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Not too long ago I posted about an old wooden spool that I had picked up.

Recently, a reader sent me a picture of a very similar spool from his dad's tool box. This one was not being used as a chalk line - but was partnered with a plumb bob. Hmm.

What I particularly like is the neat way that the bob is easily attached or unattached to the line. Of course, I'm not sure why you would need to do that, unless it was to keep the line available for other uses.

Maybe, say, as a chalk line?

Here's the picture - thanks Ken!


He also wondered if the spools were actually part of the packaging for the line, and were then just repurposed by the owner:

"I have since wondered if the spool was sold with cord, twine or rope coiled on it much like the plastic spools used today. Then frugal(cheap) carpenters just kept it in their toolbox."

It's an interesting idea, and one that never crossed my mind before! If this was the case, it should be possible to find out by looking at old catalogs and such...

I’m a lumber-scavenger.  I pick up logs here and there, split them into manageable pieces, and resaw them on my bandsaw.  Usually I seal the ends with leftover latex paint, which is somewhat effective in preventing checks in the ends.  But when I really want to preserve a piece of wood intact, I turn to paraffin wax.

My wax-on setup is decidedly low-tech.  I melt the wax in an old peanut can on a camp stove.  I’m on the lookout for an old stock pot, which will allow me to dip wider boards.  Here I’m sealing the ends of some very tough mystery wood (persimmon, I think) that will eventually become mallets and chisel handles.

A few tips on coating wood with wax:

1. Melt the wax over low heat, and then turn the burner off before dipping your wood.  Liquid wax IS flammable!
2. Set the end of the wood in the liquid wax for a few seconds, which will let the it penetrate the wood’s pores just a little.  It will also ensure that any irregularities in the surface are adequately covered.
3. Dip at least 1″ of the end into the wax.  If you cover only the end, checks will still develop.
4. If a board is too wide to dip, brush the wax on with a bristle brush.  Double-check to see that you have covered the surface completely.

Paraffin wax is easy to find in the canning section of grocery stores.  You can also save the butt ends of candles.  However, if you go to just about any rummage sale, you can pick up a whole armload of candles for cheap.

My red wax above is the remains of a big cinnamon-scented candle I salvaged, so my lumber pile will smell like Christmas all year long.

Filed under: Wood and Woodwork

Here’s a chest I finally finished this week; white oak with maple and walnut inlay. Mostly millsawn, but the front framing stock is riven. It’s been around the shop for years. One mistake I made was to put the bottom in it, and before I made a lid, I started keeping stuff in it…

so never bothered to finish it! …til now.

This view shows you something more:

Now you can see, this is not a joined chest in the usual sense. The front is joined, but the sides and back are a board chest. This format appears from time to time in t he 17th century. In this case, I nailed the front frame onto the edges of the board sides. Two 17th-c examples from  Braintree, Massachusetts have square wooden pins securing  the front to the sides.

Here’s a view showing the side of the chest:

There’s a rabbet in the rear face of the front stile, and the end board slips up into that rabbet. Similarly, the rear board is rabbeted at each end to capture the edges of the end boards.

To further the simplicity of this chest, I chose to use a wooden hinge instead of the more common iron gimmals.

http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/setting-gimmals-you-might-know-them-as-snipe-bills/

There’s an oak slat nailed near the outside top edge of the chest’s rear board. The slat extends beyond the sides of the chest, and is whittled there to a round pin. Then the lid’s cleats extend out beyond the back, and have a hole bored in them to slip over the pins.  A little beeswax keeps this hinge working for a while.  Here’s the rear view:

Here’s the pin/cleat detail:

so if you want to take a stab at a joined chest, but feel a little intimidated, make a board chest with a joined front. This one could be even easier by making a pine chest with an oak front. That’d make it lighter too.

 

One of my sons, Aber, had a 7-hour interview assessment for Rolls Royce in Derby and so I spent some time in the Westfield centre in Derby. It’s a pretty useless place all around; couldn’t buy a tap washer or match in the whole place hardly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, trying to make the best of a bad situation and think positive, I was looking in the most useless shop window in the hwole place and saw a workbench of all things. Things were looking up. Out of three hundred and fifty stores, thirty eating places and a dozen coffee houses all serving environmentally friendly coffee at unfriendly prices I saw something that piqued my interest and made up for the miles of walking in the desert wilderness with other skeletons looking for food and water – mostly middle aged men pretending they are free now that they are retired and don’t have to punch a clock.

Anyway, actually, I saw four very old workbenches replete with dovetailed wooden-jawed vises and tail vises all in place and functioning. That was the magnet that pulled me inside. Problem was all the benches were supporting water-pipe fixtures as coat rails for hanging clothes hangers from. They wouldn’t allow photo’s so I could only get this one to show you. Thought you could bin the clothes and use the benches. Add some life to the mall and have workshops all over the store.

