Start one thing and you have to....

Having nothing to do I started on a project that I initially had intended to make several years ago (about 1985). It's a mallet from Robert Wearing's book about making jigs and etc. So I looked around at my scraps and came up with a piece of 6/4 qtr birch for the head and some 3/4 rift saw white oak for the fillers and the handle. As usual with me I charged right in and immediately screwed up everything. Not the throw it in the garbage screw up but rather the I'm going to have to make it smaller screw up.

I just got done smoothing the birch and it's now ready to cut it up. I looked at the dimensions in the drawings and noted the measurement at the bottom of the drawing and noted the overall height measurement. What I didn't take into consideration was the mallet head top is curved and slanted. This really became evident when I cut the two inside filler pieces. The bottom measurement is 1-1/8" (I cut to this one) but the top of it is about  an 1-1/2" due the face being slanted from top to bottom. I didn't notice this before I made the cut but it slapped me right in the face when I did a dry fit. The other faux pas was the handle. The drawing shows the "mortise" for the handle as square but the handle is tapered. The top is 1-1/2" and the bottom is 1-5/8". I got lucky on this one because I purposely made the handle an 1-5/8" wide but it wasn't because of the measurements. I cut it wider so I could sneak up on the fit to the mortise.

I planed the slight tapered with my jack plane and you can see it in the picture. It's going to be a tad tighter than this as this isn't glued yet. I remember my father telling me;  it's easier to take a little off, it's one hell of a trick to add just a little. So as a result of the mis-measurements I am going to end up with a mallet that is a lot smaller than that which Bob said it should be. I don't mind this all that much as I had planned to make two mallets, one large and one small. I just expected to make the big one first and small one next.

I got one half of glued up and after this cooks for about hour or so, I'll glue the other side on. Bob writes that you can use dowels or brass brads to hold everything in place while you glue it up, but it isn't necessary. I disagree with this, especially if you try to glue up the whole thing in one shot. I envision lots of flying objects if I tried it his way. I had enough trouble keeping the cursing down just gluing it up this way.

This is project 2 to be done along side the mallet. I picked this up to move it and only the vertical portion came along for the ride. The base stayed right where it was on the floor. It's been a little loose for a while so it wasn't a shock that it failed. I made this when I made my workbench about 20 years ago so I am happy with the longevity of it. I think I should make the tenon a tad bigger and wedge it also. Should I redo the mortise in the original base or a make a new base? I think it'll depend on how bored I am at the time I do it.

accidental woodworker

A couple of hours puttering...

Josh over at Hyperkitten sold me a rip saw and he said it wasn't perfectly straight. So I packed it up to send to Bad Axe to get checked out and sharpened. I searched high and low around here where I live for someone who wouldn't laugh at me when I asked if they sharpened hand saws. I finally found someone who had worked in the old Woonsocket mills but when I called his wife answered and told me he was in the hospital. She also told me that she didn't think he would be able to do sharpening anymore. So I sent it out to Mark at Bad Axe. I just might have to learn how to do this myself. Guys that sharpen hand saws are getting as scarce as hen teeth and frog hair around these here parts.

I decided to go ahead and hang my hand saws on the inside doors of my big tool cabinet.  I don't have to cut the shelves at all. There is plenty of wiggle room for the saws when the doors are closed. When I made this upper part I was in my "Normie biscuits everything phase", so I biscuit-ed the doors together. Since I didn't make a groove so the panel, I rabbeted the edges and inserted them into a another rabbet in the door frame and just nailed them in place. Adequate for that purpose but not for stowing hand saws on them.

To reinforce the panel and keep it in place I screwed some gussets across the top. Across the bottom this piece of pine will keep the bottom of the panel from popping off. I also cut a dado in two places for the toe of the saws to sit in. This way the saw won't flop around when I open or close the door. I made the saw handle inserts on my scroll saw and finished them with a little filing and sandpaper.

 Since I am always talking of hand work, I did a little of it with this. I used my crosscut saw  to make a bunch of cuts where dadoes live. A chance to practice sawing to a line and four square crosscuts. This LN saw is a real smooth cutting saw. Once you establish the start of the cut, just the weight of the saw is all you need  to finish the cut. Awesome.

Here I got most of the waste gone. I am familiar with this technique as I used it a lot in my construction side jobs, usually to replace rotten pieces of wood. I am not all that concerned with this being perfect. No one is going to see it and as long as it'll hold the toe of the saws in place, I'm good to go with this.

I used my tenon plane to just smooth out the cut. I was only interested in getting the roughness out and reasonably flat. It's not quite to the line (on either one) but it's as flat as it needs to be. It's nice using hand tools and not having to endure the whine and scream of power tools.

Here are two of the crosscut saw's new home. The shiny one on the left I just got done cleaning. I whacked a couple of teeth so this one is going on vacation to Bad Axe too. Had a devil of a time getting one of the nuts off. Just kept spinning around as I tried to loosen it. Had to file a groove in the smooth side so I could use two screwdrivers to get it off. I might have to invest a supply of saw nuts.

