Norse Woodsmith Blog Feeds

I believe that no matter the skill level you have as a woodworker, there are going to be times where you will have to take a giant step backwards. This AM I thought I would be putting a check mark in the done column for at least 3 of the japanese toolboxes. Well boys and girls I'm here to say it ain't so. I saw waterfall drips at the corners on all three of the boxes. A real big sigh and more rework after taking the giant step backwards.

waterfall drip work

Sandpaper or steel wool isn't enough alone to remove the drips. First I scrape them off with the mini card scraper. Then I follow that up with a good rubbing with 4-0 steel wool.

Lowes road trip

Bought 8 feet of tool cord, a male plug connector, and some spade connectors.

failed the bounce test

Removed the plastic cord connector and got disappointed that the romex connector didn't fit - about a 1/8" too small. The hole diameter is small and there really isn't much room to enlarge it.

possibility

This is the bottom of the cover and it could work for a romex connector. I may use this if I can't get two cords in the romex connector.

time to enlarge the hole

Before I took this off I wrote down where the wires went. Speaking from experience it can be a nightmare trying to figure out which group combination of 3 wires are.

done

Forgot that I had this step drill. This is my 2nd time using it and the first use in several years. Worked a treat with enlarging this hole - a wee bit too large but it will work.

2nd headache

The hole is too small for two cords too past through it. I drilled out the romex hole with a 5/8" drill bit.

hmm......

It is a tight fit but I'll be able to pass both of them through the hole with a little help. I think if a lube them with a bit of oil I'll be able to pull both of them through.

ugh.....

I had checked this wire before I bought it. I saw two wires and assumed a third one was buried under the paper insulation. This two conductor switch cord. The stuff I want is 3 conductor - one black, white, and green wire. I'll be making another run to Lowes tomorrow.

Checked the waterfall drip boxes in the PM and all of them looked good. All of them now look like they have a finish on them. I will do the final check tomorrow before signing off on them. 

The other four boxes got a 2nd coat of the tung oil finish. Never made it back to the shop after dinner yesterday. Tung oil does not pop at all on pine. It looks the worse on white and becomes a little discernable on darker or figured pine. Either way these last four are getting two coats of tung oil and two coats of the hard paste wax.

accidental woodworker

Woodwork that you put yourself into creating can last a long time and have personal meaning. Consider that these are among the reasons it is worth doing. Look back at the item from over 60 years ago discussed in a recent post: Still here My 50-year file of Fine Woodworking magazine is still mostly housed in […]

In England, working on Listed Buildings often needs Listed Building Consent. This is a good thing and means that our heritage buildings are protected from ill-advised building practices by law. Conservation officers are there to advise on best courses of action and help to protect our historic fabric.

Part of the Consent application is providing scale drawings. I was lucky to have been at school at a time when technical drawing was still taught. Technical drawing as a separate subject in English schools was merged into the larger Design and Technology national curriculum in 1989, which was a great shame I think. I have used CAD software, but still get great pleasure from producing measured drawings by hand.

I was good with more academic subjects also (I was being pushed in the direction of becoming an architect), but my favourites were Art and technical drawing. When I finally went to college it wasn't Architecture but 3D design(Exhibition Design) with stage and Museum design, that I studied. Lots of opportunities for visualization, modelmaking and more drawing. We had fantastic workshops at college, and I was able to explore my love for woodworking, metalworking and sculpture. I delved quite deep into lots of woodworking traditions, and more often than not I could be found in the workshops, not the design studio.

Later on I got into framing and carpentry and building; I am glad I took the more practical route; understanding buildings from actually building them, working on them and caring for them. It gives you knowledge, which you just can't get from Architecture college, and hours spent in front of some CAD program. Yet again, doing things by hand, you notice things which machines and computers get in the way of. Stuff Artificial Intelligence, give me real Knowledge any day.

And a hand drawn drawing....

37C

Came close but peaked at a two digit value. Sweltering with an oppressive, wet blanket slap to the face humidity. It was uncomfortable doing the post lunch stroll today and I cut it short with a shortcut on the return trip to the barn.

Mr Darcy

He turned 18 this year and has been an indoor cat since we took him home from the animal shelter. He usually jumps up on this chair around 0700 and doesn't stir until dinner time which is around 1700. He is oblivious to the heat.

nope

I have 4 coats of the hard paste wax on these and nada. It looks like bare wood to my eye. Using the hard wax only on eastern white pine is a bust. I want some kind of indication that there is a finish applied.

shellac

I know that you can use shellac over wax because Don Williams finishing DVD told me I can. This is the second time I've applied shellac over a wax. The appearance of a finish was evident after the first coat of shellac. Three coats and I'm calling these done.

next four

These will get hard paste wax too but first they will get two coats of tung oil.

done, almost

Got three coats of shellac on them and once that is dry, I can call it 100% done. My sister said she is giving these to her grandkids for xmas this year. Plenty of time to the shellac to set and harden.