The post lady (mail lady? US) brought an armful of heavy packages today that gave me a good start to my workday. Mostly this comprised Stanley 4s and 4 1/2s but then there was an unused Stanley #50 and a remarkable Sandusky plow (plough UK) that I wanted to take to the USA school for using there. I likely paid too much at £69 ($120 with shipping), but I really like these tools and it will feature in my next Woodworking Tools and Development book, which has aspects showing historical perspectives and why changes were so hard to make or accept.

The Sandusky plow has many differences to the British models though they are basically the same functionally. UK ones are much stockier, sort of bulldog like whereas the Sandusky is lighter in weight and perhaps greyhound or whippet like.

 

 

 

 

The plow feels good to the hand and I liked some very specific features such as the offset hand shape to the handle whereby the heel of the hand on the right conforms to the heel of the hand. This makes the plow a specific right hand user plane so I wondered if they made a left-hander as well or let the left-handed users fend for themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

The detailing on this plane is less ornate than the British models of a similar handled type, corbelling to the stems less defined and smaller, narrower nuts for locking the body to the fence system below. None of this seems to affect functionality at all and I can’t wait to clean up the surfaces, sharpen the cutting irons and get the plane back into full working order.

This plane is a rarer find on the UK front and this one is replete with a full set of original cutting irons comprising 3/16”,1/4” 5/16”, 3/8”. 7/16”, 1/2” and 5/8”, all with the Sandusky Tool Company stamp and warranted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The toe end of the plane is stamped with the Sandusky Tool Co Ohio curved banner as can be seen in the top picture. Aspects have some boxed wear areas like along the fence and around the depth stop. Longevity was built into the plane and though dirty for use and collected dust the plane is in complete and functional condition and I am glad for that.

 

I’ll put it through it’s paces next week before my class and see how I feel it compares to its UK cousins. Let you know what happens with a video and a blog.

I have a large order coming up that includes a few planes for drawer lips. I intended to 'test' one of the planes on the drawers for my dressing table.

The beauty of having hollows, rounds, etc. is that I do not have to wait.

I had a great email exchange with Brian Boggs (who designed the shavehorse in my last post) about the suggestions and issues that I had regarding the design. I knew setting out that some of the intended advantages of the horse were based on the type of work that it was meant for, but I was surprised to hear some of his response. With Brian's consent, here is a portion of his response.

"Pete...Funny to see my horse design so many places.  I don't know if you have seen the article I wrote about it in FWW years ago. It's available on line if you are a member of the online forum thingy. There are a lot of things I mention in the article about how to build the horse to fit your body. Most folks don't do that, but follow the given numbers instead. That extension of the lower jaw in front of the upper jaw is an important part of how I use a horse.  I do a fair bit of end grain finishing on the horse and the downward pressure I give it requires that extension.  If it is in the way by all means lop it off, but I find that man people have changed the design without understanding why it is made the way it is and often don't understand what they are doing.
For various work demands I have envisioned a few different interchangeable lower jaws.  They pull right out in a second so you could have a few different models with different angles or whatever your needs demand.  I have wanted one that has an adjustable stop in the front so I can shave short stuff.  With this design the top jaw pushes the pin against
the front stop much like a bench dog system holds work.  This allows full exposure of short stuff, nothing hidden under the jaw.
I was not expecting schools to have them, but in this case adjustable foot bars would be a great addition to the adjustable seat.  I personally like the horse to be as tall as I can mount to increase the leverage with a longer pivot.
       I always like hearing new ideas about tool design, especially from fresh perspectives like yours.  You made some good suggestions. Too often the ideas come out of being stuck in one mindset and unwilling to open up to something one isn't used to."

I wanted to share this because I was pleased to hear that my ideas weren't too cranky, and to offer an example of a craftsman with an open and inquisitive mindset.
I initially hesitated to write the original post for the simple reason that it's uncomfortable to speak to another's design, but Brian's gracious response put it all in the right order.
Thanks Brian!

Before gluing up the joint, it’s worth taking some trouble to make sure that the two parts fit perfectly. I put the neck in a vise and hold the headstock in place while checking for gaps with a 0.05mm feeler gauge. A bright light behind the joint also helps to reveal places where the fit is defective.

Here I’ve discovered that the sides of the V are a bit loose…

…while the shoulders are tight.

A couple of fine shavings taken off the shoulders of the headstock using a shooting board…

…improves the fit. As a final check, I rub chalk over the male part of the V joint, locate the female part in position and press the joint together hard.

Where the fit is perfect, chalk will be transferred evenly. High spots, on the other hand, show up as a blotch of chalk surrounded by unchalked wood. Here it looks as if there’s a high point on one side near the mouth of the V.

A small file takes off the bump…

…and a second chalk fitting shows that the joint fits pretty well all over, except for a small low spot on one side at the apex of the V. I decide that I can live with that.

