first coat of finish on the ..........

The wine table is finally ready to apply the finish. I spent most of the morning fussing around with getting the table top on the base. Once I was happy with that I did one final look over the whole thing and I did some touch up scraping here and there.  After that I moved it into my "finishing room". I'm going to use the same finish I used on my desk on this project. It should work well with all the nooks and crannies I have to get into.

starting by making test holes for the inserts

broken insert

3rd insert broke too

This is my biggest pet peeve with these inserts, especially the brass ones. I waxed the hole and I applied wax to the threads. I drove in some and then backed it off and went back in. I still broke all 3 inserts, the test one and the two I used in the table top. The part that broke off on all of them wasn't threaded so I didn't lose any integrity there.

slots cut for the table top clips

holes marked -  drilling pilot holes next

one final check

I have some witness marks on the bottom side of the table top. I took a pic of it but it didn't come out. The witness marks make it easier to align the top with the base especially when you have to put it on and take it off a couple of times like I had to do. I am double checking the four corners are the same before I do the final tightening down.

 offset ratchet

This is a left over from my days of repairing medical chemistry equipment. I have another one that doesn't ratchet and I don't use it at all. I like to use #10 sheet metal screws with my clips. They are strong and hold well and they are easier to install then wood screws. I think that they tend to cut or help to cut their own threads as you screw them in. The clip screws were phillips head (easy) and the two screws for the inserts were slotted. Ratcheting a slot head screw in a confined space is lots of fun.

handle was the next batter

This is a 3 piece handle, the bail and the 2 posts. The posts have a nib on them that bites into the drawer front and keeps it from spinning. I set my dividers to these two nibs.

divided the distance between the nibs in half

template is done

dividing the drawer front in half

drawer handle done - aligned the center line of the template with the center line of the drawer and marked the posts

Of course the screws that came with the handle were too short. The ones supplied with the handle were 1" long. I have a 1/2' drawer and a 1/2" applied false drawer front. Too short. Usually the screws for handles are 8-32 thread.

still 8-32 thread

Surprise! The screw size didn't change. I bought this screw/nut check (imperial and metric) from Lee Valley. I really like this because there is about 1/4" worth of threads to check against both for a screw or a nut. You use the piece you unscrew from the base to check the size of the nut. With that thread length you get a warm and fuzzy that you got the right size checked.

this is what I used to check screws with - no nut checker

sneak preview

It's off to the finishing room. I am going to put 3 coats of finish on everything below the top. The top will get 6-8 coats or however many I can get on before next saturday when I give this to daughter #1.

It's a little cool today so I don't think I'll get in two coats today. Maybe sunday will be a little warmer.

accidental woodworker

LN customer service.......

On this past sunday I dropped my adjustable mouth block plane and bent the spin wheel and the stud that the adjuster nut goes up and down on. I immediately pressed into service the new block I had bought from LN and I contacted LN and I ended up sending them the plane to check over. I was concerned that I may have damaged the internal threads on the cap.

Last night around 7 pm UPS brown dropped off a package from Warren Maine. In it was my fixed adjustable mouth block plane. The cap was the same one so I assume it's internal threads were ok. I had a new spin wheel and a new stud. My block plane was all wrapped up and shipped in a box to me like it was a brand new plane I had just bought from them. Who treats a used tool like this? LN does.

My best friend won't buy anything from LN because he says that they are too expensive. LN tools aren't cheap but with them you get what you pay for. And that is a well made, quality infused tool. Along with the price is the LN customer service. This is the reason I save up my pennies in my sock drawer to buy from them.

I dropped my block plane and caused the damage. LN repaired it at no charge and shipped it back to me at no charge. My fault and I was going to pay for this and LN says its a replacement part and no charge. Did I write that they fixed my plane for free? And that I caused the damage to it?  What price do you put on customer service?

