Country Furniture, a book........

I've had this and a couple of other books on my amazon wish book list for a year or so. I just never got around to pulling the plug and ordering them.  That changed after I read a blog entry that Paul Sellers wrote in response to a question asked by a reader of his blog about which woodworking book should he buy first. The answer to the question was to buy this book by Aldren A. Watson and another one by him that I'm reading now. More on that one later.

This book is the story or the background on the anonymous and numerous country woodworkers from the  late 1600's up into the late 1800's. Interspersed among excellent illustrations are inventories, some how to, and a little how to use. It isn't a definitive work on country woodworkers but it will whet your appetite to learn more.

He starts his story by narrating a crossing of a river and going through a village of the late 1700's and leaving the village and passing outlining farms going toward the next village. The author has a wonderful sense of what village life was like and a graceful easy banter to his writing. That and his excellent hand drawn illustrations make this book a page turner.

I was amazed at the tools and ingenuity of these country woodworkers. And again, Aldren is a gifted illustrator. His drawings look like you could pull them off the page and use them. The simplicity of some of their labor saving contraptions is mind blowing to me. The first one the got me was a gluing bench. This was a tool made specifically to glue up and square panels. I thought this was a later factory invention of the industrial revolution.

The second one was a jointer plane. Not a hand held you push jointer but one that is upside down on the floor mounted to a tripod thingie. It looks kind of like the plane the cooperers used except this jointer has a fence and you would push the stock downhill at an angle to joint it. I had assumed that these woodworkers would have had access to unlimited width of stock and a jointer wouldn't be necessary. Not so. They faced the same problems obtaining stock in wide widths then that we can't get now.

Aldren writes a few pages on files and presents uses for them I had never considered they could be used for. I am familiar with files for saw sharpening and usually associate files with use on metal,  but he opened my eyes to another world of file use. It's hard at times for me to get myself to think in terms of the time frame of the book. It continues to amaze me what these country woodworkers were able to do with what they had to work with. And what they were able to do with files is a good starting point.

There wasn't any electricity and steam engines supplying power in 1780 village life. The only non human power was a water wheel if one was available. Everything was done and made by hand at this time. If you needed something, you either made it or did without. It was that simple. There were no Ace Hardware stores to run to for goodies. Trade and goods from England wasn't a dependable source of supply due to the transportation headaches getting out to the country side.

Aldren does explain through his illustrations how to do a few woodworking operations. Such as half blind dovetails, installing a 1/2 lock set, and how a shell carving was laid out and carved. There are others but again, this isn't a complete step by step guide. Neither is this a historical time line for country furniture designs.

This is an excellent book worthy of one of the best spots in your bookcase. It is a well written and illustrated book that explains country woodworkers, their tools, and their time, and some of their trails and tribulations. I think it's an awesome book  that is a solid 10 on a scale of 1-10. If you like reading about the history of old tools and their ways this book is a good starting point. I got mine used (excellent condition) from amazon books for 10 bucks.

The book by Aldren I'm reading now does explain tools and how to use them. At the rate I'm reading it I'll be posting my review by saturday.

accidental woodworker

new caddy finale.....

It's 83 degrees and a tad on the humid, sticky side here in my part of RI. Yesterday was warm but not humid and I got my desk stained except for the two drawer aprons. I have to glue a couple parts on it before I can stain it.  I also have to plane the top one down flush with the tops of the R/L legs.

nice color

I like this color but it isn't as dark as I would like it. It's too damn hot & humid to do today so I'll have to wait till the weather breaks again. This is General Finishes American Oak gel stain and I'm thinking of mixing in some gel walnut stain to darken it up some. According to the General Finishes website, endless color variations await me by mixing different colors.

