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With apologies, Norse Woodsmith articles and blog entries are not available online pending some work on the website. The feeds from other sites are all still available.  Also, there may be some graphic issues while I migrate the site to a new host, please bear with me.  Thanks!

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Keep chipping away...

Rivers Joinery - Wed, 10/02/2024 - 1:28am

So, fifteen years trading this week. Fifteen years since I was made redundant from my yurt-making job. The road has been bumpy at times, there has been much handtool (and machine tool) use, and many opportunities for patience. 

I loved making the yurts; the steambending, the wheel-making, the tying of the trellis, the assembly into a living space. Although to be honest, losing my job, a month after my daughter being born, was the best thing that ever happened to me!


Self-employment is not for everyone. Luckily, I come from a long line of Yorkshire farmers....


used to turning their hands to 'owt' (anything) and doing it 'thissen' (yourself). They worked the land with horses and resisted mechanisation. Something which may have been their undoing; the farm had gone by the time I was born.


 My great-grandfather John Bayes; outstanding in his field!

It's my grandfather Arthur, that gave me my love of hand tools (that's him laying the hedge above). A gentle man whose hands were never still; when not doing things agricultural he could be found in his workshop, carving toys, making rocking horses, weaving corn dollies, making rag rugs. His shed was an aladdin's cave of chisels, rounding planes, drills, all manner of tools that I would gaze on in wonder.

My father too (the first to not be a farmer, he was a photographer) was always building or making something; darkrooms after darkrooms for silver iodide shenanigans. It was he who first taught me to use a saw and an axe safely, when I was knee high to a grasshopper.


 We've made a few things since then!



And used a few power tools when expedient. I love hand tools, but sometimes it just makes no sense not to 'mechanize'.




And with occasional help from the next generation, my son Arthur (my grandfeather's namesake).


And who knows, maybe Bethany, in a few years.......her middle name is River, after all. Here's to another fifteen years of trading!



Wandering Cherry Bowl

David Fisher - Carving Explorations - Tue, 10/01/2024 - 12:10pm
This is the third time I’ve carved these words from J.R.R. Tolkien on a bowl, but it has been several years. Each bowl has been different, and so has the lettering. I think working with green wood straight from the … Continue reading
Categories: Hand Tools

2nd Mackintosh cupboard pt XXXIII.......

Accidental Woodworker - Tue, 10/01/2024 - 3:59am

Things are on the upswing and I'm close to the apex. I'm pretty sure that I'll be painting tomorrow. I got the bottom fitted to my satisfaction and that was the last bit of woodworking to be checked off. I probably could have started today but I ran into a few hiccups this AM.

The first hiccup was or started at 0859. That is the time I got to the Post Office to mail a box out to my sister in Indiana. I was 4th in line. I left the Post Office at 0914 because the lobby still wasn't open. The lady first in line kept a running update on the clerks inside walking around ignoring her. I went home and asked my wife where another post office was. 

I went to the one in Garden City (I keep forgetting about this one) and I was in and out in seconds. What really rattled me was when I drove by the first Post Office going to Garden City the same people were still waiting to get in. When I drove home and went by it again the 3rd person in line was just leaving it. I guess customer service isn't a buzz word at this Post Office branch.

fitting the bottom door

I wasn't happy with the gap on the latch side. Tight at the top and tapering away at the bottom. From about the middle to the top it wasn't too bad. It was time to glue on another 'glued on thing'.

the snap catch

This is what (not this one) will keep the door closed and to open it. There is only about 3/8" of the snap latch to engage in the keeper on the cupboard edge.

last snap catches I installed

This is what I consider to be an acceptable gap between the snap catch and the keeper. On these two I have about 5/16" of the snap catch caught in the keeper. This is what I am shooting to have in the cupboard.

last eyeballing

The gap at the bottom is due to the cupboard there being out of square. The gap pops out in IMO. Although the rest of the gap is ok and the snap catch would work as is I put on another 'glued on thing'.

glued and cooking

After I got this done I journeyed out into La La Land with the USPS. 

worn out

I screwed into and out of these holes a bazillion times. The screws kept spinning when bottomed out. They needed to be filled so the final screws will have something solid to screw into and grab.

cocktail tooth picks

That is want they are called and they are a perfect fit for this size screw. It is a snug fit when they are bottomed out in the holes.

potential PITA

Painting over the shelf pin holes can be a huge problem to fix after the paint dries. It is not easy to clean out any drips that get in the holes and drilling them out again can cause tear out around the rim. The shelf pin cups may or may not (with may not in the majority) cover said tear out. If I only had a few of these I would use painters tape rolled up to fill the shelf pin holes. However, I have 60 of them to fill in and keep paint out of them. A 7/32 dowel fills the hole nicely with zero gaps around the circumference.

roughly an inch

I didn't need these to long - just enough to fill in the hole with enough to grab and pull them out. I put this pin in the chuck to sand it down as it was a 1/4" and I need a 7/32 dowel. This didn't work as well as I thought it would. I thought I had sanded too much off but I hadn't as it wouldn't fit in the hole. And the chuck had deformed it and the sanded part was tapered. Scraped this idea and shitcanned it.

1/4" dowel from ACE

2nd idea might work better. I got 2 dowels for $3 each. This surprised me because I was thinking I would pay $5-6 a dowel. Anyways, the idea was to saw off 3-4 inch lengths and drive them through my 7/32" dowel former.

 worked well

It took me about 20 minutes to get the dowels hammered through the dowel former and sawing them into 1 inch lengths. 

one more step

Got 86 pins from the two 48" long dowels I got from ACE. I am hoping that I can reuse these after this project.

chamfering one end

I wanted to do this with a chisel but it was too awkward. The size of the pin and a sharp chisel so close to my fingertips gave me the heebie jeebies. This wasn't the horrible exercise I anticipated it being. It took about 30 minutes to do them and I my fingers didn't protest at all - not once.

