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 I have made a bazillion boxes over the years. From way back when I was working wood with a rock and a dull butter knife for a chisel. For the most part I never had one kick my butt like the one I am doing today. In hindsight (which sucks pond scum) I should have made it out of cardboard first. It would have saved me a lot of frustration and wasted wood. At the end of the day I got it glued and cooking but I had to compromise and settle to get there.

doesn't matter now

The boards are still flat and twist free. Once they are dovetailed together it won't matter anymore. The pins tails and will keep it flat and from bowing or cupping.

wowie

This box is too big for my eyes. It will lose about an inch on the sides and ends due to the pins/tails. But that doesn't negate that this looks like a small suitcase.

lots of wasted space

This box as is, is too big for the jig. There is plenty of space for the loose tenons but that isn't enough to sway me from saying it is still too large.

almost 4"

The vacuum attachment port is the highest point on the jig. There is almost 4" of dead space above it. All I need is about a 1/2".

gained an inch

When I measured this height yesterday I used my tape and it said it was over 8". Mr Starrett says it is a wee bit more then 7".

oops

I made some pencil marks and made the first trimming saw cut on the box. Turns out that I made the box too small then for the jig. The handle wouldn't fit.

had too

I had already removed the table to decrease the depth of the box. I had no choice but to remove the handle to get the jig to fit in the box. Not happy with that but I didn't want to start over again and turn these boards into kindling.

shoulda, woulda, coulda, but didn't

Maybe I should have just sucked it up and used the dimensions of the cardboard box that the jig came in. I made another saw cut reducing the height to a 1/2" higher than the cardboard box.

sometimes you get lucky

The box as it is here, I can get the jig in it (broken down) along with the containers for the loose tenons.

off cuts

These are from the two saw cuts I made on the box but they won't be wasted. I can get a couple of 5x7 picture frames out of them.

tails first

Finally after a couple of hours of chasing my tail I got around to the dovetailing. I don't recall ever having these many problems making a box for a specific tool/purpose.

chopping board

One thing about this is that I like that it keeps the chiseling marks from going into my benchtop. I have used this about 5-6 times and so far no complaints. The size has worked with everything I have used it for. But It won't work for stock longer than it is. Those I'll have to chop on the benchtop.

dry fitted

Everything fits with a good use of space. I should have increased the height because I can't use an enclosed bottom and top - don't have room for the grooves for them. I thought I had allowed for it but I obviously measured/marked something wrong.

not what I wanted to do

As of now the plan is to glue the plywood bottom on the bottom of the box and band the outside to hide the plywood edge. The top will be a frame and panel lid.

need a divider

The divider will serve two purposes. One is separate the compartments for the jig and the tenons. Secondly it will help keep the contents from rocking and rolling as the box is moved around.

caught it too late

Laid out one of the grooves for the divider wrong. Glad I caught it before it got glued together.

done

Both of the grooves don't have to be the exact same depth. The divider will be fitted in glued in place after the box has cooked and set up.

loose fit

I'm ok with the fit because it is a stopped dado so it won't be going anywhere. 

banding

I over shot the height on one of the divider grooves. This banding will hide any and all evidence of that from seeing the light. Plus it will hide the plywood edge which I am not fond of gazing upon.

past quitting time

My goal was to get the box glued and cooking before said time. That was in the batter's box awaiting me. Decided to put in overtime to get it done.

dead nuts

Didn't need any clamps to pull the tails down to their baselines. Accomplished that with a block of wood and mallet. Tomorrow I'll make the lid and slap on few coats of shellac and call this done.

accidental woodworker

Birdwood House is a listed building, overlooking Totnes market square. It was originally called Somerset House and was the home of the Babbage family; later to produce Charles, the inventor of the Difference Engine, the first mechanical computer.

The building was refurbished in 2005 to house the Gallery, a venue for art. The art gallery is partially lit by a roof lantern. Unfortunately, the lantern had seen better days, so we were called in to do a restoration of it, starting on the 23rd December last. Listed building consent was acquired by the owners. After stripping the paint back, it was obvious restoration was not possible, and so a new lantern was made, saving and restoring the roll-top cap.

Here it is this morning, complete with anti-bird wire to replace the nasty bird spikes that were there before.

It has been a while since I have written anything about a medieval food recipe. Last year, we were re-enacting at the (pre-)historic village in Eindhoven which also involves cooking a meal for the Saturday. This time I tried out some new medieval recipies. One of them was white ravioli, a sweet dish.