 The box at the top right is the one with the errant nail. It is getting three coats of shellac then a check mark in the done column. I'll keep this one for me to use in the shop somewhere.

one coat of tung oil

First one on post lunch stroll. The second coat might go on after dinner. Don't know what I'll use these for and I'm already thinking ahead to another run. Those I will make a little differently by putting in 'handles'.

 I didn't make the Lowes run this AM. Inside I ran a couple of errands and after them I went to the shop forgetting all about it. Good thing no one is holding a gun to my head, I'll try doing it tomorrow AM.

accidental woodworker 

So, in the little free time that I seem to have these days, I’ve been building the obligatory dining room table. It’s to be in solid red oak, a no-leaf design, and fairly large: about 7′ long. (That’s roughly 2100mm for those who measure in sensible.)

Lengths that long make things unfortunate. I’m not using really thick stock, so there will be battens and such underneath to keep things straight, but just finding clear boards that aren’t excessively bowed has been a problem. In any case, I’m getting somewhere:

Now, the length introduces another problem, that when edge-joining, you’re going to have a really hard time getting everything to line up. Even if you were somehow to find perfectly straight boards, they start flexing around a bit at that length, so managing it is annoying.

There are several ways around this, such as creating index battens to clamp to the faces while gluing up, but in the end, I’ve decided just to index with inserts. In this case, sort of small loose tenon things, and matching mortises for them to fit in.

Even though I recently bought a mortiser (blasphemy, I know), this stuff is so hard to manage that I decided that it would just be easier to do it by hand. And since I wasn’t really in the mood to whack it out with my normal mortise chisels, I went for the old “clamp a guide to the face” method:

Essentially, mark the edge away from the face with a marking gauge, clamp on the guide/jig/whatever, drill out most of the waste (a brad-point bit is helpful in this small size), and excavate with the chisel up against the guide. It’s surprisingly quick.

When finished, a board looks like this:

I don’t bother to put much (if any) glue to affix the loose tenons during glue-up because it’s a hectic time, and the edge-glue joint all around is much stronger anyway. But it really does help tremendously to keep everything behaved while getting the work in the clamps without worrying about if things are flopping around or sliding into the wrong place. Sometimes I’ll also put small F-clamps over the very ends to bring those into alignment, if necessary.

This is one of those times when you are tempted to buy a biscuit joiner or something like that because it might save a little bit of time (or at least seem easier), but I really don’t want to buy another tool. (I guess I have a doweling jig for some reason, but dowels make me go meh.) And really, preparing the faces and edges has been the most time-consuming thing in this project anyway. So far.

But I do wish it were as easy as the smaller table tops that you can just slap together all in one shot.

I learned recently that the first Roubo volume, To Make As Perfectly As Possible — Roubo On Marquetry has sold out!  Plans are underway to revise the book format into a semi-deluxe edition as was done with great success for the Roubo On Furniture volume.  I am currently reviewing a couple text passages that I thought might need some wordsmithing (to quote LBJ, “I reserve the right to be smarter than I used to be”), but otherwise the redesign and printing are in Lost Art Press’ hands.

Stay tuned.

going for it

No balls, no blue chips I say. Jumped into nailing off the top battens willing to risk any splitting. Besides, nailing off the top will strengthen the box's butt joinery.

sigh

First box and I got a few tiny splits on 3 of 4 of the end nails. I also got 2 splits on the center nails. But it could have been worse and I can live with the teeny splits.

this sucks

Wasn't expecting this to happen. The nail appeared to go in straight, in the middle of the end, but it came out at an angle.

lid fits in spite of it

At least the nail isn't interfering with the lid fitting. The lid still fits in both orientations too.

simple layout

I could have eyeballed it but the ruler wasn't in the way and stayed while I drilled the holes.

side trip

The fence company dropped two fence pickets off. 3 pickets were loose and I was able to nail them back in place. I got permission from my next door neighbor to walk behind her fence to get to mine and put the two new ones in. I used screws instead of nails. The fence company used what looked like aluminum spiral nails - thin and flimsy looking. They certainly pulled out easy as can be - nothing like pulling spiral nails I have dealt with before.

done

Nailed off the remaining 5 boxes. Doing it with brass nails didn't register until I was done using the cut nails.

replacement box

This is the replacement for the box with the errant nail. I tried to back it out but it wasn't happening. I don't want to chance some young fingers accidentally getting stabbed by it. Got the first coat of the hard paste wax on it. Two more to go and it can join the other 2.