This is the right side door with it's one saw. I didn't put the bottom piece of pine on like I did with the left door. I am going to wait until I get my rip saw back from Bad Axe. I was thinking of putting my LN hand saws in the space between the saws but it's a tad too tight. They will fit but it'll be a knuckle buster trying to get them out and put back.




For the LN hand saws I am going to put a sliding vertical board on the left side of the cabinet. I've been mulling about a way of doing it so I could use drawer slides to get it in and out. If I do this it will free up a cabinet I now use to hold my saws and chisels in that's behind my workbench. A little re-organization is starting to happen. The only hard spot about this is I am a creature of habit. I know that once I re-model the shop it's going to take a little time before I stop looking for a tool in the old spot rather than it's new re-organized spot. This definitely not something I want to rush into.

accidental woodworker

Selling old tools...

Recently I sold an old sharpening system on ebay. Actually it was my wife who did it as she has a sellers account on ebay. I sold my Work Sharp 3000 machine and a whole bunch of accessories. I sold it for 149 dollars plus 14 dollars for shipping. (shipping estimate was the wife's guess)

My wife shipped the goodies to the buyer from her work. She has access to boxes, bubble wrap, and all the other crappola you need to ship whatever to where ever. All this cost me almost 24 dollars. A quick lesson in math shows that on this point I lost 10 dollars on this and the buyer got a real good deal.

The misery doesn't end here but it continues. My wife informed that ebay sucked up 13 and change for the privilege of selling on ebay. Ebay put the money the buyer paid into a pay pal account that my wife has. Pay pal put the hooks into me for 6 and change for having the honor of money passing through it's account. I got 163 dollars for selling this and the miscellaneous costs came to about 44 dollars. 149 + 14 -24 - 20 equals 119.

Not enough money left over to get want I wanted from LN . All and all not a terrible experience but it could have been better.  I don't think I'll sell anything else either through ebay, Graig's list, or any other venue. I have several drills, batteries and extra chargers that I am just going to give away to my in-laws. I have some hand planes that I intended to sell and hopefully net enough moola to buy maybe one LN hand plane. That's not happening either. I'll keep them aside and give them to my nephews when they get little older and weigh more than the planes do.

 I hadn't used this WS3000 for about 2 years and it was just taking up space in my shop. However it was still a tool that I had used and one that did what I expected of it. Now it has a new home and a new owner whose only question was did it have the DVD with it? No questions about the machine or any of the accessories. Makes me wonder if this person is even going to use this or just try to resell it. I've let go of it and don't have any regrets.

As for future tool "sales", if I can't give it away to in-law, I'm going to keep it. I have more than a few toys I have not taken out to the sandbox in quite a while. I would rather keep what I am not using, have it continue to collect dust, rather then repeat this scenario again.

accidental woodworker

First saw rehab

I don't have any projects going right now. I am finally tapped out as I don't even need to make a box. Not that that has stopped me before. I am working on getting my newly acquired rip saw ready for shipping out to be sharpened and have it's plate straightened. I've been reading about saw restoration on on the WK Fine Tools blog and I'm using that as a guide with this one.

This is the result of my efforts. I did have some rust but not that much. There are a few pitted areas and again, I don't think they will cause any problems. Since this is my first "old saw" and my first re-hab experience I am going to rely very heavily on the advice of Bad Axe Tools. Mark is going to be doing the work on this and I readily concede he knows a tad bit more about this then I do. Supposedly there is a kink in the plate but I couldn't find or see it. The guy who sold it to me said one was there, maybe Mark will see it too.

  This is the handle for the saw along with the nuts and the medallion. The nuts are iffy (Bad Axe has some nice replacements)  and I haven't cleaned the medallion yet but I might replace this also. I don't plan on doing anything with the handle. There aren't any cracks or any other faults I can see. The horns aren't chipped which seems to be a deal killer with these items. I kind of like the honest look of this handle as is. It has a lot of history. All I did is clean it with some mineral spirits and a greenie pad.

I noticed on this saw that it has an 8 by the heel real close to the teeth. On my other saws the "number" is also on the heel but higher up. So I am assuming that this saw has been sharpened a few times already. All the teeth are there, none broken or missing, and they all appear to be consistent in their shapes. I am hoping that Mark will be able to save this because if he can't, I'll have rather large paper weight.

The last item in this journey is the one that sucks the most. Trying to find a shipping box for a saw is just about impossible. I have a pile of post office boxes that are long enough but they are just a tad too short in the width. I already boxed one up which was a wonderful experience of newspaper, bubble wrap, razor blades, cardboard, and the most fun of all, tape that sticks to everything including air. I wrapped it as best I could following the Bad Axe recommendations and oh wondrous joy, I get to do it again.

I had it wrapped up and ready to ship when I went back to the Bad Axe site to get the shipping address.  I then saw Mark's blurb about cleaning the saw before it is shipped. I see no reason why I should pay Mark to do something I can do. I will say that I thought about it for a while as I was staring at the box I had just got down wrapping. I am thinking of sending this to Mark in pieces. Doing it this way would make wrapping it up easier than doing it as a whole unit. I think it might be prudent to email and get an A-OK from Mark first.

I am thinking of the Roubo book stand as my first project once I get my saw back. I am looking forward to seeing if my crack will be as successful as the ones I've read about.

accidental woodworker

got an aspirin?