This is the second time I've dropped my block plane and this is the second time I have gotten the broken parts replaced free. This is incredible customer service. I don't know of anyone else that does this.

Every time I've called them on the phone I get a pleasant greeting and some one who deals with my problem then and there. No waiting. No email is coming. Then and there. Incredible. The same happens when I've emailed. I get a response and a solution to my problem. Again incredible.

I can't crow enough about the after the sale, awesome, incredible, stupendous, customer service I've gotten from LN. How much would you pay for this from Lowes? Home Depot? Some other internet tool provider? They can't come close to the customer service that LN provides. Period. End of story.

The next time you are going to buy a new bench plane and are thinking only of the price staring back at you, think of what the after sale support might be. For me it's a no brainer to buy from LN. I have to save up a little more and wait before I can buy but I value the customer service as much as I do the tool.

accidental woodworker

cut short.....

After work tonight the first thing I did was to take apart my new LN block plane so I could sharpen and hone the blade. I wanted to do it with my honing guide but it wouldn't fit. I should restate that as it wouldn't fit in the top holder part of my jig. I don't like putting anything in the "vee shaped" holder part of the jig because it cocks it. So I avoid using that part of the jig. The sharpen/honing was done free hand.

the dreaded vee

I can get the iron in here but I have no luck with the edge being parallel to the roller/screw shaft. I can get it straight and when I tighten it down it cocks whatever is in there no matter what the shape of it is.

back is little shinier than yesterday's pic

shiny honed bevel

 I did the sharpening on my diamond stones freehand with some trepidation. Everything I free hand sharpen goes from square to a slanted edge in the wink of an eye. I wanted to avoid that here at all costs so I took my time. I found the bevel and I drew it towards me, picked it up and repeated this on all 3 stones.

Normally after the last stone I would run the iron over the strop with some rouge. This time instead of the strop I ran the iron over my 8k japanese king stone on it's own base. It shined the bevel even more than the rouge does.

cutting much better

I could tell a difference between the sharpened iron and the way I used as I got it from LN.  Cutting much easier, less drag, and a much better continuous shaving. Should have expended the calories and did this when I first got it.

wine table still sans the top

In the drawer are the threaded inserts, washers,  and screws I am using to attach the top. I also have some offset clips to put on too. I already fiddled around with my router and wing cutter and I set the right depth for doing that operation.

This is where I was cut short by the wife. She had heard of a new restaurant, the "egg roll cafe" that had just opened up, and we going out to eat there. The top gets delayed for another day.

accidental woodworker

LN bronze low angle block plane.......

At the LN tool event in Newport, RI, I bought the LN low angle bronze  block plane. It's a good thing that I did because my LN adjustable mouth standard angle plane went south when I played Mr bounce test with it. I sent it back to LN to have them fix it for me.

less then a week's mileage on it

back of the iron as I got it

the front of the iron

I didn't sharpen or hone the iron yet but instead used as it is. It cut well as it was but I'm sure it would do better with a honing. I really needed a block plane for the obvious reason my other one was gone.

not much to these block planes

This plane is light weight but it isn't a light weight in the performance department. I like the small size of it because I can use in it places where it's bigger cousin can't. It's very maneuverable and takes a fine shaving. This is a plane you would use to finesse something with. It won't hog mountains of material off or for that matter, molehills neither.

It won't hog because it has a very small mouth. You can only take small shavings period.

small non adjustable mouth

iron advanced some - light shows the mouth tightening up

 I have the iron advanced just a tad here. I ran it over a board and I got nothing. By the time the iron is advanced to where it will cut, the mouth is incredibly tight.

I've only had this for a few days and I have made a few observations about it already. I used this first to knock down the edges on the legs.  The tight mouth worked well here and it took only a pass or two to do that. Well suited to doing this and I was able to get almost right up the junctions of the legs and aprons. I would rather use this plane then do the same with sandpaper.

