mirror done

Mirror done!

Well almost, I still have to do my least favorite part, finishing. I noticed that the mirror has a scratch in it from the back that shows through right to the front. It's in the upper left hand side just outboard of the centerline. (the lady at the glass company says that no one re-silvers mirrors anymore because of the hazardous waste issues)I must have done this in the shop with all my moving it here and there checking the fit etc. Still its a good deal for ten bucks and the other 99.9% of the mirror is just fine. To the left of the first picture is my armoire slant slash TV cabinet. It just might make it back to its original intent with the advent of the new TV's.

In the second picture I showed the back and at the top you can see two pocket screws on the crest rail? For lack of a better term, that's what it is. I also used biscuts to hold this together. I first glued the bottom flat piece to the top to the mirror frame and after 1/2 hour or so I glued the circular portion and applied clamping pressure just with the pocket screws. I used a piece of plywood for the backer for the mirror and one for the back of the box attached to the bottom of the mirror frame. Overall, this is a very light piece, a lot lighter than I thought it was going to be. I shouldn't have any problems hanging this where ever it happens to land.

My thoughts on this is to use mending plates and attach them to the mirror close to the top and expose just enough room for the hole for the screw. This should minimize seeing it. Or I might screw through the frame and bung the holes when I am done. If I use mollys I don't have to be concerned with hitting a stud (the frame is light enough for this), and I can use a walnut bung to plug the holes. I have these "E-Z anchors" that I have had good luck with. They work well in drywall and I haven't had any fail me yet. Well thats it for this post.

I am headed for highlands hardwoods in Brentwood, New Hampshire tomorrow. They have 8/4 poplar on special and I am going to use that to make the table for my daughter (its for the legs and stretchers). They have a couple of other hardwood dealers closer to home, but none of them have the short bins that highland has. Some dealers don't have a regular inventory that is half of what highlands has just in shorts. Plus, and this is a biggie, they charge extra if you don't buy a minimum, of in most cases, 100 bf. Highlands has no minimum , lets you pick through the pile, and they will help load your treasures in your vehicle. Its a nice drive of about 2-3 hours and they have a machinery store just before you get to highlands called Brentwood Machinery. If you happen to be up this way, stop in. They sell new and used and everything in between. I got a Freud combo blade for 10 bucks the last time I was there, a brand new blade like this runs around 90 bucks. I also bought some sanding discs, a pack of 5 for $1.50. I have a stack of 100, 150, and 220 about 12" high. Now thats a bargain worth the trip for just that.

As soon as I get a finish on my mirror I'll post it.

Mirror saga

Mirror Saga continues

As you can see from these two pictures (sans the mirror), this is what it is going to look like.(you'll have to use your imagination as to what the mirror look likes) The box on the bottom is plywood that I used biscuts to put it to together. The lid is in two pieces and I plan to biscut the back shorter piece to the bottom of the mirror frame and then screw this to the plywood box. It should be alright as the box isn't going to exert too much weight on the frame, which is why I made it out of poplar 7/8" thick.

I am having second thoughts about the little round crest rail at the top of the mirror frame. I am vacillating between leaving it and tossing it in the garbage. The top frame ass'y is held together with biscuts and it will be biscutted(is this a word?) to the top of the mirror frame, since these biscut slots are already cut, I think I am going to have to learn to like it as is. My wife likes it even if I am having second thoughts. Still don't know who is going to get this but I am the maker and the wife is the giver. Its a pretty good arrangement.

Had a major screw up with the placement of the rabbets for the mirror and the backer board. I cut the step but it ended up being way to shallow. There wasn't enough run between the risers. As a consequence, the mirror would not fit as the rabbet was too small. So I set up the router to take out the step and removed it. I put filler strips of wood on the sides of the mirror to set it where it should be in the now very large rabbet. After I did this I noticed that one of the bevels wasn't cut square. I'll have to remember to put this in one of the bottom corners to minimize it. Anyway, the mirror looks ok and the reveal on the front is ok too (except for one corner bevel whose angle doesn't line up with the corner of the frame). I laid out a line 5/16" back from rabbet all the way around it. Then I took a top bearing mounted pattern bit and cut a rabbet for the plywood backer for the mirror. Now the back will be flush straight across and up and down and lay flat up against the wall. Life is good in mudville again and the mighty Casey is smiling.

