road test 16" tenon saw......

After work tonight I steel wooled my desk and after looking at it I decided that it needed one more coat of shellac. The color of the base looked a tad washed out. I wasn't going to do the slats but after the second coat went on the rest, I did the slats too. Tomorrow I'll start with the oil topcoats. Next up is practice sawing some tenons.

I have some oak scraps that I used to practice making bevels on that I'll use to practice sawing tenons on now. I am going to start with thin width stock (1 1/2") first to see how the 16" cuts on it.

4 pieces of practice scraps

I cut the ends of these free hand. I scribed a square line but didn't make a knife wall. I got 8 square cuts across the face but not a single one was 90 to the face. The last two were close but still off. I'll keep practicing this until I get square and plumb cuts together.

tried the miter box next

My miter box wasn't cutting plumb for some reason. The square on the face wasn't so good neither. I didn't want to troubleshoot why at this point in time so I made my plumb cuts with the table saw.

cutting the shoulder without a knife wall

one cut is slanted a lot more than the other one

did a little better here

I think that I am tilting the saw as I am concentrating on trying to follow my scribe line. It's the other side of the board away from me that I am not lining up plumb on the scribe line. I had a similar problem when I was starting out doing dovetails. It's not easy lining up two cuts like this. Mirrored saw plate trick aside, it's going to take some practice before I get plumb/square working together

16" sawing the first cheek

16" sawing the second cheek

lines are gone on this side

lines still here

The 16" breezed thru these cheeks. I am amazed at how easy it is to start the cut.  I ended up with a tenon that is slightly tapered but it's something I can easily correct with a chisel or a tenon plane. I'm happy with what I did here. My cheeks are pretty good. I need to work on splitting the line when I switch the stock around. The plumb cut is ok and the shoulder cheek junction is clean. Not too bad for a rookie cut.

making my first ever mortice with a mortising chisel

OUCH this is real ugly

the other side looks better

The top ugliness is from the second half of the through mortising. I didn't clean out the mortise before I flipped it and waste got jammed in there. Me beating the snot out of the mortise chisel didn't help too much. I think I might keep this mortise chisel for clean up and use my mortising machine for making my mortises. But then again I can be pig headed about learning some things. I sense my kindling pile might start growing in the near future.

set #2 shoulder cuts

#2 shoulders much better

sawing these cheeks with my carcass saw for comparison

line gone from this side

line gone from this side too

The 16" tenon saw wins the war hands down. If I am doing one tenon or fifty, I will reach for the 16" tenon every time. The carcass saw did the job but not with the fluidity of the tenon saw. The 16" started easier and it was easier sawing the cut. It required less effort to saw the cheeks with the 16" saw  then the carcass saw. The size of the 16" is a non issue IMHO. It also wins in the lightness department also.

I'll be able to practice a little more on these oak scraps tomorrow. Doing that shouldn't cause a problem with applying the finish on the desk.

accidental woodworker

workbench thoughts......

Many moons ago in 1991/2 I started to build the workbench that is on my blog home page.  I was nearing the end of my time in the Navy and I knew I wouldn't be facing the uncertainty of where am I sleeping tomorrow, so it was a good time for me to build the bench that I had been dreaming about for the past few years.  I had drawn and re-drawn the plans for it a bazillion times and finally decided on what you see in the pic.

A lot of moon rises and moon sets have happened since I made it and I've been contemplating making a few revisions to it. I was going to build a new one but for what I want to do to it I can do some minor surgery and come out ahead.  The major change with the bench is I am ridding myself of the shoulder vise and I'll be replacing it with a quick release face vise.

I mention this now because there has a been Roubo building craze on the blogs lately due to Sir Chris extolling it's wonderful woodworking attributes. Also lately, Paul Sellers has been blogging about building the bench that he extolls as better then sliced white bread. Into this mix I can throw Frank Klauz writing about how his grandfather thought his bench was ok so why change it? Robert Lange of Popular Woodworking has printed his take on what bench should be. Megan Fitzpatrick did her LVL bench in the same magazine. Garrett Hack did a FWW article on his bench a while back. David Charlesworth has a bench that he says is more then adequate for any woodworker. Lie Neilsen used to have a few benches for sale, but their website sports only two now, their improved bench and the Roubo.