I used this to trim some end grain - the drawer front on the wine table. It did both ends without a whimper. I worked it right down to the knife line and it didn't chatter a bit. I also used it to trim the tails and pins on the wine table drawer. The plane didn't hesitate on the oak and went right through the pine much easier than the oak.

A couple of maybe negative things. These probably aren't negative so much as something I am not used to with this plane. I am used to using the bigger cousin adjustable mouth block plane. And this is my first negative - I like the adjustable mouth - a lot. I"ll have a lot of getting used to the no adjustable mouth feature on this plane. I'll also have to learn to live with the tightness of the mouth.

The second thing is an annoyance more than a negative.  In order to advance the iron up or down I had to spend a lot of time spinning the spin wheel up and then down. On the adjustable mouth plane I just have to turn maybe a half turn and I can advance or retract the iron. With this plane the iron will not advance or retract unless the spin wheel is backed off most of the way.

I have only had this less then a week but I have used this plane in just about every venue I would have used the adjustable mouth block plane. It does have a place in my shop but I'm sure I could get along without it.  It does some things better then it's larger cousin and for a quick snip or a shavings here or there, it's the perfect choice.

I'll hang on to this because one, I don't have a low angle block plane and two, I have a fondness for small tools. I had a hard time choosing this plane or the new smaller violin plane that LN just came out with.

This plane is made with the usual quality that I've come to expect from any LN product I buy. It doesn't disappoint there at all. I'll next spend some time sharpening and honing the blade now that I'm done using it on the wine table. I expect that to raise the planing experience a couple of more notches.


I saw this today on sawmill creek here  and it's the LN 52 chute board for the LN 51. I'm not a 100% sure on this but I think it's from the tool event show that LN is doing in England. After all the chatter about it, it looks like joy in Mudville again.

accidental woodworker

new blogger interface update pt 1.......

It's been about a week or so with the new blogger interface and it appears to be working. At home with my supported browser I am slowly starting to like it. The sleek, updated, new interface has a few high points compared to the old interface. I can remember most of the key strokes needed to navigate around the site.

A few things were changed and moved to different locations and that's the sticky point with me. For example on the old interface clicking labels opened a box with every label you entered was at the bottom of the blog. A nice big easy to read and find your label box. The new interface  label box is a tiny box on the right hand side of the posting page. There is no break and wrap around here. It's bit difficult to pick out a previous label readily.

At work the interface works even with the annoying "your detected browser isn't on the supported list" popping up with every page change. Update now and all will be well in Disneyland. Well, Einstein I can't update at work because I'm on a network. There is also the ominous "your browser isn't supported and unexpected behaviors may happen" I paraphrased that but isn't that nice to read?

About the only real annoying thing about the blog at work is the edit page is very small. It used to be the whole page. Now it's a box that displays about 8 lines of text. I can't expand or shrink the box in any direction at all. I'm stuck editing a few lines at a time.

The schedule function doesn't work at all for me. I've tried it from home several times without having any success. At first I thought I was using PST instead of EST but that's not the case. I can choose any time zone I want. I even tried setting the schedule function at work w/o success too.

I have a similar problem with posting the blog via email. I post every morning but my email post comes after 4  o'clock in the afternoon. I don't know if anyone else gets it then but for me it's about 8 hours after I post.

There are a few radio buttons that I have no idea what they are for, ie, Permalink?  Clicking this gives me a URL for the blog post. Where does this go? Software is not my forte, I'm a zoomie chaser (electronics tech). I am a champion button pusher, mouse clicking, what does this do type of guy. I'm cooling my heels here until I get a little more famaliar with the new blogger and the buttons.

I can deal with editing in the little box but I am missing a few of the radio buttons at the top. I'm missing the picture thingie that allows me to pick and insert pictures into the blog. The rest of the buttons I really don't miss or even use.  The only other button I used is the spell check - that's MIA too.