Published the same picture twice and I can't edit it out. The second picture showed the same thing except the cover for the box is off. I haven't put a back on the box yet because I want to do that after I glue the short strip of the lid ass'y to the bottom of the mirror frame. The reason for this is I want to extend the back up an inch or so into the bottom the mirror frame's bottom rail to tie the box more securely in place.

Will post more as it happens. I have been told that my next project is to be a little breakfast table for my daughter because she has captain chairs but no table. I don't mind a trip to the wood store, especially now that gas has dropped over a dollar a gallon where I live.

New Mirror project

Mirror Project

If you can look past the mess that I am calling my shop, I have my next project well underway. In picture with the clamps I have what will eventually be the bottom of the mirror. Its sort of a catch all box that will have a lift up lid. It's made up of scrap plywood that I edged with strips of walnut that I cut from scraps. The lid itself is walnut which is why edged the plywood with walnut ( the lid isn't in either picture).

The other picture has the mirror frame and the top ass'y in the left hand vise. Behind that you can see the beveled mirror that I am going to use for this. The mirror frame is made from leftover poplar (or is it popular? I have seen it spelled both ways). At this point in the project I have about a days work into it. I will post again tomorrow and bring it all up to speed. Since I don't have a plan to follow for this, other than a picture in my mind, it should be interesting to see if I have to do any quick thinking to work around "I shouldn't have done that first".

finished clock

Finished Walnut Clock

Here it is all done. I fixed the door and it was relatively easy to do. I think I was a little over zealous when I ran my smoother over it as I caused it to end up with a little hill on the sides. I just knocked the high spots down with my block plane on both sides until the case stopped rocking when I put it on my table saw. I always say I am going to just live with it but that only lasts until the next time I get into the shop.

I am pleased with the results I achieved considering its all scrap walnut. Could have, would have, but didn't with matching grain, color, etc. It will still look good as a kitchen clock or somewhere else that isn't too formal. Right now its in my basement office where I have six other clocks, not all working at the moment.

I had the movement (I still have about 8 or 9 of them in my clock part box), the wood was left over from something else, and the only thing I bought were the hinges and the hook and a couple of #6 brass slot head screws. I also had to buy the two glass panels which in my neck of the woods cost me all of $3.21. I had gone to Lowe's first to have it cut but I had to bring it back as the cuts weren't even close: The big panel should have been 8 x 8 5/16 and the lower small one 8 x 4 5/16.

The girl at Lowes cut it this way: 8 1/8 strong x 8 5/8 for the big one and 8 3/16 x 4 3/4 for the small one. The small glass was useless not only because of its size but also because one corner wasn't 90 degrees (she didn't snap it cleanly). Nothing against women, but she obviously can't read a tape measure or cut glass.

This clock was a small dovetailed box to which I added a top and bottom and a door made with bridle joints. I used a bridle joint because I had the scrap that I used for the stiles already had a groove in them (If I had cut the groove out the stiles would have ended up being too thin in width). Very easy to make a bridle joint, it is a strong joint and maybe a little over kill for a clock door, but it worked. I made a shallow mortise for the mid rail and used my router with a rabbit bit to remove part of the groove so I could put the glass in. The knob I ordered for the clock isn't coming in until sometime in dec but after putting the hook and screws on to keep the door closed, my thinking is now that maybe I don't need it. I'll have to wait until the knob comes in to see if I want to put it on.

A lot of what I make is made from scraps. I am a good scrounger (I was a champion comshore artist in the navy) and I am not adverse to using wood pallets, scrap plywood, or whatever to make something. Most of my tools are kept in scrap boxes I have made over the years. It keeps the dust off of them and affords some protection. Plus all the boxes are different so I know exactly what is in each box. In fact when I got the glass cut correctly I bought a beveled mirror for ten bucks. Its about 12 x 20 and I have already started making a new project with it but thats for the next post. I guess the point I am trying to make is that just because you don't have 80 bf of walnut or cherry, it doesn't mean that you can't go in the shop and make sawdust doing something else.