I'm saying goodbye

That second row of buttons is want is called 'Smart Cast'. This is what this _)@&*$)^*%(^_%@)_( thing defaults to every two to three days. In order for me to watch TV I have to select 'watch free' as my source. This will be history if I can figure out how to wipe out my personal settings and passwords on it and I'll put it curbside. If not I'll smash it up and shitcan it. Personally I'm inclined to go with the later choice.

it is just a TV

It was supposed to come on friday but it got pushed off to today. It came via Fed Ex and not amazon delivery. Nothing was rattling and no other noises came from the box.

liking this remote

There is nothing crazy on this remote - ie netflix or You Tube buttons. Just the normal buttons on your average TV remote. Nice touch with the included phillips head screwdriver.

720P and HD

All the 1080P TVs I saw on amazon all had some smart TV features. They weren't as crazy and featured laden as my current 'smart TV' but 720P is good enough for watching TV. I would have shown a pic of it but the pics I took of it were washed out. It works as a TV should - turn it on and select a channel. If i don't like that I can channel surf to my heart's content.

done

All of them are chamfered and ready to go. Labeled the container so I can now put it somewhere safe and forget where I hid it.

one of two

I like this better then the one I used on the first two cupboards. A second tile is coming that is the same type of flower but a different looking one. I haven't figured out the project for these yet. I'm still running ideas and furniture styles through the brain bucket. I have time to figure it out because I need the cherry to acclimate for at least a couple of weeks.

the bottom door latch side

I have to go from nothing here going left to right. The glued on thing was a couple inches shy of going end to end. Because it dies out to the right of my finger I didn't need a full length glued on thing.

 the opposite end

This is the part of the door where there is a tapered gap. I penciled this line so that the latch side will be tight with a minimal gap.

 wee bit too much

I penciled the overhang of the door edge onto the cupboard to give me a visual of where and how much I need to plane off.

it closes

The end where it was tapered the gap is too tight. The gap to left of that ain't too bad but it needs to be shaved and opened up a wee bit more.


 

happy with the gap

It took 3 plane and checks before I got my smiley face on. I think this should be sufficient even taking into account the upcoming paint build up. This gap is consistent, even, and parallel from end to end. It isn't square but this hides that and fools the eye.

filling an errant hinge gain

I marked the hinge in error on the side. I have to fill this in with putty because the paint will make this pop like flashing neon sign on a foggy night. I was doing the final sanding of the cupboard and checking for any more dings, divots, or errant markings that needed some wood putty love.

 hmm......

I drilled a shelf pin hole out in La La Land. I stuffed it with plane shavings and topped it with wood putty. I had some tear kitty corner to the shelf pin I had to address. This was the last of the touch up on the cupboard. Tomorrow I can sand the puttied areas and slap on my first coat of paint.

cupboard base
I got the base sanded (just the outside -sides and front) and filled in one spot of tear out. After that I checked the base for twist and there was none.

Looking forward to getting this painted and out of the shop. I hope my wife likes the changes between this and the first one. Clueless as to where she will put it. There isn't a lot of free real estate left in the house.

accidental woodworker

GreenWood Wright’s Fest, Oct 11-13 2024

Eclectic Mechanicals - Mon, 09/30/2024 - 1:05pm

The fall 2024 Green Wood Wright’s fest is fast approaching! Tickets are still available here. This is quiet the event for you folks that like timber that ain’t quiet dry. I am even planning to exit my hermit cave and stop in! Lots of different classes to choose from (instructor list is here). Kara O’Connell has put all this together once again, definitely worth checking out.

-Will Myers

Updated Tool Wall

The Apartment Woodworker - Mon, 09/30/2024 - 9:49am
In between my day job as an M&A attorney and my social responsibilities (which are legion), I have been slowly organizing the new workshop. Recently, this has included updating the tool wall that goes with my hanging wall cabinet. The tool wall itself hangs from the same french cleats the main wall cabinet hangs off, […]

2nd Mackintosh cupboard pt XXXI..........

Accidental Woodworker - Mon, 09/30/2024 - 3:30am

 Got one door fitted and most of the second one. I had a tapered boo boo on the 2nd door like I had on the first one. The good thing is I should be able to start painting this finally. Looking forward to that happening. Maybe on tuesday.....

nail removal first

This is the tapered thing I glued on the top door. I put 3 nails in it to keep it from sliding around when I clamped it.

 it fits

I planed the tapered thing until all the bandsawn marks were gone and it was smooth end to end. The door fit in the opening after that but I didn't like the gap at the top. It was about a 32nd strong. I planed it couple of more times until the gap was a strong 16th.

 gap isn't consistent

I didn't make the gap an 1/8" like Paul  Sellers made on his door. This gap was still tapered slightly and I made the top gap to match the bottom one.

sigh

I couldn't find the door stops I had made several days ago. I'm sure I used them for something else without giving it a second thought. Made two more.

 shoulda, woulda, coulda......

After I got the fit I taped it inside the cupboard. Fingers crossed that this one will survive.

next door

The dutchman set up and I planed it flush. Ready to chop the gain for the 2nd hinge.

wow

When I screw up I do it royally. Not only did I knife the wrong spot on the door I also managed to knife it wrong on the cupboard. The knifed hinge location on the door didn't line up with the knifed hinge location on the cupboard.

see sawed

Made the gain on this hinge too deep. I forgot to mark the depth of it before I chopped it out.

 a la Paul Sellers

I screwed the top hinge in and I marked for the bottom hinge. This is easier (and more accurate) then marking both of them at the same time.