The pic insert button is sorely missed here at work. Especially today because I was reading a previous blog entry and I noticed that somehow, a pic was missing. When I tried to edit the post and insert it, that's when I found that here at work, I can't do that. Must be an "unexpected" thingie from the warning.

So overall, at work the new blogger is a troublesome thing to use because of one the OS (WINXP),  two the browser (IE7), and  threee, being on a network where I can't download and update anything. At home it is okay but there aren't any fireworks going off. I find it mostly a pain in the butt becasue I can't go from the opening  web page directly to the old dashboard. Instead it brings me to the post page and from there I have to navigate to where I want to be.

Found another annoyance today - YOU TUBE is dropping support for IE7. There are some you tube vids that I can't watch now. It looks like I won't be watching vids at work in the near future neither.

Let's see now, MICROSOFT is ready to release WIN8 on us. What isn't going to work with that and what "unexpected" behaviors will happen with it? How long will support for WIN7 be around?

accidental woodworker

drawer finally done.......

The drawer is done and I can't believe how well it came out. It's so much better than any other flush front drawer I've ever done. Thanks again for the tip Tico.  I still have to put the handle on but it's essentially done.

1/2" brads

I bought this gun and a pancake compressor from Sears in 1994 and both are still going strong and working fine. I also bought these 1/2" brads at that time too.  I still have some left after almost 20 years and that tells you how much I've used them. I used them today to shoot 3 of them into each side of the plywood bottom into the pine ledger strip. I did this because the plywood bottom decided to uplift on it's own. Now it can't.

dropped the kicker

I lowered the back of the kicker to compensate for the difference front to back on the drawer guides. Most of the distance between the kicker and the top of the drawer is now gone and it's about 1/8" front to back. I glued these in place and I'm thinking of putting a screw in both ends.

ready to secure the drawer

I got the drawer shimmed in place and the reveal looks pretty even on all four sides. I had to use my pin nailer to secure the drawer (from the inside) because it's the only nailer I had with nails 3/4" long.

put in 6 screws because the nails are not enough

I actually have a handle -from Lowes

my best flush drawer to date

Before I tacked the drawer to the front I had nailed the drawer guides in place, which I almost missed doing. If I had done it the other way around and the drawer guides shifted a tad nailing then it might  have thrown the drawer front off.

Tomorrow the top goes on and the day after that I can start the finish application.

accidental woodworker

easy drawer fit.......

When I was at the LN tool event on friday I had met and talked with Tico Vogt about his ramped shooting board and his piston fit drawer. He explained to me how he went about getting the fit he does. I tried to do that tonight with my false drawer front.  I wasn't trying to get a piston fit with my drawer, just a great fit on the drawer front.

started here

Tico explained to me that he uses pieces of scrap placed at the end of each side of the opening to get an exact match/fit. He said he spends time to make these perfect. Then these are used to mark the actual drawer front.

marking the leg onto the L

I am using a 1/4" piece of scrap ply to transfer the leg onto the L. I first made sure that the bottom corner of the L was dead nuts square. (This left corner is a couple of degrees off square.) I repeated this on the R one also.

checking the fit

The right side was square but not dead nuts so. I marked this one and trimmed it with a block plane.  I did this in increments until it fit. I'm shining a flashlight behind the R and no more light leaks - it's a good fit.

repeated the R on the L

This little block plane worked very well for planing these patterns to the line.  It is a finesse tool and you can only take little bites with this. It was easy to sneak up the pencil line and I like using the flashlight to check on my progress. My eyes don't see as well as they did and the light helps me see what I would have called done when it isn't.

started on the left side of the drawer

I put the L pattern on the drawer front left and knifed the line. I am going to use my BU jack to shave as close to the line as I can.

just a part of the knife line left to remove

used the block plane to trim down to the knife line

right side knife line

I put the drawer in the opening with the left end up against the leg and checked that fit ok. On the right side I made a tic mark with my marking knife for the length. I transferred the R pattern on the drawer front. I used the pattern to make a knife line and I then made a knife wall with my 1" chisel.