Been brainstorming for a little while now and  I have a massive headache to show for it. As a result I know now where to put my new collection of saws. I had to find a home for 3 crosscut and I rip saws along with 3 LN handsaws. This was my first choice of were I thought of putting them, underneath my cabinets behind my work bench.

I wanted to find a new home for my saws that would come from the least amount of reorganization to accomplish that task. Here I just have to move the clamps over to the left. It would be a little crowded and not so easy to grab them but there is a hanging bar I could use for the saws. The benefit of this spot is that it's directly behind my work bench. The saws would be less then a step away. Most of the blogs I view,  I see the handsaws usually hanging on a peg close to the bench. I still haven't seen any saw tills to date. But I gave up on this idea and moved on to plan number two, sub-paragraph a, sub-section 5, detail 3a, on page 7.

I made this cabinet when I was stationed at Norfolk, Virginia back in 1992. I keep a lot of crappola that I don't need or use that often in here. The bottom of the cabinet is all made from dumpster wood, that's why I painted it. The top was made from a stash of pine that my father-in-law had given me.

This is what I think I am going to do for stowing my saws. It's a very definite maybe.  There is plenty of room for two saws on each door and I don't lose any storage space on the shelves. I will have to cut shelves in the width  a little, but that is more than acceptable (it isn't necessary but it'll give me a fudge factor). I am also thinking of putting a vertical board to the left of the center divider and using that to stow my LN saws on it. If I put drawer slides on it (haven't figured out how yet) it'll be very easy to get access to it. I am also leaning toward putting in multiple vertical "shelves" but that will have to wait until I get more saws.

I keep my chop saw in front of this cabinet. That's why I keep stuff I don't need all the often in the cabinet behind it.. I banged out this roll around in one day. It's not the most elegant of cabinets and it's made of scrap plywood and 2 x 6's I cut in half. It's functional but definitely not pretty.

The empty hole on the right was where I kept my accessory box for my WS3000 which by now is on it's way to a new home. I keep a lot of things here that I need more than what I put in the cabinet behind it. I can already see in my mind's eye what a little re-organization will net me. I think I might be able to free up a lot of space and I can then put even more stuff in the empty space. Didn't George Carlin do a bit called Stuff?



accidental woodworker

A book to add to the library

Just finished reading the book Woodwork Joints by William Fairham.  This is just one of a series of books written by this author. I have two of them, this one and another titled "Woodwork Tools and how to use them". Both of these were written in the early 1920's.

The author is British and he writes with an easy to understand style. He is obviously writing from experience and not just by rote. Here and then there is the british equivalent word that makes you smile. I think my favorite one is "whilst". There is also a terminology difference that didn't quite make it across the pond to America. One example is half blind dovetails here and across the pond it's lapped dovetails. Another one is here it's a bung and over there it's a pellet.  It isn't a deal killer and it's not something that you can't readily figure it out. All in all a very enjoyable read cover to cover.

The author starts out with the classic rub joint in chapter one and ends the last chapter with a couple of puzzle joints.I actually got one of the puzzles as a Xmas gift this year.  If you are looking for a book that tells you how to do each joint step by step this is not your book. The author assumes that you are familiar with and are at the least a little proficient with hand tools. Most of the joints deal with cabinetry but he does throw some carpentry (mostly timber framing) joints in too.

Although the author doesn't give step by step how to, he does tell you how to layout and to accomplish the finished the joint. Throughout the book he stresses accurate layout and sawing to the line.  He is a gifted author in my opinion because he explains the joint so that you are left reading about it without any questions. There is only joint in the whole book I didn't understand. I don't think it was through any fault on his part, it's just a problem with me.

He does a chapter on mitering and the particular joint I had a problem with is the curved miter. He explains why you can't do it as a straight miter and I get that. What I have questions about is the layout for determining that curve. He writes about how to do the layout for determining the curve for making the miter which consists of a vanishing point, lines, and circles. For some reason I just don't get it. The sticking point for me is the actual curve for the miter, for some reason I understand the lines and circle part.

I learned a few things from this book. It is a revelation of sorts to read how things were done before machinery took over. I got a few tips from the chapter on Hinges. He writes about using a saw to cut the recess for the hinge and clever way of installing a hinge on box so that it'll act as a stop. He evens mentions a hinge called a rising butt hinge that I had never heard of before. It is a hinge that causes the door to rise upwards as it opens. The author states that it's purpose is to clear a carpet as the door is opened. He ends this chapter with how to layout the rule joint hinge. I could have used this before as I screwed up my one try at installing this type of hinge.

The next chapter after hinges deals with "shutting joints". Its a short chapter but it has a gold mine of information in it dealing with how cabinet doors shut and how to make them dust tight as he states. There was one clever joint that really doesn't have a name that is used to keep dust out of drawers. It is something I have never seen before.