I remembered this time

If I had forgotten to knife the depth on this one I would have used a router to get to depth.

 it almost fits

It is catching and stalling on the top left corner and the bottom right one. There is plenty of clearance on the latch side.

 bottom is clear

I approached this by first getting the bottom and then I did the top kitty corner fitting.

not as easy

The top took several plane and check dance steps before I was satisfied with the top gap. The latch side gap ain't looking too good to my eye. It is too wide even with a stop behind it. I am concerned that the snap latch might not work because the gap is too wide for it.

 3/16"

I didn't check this gap with the snap catch. From using previous ones, the gap has to be tighter than this. The snap latch has to be fairly close for the keeper to hold the door closed. I may have to add a straight glued thing to this. Have I mentioned that I'm glad to be painting this?

 done

I'm happy with this gap but I might have to shave it some more. That will depend on how much paint build up I have to deal with.

last tapered thing?

Decided that the latch side gap was too much and I glued in another tapered thing. I used the leftover from the one I used yesterday for the top door but it was short. The top door needed it for the rail and the bottom needs it for a stile (longer). Used the bandsaw to make this cut. I had thought of leaving an equal thickness but nixed that and sawed it out oversized.

 parallelogram

The diagonals are within a 16th of each other but the opening isn't square. The top right and bottom left are out of square. The other two corners aren't square neither but not as bad as the first two. The bottom was square inside and outside. I didn't check the cupboard with a square when I glued it up. I did the diagonals and they indicated ok. Oh well stercus accidit.

accidental woodworker

The origin of the Boston block planes

Working By Hand - Sun, 09/29/2024 - 2:27pm

Thanks to help from a few people, the origin of these planes has been clarified, although perhaps not the name.

The manufacturer can clearly be identified from the label of the box a No.2A came in. They were manufactured by The Thomas Machine Co. Ltd., in South Wales. They were then distributed by Welsh Industries (Bridgend) Ltd. in Glamorgan, also in South Wales.

The markings on a plane box

An article in the Board of Trade Journal describes various new factories in South Wales [1] in 1947. In it there is a picture of workers from Thomas Machine producing a wallpaper pasting and trimming machine in a machine shop in Bridgend (known as the ‘Thomas’ Machine) – converted sheds at the former Royal Ordinance Factory Bridgend (at the peak of production, ROF Bridgend employed 40,000 people mostly filling explosives). According to the Federation of British Industries Register of British Manufacturers, the company was primarily involved with the production of “decorators equipment & paste powders”. It is clear that the company produced these planes as a side-line to its regular business. In all likelihood, these planes were manufactured in a very short period, as a note in Machinery and Production Engineering (Vol.75(1), 1949) describes “a large sale of machinery at these works“, in 1949 due to “intensive competition“, suggesting the company had gone into receivership. In the 8 October 1954 issue of The London Gazette, there was notice of the company being struck off the register, and dissolved.

The Boston trio

It has been suggested that because these woodworking planes were composed of the aluminum, the raw material could have been procured from scrapped WW2 planes (using planes to make planes so to speak). This concept actually has some credibility. The town of Bridgend was close to what was RAF Llandow during the war. After the war LLandow was used as a dispersal site for aircraft no longer deemed useful. By 1946 there were some 856 airframes waiting to be scrapped, including Avro Lancaster, Handley Page Halifax, Vickers Wellington, and Douglas Havoc bombers. Here could be where the name Boston comes from. The Boston was the Royal Air Force service name for the Douglas A-20 Havoc light bomber. First introduced in 1941, 7,478 had been built by the time production ceased in 1944.

LLandow airfield in 1946, courtesy of People’s Collection Wales (Creative Archive Licence). The image shows the large number of aircraft to be scrapped.

So scrapped planes were smelted down, and sold to local industries. The post-war period was the “age of aluminum”, and there was a need in Britain for inexpensive tools to help in the re-build. In all likelihood, the Boston planes were not made solely from Boston bombers, as the planes would not have been smelted down based on plane type. There is also a possiblity that Thomas Machine Co. specifically bought scrap from Boston bombers, and smelted it themselves – aluminum is relatively easy to melt, at 660°C, and only requires a small furnace. It is also plausible that someone at the company had some personal connection to the Boston bombers.

❗The planes are very likely sand-cast, notable because some of the internal portions of the block plane bodies are quite rough. It may be why some of the planes are painted – to smooth out these inconsistencies.

Further reading:

  1. “South Wales has Many New Factories and Extensions in Production”, Board of Trade Journal, 153(2635) pp.1029-1037 (1947)

Categories: Hand Tools

The end of the process

Old Ladies - Pedder's blog - Sun, 09/29/2024 - 10:02am

 Before I can take picturtes of a finished saw, I need te clean the clutter. 



Categories: Hand Tools

Sash Saw / Tenon Saw Zwetschge (German Plum)

Two Lawyers Toolworks - Sun, 09/29/2024 - 9:30am
Pedderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12692353908068506678noreply@blogger.com0
Categories: Hand Tools

back to the 2nd cupboard......

Accidental Woodworker - Sun, 09/29/2024 - 3:34am

I'm feeling better about the cupboard now. Hinging the doors is the last thing I have to do before I can paint it. I got the tiles and both of them are fitted and done. Attaching the snap catches should be a no brainer. I don't expect them to bite me on the arse in any way but those may be final last words. I'll have to wait and see what shakes out with that.

 ready to start over again

I marked the hinges on the door edge from the gains on the cupboard. I had mixed feelings about how well that outcome would be.

right corner is high

Every hinge gain I have chopped has been high on the right side corner. This one was a PITA to get the hinge leaf flush - it took me 5 dance steps before I got it.

got lucky

The hinges lined up across the door onto the cupboard. Whew. However, the door won't close. The bottom wasn't hanging up yesterday and today it is. First I'm happy with how the hinges fit and swing in/out. Dealing with getting the door to fit was relatively easy IMO.