square across the face I can do

plumb cut help

I have been using this square lately when I make a plumb cut. I noticed that without it I tend to lean over to the left when I saw, especially at the rear of the cut. My plumb cuts are getting better and the square is helping by giving me something to gauge my saw's attitude against. This cut was plumb at the front and a teeny tad off at the back.

just about perfect

I don't know if I did this right but this is the best flush fitting drawer that I have done. Period. The two places I have the most problems with - the ends - fit right up against the legs with no gaps anywhere. I'll use the patten thing again. I've been avoiding flush fitting drawers but now that I've found a successful way to do it, they'll be more to come. Thanks Tico.

cleaned up the face while I had the jack out

a box of shims

I trimmed a little more off the ends of the drawer and I planed some off  the bottom. The reveal is around an 1/8" total for the ends and a tad more for the top/bottom.

shimmed in the opening to check it - green is 1/16"

I have a couple things on the punch list to complete then I can start applying the finish.  The drawer guides I decided I'm going to nail them so I can repair them if it's necessary. The other two things on the punch list are attaching the false drawer front and the top. I didn't do the drawer tonight because I'm tired and I don't want to screw up my nice fitting drawer.

I've been working on this for almost a month now. It doesn't seem that I have this much time into this but I do. Maybe I'll get it done by the weekend and I can start on my wife's bookcase.

accidental woodworker

wine table pt ???......

I don't know what part this is. I've done a few posts without numbering them so I am lost in the number department.  I'm done fussing around with the drawer. I trimmed the front where it was tight and it now slides in and out with binding or hitting anywhere. I have to secure the drawer guides somehow - glued, screwed, or nailed? Or a combination of the three or just two? Maybe just one of them?

As I was testing the drawer I noted that it doesn't tilt much as it was pulled out because of the width of the top drawer rail. I decided to put in a kicker because I'm brain dead and I want to add more minutes to the time before I complete this project.

pine kicker stock

I'm going to make a recess at the front and rear and half lap the kicker in place. I can chisel out the rear but the front mortise is going to be a problem. There is nothing there to absorb the chisel blows.  I could make some saw kerfs but I would still have to contend with no mass to absorb the chiseling.

trim router with a mortising bit



nailed a guide strip to guide the router

 Aldren A Watson, the author of Hand Tools their ways and workings, recommends getting a small anvil for the workshop. Based on that and the fact I didn't have one, I bought one from Lee Valley tools a while back. I used it today and it worked wonderfully.  There was enough room between the top and bottom drawer rails to slip it in and hold it against the bottom of the top rail as I nailed the guide strip down. Worked perfectly. No problems pounding the nails in flush with the guide strip. A little difficult holding the anvil, the guide strip, and pounding the nail all at once but I managed to get it done.

kicker cut to length, but the mortises are not deep enough

LN router to the rescue

I used my hand router because I was at the depth limit of the router bit. No such problem with the hand router. I did have to chisel a slight ramp up at the start of the cut. The hand router isn't any good at coming straight into the cut. The ramp gives it a little piece to bite on initially and then it's ok to finish the cut to the depth you want.

right hand drawer guide

I put a chamfer on the front of the drawer guides so I could ID which part goes down and which is up. The chamfer is down and right behind the back of the bottom drawer rail.

test drive

 I changed out the kicker from pine to oak. It's about a 1/4" above the drawer and it catches the back of the drawer when it is pulled out all the way. I probably didn't need to do this but it's something I got to practice doing.

added screws to the dovetails on the top drawer rail

I am going to be screwing the front of the top down to this rail. I want a little insurance that it will be able to do it's job. Dovetails offer no up lift resistance at all so I'm hoping that the screws will do that for me.

Tomorrow after work I'll try and get the false front fitted. Once that's done I can start thinking about the finish for the wine table.

accidental woodworker