Walnut clock pt 2

Walnut clock part 2

No pictures this time. Got a little frustrated the other day as I found out the walnut case was twisted. The opposite corners are up and down from each other by about 1/8" or so. Its dead square on all four corners though. A real head scratch er. At first I thought it was my door and I kind of expected that as its relatively thin and flatsawn wood. I laid the door on my saw and it is flat w/o rocking. The case rocks from one corner to the next. Just make another door right? Wrong answer moose breath. Murphy's law has dictated that its the case because that's what is the worst case.
On top of this surprise, I got my no mortise hinges and they came with no screws! What moroone (as the three stooges would say, "you're too stupid to be a moron, you're a moroone") thought of this? Its like selling a car without a steering wheel. The customer rep told me that it was that way because the customer can then choose their own screw and style of screw. Lucky for me I had ordered some extra screws to guard against stripped out ones etc, etc,.
I am still going to use this door and case. I was going to use rare earth magnets to keep the door closed but I don't think it'll keep the door closed. I tried a hook and eye and if I play with it, I can get it to close reasonably close. It's a clock and you will not be opening and closing the door 20 times a day. I am going to try this and if it survives a couple seasonal changes it'll be a done deal. If not, I'll cut wedges to fill the opposite end gaps and plane them to fit with an even reveal. Of course 99% of this depends on what really happens what happens when I get the glass in the door. Last time I checked glass doesn't flex too much.
This is the part of woodworking I really enjoy. How to salvage a project and still have something to show for your efforts. I like the challenge of figuring out the solution or the work around to the problem.
I put the first coat of finish on the entire case and door. I used my homemade wiping varnish and I got a brainstorm by putting it into a empty ketsup bottle. Now its very easy to put the right amount of finish on to my rag, rather than dipping it into a wide mouth glass jar. This is where I am now.

Workbench

Woodworking workbench

I made this workbench about 20 years ago while I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. I remember how much cheaper wood was down there and especially popular. I recall buying popular 24 inches wide by 12 ft long for 25 cents a running foot. Getting back to the workbench, for years my bench had been two sawhorses on which I laid a hollow core door on. Sometimes I would screw a plywood face on the door to extend its life, but none really lasted more than 6 months or so, and forget about trying to secure a vise on it somehow. I shudder now when I think of some of the idiotic things I did to try and hold work pieces while I worked on them.

This bench is made of up of couple of different designs. I bought the "The Workbench Book" written by Scott Landis and from it I used parts of a bench made by Frank Klaus and Tage Frid. I also incorporated a few ideas for the bench from issue #50 of Woodsmith magazine. If I recall rightly, I bought metal bench dogs from Woodcraft along with the two bench screws (different lengths). I bought 5 pieces of maple that became the bench dog and sliding vise assembly. The rest of the bench is southern yellow pine that I got from a construction site out of a dumpster. The navy didn't pay all that much during that time frame. It was about three years of heavy thinking before I started to make this bench not to mention several all expense paid trips that the navy sent me on. I wanted to be sure before I made this because I expect to die working at it.
I used the sliding vise assembly from issue #50 of woodsmith magazine because I did not want to make the right hand vise assembly from the Frank Klaus bench. It was nice, but a lot more that what I wanted to do at that time. My biggest problem with it was I could not see any to adjust it for seasonal wood movement or racking during use of it. Nothing more annoying than having the vise be proud of the surrounding workbench surface. The sliding vise ass'y from woodsmith did and still does everything I want it to do. From the far left dog hole to the far right dog hole is 6' 6" and I have yet to clamp anything that long between them.

From the Frank Klaus bench I took the left vise ass'y and the tool tray. I am one who would eliminate a tool tray on my next bench. It does nothing but collect debris and it becomes a black hole that swallows tools. I do like the front to back width (it's about 2') of the bench and I would probably leave that sans the bottom of tool tray. That opening is nice for clamping directly to the top of the workbench. The secondary wood on my bench is syp. Its made up of 4 boards: 2 were 2 x 6" x 6' and other two were 2 x 12" x 6'. I edge glued a 2 x 6 and a 2 x 12 together then I faced glued these two but I glued them with their growth rings opposite each other and with one 12" wide board was faced glued to the bottom of one of the 6" wide pieces. I thought I was creating a "plywood" type sandwich and using the growth rings to counter act against each other. My reasoning was that I wouldn't have problems with cupping, warping, or splitting. Like I said, its been 20 years or so since I made this, and it has not cupped, warped, or split a fraction of an inch. Once this sandwich was made I edge glued this to the maple bench dog ass'y which consisted of 5 5/4 rock maple boards 6" wide and 7' long. I could have made this is with 4 boards but I wanted to have as much weight in this bench as I possibly could. Also by using 5 boards I was increasing the front area of the bench with hardwood rather than the softer syp . The end caps are 2 x 4's and the legs are 4 x 4's and the stretchers are 2 x 6's, all syp. When I had it moved when I left Norfolk, the movers told me that it weighed almost 350 lbs. It is very hard for me to accidentally budge this bench when I am working on it and that's what you want; a bench doesn't move.