The gap on the top of the door is ugly looking. The wide end of the taper is over a 1/4" and the thin end is a strong 16th. The plan was to come back to this after I got the hinges installed on the bottom door.

the bottom gap

It is rubbing on the upper 1/3. I can close the door but it is snug. Planing this to fit shouldn't take too many calories. I will also have to make the gap large enough to account for the paint build up.

double triple checking

This is the second time I did this. This played havoc with the brain bucket. I could see that this was right and in the correct orientation.When I took it out I had to reverse and rotate the door so I could chop the gains. Doing that screwed things up for me and I had to check it again.

Yikes it happened again

I marked the hinges for the door off of the cupboard just like I did with the top door. Something went south on me because the right hinge is too far to the right. I missed something transferring one to the other. The hinges should be offset from the bottom of the bridal joint by 1/8" at the top and bottom. It was back to step one again from yesterday.

dutchman #5

I still had some dutchman stock left over from yesterday - enough to make this one. Hopefully it will be the last one too. Glued, clamped, and set aside to cook.

better

I fitted the door by starting at the bottom, moving on to the latch side, and I'll be finishing with the top. I made one planing run on the bottom and the fit improved but it has to have a bigger gap than a few frog hairs. It took 4 plane and fit before I liked what I saw.

the line in the sand

The door is hanging on the area to the left of my pencil line. The latch side took 3 tries to get it to close.

way too big

This gap is too large to leave as is. Thinking about it I think I know how the door is like this. The inside of the frame (where the tile goes) is square. The cupboard opening is square but the outside of the door isn't. When I cleaned up the proud bridle joints I only planed about an inch or so past the bridal joints at some of the corners. I should have cleaned the bridal joint and planed straight across to the other one. And should have done that planing in equal strokes R/L and L/R.

glad I'm painting this

The fix for this is to glue on a tapered shim. After it has set I'll plane a parallel 1/8 gap between the door and the cupboard. If this was being left natural I would have had to make a new door.

 2 down, one to go

I'm happy with the gaps I have on the bottom and the latch side. The latch side will getting a stop that goes from top to bottom so you won't see into the cupboard on this side. After seeing this I will match the top gap with these. Having an 1/8" gap at the top seems a bit too wide IMO.

 glued and cooking

I will let this cook over night due to the overall thinness of the shim. Is shim the right word for what this is? Glued on tapered thing was my first thought on what to call it.

 put it back

I was thinking of planing the dutchman but thought better of that. I let this go until tomorrow too. 

Didn't get a PM session in. I went to a genealogical pot luck dinner with my wife. I don't do good in these social gatherings. I'm an introvert and I absolutely suck at making conversation/small talk (unless it is about woodworking). I am also not much of a talker. It wasn't that bad and I actually had a good time and those present could talk about topics other than genealogical search methodology.

accidental woodworker

Its a new forum

Journeyman's Journal - Sat, 09/28/2024 - 10:58pm

Neil from Ebeaut has launched a new forum named “Renovate Forums” dedicated to all things renovation. This platform features multiple category forums covering various aspects of renovations, along with a marketplace where you can buy, sell, or trade goods. Get ready for great deals and professional and amatuer insights!

Please be aware that ensuring security is challenging, as there are individuals actively seeking to exploit others for financial gain and identity theft. The forums will be closely monitored to prevent their presence. It’s worth noting that this forum is affiliated with the woodworkforums.com, known for their excellent safety measures, so similar standards can be expected here.

https://www.renovateforums.com.au/forum.php

Categories: Hand Tools

Site Move Complete (Almost)

Bob Lang's ReadWatchDo - Sat, 09/28/2024 - 12:59pm

Moving is never fun, even if the destination is worthy. Last spring, when I published the new, updated edition of Woodworker’s Guide to SketchUp I decided to add the videos that were embedded in the PDF file of earlier versions to the site and offer them by subscription. Those who buy the book going forward will get a 1, 2, or three month subscription to the videos, depending on which version of the book is purchased. If you already own any version of Woodworker’s Guide to SketchUp you have not been forgotten. When I decided to rebuild, I realized that the old platform wasn’t up to the task, much like an old Buick that won’t survive a drive across the country. And like anything else the site rebuild took longer than anticipated.

About a week ago I flipped the switch and the new ReadWatchDo is up and running. The previous site had been online for a dozen years so a general cleanup was in order. I posted a lot of content since 2012 and as I moved that over I tried to include all of the useful content. I also tried to remove the things that once were timely but no longer relevant. I simplified where things live and I believe you’ll find this site an improvement.

There are, of course odds & ends that still need to be tidied up. Most of those are blog posts and images that decided they liked where they were and refused to give up their old URLs. This is still a work in progress.

If you had anything bookmarked on the old site, chances are that the content is still there, but not where it used to be. There is a “Search Box” on the home page that works pretty well. But if you can’t find what you’re looking for send me an email and I will try to track it down for you.

I’ll be the first to admit that I still need to track down and fix broken links and missing images. I could use your help in tracking these things down. To make it worth your while, I will send a coupon code (good for a discount on a future order) to anyone who emails me with something specific that needs attention. This offer is for my audience only! If you’re an SEO expert or a web design business, please don’t waste your time or mine. Here is how to help if you care to:

Email me with the issue, and copy and paste the URL where the problem is.
Something big? I’ll send you a coupon for $10 off any item in the store.
Something small but annoying? I’ll send you a $5 discount coupon.
There are limits to this offer: Only one coupon will be issued to any individual and I decide the value.