Back to yesterday when it was nicer for finishing. I got 6 coats of shellac on my new caddy. I didn't get any blushing but I did have to clean a lot more runs and drips that I would care to admit. Rookie me-steak, always brush away from edge my father told me. Sorry Pops I had my head inverted and inserted again.

the fit is much better

 I concentrated a lot of effort to get the handle tight up against the ends and it paid off. I am thinking about putting two screws on each end. It's end grain that the screws will be biting into so it won't be 100% but it'll be something. Undecided on that because the first caddy doesn't have any and it's still together and tight. It hasn't been subjected to any use over the past year neither so......

I think I improved

 A project like this is why I wanted to learn how to do handcut dovetails. I could have used a rabbeted joint but this, in MHO, is better. The freedom from a dovetail jig opens up a lot of options such as the spacing of the pins, the angle of the tails, and no restrictions on stock length,width, and thickness.

inside dovetail joints are tight

other side is tight too

I have been working on closing up the inside joints on my dovetails. This is the first one I've done where most of the joints are closed up tight. I have definitely seen this improvement pick up since I've been knifing the line and making a knife wall before I use my chisels. Worth the extra calories to do  at least until I become a saw and chisel savant.

new on the Left old on the Right

head on- which would you pick?

I like both of the these caddies but if someone held me down to told me to pick, I'd pick the one on the right. It's nice to be able to see how much I've progressed over the past year. Maybe one of the girls will snag this one.

accidental woodworker

new tool box finale.....

I finished the new tool box and the system I came up with to keep the drawers shut. Now she's ready to go to school in few weeks from now.

ready to start

I am using a piece of 1/4" welding rod as my stop because I am not sure that brass would be strong enough. I found a long 1/4" bit at Lowe's by chance in the drill bit section. I had asked one of the workers there if they sold an electrician's bell bit and the vacant stare in his eyes gave me my answer. The oak block is to ensure that I drill reasonably straight down through everything.

started in this corner

gluing pads over the holes

I glued some scrap pieces of white oak over the holes in the drawers. Once the glue is dry I'll drill a 1/4"  hole through it. I think that this will hold up better than just the 1/4" plywood bottom.

oak stopper thingies

I screwed these oak stopper thingies to keep the rod from falling out. I originally was going to leave these off but a design change on the fly necessitated their use.

new obsession

I thank Sir Chris S for this new thing I have to do. I try to clock my screws every time if there is more than one.

cutting the rod to length- been thinking about getting a machinist's vise

filing a slight chamfer on the end

the rod has a lot of wood to back it up

a look see at how it works - this drawer isn't budging

rod removal point

I tried to put a  bend on the tops but my wooden vise couldn't handle the stress. The next batter up was to use heat but my propane bottle was empty. It was because I couldn't put a bend on these that I screwed the pads on the bottom of the tool box. I still want to put a bend on these because it'll be easier to pull them out when need be.

done

I was thinking of using a single bar in the middle and that probably would have worked. With two of them and the anticipated tool load, I have a warm and fuzzy feeling  that this will work. The shallow drawer and the bottom drawer are rock solid and don't move at all. I won't worry about these popping open by breaking the bars.

There is one caveat though. This is one heavy mother of tool boxes with no tools in it. I'm guessing 7-8 lbs unloaded. I don't know what it'll be loaded but I do know I'll consume a few calories lugging it around.

accidental woodworker

new silverware caddy.....

I was looking around in what I call my den for a pencil and I came across this caddy that was full of pens and mechanical pencils but no old fashioned wooden pencils. I had made this caddy in june of last year and I recall making it because I saw one at a flea market for 40 bucks or so. I decided to re-do it and to try and re-do it better.

almost a year old

The brown outline on the dovetails are wedges I used to cover up the spaces I had after marking and cutting the the tails/pins.  That handle hole is even too big for my ham hocks. The overall shape and size is ok but I know I can do better now with the fit.

using a a scrap piece of wood to spread the glue

This was going to be the solid wood bottom for the new caddy but it turned out to be a quarter of an inch too short in the length.  I'll set it aside and use it for something else.