This is a book of hand tool use and joints used at the turn of the century. There are lots of little tidbits of how things were done before the over whelming use power tools. He does mention power machinery in the book, but for the most part he deals exclusively with how to do it with hand tools. This is an excellent book on joints and how to make them. I would recommend this as a excellent addition to be used with Robert Wearing's book. If you like hand tools and using them, this is a must have addition to your library.

accidental woodworker

early spring cleaning

Made  a big decision a couple of days ago. I decided to go through my tools and miscellaneous crappola  that I have acquired over the years and try to either sell it or leave it as dumpster food for someone else. There are some tools I have that I bought in my "Roy Underhill" phase that I have never used beyond their initial purchase. I have other goodies that I have used with the frequency of the coming of Haley's comet. It's time to thin the herd so I can re-populate with a new generation of must have tools and miscellaneous crappola.

This is the first of the thinning that's going. It's my worksharp 3000 and all the accessories to go along with it. My wife posted it on Ebay yesterday and I'm selling the whole shooting match for 149 big ones. I liked this machine for sharpening, the results were more than adequate but it's a resource hog (uses a lot of sandpaper). I bought the diamond honing plates for it and used them only once.

I also have a Tormek for sharpening that I was going to sell also but I changed my mine on that. I had a chipped blade on my block plane and it took me about three hours to get rid on it and hone it on my water stones. Because of this incident I decided to keep the Tormek and use it only for grinding out knicks, chips, and re-grinding bevels. It'll be a lot quicker (and easy on my arms & back) than trying to do the same on water stones. I am up in the air about what to do with all doo dads I bought for the Tormek. I bought quite a few of them and they weren't cheap.

All of this was precipitated by my purchase of the saws. I am in a real quandary with trying to find a place to put them. I have no choice but to do some kind of re-organization so I can keep them stowed safely.  Since I am home anyway, it gives me something to think about besides the recuperation and exercises.

accidental woodworker

Update: I just checked Ebay and the WS3000 has a new owner. I didn't expect it to sell so quickly. 2/20/11@07:54

Finally there is joy in Mudville

After months of watching and trying to buy some saws on line I finally succeeded in getting 4 of them. All of them are Disstons and from what I've read it's one of the saws to have. I got Crosscut saws of 8, 10, and 11 PPI and one 8 PPI rip saw. I haven't gotten the rip saw yet but I have received the crosscut saws and I have already road tested them.

This is the only benefit about being home recuperating that has happened to me so far. I got these saws from  the Hyperkitten tool site. For months when I searched the site for new tools and saws in particular, I was always an hour late and penny short. It got to the point where I gave up and started to save my pennies to buy new saws from LN. However, this time I was able to put my bid in less then an hour after he posted the new stuff and I won on all four bids.

Only one saw doesn't have much of a heel and toe left but that didn't stop it from sailing through a 4/4 warped and twisted piece of red oak quicker than a fart disappears in a breeze. All of the saw plates are dead flat and all were sharp and ready to make piles of sawdust. The don't look all that pretty and have that brand new in the store window look, but I am not a collector. Etch, intact horns, warranted blades, or split nut varieties mean as much to me as a P-hole in a snowbank. I want a usable saw and so far I got three. My rip saw I am going to have send out to get sharpened and have a kink taken out of the plate but even with this added cost the total will still be less than a c-note. I knew this about the rip before I bought it, Hyperkitten said it was usable but needed to be sharpened.

 This has to be the ugliest cross cut of all time.

FYI - Don't crosscut a board on your workbench with a 26" crosscut saw against a saw stop because the above is the result. I know I shouldn't have done this but I was excited and itching to try these saws out. I don't have a saw bench or a stool I could have used.  I have used handsaws before and I knew better than this but like I said I was little giddy about putting these to use.

I made to two crosscuts in this board. Both cuts were angled and the second cut I actually broke off a piece and didn't even finish the cut. Both me and the saws survived the ordeal.

I made this cut with the 10 PPI saw. I want to try and make that Roubo book stand that PW recently published. Not bad for an eyeball cut with a cross cut saw. I think I did pretty good for first time use. I am starting to feel the juices of hand tool mania flowing.

Now that I have these new saws (and 3 LN saws) and one more to come, I don't have any place to stow them. I am stuck with the proverbial which came first, the egg or the chicken. Or with my problem, do I make a till first or a saw bench? I could use a saw bench to make the till, or I could make the till with power tools and the saw bench. I think I just might go the expedient way which opens another can of worms. Just where in my phone booth shop do I put a saw till? I'm not ready to do a complete remodel or reorganization of the shop. One thing is sure and it's that I am going to have to do something because I can't have these saws just laying around all over the shop. This could be almost as much fun as making something.

accidental woodworker

Another box

Since I can't afford to buy 50 bf of wood a week I have to be content with doing small projects in the shop.  Like Ivory Soap, 99-44/100% of my projects lately have been boxes. This is another box I just finished and like all my project boxes, I tried to do something I hadn't tried before when I made this one. What I tried on this one was a mitered box with splined corners. Total time to complete this was not more than 4-5 hours over two days. This is not counting the time the project spent in the clamps (I used hide glue). I probably could have completed it in one day, but I don't have anything on the horizon (not even another box!) so what's the rush?