Piglia de bona probatura fresca he pistala molto bene poi azonze pistando un pocho de butiro, zenzevero he canella. Et per una probaturaazonze tre ghiari d'ova ben batuta et del zucaro honestamente. Et incorpora tuti queste cose insieme. Poi fa li ravioli longhi he grossi uno dito. Poi imbratelli in bona farina. Et nota che questi volemo esser senza pasta. [marginal annotation in the manuscript: et se cum pasta li vorrai, falli.] He falli bollire adasio che non si rompano. Como hano levato uno buglore levali fora he meteli in scutelle cum zucaro, canella, he li poi far ghialdi de zaffrano.

Manuscript MS Bühler 19, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, USA, 5rv.

Of course I cannot read medieval Italian (or Napolitan as the book is believed to be of Napolitan origin), but luckily there is an English translation in the book: The medieval kitchen - recipes from France and Italy by Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban and Silvano Serventi. There is also a youtube video (Italian with English subtitles, see below) of the recipe, though this does not mention the source, just that it is late 15th century.

Ingredients

600 g soft white cheese, such as mozarella (di buffola)

20 g of butter at room temperature

2 egg whites lightly beaten

4 tablespoons of (cane) sugar

flour for dredging

1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of ground Ceylon cinnamon

salt

a few threads of saffron (optional, I did not use it)

 

Preparing the dish

Mash together the cheese, butter, ginger, half of the cinnamon, all sugar except 2 spoonfulls, a pinch of salt and the saffran in a mortar or food processor. When the mixture is very smooth (or a bit less smooth in my case) add the egg whites. Cool down the mixture.

Mix together the remaining sugar and cinnamon.  Put some flour in a  shallow plate for dredging.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, and lower it to a simmer.

Take a spoonfull of the mixture and form the ravioli. Coat it with flour by rolling it through the shallow plate. Set aside on a floured tray or cookie sheet.

Drop the ravioli one by one in the lightly boiling water. Do not stir the ravioli as they can break apart easily. When the ravioli are ready they float to the surface and they can be scooped out with a skimmer. Drain well. Serve with some sprinkled cinnamon and sugar mixture.

 

The white ravioli served us warm as a desert (the ravioli were served as a first course though at a banquet by Sozzo Bandinelli on 23 December 1326 for the knighting of his son) at the end of our dinner, and the leftovers cold as breakfast the next morning. They both - warm and cold - tasted delicious.

 Now that I am not having surgery for a while my wife is abandoning me and heading for North Carolina again. She didn't say when she was coming back but Mr Darcy and I will survive somehow. I can function ok without adult supervision for a little while.

glad I looked

Went to Lowes and I picked out 4, four foot, 1x12's to take home. But I checked the 6 foot 1x12 rack which I hardly ever do. In my opinion 99.99% of the pine here averages 2 bazillion knots an inch. However, I found 2 nearly clear boards in the pile. After I found these two I put the four footers back, and headed for the barn. 

breaking it down

I got everything I needed for the box out of one board. And I had a 13" long piece left over that I'll save for something else.

just a wee bit

I'm going to plane the box stock down to 5/8" thick. The first step was to establish a reference face and get it twist free and flat.

chamfers

Got my chamfers planed on the four edges down to the gauge line. One board is for the sides and the other for the ends.

fingers crossed

Got a rough patch that didn't come clean out of the planer. From looking at my gauge line here, I think I'll be able to plane all of it away.

lightly set iron

I had roughly an 1/8" to remove from this face. I retracted the iron and I was planing a path way about 3/4" wide. I went straight across the face first and then I criss crossed it R/L and L/R. 

smoothing the first one

Used both the #3 and #4 to smooth the board after planing it flat with the #7. 

done

Both boards are 5/8" thick and I'll sticker them until tomorrow. If they do any stupid wood tricks over night I'll plane it down to a 1/2". 

before I commit

I did the math for this in my head so I'm laid out a story pole on a scrap of 1/4" plywood.

I added and subtracted right

I was shooting for a 1/2" of wiggle room R/L and I have about 3/4". That should be sufficient for taking it out and putting it back in.