two sides and two ends out of one board

center board

This piece of 1/2" pine is left over from the new tool box build. It is just right in the length and the width is more than adequate for the new caddy. I plan on doing a different type of handle for this caddy. There is enough here for two handles in case I don't like the first one.

quick pass to flush up the sides before I start the dovetails

one year later comparison

big improvement-these went together off the saw with a few taps from my mallet

router a 1/8" groove

I'm going with a 1/8" plywood bottom and it's a perfect fit with the groove I made. I used 1/8" plywood for the bottom on the first caddy too.

layout for the center divider/handle

dado being done by hand-knifing the layout line first

I made the first caddy's dado by hand and I'm doing this by hand too but I am doing this one the way I've seen Paul Seller make dadoes. It's easy to do and the best thing about it that I like is that you fit and mark using the actual stock. No measuring or measuring me-steaks to give loose fitting dadoes.

first one done

I did 99% of this dado with chisels and then I used the small router to make sure that the bottom was at a consistent depth. 

nice friction fit on the first one

number two is just as good

bottom dry fit ok

dry fitting the center divider/handle

had to trim a little end grain

The fitting of the center divider/handle took a little time. I trimmed some and checked the fit about 8- 10 times before I was happy with the fit. I didn't want any gaps on the ends where the divider butted up against the ends. My patience paid off because I ended up with no gaps on the ends.

didn't need clamps but just in case

scrap piece of cherry for the top of the handle

some more spokeshave practice

I band sawed a slight radius on each end of the cherry. After that I used the spoke shave to round over all the edges.  It wasn't that easy to do the end grain radius with this big spoke shave. After I got done with my rounding over I remembered that I had bought a small cherry spoke shave that would have worked perfectly here.

sneak preview

I still have to sand this handle and that is going to take some time to do. After that I can put a few coats of shellac on it and call it done.


accidental woodworker

desk build pt XV.......

Sunday morning I did a dry fit of the desk for a couple of reasons. One was for practice. It can get confusing and it's very easy to end up in left field with a stupid grin on your face wondering what you are doing there. Everything is marked and labeled but still, if you're not paying attention you just put the bottom right apron on the left side. I am going to have to make sure all my ducks are lined up and quacking the same song come glue up.

The most important reason for the dry fit was to take a measurement to ensure that I can get it out of the cellar. I have to go through 3 doorways to get to where it's home will be so I measured all 3. I can do it if I leave the top off. Or I can take two doors off the hinges. I think it will be easier to leave the top off, move the desk, and then attach the top when it's home.

I also wanted to get a look see with how the corbels are going to look on the desk. So after I got the dry fit on the desk correct and I got the top on it I clamped the corbels on the front.

from a few feet back

up close

 After seeing them from afar and up close I'm not liking the look of either one.  I don't think the scale of the leg looks right with the corbel. The over hang of the desk top is ok and the corbel shape is one that I like but the scale isn't right. I think I'm going with the desk sans the corbels.

Today continues with the hot and sticky weather from saturday which sucks. The shop is cooler then the outside but it's still not good for staining which was the next batter up today. I'm using a gel stain and in this weather it dries and hazes over to fast. Trying to use it is an exercise in futility. I'll wait till the weather breaks before I stain.

I routed a small 45 degree bevel on all the legs and it got rid of all of the chipped edges. There is one piece still chipped a little but it ended up on the inside top and won't be seen. I was going to use my new 45 wooden bevel plane but I didn't want to take a chance with it blowing out the edges more than what they already were (lots of grain reversal). I used my screaming corded router and made a couple of shallow passes and I also chamfered the bottom of the legs at the same time.

I like how this turned out. I was somewhat concerned about the aprons being too close to the edge but that wasn't a problem. The bevel looks good and it took away the harsh squareness of the legs. Maybe that effected how I saw the corbels. The look is nice, roundish without being round.

accidental woodworker

maintenance day.....