Underneath my bench I keep all handplanes and a box that contains my paring chisels.I bought these paring chisels when I was 21 and I think in the last 25 years I might have used them maybe two or three times, sure glad that that doesn't hold true for the rest of my collection.

So this is my workbench. Am I happy with it and would I change anything? Yes and yes and maybe. First let me say that a woodworking bench today is utilized differently then a workbench from a 100 years ago. Today power tools are the norm, not handtools, so mine bench is about 6" taller but even with that, I don't have backaches when I do plane something. I will scrub plane a warped board before running it through my planer or over the jointer. I have also scrub planed and flattened a rough sawn board using just handplanes. It still boggles my mind when I see some of the furniture made using hand tools only. I have a profound respect for the craftsmen of yore and what they did with what they had.

I would like to build another workbench. I would like something along the lines of the workbench at Shaker Hancock village in Pittsfield Mass. I would build that bench with the Frank Klaus right hand vise ass'y as there is hardware available today that allows you to make adjustments to it. I would build an enclosed base with the storage like the Shaker bench but I don't think I would build it 15' long. I think my bench length is just fine. It's a toss up as to what I would do with the left hand vise ass'y. There have been times when I wish that I didn't have the left hand vise ass'y because it was in the way. I often think that I would put it directly opposite from where it is now(the back left hand side). That would make the whole front of workbench clean and unbroken with no obstructions. Then my thinking is that it will be in the way if I move it there. Then there are times I think why do I need this? I don't use it all the time and not even 50% of the time. However, I am a firm believer in murphy's law and the hammer falling where it will do the most possible damage.
Besides, after 20 years I have learned to live with and work around this bench and no matter how much I cuss it out and hit it in frustration with my mallet its like a good dog, always there and ready for whatever.

Walnut Shelf Clock Project

This is one of the projects I am currently working on. As you can see from the pictures its almost done with the exception of a little this and a little of that. From the first picture on the left you can see the case shown on its side view (to highlight the dovetails), and the door. Also in this picture is the top or bottom of the clock. The measurements are the same for them. I routed a 3/8" round over on both sides of three edges (I didn't do the back edge). The top and bottom overhang the sides and the front by about 1/2". Its a 1/2" because that is the size of the boards I had. This entire clock is made from scraps I had left over from another project.

The picture on the upper right shows the back of the clock case which shows how I mounted the dial board. It is simple and easy to do. In fact if you research older clocks, a lot of dials were mounted this way. I nailed a thin piece of walnut across the very bottom of the dial board(1/4" x 3/4" x 6") to hide the edge of the plywood. You might see this when you open the door.

The last picture on the bottom left shows the front of the clock, the stained walnut 1/4" birch plywood back, and parts of the door and the top & bottom. The dial is a shaker parchment dial I got from Klockit. I based the size of the dial on the inside measurement of the clock case which is a shade over 8 1/2". I don't like measurements that tell you to go to 1/32 or so. This is woodworking, not metalworking. Wait ten minutes and your +1/32 will be a -1/32. This is also a great plus when you build something strictly out of your head as I did here. No measurement is off , short, or too long. I got lucky with this eventual clock case as I was going to make this into a box but I changed my mind when I saw my kitchen clock. I made that about 15 years ago out of cherry and it was just a little bigger (taller by 2 1/2") than the walnut box. Since no one was holding a gun to my head and I have a thing for clocks (don't know why) and boxes (again I don't know why), and proportionally it looked like it would be a good case, it went from box to clock. The only real concern I had was that the stiles might end up being too skinny. Might have been that way because I didn't have the dial yet and I didn't know how much the stiles would project into it and maybe partially cover some of the time ring. The dial I had in cherry clock I couldn't find so I went with the parchment one. Got lucky and my door stiles of 1 3/8" are dead on ok.