I am sure that I could continue to print names of people we would all recognize hawking their brand of workbench and why it's so damn wonderful. When I made my bench the only workbench book I was aware of was the one by Scott Landis. I used the Frank Klauz workbench from that book and Woodsmith magazine issue #50 to come up with what I thought was "the" workbench to have.

My workbench has served my well for 20 years or so and I hope that it'll do so for another 20+ years. My woodworking skills have improved a tad since it's birth and I am looking to change the bench to reflect those changes. Did I learn woodworking on this style of workbench? No, I didn't.

My first workbench was a hollow core door and two saw horses. No vise, no bench dog holes, but a lot of divots and holes. It was cheap to buy, use, throw away, and start the cycle all over again. The workbenches I used in the navy wood shops weren't all that different from my hollow core door bench. Those benches were huge tables about 8' wide and 12' long and were covered with 3 sheets of MDF. They had two vises at opposite sides at the corners and  they had a shelf underneath for storage. These benches didn't vary all that much at any of the places that navy sent me to during my career.

I like some things about the Roubo bench. One is the planing stop because I use handplanes a lot in my woodworking. I like it's mass and that you can change it's dimensions without totally destroying the look of the bench. I don't like the hook at the end and  the leg vise brings up the rear in the dislikes department.

I really like the Frank Klauz bench but without the L shaped right hand vise. I like the replacement wagon vise as being easier to build and simpler to use. I like the open space with the shoulder vise and I am sure that I'll be missing that as I get use to my new vise.

When I first saw Paul Seller's workbench in his DVD artisan series I was intrigued by it. There was something about it that I liked but I could not quite a finger on why. I don't doubt that it's solid and that I would be able to do any woodworking on just like it had been done for centuries according to Paul Sellers.  However, I really like my wagon vise and my bench hooks. These are two things that will be in any bench that I will work on.

My final thoughts on workbenches is that it's choice is going to be largely dictated by how you woodwork.  If you listen to Frank Klauz, Christopher Schawrz, or Paul Sellers, each them will give a plausible dissertation on why their bench is the only one to have and use.

To me it's a lot like dovetailing and whether you are a pin first or a tail first kind of guy. Who taught you how to do dovetails will most likely dictate how you do dovetails. The same with the workbench. What bench did you first work wood on? You were taught/learned how to woodwork within the constrains of the workbench.

 My best friend has a 4x8 bench made out of 2x4's and 3 layers of MDF for the top.  A vise is on one end and he has been using it for a bazillion years. He's used my bench and others, but prefers to use his. He's comfortable with it. He knows the nuances of it and what he can and can't do on it.

Frank, Paul, and many others all learned how to dovetail, make mortises and tenons, etc on "their" workbench. Frank and Paul both went through an apprenticeship learning on thier respective benches. They both said they worked on other benches but they are going to stick with what they learned woodworking on.

I have learned my woodworking on a lot of different benches. I know what I want and what I don't want. My suggestion to you is to not be swayed by eye candy looking benches but to try and work on a few before you make the plunge and buy or build one. Think about yourself standing at Roubo style bench woodworking. Do you see yourself using the planing stop? How about the deadman and don't forget the bench hook.

On Paul Seller's workbench can you see yourself not having a end vise or a wagon vise available for use? What about the tool well in the center of the bench. Do you clamp a lot things down to the bench when you work? This bench has some big ass aprons on the front and back.

Frank's bench has a tool well in the back which I had on my bench. I hated it and took it off after a week. I use the bench slave that Frank uses and this leaves the area underneath the bench for storage (no deadman). This is a no-no according to Sir Chris but I want my handplanes at hand. Could you live with the L shaped vise? Or the shoulder vise or maybe replace that with a quick release face like I'm going to do.

In the end if I had to use the ground as workbench in order to work wood I would. I think that a good solid heavy workbench of whatever design is the absolute first "tool" that you should get. Just my opinion on the subject of workbenches and hopefully I gave who ever reads this diarrhea of the keyboard something to mull over.

accidental woodworker

first coat of finish done.......