At 0730 I was on 295 heading north to Woburn Mass to go to Woodcraft and I got there a few minutes before 9. After the store opened,  I wandered around for a half hour or so after I snagged my stain and finish. I also picked up a bottle of Franklin's Hide glue. This is something that I don't like to get mail order. I would rather reach and grab a bottle from the back. Treasures in hand I headed south toward home.

As I was driving through Boston around 10ish I noticed that one of the bank thermometers displayed 81 degrees. It was supposed to top out at 88 in RI and already it's hot and sticky in Mass. Could this be a portent for the upcoming summer? I hate hot and sticky weather because I sweat too damn much working in the shop.

The big plan after I got home was to stain the desk, put finish on the George's box, do some sharpening, and fix my bench slave. Like the best laid plans of men and mice mine didn't pan out as planned.  I only did one thing on the list. The weather beat the snot out of me and my plans for the day.

my bench slave

I made this in the early 90's when I made the bench. Think of it as a portable sliding dead man. Works well and stows out of the way when you're done with it.

highest position

This is as high as this will support something and it's a tad too low. I think it's a notch too low. I use this highest position mostly when I need to support something in the shoulder vise. A couple of times with some narrow width long boards it just wasn't enough to give me some height above the bench so I could use a plane. After twenty years it's time to fix it.

got some added height

Last year I had to re-do the mortise joint on the zig zag upright. It had outright failed. I re-did it with a through mortise and secured it with a double wedge. It's good now for at least another twenty. Here I'm making sure that my blocks are all in the same reasonable plane. My cellar floor isn't all that flat so it isn't that important that my blocks are dead nuts in the same plane.

I need to wedge this foot

This foot is tapered at the end and the wedge is needed to bring it up level with the other 3 feet. I glued all four feet with hide glue and secured each pad with two screws. If need be I'll be able to reverse it and repair any.

still have one more notch to go

 Working on this and putting a couple coats of shellac on the box was the output for today. I was going to do the staining but the first leg I was going to do I noticed that the veneer on the edge was chipped in a couple of spots. I checked the other legs and they had chips on the edges too.

I put into operation plan 3, change 5, revision 9a, sub paragraph 1, line two, which is routing a small bevel on the four edges of the legs. It won't remove all of the chips but it should make them less noticeable.

accidental woodworker

for a remarkable friend......

I met George (not his real name) where I work last year after he transferred into my department. Everybody here told me that I knew him because he had worked here for 25 years and everybody knew him.  This type of circular logic has always zoomed right over my head. I have worked here for less then 3 years and out of the 1000 employees that work here,  I only know 2/3 of the people in my department by name and the other 1/3 by sight and absolutely no clue on the remaining 980 faceless people. George was in the faceless crowd.

After meeting and getting to know George I was and I am still amazed at what a remarkable individual he is. George was delivered with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and he was born oxygen deprived. The doctors advised his parents to let him expire. He has cerebral palsy as a result of that. He is partially deaf and can read lips. He has Epstein Barr and just about every GI disorder that you can have. A couple of years ago he major surgery on his neck where vertebrae were fused. He suffers with severe nerve damage on his right side. He has no feeling in his hands and has a constant pain on his right side from his neck to his hip.

A piece of bone was removed from his right hip to fix his neck and he now walks with a pronounced limp and drags his right foot as he walks. I can go for a long time listing his ailments. The remarkable thing about him is his attitude about all that he has gone through. He blames no one and accepts the way he is and lives one day at a time.

He is less than a year younger than me. He says hello to everyone he meets and he tries to make those he meets smile and laugh. He will gladly talk your head off about all that ails him but there isn't any bitterness there. He is definitely an extrovert where as I am a picture-less poster boy for an introvert.