All stock for this clock is about 3/4" and most clocks from this time period (about 1860-1890, its loosely modeled after what would have been called a shelf clock) would have been made of thinner stock. Again 3/4" is what I had and I have yet to see anyone come into my house and measure something and tell me it was too thick. The only person who touches my projects is my best friend and his interest is in trying to find my mistakes and how I fixed them and checking for squareness. Its alright because I do the same thing to him.

All I am waiting on is the hinges, the door knob, and something to hold the door shut. I usually use two screws and a hook for this but this time I am going to try something new. Lee Valley offers a 1/4" rare magnet kit for this purpose. They state the magnet will pick up a little over 2lbs in weight and that should be more than enough to hold the door shut and cause my friend to scratch his head a few times. I am going to use no mortise hinges and a brass knob for opening/closing the door. I have become a big fan of no mortise hinges lately. They are very easy to install and more importantly they have just the right amount of reveal, usually about 1/16". The only headache I have with these hinges is the screws. I have gotten some of these hinges were the screws are proud of the hinge plate causing the hinge to become hinge bound. So I always try to check that the screws seat properly and are not proud. Sometimes you can enlarge the bevel but I haven't had consistent luck doing this. I now buy boxes of #3, #4, and #5 screws to swap out the screws that come with the hinges. Lee Valley is the source I use for getting these screws. The brass knob is shiny and I think I will leave it that way. I usually darken them with a brass darkening solution I get restoration hardware. I have also dipped them in lacquer thinner to remove the protective coating and just let it tarnish naturally.

I got the movement from Klockit and it's a time only pendulum quartz movement. I have found these to very accurate and I change the batteries every fall when the clocks have to fall back. As an aside, Klockit is offering a set and forget movement that automatically springs ahead and falls back when it is supposed to. It has an internal calender that tells it when to do it. Since I am on Klockit, is it me or have they really trimmed down on what they sell now compared to ten or even five years ago. I used to buy wood columns from S LaRose but Klockit bought them out and surprise, Klockit doesn't sell columns. I bought the pendulum from Merritt clocks because Klockit doesn't sell adjustable wooden pendulums anymore. Or if they do I can not find them on their website anywhere. The ones from merritt are cheap and you cut them to make them smaller. You can also buy all the wooden pendulums parts individually. I buy wooden pendulums because the brass break away adjustable length pendulums suck out loud. They are cheap looking and cheap feeling and I just don't like them at all. The only brass pendulums I will use are ones that are sized for the movement, period, end of sentence, have a nice day.

So this is where I am on this project. I have three others in the works but I can't write about them because of my wife and daughter might read this. So I will now do what I hate to do. Sand up or down through the grits. Since this is walnut and an open grained wood that I am not going to fill, I will sand up/down from 100 to 320, dust it off and apply the finish.

I only use two finishes, shellac and wipe on varnish or poly. For this project I will start with a coat of amber shellac. The amber shellac warms up the walnut nicely and then I will seal that with a coat of clear shellac and then I will use the wipe on poly. Wipe on poly has become a favorite of mine. I make my own because I be poor and the store bought wipe on poly is too expensive. All you need is a sealable container, a measuring cup (mine is 1/2 cup), turpentine (or odorless mineral spirits), and poly. What you pay for a quart is what you pay for a small container of wipe-on poly and the quart of poly makes a ton of wipe on poly. Anyway, mix in your sealable container equal parts of turpentine and poly, mix, and apply with a rag. I use the blue shop towels that I get from walmart where I also get my poly too.

According to Lee Valley and Fed ex I should receive my parts on the 13th, but I have enough to do to keep me busy until then. One last thing before I sign out. I made this clock case with my leigh jig and the corners were out of level with each other by about 1/16" (where the half pins on the outside edge of the boards meet the outside tails). Everything was dead nuts square before I started and I still got these results; very frustrating. It was easy to fix that problem with my smoothing plane . I made sure the case was square when I glued it up and I checked it again after I put the clamps on it. A few of the pins spacing was off and had some gaps so I had to cut and fit shims to fill them in. You have to get very close and look even closer to see where I used them. This is it for today.Until I get proficient at cutting dovetails by hands I will put up with these annoyances from the jig.

post #3, picture insertion

success! There is joy in Mudville today. I have successfully navigated finding and posting a picture all by myself. Two pats on my back and an extra attaboy and a dollar from petty cash.