I took the table off and did some measuring and I am sticking with it assembled. The width was the same but the depth and height changed by a few inches. Not enough to convince me to put up with putting it on and taking it off each time I use it.

found it

This is/was going to be the bottom back rail for the base on the miniature dresser I just made. I'm not sure if I'll put it on now but if the urge moves me I'll keep this underneath it in the the interim.

block plane pit stop

Chris S just wrote a blog about when should you sharpen? For me it is to avoid it for as long as possible. Even if I know the tool is too dull to use. As long as I can strop it and get by, I consider that sharp enough. But that only applies to my chisels - not the planes. These planes are my frequent fliers and they were dull.

RML shavings

What a difference - it was making shavings before but after sharpening it the shavings spilling out of the mouth effortlessly. This LN 102 small blockplane is my favorite out of all the planes I have in my herd.

LN 60 1/2

This used to be my favorite until I got the LN 102. When the iron is freshly sharpened it will shave the gnarliest end grain. That is how I gauge how dull this plane gets.

I was on a roll

I hope to be doing dovetails tomorrow and I sharpened the chisels I'll need for that. These probably were sharp enough to do the pine but they will be awesome now that they are freshly sharpened.

any bets?

It is a crap shot with stock from Lowes. I have found that the longer it hangs out in the shop, the greater the chances are for it do stupid wood tricks. I'll find out in the AM.

extra

I think it is a good idea to buy extra when buying wood. Especially in this instance where I only needed one 6 footer but bought two of them. Finding almost all clear pine in a #3 common pile is rare. 

Blogger went bonkers on me typing up this post. I had to close out and sign back in 11 times. I think I know what the problem is now. I noticed that the automatic save  function was working overtime. It was switching between gray and red on the half circles arrows. During that time I couldn't click on anything. Maybe it is the almost 15 years of daily blog posts that are causing blogger to go bonkers on the save as you type function.

accidental woodworker

I went to the shop for a little while this AM but didn't get much accomplished. I didn't have any wood for what wanted to do anyways. My thoughts weren't really on woodworking but on my afternoon urology appointment. 

That went well and I was in and out before I knew it. The procedure was uncomfortable but I did get to see my bladder and prostate in color. The good news is that I didn't have any tumors in the bladder and the enlarged prostate will be easy to fix. I have a pre-op appointment in April and a TURP will done the end of April or early May. At least I know what the next step is going to be.

might as well

Decided to make a box to house the Kreg loose tenon jig. The first step is to eyeball it and choose the size of the box. That is dictated by the jig itself. So getting some overall measurements - width, length, and height - was in the batter's box.

hmm.....

The table is screwed on and can be removed. However, I don't want to bother with having to take off and reinstall parts every time I use it. The jig in this orientation is close to a perfect square. It is 12" R/L and about the same T/B. The front to back is a little under 8".

horizontal orientation

This is the way I what the jig to lay in the box. This will keep the height of it to about 10" with the length and dept being 14" over all.

bonus

The boxes for the loose tenons fit on the table. I don't have to devote any real estate in the interior of the box for them. I like having the jig and all its accessories all in one spot.

tenon cutters

I can use the space under the table to to stow the 3 tenon cutters. Or I can stow them elsewhere and keep this space for storage more loose tenons. 

got lucky

There is enough room here to stow the box with an inch or two to spare. This is as far as I got today. I have some pine in the shop but it is 5 1/2" wide and I don't want to glue up stock for this box. 

I'll call Koszela Lumber and see if they have any wide pine or poplar. If not I'll make a run to Lowes to get some #2 pine to make the box.

accidental woodworker

There are challenges we can do nothing about, and then there are the challenges we face in the work we do and might choose to present to ourselves on purpose. That curved balustrade that sweeps gracefully between floors up and along many metres, following the sweep of the stairway to the stars, can be complicated,...

Source

Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it.

I use my Japanese planes for shooting all the time. Despite the 2- and 3-point contact design used for the sole of a Japanese plane, using them for shooting is perfectly fine. If you're on the desktop version of the blog, you can do a search for "shooting" to find all the posts I have on using a Japanese plane with a shooting board.

I've covered shooting the end grain and the long grain edges, and other details about using a shooting board.

You may think that the 2 or 3 point contact set up of the sole of a Japanese plane would cause problems with a shooting board, but in practice, it's not an issue. I've also used shooting boards with western planes. In both cases, the results depend more on technique than on the plane itself.

I recently noticed that it’s been FIFTY YEARS since the musical duo of Richard and Linda Thompson released their heartbreakingly luminous song “Dimming of the Day.”