Since I launched my first website (CraftsmanPlans.com) (which was also rebuilt this summer) I have been amazed at the support from my audience, and it is truly appreciated. In closing I have one more favor to ask; this is a shoestring operation with a tiny budget for advertising so if you appreciate my work, please share what I do with your friends. Click my signature below to get in touch with me by email.

–Bob Lang

The post Site Move Complete (Almost) first appeared on ReadWatchDo.com.

Categories: General Woodworking

Making a Schwarz "Short Back" Chair, Part 8

Woodworking in a Tiny Shop - Sat, 09/28/2024 - 11:50am

This post is about making and fitting the comb.  I had been thinking about the comb during the entire project.  How would I get the right curvature?  How would I bore the holes at the proper angles?  The answers came eventually.

To get the curvature of the comb, I traced the tops of the long sticks onto a board.  Then used both geometry/trigonometry and a compass to figure out the comb's radius.

Tracing the stick tops onto a board

Drew the shape of the comb to get some dimensions.
The stick tops had about a 15 inch radius.

I verified that the angles (resultant angles, that is) of the sticks above the arm bow were the same as below that I had measured earlier.  Then I laminated some poplar to make a 2 1/4" tall comb piece.  The shaping of the comb was quite laborious and challenging.

I drew the shape on the blank, and made a quick change to offset
the hole centers slightly towards the inside curve

Shaped the inside curve with stopped saw cuts and chisel to remove the bulk of
 the waste.  Then the compass plane, spokeshave and scrapers smoothed the surface.

For the outside curve, most of the waste was sawn away, then
the rest was chiseled and planed smooth

Here's the curved part, with the front face marked out for a big chamfer

Boring the holes for the sticks took some thinking and creative work.  First, I leveled the chair on the floor and leveled the comb on the workbench.  With this, I could use a square behind the comb to find the angles at which the sticks enter the comb.  Then boring the holes was another matter.  In the pics below, you'll see the setup - it's pretty silly, but it worked.

A pair of levels made sure the chair was level side-side and front-back.
Wedges under the feet are your friends.  I also leveled the board on which the comb is sitting

There's a square beyond the comb and I moved it until it lined up with the stick.
Then I drew a line on the comb along the stick to give the angle it enters the comb.

There's a lot going on in this photo.  Read below.

In the photo above, the comb is held in the vise.  A straightedge is clamped to the comb, in line with the line drawn per the previous photo.  There's a bevel gauge set to the proper angle (about 16-17 deg.) clamped to the front vise chop.  A mirror is set up on a tripod for me to line up the brace and 1/2" bit with that bevel gauge.  It doesn't look like it in the photo due to the angles involved, but the brace is also in line with the straightedge.

Remarkably, after boring the six holes, a first fitting was successful.  After that, the final shaping of the comb was completed.  That included an angle on the front face, matching the angle of the sticks, and a 10 deg. angle top to bottom at the ends of the comb.

Comb fitted onto the back sticks

Shaping the angled front of the comb with saw, chisel and hammer,
spokeshaves and scrapers


And finally it's glued onto the sticks

This shows some of the detail of the comb

The sticks were pegged into the comb from the rear with
wooden chopsticks that I thinned down to 5/32"

For a finish, I used milk paint.  But first, I cleaned up any glue squeeze-out and gave the chair a good scraping and sanding.  Then I wetted it with a damp cloth to raise the grain and sanded again when dry.

Two coats of milk paint were applied on consecutive days, "sanding" with a green Scotch-brite pad after each had dried.  Finally, I added two coats of BLO on consecutive days and a week later a coat of paste wax.  I really don't like using BLO these days.  It stinks and I don't care to be exposed to the heavy metal driers that they use.  I had thought of using some water-based polyurethane, but last time I tried that it dried too fast for me to be able to wipe off the excess effectively.

The finished chair looks great.  It's not as comfy as I'd hoped, but I still like it.  Maybe there's another stick chair in my future.

The completed chair

Another angle

Now it's on to rehabbing some old tools I've acquired.  I'll write about them later.



Gary Rogowski’s Free Seminar

Highland Woodworking - Sat, 09/28/2024 - 6:09am

Highland Woodworking and Gary Rogowski’s Northwest Woodworking Studio have partnered together to help make woodworking education more available for everyone.

Gary is offering a FREE 2-hour online seminar on Saturday, Sept. 28 at noon ET that will discuss his Online Mastery Program, give a quick tour of the curriculum, show images of design work from graduate students and he will answer any and all questions about the program.

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Categories: General Woodworking

no title today........

Accidental Woodworker - Sat, 09/28/2024 - 3:36am

 Today was one of the days that I wish I had a magic wand to wave and make it go away. I made two mistakes that let the wind out of my sails. I found one and the other one, which was the same, a little later. I thought I was being careful and I double triple checked a bazillion times. I missed one important fact and I was happy thinking all was well in Disneyland but I was heading out into La La Land without being aware of it. I quit the shop early and decided to call it a day.

 not a good omen

This was the daily sudoku puzzle for today, the silver one. It had an extra 5 in two rows and one cell. This is the first time I've seen a screw up this bad. I tried to do the puzzle 6 times, each time picking one of the '5s' and at the end of each I had two fives either in a row or a cell. So along with the 5 being OTL, I'm thinking one or more of the other numbers was OTL too.

another Koszela lumber run

This was not what I went there for this AM. I don't often see sugar pine that is dead nuts clear like this. Besides I had $100 on me and this got me up to $90 for what I took home.

 this is what I wanted

Yesterday when I gone there for the cherry I saw 5 1/2" thick pine boards. I should have bought them yesterday but I didn't. Today there were only these two boards left. Both were over 7 feet long and I had them cut in half.