I am very happy with my mitered corners. The box is square on all four corners, inside and out which means my 45's were a 45s. The corners are nice and tight without any gaps (starting to get better at this). I used a shaker knob as means of getting the lid on and off. I have a bin full of these in various sizes. They come in real handy for things like this. I rabbeted the lid all the way around so it is an insert fit a little on the tight side (snuck up on the fit with my tenon plane). I then put a small chamfer on the top edges and then sanded it to a rounded profile to minimize the edges getting dinged. I don't plan on putting a finish as of now, but that is certainly subject to change (nothing else to do).

I was going to put a hinged lid on this but changed my mind after I saw how easy it was to pick it up. The only annoyance I can see with this is that I can't stack anything on top of it. The spines aren't perfect but that's because I had a faux pas (mind fart) when I jigged up to cut the slots. Part of the learning curve and something to put into the brain bucket for future reference.

I made this holder for the drill bits so they wouldn't rattle around in the box. The only difficult part was I didn't have a long enough 1/4" bit to drill the 1/4" hole all at once.  I had to drill from opposite ends and even though the holes were off a tad, I was able to sand out  the small difference. These are fractional size bits made to be used specifically with the appropriate square hole punch.


I was going to post this with the techno blog but I got whacked with a glitch in my hard drive that dumped the post (Had to rewrite the whole thing).  Check disk went crazy, I never saw so many files being renamed and dumped. I also lost my email account at the same time. I did a virus check with two different programs and came up clean. This hard drive is almost 8 years old, so it's on borrowed time. So this is why I have two posts today. Doesn't make any sense to post this tomorrow, so it's here now. Now it's off to check my scrap pile and see what project could emerge from it.

accidental woodworker

technology ain't so great

I started on a new box to hold my square punches and all the other miscellaneous crappola that goes with it. Since I don't do good with mitering, I decided to miter the corners of this box. I also put in some padauk splines to reinforce the corners. So the game plan was in hand, I went through the steps in mind that I needed to do to get it done and shifted into high gear.

I started by getting my beal angle setting technological gizmo do all super duper gadget and set the blade at 45 degrees. I zeroed it and set the blade at 45 and made a test cut. I checked this with my combo square and the angle was way off. "Egad Batman, what's wrong" said Robin? (think of the 70's batman show) At that time I just set it aside and grabbed my cleanest looking 45 degree artist triangle and set the blade with that. Clean, simple, easy, and I didn't have to zero it first. It  also doesn't require any batteries, calibration, and it's always ready to go right off the shelf.

I was reading a blog (I don't remember which one) where the author wrote about using a 45 degree artist triangle to set the blade. On tip he made was to use the miter gauge to hold the triangle at 90 degrees while you set the blade to 45. He stated that if the triangle isn't at 90, your 45 will be off ever so much. I tried it this way and other than having trouble trying to see the light between the blade and the triangle, it worked fine. I ended up using a black magic marker on the edge of the triangle and it helped a lot with seeing if any light was between the blade and the triangle.

This is the box and the stuff I plan to stuff in the box. It's the 1/4 and 1/2 inch square punches, the drill bits, and the sharpening cones from Lee Valley. I haven't tried these yet and before this I used my extra set of mortising chisels to make my square holes.

Ran into another problem that I didn't even think about that slapped me upside the head. I have a right tilt saw and when I cut the splines for the box I did the short sides first. I used my miter gauge and a stop block that was set to the right of the blade. Can you guess what comes next? When I went to cut the spline slots on the long sides, I realized that I had put the stop block on the wrong side of the miter gauge. It should have been on the left side and not the right. I cut the long side spline slots by hand and I did alright except for two corners. The end result is the spline slots are a little overshot and loose in the width but a little epoxy and padauk dust will take care of that.

This is the triangle I used to set the blade and the in the dog house techno crappola gadget. As you can see it reads 1.2 degrees and  it should be reading Zero. I noticed that there was a piece of paper and a little screwdriver in the box. Being a curious fellow I decided to read what was on the paper. Seems I have to re-calibrate this gizmo. It says to put it on a level surface and hit the zero button. If it doesn't read zero follow these steps to correct it. I have had this for about a year and I have used it three times, counting the mistake yesterday. I don't think I should have to do this. I don't abuse it and I keep it safely stowed in a cabinet. But I am digressing on a previous rant, sorry.

It says a level surface should be used to zero the box. Now to my thinking, should the surface be absolutely level or should it just be a flat surface? Since this gizmo gives a reading based on two relative surfaces, I'm guessing it should be just a flat surface. It should would be nice if the author spent the extra calories to explain this better. What is readily obvious and second nature to one, is the black abyss to someone else (me).

So I think for now I will put this gizmo aside and continue to use the artist triangles to set my 45. I think I will always suspect and not fully trust this gadget. This sucks because I saw a blog where someone had used this to set the angle of a plane blade for sharpening. It would be a lot easier for these eye glass wearing eyes to eyeball the gizmo readout rather than trying to see if the plane bevel is lying flat.

accidental woodworker

router box finale

Finished the box from my router planes today. I put a couple coats of shellac on it, one amber and one clear. That's more than I usually do on my workshop boxes, they are all unfinished for the most part.