I got a third coat on all of the original 3 boxes. The final coat I rubbed on a thin coat, waited 15 minutes, and buffed them with a face cloth. I didn't bother with the soft or hard buffing pads. They weren't making any difference with the look of the finish.

hmm.....

Two cords for this 1/2HP motor. One is the line cord and the other is for the on/off switch. I want to reuse the on/off switch on the 3/4HP motor. Should be doable without wasting too many calories.

this sucks pond scum

The switch and the line cords are soldered - not crimped or wire nutted together. That will make reusing this motor a wee bit involved, ie, soldering a new on/off switch. I left the wires I snipped long so I will be able to figure out how to do that.
 

old line cord

This one has had the snot beat out of it. It still works but definitely not OSHA approved. I'll have to buy a new cord at Lowes - I think they still sell line cord by the foot. This one is a few inches over 8 feet long.

hiccup

I'll have to wire the motor and switch before I secure the motor on the bandsaw. This cover will be up close and personal with the bottom frame of the bandsaw.

hmm....

This deserves a bit more than a 'hmm....'. I need to feed in two cords and that isn't going to happen. There isn't enough room for that. 

might work

There isn't a lot of extra real estate to put in a 2nd opening for a cable clamp. I'll remove this one and check if a romex clamp will fit. I should be able to get two cords in that with no problems. I don't have a good way of securing the two cords this way. And there is zero strain relief not mention it would be easy ingress for sawdust from the bandsaw.

I'll make a road trip to Lowes first thing in the AM. I rely on the bandsaw too much to have it unavailable to use. No turning back now because I can't readily swap 1/2HP motor back in service.

accidental woodworker 

Applying the finish to 3 of the mini japanese tool boxes. I am using the hard wax paste only - no hard wax oil(?) as the first coat . I am also experimenting with it on these boxes. If it works out, I'll use the same method on the remaining 5 boxes. 

the 3 I picked

These aren't totally wart free but they are the best looking of the 8. These are the ones I'm giving to Donna on sunday.

ready for hard wax paste

The finish feels dry - it also feels smooth to the touch all over.

hmm....

Got the first coat on and it doesn't look like any finish has been applied. This is what I saw too on the other mini japanese toolboxes I made. I guessing that this will take a minimum of 3 coats before I have a warm and fuzzy with it.

looks different

There is a slight difference in the look. Not the shine of a shellac finish, but nonetheless you can tell there is a finish applied. Not sure at this point if I'll apply another coat or not.

the experiment starts here

I bought these buffing pads a couple of years ago and only tried the soft buffing pad once. I wasn't happy with how it worked - I didn't see any difference in the finish post application.

The other pads to the right I don't remember anything about them. I'm not sure if each color is a different grit or denoting an order in which they are used. Other then the color of them, they all look and feel exactly the same.

I tried the soft pad on the cell phone holder hoping to raise a higher sheen but the overall matte finish stayed the same. The only hiccup I had was the sander spit a ton of fine dust all over it. Wiped it off with a face cloth I use as shop rags.

trying a hard pad

It had been about 10 minutes after applying the hard wax to these boxes. The pad definitely made the boxes feel a lot smoother. I didn't detect a discernable change in the sheen but I have few more applications to go. On the next one I plan to apply the wax and immediately buff it with the hard pad. The last one I apply I will buff out with the soft pad.

it is not happening

Buffed out the bottom box (one coat) and the top one just has one coat too -not buffed out. Can't see a difference and I doubt I will. I think that the best I'll get is a matte finish that may shimmer a wee bit in raking light. However, on the bottom box I can feel a difference. It is much smoother feeling to the touch vice the top one. The top one I applied the wax and wiped it down after 10 minutes or so. It feels smooth but not as like the bottom box.

came today

Lee Valley said these would take 7-10 days to come in. Took only 4 days. I've been tossing around in the brain bucket whether or not to nail off the top end battens on the boxes. On one hand I don't want to risk a split at this stage of the build. On the other hand, the top battens being nailed off would match the side nails. It is a toss of the coin decision with film and updates on the 11 o'clock news tomorrow.

This is all I got done today, all in the AM session. My wife's sister came to Rhode Island from New York like she does every summer. That is where I spent my PM time. I want to go see her home for a weekend maybe in september. I have a had hankering to go to the Stewart's gas station by her house for a coffee and a muffin.

accidental woodworker