I am at the dreaded, this sucks, who can I pay to do this, applying the finish stage. I already got one coat of amber shellac on the desk top/botom and tonight after work I got a coat of amber shellac on the base too.

started on the inside

I did all the inside and upside down things first and after that was done I flipped the base back onto it's feet. I then did all the outside surfaces except for the slats. I left them sans finish because I'm going to try something new with them.

this is what I'm trying

It is a royal pain in the arse to apply finish to the slats with a brush. The in between brushing on the edges is difficult and usually ruins the brush. This time I'm going to apply the finish on the edges with a cotton rag. I'll apply finish to the faces of the slats with the brush.

outside of slats done the insides are next

 Applying the finish this way worked well. Other then my glove being chewed up by the slats, it came off without a hitch. I had only two drips to clean up whereas I would usually have a bazillion of them. I put finish on all of the right side edge of the slats first and then on the opposite edge. The rag seemed to hold a tad bit more finish then the brush but it dried quicker too. It was certainly a lot less messier than just using a brush and applying the finish to the slats was a lot faster this way.

left side corbels

right side corbels

The color match isn't perfect but it looks a lot better then it did after the first coat of stain had been put on. I did a quick preview with the top on and with them in the shadow under the top they look ok. I'm staying with them as is.

I got a confirmation email that my drawer handles have shipped. UPS says I can expect them by the end of the day on July 5. Of this year I think.

accidental woodworker

desk build pt XXI.......

After what I did tonight, I think that I am done with the woodworking portion of the desk build. The next and hopefully the last tool I'll use is a screwdriver when I put the top on the base and the  handles on the drawers. Which I found out today are going to take 3 to 5 weeks to come here from Oregon. That's not an error sports fans, it's the estimate I got this morning when I checked on it's status. And the website has a blurb about that being such a wonderful thing to wait 3-5 weeks for a common carrier to deliver them. Hello? Have you heard of flat rate USPS boxes? Even snail mail is faster then your way.

Here are the steps I took on how I'll attach the desk top to the base:

step 1 mark where the top will go with blue tape and then set the base on the deck

step 2 mark the hole in the washer on the corner braces

step 3 drill a 1/2" hole on the mark you made in step 2

step 4 put the base on the blue tape and mark the center of the 1/2" hole on the desk top bottom

step 5  use a broken pencil to mark the two front brace holes

step 6 practice on piece of scrap putting in the insert

step 7 make the hole a tad smaller and re-do

step 8 ignore the useless don't fit the drill bit stop collars

step 9 drill holes for the inserts and use blue tape as a stop collar

step 10 remember after you installed two inserts that you should chamfer the holes first

step 11 remember how easy it is strip the allen head and then you have to file it

step 12 make sure you have 4 washers and four 10-32 screws 2" long

step 13 spend 30 minutes searching for your table top clips

step 14 route slots a 1/2" down from the top where you want to put a clip

Step 15 The top will be married to the base once it's out of the cellar and in the living room.

shellac all dissolved

I used denatured alcohol I got at Lowe's to dissolve these flakes. Everything dissolved overnight and it felt alright when I rubbed it between my fingers. I can't put off the finishing because I don't have any excuses not to. Looks like finishing 101 starts tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

desk build pt XX........

After work tonight I looked at my corbels and I wasn't gushing enthusiastically about them but I'm ok with them. After I get them installed I'll put another coat of stain on them and call it done. They will be underneath the table top so I don't need to go nutso trying to get an exact match with the rest of the desk.

first batter up

 I scraped a generous area where the corbel is going. I am going to depend on white glue and nails to keep them in place. In the past I wouldn't have bothered to scrape the stain and get to bare wood before I glued something.  These corbels are relying only on the glue and pin nails so I don't want to chance anything not adhering as it should.

scraped the back of the corbel too

ready to nail

I'm using 3 - 1 1/4 pin nails on each corbel. I put a scrap piece of plywood on top of the leg to set the top of the corbel and then I used a square to set the distance from the edge of the leg.  I don't think clamps are going to be necessary as I think the nails will be enough until the glue cooks.

can you see the pin nail?

how about here?