Not too bad looking for a utilitarian project. It'll protect the tools and maybe keep the rusting to a minimum (rusting isn't that bad of a problem in my shop). The brass handle didn't lay flat at all. I found this tidbit out when I screwed one side down and the other side rose into the air like it was the opposite end of a see-saw. A few taps with a mallet fixed that problem. I didn't put a latch on this box, instead I went with a home made knobbie thingy. I put a threaded insert into the top of the box that receives the 10-32 bolt I epoxied into a piece of oak.

This is the inside of the box. I am rather happy with this result as it was my first attempt at doing a french fit. Not perfect but functional and I should improve each time I do it. I put a washer on the threaded insert that matches the thickness of the no mortise hinges I used so I won't put any stress on the hinges.

I like the home made knob for securing the lid. Trying to find an appropriate latch can be a royal pain sometimes. On my last two boxes I had to modify the latches and use them in a way they weren't meant to be used as. Did a little hand tool exercise here in the making of the knob. I cut it out of a piece of 4" x 8" (the knob is 1-1/2" square) and then the fun began when I tried to cut the corners off. Trying to hold this while sawing was a lot of fun (like hitting a hornet's nest). Putting a piece of sand paper underneath it as I cut helped a lot. I think the next time I make another knob I'll use the bandsaw. After this I thinned it down by cutting a 1/4" off the width (held it in my drill press vice). I did pretty good on this as I checked it with my fractional calipers and I was less than 1/16" off square across the cut.

I am going to make another box next. (surprised?) I bought some square hole punches from LV and I need to get them secured before I lose them or worse, they lose the bounce test with Mr Concrete floor.

accidental woodworker

router box pt 3

The main box and the french fit insert is all done.  I got the top ready to go, it's about 1/4" over sized as I am still trying to decide what it's final shape is going to be.

I've got the handle and the screw/bolt and thingy is going to be the "latch". I am going to use the miller dowels to secure the fingers on the box. The plan right now is use the screw/bolt to make my own thumbscrew. I spent the better part of the morning searching and I can't find any metal 10-32 by 1-1/4" thumbscrews anywhere. Found a ton  of 1/4-20 and larger, but nothing smaller.

Had a reddish black knot that I had to patch with a rather large chunk of wood. I knew I was going to have to fix this but I didn't realize how wood I would have to remove to get to something solid. I'm glad that this is just a workshop box because that patch is an eyesore that screams at you.

All set to start drilling for the miller dowels. I am going to use white glue on these because the shop is too cold to use hide glue.

I don't think I'll have to worry about these joints failing on me. They aren't really going to be stressed all that much  and it could be tad bit of overkill. I cleaned the bench, the rest of the shop still looks like a cesspool. This is it today for me. I started outpatient PT on monday and my leg is still singing songs to me about the torture. I can work on my homemade thumb screw/nut thingy upstairs. Just hope I got the right tools and I didn't forget a must have one.

accidental woodworker

Dribbling again

I made a couple of changes to the blog home page. I am slowly getting to know a little bit about to design and how to implement those changes. Nothing really earth shattering as I think it'll be a long time before I get a blog page that looks like the Village Carpenter. Of all the blogs I read, I like her blog page and layout the best. I would especially like to learn how to insert that six picture thingy she does. Who knows, maybe video will follow next.

I added a Flickr photo display that shows a few of the projects I have done in the last 2-3 years. There are a couple of projects that are about 13-14 yrs old too (laundry hamper & cherry clock). I was going to use Picassa but I find that process way too invasive. I like Flickr because you can chose which photos you want to upload. So I uploaded about 50 pics or so of what I have done. I really wish that I had taken pictures of what I have made over the years. What I don't have on a hard drive somewhere I have paper copies in two binders.

So that is what I did with Flickr and the Abe Lincoln quote thingy might not stay. I don't want to commercialize this blog at all. I do admire Abe and in my opinion he is the number 1 or 2 president (depends on who is debating with you) this country has ever produced. That being said, I don't like the little commercial at the bottom but I know now where to search for gadgets so it might change.

Not exactly anything to ooh and aah about but it's a  bit start for me. Now I'm going to go down to the shop and play with my router plane box.

accidental woodworker

quickie post

It's sunday and I'm bored out of my skull. I've seen just about all I want to see on TV and most of my DVD's  are on their 3rd and 4th viewing. So what's left to do you ask? Blog some more, it'll waste a few minutes and then I can get back to the serious business of ennui. (3 syllable word meaning you're bored to tears)

Being the clever sort I am, I've been thinking about just what I could blog about that just might be a tad more interesting then testing which wallpaper paste tastes the best. I came up with "what is that project on the workbench on my blog homepage".

On my workbench (clean workshop I might add) is a project that ended up in my den as an overflow bookshelf.  I think I got the inspiration for this from a magazine article, but I'm not sure. I do know that I winged it (no plans/mock up) and the size was dictated by the wood I used.  Anyway, I was searching for a DVD (I said I was bored) I had made of my completed projects and I couldn't find it. I found my back up of it on an old hard drive and I came across the "completed project". This triggered an immediate desire to post it so my rabid fans will stop wondering just what that uncompleted project on the bench is. This is what that uncompleted project is.

