeling lazy I skip the 5000 grit, but I find I get a better result at 5K. I used to add a 10K grit stone, but that seemed like overkill - an impressive edge, but it didnt last.

Sharp tools, whether sharp kitchen knives or sharp chisels, not only make the work easier, it opens new possibilities in doing the work. Imagine the difference using a sharp knife that doesnt slip and cuts where you intend to cut. Such a tool makes any cook appear more skillful and inspires more complex and potentially rewarding work.

I began this blog entry describing sharpening as a skill that you could offer to others because most of the users of kitchen knives have no idea how to sharpen them. Most of the advice I have seen on-line on newspaper cooking sections or mass market cooking sites is actively bad. But to be fair, the writers of these articles seem to not know what "sharp" actually means, or in the alternative, they do not regard sharpening skills in the same way they regard cooking skills: while they will spend decades learning to cook an omelet in a reliably excellent way, they think mastering a basic mechanical non-cooking skill is either beyond them or not worth learning how to do consistently. The standard advice seems to center on using honing steel or some gadget that shaves metal off, or something electric that holds the blade at a special angle. The main problem with honing steels is that they dont remove metal so much as push it around. Over time the bevel will become steeper and therefore less able to do its work. Hand gadgets that shave metal off work, but not without effort and care. Electric knife sharpeners, at least the good ones, work better, but they do take off more metal and do not get to nearly the same level of polish you can get to by hand. Depending on the machine, the knife may also end up with a more fragile edge.

But the most satisfying aspect of knife sharpening by hand may not be the end result, but rather the wonder of using your unusual skills to do something nice for someone else. Even if you cant present someone with a custom bookshelf, you can still use your talents as a woodworker to give them a useful and appreciated gift.

The unassuming entrance of what used to be a row of fancy mansions

In 1881, upon the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Vice President Chester Alan Arthur was sworn in in the front parlor of his home located at 123 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. The building, located between 28th and 29th streets is now home to Kalustyans, possibly the finest purveyor of spices and condiments in the United States.

I mention this bit of trivia because this past week I needed some bay leaves and therefore headed to Kalustyans. I live nearby and Its my go-to spice store. I feel affinity with Kalustyans because - much like TFWW - the shops customer base is the hard core enthusiast, both amateur and professional. And in order to run a business like theirs or ours, you need a certain passion for the work.

And it doesnt easily scale up.

Kalustyans was a force in New York culinary circles long before they started selling on-line. For decades the store was known as a very reliable source for all sorts of spices, herbs, condiments, and flavor ingredients from all over the world. I have no idea how many thousands of items they sell. But seriously, How many different types of bay leaves are too many? (See photo.) Their assortment of types of bitters for drinks is astonishing (see photo). The subtle differences between types of pepper are largely lost on a duffer cook like me. But when I needed some Panch Phoran for a Bengali style curry, Kalustyans had many package sizes of this spice blend.

So I definitely recommend a visit to their shop if youre in NYC and to the Kalustyans website, if youre not. But my larger topic is why independent stores like Kalusyans are so important to American culture.

At TFWW, our product mix reflects our thoughts about what a good store should offer. As a merchant, we sell products we like; as a manufacturer, we try to produce tools that we think should exist. This isnt always an easy road. Every day we get calls wondering when well be getting a certain Ashley Iles carving tool back in stock. We sell them not only because they are fantastic tools, but because you arent going to get that No 34 bent back spoon gouge so readily from another maker and you really need it for your carving.. We reintroduced real oval-handled mortise chisels into the market because we like them. Holdfasts came about because I used them as a kid and the cast ones sucked. Many of our products start out as a Wouldnt it be cool if we had thought. I have a touch of what my wife considers delusional optimism (a well known state of mind among people who start businesses). Certainly if I fully understood how challenging the treadle lathe would be to develop I might have talked myself out of it, which at the moment I think would be a big shame. We keep certain low volume products around (Im talking about you Spoon Bits) because the few people who need them, need them. And this is what independent companies are able to do.

The owners of Zabars, the quintessential Upper West Side food shop, turned down offers to open multiple stores because they didnt think they could maintain quality. Balduccis, a legendary gourmet store, tanked as soon as the Balducci family sold to investors who figured they could easily replicate the Balducci magic. It turns out that a lot of their products - and ours - dont scale up. Relatively speaking, there isnt a lot of either demand or supply.

In the tool world, most of the traditional tool businesses are privately owned family businesses. Their dedication to bring quality tools to the market and avoid the race to the bottom is tested every day. Do you want a great wheel gauge that people love? You get a Tite-Mark from us or another retailer. The reason it marks precisely without play is because it is made by Kevin Drake to his standards of what a great wheel gauge should be. Or you can do what many people do, which is buy a clone at a fraction of the price (and shame on any woodworking magazine that features knockoffs of the Tite-Mark). Unfortunately for these shoppers, these gauges dont work as well as the Tite-Mark, which is discouraging, and makes it harder for users, especially for beginners, to accomplish what they think they should be able to do.

I love supporting my local vendors. Not only is the shopping experience educational and fun, its deeply satisfying to know that should I need any other spice, not matter how obscure, someone at Kalusyans will tell me, as if I were in a big box supermarket buying Twinkies, Yeah, aisle three, near the window, the second shelf from the floor. And there it will be.

The store is actually three storefronts and a second floor - all crammed with stuff
The endless permutations of variety and package size goes on forever

8 different types of Bay Leaves

The chili department is overwhelming
And goes on forever
Section one of drink bitters and mixers
Section two of drink bitters and mixers

No idea what this stuff is for
Meyer lemons and desserts