The wider one had a cup in it that was healthy. I sawed the two wide boards in half and 99% of the cup disappeared. I got these two to use as drawer sides/backs.

 checking it first

Time to chop the gains in cabinet. Paul Sellers is making a clothes cupboard and he was hinging the doors in the last episode. He only marked for one hinge on the cupboard, screwed it in place, and then marked for the other two hinges. If I had done that with my hinging it would have been so much easier. I got lucky that both of the knifed marked hinges lined up.

 how well will the door close

I clipped the steel screws and I didn't get either one of them to break through the front.

 doesn't close

The top has a tapered gap and the bottom is parallel looking to the eye. Paul Sellers left a 1/8" gap on the top of his door and I'll do the same with mine.

 wasn't expecting this

I thought the door would close albeit a bit on the snug side. The door extends past the edge by a strong 16th. Took a time out to ponder whether to plane the latch side of the door or deepen the hinges on the door a wee bit.

 found the first brain fart

The bottom of the door with this hinge arrangement is at the top. I hinged the wrong side of the door. I thought I had crossed all the i(s) and dotted the t(s) but it would appear to even a blind man I missed something.

two dutchmen

I fitted dutchmen for the gains and I glued and clamped them. Set them aside and started to work on the bottom door cupboard hinge gains.

that awful sicking feeling when you.........

I did the exact same screw up on the bottom door. At least I was consistent and repeated the same mistake. Made two more dutchmen and set this door aside to set up with its sibling.

two hours later

I planed the dutchmen flush and laid out the hinge on the correct side. I also put the door in its opening and labeled where the hinge gains should be. I then left the shop and came better after getting a cup of joe and repeated what I had just done.

stopped here

I just wasn't into chopping the hinges at this time. I was still a little miffed at myself for doing this. I thought it best to leave the shop for today and come back to this fresh in the AM.

 I do like to read

These are some of the books that I just received. I found 6 more titles from Eric Sloane and I got one of them in today. I put aside the Stephen Fry books on the Greek gods and I'll read the get fat book first. It is hard to screw up reading and that is what I did for the rest of the day.

giving them a try

I saw infomercial on You Tube about these and I bought some from Amazon. I had 4 pictures to hang and the heaviest one was 16lbs. I used the 45 lb rated one for it.

wife didn't like it

She wanted this picture hung here and that is what I did. I failed to get instructions as to how high/low I was to hang it. She said it is too high and should be at eye level. If I move it I will ask if the eye level is hers or mine?

 used the 15 lb hooks

My wife doesn't like either of these paintings. She is afraid of the turtles for whatever reason. I love both of them. Her aunt (her mother's twin sister) had a lot of talent.

 wow

This is frame is huge. I had to rearrange and move a lot of crap to get it to fit here. This is the only spot in the house with sufficient wall space to hang this. Maria told me that Willa's memorial pic frame will be done this coming tuesday. I have a spot for the that along with a pic of the grandsons.

I like these pic hangers. I couldn't install them the way the instructions said - I had to use a hammer. I think that was because of the sheet rock I have in my house. This is the original 1929 sheet rock and it is hard and there was no way I was pushing any of the hangers into it with thumb pressure. After hammering them home they felt solid and I didn't get any sense that the hanger was stressed. Time will tell the future story.

accidental woodworker

Wilbur Pan for East Brunswick Board of Education

Giant Cypress - Fri, 09/27/2024 - 5:28am

Wilbur Pan for East Brunswick Board of Education

I know it’s been a while. Back in the summer, I decided to run for our local Board of Education. That’s taken quite a bit of time, as you might imagine. If you’re interested, more information is at the link above.

But don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten about woodworking. My new series on Japanese plane setup isn’t dead. And I’m looking forward to my talks at Kezurou-kai USA and Woodworking in America in a couple of weeks. See you there!

2nd Mackintosh cupboard pt XXVIII........

Accidental Woodworker - Fri, 09/27/2024 - 3:29am

Wasted part of the AM looking for the lumberyard. The directions were good (on the cell phone) until I got to a round about. You would think I would have figured it out after the first time but not me. It took me four tries and going down a dead end street twice. I was about to give up on finding it when on the fourth time for the round about I Koszela Lumber. In my defense the sign for the lumber yard was a tiny one.

I went home with $304 of rough sawn 4/4 cherry. They also had some 1/2" pine that I like to use for drawers. Debbie (the yard manager) said that they don't always have it - the batch they had was all there was. She said having it in stock is random. Nice people and a good selection of wood. It reminded me of a lumber hardware store throwback to the 1950's. I'll be going there again for sure.

stopped at 3

The more I thought about this the more I know my wife will not like this being natural. I'm not too sure she will like the shelves behind the doors being natural. I think it is best if I paint this one. That will eliminate any headaches with what shelf goes where.

rails glued in

The super glue (used accelerator too) appeared to grab and hold. A half hour after I glued the rails, I couldn't budge either rail. I'll have to do some clean up because I dripped super glue on the tile and got some of it on the door.

my haul of cherry

The two boards on the left are not quite 6" wide and 6 feet long. There are four of them. The wide middle boards are just under 10" wide - four of them too - all are 5 footers. The last board on the right is a little less than 6" wide and 6 feet long. The cost per BF was close to $10 but I saved over going to Highlands in New Hampshire. Gas alone would have been about $60 and round trip it would be over 3 hours. The BF price was a couple of dollars cheaper at Highlands but I'm happy with what I got here.