How did fifty years flash by so fast?

Notwithstanding the dynamics of their marriage and splitting (the breakup was so traumatic that Linda was hysterically mute for a couple years afterward) their seven-album output from 1974-1982 was as good as it gets.

Just more captivating music to listen to while imposing organization of the first (basement) floor of the barn.  There are times when having 7,000 square feet of space is not a blessing.

I actually like this one because it’s an eye opener for those who actually sit and watch the whole video.

 Today was a beautiful early spring day. The temp got up to 55F (13C) and I went to the store without a coat or a sweater for the first time this year. The daytime temps are forecasted to be in the low 50s F until the weekend. The ice in the driveway has finally melted but there is still a lot of snow in the back yard. Maybe that will be gone by the weekend.

Tomorrow I have an urology appointment that I'm not really looking forward to. It may or may not keep me out of the shop for few days. I won't know that until tomorrow around 1500. I left off in the shop today in a good spot and I have the AM session tomorrow to squeeze in something.

it worked

This is the divider I broke yesterday. I was able to square off the tapered ones I had done yesterday. Why didn't I think of holding it this way then?

how I did it yesterday

I must have been brain weary to try and do it this way yesterday. I can see why my sanding and planing came out tapered.

done

I wandered into '....one more swipe' land and the dividers are loose in both directions. In my defense, I only planed enough to square up the ends.

dividers loaded up

I couldn't find any mini, 1x, or 2x dowels in the ones I currently don't have on Amazon. Time to search the WWW and see who else is selling them. I have empty compartments to fill.

first glamour pic

It still needs a few more coats of shellac on the knobs but I'm calling it done.

I snapped this pic standing about 5 feet away and I couldn't pick out the drawers with missing veneer on the fronts. I think I'm going to leave them as is for now. It is something I can address at anytime I want now.

errant pilot hole

This is totally invisible from 3 feet away. The one to the left of this is 90% hidden by the drawer front.

took a beating

The pine I used for the drawers is overly soft. All the dents and divots on the top drawer are from clamping the veneer on. The other side is worse than this one along with the other two drawers.

I really like the faux stiles and rails on the sides. I wonder if my gluing them on will cause any issues with the sides expanding or contracting?

the back

I should have done the faux stiles and rails on the back too. Just saw that I forgot to put the back rail on the base. I looked for it but I couldn't locate it - not a big deal IMO and I think it will be fine without it.

the finale - side pic

I applied Howards feed 'n wax only to the top. It was ready to move to its new home.

30 minutes later

It took me that long to clear off this table and vacuum the 3 tons of wood dust that covered everything here. I had one more dresser to put here - the one I made for my Dowel Max jig.

half of the crappola

The other half is on the workbench. I couldn't believe how stuff I had on this table just laying around loose.

maybe

This isn't set in stone yet. I had all 3 side by side but I put the nail dresser on top the Miller Dowel dresser. Two things I don't (didn't) want to happen - #1 that the dresser arrangement would cover the framed poster. It may stay this way because I have zero wall space for it anywhere else in the shop.

#2 I don't want anything in front of the dresser that will interfere with opening the drawers. I dislike having to move things that are in the way of getting to something else. That maybe unavoidable due to my affinity to load up empty horizontal surfaces in a New York minute.

 

two hours later

I moved the trim router box and its bits over here along with the Kreg loose tenon jig. I will be making a box for it but I don't know when. I also moved my box of japanese tapered wooden nails here. In the future I want to keep this pile of crappola associated with each other.

more empty horizontal space

A few things that resided here, now reside on the table with the dressers. I know it is not going to take more than few days to fill this up with all kinds of crappola.

hmm......

This is a cut off guide I had made for a circular saw. Since I don't have that saw anymore I am going to repurpose this for the bandsaw.

works

The left edge of the sled is flush with the bandsaw blade. The right side support extends out over 16". The only difference between this one and the other is there is no support on the left side of the saw kerf. It cuts square and I envision using it to square ends. I have a little over 5" to work with.

Before I forgot again

I went through my Eric Sloane books writing down the titles I have. I ended up with 3 duplicates that I'll pass on to my nephew. I know have a solid foundation knowing what books I have and what I still have to acquire. I would like to get all the books that he wrote or co-authored.

accidental woodworker

Well, Scots pine is also known as Redwood, Russian redwood and more names than you can shake a redwood stick at. In the sixties, we bought Redwood (Pinus sylvestris) from Russian climes in beams to resaw into vast numbers for a wide range of work. The smell filled the rafters and wafted around the shop...