 Now you know what the project on the bench is and you can end all the supposition about it. Now I return to my regularly scheduled boredom. (I'm working on taking better pictures)

accidental woodworker

I win the dirtiest workshop contest

Today I glued up my router box with hide glue. This will take about 24 hrs to set before I can take it out of  the clamps and play with it. I set it over by the furnace because that's the warmest spot in the shop right now. It was then that I glanced over to where my workbench is and saw what a mess my shop is.

Compare this picture with the one from home page on this blog. Yikes! I would like to blame someone else for doing this but I don't allow anyone use my shop for any reason whatsoever. This is just the bench area wait till you see the deck in back of my saw.

This basically is the way my shop looked before I went to the hospital. Since I've been home I've added a few more piles of sawdust and scraps. I usually save big scraps and the rest I bandsaw into little pieces and put them into the big greenish sh-tcan and haul that out. I have a good excuse for this being so messy, the doctor says I can't bend, can't carry anything, and most importantly, I can't do house work. This is technically speaking house work, right?

Every horizontal surface in my shop has some crap on it that doesn't belong there. I should have cleaned it before I went into the hospital but it was too easy to say I couldn't do it. So my get out of jail card is invalid. To ease my guilty conscience I made up a contest where I was the only one to enter and by default I win! Didn't really win all that much, just an excuse for having the dirtiest shop east of the Mississippi.

So as part of my recuperation I can look forward to spending the better part of a day cleaning once I am able to. I hope it happens soon because as dirty as the shop is, it isn't the way I like it. I usually tolerate a mess for the duration of a project then it's field day. Keep this in mind as I will post before and after pictures once I do clean it.

accidental woodworker

router box pt 2

I got the new french fit for the goodies all done yesterday. It all started with me not finding my 3/8 pine stock. I think it's in the black hole with all the other things I can't find. Since I couldn't find that stock and I'm always boo hooing about going the hand tool way, I put some mileage on some of hand planes I have.

This is the actually the second pine board that I thinned down to a little less than a 1/2". The first one ended up being about 1/8" shy in the width of the box (that's what I get for eyeballing it). This second board I measured and cut over sized before I started. I used a scrub plane first then a jack and finished it up with the smooth plane. The top and bottom aren't exactly parallel but in this case it isn't necessary. I did plane both sides flat but I don't care as no matter which it goes down, it'll lay flat.

I was a tad bit more careful in tracing the outlines of the goodies this time (didn't need the 1/2 pencil idea).  Here it is sitting in the scroll saw waiting to be sawn out. Scroll saws have always kicked my butt and they also do a good job of making me look foolish. I just can't seem to master how to tension the saw blade. I only broke one blade (lucky) cutting out these three parts. I just don't use this tool enough I guess. I last used this to make a night light as a Christmas gift 5 years ago. I tend to use a saber saw first before this one.

Got them all cut out and I tried to get as close to the line as my comfort zone would allow.  A little work with some files and I'll be done.

These are the files and such I used to get down to the line. I used the "space" in the wagon vice as my empty hole for the downward strokes of the files. This was a very awkward and difficult piece to hold while working down to the line.

It's not a perfect fit but all three goodies go in and out without resistance and there is a tad bit of wiggle room. I am happy with this result and it's given me the itch to do it on other tools. One I can think of off hand is my fractional caliper. I broke the plastic box it came in (it didn't bounce when dropped) but I saved the cut out the caliper sat in. This has all of what I need to get my measurements to make a new one (hopefully bounce proof).

So for now I have to go to Woodcraft and get some hide glue. The bottle I have now is a just a blob and won't flow. I even warmed it up and it still won't flow. As good as any excuse I need to go to a woodworking store. I just have to convince my wife she has to go too. I can't drive until next Wednesday (doctor's orders).


accidental woodworker

Video review: DVD on dovetailing

While I was at my local Woodcraft store today to buy some hide glue I went to the back of the store where the 75,50, and 25% off stuff is. There were a  few bargains to be had and the one I snagged is a DVD on dovetailing by Lonnie Bird. It's called "Mastering Dovetails with Lonnie Bird". I am familiar with his numerous woodworking articles along with his talent for reproducing early american furniture. I got this video as a blue dot special (no this isn't K-Mart) for 12 bucks. (blue dot here is 50% off)

Lonnie has a nice presence in the video and doesn't force you to his way of thinking (think Frank Klauz). The video presents how he does dovetails and doesn't bother you with the pin first, tail first controversy. He starts out explaining what a pin and a tail is and his preference for 14 degree dovetails. He explains why he uses 14 degrees which made sense to me but then again simple minds are easily swayed. By the way Lonnie is pin first and tails after kind of guy.

The weird thing about his dovetail presentation is his use of a japanese saw. He uses it exclusively throughout the video. I would have thought that with the american furniture reproductions he makes that he would naturally use a western style saw. I have japanese saws and I agree with Lonnie in that they cut faster than western saws and leave a small a kerf, but I can't seem to master them. I have much better luck sawing with a western saw. I am too rough on japanese saws as all three of my saws have broken teeth.

Overall there weren't any great moments of revelations to be had here. The video is well thought out, presented in a professional manner, and details how one master craftsman cuts two types of dovetail joints. Lonnie has a nice easy going nature that comes across in the video and he certainly has a talent for dovetailing. He is able to convey this to the viewer and even bolster your wanting to go into the shop and start making the practice cuts he shows in the beginning of  the video.