The next step is to dust off the chalk, size all mating surfaces of the joint with hot dilute hide glue and leave them to dry.

This is the clamping arrangement that I use. It’s important that the compression force runs through the centre line of the headstock and bears directly on the shoulders of the joint. Chiselling off the front of the V where it projects through the headstock allows the bar of the clamp to sit close to the surface of the headstock.

Once I’m happy that I can get the clamp into exactly the right position, I un-clamp, brush medium strength hide glue onto all joint surfaces, re-clamp it and leave it undisturbed for a couple of hours.

Here it is after taking the clamp off. The shadow below the right hand shoulder of the joint indicates that the headstock is slightly twisted relative to the neck. I suspected that this would happen while I was making the final adjustments but decided that the inaccuracy would be small enough to plane it out after the joint was glued up.

And I’m pleased to say that it was.

The back of the joint looks a bit weird until the extra block is shaved off.

But these two necks show that it comes out all right in the end. Even with a magnifying glass it’s scarcely possible to see that extra wood has been added and after the final shaping it will be quite invisible.

That’s the last of the series of posts on making a V joint. Thanks to anyone who has followed the story this far. Before finishing, I ought to add that there are many variations in the way this joint can be cut. Some makers, for example, prefer to use a template for marking out rather than a ruler and dividers. Please add a comment if you know how to do it quicker or better.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger pictures.

Dame Judi Dench invites you to Britain in a short video.

Filed under: Distractions Tagged: Britain, Dame Judi Dench

Hier habe ich Klaus und Timo gezeigt, wie ich eine Dovetail saw bezahne.
Die Schablone für den Zahnabstand wird provisorisch aufgeklebt:








Und dann wieder feilen. Erst einen Durchgang um die Zahnücken zu markieren und dann wird die Schablone entfernt und ausgefeilt.





Zum Schränken nehme ich Klaus Unispannstock. Man kann ganz gut erkennen, dass ich das Sögeblatt mit Tesafilm vor Kratzern von der Schränkzan geschütze.

Just a reminder to sign up for a workshop as early as possible. The February workshop is now filling and so too March and classes further along the calendar. That’s the same for the US New Legacy too. In times past the workshops didn’t fill quite so quickly so there was usually a space but that’s not the case as we keep our workshops small to make certain you get maximised attention. Last week’s workshop was as wonderful as ever if not better. Here are some of the comments from that class:

Hello Paul,

 First up thank you very much for the course last week. I had a really enjoyable time and I will be writing something up for blog/Facebook/newsletter. It has helped further my understanding of tools; for starters the course has given me the confidence to attempt further projects.

The box has had two coats of ‘French Polish’ and has been sanded down. Once finished it will take pride of place by my desk in the shop; much to my wife’s disappointment as she was hoping I would bring it home. Inspired by the new skills, I think a small loose lidded box is next on the woodworking agenda. 

Thanks again,

AP

Hi Paul:

Thanks for last week’s course ; it was interesting both in content and the other participants. Many Thanks Paul.

 What I now need are the dates for the other 2 parts of the course, what dates are available?

 P A

Hi Paul,

 I am still thinking about the really wonderful 3 days I had at the woodworking course. I look at my box every day!! After a bit of searching I finally sourced the shellac and have been applying it.

The book is great by the way and a wonderful way of revisiting what we did.Thank you for your patience and quiet teaching methods. You will need them both again as I am about to sign up for the next course!! 

A B

Hey Peter, you want racing stripes? You got 'em!





Oh, (and I promise to never do this again) I shot this a few weeks ago out the kitchen window:

When it comes to finish, I want something that is easy to apply, offers a little protection and doesn't require spray equipment. And once I find a finish I like, I tend to be pretty loyal. I used Minwax's Antique Oil Finish almost exclusively before a friend turned me on to Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish about [...]

As a follow-up to a recent post about shop-made leather drawer pulls, I thought I'd share with you a photo of the completed sideboard. Just how did this piece evolve? There's a Sam Maloof cabinet that has the same proportions and drawer arrangement. I like very much the look of the all-walnut piece he built [...]

One of the hardware vendors that is always on my short list is Whitechapel Ltd., which offers a lot of quality, hard-to-find pieces. So after some digging through the company’s catalog and web site, I purchased some samples of campaign-style hardware to take a look. Overall, these English-made brasses are excellent. The pulls are heavy [...]

Hi Folks

And here's the last of the three new models - the Snipes Bill.
This is an interesting looking plane with its swoopy, pointed profile. They work hand in hand with moulding planes to start and refine profiles and can also be used to define a gauge line for a rebate plane. The planes come as a matched pair allowing you to work with the grain on any profile (i.e. linenfold panels).
The planes are available to order now on the Phillyplanes website.