The printed blurb insert on my pin nailer said that the nails are invisible once you shoot them. That writer must use braille to read because I don't have a problem picking them out. They aren't as visible as brads but I can still see them. Anyway, I'm going to make sure that I get some stain on the heads to knock off the shiny. That's all I intend to do with hiding them.

top has one coat of finish

I put one coat of my amber shellac on the top yesterday. The shellac did a lot in evening out the variations in the top and I think it looks aright as is. I'll get the opinion of the bride before I use toner or try anything else.

coat of shellac on the bottom

need some more shellac

I don't think that I have enough shellac to get at least one coat on the rest of the desk. I couldn't find a big glass jar so I'm using two small ones. I'll have a sufficient quantity once this is mixed.  It looks like I'll be putting the final finish before the weekend.

Tomorrow after work I'll start on how I'll secure the top to the base.

accidental woodworker

I'm a tad upset.....

My problems with editing my blog continue. I'm at work now and I was going to publish the post that I had edited at home and saved so I could publish it once I got to work. Well sports fans it seems all that I did at home did not take because the blog has the same errors I thought I had already corrected when I looked at it at work. Since I still can't edit and save at work, I'll have to publish this entry after work when I get home.

I'm pretty sure the problem I have here at work is due to the browser in use isn't on the supported list. And the problem I have at home I think has to do with staying signed in. It seems that there is a limit on how long you can do that because if I stayed signed in (browser keeps me signed in) after a few days my blog does stupid things and shuts down. Just another fun quirk to work around. The fix here is to sign in every time I use the blog.

One good thing to point out and that's one of the blogs I read I can read again. The Unplugged blog which I think is now being done by Paul Sellers, I can view now. For about a month or so I would pick something to read and I would get the moving scroll "I'm loading" bar and nothing else. I let it go for 2 hours one day and still no blog. Now it's working. What is the problem and am I alone in the universe with them?

accidental woodworker

finish line in sight......

The heat came back on sunday but it wasn't as humid as the previous days. I plugged along and I am just about done with my desk. There isn't much left to do and I'll be putting on the finish next. I started the last dash to the finish line by finishing up my drawer assembly.

the drawer fronts

I stained these yesterday and now they're ready to be installed.  I think it's a pretty good match from left to right or right to left. I got lucky having two different boards match up this well.

front of the tilt/kicker

I couldn't get my Dewalt biscuit jointer in here to make this slot. I used my 26 year old Elu biscuit jointer to make the slot. It was little awkward but it fit the opening and I only had to make two cuts.

a biscuit in the front and nails/glue in the back

all done

I don't think I'll need to beef this anymore than this. It's only function is to stop the drawer from tipping up as you pull it out. This arrangement should outlive me.

both drawer setups are done

The drawer fronts are going to act as the drawer stop but I put one in the back just in case. I nailed the drawer side guides in place. No glue, just nails in case in the future I or someone else has to repair something.

setting the drawer fronts

I made a jig I clamped to hold the drawer in the right place up from the bottom rail.  The blue tape is for setting the right and left of the drawer. The drawer is 5/8" wider then the opening and 3/8" longer. I didn't need as much side to side because there is no wood movement along the length to account for.

I screwed the drawer fronts on from the inside the drawer boxes

I'm rethinking the corbels

After seeing the amount of overhang in the pic above, I'm thinking of putting the corbels back on. It'll slow me up some because I'll have to wait for the stain to dry and then I'll have to glue them on.

corner brace

I had to trim this to fit. The corner isn't exactly 90. I used my block plane to sneak up on the fit. I glued and screwed this in place and I'll leave the clamps on for a few hours for insurance.

right brace was almost a perfect fit

I am going to use these blocks to hold down my desk top. I'm also planning to use some offset table top clips too.

corbels stained

The corbels were  almost white before I stained them. Looking at them now I'm not thrilled with how they look. They don't look nothing like the stain on the rest of the project. I put some walnut stain on them and wiped most if not all of that off. I'll wait and see what these look like tomorrow.

just in case

This is an extra leg from the desk build that I can cut it in half and get 8 corbels out of it. I'm going to think happy thoughts that what I stained will look good come tomorrow.

accidental woodworker