Lonnie starts out showing you how to cut through dovetails first and then devotes the rest of the video showing how to do half blind dovetails. He doesn't show you how to do any other dovetail joints. He doesn't waste any DVD footage on explaining other types of dovetail joints, i.e. mitered half blind. I think that he feels that through and half blind are the only two that you really should master and know.

For twelve bucks I think it is money well spent. I now have 4 dovetail making videos and I would rate Lonnie's as #2 right after Frank Klauz's dovetail video. Frank's video can be a little intimidating (Frank doesn't take prisoners)  where Lonnie's is the exact opposite. The other video dovetailers I have are Rob Cosman (#4) and Tage Frid (#3).

So if you have a Woodcraft store nearby and they have a % off section, see if you can find this video and buy it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

accidental woodworker

router box: set back pt 1

Had a major hiccup yesterday that resulted in me having to start all over from square one. I did not have a get out of jail card and no money to pay a fine. The upside is that I found out that you can use a file (I don't know what kind I used) on MDF and the it gives good results. The file tends to clog often but if you have a card file brush, it is very easy to clean it and keep on truckin'.

My template went pretty good considering I am not a good scroll saw user at all. (I really suck at it) Anyway, I got the cut outs done, filed, trimmed, and fitted to the goodies. It looked pretty good. It wasn't an exact fit, especially the fence for the router, but I thought it was acceptable for my first try at french fitting. You need a wiggle room and this is what I got.

This is what the 1/4" template looks like after I used it to pattern router the 1/2" MDF. I used double stick tape to secure the two together - this is the result of trying to separate the two. I know what you are thinking, Why did I need a template? I only needed to have one of these so there is no need to go this route. Well, I thought of that and decided that I would use the 1/4" MDF as a tune up and to check that I could do this. Now comes the clever part, I could use the 1/4" MDF as a pattern to make another one.

This is what the 1/2" MDF cut out looks like. In this picture it looks like it is good to go but in reality it's a piece of crap-pola. The only part that fit was the 271 router (I did this first).  The fit on the LN router and the fence was off and either fit where they should have. I think the problem I had was two fold. The first being I didn't scroll saw very close to the line on the LN router and edge guide parts (a little too much work for the router to remove). I tried to get real close to the line on edge guide on the straight portion because there is no way I could get the router bit in this tight space. The second problem I had I think I was applying too much pressure when I routing. This caused the router to over cut the lines which should have made the space too large, but that wasn't the case. I don't understand this: I over cut the line and the part still didn't fit. It should have been a sloppy fit but it wasn't.

So I learned a few things that I can use on future projects. For now, I am going to make another one, and only one. I am going to try and trace the outlines of the LN router and edge guide a lot better. The 271 router is the easiest one of the three to do as it isn't difficult to get a pencil up tight to it and trace it. I thought I could cut a pencil in half and use this to trace the fence and the LN router. I should be able to get up tight and trace a decent outline. Haven't tried it yet, but I haven't thought of another way to do it. I can't recall any books or magazines that I have that might have an article on this subject. I'll try the half pencil idea first - they're real cheap by the dozen.

So it's back to the workshop and do it all over again a different way. I think I might try to do it in solid wood if I can find that 3/8" pine I got stashed somewhere. Till then here are a couple of pictures I took of some furniture at the Smithsonian a couple of years ago. Both of these cabinets where built in the middle 1800's and are and veneered. Boggles my mind when I think that this was done completely by hand.

Amazing is the only word for this. Over a 150 years old and it still looks like - WOW.

accidental woodworker

router box part 1

I started making this box to store my new LN router plane I recently bought. I felt good as I was able to spend about 2 hours in the shop before my leg started to tell me it was quitting time. Every time I go down to the shop I can spend a little more time and I feel a little stronger. I can now go up and down the stairs normally I guess, rather than one step at a time. Nice feeling doing stairs this way rather one at time.

This is the box I made yesterday. I cut the fingers on my table saw and in this picture you can see that the top left/right fingers are a tad "gappy". The pine I used to make it had a little twist in it and when I laid out the corresponding fingers from one cut on the other, I didn't clamp it flat so I ended up with the "gap". On dry clamping it to check the fit I was able to clamp it flat and tighten up the fingers on all four corners. I plan on using Miller dowels to reinforce all the fingers so I don't anticipate any problems with it moving. I have two options of dealing with the gaps: 1- I made the box a little taller than necessary so I might just cut off the "gaps" the 2nd option is to fill the gaps with some pine offcuts.

 This is the layout for the router from LN and the stanley 271. The object in the lower left is the fence for the LN router. I am going to use a piece of 1/2" MDF and I am going to attempt to make a french fit for the above mentioned. This is going to be my first try at doing this and it should keep everything from rattling around if I do it right.

I am using a piece of 1/4" MDF to make the pattern and once I am happy with that I plan on using it with a pattern cutting router bit on the 1/2" MDF. I'm not sure how well MDF will respond to files and sandpaper so I might have to do it again with plywood. Part of the learning curve.

accidental woodworker