Source

 I thought I would be done with the dresser today but it didn't happen boys and girls. Came close and two things held it up. The first was a divider breaking in two and the other was the shellac. I wasn't happy with the 3 coats I had on everything. However, I didn't think getting a few more coats on today would hold things up but it did. So maybe tomorrow before the oohs and aahs and glamour pics.

3 coats

For the most part I'm ok with this except for the top. It is splotchy looking and lacks a consistent shine. The sides and front are ok. I got a 4th coat on it and it helped a bit but not enough.

these are good

However, I am going to apply however many more coats of shellac I end up putting on the carcass on just the fronts.

hmm.....

Four coats of shellac and the first two drawers won't close as freely as they did. I can shut the top one but it fought me the entire travel distant. The middle one won't close up flush. The bottom drawer still rides in and out on a cushion of air.

oops

The top drawer drawer is tight at the top. The oops is I veneered the back and not the front - the front was toothed. 

pure beeswax

After planing the two drawers to fit again on a cushion of air, I waxed the bottoms and sides of them all.

back on

I put shellac on both sides of the back which precluded me gluing and nailing the back on. So the back was just nailed on - 5 nails along each of the four edges.

6 coats

I think this is done now. I like the consistency of the coverage and the shine. 

why?

I'm blowing in the same mint OS again because I'm stubborn. Both of these Linux books proved to be absolutely useless in addressing the problems. I tried to use 14 commands and only one of them worked. That one was the cmd 'help'.

so far so good

I didn't have any problems blowing the OS back in. However, I installed the OEM version and I didn't write down the password so I couldn't boot into Mint. So I'll be blowing in another Linux OS in the AM.

tenon jig

Whacked this out to trim the tenon to length. The wood is as thick as the drawer fronts. After I trimmed them length I sawed a kerf for the wedges.

cherry wedges

I wanted maple for the wedges but I couldn't find any maple scraps. Cherry was the only other hardwood I could find. I don't like using pine for wedges in birch/maple - it is too soft and it doesn't spread the kerf in hardwoods sufficiently.

oops

I over sawed the kerf on the left one. I went through the base and it sticks out like a neon light. I thought I could put it faced down but it was still visible.

2 of 3

I didn't have these two Sloane books and I bought another duplicate. The Grange book is a first edition which I wasn't expecting for $4. The age of barns is a soft cover reprint.

half laps

I laid out the half laps and sawed the slots on the bandsaw with the sled. I was extremely happy with how well that came out. I don't think I would have been able to saw half laps this deep, in this thin pine, with a handsaw.

wee bit too snug

It kinda of fits but I was leery about using a mallet to seat the half laps.

self supporting

I sanded the area where the half laps were first but that was slow going. I used my #3 with a finely set iron to plane it. I got away with that because I was expecting the planing action to cause the divider to buckle and snap into kindling.

super glue

This is the bottom divider and it was a tad loose in both direction. I applied glue to the bottom of the divider. I also wicked more super glue on the bottom junction between the dividers and the bottom after setting it place. Finished up by wicking more glue into the half laps from top to bottom.

middle drawer dividers

This one tore out a lot on the darker divider. I had checked and thought I was planing with the grain but I wasn't. The tear out didn't effect the fit though - still got a snug, self supporting fit.

another good fit

This one gave me fits trying to fit it into the drawer. The long and short divider was a couple of frog hairs too long.

sigh

This was not only difficult to plane/sand, it was )&W%)@*%_@* incredibly frustrating too. It was hard to hold and sand or plane the ends. 

yikes

This happened on after trying to remove it after the 5th trim and check the fit. Part of the problem was I was sanding/planing at angle. So it would go down (tapered) until it would jam. Then I had to fight it to remove it - I lost the 5th attempt but I did go 4 for 5.

now I wait

The part broke into two when I tried to open it to get glue in the break. I'm lucky that nothing is married to this. The alignment on the faces was flush and I let this cook until the AM.

top drawer divider

This one went together off the bandsaw. No sanding or planing necessary. It is snug and self supporting.

lots of room

This might be over sized but I'm ok with that. If need be I could empty this of the dowels and dividers and repurpose it. I doubt that will happen in my lifetime but the grandsons might do that.

accidental woodworker