This is the last project I made. It is based on an article from popular woodworking called "U can do that". They made theirs from pine panels you can buy at home depot with butt joints and screws. I made mine from 4-2'x2' birch plywood panels and scrap popular I had hanging around the shop. I used dados, rabbetts, and biscuts to hold everything together. I hid the plywood edge on the top over hanging panel with a molding I made with my router. The piece is meant to be painted which you can see I haven't gotten around to doing. I definitely like making and I absolutely would rather stab a fork repeatedly into my left eye then sand and put a finish on a project. Oh well, I will get around to it sooner or later. Right now there is no rush because I can't think of anyone to give this to that has a free corner for it.

This is an example of a trial project for me. My wife wants a corner cabinet for the tv and I am reluctant about making one. Old analog tvs are on their way out and sooner or later I will be getting a flat screen tv. This means the old cabinet will no longer be functional. See my reasoning for procrastinating? Getting back to the wife thing, I made this corner cabinet to practice making 45 and 22 1/2 degree angle cuts and putting all these together.

Now that I am done with this I kind of like it and I have worked out any problems I think I might have with the tv table. In fact this corner shelf/cabinet is just a couple of inches short of being able to hold my tv as is. I don't think it would be too much trouble to expand this to make current tv fit it. I could even hang it off the wall or extend the sides and add feet. Have not made up my mind yet. It will have to be a rainy day project because my wife also wants a sewing table. I am just waiting for her to set my priorities straight.

The very top picture is my Tombstone cabinet. I made this just before the corner cabinet. When I uploaded it I thought it was going to be inserted here. Surprise! I had made this as a Xmas present for my wife but she saw it way too early so I will have to make her something else. I made this out of popular and its the first time I made a 'tombstone" door. I am rather pleased with the results. Don't know where I am going to put it, but its made. Its based on the one in the Autumn 2008 issue of Woodworking Magazine. Mine is is not only dimensional larger and not made of walnut, it doesn't have the rat tail hinges either. They cost about 70 dollars each. In my neck of the woods if I made the cabinet as lined out in the article, it would have cost me over 400 dollars. As is I got the popular on special for 1.25 a board foot (it was 5/4 stock) and knobs and the hinges were about 20 dollars total. I made my version for a fraction of the article one and I learned how to make a "tombstone" door. Now I think I might tackle one made in entirely of wood.

Popular is considered a secondary wood and I don't know why. I like its grain pattern and you can find it in colors that range from white to green to purple. Its cheap, easy to find, easy to work, reasonably strong, finishes well and the list goes on. Compared to pine, picking popular is a real no brainer to my way of thinking.

Figured out how to post pictures; I will have to determine how to move the pictures around or check the link to an album ? Thats whats in store for the next edition. I also have to figure out how to change a tif to a jpg so picasa will accept it.

first foray, post #2

Had a minor hiccup in that I lost my first posting. Could not figure out how to get back into it to resume it. Finally figured out that it was easier to just start a new posting.

I have a Delta mortiser model #14-650 and the steel city mortiser model #25200. Why do I have two you ask? I have two because the delta is broke and I was in the middle of a project that required 124 mortises. The delta fence broke after making 14 holes. I looked up the fence replacement and found that delta considers the fence obsolete and has no replacement part for it. Well isn't this a nice way out for Delta. I now have a 60 lb paperweight. I have always bought delta because I thought that they made a good functional product that had a decent price. Not having a replacement part for this mortiser, and especially since it is an important part, is a huge error some bean counter made. The fence is a major component of this piece of equipment, don't tell me its obsolete and there is no replacement. Don't tell me you have gotten my money and now you don't give a damn about what you have sold. A mortiser should last a lifetime. It is not a consumable throw away after ten years. This has changed my thinking on buying delta products which is why I bought the steel city one to replace it. Done ranting about this and this is why I have two mortisers. By the way, there are replacements tables with fences for the Delta. I have seen them for years and now I know why.