This stock is for the next project and it will a change for me. 99% of what I've done has been in pine. I really didn't want this project to be pine and painted. That is why I opted for cherry which is my favorite wood. I ordered the tiles and the hinges for this next project yesterday. I will let the cherry acclimate to the shop for a couple of weeks. Koszela stores their wood under cover but exposed to the elements.

 frame part

I was getting ready to chop the gains for the hinges when I noticed this. If these pieces broke off the paint would show them off. I glued them back on with super glue and accelerator. A trick I learned from watching Jerry Rosa is to wait a few seconds after applying super glue before hitting it with accelerator. Have you noticed if you hit it with accelerator right away it will turn a whitish color? Wait a few secs and the glue stays clear.

top door framed tile

Definitely looks better with rails even though they are kind of hidden. Worth doing it this for both doors. I may have to paint the entire door but I won't know that for sure until after I paint the smudges on the door and tile frame.

 first door hinged

I only put one screw in each leaf for now. I will wait to screw in the others until after I have it hung and fitted.

ditto

Took extra time doing these hinges. It is too easy for me to get confused. I checked myself after doing one hinge to make sure that one it was hinged on the right part of the door. And two that the barrel of the hinge faced out and not in. I did good and got all four hinge leaves flush and the barrels pointing in the right direction.

double triple checking myself

I caught two me-steaks on this door. The hinge on the left was off over a 1/2". I don't know how I screwed that up so bad. But I'm glad that I laid the hinges out and checked it before chopping it.

 I would have cried

I laid out the first hinge wrong(2nd  me-steak). I only caught myself after I had knifed it. I will fill in the knife lines with putty after I chop and fit the door.

bottom door

Marking the hinges was a bit awkward for me. I did it in pencil first and then made a knife nick. I followed that up by laying the hinges on the inside to verify my knife nicks were correct. 

I didn't chop the gains on the inside as it was almost 1500. I didn't want to start this and stop to pick it up tomorrow. I want to do the chopping and fitting all in one sitting. I did go back to the shop after dinner and verified the knife lines on the inside again.

accidental woodworker

Tallow Paste Wax Redux

The Barn on White Run - Thu, 09/26/2024 - 5:56am

By request, here’s a blow-by-blow of my tallow/beeswax paste wax.

When making small formulation test batches I rely on my yard sale fondue heating plate.  It’s a pretty steady 150-degrees F so I do not need to watch it with an eagle eye, as it will keep chugging along until my wax and any other ingredients are melted. A Pyrex sauce pan fits it perfectly so I just toss in the ingredients and check back in an hour.

For almost all of my formulation endeavors I combine the components by weight.  Since I am not doing anything other than melting, in this case I do not really need to use one of my analytical scales.  A digital kitchen scale is more than adequate.

The beeswax is of course the product that we make by hand, triple filtered Tupelo Honey beeswax.  I would gladly use local beeswax but there just aren’t enough local beekeepers.

For the tallow I just used some purified beef tallow I bought on-line.  I have not tried using any other tallow but will entertain the idea.  This works fine for me, is nearly odorless (if I close my eyes and inhale a big snort of air I can almost imagine the faintest smell of pot roast), and has remained stable for the four years I’ve had this container open.  I could certainly add a dash of turpentine as a fragrance but don’t need that for my own use.  Originally, I bought this tallow to lubricate wood threads on my bench and Moxon vises.

For my paste wax test batch I wound up with 75 grams of beeswax to 150 grams of tallow as the sweet spot.  When sneaking up on this (melting and cooling, melting and cooling) I added a bit of one or the other (ALWAYS keeping notes along the way) until I got the outcome I wanted.

Once everything is melted and uniform I just let it cool,  The result is a very firm paste wax that can be used like any other.   I’ve ordered some more tallow to make a bigger batch so I can send out samples to those of you who requested some.

Of course my curiosity bone wonders what the result would be if I used Blend 31 instead of pure beeswax…

Stay tuned.

Categories: Hand Tools

2nd Mackintosh cupboard pt XXVII.........

Accidental Woodworker - Thu, 09/26/2024 - 3:41am

I have turned the corner on the 2nd cupboard. When I checked this AM on the hinges and tiles they were coming on thursday. Surprise, both came in today along with a few other things I ordered. It shouldn't be too much longer to say this is done. That got me thinking as to where my wife is going to put this?

I still can't get over how ga-ga she went over the frame for the tiles. That got me thinking about the next project and I decided on it. It will involve the two tiles I ordered from Etsy today. I've been searching RI for hardwood dealers and so far nada. I used to go to one in West Warwick (20 years ago) but he is gone. If I can't find a local dealer I'll have to go to Highlands in New Hampshire.

2nd cupboard base

I was thinking of painting this while awaiting parts. After eyeballing it I decided it was easier to remove it, paint it, and then reinstall it.

 thinking out loud

The gap at the top and bottom isn't the same. The top is wider than the bottom. I screwed on the stiles and eyeballed it and then sat on the fence with it. Couldn't decide whether or not to fill them in. I'm not thrilled with the gaps and the top one I can see from a bazillion feet away.

 doesn't too bad

Cut up some scrap to fill in the gaps. It doesn't look out of place - the frame rails blend into the rails of the door IMO.

sans the  gap fillers

If the top and bottom gaps were the same I would leave this as is. I can't get past that I can see the top gap from so far away.

 made new rails

Did a better job fitting these set of rails. I am going to try and use super glue to secure them. I left the back and bottom unpainted so at least one surface should provide a good gluing surface.