Most people I see talking to him talk down to him. He is an intelligent man who can pronounce 4 and 5 syllable words and use them in their proper context. He doesn't have a sharp mental focus but he is curious about a lot of different topics. As a result of growing up in the late 50's and early 60's he was labeled special  and went to special schools. He had to endure a lot crap from the other kids calling him retard.

Now it's 50+ years later and George is doing alright. He has a steady job and works in an environment where handicapped workers aren't considered special. He owns his own condo, has a 401K, pays his bills, and basically owes nothing to nobody. I wonder if I would look at life with all that he had heaped on him the same way. He has a lot to be bitter and resentful about but he smiles and says hi and is genuinely happy to meet anyone. I'm glad that I know him. I'm glad that he calls me his friend.


I decided to give him the box I made with my homemade dovetail gauge. I know it isn't fancy and made with exotic woods but it's a good basic honest box. Just like George is.

had to even up the bottom first

Before I make the groove in the bottom of the box I had to make sure that it was even all around so the groove will  be the same all around. I'm going to make the groove with my router with a fence and a 1/4" bit. The bottom will be  a piece of 1/2" birch plywood.

used my #3 to knock down the high spots first

used the #7 to even everything up

smoothed up the inside before I glued the box

laying out a rounded front lid

I have an excel program that will give the radius (the length of the long stick) for a given chord (the width of the lid) based on height of the chord at the midpoint ( how much overhang). I got the formula by googling chord length formulas and wrote a short excel so I just plug numbers in and get the radius.

cut the curve on the band saw

I don't have a lot of experience using a spokeshave and my last try using it was less then stellar. It baffled me a tad because I wasn't anticipating any problems with it. After all it's a small plane with big ears to push and pull it. I found out there is a bit of a learning curve with spokeshaves so I took this opportunity to experiment and get some time on the pond. Navy talk for experience.

I survived the experiment

 Make sure you keep your eye on the grain. Mr Spokeshave doesn't like going against it that much. I did the front edge by going 1/2 one way and 1/2 in the other direction. I've got a better feel for this tool now and I can see myself using it a lot more.

some real rough end grain

tamer of rough end grain

smooth

I tried to do this entire box without using any sandpaper at all (I succeeded). I haven't used sandpaper on end grain for a while now. There is no way I can get this look and feel on end grain with sandpaper. 4 or 5 swipes with my LV edge plane gave me this result. I can also do the same with any sharp plane but the LV is easy to use and maintain the 90 degree edge.

smoothing the lid before the next step

lines laid out for my bevel

doing the bevel with my spokeshave  started with the end grain

did the long grain last

My end grain bevels aren't even and crisp from the front to the back. The front long grain bevel is much better and it is the best looking of the 3. I learned that you shouldn't take long tapering cuts with the spokeshave. Like I would do if I was using a plane to make the bevel. The bevel comes out much better if you take short 1-2" cuts. It didn't make any difference to me between the long and end grain. The end grain is a little tougher but with a sharp blade and a light touch it's almost as easy to do as long grain.

bevels done

my newest toy - bird cage awl

I got this from the Traditional Woodworker catalog. Lee Valley sells one also. I picked Traditional because it is very similar to what the old guys would have used. I bought it after watching Paul Sellers install hinges with one for the billionth time. I had to buy one and try it out for myself.

very easy to use and I like it better then my vix bits-more wood for the screw to bite

flush and even on the back

I had to reset the second hinge because the first time I did it that hinge was too far in towards the front of the box. I always put one screw in each hinge and check for this before I put the other screws in. I put a screw in the other hole of the hinge, checked it flush on the back, and then installed the rest of the screws. The bird cage awl worked very well for this.  Another old way proves to work better than the new modern way.

done

I made this box with a very large over hang in the front with George in mind. With his nerve damaged hands it shouldn't be a problem for him to open or close this box.

The long holiday that officially opens summer this weekend gives me plenty of time to get a few coats of shellac on the box so I can give it to George on tuesday.

accidental woodworker