Tool review is done and to continue with who I am. I subscribe to several woodworking magazines and for the most part I don't consider them to be aimed at people like myself. I find most of these mags are slanted to the professional with the exception of maybe popular woodworking and its sister rag, woodworker. Since I have digressed once I am going to do it again.

I would love to be able to cut dovetails by hand. There are examples of egyptian boxes made over 4000 years aga with dovetails. I think that after so much time, its a proven method of joining sides together. I practice cutting them on scrap pieces of wood I have in the shop. I save the last one I did until I do a new one. I then compare the two of them to see if I am making any progress at this. I have said this to state this: I have a ton of literature and seveal VHS and DVDs on how to cut dovetails by hand. They are all crap as far as I am concerned. They all show and tell how someone who has been cutting dovetails since then did it on Noah's ark, and look at how easy it is. It is easy for you because you have been doing it for 20 plus years. I don't want to know how you do it, I want to learn how to do it. That starts with in my humble opinion, with how to stand, how to hold the saw, the very basics of cutting dovetails. Not the accumlation of your experience. Its very much akin to these instructors taken for granted what they already know and have mastered and not imparting it to the trainee.

I have the leigh 24" dovetail jig for this very reason. I have the older D4 model and I only cut through dovetails with it. I also have problems cutting dovetails with this jig. For some reason I can not get the stops to stay square which causes the corners of the box to be out of square. I have had this jig for 15 years and it continues to be a constant problem for me. I tired once to do half blind dovetails but I am not a good one for reading instructions that go on for 30 pages or more. I have read tht the new DR4 has eliminated this problem by making the square stops all in one piece with the body. No adjustments to make or check!! My friend had this jig also and he had the same problem as me. He solved his problem with it by trying to fling the jig back to canada. He only made it to the other end of his shop. I got what was left of it for spare parts for my jig.

This is it for now. I am going to ask the bride how to post pictures and that will be the topic for posting #3. I think #4 will be a clock that I am making. I made the box for it and the door, but I have not put it together yet.

First foray, post #1

Hi to all who wish to read this:

At the suggestion from my wife and daughter I am venturing into blog space. Hopefully this is will give me an extra outlet for whatever.

I am going to concentrate on woodworking and all that goes with it. I was laid off from my job as a medical equipment repair technician and I have been unable to find another job since. I have been turned down by MacDonalds and I have even been told that I am not qualified to wash dishes. All this aside, I have managed to keep my sanity by woodworking. I spend 5 -6 hours a day at trying to find a job and the rest of the time woodworking.

Since 10/2007 to 11/2008 I have made 63 woodworking projects. These range from little boxes made of scrap plywood (I use these to store my woodworking tools), clocks, tables, a tombstone wall cabinet (my largest project to date), and small blanket chests. A lot of what I made is Xmas presents and some are just projects that I wanted to try to make.

All and all I can say that my skill level has increased a great deal over the past year. It is something that my wife noticed and I took stock of after she mentioned it to me. So, with this blog I am going to document how I make things. I am not a professional cabinetmaker and I consider myself a step above a hobbyist. Most of what I make is shaker or craftsman style inspired pieces. I like the clean honest presentations of these two styles. I do not like overly done furniture, e.g., victorian. Once I figure out to post pictures I will post pictures of the 63 projects . The pictures were all taken by me or my wife, they are not professionally done in any sense of the word.

If you have read this far, this is the part where I am going to describe my shop. It's in the basement of my house and its tiny. The headroom is barely 6' plus and its an L shaped shop. I have a delta contractors saw with a 30" bessy fence, a delta 6" jointer, a delta mortiser, and a steel city mortiser. I have 7 routers, several drills (cordless and two corded) and the last time I counted I had 136 clamps of varying types. I have the usual assortment of hand tools and I have a collection of handplanes. I like to blend hand work and machine together. I am not a hand tool purist at all. Over the years I have found out that there are somethings that I can do better, quicker, etc. with a handtool then slogging through the same thing with power tools. Think of Norm. Any way, I have a good foundation in the tool department, but there are always new tools that you want. Mine are lie neilsen's dovetail, tenon, and carcass hand saws. These will set you back about 400 or so dollars , so these will remain on my wish list.