3rd shelf

This is for the middle compartment of the cupboard. I don't think my wife will ask for a 2nd one but she still surprises me after 25 years.

just a teeny bit of twist

I have found that shelves that sit on shelf pins will rock. Whether it is due to a twist, cup, or bow in the shelf or if I screwed up drilling the holes for the pins. I can eliminate this one now and the pins will have to wait.

 dead flat

I got full width shavings going across the board on both faces. There was zero light under the straight edge on 99% of the places I checked for it.

notches for the pins

Used one of my small routers to get a consistent depth for the pin notches.

 the last of it

Tile on the right and 2 sets of hinges on the left. No more excuses for getting a check mark in the done column.

 will my gamble pay off?

It looks like it will fit but then I thought the same with the first top door tile frame.

 Houston we have gaps

Not quite a 1/4" R/L.

 top to bottom gap

The top to bottom is a strong 16th and it isn't consistent or parallel from one end to the other.

 checked for square

3 corners on the tile aren't square. There isn't a lot of daylight to be seen and it is mostly right at the corners. The frame in the door is dead nuts at all four corners and from each direction. I am going to glue the frame up and go with it as is. I don't mind a small gap on the sides and splitting the bottom isn't going to be problem. It will be minuscule and you won't notice/see it.

 happy with the match

There is a negligible difference (color wise) between the bin pull, snap catches, and the Horton Brasses antique hinges.

marking the shelves

The bottom shelf will not fit in the middle or top. However, the same can't be said for the top and middle shelves. They are basically the same size but the shelf pin notches aren't. Stamped each respective shelf with its letter - T, M, and B.

started the hinges on the top door

Horton supplies two screws with the hinges. Steel ones for the initial screwing down on the hinges and ones to match the hinges. They also give the option for slotted or phillips head screws.

The screws for the hinges are too long - they are just shy of 3/4". They will fit in the edge of the cabinet but they won't fit in the door. They might but I would rather not try that out. I'll have to snip/file a wee bit off each one. As an aside if the door stock was 7/8" thick the screw wouldn't be a problem.

it was drying quick

I got 3 coats on the middle shelf before it was time to kill the lights. It was dry before I finished getting the first coat on it.  5 should do it. But thinking about it out loud my wife probably won't like it being natural. I like the look of natural against paint but maybe not for this. The other two shelves are behind doors. Hmm..... maybe I should paint this instead of putting on couple more coats of shellac.

 before quitting time

The can said I could recoat in an hour. I waited about 90 minutes between each one. I'll let this set up overnight and glue them in tomorrow.

 need more deep reach clamps

I got a clamp on each corner half laps but one stile didn't get clamp. It had some squeeze out so maybe I got lucky. I was just at Harbor Freight too and I looked at the clamps but I didn't buy any. I shoulda, woulda, coulda, but I'll have to go back.

 

 almost done

The frame around the tile completes this. The bare tile kinda looked ok sans a frame but with one it nails it. My original thought was to use smaller tiles and fill in the entire panel. I didn't do that on this cupboard because I had already made the doors and then ordered the tiles.

accidental woodworker

Making a Schwarz "Short Back" Chair, Part 7

Woodworking in a Tiny Shop - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 11:28am

Before shaping the seat, I made some plugs to fit into the leg holes so that I wouldn't blow out the hole rims when removing material for the saddling.

A redwood plug in a leg hole

Concentric semi-circles drawn and depths marked

Depth holes drilled (most of them) and spindle deck inner aspect defined

I kind of winged it when it came to mark the depth to which I wanted to excavate the seat.  It's based on things I've read and the few seats I've done before.  But it dives fairly quickly from the spindle deck - those first holes nearest the deck are 3/8" deep  - but then levels out at max depth of 1/2".  One thing I should note: I defined the inner aspect of the spindle deck with a knife, being careful not to stray from the line.  Then I used a router plane to create a little flat about 1/16 to 1/8" deep on the saddling side of that line.  I started the excavation about 3/8" from that line.

I still don't have a scorp, so I did the waste removal with a homemade compass plane (bottom curved in two directions) and a makeshift travisher.  I took a LOT of time to get to where it felt like there were no bumps.  Then I scraped and sanded until smooth.

Tools of excavation

This knot was a bear - right next to the spindle deck and leg hole

Getting close to the drilled depth holes

I had penciled in the bottoms of the depth holes for better visibility

And now scraped and sanded.  Also, removed the perimeter waste at back
with saws and chisels and then smoothed that rear edge with a #4.

Another view showing detail

Marked the edges all around for a chamfer on the underside.
Waste was removed using scrub plane and spokeshaves.

When the seat was finally done, I glued up the undercarriage.  I used white glue for the convenience, so I hope I never need to repair this chair.

Rails and stretcher glued, legs glued into seat and wedges tapped home

I let that dry before getting the upper part of the chair glued up.  After the glue had set, I removed the protruding leg nubs.  And man, it was a bear getting the leg tops flush with the seat.  I tried many different things - flush saw, gouges, chisels, scrapers.  I don't even remember what worked best - I just remember it was flippin' hard.  But we persevere and we get it done.

Next was gluing the upper part, sans comb - I left the comb for last.  But the spindles and arm bow went pretty well.  I had done several dry runs.  In the end, I couldn't get one of the long sticks all the way down into its seat mortise.  It was about 3/8" shy.  No problem though, I just trimmed 3/8" off the top and I'll never notice.

Arm bow set at proper height and wedges applied to the short sticks

You can tell the third long stick from the left is a little taller than the rest

Due to the flat surface of the arm bow, the short stick nubs were easy to 
remove with a flush cut saw, then trim level with a chisel

That's all for this post.  Next time I'll get into the comb.  It was a really challenging piece to make and to bore holes into.  Until then ...




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